Heroes for Hire!

Now

On Monday morning, the people of New York are in for quite the spectacle when they witness the Avengers suddenly appear and being demolishing a building. Unaware of why they are doing this, the police are called to the scene. When the cops arrive, Goliath explains to them that they were hired to tear down the building. That’s when Cornelius Van Lundt — a wealthy businessman — explains that he purchased the land and hired the Avengers to rip down the building. As it turns out, the city was intending to build a park on the land, but Van Lundt outbid them. When ordered, Van Lundt’s assistant Cornelius presents the paperwork to the police. Now that the Avengers have torn down the building he intends to sell the land back to the city at a profit. Unaware that this was Van Lundt’s plan all along, the Avengers are annoyed by his greed, but there is not much they can do about it give their present situation.

Earlier

The Avengers suddenly found themselves hiring themselves after a late-night visit from Tony Stark the night before. He came to inform the team that Stark Industries is trying to fight back against a hostile takeover from Cornelius Van Lundt. In order to have the liquid capital to fight back, Tony’s accountants and lawyers have advised him to consolidate all his funds as well as collect on outstanding debts. He, unfortunately, has come to the Avengers to request they pay the back rent on Avengers Mansion that he has been waiving since the team’s inception. The Black Panther also admits to the others that he cannot use his own fortune to help either since it is only to be used to help the people of his homeland, Wakanda. He then surprises everyone that he has also obtained a job as a school teacher here in America. As it turned out, following his father’s death, T’Challa was sent abroad to study in both America and Europe at the behest of his uncle N’Baza, so that T’Challa could obtain an education in the outside world.[1] Still, despite the fact that the Black Panther will be otherwise occupied, Quicksilver assures Tony that the Avengers will be able to raise the outstanding amount as soon as possible.

Elsewhere, a masked criminal named Kronus has gathered his minions in the Split-Second Gang. He is furious with his subordinates because, despite his carefully timed robberies, they have been thwarted on every heist by the Avengers. It has only been through sheer luck that they have evaded capture up until this point. However, Kronus assures them that the Avengers will no longer be a problem as a plot is already in the world to assure they won’t interfere in the future.

Meanwhile, the Avengers have begun a massive advertising campaign to hire themselves out so they can earn the money they need to pay Tony Stark. Soon the mail comes flooding in. Ironically, the most generous employment comes from none other than Cornelius Van Lundt himself. With time running short, they agree to meet with Van Lundt, who reveals that his orchestrated events specifically to employ the Avengers to do his bidding. He then promises to drop his hostile takeover of Stark Industries if the Avengers agree to enter his employ for a specific period of time. Grudgingly, the Avengers accept since this will be a big help to their ally Tony Stark.

Now

While the other Avengers are busy working for Van Lundt, the Black Panther has begun his job working at a high school, teaching the predominantly black students about their African heritage. The children are impressed with his tales about African warriors and liken them to their favorite black super-hero. When T’Challa asks who that is, he is disappointed to hear that they are all fans of the Falcon.

At that same moment, Kronus is going over his Split-Second Squad’s new robbery. When one of his men asks about the Avengers, Kronus produces a bomb and tells them not to worry about Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

Meanwhile, the Avengers are about to leave for their final job for Van Lundt. However, the team has a bad feeling about it. Quicksilver decides to speed off and look into something, telling the others that he will rejoin them shortly. Goliath and the Scarlet Witch soon arrive at the site of a condemned tunnel that Van Lundt’s recently purchased. Deemed too dangerous for regular workers, the site foreman tells the Avengers that they are to go inside and patch it up and make it safe to enter again. It’s at this point that Quicksilver returns after carrying out his secret task. As it turns out, the foreman was Kronus in disguise and he has set explosives in the tunnel. Once he is sure the Avengers are inside, he detonates them seemingly killing the heroes.

They then begin their robbery of a nearby bank to steal the supply of gold that is being stored there. However, when they open the vault they find the Black Panther waiting for them — as he was tipped off by Quicksilver — soon the other Avengers — having escaped the boobytrapped tunnel via a submarine — arrive and help T’Challa take Kronus and his gang down. Assuming that Kronus was Cornelius Van Lundt, they are surprised when they unmask him and discover that the villain is really Wilkins, Van Ludnt’s assistant. As it turns out, Wilkins was a business rival who was the victim of one of Van Lundt’s hostile takeovers. Driven out of business and without a penny to his name, Wilkins grudgingly accepted a job as an assistant to Cornelius. Harboring a desire for revenge, he created the Kronus identity to try and frame his employer.

With the robbery stopped and Wilkins handed over to the police, Cornelius congratulates the Avengers for completing their contract and clearing his name. However, when he tries to pay them what they are due, the Avengers refuse. While Van Lundt has not broken any laws, the Avengers are against his ethics. As they depart, the Black Panther warns Van Lundt that his crimes against the soul of man will one day catch up with him.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Goliath, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, the Vision), Cornelius Van Lundt, Tony Stark, Edwin Jarvis

Continuity Notes

1. As first detailed in Fantastic Four #53, T’Challa’s father was murdered by Ulysses Klaw while he was still a boy.

Topical References

• It is stated here that Tony would have charged the Avengers $2000 a month to use Avengers Mansion and that they owe $120,000 in back rent. Adjusting for inflation, the Avengers would have been paying $13,557.42 a month in 2021 money and would be owing $813,445.36. Still, when you do the math, it suggests that the Avengers have been living out of Tony’s mansion for 5 years which is not accurate even without considering the Sliding Timescale. At any rate, these figures should all be considered topical references as, per the Sliding Timescale, the Avengers had only been living at the mansion for about 3 years at the time of this story.

• The Avengers advertise that they are for hire by having an airplane banner flown across the city. While this may have been a surefire way to draw business back in 1970, it is less impressive in the 21st Century where the Internet is a thing. Modern readers could probably assume that the banner was just part of a multi-level marketing plan.

• Quicksilver is depicted as being on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Carson ended his run on The Tonight Show in 1992 and died in 2005.

• Another dated pop-culture reference: One of T’Challa’s students makes reference to Fat Albert.