Avengers Annual #6
No Final Victory!
Wounded, the Scarlet Witch comes crashing through the wall at Avengers Mansion just as her teammates are trying to make sense of their battle with the Whizzer. Before passing out from blood loss, Wanda tells them how the Living Laser ambushed her at the Brand Corporation and took control of the Serpent Crown. The Vision scoops Wanda up and takes her to the lab, ordering Jarvis to call a doctor along the way.
By this time, the Whizzer has come around and is back to normal. After the Beast departs to go looking for Wonder Man, the other Avengers ask why the Whizzer attacked them. He explains he suddenly saw them as his old foes: Ibisa, the Future Man, and Madame Death.[1] While the Whizzer thinks he might be cracking up, the Avengers suspect that there is something more sinister at play. However, the Avengers decide that the Serpent Crown is a higher priority. Soon, Iron Man and Captain America are using equipment on loan from the Fantastic Four to track the Serpent Crown’s energy signature.[2] They quickly pinpoint its location to California and race off on their own in a Quinjet.
Meanwhile, Yellowjacket, the Wasp, and the Whizzer have changed into their civvies and are sitting down to a meal prepared by Jarvis. Robert Frank uses this opportunity to tell them what he has been up to since he disappeared recently. He reminders them how he got involved with the Avengers when they inadvertently unleashed his son, a powerful radioactive mutant named Nuklo. He suffered a heart attack during the ensuing battle and needed emergency surgery to save his life. After being reconnected with his children — Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch — he decided to back out of their lives after watching the wedding of Quicksilver and Crystal of the Inhumans.[3] He relocated to the Bowery where he wallowed in his misery and nearly drank himself to death. One day he woke up in the charity ward of a hospital and when one of the nurses reminded him of his late wife, Miss America, he decided to get his life back in order. His first order of business after pulling himself out of the gutter was to petition the government to find out what happened to Nuklo. When he got stonewalled, Robert used his speed powers to quickly go through top-secret files. He was horrified to discover that his son is now part of some secret project and raced to Avengers Mansion to get help. This is when the Whizzer suddenly thought he was ambushed by his enemies.
As this is all going down, the Beast is following the trail left by Wonder Man when he trashed the lab and fled the mansion. As he searched a nearby alley for clues he is ambushed by Wonder Man from behind. Convinced that he was brought back to life by the Living Laser, Simon Williams seeks to carry out the mission he was created for: destroying the Avengers![4] Wonder Man is eventually knocked out when Beast evades one of his lunges, sending Williams running into a wall. As a mob of fans begins to form, the Beast scoops up Wonder Man and retreats back to Avengers Mansion.
A few hours later, Iron Man and Captain America arrive in California. Flying past the building where the Serpent Crown is being hidden, they are attacked by soldiers on the ground. Landing on the ground, the pair fight through these rogue members of the military. Fighting the soldiers to a stand-still, the two Avengers demand to know where the Serpent Crown is. That’s when the commander in charge, Colonel Pollock, tells them that it is being them.[5] As the two Avengers turn, they are blasted by the Living Laser who is wearing the Serpent Crown. Cap and Iron Man are brought into the building where they discover that the Laser and his allies also have Nuklo in a containment unit.
It is here that the villain details his master plan: He explains how, following his last defeat at the hands of the Avengers, he became interested in the Serpent Crown when reading about the lost continent of Lemuria while in prison. Once he was released, Arthur Parks used his scientific skills to transform himself so he can produce his laser powers without the use of technology. He then sought to not only get revenge against the Avengers, but use the Serpent Crown and Nuklo to take over the entire country.
That’s when the other Avengers arrive to rescue Captain America and Iron Man. While Wonder Man, the Beast, Yellowjacket, and the Wasp deal with the guards, the Vision nabs the Serpent Crown and takes off. As Cap and Iron Man break free, Colonel Pollock orders Nuklo to be unleashed and orders him to kill the Avengers. The soldiers quickly retreat as the Avengers and the Living Laser are bowled over by Nuklo’s opening energy blast. Suddenly, Nuklo begins growing in size as his energy levels begin to spike. Iron Man tries to attack but is grabbed in Nuklo’s massive hand. The Golden Avenger orders the others to flee before Nuklo goes critical mass and explodes. Suddenly, the Whizzer arrives on the scene and a single blow from father to son is enough to cause an implosion that de-powers Nuklo, ending his threat. With the battle over, Captain America tells the rest of the Avengers that it is time to go home.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Yellowjacket, the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Beast), the Whizzer, Wonder Man, the Living Laser, Nuklo, Edwin Jarvis, Jacob Pollock
Continuity Notes
A footnote here reminds readers that the Whizzer fought these foes with the All-Winners Squad in Fantasy Masterpieces #10 and Marvel Super-Heroes #17. These were actually reprints. Those stories were originally published in All-Winners Comics #19 and 21 (there was no issue #20)
Iron Man recounts their battle with the Squadron Supreme and the Serpent Crown. This happened in Avengers #141-144 and 147-149.
There is a lot of exposition about the Whizzer here. The details:
His marriage to Madeline Joyce aka Miss America, the birth of Nuklo, Maddy’s death, the battle between the Avengers and Nuklo, and the “revelation” that Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are the Whizzer’s children were all detailed in Giant-Size Avengers #1.
The Scarlet Witch married the Vision in Giant-Size Avengers #4, which the Whizzer missed. He did, however, watch the marriage between Quicksilver and Crystal in Fantastic Four #150.
The “revelation” that Wanda and Pietro are the Whizzer’s children were later proven to be false. Per Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #4, the twins are actually the children of Natalya Maximoff and an unidentified father.
Simon Williams was believed to had died as a side-effect of his powers in Avengers #9. He recently turned up alive in Avengers #151. Although he was convinced to battle the Avengers last issue, his resurrection was partially due to the machinations of Wonder Man’s brother, the Grim Reaper as revealed in issue #160. Wonder Man, however, never really died. In reality, his body went into a death-like state to undergo a metamorphosis into a being of pure ionic energy as explained in Avengers #164.
Colonel Pollock’s first name is not revealed here. It is identified as Jacob in the Nuklo entry of Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition #9.
The Living Laser was defeated by the team in Avengers #79. He also mentions his first defeat at the hands of the Avengers. That was in issue #44.
Topical References
When recounting their battle with the Squadron Supreme, the President of the United States on the Squadron’s Earth is identified as Nelson Rockefeller. This should be considered a topical reference as Rockefeller is a real-life person.
Night Vision
Wandering through the city in his immaterial form at night, the Vision pops up onto the street in front of a delivery truck. The driver bails out in time just as the Vision turns diamond-hard, trashing the truck in the process. The driver, fed up with super-heroes causing damage all the time, demands a beat cop do something about it. The Vision apologizes and tells the man that Tony Stark will pay to replace the truck. The officer is sympathetic to the Vision since he and the Avengers save the city all the time. The driver on the other hand is livid. The pair are ordered to go down to the local precinct to file a report.
As fate would have it, the villain known as Whirlwind has been jailed here since his last defeat. Using an explosive device hidden in a pack of cigarettes, Whirlwind breaks out of his cell and recovers his costume. However, he doesn’t anticipate that the Vision is there to stop him. While the spinning mutant can easily deal with the cops, he is no match for the Vision’s phasing powers. Flying high into the air and making himself as heavy as possible, the Vision lands on Whirlwind and knocks him out. The truck driver is still unimpressed as he is still upset over his ruined truck. The Vision, having grown tired of his constant complaining takes off.
Recurring Characters
Vision, Whirlwind