Avengers #243
Chain of Command!
… this story continues from Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #1-12.
Following the disappearance of a number of super-heroes from New York City, the Vision holds a press conference in order to maintain public confidence in the Avengers ability to fight crime.[1] Watching from Air Force One are NSA agents Henry Gyrich and Raymond Sikorsky. They are annoyed that the Vision is making these statements without their approval as it could create a panic.
As the Vision assures the public that the Avengers are still on duty, Starfox is busy stopping a bank robbery in progress. When one of the robbers tries to take a hostage, Eros uses his ability to trigger the pleasure centers of the brain to entice him to surrender to the authorities instead. After the press conference is over, the Vision returns to Avengers Mansion where he meets with Mockingbird. She tells him that the Invisible Girl has gone for a walk with Alicia Masters and her son Franklin Richards.[2] Mockingbird still wonders if her husband, Hawkeye, is still alive and the Vision tells her that there is always hope before heading deeper into the mansion.[3] He then checks in on his wife, the Scarlet Witch, who tells him there is nothing to report on the missing Avengers. She tells him that she has a number of former Avengers on stand-by and that Gyrich and Sikorski are on their way to the mansion and they aren’t happy.[4] When a fire is reported, the Vision convinces Wanda to go out and lend the fire department a hand.
Finally alone, the Vision makes contact with ISAAC the world computer on the Saturnian moon of Titan.[5] The two have been working together on a secret project. However, in order for their plan to work the Vision needs the support of the Avengers and this means the he will have to try and secure leadership of the team. However, the android is concerned that the general public will not accept his plan. ISAAC assures the Vision that he need only convince a select few that he is doing the right thing and the android begins getting to work on the next phase of his plan.
Meanwhile, on the moon, Quicksilver and his wife Crystal watch their daughter Luna as she sleeps in her crib. Crystal is happy with their decision not to expose their daughter to the Inhumans Terrigen Mists.[6] However, they decide that they need a nanny. Luckily, Quicksilver knows just the right person on Earth who could do the job.[7]
Back on Earth, the Scarlet Witch arrives at the scene of the fire and learns that the only people left in the burning building are fire fighters who are equipped with oxygen tanks. With this in mind, Wanda projects a hex on the building to suck out all the oxygen to mitigate the fire enough for the crew to put it out. However, the strain is incredible and she tells the chief to hurry. While at Avengers Mansion, Jarvis greets Gyrich and Sikorski and takes them downstairs to meet the Vision. They find the android hooked up to a strange machine and he assures them that he was only doing a diagnostic check to make sure his systems are in proper working order. He then invites the two NSA agents into a meeting room as they have a lot to discuss.
By this time, the fire has been put out and the Scarlet Witch is resting when suddenly she sees a bright flash of light coming from Central Park. This is also witnessed by Mockingbird and Starfox who realize its coming from the same place their teammates were kidnapped. When they arrive they witness the massive structure that first took the others reappear. Emerging from within are Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, the Wasp, Hawkeye, and Captain Marvel, all alive and well. Iron Man quickly heads off while the rest of the Avengers are reunited.[8] Eros notices that She-Hulk is not among them, but Captain America insists that she’ll be by soon and suggests they all return to the mansion so he can explain their Secret War in privacy so as not to cause a panic.
A short time later, She-Hulk — attired in a Fantastic Four costume — arrives at the mansion and explains to Captain Marvel that she’ll be acting on both teams from now on.[9][10] As the Avengers settle down to their meeting and begin exchanging stories about what has been happening recently, the Wasp decides to step down as chairwoman of the Avengers. Due to the Vision’s efforts to run the team in the absence of the others he is quickly elected in as the new chairman. This is followed by an announcement by the Vision and Sikorski that the team will be expanded to include a new west coast operation that will be headed by Hawkeye. The Vision tells Hawkeye and Mockingbird to head to California and begin looking for a new headquarters and tells the rest of the team that their next mission will be to investigate a threat posed to the Earth by the aliens known as the Dire Wraiths.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Wasp, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Vision, She-Hulk, Starfox, Captain Marvel), Mockingbird, Henry Gyrich, Raymond Sikorsky, ISAAC, Edwin Jarvis, Quicksilver, Crystal, Luna Maximoff, Iron Man (Rhodes)
Continuity Notes
Captain America, Thor, the Wasp, Hawkeye, She-Hulk and Captain Marvel of the Avengers, Mister Fantastic, the Human Torch, and the Thing of the Fantastic Four, Professor X, Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Rogue from the X-Men, as well as Spider-Man, Iron Man, and the Hulk were all kidnapped by the Beyonder. See last issue, Thing #10, Iron Man #181, Incredible Hulk #294, Amazing Spider-Man #251, Uncanny X-Men #180 and Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #1-12.
For more on the Invisible Girl’s walk, see Fantastic Four #265, where she witnesses the return of the missing members of the Fantastic Four.
Mockingbird refers to herself as a newlywed. At the time of this story, she and Hawkeye had just recently gotten married. See Hawkeye #1-4.
For more on the Avengers handling the fallout from the Secret Wars abductions see Code of Honor #3. Here, Wanda and the Vision mention how her brother Quicksilver doesn’t presently live on Earth. At the time of this story, Pietro is living on the moon with the Inhumans after they were relocated there in Fantastic Four #240.
The Vision was connected to ISAAC thanks to Starfox in Avengers #238.
Pietro and Crystal decided against exposing Luna to the Terrigen Mists in Thing #3 after they were convinced that the Inhumans dog Lockjaw was once a humanoid being before its transformation. However, in X-Factor #71, it is later revealed that this was a prank played on the couple by Gorgon and Karnak for… reasons? Kind of a dick move.
Avengers #245 reveals that the person Pietro has in mind is Bova, the woman who cared for him and Wanda after their birth, as first depicted in Giant-Size Avengers #1. This story also refers to Pietro and Wanda as mutants. In reality, they are not. As revealed in Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4, they were actually experimented upon by the High Evolutionary. To cover up his work, he made it so future genetic testing would have them register as mutants.
Artist Al Milgrom makes an effort to draw Iron Man’s armor slightly different, a hint that Iron Man makes alterations to his armor while on Battleworld in Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #8. Iron Man will discover that these modifications don’t work on Earth and he’ll dump the equipment in Iron Man #182. This equipment turns out to be a sentient being called Omnivore and it will be destroyed in Quasar #8.
During the Secret Wars, the Ben Grimm discovered that he could change back and forth between his human and Thing forms and decided to stay behind as seen in Secret Wars #12. He would convince the She-Hulk to take his place on the team. She will remain on the team until Fantastic Four #301.
Here She-Hulk mentions how the Invisible Girl collapsed in Central Park shortly after the return of the rest of the FF. That happened in Fantastic Four #265. That’s because Sue was very pregnant at the time. Tragically, she will suffer a miscarriage as seen in issue #267 of that series.
Topical References
All the televisions in this story are depicted as CRTs. This is topical as this technology is considered obsolete.
Air Force One is depicted as a SAM 27000. However, this aircraft was decommissioned in 2001.
Sikorsky references an article from the Washington Post. This should be considered topical as that is a real world publication.