Avengers Annual #12
Moonrise
The Avengers — Captain America, Thor, the Wasp, She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, and Starfox — have been called to attend an emergency meeting of the United Nations.[1] They have been called in response to the recent discovery of a city on the Blue Area of the Moon. Also present, are the Fantastic Four, who reveal that the city is the home of the Inhumans and that they helped the hidden offshoot of humanity relocate to escape the harmful pollution on Earth.[2]
Mister Fantastic explains the origins of the Inhumans to the delegation — that they are an offshoot of humanity that were experimented upon centuries earlier by the Kree — and that they have lived in a secret society for generations and post no threat to the outside world.[3] He also explains that another motivation for moving the Inhumans off-world was due to a recent attack on their society by the rogue scientists known as the Enclave.[4][5] Representatives from other nations are concerned that the Inhumans could attack the Earth from their vantage point on the Moon. While the Fantastic Four insist that this won’t happen, the UN decides to send the Avengers on a goodwill mission to the Moon to confirm these assurances.
After Mister Fantastic modifies a Quinjet for space travel, the Avengers head to Attilan. Accompanying them on this trip are the Vision and the Scarlet Witch so Wanda can visit her brother Quicksilver. Once they arrive on, the Avengers are welcome by the Inhumans, and the team get to meet Quicksilver and Crystal’s newborn child, Luna.[6] When the Avengers explain why they have come, Gorgon takes offense to the fact that they are being considered a threat. Still, the royal family decides to give the heroes a tour of Attilan to prove that they are no threat. Eventually, the Avengers are taken to the tomb of Black Bolt’s mad brother, Maximus. Medusa explains that while Maximus helped the Enclave attack their home, he eventually turned on them and helped repel the invaders and seemingly sacrificed his life to do so. However, after everyone leaves the crypt, Maximus opens his eyes as he is still very much alive and a prisoner inside his glass coffin. The only one who notices that something is amiss is the Inhumans dog, Lockjaw, who notices that Maximus has a familiar scent and that Black Bolt himself is not who he seems to be.
Soon, a party is thrown in the Avengers honor and while everyone is socializing, the Scarlet Witch talks to Medusa in private. She has also noticed that Black Bolt is strangely distant and Medusa admits that her lover has been acting this way for some time but doesn’t know why. That evening, when everyone has gone to bed, Medusa wakes up from troubled dreams to find herself alone in her room. She wonders why Black Bolt is being so distant with her. Little does she know that Black Bolt had his mind swapped by Maximus. At that same moment, Maximus has come to visit his brother in the tomb to mock his situation, confident that nobody will learn the truth.
The tranquility of the evening is interrupted when Wanda also wakes up from a nightmare about the Earth being under attack. This is moments before Captain America wakes everyone up because SHIELD is reporting that meteors have been launched from the Moon in apparent Inhuman attack on Earth. Thor is quickly dispatched into space as he has the strength to shatter these projectiles with his hammer, Mjolnir. When the other Avengers confront “Black Bolt” and the others over this, Bolt shocks everyone by ordering the other Inhumans to attack. The rest of the royal family follows these orders without question until the Wasp convinces Medusa that there is something amiss. When She-Hulk tries to attack “Black Bolt”, Maximus panics and blows his cover by speaking out loud, something the real Black Bolt cannot due to the fact that his voice could cause massive destruction from uttering even the tiniest whisper.
With Maximus’ mind-swaping scheme exposed, the Avengers and the Inhumans return to the crypt where his body is being kept. There, Karnak and the Vision work together to break open the glass coffin. Once freed, Maximus touches his brother, reversing the mind swap. Maximus then explains that he did not die during the battle with the Enclave, but entered a death like coma and was able to use his mental powers to mind-swap with his brother. He also reveals that the real attack on Earth is being caused by the Enclave who are hiding out in the Alpha Primitive tunnels below the city. When Maximus flees to his former allies, the Avengers and Inhumans follow after him and quickly stop their attack, just as Thor finishes dealing with the meteor swarm heading to Earth. With the danger now over, the Avengers assure to the Inhumans that they will convince the governments of Earth not to fear them.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Wasp, Vision, Scarlet Witch, She-Hulk, Starfox, Captain Marvel), Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Karnak, Gorgon, Triton, Lockjaw), Maximus, Quicksilver, Luna Maximoff, Alpha Primitives, Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), Iridia, Stallior, (in flashback) Enclave (Maris Morlak, Wladyslav Shinski, Carlo Zota),
Continuity Notes
So in case you’re wondering where this story fits in continuity, it takes place between page 19 and 20 of Avengers #232, before the cliffhanger ending.
The Inhumans had begun developing a sensitivity from man-made pollution dating back to Fantastic Four #105. The FF helped the Inhumans relocate to the Moon in Fantastic Four #240.
Mister Fantastic briefly covers the Inhumans origins:
That they were the creation of the Kree, details of which were revealed in Thor #146-149.
That the Inhumans have relocated in the past. Their homeland of Attilan was once located on an island in the norther Atlantic until the 1950s when they were at risk of being discovered. With the help of the Eternals they moved Attilan to the Himalayan Mountains where it remained until it was moved to the moon. See What If? #29-30.
Reed also mentions how Attilan was once contained in an impenetrable barrier. The barrier was erected around the city following the Inhuman’s first encounter with the FF in Fantastic Four #47-48. The barrier was ultimately destroyed by Black Bolt in issue #59 of that series.
The whole Enclave plot against the Inhumans is made here to explain the events of Fantastic Four #207, which ended with Medusa being kidnapped by some mysterious group. That plot thread was dropped during a change in creative teams.
In the flashback here, the Thing is depicted with bumpy lizard-like skin, totally different than his trademark rocky hide that is featured in this story. That’s because this flashback takes place during a period when Ben was de-evolved to an earlier form by Franklin Richards in Fantastic Four #238. He is changed back to his trademark look in issue #245 of that series.
Lots going on with the Maximoff twins here, the details:
Crystal recently gave birth to Luna in Fantastic Four #240. She was named Luna in issue #248.
Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are referred to as mutants multiple times in this story. In reality, they actually aren’t. Years later, in Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #5, it is revealed that their powers are actually the result of the being experimented upon as infants by the High Evolutionary. In order to cover up his work he made it so future genetic testing would identify the twins as mutants.
Mention is made of the last time Wanda came to Attilan and how, at the time, they learned that Magneto was allegedly their father. That was in Vision and the Scarlet Witch #4. This is later revealed to be a falsehood in the aforementioned Uncanny Avengers issue. Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #4 & 12 reveal that they are the children of Natalya Maximoff and an unidentified man.