Avengers in the 1980s
The 1980s saw the Avengers hit on some major milestones, but it could not compete with the vastly more popular Uncanny X-Men, which was at the height of it’s popularity, as well as a break-out runs in Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man. The Avengers was somewhere in the middle when it came to quality story telling and art. Still, the milestone stories that did come out of this decade were still big stories that still resonate today. More so than any other decade of the first volume of the book.
The start of the decade saw writer David Michelinie finish his run from issue #191 through 205. With John Byrne’s departure as artist in issue #191, the next two issues featured a two part story drawn by Arvell Jones. It was your basic “normal joe gets turned into a monster, goes on a rampage that also exposes some kind of corruption.” tale, which isn’t overly memorable. It does see the Scarlet Witch take a brief leave of absence from the team to contemplate if she wants to start a family or not. George Pérez returned as regular artist in issue #194 doing the art until issue #202. His first three issues start with the Avengers, the team is no longer under the heavy scrutiny of Henry Gyrich, and so they start taking back control of their membership. This sees the Falcon leaving the team, because he was only there to fill a quota. The plot revolves around the Avengers helping a man who escaped from a mental institute who turns out to be a clone created by the administrator, who had a rare health condition and needed a transplant and only a clone would suffice. Anyway, this is all a round about way to introduce a new villain into the life of the Avengers, the Taskmaster. The Taskmaster has photographic reflexes to master the skills of anyone he observed, and uses this ability to help train the endless sea of henchmen used by various super-villains. The Taskmaster would go on to bigger and better things in later years.
The following issue had comics legend, Carmine Infantino fill in for Perez and started a bizarre story arc. Issues #197-199, saw the Avengers fighting the massive robot known as Red Ronin. This was a character previously seen in Marvel’s licensed Godzilla comic book, which saw the titular Japanese Kaiju running amok in the Marvel Universe. Having the Red Ronin appear in the Avengers is an odd choice. However, the same thing was later done with another licensed book, Shogun Warriors, in the pages of Fantastic Four. Maybe it was Marvel’s way of asserting the rights to the characters that they created in those books that were unique to the Marvel Universe. This absurd tale was merely a backdrop for a sub-plot where Ms. Marvel and the Scarlet Witch have a discussion about giving up super-heroics in order to have children. Moments after Ms. Marvel finishes saying she doesn’t want to have kids, she collapses and is rushed to the hospital where it is revealed that she is 3 months pregnant.
This takes us into Avengers #200, possibly one of the most infamous issues of the decade, if not the entire run. There are a lot of hands involved with this story with plot credits going to Jim Shooter, Bob Layton, and George Pérez on top of David Michelinie himself writing the full story.
In this story, Carol Danvers is rapidly going through pregnancy and gives birth to a baby boy that she wants nothing to do with it. Although the why is not outright said (this is still the era of the Comics Code Authority) she doesn’t know how she got pregnant and doesn’t know who the father is, lightly implying that she was the victim of rape. As the baby rapidly ages and becomes able to communicate, we learn that this baby is the son of Immortus who, trapped in Limbo needed to impregnate a woman so he could be reborn in time. Despite the fact that Carol was raped, the Avengers all act like they her baby was a magical thing and gush over it following its birth. Just a lot of really insensitive comments made from Earth’s mightiest heroes. When Marcus Immortus grows to adulthood and explains how he kidnapped, gaslight, and then impregnated Ms. Marvel with himself, he then convinces her to come back to Limbo with him, and the Avengers all willingly let her go.
Even back then, this whole story upset a lot of fans. It also pissed off Chris Claremont, who wrote Ms. Marvel before the book was cancelled. There would be a reckoning with this awful story in Avengers Annual #10 a year later, which saw Carol confront the Avengers over letting her rapist spirit her away to Limbo. It’s pretty ugly. Thor gets slapped in the face.
