The Collection Obsession Part 4: Mud and Glory?

The Brethren have come to invade the planet Earth. While their headquarters is perched atop the World Trade Center, their leader Thane Ector has ventured into the sewers below with his brother, the Fool. The Fool revels and gorges in the human waste flowing through the sewers and extols his brother to gorge himself as well. Thane Ector, who knows the real truth about his people is reluctant to engage in such base behavior. The Fool then chastises Thane for denying what he is. Eventually, the temptation and hunger become too great and Thane Ector finds himself scooping handfuls of shit and muck and chowing down, it’s pretty gross.

Meanwhile, on the moon, a team of Avengers consisting of Quasar, the Black Panther and Beast continue searching for the biome where the Collector stored the Brethren in order to find out how they escaped and a possible way to defeat them. They are joined by the Collector himself who has been in a fugue state since they freed him. Also accompanying them is Nakka, the tribal chief of a biome that was decimated by the Brethren before their escape to Earth. It has been a harrowing trek as they venture through many exotic biomes that have been utterly wiped out by Thane Ector and his followers. Quasar cannot understand how the Collector can be so unfeeling toward such wholesale destruction. However, the Collector does feel loss, explaining that he made his collection in order to preserves these rare societies. When the Black Panther reports back to Hank Pym, who is monitoring things from outside, they conclude that the Brethren were only attacking biospheres that were incredibly complex.[1] Observing the pattern of destruction, Hank can’t help but be reminded of how a disease rips through a healthy body. Nakka then chimes in, telling them that the name Thane Ector translates to pestilence in his native tongue.

That’s when the Watcher appears in the cabin with Hank Pym. Although Uatu say nothing due to his oath of non-interference, Hank infers that his presence means that they are onto something. As if confirming this, the Watcher gives the faintest hint of a smile.[2]

Back on Earth, the core Avengers team — Captain America, Black Widow, Hercules, Vision, the Black Knight, and Rage — have regrouped back at their headquarters. During this down time, Crystal explains that she has come to petition membership in the Avengers since she felt her place was on Earth after her husband, Quicksilver, returned to his home world on some kind of secret mission.[3] She feels that there is a lot of good she can do with her powers as she has to atone for the fact that she ruined her own marriage, something that she accepts full blame for doing.[4] Captain America welcomes Crystal’s addition to the team and promises to bring her on a more official capacity once the conflict with the Brethren has been resolved. Everyone is delighted to have Crystal on board as well, particularly the Black Knight.[5] However, Rage begins to privately doubt what role he has on a team with so many other powerful beings.

When Captain America gets an incoming call from SHIELD, Lockjaw begins growing at the Vision. Crystal apologizes, explaining that the Inhuman dog doesn’t recognize the synthezoid in his new form.[6] The Vision understands and offers to do whatever he can to ease her adjustment into life with the Avengers. Meanwhile, Cap gets an update from Nick Fury himself. The SHIELD Director reports that his scientists have examined the victims of the Brethren’s attacks and have discovered that they have all the natural bacteria’s sucked from their bodies.

Meanwhile, Sersi is still a prisoner of the Brethren under the orders of Thane Ector. While in captivity, she has been allowed to read ancient scrolls about the origins of the Brethren. When Sybyl Dorn — one of the Thane’s right hands — enters the room she is furious that an outworlder is being allowed to read their most sacred texts. The two women begin fighting and when it turns out that they are evenly matched in the power department, Sybyl shocks Sersi by transforming into a massive mound of bacteria. However, before Dorn can fully envelop Sersi, Thane Ector enters the room and forcibly removes her. After sending Sybyl Dorn away, the Thane decides that it is time to explain the true origins of his people so that Sersi might understand what they actually are. He explains that the ruling class usually gives birth to twin offspring who are to be told the hidden truth about their people upon turning fifteen. In every case, one brother is driven mad and becomes the Fool, while the other whose mind is intact become the new Thane Ector and charged with ruling their people. He explains that they were created by the Celestials, but even their sacred scrolls hide the true purpose of their people and why they destroy every other race they come into contact with. Sersi doesn’t fully understand and asks him to speak plainly.[7] Thane shocks her by saying his people are the disease of the universe.

While back on the moon, Hank Pym continues trying to make sense of the data coming from the science team. As he is piecing the mystery together, the Watcher makes another silent appearance further convincing Hank that he is on the right track. Uatu vanishes again when Quasar and the others finally reach the biosphere where the Collector contained the Brethren. As if to punctuate their final destination, the Beast is horrified to discover that Nakka has suddenly died.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Beast, Black Knight, Black Panther, Black Widow, Captain America, Crystal, Hercules, Iron Man, Quasar, Rage, Sersi, Vision), Brethren (Thane Ector, Sybyl Dorn, Fool), the Watcher, the Collector, Hank Pym, Edwin Jarvis, Lockjaw, SHIELD (Nick Fury)

Continuity Notes

1. Here, Hank wishes his could have shrunk down and joined his fellow science Avengers, but Black Panther reminds him that it is impossible. 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.

2. The Watcher’s oath of non-interference is referenced here. The Watchers took this pledge after sharing atomic secrets to an alien race that then used that technology to wipe themselves out in nuclear war. See Tales of Suspense #53 and Original Sin #0.

3. At the time of this story, Quicksilver has joined up as a member of the government sponsored X-Factor team, as seen in X-Factor #71.

4. Crystal has long since been married to Quicksilver dating back to Fantastic Four #150. However, more recently, she engaged in an illicit affair with Norm Webster in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #6-12. When Quicksilver found out he went bad for a while. It was later revealed that Quicksilver was being pushed over the edge by Maximus the Mad as explained in X-Factor Annual #2 something that Medusa feels he did to push Crystal into having an affair as well.

5. The Black Knight mentions how Crystal used to be a member of the Fantastic Four. She had two stints on the team in the past. The first was from Fantastic Four #81 to 105. The second time was from Fantastic Four #305 through Annual #21.

6. Recently the Vision was disassembled by a group calling itself Vigilance. Although he was rebuilt, all emotions and those connections to his memories were purged from his systems, leaving him a cold and unfeeling synthezoid as well as ghost white, as seen in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #43-45.

7. Sersi mentions that her own people were created by the Celestials and evolved from man. See Eternals #1.

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.