Avengers #289
The Cube Root!
Heavy Metal, a rogue team of robots formed by the Super-Adaptoid, have launched a surprise attack on Avengers headquarters on Hydrobase. While the Kree Sentry, Machine Man, and Tess-One attack the facility, the Adaptoid breaks off to pursue his own agenda.[1]
This attack catches the She-Hulk, Sub-Mariner, and Marrina off guard. As the two Avengers head off to face this threat, Marrina refuses to stay on the sidelines, insisting on fighting alongside her husband. She-Hulk attacks the Kree Sentry, however, despite her super-human strength the alien robot easily knocks her out. While everyone is busy, the Super-Adaptoid reaches the room where the Avengers have contained the Awesome Android and reactivates it.[2] With this additional distraction, the Super-Adaptoid is convinced that he can achieve his final goal without opposition.
Elsewhere on the island, the Sub-Mariner and Marrina battle Tess-One. This proves to be a challenge because the robot is made of Adamantium. Things are made even worse thanks to the arrival of the Awesome Android.
Not far away, Walter Newell hears the sound of battle and changes into Stingray in order to lend the Avengers a hand. He arrives just as Machine Man realizes that he can no longer pretend being on the Super-Adaptoids side.[3] Unfortunately, Stingray confuses him for an enemy and begins attacking him. Shrugging off Stingray’s electrical blasts, the robot tries to explain that they are on the same side.
Inside Avengers Headquarters, the Super-Adaptoid pulls up the group’s file on the Cosmic Cube in order to learn what happened to it and use a hyper-wave transmitter to return it to Earth.[4] He is interrupted by Captain Marvel, who is just returning to headquarters, but the android manages to blast her with a mental jolt that leaves her unconscious in her energy form. [5] Outside, the battle rages on as the Avengers drag out the remaining members of Heavy Metal into the ocean. Back inside, Stingray and Machine Man try to ambush the Super-Adaptoid, but they are too late to stop him from making contact with the Cosmic Cube. The Cube appears in the room in its original form before assuming a humanoid form. Introducing itself as Kubic, the Cube demands to know why it has been summoned back to Earth.
Reverting back to his original form, the Super-Adaptoid explains that he, like the Cube, was created by Advance Idea Mechanics and that a sliver of the Cube was used to give the android its ability to mimic the appearance and abilities of others. With that, the Adaptoid copies Kubic’s powers and appearance and vows to use his new god-like power to
Recurring Characters
Avengers (She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, Sub-Mariner), Heavy Metal (Super-Adaptoid, Machine Man, Tess-One, Sentry 459, Awesome Android), Marrina, Stingray, Kubik
Continuity Notes
The narrative of this story details the origins of the various members of Heavy Metal in brief detail:
It states that the Kree Sentry was stationed on Earth to monitor the planet for his masters. This Sentry was first seen in Fantastic Four #64, however, the scope of his mission was detailed more fully in Thor #147.
Machine Man was the lone survivor of a government project used to build robots for military applications. This was detailed in 2001, A Space Odyssey #8-10.
Lastly, Tess-One is stated as being created as a fail-safe in case America’s super-soldiers during World War II ever went rogue. See Captain America Annual #8.
The Super-Adaptoid attempted to recruit the Awesome Android into Heavy Metal in Avengers #286, but was thwarted by the Avengers.
The reason Machine Man pretended to join up with the Super-Adaptoid was because of a promise that his lover Jocasta could be restored to life. The female robot died battling Ultron in Marvel Two-In-One #93.
Through the Avengers records, the Super-Adaptoid follows the chain of custody of Earth’s Cosmic Cube and gives a brief run down of the status of each person:
The device was created by AIM in Tales of Suspense #79. Here it is stated as being off world. This was after the Cube gained sentience becoming the entity known as Kubic in Captain America Annual #7.
The first person to wield the Cube was the Red Skull who used it on two occasions by this time in Tales of Suspense #79-81 and Captain America #115-119.
The Skull is listed as deceased at the time of this story. The Red Skull appeared to die after his body rapidly aged to death in Captain America #300. However, the Skull survived by transferring his mind into a cloned body of Captain America. This will be revealed in issue #350 of that series.
Here, the Avengers believe AIM to have been disbanded. AIM was last defeated after a long running scheme that ran from Iron Man #204 through 216. They will turn up again in issue #230 of that series.
Thanos possessed the Cosmic Cube in Captain Marvel #27-33.
Thanos is listed as deceased here. He was turned into stone in Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2. He will be resurrected again in Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #34.
The last person in the Avengers records is Aquarian, aka Wundarr. He was an alien whose powers and mind was enhanced after being exposed to the Cube in Marvel Two-In-One #58.
Aquarian is listed as inactive here. He was last seen in Captain America Annual #7 and will turn up again in Quasar #4.
The Super-Adaptoid mentions how he mimicked the telepathic powers of Mentallo. That happened in Avengers #287.