So how did such a tone deaf story like Avengers #200 managed to get published? When commenting on the story in 2011, Jim Shooter (who was Editor-in-Chief when this got published) tried to explain it and does so poorly. While he claims to not remember his involvement in the story, he at least takes full responsibility for it seeing the light of day. In hindsight, he said he’d never have approved for a number of reasons and then focuses on Iron Man giving a kid a laser torch instead of, you know, the rape part. He also asserts that the story came about because Michelinie had a beef with Chris Claremont at the time. When asked about it on the Comic Shennaigans podcast, Michelinie recalled that the original story for issue #200 had to be scrapped because it was nearly identical to a story that was already published. He doesn’t mention what story and who wrote it and intimates that someone cribbed the original story idea, but is short on details. David states that the new story was rushed together on a tight deadline to meet the publishing schedule and that’s why the story is the way it is. I don’t think there could be any fair or reasonable explanation for the story that isn’t free from scrutiny. The story was written 40 years ago. It’s awful and has become a lot of fodder for online listicles that regurgitate the same “shocking” details about it, even going so far as (incorrectly) saying Marvel has retconned it. It hasn’t been retconned and you’d know this if you take 30 second to do some research instead of plagiarizing your material, ScreenRant. The Marvel Handbooks still reference it and just because it’s not stated in stories written 40 years later doesn’t mean it was retconned.
As atrocious as that story is, I think a competent writer — a female writer — could revisit that story and pen a powerful story about Carol Danvers being a rape survivor. Claremont’s response was okay, but it’s still a man’s voice about a uniquely female problem.
Anyway, now that we got the elephant out of the room, let’s keep going…
Issue #201 is interesting because it features a back-up story about the Avengers butler, Edwin Jarvis. We finally learn his first name and meet his mother. It humanizes the Avengers long time servant and shows that, at least against regular crooks, he can hold his own. Issues #201 and 202 feature the return of Ultron, which is nothing that spectacular. This marks the end of George Pérez’s work on the Avengers until the late 90s. I have to say, George’s work during this run on the Avengers isn’t that spectacular and is missing a lot of his the signature flares that he was known for. I’m wondering if he sacrificed his usual detail in order to make sure the book got out on time considering his previous run on the Avengers featured quite a few fill in issues due to missed deadlines.
Michelinie’s run on the book ended with a one-off story focusing on Wonder Man and the Beast in issue #203, with art by Carmine Infantino. It’s dumb. Following this, the book went through a period where the creative team was in flux. Issue #204-205 featured a plot co-written by Jim Shooter and Bob Budiansky with artist Alan Kupperberg involving the Yellow Claw. Issue #206 saw Bill Mantlo team-up with Gene Colan in a story where battle a fire based villain named Pyron. Colan would continue on as the regular artist on the book with stories being handled by various writers after this point. As usual, Colan’s a competent enough artist and by the 1980s a lot of his rough edges were ironed out. However, not a fan of Colan’s work on superheroes, I always thought his strong side was drawing horror comics. Issue #207-208 featured a story written by Budiansky and Danny Fingeroth, which pitted the Avengers against the immortal warrior known as the Berzerker. Issue #209 was a fill-in issue by J.M. Dematteis and Kupperberg. In it, the Beast is reconnected with his old girlfriend Vera Cantor only for her to be mostly murdered by a Skrull seeking the powerful Resurrection Stone. In the typical DeMatteis fashion, it ends on a down note where Vera isn’t restored to life and a resolution would not come about until later on during J.M.’s run on the Defenders.
Mantlo and Colan came back with issue #210 that had the Avengers fight the Weathermen, a group of scientists brainwashed by a sentient weather satellite that was obsessed with making the predictions of Nostradamus come true.
Then came the aforementioned Avengers Annual #10, written by Chris Claremont with art by Michael Golden. It’s worth mentioning again since it resolved the Marcus Immortus shit-show, as well as being the first appearance of X-Men mainstay Rogue. It is the story where Rogue steals the memories and powers of Ms. Marvel permanently. What’s interesting about this story is that the story begins with the damage already done, that clash between Rogue and Ms. Marvel was never actually depicted in the story.
An explanation: The Ms. Marvel book had been cancelled two years earlier after 23 issues. However, two issues were nearly completed and were not published for years. These stories were finally published 13 years later in the pages of Marvel Super-Heroes, an anthology book that Marvel put out in 1992. The intended story for Ms. Marvel #23 was published in issue #10. The final story, intended for Ms. Marvel #24 was published in issue #11. The latter story depicted Ms. Marvel’s fight with Rogue. As the story was only partially completed by Chris Claremont and Mike Vosberg, Simon Furman and Mike Gustovich were brought in to complete the tale.
