Avengers Annual #16
The Day Death Died
This story continues from West Coast Avengers Annual #2…
The East and West Coast Avengers and the Silver Surfer have been tricked into participating in a new Contest of Champions, all part of a scheme by the Grandmaster to imprison the personification of Death itself.[1] Thor and Iron Man leads the Surfer, the Wasp, Wonder Man, and Captain Marvel to attack the Grandmaster who easily swats them away.
Deciding to play a brand new game, the Grandmaster uses the power stolen from Death to create five “Life-Bombs” and sends them across the universe. He then challenges the Avengers to prevent the bombs from going off and wiping out all life in the universe. To oppose the combined Avengers, the Grandmaster summons an army of dead heroes and villains which include the Swordsman, Nighthawk, the Executioner, Terrax, Hyperion, the Green Goblin, Korvac, Death Adder, Dracula, Bucky, the original Black Knight, the original Captain Marvel, Baron Blood, Drax the Destroyer, and the Red Guardian.[2] He then dispatches the Avengers and the Surfer to try and stop the Life-Bombs.
Thor, Hawkeye, and Hank Pym finds themselves transported to the Olympian netherworld of Hades where they are opposed by the Executioner, Swordsman, and Nighthawk. In the ensuing battle, Thor finds that the Executioner acting out of character and believes that they might actually be fighting impostors. In the ensuing battle, Hank is killed by Nighthawk and Thor sacrifices his own life to destroy the Life-Bomb, leaving Hawkeye as the lone survivor of the battle.
Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Tigra, and Moon Knight find themselves on an alien world where they have to face off against the original Captain Marvel, Drax the Destroyer, Death Adder, and the Green Goblin. The battle doesn’t go well for the Avengers as Moon Knight, She-Hulk, and Tigra are all mortally wounded. Eventually, Captain Marvel succeeds in destroying the Life-Bomb with her powers but is ambushed by her opponents who destroy her energy form.
Simultaneously, the Silver Surfer finds himself alone against the god-like Korvac in deep space. Korvac uses his power to try and impede the Silver Surfer. However, when Norrin Radd refuses to give up, Korvac leaps onto his surfboard and strips Norrin of his protective silver skin. Dying in the vacuum of space, Radd sends his board on a collision course with the Life-Bomb, sacrificing his and Korvac’s life to destroy the weapon.
The next team consists of Iron Man, Mockingbird, Doctor Druid and the Black Knight, who appear on yet another alien world. There they are ambushed by Dracula, the Red Guardian, Terrax and the original Black Knight. Iron Man sacrifices his own armor in order to destroy Terrax and tries to defuse the Life-Bomb while the others are busy protecting him. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough time and the Life-Bomb goes off, killing the combatants and a fifth of all life in the universe. Watching from his vantage point is the Grandmaster and his prisoner, Death. The Grandmaster is pleased with how things are going as he was assuredly come out of this the victor.
The final team of Avengers consists of Captain America, the Wasp, and Wonder Man who appear on frozen wasteland in the middle of a blizzard. There they face Bucky, Baron Blood, and Hyperion. This battle results in the death of everyone but Captain America, who is forced to kill Bucky in order to get to the Life-Bomb and stop it from detonating, leaving him the lone survivor of the conflict as well.
Suddenly, both Captain America and Hawkeye are teleported back to the Grandmasters domain. He congratulates the pair for winning the first part of the contest. The two surviving Avengers learn that there is a second round and this time the dead Avengers will join the Legion of the Unliving. Facing impossible odds, Hawkeye decides to pull a fast one on the Grandmaster. He tempts their foe with a game of chance by holding two arrows behind his back. One has one of his modular arrow heads snapped on, the other does not. He then holds both arrows behind his back and challenges the Grandmaster to a bet. If he can correctly guess which one has the head, the Grandmaster wins. Unable to pass up the all-or-nothing odds, the Grandmaster agrees and picks one of the arrows. It turns out that this one doesn’t have a head and his loss allows Death to break free and banish the Grandmaster.
Captain America can’t believe that Hawkeye would gamble all life in the universe like that, but Hawkeye reveals that he cheated by pocketing the arrowhead using slight of hand to ensure that no matter what, the Grandmaster would lose. Apparently thankful for being freed, Death then restores the dead Avengers to life and returns both teams and the Silver Surfer to the Houston baseball stadium where the team was having their regular team baseball game. With the danger now passed, the Avengers decide to playball. They are being observed by the Grandmaster who is already plotting his revenge, but quickly finds himself distracted by the heroes baseball game.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Wasp, Black Knight, She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, Doctor Druid), Avengers West Coast (Iron Man, Hank Pym, Hawkeye, Wonder Man, Tigra, Mockingbird, Moon Knight), Silver Surfer, Grandmaster, Death, Legion of the Unliving (Swordsman, Nighthawk, Dracula, “Bucky”, Black Knight, Executioner, Terrax the Tamer, Captain Marvel, Baron Blood, Hyperion, “Green Goblin”, Drax the Destroyer, Korvac, “Red Guardian”, Death Adder)
Continuity Notes
This is quite the complex story to jump into, allow me to explain: When the Collector was killed by Korvac in Avengers #174, the Grandmaster made a wager with Death to win back the Collector’s life. This took place in Contest of Champions #1-3 and ended with the Grandmaster winning but the Collector’s resurrection came at the expense of his own life. The Grandmaster then schemed to return to life, leading to the first chapter of this story which took place in West Coast Avengers Annual #2.
