Avengers #267
Time — And Time Again!
The Avengers have welcomed new recruits to their team, the mutants known as Storm and Colossus. However, the inclusion of Colossus onto the team has come with some controversy since is a former citizen of Russia. However, the President of the United States has called a press conference to assure the American people that Colossus is not a Russian spy. That’s when Iron Man arrives to deliver something from his employer, Tony Stark. As the President struggles to open the case, Tony Stark rushes the scene to try to stop him but he is detained by the Secret Service who don’t recognize him. When the President opens the box it detonates a nuclear bomb that decimates the entire city. Emerging from the rubble is “Iron Man” who turns out to be Kang the Conqueror in disguise.
Kang is suddenly pulled from this timeline and appears before a council of three of Kangs. This trio has formed a council to deal with the various divergent versions of Kang the Conqueror that they have deemed to be an insult to their name. They have considered this Kang a failure and show him that his actions has created another divergence where the Avengers stopped and killed him before he could detonate his bomb.[1] The Kang on trial questions what gives the tribunal the right to judge him. That’s when the lead Kang uses a blaster to atomize him. With that business out of the way, the three Kangs depart to their own realities, agreeing to meet up again soon.
However, one of the Kangs is suspicious of their leader and returns to their headquarters to find out what he’s hiding. He finds his counterpart waiting for him. This Kang explains he has nothing to hide and shows his counterpart around his lab where he mass producing weapons and robots for use in his conquest of time. The lead Kang then reveals that he has been spying on his counterparts for quite some time and knows their every move. He then has one last surprise in store for his counterpart: He reveals that Ravonna is alive and well. While the other Kang is distracted by this, the lead Kang kills him, as he too intended to betray his fellow council members so that he would be the only Kang alive in the multiverse.[2]
Meanwhile, on present day Earth, the Wasp returns to Avengers Mansion to find the front gate swarmed with protestors and the press. As it turns out, news of the Sub-Mariner’s membership on the team has been leaked by the tabloids and people have come to protest Namor’s inclusion due to his past conflicts with the surface world. Caught off guard, Janet flees into the mansion where Jarvis informs her that the Black Knight and Hercules are busy working on the under ground tunnel that will shuttle the team to Hydrobase where their Quinjets will now be stored.[3]
The Wasp goes down into the tunnel to see how things are going and the three Avengers suddenly find themselves teleported to a strange realm thick with mist. There they witness the Hulk appear before them, prompting Hercules to strike the gamma spawned brute. That’s when they realize the Hulk is in some kind of trance. When the man-monster suddenly disappears and is replaced with Giant-Man. Confirming that this is indeed Hank Pym, the three Avengers try to figure out what’s going on.
Back on Earth, Captain America, Captain Marvel, and the Sub-Mariner are out in a submarine in New York Harbor. Watching Namor frolic with some proposes, Captain Marvel is surprised to see the usually stern Sub-Mariner has a playful side. Cap points out that there is a lot people don’t realize about Namor that he witnessed during World War II, and while he agrees that Namor can be dangerous he thinks that being on the Avengers will bring out the good man Steve knows is in Namor’s heart. It’s here that Monica decides to reveal her first name to Cap, telling him that she trusts him with her secret. However, Captain America deduces that she doesn’t overly trust Namor and wonders how long it would take for Monica to reveal her secret to him.
Meanwhile, the three Avengers trapped in the realm of mist are trying to make sense why the Hulk and Giant-Man would make brief appearances in this place. Suddenly, Giant-Man is replaced with Iron Man and noticing that he is wearing one of his earlier suits of armor, Janet suddenly realizes what they are witnessing. She tells them that one of the Avengers first missions was battling a menace called the Space Phantom. The Space Phantom had the ability to assume the form of others, causing his victims to be briefly sent to Limbo, a timeless realm. She deduces that they are trapped in Limbo and what they are seeing are the past Avengers appearing before them during the brief moments that the Space Phantom assumed their forms.[4] That’s when the Prime Kang appears before them and reveals that he was the one that brought them to Limbo. He tells the three Avengers that they must do as he says if they ever want to return home.
The Avengers refuse and attack, quickly discovering that this is not the real Kang, but a robotic proxy. Observing from his headquarters, Kang gloats over being able to deceive his foes with one of the robots he puts in place of the counterparts he kills. When Ravonna asks what Kang intends to do with their three captives, he reveals that he intends to trick the three Avengers into destroying her remaining counterpart, securing him as the only Kang in the multiverse.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Wasp, Black Knight, Hercules, Captain Marvel, Sub-Mariner), Council of Kangs (Kang), Ravonna, Hulk, Giant-Man, Iron Man
Continuity Notes
The reality where the Avengers are killed by Kang is identified as Earth-267 and the one where Kang is killed instead is identified as Earth-86501 per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #2 and 4 respectively. The Prime Kang in this story comes from Earth-6311 per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005. The realities of all the other Kangs in this story have not been identified at the time of this writing (September 2021)
The issue of Ravonna being alive is a complicated issue because time travel:
The Ravonna Renslayer of Earth-6311 was fatally wounded during a battle with the Avengers and had been kept in suspended animation by Kang, as seen in Avengers #23-24. As divergents of the baseline Kang, the alternates also experienced such a tragedy.
The Ravonna seen here is a divergent that was created when Kang pulled her out of time moments before she was shot, as explained in Avengers #269. This divergent reality has been classified as Earth-8657 in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3.
As explained in Avengers Annual #21, the Ravonna of Earth-6311 was later revived by the Grandmaster and left a duplicate in her place while the true Ravonna sought revenge against Kang.
This whole opening sequence hits on a number of current goings on in the Avengers at the time:
After the Vision briefly took over the world’s computers, the government decided to reorganize their agreement with the Avengers circa Avengers #255.
Later, in issue #261, the team had their FAA clearance revoked and were ordered to move their Quinjets out of downtown Manhattan.
In the following issue they leased out space on Hydrobase from Walter Newell, aka Stingray. It was also during this story that they convinced the Sub-Mariner to join their team.
The Avengers first fought the Space Phantom way back in Avengers #2. Some details about that particular moment:
Janet states that the Avengers battle with the Space Phantom was “years ago”. Per the Sliding Timescale, about seven years has passed between Avengers #2 and this story.
Janet points out that Hank is wearing his first Giant-Man costume here. Hank had many identities one of which was Giant-Man. The costume he is seen in here was the one he wore from Tales to Astonish #35 until issue #65 of that series.
She also notes that Iron Man is wearing one of his early suits of armor. This was the first suit of armor Tony Stark built, dating back to Tales of Suspense #39. It was painted gold in the following issue of that series. Iron Man wore this armor until he upgraded to the first version of his trademark red and gold armor in Tales of Suspense #48.
Topical References
On the alternate reality where Storm and Colossus are members of the Avengers (Earth-267), Ronald Reagan is depicted as the President of the United States. Russia is also referred to as the Soviet Union in this reality. This could be considered a topical reference, it might not be. Some realities in the Marvel Multiverse do not operate on a Sliding Timescale. For example, the New Universe (Earth-148611) is locked in as happening in the 1980s. The same could be true of Earth-267. Or this could be a reality where Reagan and the Soviet Union both exist in the Modern Age. Marvel hasn’t said one way or the other and it seems unlikely they ever will given that this was a one-off reality that has not been seen since, so it could be a matter of interpretation.