Starting with issue #211, Jim Shooter took over as writer for the Avengers for 11 issues, probably because nobody else was available? Shooters first issue was to change up the roster. It featured a story where a bunch of heroes suddenly show up at the mansion to audition for the Avengers. As it turns out, they were all being manipulated by Moondragon who at this point was being ramped up into a mega bitch whose perceived godhood made her an insufferable character. The team didn’t change very much. It mostly consisted of core members Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Yellowjacket, the Wasp, with the only new addition being Tigra. All the other cast members decide to fuck off and do their own thing. It is easily one of the most underwhelming roster changes in the group’s history. Issue #211 also marked the end of Colan’s run, and a revolving door of different artists continued on a for a bit.
Issue #213-214 are notable for the abrupt change in Yellowjacket’s personality. After failing to hack it as a scientist, Hank Pym rejoins the Avengers and turns into a massive dick. He screws up, gets court-martialed and while waiting for his trial, he slaps the Wasp across the face. This story became infamous and Hank Pym was forever painted as a wife beater. Jim Shooter once again tried to back-pedal his intend saying the artist misinterpreted what was supposed to be an accidental slap in the face and drew an intentional strike instead. This would later lead to Hank being expelled from the Avengers and for Janet to divorce him right away. The idea of domestic abuse in a superhero story was unheard of back then. I think the only mistake Shooter and his team made was not exploring the serious subject of domestic violence. Everything happens so suddenly that there is not really any chance to provide some important commentary on a real issue.
Issues #215-216 are interesting as it reintroduces the Molecule Man. After years of being trapped in a “magic wand” and possessing people, the Molecule Man recreates his original body and then hatches a half-baked plot to eat the Earth, drawing inspiration from the Silver Surfer’s tales of Galactus. It’s a silly story, but it is notable as Captain America finally learns Iron Man and Thor’s secret identities. It also presents the Molecule Man less as a ridiculous character with a lot of emotional baggage to unpack, something that is explored in more detail later on in the decade during the Secret Wars II event.
The majority of Jim Shooters run on the title was dealing with the fallout from Yellowjacket’s court-martial from the team, ending with Yellowjacket being framed by his old foe Egghead and jailed. With issues #217, Bob Hall came on board as regular artist. Issue #218 was a fill-in issue written by J.M. DeMatteis about an immortal who reborn every time he dies. It’s notable for having a child shoot themselves in the head not only on the cover but in the book as well, a sign that the CAC’s restrictions were changing with the times. Otherwise, this story is just another in a long line of depressing DeMatteis stories about super-humans tormented by their back story and being suicidal. Also the art work is by Don Perlin in this issue, who I mostly know for his tepid work in Marvel’s Transformers comic book. It’s not good here either. Issue #219-220 is a two parter about Moondragon being an annoying bitch on a planetary scale.
By issue #221, David Michelinie was back as writer, fleshing out the plots provided by Jim Shooter. It was also time for another membership, something that had been put on the backburner since Tigra left the team at the end of issue #216. This issues cover shows a variety of possible recruits including Power Man, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange. Hell even ROM the Space Knight was on the cover. Ultimately, the team opts to bring Hawkeye back on and take on the She-Hulk as a new recruit. The addition of She-Hulk was likely due to the fact that her own title, Savage She-Hulk having gotten the axe a few months prior. The pair would spend a lot of their tenure on this incarnation of the team bickering with one another as Hawkeye was not a fan of the She-Hulk. Issue #223 features Hawkeye and Ant-Man teaming up to battle the Taskmaster, who had set up operations at the traveling carnival where Hawkeye got his start. Issue #224 (scripted by Alan Zelentz and drawn by Mark Bright) saw Tony Stark start a whirlwind romance with the Wasp. Since Janet didn’t know that Tony was also her teammate Iron Man, she cuts off their romance when she learns the truth. This story spends a lot of time asking people “what about Hank’s feelings?” with regard to Tony’s tryst with Janet. While Tony’s romance was inappropriate, it’s not so because of Hank’s feelings. Um, how about fuck Hank’s feelings because he’s a wife beater and an idiot? I think that’s the correct answer.