The appearances of many of these characters here are dubious since it is later revealed that they were actually alive at the time they were believed dead. Per the Legion of the Unliving profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #6 explains that some or all of these villains — as Thor suggests later on in this story — are impostors since they are acting very much out of character. At any rate, the characters present are:
The Swordsman: Was actually dead at the time, having sacrificed his life to save Mantis from Kang the Conqueror in Giant-Size Avengers #2. He is one of the many characters in this story who (at the time of this writing in September 2021) has remained dead. He was briefly resurrected in Chaos War: Dead Avengers #1-3.
Nighthawk: Seemingly perished in an explosion in Defenders #105. He actually survived and spent many years after in a coma registered as a John Doe until he woke up in Nightwing #1.
The Executioner: Was also dead at the time of this story, Skruge sacrificed his life defending Asgard in Thor #362. However, due to the nature of the Asgardian afterlife, Skurge would continue to make appearances well into modern publications. Most recently (as of this writing) he was briefly resurrected and appeared in Asgardians of the Galaxy #1-10 before returning to the afterlife and finding himself in Valhalla.
Terrax: Was dead at the time of this story. His was killed in a battle with Doctor Doom in Fantastic Four #260. However, Terrax will be resurrected shortly after this story in New Warriors #1.
Hyperion: Died battling his Earth-712 counterpart in Squadron Supreme #8. As of this writing he has remained dead.
Green Goblin: The identity of this Green Goblin is not specified in this story. The presumption at the time this story was written was that this is Norman Osborn, who seemingly died in Amazing Spider-Man #122. However, he faked his death and was living in secret at the time of this story, as seen in Spider-Man: The Osborn Journal #1. This could be Bart Hamilton, the third Green Goblin, who was actually dead at the time of this story, having perished in Amazing Spider-Man #180. Hamilton will remain dead until he was brought back to life in Clone Conspiracy #2.
Korvac: Ended his life when he realized that nobody would accept his god-like powers in Avengers #177. Korvac will remain dead until he returns to life — bereft of his god-like power — with little explanation in Captain America (vol. 3) #1.
Death Adder: Was murdered by the Scourge of the Underworld in Captain America #318. He will remain dead until he is resurrected by the Hood in Punisher (vol. 8) #5.
Dracula: Was killed along with all of Earth’s vampires when Doctor Strange cast the Montessi Formula in Doctor Strange (vol. 2) #61-62. Dracula will be resurrected in the pages of Tomb of Dracula (vol. 3) #1-4.
Bucky: Is believed to have died in 1945, as seen in Avengers #4. However, he actually survived and was transformed into the Russian assassin called the Winter Soldier. He will turn up alive again in Captain America (vol. 5) #1.
The original Black Knight died centuries ago during the fall of Camelot, as seen in Marvel Super-Heroes #17. He is also one of the few on this list that has remained dead as of this writing.
The original Captain Marvel died of cancer in Marvel Graphic Novel #1. He will mostly remain dead following this tale, although he is briefly resurrected in Chaos War: Dead Avengers #1-3 and Secret Avengers #26-28.
Baron Blood: Baron Blood was killed by Captain America in Captain America #254. He will be resurrected in Knights of Pendragon (vol. 2) #10-11.
Drax the Destroyer: Drax was fatally wounded battling his daughter Moondragon in Avengers #219-220. Drax will be resurrected in Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #35.
Lastly, we have the Red Guardian. The presumption at the time this story was published is that this was Alexi Shostakov, who seemingly died in Avengers #44. He is revealed to be still alive in Daredevil (vol. 2) #64. However, it has since been revealed that the Red Guardian identity has been worn by others before and after Alexi. This could be Aleksey Lebedev the Red Guardian of World War II, first seen in Namor of the Sub-Mariner Annual #1 and reported dead in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #4.
Topical References
The Avengers are depicted playing baseball in the Houston Astrodome. This should be considered a topical reference as the building was forced into closure in 2008 due to numerous building code violations. Although there were plans to revitalize the stadium, the most recent attempt (at the time of this writing) in 2019 were scrapped.
