Avengers #366
The First Rule!
The planet Earth is under threat by renegade survivors of the Kree army, who want revenge against the Avengers for their part in the recent Kree/Shi’ar War. While a team has been dispatched to upstate New York to deal with this threat, the situation is being monitored back at Avengers Headquarters by the Black Widow, Captain America, Hank Pym, and Magdalene. They are interrupted by Sersi who comes into the room telling them that the away team has been captured and they are being tortured. Something she can feel now that she has been psychically linked to the Black Knight.[2]
That’s when the Vision returns to headquarters and confirms the others have been captured. Worse, the Kree have brought a Nega-Bomb to Earth in order to detonate it on the planet. Once the bomb was brought into Earth’s atmosphere, they left in a ship to points unknown. The Vision had to break off his pursuit in order to warn the others as his transmitter was damaged by the electromagnetic pulse that brough the Nega-Bomb to Earth. As the Avengers try to figure out where the Kree could have gone, Sersi gets impatient and tells them that she can follow the others through her mind-link with Dane Whitman. Getting tired of waiting, Sersi takes off on her own, prompting Captain America and the others to follow after her in a Quinjet.
The Kree soldiers under the command of Galen-Kor have set up their base of operations on a report island on the South Pacific. There, both the Black Knight and Crystal are being tortured by Kona Lor. She takes great pleasure in doing so since the Black Knight is the one responsible for killing their leader, the Supreme Intelligence. Once they have had enough, both Dane and Crystal are taken back to their cell. Kona then leaves her comrade Dylon Cir to torture Deathcry, since he suffered greatly during the Kree/Shi’ar border wars. Hercules is forced to witness these atrocities and he warns the Kree that when the other Avengers arrive they will be freed and he will make them pay. This amuses Kona Lor who tells Herc that she hopes his friends hurry since they will be detonating the Nega-Bomb in a few short hours.
In another part of the base, Galen Kor is in contact with their mysterious benefactor who wants a number of the Avengers alive. When reporting that he has three already in captivity, his employer says it is not enough. As he ends communication, Kona Lor enters the room and Galen scolds her for entering his quarters without express permission and orders her out. As she leaves she asks another comrade, Tallan, who Galen Kor might have been talking to. Tallan warns her to ignore anything she might have hard and stay out of affairs she doesn’t understand.
In the holding cells, Crystal checks on Dane to see how he is doing since he took the brunt of the beating. He tells her that he has been concentrating on his mind link with Sersi in the hopes it will allow the other Avengers to find them. However, doing so is painful, prompting Crystal to comfort him.[3]
Meanwhile, Captain America and the others are approaching the Kree base in Deathcry’s ship. They realize that Sersi is on the right track when two Kree Sentry robots are dispatched to deal with them. While Sersi mashes on, the other grabs hold of the Shi’ar ship. With Captain America and Black Widow working on keeping themselves in the air, Hank Pym decides to deal with their stowaway. Using his size changing powers, Hank grows to giant size and shoves the Sentry off the ship, sending them both crashing into the waters below. When Cap and the Widow land the ship and go looking for Pym, he emerges from the waters victorious. When Captain America cautions Hank about the health implications of using his size-changing Pym particles on himself again, Pym points out that the entire world is in danger, justifying the risk.[4] As they head toward the Kree base, the Nega-Bomb lets off its first pulse, signaling that it will soon explode.
Inside, Galen Kor tells his followers that they will be leaving Earth soon. However, rather than executing the Avengers they have as prisoners, they will be brought with them into space. This leads to protests among the ranks, but Galen explains that this is a necessity and orders them to be lucky that he is allowing them to execute at least one of the heroes. Black Knight and Crystal are taken back to the torture chamber by their captors where it is announced that both Hercules and Deathcry will be put to death. However, Hercules refuses to be killed and manages to break free from his bonds though sheer force. In the ensuing battle, Deathcry and the others are free and the rescue team comes crashing in through the domed ceiling.
Unfortunately, the battle is cut short by another pulse from the Nega-Bomb. While the Avengers are disorientated the Kree teleport off world, leaving their enemies to their fate. With the annihilation of Earth imminent, the Avengers race to the Nega-Bomb to try and figure out a way to shut it down. After Hercules shatters the bombs casing, the Vision guides Sersi on how to use her transmutation powers to re-arrange the sub-atomic particles of the bomb in order to render it harmless. Surprisingly, the Vision makes a miscalculation and as a result the bomb will still explode. Luckily, it will only destroy the island they are standing on and the Avengers make a quick retreat with moments to spare. They quickly land on a nearby atoll where they celebrate their victory.
