Avengers #390 — Nick Peron

Apr 16

Apr 16 Avengers #390

Campfire Tales

The Avengers — Quicksilver, Crystal, Hercules, and Deathcry — are spending some much needed downtime in the Adirondacks at a cottage owned by Tony Stark where their allies Swordsman and Magdalene have been living.[1] While everyone is trying to have a good time, Crystal feels as though someone is watching them from the forest.

As Hercules smashes kindling for a fire, Magdalene notes that Hercules has changed since being stripped of his immortality, even down to his manner of speech.[2] When Lockjaw — the Inhuman’s teleporting dog — chases a rabbit into the forest. Hercules follows after him. In a clearing, Herc finds Lockjaw sitting with a young man wearing fur. When Hercules asks who he is, the mysterious young man says he is just a friend to anyone who goes by the name of Avenger. He then shows off a deck of cards with the Avengers logo on it.[3]

Meanwhile, back in the city, Janet Van Dyne is waiting for a meeting with her accountant with her ex-husband Hank Pym.[4] When Liam O’Lynch finally arrives, he has some bad news for Janet. He tells her that her late father’s entire investment portfolio and her trust fund are in a bad way financially and she is at risk of losing he entire fortune.[5] Rather than getting upset, Janet begins to laugh and tells him that she always has credit, she then leaves to go shopping leaving Hank to explain to O’Lynch that Jan is a very unique individual.[6]

Back in the mountains, the sun is beginning to set and the Avengers have started a camp-fire to keep warm. Hercules has returned with the stranger he found in the woods. He tells them his name is Tuc and that he is a fortune teller and offers to tell everyone about their future. The Avengers are strangely receptive to this idea and invite the stranger to sit with them. He then begins drawing cards from his tarot deck. Deathcry is surprised to see that the figures on the cards are all designed to resemble members of the team. He tells Quicksilver to beware the sins of the father as they often are visited upon the son, and the daughter.[7] He also tells him that his destiny is with Crystal,[8] but warns the couple that even the strongest link can break, and that they can always be threatened by “the other”.

To Deathcry, Tuc sees that she longs for the stars and tells her that she can learn the truth about her past and that it shall set her free, but warns that empires will tremble and blood will flow.[9] To Hercules he tells him not to allow pride to blind him, saying that he must get over his recent loss so he can focus on a viper in their midst.[10] When Tuc turns to Marilla — the nanny to Crystal’s daughter Luna — he becomes sad. Marilla suddenly gets a chill and correctly deduces that her future doesn’t look very bright. Tuc tells her that no matter what happened, Luna always loved her.[11] This is all Marilla wants to hear and walks away from the fire. With that, Tuc’s predictions of the future are done and the Avengers snap out of their strange trance to discover the mysterious young man is now gone.

When Luna asks who Tuc was, Marilla tells the little girl that he was likely a friend and takes Luna to bed. A few hours before dawn, Luna is woken up when Tuc appears in her bedroom window. He tells his “big sister” that he did all he could do and asks for her to pray for all of them all in the coming storm before departing.

… The Crossing continues in Iron Man #319.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Quicksilver, Hercules, Crystal, Swordsman, Magdalene, Deathcry), Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne, Luna Maximoff, Lockjaw, Marilla, “Tuc”,

Continuity Notes

Swordsman and Magdalene are from another reality and were members of the Proctor’s Gatherers a group seeking to destroy the Avengers. The pair defected and became allies of the Avengers following Proctor’s death. See Avengers #343-344, 355-356, 360, 362-363, and 372-375.
Hercules was stripped of his godhood after protesting his father’s use of magic to create Taylor Madison — a woman Herc fell in love with in Avengers #349 — in order to catch Hera interfering in the domain of mortals in issue #384. This marks the first time that Hercules has lost his Olympian affectation. However, he reverts back to his regular method of speech by Incredible Hulk: Hercules Unleashed #1, suggesting that this change was more Herc’s personal choice than anything to do with the loss of his immortality. Speaking of, Herc will be restored to full immortal status in Aries #1-5.
Going to get this out of the way now: The character Tuc heavily implies that he is a future child to Quicksilver and Crystal. However, this turns out to be all one massive deception. As explained in Avengers Forever #8, the entire Crossing even was a massive ruise created by Immortus to distract the Avengers and better control their destiny. Tuc is actually a Space Phantom posing as the “future child” of Quicksilver and Crystal.
Here, Pym states he hasn’t seen O’Lynch since his divorce from Janet. The pair got married way back in Avengers #60. Janet ended up divorcing her husband after he struck her in Avengers #213. The pair have had an on-again-off-again relationship since West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42.
Janet’s father, Werner Van Dyne was tragically murdered by the Creature of Kosmos in Tales to Astonish #44. Janet inherited her family fortune when she turned 23 years old in Avengers #43.
While Janet doesn’t seem to care about her lost fortune, she quickly changes her tune when she discovers that Tony Stark was the one responsible. This revelation is made in Avengers #391/Iron Man #322.
At the time of this story, everyone believes that Quicksilver is the son of Magneto and a mutant since Vision and the Scarlet Witch #4. This is later proven untrue and that he was experimented upon by the High Evolutionary as a child and his mother is Natalya Maximoff, as per Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5 and Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #3 & 11. Since The Crossing is all a manipulation by Immortus, who has an intimate knowledge of the timeline, probably knows this but is perpetuating the lie for his own ends.
Crystal and Quicksilver got married back in Fantastic Four #150. After a period of neglect, Crystal had an affair on Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #6-12. The couple have been trying to work on their marriage since Fantastic Four Annual #21. However, this was strained due to Crystal’s romantic interest in the Black Knight since joining the Avengers in issue #336 until his departure in Avengers #375. Although Tuc claims that their romance will endure, it actually will not. Years later, Pietro would go against the Inhumans by stealing Terrigen Mist in the hopes of re-powering mutants who lost their abilities in Son of M #1-6. In response to this, Pietro’s marriage to Crystal is annulled in Silent War #3.
There has been an ongoing mystery about Deathcry’s past since last issue. She will take Tuc’s advice and return to the Shi’ar galaxy in Avengers #398. However, what this destiny and its impact on the Shi’ar Empire has yet to be revealed. One could assume that this was also part of Immortus’ grand deception, since he is trying to prevent the Avengers from being a space faring organization, however that is merely speculation on my part.
Tuc is hinting that Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, is going to betray the team. This revelation will be made in Iron Man #323.
This is a not-so-subtle prediction that Marilla is going to die. She is murdered by Iron Man in Avengers: The Crossing #1.