Issue #223 also saw the legendary Mark Gruenwald come on as editor on the book. Gruenwald’s attention to continuity is something of a lost art in comic books today. Nobody had his level of devotion to the stories that were being written. He cared about everything down to the minutest detail. The world of comics lost something important the day he died. Under Mark’s watch, a retcon was done meticulously so that past stories weren’t lazily tossed away, like they do now. Mark knew that radically changing a past event could have prerecessions with the stories that happened in between that a current right may have missed that would complicate things. He made sure that they weren’t so much retcons, as embellishing a past story line. That outdated continuity wouldn’t simply be gone, it was usually woven into the understanding of the character. Usually it was a deception or a false memory, but it made sure that both story ideas still had some value at the end of the day.
Gruenwald also ensured that the Avengers was very referential, that even the most inconsequential one-off story could be referenced again somewhere down the road. It gave the Avengers a sense of memory. For example, the Weatherman story from issue #210 are brought up again in issue #249 because both stories featured weather going out of control. Sure to the uninitiated reader that may seem like an obscure reference, but it gives the characters a sense of memory that makes them more believable characters. That they can draw on past experiences in more contemporary stories.
Gruenwald was the best. Nobody has matched his attention to detail ever since. It’s disappointing that nobody has strived to be as knowledgeable as him. Again, a huge loss to comic book story telling. Sadly, he wasn’t editor long enough in my mind, moving off the title after issue #304.
Anyway….
Issue #225-226 were written by Steven Grant and Greg LaRocque, which sees the Avengers travel back to the 12th Century to help the Black Knight defend Avalon from the Fomor. It serves as a means of bringing the Black Knight back to the present day. I don’t find it a particularly interesting story because it is crammed full of new characters (the Fomor) who are all painfully one dimensional. Also British mythology is fucking boring.
Roger Stern and Sal Buscema jump on the title for issue #227 to recruit a new member onto the team, the new Captain Marvel who first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16. Unfortunately Sal doesn’t stick around and art duties are given to Al Milgrom. I do not like Al Milgrom’s work. It’s some how too plain and uninteresting. Compared to other artists of the era, Al’s work is bland. Anyway, issues #228-230 wrap up the Yellowjacket saga, having the Avengers discover he was framed by Egghead. It gives Hank Pym an opportunity to redeem himself and ends with him deciding to abandon his costumed persona and become a full time scientist. We’re supposed to think that this time will be different, but Hank will continue this cycle ad nauseum for decades to come. The story also provides some closure to Hawkeye, who ends up inadvertedly killing Egghead in the final battle, avenging the death of his brother Barney, who was seemingly murdered by Egghead two decades earlier.
Issues #231-232 is an uninteresting Plant-Man story where he creates plant simulacrums of SHIELD agents to try and assassinate the President of the United States. It’s amusing because the President is depicted as Ronald Reagan and he spends most of the story snoozing in a recliner while he’s held hostage, which is a pretty spot on representation of Reagan’s handling of the AIDS crisis (that’s probably not what they were going for, but it works) It also sees Eros, the Uranian Eternal, joining the team. Not a fan of Starfox. An Eternal with the power to make people horny for him? That’s lazier than anything Jack Kirby came up with when he created the Eternals.
From here, the Avengers suddenly start becoming more interconnected to what’s going on elsewhere in the Marvel Universe, starting with issue #233. This story featured the Avengers defending New York City from Annihilus. This story happens concurrently with the events going on in Fantastic Four at the time it was published (particularly issues #251-256 which saw the FF on a prolonged exploration of the Negative Zone) This story also sees the Vision put into a coma, setting into motion another sweeping storyline.