Meanwhile, aboard a ship that orbits at the meridian point between the Earth and the Moon, Galen Kor meets with the man who hired him to deal with the Avengers. As it turns out he was hired by the Collector, who is uninterested in hearing about Kree honor, all he wants is to add the Avengers to his collection. Since the Kree are too focused on their desire for revenge, the Collector decides that when he faces the Avengers again, it will be by himself.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Hercules, Vision, Black Knight, Black Widow, Sersi, Crystal), Giant-Man, Magdalene, Deathcry, Lunatic Legion (Tallan, Galen Kor, Dylon Cir, Kona Lor, Sig-Rass), Collector
Continuity Notes
This was during Operation: Galactic Storm. See Captain America #398-400, Avengers West Coast #80-82, Quasar #32-34, Wonder Man (vol. 2) #7-9, Avengers #345-347, Iron Man #278-279, and Thor #445-446. The Supreme Intelligence was seemingly assassinated by the Black Knight in Avengers #374. However, Supremor faked his death and will turn up alive again in Imperial Guard #1-3.
The Black Knight became Sersi’s Gann Josin — or life mate — back in Avengers #361. This created a telepathic bond between the two.
The love triangle between the Black Knight, Crystal, and Sersi is a complex one.
Dane has been attracted to Crystal pretty much from the moment she joined the Avengers in issue #336.
Meanwhile, Sersi has been attracted to Dane, throwing herself at him since Avengers #350.
Sersi’s increasingly erratic behavior has been making her more aggressive about romancing Dane. It’s later revealed that she has been pushed over the edge by Proctor, the evil Dane Whitman of another reality who has gone all Incel after his Sersi dumped his possessive ass. See Avengers #374 for all the problematic facts about that.
The situation with Crystal is complicated as she is currently married to Quicksilver, dating back to Fantastic Four #150.
However, after being neglected by her husband, Crystal engaged in an illicit affair in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #6-12.
Despite this infidelity, the pair have been trying to patch up their marriage since Fantastic Four Annual #21.
This was made much more difficult since Pietro joined X-Factor in X-Factor #71 and Crystal joined the Avengers in Avengers #336.
Pietro and Crystal recently tried to reconcile by going on a romantic retreat together in X-Factor #89. Unfortunately, a paparazzo put the doubts into Quicksilver’s mind that Crystal might be seeing another man, putting their reconciliation on ice.
However, never say never, since Crystal and Quicksilver will make another attempt to patch up their failing marriage following the conclusion of the Bloodties event that takes place in Avengers #368-369, X-Men (vol. 2) #26, Avengers West Coast #101, and Uncanny X-Men #307.
Thus signifies the return of Hank Pym’s Giant-Man identity. Hanks size changing formula has always created a strain on his body dating back to first becoming Giant-Man back in Tales to Astonish #49. The risk to his health became such a concern that Hank gave up size-changing all together since Avengers #140. Hank even retired from costumed heroics in issue #230. He had been a “science adventurer” since West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #21. It’s later explained in Avengers (vol. 3) #31 that Hank had been slowly improving his formula so it no longer caused his body and further strain. This came at the expense of no longer being able to shrink and grow objects with a touch.
Swordplay³
A bank in downtown Washington, DC is being robbed by a pair of high-tech criminals Flame and Foam.[1] However, the two men are not interest in stealing money, they actually are seeking the safety deposit box of the arms dealer known as Tolliver, whose will is a giant scavenger hunt for an alleged ultimate weapon that every mercenary in the business is trying to get their hands on.[2] As the teller takes them to the safety deposit box, she triggers an alarm, forcing Flame and Foam to take her hostage.
Outside, Sean Dolan walks the streets wondering what to do with himself after pulling the cursed Ebony Blade from its stone prison and becoming Bloodwraith. He decides he can’t go back to Dane Whitman, aka the Black Knight, for help out of shame. He instead decides to pull out whatever money is left from his bank account before he is cut off. This just so happens to be the same bank that Flame and Foam are trying to rob. As the police prove ineffectual against the two criminals, Sean decides to get involved.
