Avengers #258
Pyrrhic Victory!
The Avengers have just stopped the menace of Terminus, however this has come at the cost of the total destruction of the Savage Land.[1] The Avengers are rescued from the frozen Antarctic weather from a science team in a helicopter. On board are Ka-Zar and his wife, Shanna the She-Devil, two of the few survivors of the holocaust.[2] Although Ka-Zar mourns the loss of his home, the fact that Terminus was destroyed gives him a bit of solace.
Heading back to the United States, the Avengers mourn the lost lives, wishing there was more they could have done. Captain America takes it particularly hard, believing they could have saved more lives had the missing Captain Marvel been with them on this mission. When the team returns to Avengers Mansion they discover technicians gutting their computers under orders from the government. Shocked by this intrusion they enter their meeting room and find two government agents questioning Jarvis to try and learn why the Vision recently took control of the computers at NORAD.[3] The Avengers are annoyed by this, but their NSA handler — Raymond Sikorski — insists that it needs to be done. He also tells them that they government is now re-evaluating the team’s government clearance. When Starfox assures Raymond that the technology that allowed the Vision to take over NORAD has long since been dismantled, the NSA agent is upset because Eros destroyed important evidence.[4] Captain America is upset by this because government stonewalling led to them being ill-prepared for their battle with Terminus and cost thousands of lives. Raymond apologizes to them, but insists that he had to allow this restructuring to happen otherwise the government was going to force the Avengers to disband.
Unfortunately, further debate is tabled when the Avengers receive a distress call from the NYPD who has been having a hard time reaching the group due to the regular government channels being cut. The team then head off to the Bronx where Spider-Man is in the middle of a battle with Firelord, a former herald of Galactus.[5] The arrive just as Spider-Man has succeeded in knocking Firelord out. Learning how powerful his opponent was, the wall-crawler is horrified to learn how close he came to getting killed and leaves the Avengers to clean up the mess.[5] When Firelord wakes up he is in the Avengers lab being examined by the Black Knight. Thinking he is being held prisoner, the former herald of Galactus tries to fight back but is shocked when the Knight’s Ebony Blade is able to cleave his cosmic flame in half. This allows Hercules to sucker punch Firelord, and the Olympian convinces Firelord that he must make restitution for all the damage he has caused during his earlier battle with Spider-Man.
Observing this from a monitor, Raymond Sikorski is relieved that the Avengers are able to get Firelord under control. The Wasp then returns to talks with their NSA handler over the Avengers restructuring. Captain America almost takes command of the situation, but has to remind himself that Janet is their leader. He decides to leave her to deal with Sikorski, telling her to get the team a good deal. As he departs, Captain America once again wonders why Captain Marvel hasn’t returned from her mission to Sanctuary II, unaware that Monica is currently millions of light years away in the Andromeda Galaxy and a prisoner of the mercenary known as Nebula.[7]
Nebula intends to use Sanctuary II to conquer what is left of the Skrull Empire.[8] With no way home, Monica is forced to work with Nebula and her cohorts. She sends Captain Marvel to break through a force field protecting a nearby Skrull armada. Monica complies, but only in order to breach the Skrull ship to call for help. Once on board, Captain Marvel convinces the Skrulls to send a distress call back to Earth. However, when they hear her trying to contact the Avengers they try to stop her, but fail.[9] Hearing Captain Marvel’s distress call, Levan — Nebula’s second-in-command — can’t only delay the transmission. In response to Monica’s betrayal, Nebula fires an anti-matter missile at the Skrull ship seemingly destroying it and Captain Marvel.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Wasp, Black Knight, Hercules, Starfox, Captain Marvel), Spider-Man, Firelord, Nebula, Ka-Zar, Raymond Sikorski, Edwin Jarvis, Gunthar, Levan, Terminus, Skrulls
Continuity Notes
There is a lot going on here that is unexplained. For one, the Avengers didn’t fight the real Terminus, but an impostor:
The real Terminus attacked the Earth in Fantastic Four #269-270. That battle ended when Mister Fantastic used a gravity device to trap Terminus in the Earth’s core.
Quasar #7 reveals that Terminus encountered a Deviant named Jorro and the pair formed an alliance over their mutual hatred of the Celestials. It was Jorro, disguised as Terminus, who attacked the Savage Land because of its connection with the Celestials.
Why Jorro destroyed the environmental machines that kept the Savage Land alive is not clearly explained, since they apparently have nothing to do with the Celestials. Ka-Zar the Savage #34, among many other stories, explain that they were created by the Nuwali. The Terminus profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #11 states that Jorro went to destroy some unrelated Celestial experiment that was done in the Savage Land, apparently a scorched Earth plan was necessary.
Actually, a lot of the Savage Land people survived by escaping to another dimension. They will return after the Savage Land is restored by the High Evolutionary in Uncanny X-Men Annual #12.
This was a part of a plot by the Vision to take over the world’s computer to force people into a utopia. It didn’t work out so well. See Avengers #252-254.
The technology Eros is speaking of was installed in Avengers Mansion in Avengers #238 during a period when the Vision was incapable of operating his body.
Spider-Man’s battle with Firelord is chronicled in Amazing Spider-Man #269-270.
Hercules mentions how he had battled Firelord in the past. The first time this happened was back in Thor #225.
Captain Marvel was sent on a mission to investigate if Sanctuary II was still secure by the Vision in Avengers #252. The space station had long been abandoned following the death of Thanos in Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2.
At the time of this story, the Skrull home world had just recently been destroyed by Galactus, as seen in Fantastic Four #257.
The Skrulls hate the Avengers because they helped put an end to the Kree/Skrull War in Avengers #89-97.
Topical References
This story states that Spider-Man’s battle with Firelord takes place in a “decimated” region of the Bronx. At the time of this story, the Bronx was undergoing heavy revitalization and it is during this period of revitalization that this story is framed in. Any reference to that specific period in Bronx history should be considered topical.