We see it again in issue #236-237 where Spider-Man tries to join the Avengers to collect a $1000 weekly stipend that the team gets. We also see it in issues #240-241, which saw the Avengers investigate the mystery of Spider-Woman, whose own series had been cancelled previously and the character killed off. Roger Stern and Ann Nocenti (who previously worked on Spider-Woman) got to work on a story to bring Spider-Woman back after fans reacted poorly to her getting killed off. It also tied up many of the loose ends that were still left over from that series. Jessica Drew would come back, but not as Spider-Woman. She would be shuffled from book to book over the years until ultimately Brian Michael Bendis would bring her back as Spider-Woman in the 2000s.
An odd issue in this mix is issue #239. At the time, Marvel was promoting what they called “Assistant Editors Month”, which was billed as what happens when the usual Marvel editorial team goes off to San Diego Comiccon, leaving the Assistant-Editors in charge. All the comics published during this month featured “wacky” stories that were tonally or artistically different from the norm. A lot of it is a bunch of “Inside Baseball” navel gazing and self-referential jokes that would be lost on modern readers now. The Avengers issue in particular featured the team making an appearance on David Letterman’s old talk show back when he was on NBC, which makes this story very, very, dated.
Issues #242-243 gets back on track, setting things up for Marvel first massive cross-over Secret Wars. It featured the Vision scrambling to protect the city when most of the team was kidnapped by the Beyonder. The android parlays this into becoming team leader when the rest of the team returns. The Vision also uses his new position to kick off a new west coast branch of the Avengers, resulting in the first Avengers spin-off title, West Coast Avengers, which I will get into in more detail some other time.
Following this, issue #244-245 has the Avengers defending NASA from the Dire Wraiths, as part of a larger storyline that was going in the commercially licensed Rom series that Marvel was producing. The unfortunate thing about this is the fact that Marvel no longer has the license to Rom anymore and those stories are kind of lost to modern readers unless they have access to a massive back-issue bin. Not an easy task today. My hope is that Marvel, Hasbro, and IDW will someday work together to put out reprints of these long lost stories, like they did when IDW reprinted all of Marvel’s old Transformers comic books, particularly issues that have various rights issues.
Anyway, from there, we have issues #246-247 and 250, which brought back the character Maelstrom, briefly tapped into his mixed heritage a bit. However, these stories served more as an effort to further draw a connection between the Eternals on Earth with the ones on Titan which was started in the pages of What If?. This was also to explain the confusion between the Titanian’s alleged connection with the Greek gods that was made back in Captain Marvel back in the 70s. It was a whole thing.
Issues #251-254 wrapped up the long running Vision storyline. which reveals that the Vision had been conspiring with ISAAC — the world-mind on Titan — to take over all of Earth’s computers in order to force the planet into peace and create a utopia. This of course is discovered by and opposed by the Avengers, who point out how the Vision’s plan is flawed because we humans can’t have nice things. Basically, it’s pointed out that even the most benevolent take over would be met by opposition from humanity who would fight back against him no matter what. Kind of depressing, but looking at what’s been going on during the Covid-19 pandemic, Roger Stern certainly hit the nail on the head with that one. However, they try to wrap the story up with a neat little bow with the Avengers stopping the Vision and deciding to keep his almost-take-over a secret. This would still come back to haunt the Vision later in the pages of West Coast Avengers not long after this.
Starting in issue #255, John Buscema hops on as an artist. He and Roger Stern would work on the Avengers together up until issue #288 pumping out some of the most memorable Avengers stories of the decade. No easy feat when the on-going stories were going through a period of frequent interruption by company wide cross-over events like Secret Wars II and Inferno.
One of their first major arcs involved the decimation of the Savage Land in Avengers #256-257. In that story, the pre-historic wonderland was annihilated when Terminus removed the devices that maintained the tropical climate, allowing the Antarctic weather to wipe it out. It was later revealed that this wasn’t the real Terminus, but a Deviant named Jorro and the damage was later undone during the Evolutionary War event, but it was still a very ballsy move. From here, in issues #258-260 and annual #14 Stern and Buscema weaved a story that introduced the characters to a new villain named Nebula. She claimed to be the granddaughter of Thanos and the Avengers teamed up with the Skrulls to put an end to her reign of terror. It ends with another major change: The Skrulls losing their shape-shifting ability, something that would remain the status quo for a number of years. After some required Secret Wars II crossover stories in issues #260 and 261, the team found themselves at odds with the government again, leading to them setting up an off site location for their Quinjets in issue #262 and the inclusion of the Sub-Mariner on the team. This would cause some blowback from the public given Namor’s past crimes against humanity. Unfortunately, neither of these plots were given much time to really grow as the title moved the Avengers from one threat to another.
The epilogue to Secret Wars II in issue #256 wrapped up Marvel’s long running saga involving the Beyonder. With the Earth severely damaged in the final battle the Avengers and the Fantastic Four scramble to try and heal the planet before it destroys itself. They find this aid from the Molecule Man, who seemingly sacrifices his powers to save the planet. However, this wouldn’t be the last we see of either the Molecule Man or the Beyonder, as later writers would continue to expand on the characters, their origins, and their connections. It would lead to many conflicting stories, but we’ll get into those some other time.
Another big story followed after this one in issues #267-269, with the return of both Kang and Immortus. This story addresses the negative consequences of Kang’s travels through time, namely creating divergent realities and divergent versions of himself. This leads to the formation of a Council of Kangs, a trio of alternate time masters who went about the multiverse killing versions of Kang they found to be an embarrassment to his name. This was all allowed by Immortus was was manipulating the Kangs into pruning their own timeline to ensure his own eventual creation. The brutality of this plan led to the Avengers coming to consider Immortus a villain since he first appeared back in issue #10. Although final issue of this arc boasts a final battle between Kang and Immortus, neither man throws a punch at one another and it ends with Kang being driven mad and fleeing into Limbo. This story would set up a long standing conflict between the two, as Kang tried everything in his power to prevent himself from becoming Immortus.
In-between issues, Stern was setting up the next big Avengers story that would come to fruition in the pages of issues #273-277. In it, Baron Zemo forms a new Masters of Evil in the effort to destroy the Avengers once and for all and avenge the death of his father, the original Baron Zemo. This story ends with Hercules brutalized, Jarvis in the hospital, and Avengers Mansion left in ruins. It fundamentally changed the team at the time. Ushering forth a new roster, their complete adoption of Hydrobase, and the exit of their long time butler. The site of Avengers Mansion would be a park for many years until a new headquarters was built in its place in the early 90s.
Issue #279 saw the team undergo another roster change, with the addition of Doctor Druid as the only new character to join the team which mostly saw a return of past characters: Captain America, Thor, She-Hulk, with Captian Marvel taking over a leadership role.
Issue #280, written by Bob Harras with art by Bob Hall, was a one off story centered around Jarvis in the aftermath of the Masters of Evil’s siege on Avengers Mansion. Seriously injured, the team’s butler reflects on his career and contemplates retiring from the job due to the threat on his life. It is story about his devotion to the Avengers and how he has with the team from the very beginning and witnesses its many struggles and changes. It also shows the deep bonds he formed with many of the Avengers over the years. It’s a very poignant tale, ending with Jarvis promising to come back when he’s healed from his injuries.
Roger Stern’s run on the book ended with a story arc in Avengers #281-285. In it, the Avengers are blamed for Hercules’ injuries during the siege and captured by Zeus. It has the Avengers facing the Olympian gods themselves and fighting their way to freedom. While this might have been epic stuff when it was written, I found myself getting bored reading this as I find stories that lean too heavily on royalty free interpretations of mythology to be quite lazy. Anyone can write a story about the Olympian gods and I find that most writers will lean into these myths rather than come up with something totally new or original, it’s why I’m not much of a fan of Thor, but I digress.
Ralph Macchio took over as writer after this with issues #286-290, which featured a story about the Super-Adaptoid gaining the power of the Cosmic Cube so he can create a race of Adaptoids to replace all life on Earth. The story has an odd beginning, with the Adaptoid forming a group of robots called Heavy Metal to accomplish this goal which is promptly abandoned once he gains cosmic power. It’s not a particularly interesting story since it’s not all that different from the recently concluded Secret Wars II, in that the cosmic powered Adaptoid is defeated by tricking it into becoming human and dying.
