Avengers #358
Arkon’s Asylum
The world of Polamchus has become an arid wasteland. As the priest named Anskar surveys the land he is informed by one of his followers that their ruler, Arkon, and his mate Thundra have left the planet. This doesn’t surprise Anskar but he knows where their leader will go and has the magic thunder bolts to force him to come back.
Indeed, Arkon, Thundra and a young girl named Astra have materialized in the middle of New York City. This sudden appearance has put people in a panic and the NYPD reacts by pulling their guns on the visitors. Arkon is angered by this show of force and clashes with the authorities.
Soon the Avengers — Black Widow, Black Knight, Hercules, Sersi, and Crystal — arrive to try and stop the situation from blowing up. This backfires when Hercules goads Arkon into a battle. However, eventually everyone stands down when Thundra gets every one see that they only came here to prevent Astra from being sacrificed in some arcane religious ritual back on their home world. Arkon adds that in doing so he has betrayed his people and potentially doomed his world. Realizing that Arkon needs their help, the Avengers take him back to their headquarters to find out what’s going down.
There, Marilla — the nanny for Crystal’s daughter Luna — has come up to the room where the Swordsman is staying to bring him a meal. She admits that she is a little spooked by him because the Avengers have said that their Swordsman — the spitting image of this one — died some time ago.[1] That’s when the Vision comes in and explains that the Swordsman comes from another reality. He has come because the Swordsman has yet to tell them what the Gatherer’s goals are because his mind has been scrambled from being brought into this reality. The Vision has decided to give Paul access to the Avengers database so he can read up about his counterpart in this reality in the hopes this will somehow jog his memory. It’s then that the Black Widow and the others arrive at the mansion and asks the Vision to join them in the meeting room.
Downstairs, the Vision joins his teammates as Arkon explains why he has come to Earth again. He reminds them how Polmachus isn’t sustained by a star, but by unique energy rings that circle the planet. He recounts how he has come to the Earth in the past in order to revitalize his planet, getting assistance from the Avengers and the X-Men in the past.[2] For a time, his world was fine and Arkon spent his days enjoying peace with his new consort, Thundra.[3] However, this all changed when suddenly the energy rings began glowing brighter than before. This increase the temperature around the planet causing crops to fail and turning their lush environment into a desert wasteland. As people became desperate a religious leader named Anskar began working people up by claiming that this was a punishment from the god and that in order to appease them, they must sacrifice a young woman. Astra was selected among and Arkon was about to go along with it when Thundra convinced him that this was wrong.[4] The two then went against the religious order by freeing Astra and fleeing Earth in the hopes of getting her someplace safe. As Arkon finishes his tale, the group is struck by a mystical thunder bolt and find themselves transported back to Polmachus.
Back on Earth, the Gatherers have returned to their secret hideout. There, Magdalene pleads with Proctor to allow her to go back and rescue her lover, the Swordsman, from the Avengers. Proctor — one of Magadlene’s former lovers — is annoyed about having to worry about her current boyfriend, but assures her that they will go back and rescue him. However, Proctor is lying, using his psi-link with Cassandra — one of his most loyal Gatherer — that they will actually be going to kill the Swordsman in order to prevent him from telling the Avengers of their plans.[5]
On Polamchus, Anskar has the Avengers trapped in a force field and demands that Astra be sacrificed as it is the only way that the gods can be appeased. However, the Avengers know that this is all bullshit and the Vision uses logic against him. Freeing himself from the force field with his phasing powers, the android tells the gathered crowd that the Avengers have saved Polmachus on a number of occasions by using science. He asks them to give them another chance to resolve the current crisis. Anskar believes that this will accomplish nothing but agrees to give the Avengers 24 hours, saying that if they fail they will move ahead with the sacrifice.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Hercules, Vision, Black Knight, Black Widow, Sersi, Crystal), Arkon, Thundra, Swordsman, Marilla, Anskar, Gatherers (Proctor, Cassandra, Magdalene, Sloth)
Continuity Notes
The Swordsman of Earth-616 died back in Giant-Size Avengers #2. This Swordsman comes from another reality. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #2 identifies it as Reality-921.
Arkon has come to Earth on a number of occasions to revitalize his world by either trying to destroy Earth, or enlisting aid of its heroes to save his planet. See Avengers #75-76, Fantastic Four #160-163, and X-Men Annual #3 and 5.
Thundra and Arkon warred against each other until they discovered they were attracted to one another. Thundra later decided to become Arkon’s consort. See Avengers West Coast #75.
The reason that Thundra takes issue with the idea of a female sacrifice is because she comes from an alternate reality where women are the dominant gender and warred with a reality where men were the dominant sex. See Savage Tales #1, and Fantastic Four #151-153.
Proctor’s end goal is left ambiguous here. However, it is revealed in Avengers #372-375, that he has formed the Gatherers to hunt down and kill every version of Sersi in the multiverse because he was dumped by her one time. It’s pretty cringe and probably why we will never see an Into the Proctorverse movie.
