Avengers #399
Trust
The cyborg mercenary known as Benedict has infiltrated Avengers Mansion and incapacitated the team. The only person left standing is the enigmatic Masque who tries to get away but gets snared in Benedict’s tendrils. She is rescued by Hawkeye, but Benedict flees into the shadows. They then go about reviving the other Avengers — the Black Widow, Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, Crystal, and the Vision. The Widow is convinced that Masque has betrayed them somehow leading to a fight between the two women. However, Hawkeye gets between the two women, prompting Masque to get fed up with her treatment by the Avengers and decides to leave. Hawkeye is equally upset because nobody is giving Masque a fair shake.
Natasha still believes that something isn’t on the up-and-up with their new ally and asks the rest of the team what they think. When comparing notes, Quicksilver notes that it was the Vision who attacked him and his sister Wanda. The Vision has no memory of this and determines that his mind had been purged of the memory.[1] When considering who was responsible only two people come to mind: Masque and Hank Pym, aka Giant-Man. Wanda finds all this conspiracy absurd, pointing out that she could have been just as responsible with her hex powers.[2] Quicksilver soon realizes that his sister is right and believes that the group has grown paranoid after they were recently betrayed by Iron Man.[3] Regardless, the Black Widow orders the team to fan out and find the truth.
Meanwhile, on the Blue Area of the Moon, Deathcry and Hercules had been shot out of the sky by a group of Shi’ar soldiers who are trying to prevent them from learning the truth behind a message sent by K’rin, the nursemaid who raised Deathcry as a child.[4][5] Recovering from the crash, Hercules sees Deathcry unconscious on the ground. When he comes to her side he is ambushed by a Shi’ar mercenary named Za’ken. However, he is not there to attack them, in fact he has come to help. Using his power to heal and revive Deathcry he gives her what she came to the moon looking for, K’rin’s scroll, and asks them to follow him.
Back on Earth, Giant-Man is working in his lab on a way to retore the Wasp to human form. He is then confronted by Janet, who is upset because she believes he placed a tracking device on the back of her neck without her permission. She feels betrayed and tells him that nobody will be keeping tabs on her life from now on and storms out.[6] Hank instantly feels guilty for what he has done but his thoughts are interrupted when his lab suddenly begins to shake. He recognizes the banging and grows to giant size to smash through the ceiling. He ends up freeing Thor who was trapped between floors after being turned intangible by Benedict during his initial attack on the mansion.
While on the moon, Deathcry and Hercules follow Za’ken into an abandoned building in the fabled Blue Area. There he tells the pair how he was a loyal soldier in the Shi’ar army until his parents were brutally murdered for someone else’s political agenda and he was put in exile with a massive bounty on his head. An exile herself, Deathcry can relate to Za’ken’s situation. When he offers her an opportunity to return to the Shi’ar home world of Chandrilar with him she wants to go. She asks Hercules to join them and after a moments consideration he agrees to come along, asking them what the weather is like on the alien planet this time of year.[7]
At Avengers Mansion, the Black Widow’s search leads her to Masque who is still lurking around. When Natasha confronts her about what’s going on, Masque shoves her out of the way when Benedict attacks again. Masque gets caught up in the cyborgs tendrils and is dragged into the darkness. Benedict rolls a gold coin — actually a circuit with encoded information — and tells the Widow that it is payment in exchange for Masque. This only depends the mystery surrounding this entire incident leaving Natasha to wonder what it all has to do with her.[8]
The following morning, Jarvis is opening the windows to another beautiful morning in New York City. Having prepared the Avengers morning coffee the doorbell rings. When he goes to answer it Jarvis is shocked to see that Captain America is back!
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Giant-Man, Wasp, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Vision, Hercules, Black Widow, Deathcry, Masque), Benedict, Za’ken, Edwin Jarvis
Continuity Notes
The Vision refers to the Scarlet Witch as his ex-wife. The pair got married in Giant-Size Avengers #4. A few years later, the Vision was deconstructed and rebuilt, purging him of his emotional connection to his memories in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42-45. From that point on, the couple became estranged and the Vision considered their marriage over and left the west coast team to join the core Avengers in Avengers #311.
Here, the Scarlet Witch refers to herself as a mutant. In reality, neither she nor her brother Quicksilver are mutants at all. As explained in Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5, the pair were experimented upon as children by the High Evolutionary. In order to cover up his work he made it so all future genetic testing done on the pair would have them register as mutants.
Iron Man betrayed the team during The Crossing event and ultimately sacrificed to save them all from an apparent invasion by Kang the Conqueror. See Avengers #390, Iron Man #319, Avengers: The Crossing #1, Force Works #16, Iron Man #320, Avengers #391, Iron Man #321, Force Works #17, Avengers #392, War Machine #20, Iron Man #322, Force Works #18, War Machine #21, Iron Man #323, Avengers #393, Force Works #19, War Machine #22, Iron Man #324, Force Works #20, War Machine #23, Avengers #394, Avengers: Timeslide #1, Iron Man #325, Avengers #395, Age of Innocence: The Rebirth of Iron Man #1.
Deathcry received a garbled message from K’rin back in Avengers #389. She went to the moon to investigate it further last issue.
Hercules’ dialogue is written without his usual Olympian affectation here. He stopped speaking in this matter starting in Avengers #390. The offered explanation is that he no longer speaks that way after Zeus stripped him of his immortality back in issue #384. However, Hercules starts speaking in his trademark fashion again in Incredible Hulk: Hercules Unleashed #1, suggesting that this was more of a conscious effort on Herc’s part rather than anything to do with the magic that stripped him of his abilities.
The Wasp has been under a lot of strain recently. Her family fortune was stolen from her by Tony Stark in Avengers #390. She was then injured by Iron Man and underwent a healing process that transformed her into her current insectile form in issues #393-394. This will remain Jan’s status quo until after the events of Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1 and will appear human again in Avengers (vol. 2) #1.
This is the last we hear of any of Deathcry’s search for K’rin, the mysterious threat she might kick off, or Za’ken. When we see Deathcry again, it is to return Hercules to Earth in Incredible Hulk: Hercules Unleashed #1. We see her here and there in small cameos until she gets involved in the war against the Phalanx and dies. See Annihilation: Conquest - Starlord #1-2.
What happened to Masque and what Benedict was up to and what is on the golden coin won’t get explained until Avengers (vol. 3) #32-33. As it turns out Masque is a rogue bio-duplicate of Whitney Frost, aka Madame Masque. Benedict was sent to recover Masque and bring her back to Frost’s secret hideout. The gold coin contains information on the Maggia crime family.
The reason why Jarvis is so shocked to see Captain America back is because this story follows the Man Without a Country story arc from Captain America #450-453. In that story, Captain America is framed for treason and exiled from the United States until he is able to clear his name.
