The Collection Obsession Part 3: For Here We Make Our Stand!

The alien race known as the Brethren have invaded the planet Earth. As they continue their conquest of the planet, Thane Ector teleports their base of operations onto the roof of the World Trade Center. He then announces his invasion of New York City as Brethren foot soldiers teleport onto the streets below and begin attacking civilians.

With the situation growing dire, the President of the United States calls Captain America to get an update on what the Avengers are doing to handle this crisis. Cap assures the President that the team has members on the ground as well as a second group investigating the origins of the Brethren in the hopes of learning some way to defeat them.[1]

Once he has ended the call, Cap meets with the Avengers present at headquarters: The Black Knight, the Black Widow, Hercules, Iron Man, the Vision, and Rage.[2] When Peggy Carter reports in about Ector setting up his base atop the World Trade Center, Cap sends the others to deal with this new threat. Due to his injuries fighting Thane Ector one-on-one, Cap has to stay behind while he heals from his injuries.

Meanwhile, on the moon, a team consisting of Black Panther, the Beast, and Quasar have ventured into the micro-biomes of the Collector in order to learn where the Brethren came from and hopefully find a way to stop them. This has been made difficult since the Collector himself is in a fugue state. This has led them into a ecology where they are attacked by a massive parasitic creature. They keep in touch with Hank Pym, who is waiting by at full size to extract the team when they are done.[3] Eventually the Beast and the others get past the creature and end up in another biome that is home to a primitive alien race. They are about to attack until the Avengers bring up Thane Ector. This convinces the leader of this tribe that they should kill the intruders right away.

Back on Earth, the rest of the team are trying to fight off Thane Ector’s foot soldiers, but they are prove to be too powerful. Ector himself is watching the proceedings from his headquarters along with his closest confidants Fool and Sybyl Dorn. However, when Thane decides to visit with Sersi, their captive, Sybyl grows more upset with how much time their leader is spending with the Earth woman. Ector brokers no dissention and reminds her that as their leader he does what he believes is right for his people. After he leaves, the Fool — Thane’s brother — tries to convince Sybyl Dorn that the Thane’s a guided by the secret knowledge of their people and what he does is for the good of them all. Dorn wants to hear none of this and attacks Fool for speaking out of turn with her.

Meanwhile, Thane Ector visits with Sersi, who has been unable to use her ability to transmute matter to free herself from her bonds. She demands to know why Ector has held her prisoner and he explains that he keeps her alive out of curiosity, revealing that his people — just like Sersi’s fellow Eternals — were created by the Celestials.[4] The two suddenly find themselves madly attracted to one another and kiss. When Sersi asks her captor just who he is, he amusedly suggests that he could be a rival, suitor, or lover. When Thane Ector leaves Sersi’s quarters, he is confronted by Fool who tries to mentally attack his brother in an effort to remind him of who he is and what the goals of their people are. Fool immediately regrets attacking his master as he could have destroyed him. Thane Ector then bemusedly suggests he wants his life to end so he no longer has to shoulder the burden of knowing the truth about his people.

Back aboard the Collector’s ship, the Avengers manage to convince the primitive tribe that they are actually seeking to stop Thane Ector. This prompts an end to their battle, and the leader of these aliens explains how Ector and his people invaded their biome and laid waste to it. As it turns out, before getting free of the Collector’s collection, the Brethren managed to force their way into other biomes and lay waste to them. The tribal leader points to a vent high above them as the Brethren’s entry point.

While on Earth, Captain America and Black Widow join the battle against the Brethren on the streets of New York. However, the pair are surprised when a group of enemy troops have been teleported away. That’s when the Inhumans Crystal and Lockjaw — the ones responsible for banishing the enemy soldiers — arrive on the scene. Crystal explains that she wants to apply for membership in the Avengers as the team is going to need all the help they can get.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Beast, Black Knight, Black Panther, Black Widow, Captain America, Hercules, Iron Man, Rage, Sersi, Vision), Brethren (Thane Ector, Sybyl Dorn, Fool), Collector, Peggy Carter, Hank Pym, Crystal, Lockjaw

Continuity Notes

1. It’s revealed in Avengers #339 that the Brethren are hyper-evolved bacteria created by the Celestials who later lost interest and abandoned this creation. They were captured by the Collector until he intentionally let them loose in issue #334.

2. Here, Captain America acknowledges Iron Man as one of the original Avengers who founded the group. At the time of this story, Tony Stark’s identity as Iron Man was not known to the general public. When Iron Man became an outlaw while trying to shut down rogue Starktech, Tony faked his alter-ego’s death and later tricked the public into thinking a new person was now wearing the armor, he even tried to maintain this ruse with his fellow Avengers. Tony did a piss poor job at it and just recently dopped all pretenses. See Iron Man #225-232, Captain America #340, and Avengers West Coast #72.

3. The reason Hank remains at full size is because he can no longer size change his own body. For years, Hank used his size-changing Pym Particles on himself to shrink (starting in Tales to Astonish #35) or grow (starting in Tales to Astonish #49). However, the process was always extraneous on his body. He gave up size-changing after retiring from costumed heroics in Avengers #230. Hank would start using his size-changing powers again in Avengers #366, despite the health risks.

4. Per Eternals #1, the Eternals of Earth were created by experimented on primitive man, whereas the Brethren (as revealed in Avengers #339) were created from bacteria.

Topical References

• The original twin towers of the World Trade Center are prominently featured in this story as the Brethren park their ship atop this former landmark. This should be considered a topical reference as these buildings were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and since replaced with the Freedom Tower. Modern readers can assume the Brethren ship is perched atop the newer Freedom Tower instead.

• The President of the United States is depicted as George H.W. Bush here. This should be considered a topical reference as Bush was only President from 1989 to 1993. He subsequently died in 2018.