Walter Simonson picked things up from there. Following his iconic run on Thor, his work on the Avengers is a real step down in quality. His first arc in issues #291-293 begins with the Sub-Mariner’s new wife, Marrina, transforming into a massive sea-monster called Leviathan. This forces the Avengers to kill the monster in order to save lives. It is used to not only fridge Marrina, but also nerf Captain Marvel’s role as team leader in favor for the increasingly insufferable Doctor Druid. The Black Knight also finds himself shouldered with the blood curse of his Ebony Blade again turning him into the teams second insufferable asshole. This is setting things up for another Kang related storyline in issues #294-297, which reveals that Druid has been being manipulated by a female Kang named Nebula and ending with the dissolution of the team.
This story becomes messy, as it takes the Council of Kangs storyline by Roger Stern and takes it to another level that doesn’t really work. In Simonson’s run it’s revealed that there is yet another group the Council of Cross-Time Kangs, kind of a Captain Britain Corps of Kangs, that rule over the Omniverse and are trying to obtain some nebulous super-powerful weapon that could destroy all existence. A lot of these plot threads are let unresolved for a very long time. Simonson wouldn’t revisit it again until his run on Fantastic Four in the early 90s. The plot doesn’t get wrapped up until 1992’s Citizen Kang storyline by Roy Thomas which took place in all the Avengers related annuals that year. It’s a confusing mess that reveals that Kang Nebula, whom Simonson intended to be the space pirate Nebula, is later revealed to be Ravonna Renslayer… It’s a whole confusing thing, we’ll get into it some other time. It is a great example of the confusing shit that happens when a different creative team is left to wrap up outstanding plot threads though.
To be honest, I’m not overly fond of this storyline because of the characterization of Doctor Druid. He started off as a dutiful new Avenger into a total libidinous dickhead. His inclusion of the Avengers really puzzled me since they really down played his occult abilities and he only seemed to be around to overstep Captain Marvel’s role as leader until he forced his way into the role. The dismissive way they dispatch both Captain Marvel and Marrina from the book is also quite abrupt and could have been handled a little better. The idea that Captain Marvel is left disabled without either proving herself or failing as Avengers leader seems like a real missed opportunity. A battle between Marvel and Druid over leadership of the Avengers would have made for a more interesting tale.
Simonson’s run ends with an Inferno tie in story where Captain America (during the period where he wasn’t Captain America… long story) has to reform the Avengers to help save Franklin Richards from Orphan Maker and Nanny. This new team consists of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, who were on a hiatus from the Fantastic Four, as well as Thor and the Eternal Gilgamesh. It’s not the most interesting team to have been assembled and proves to be very short lived as the roster changes after Simonson’s departure.
Issues #301-303 was the three part Super Nova story arc which saw Quasar join the team written by Ralph Macchio with art by Bob Hall. Issue #304 was a one-off pitting the Avengers against the U-Foes by Danny Fingeroth and Rich Buckler. John Byrne and Paul Ryan closed out the decade, finally setting up a stable roster of Avengers leading up to their involvement in the Acts of Vengeance event that was happening in every Marvel book at the time. A novel idea that saw title characters being forced to fight villains they wouldn’t normally have to battle. It was a good idea in theory that plays out better in other titles, the Avengers was the central plot about the conspirators behind the Acts of Vengeance trying to get revenge against the team. It saw the sinking of the Avengers then headquarters, Hydrobase.
It’s interesting to note that during this run, John Byrne’s name often appeared under the artists names in the credits. I’m kind of a half-assed comics historian so I couldn’t tell you why that was. Since most “inside comics” stories tend to be overly dramatic, I’d like to think this was just something nice they did to really showcase Paul Ryan’s work. It’s nice to dream sometimes.
Anyway, in a nutshell, the Avengers of the 1980s was an interesting grab bag of mostly good stories with quite a few milestone issues and a few missteps along the way. The team saw some gain in popularity, but they were still being overshadowed by the more popular Spider-Man and X-Men. It would be another decade before the team really starts mattering to contemporary readers. However, before we get there we still have to get through the EXTREME 90s. An era that would see the Avengers go through its wildest changes that were quickly back pedaled and mostly forgotten these days, but as usual this is a story for another time.