Confronting the two crooks, he draws the Ebony Blade, triggering his transformation into the Bloodwraith. The blood thirsty vigilante murders both Flame and Foam in front of everyone. Curious about what they were trying to steal, Bloodwraith opens the safety deposit box and discovers that it contains a bunch of computer discs. That’s when Bloodwraith is ambushed by the mercinary known as Deadpool. The infamous merc with a mouth has come to collect the discs for himself and is willing to kill to get them.
Meanwhile, the Black Knight has returned to his home at Gerratt Castle and apologizes to Victoria Bently because of his duties as an Avenger. Victoria tries to take this opportunity to tell Dane how much she feels about him but that’s when she notices that his eyes have been turned black with red irises and asks what happened. Dane only says that he has had a lot on his mind recently, but Victoria understands exactly what he means by it: He’s seeing another woman. She is unsurprised that she has become second fiddle to a hero, as the same thing happened to her with Doctor Strange.[3] That’s when Dane gets a call from Crystal, advising him that Bloodwraith has been seen in Washington. As Dane races off to confront his former squire, Victoria overhears the address and decides to look into things herself as she has had a premonition that her fate is tied to that of Sean Dolin.
Back in the city, the battle between Deadpool and Bloodwraith rages on. As they fight, Bloodwraith explains that his weapon, the Ebony Blade, is much more powerful than any other weapon as it was created by the wizard Merlin.[4] The Black Knight soon arrives and convinces Bloodwraith to put aside their differences so they can stop Deadpool’s rampage. When Dane stabs Deadpool with his energy sword, Bloodwraith turns on him and knocks Whitman to the ground. Sean then warns his former master not to follow him or next time he will kill him. That’s when Victoria arrives and sneaks up behind Bloodwraith. Hearing her, Dolan quickly turns and stabs with his sword without seeing who it is, fatally stabbing Victoria in the process. Witnessing Bentley’s soul being absorbed into the Ebony Blade horrifies Bloodwraith who instantly regrets what he has done. While he is lamenting the loss of Victoria, the Black Knight manages to get up and knock Sean down with a single punch, causing him to drop the Ebony Sword. The Black Knight then rushes to Victoira’s lifeless body and apologizes for everything that has just happened.
While everyone is distracted, Deadpool decides to claim the Ebony Blade as his own and teleports away. Unwilling to give up his weapon, Bloodwraith summons his flying horse, Valinor, and uses his link to the Ebony Blade to teleport away. As he departs, Whitman vows to hunt Bloodwraith down and kill him. When Bloodwraith confronts Deadpool at his hideout in Sarajevo, he quickly reclaims the Ebony Blade. However, when he prepares to kill the mercenary, Bloodwraith realizes that his blood lust has been abated. Sean Dolan realizes that this is why Victoria Bentley sacrificed her life. He decides to spare Deadpool this time, but warns him against trying to steal the Ebony Blade again.[5]
Recurring Characters
Bloodwraith, Deadpool, Black Knight, Victoria Bentley, Valinor
Continuity Notes
This story takes place after the events of Avengers Annual #22, the story wherein Sean Dolan first transformed into Bloodwraith.
Tolliver was secretly Tyler Dayspring, the son of the time traveling mutant Cable. As Toliver, he faked his death in X-Force #15. This set into the motion the scavanger hunt for his cache of weapons that was the central focus of Deadpool: The Circle Chase #1-4. Tyler would reveal that he was still alive in Cable #6.
Victoria Bentley was a regular ally of Doctor Strange early on in his career. However, she was passed over as a romantic interest in favor of Clea. See Strange Tales #114, 160-168, Doctor Strange #171-178, Marvel Premiere #10, Doctor Strange (vol. 2) #36-37, 68, and Strange Tales (vol. 2) #12-13, 18. Most recently she allied herself with the Black Knight, as seen in Black Knight (vol. 2) #1-4, Avengers Spotlight #39, and Avengers Annual #22.
For more on the creation of the Ebony Blade, see Avengers Annual #22, again.
Victoria Bentley’s ability to sate the blood lust created by the Ebony Blade proves to be short lived as Bloodwraith will become a threat to the entire world eventually, as seen in Avengers (vol. 3) #36-37.
Topical References
The computer discs in Tolliver’s safety deposit box are depicted as 3.5’ floppy discs. This should be considered a topical reference as this kind of technology is no obsolete.
Deadpool’s hideout is stated as being in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. This should be considered a topical reference as Yugoslavia broke up into a number of serparate states. Sarajevo is now part of what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina.