Avengers #207 — Nick Peron

Aug 4

Aug 4 Avengers #207

Beyond a Shadow…

After spending centuries in another dimension, the Shadow Lord and his ancient city rematerialize on Earth in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. This is because an eternal menace is about to return and he is the only force able to stop it. He clutches the necklace around his neck and looks forward to this final battle as it will mean he will finally return to his long dead lover, Ayshera. Shadow Lord’s appearance doesn’t go unnoticed, as his island is spotted by some American Naval ships who order him to identify himself.

Meanwhile, on Mount Vesuvius, an archeological expedition is underway. While the rest of the crew is willing to give up, a scientist named Fundler insists that they are about to find something. That’s when he uncovers a petrified human hand.

Elsewhere, in Italy, Simon Williams has gotten a small role in a Spaghetti western, but the producer is mortified by Simon’s awful acting skills. When they break for lunch, Simon meets up with the Beast, who has accompanied him on this acting gig. He is also approached by one of his co-stars, Rachel Palmer, who tries to encourage Simon to do his best promising to make him a big star back home. Simon is openly hostile toward Palmer, accusing her of only being interested in him to further her own career. Returning to his trailer with the Beast, Simon gets an alert from his Avengers communicator. Unaware that Rachel is overhearing their conversation with Captain America, Wonder Man and Beast are asked to investigate reports of a mysterious island appearing on the Mediterranean and attacked a Navy fleet.

As the pair take a Stark International plane to the Mediterranean, the archeologists on Mount Vesuvius take a break to consider how much money they are going to make on their find. They don’t notice when the petrified hand they uncovered begins to move.

Meanwhile, Wonder Man and Beast meet up with the Navy and learn that when they approached the mysterious island a single man was able to summon massive tidal waves to force them away. Considering it a threat, the two Avengers try to infiltrate the island using Wonder Man’s personal jet pack to propel them there. Spotting the two invaders, the Shadow Lord uses his power over the weather to create whirlwinds to try and send them away. At that moment, Rachel Palmer arrives in a boat — having followed Simon to get a first hand account of this amazing story — and has her ship destroyed by the Shadow Lord. He then uses the wind to carry her to him and is amazed by how closely she resembles Ayshera.

As the Avengers arrive and pull their teammates from the ocean, Shadow Lord decides to tell Rachel who he is and why he has appeared on Earth. He tells her that he comes from a tribe of people who formed their island society centuries earlier. Their power over the elements made them feared and shunned by the outside world. They spent their years of isolation honing their abilities and growing stronger. Soon they became aware of an unbeatable warrior known as the Berserker. The eternal killer had grown in legend due to his unquenchable thirst for death and destruction. Now leading the armies of Rome, the Berserker set his sights on conquering the island nation. Fearing for their survival, the people of this island were able to entomb the Berserker by causing Mount Vesuvius to erupt while he was traveling upon it. This led to the destruction of the city of Pompeii in the process. Horrified by what they had done, this society decided to disburse across the globe and never use their power again. However, they knew that some day the Berserker would return and the Shadow Lord was chosen to stand by for when this would inevitably happen. He was given a special necklace that contained his people’s combined power. After the exodus, the Shadow Lord then teleported his domain into the Shadow Dimension where he waited for over 2000 years for the Berserker’s time.

As the Shadow Lord tells his tale, the Berserker — encrusted in volcanic rock — rises from his grave and begins attacking those who have unearthed him.

Meanwhile, the Avengers — unaware of the Shadow Lord’s purpose on Earth — begin attacking his home. Neither that Avengers nor Shadow Lord are willing to listen when Rachel tries to convince them to stop fighting. Ultimately, the Avengers realize that the Shadow Lord is drawing his tremendous power from his city. They begin wrecking the buildings, causing the Shadow Lord to lose his power until he is suddenly on death’s door. Dying, the Shadow Lord tells the Avengers that they must stop the Berserker and hands his necklace to Rachel. Cryptically, he tells her that it has the power to open the darkness and defeat the Berserker. Realizing that they made a terrible mistake, the Avengers and Rachel mourn the loss of Shadow Lord as the Berserker lays waste to the army that has been summoned to try and destroy him.