Avengers (vol. 2) #8
Shadowplay
Kang the Conqueror and his lover Mantis have fled to the mountains of Peru, following their defeat at the hands of the Avengers.[1] They are in the middle of plotting their next attack when a mysterious figure appears inside Kang’s ship. When Kang tries to confront the intruder he is horrified when his body is transformed into energy. The intruder than absorbs Kang into his own body, then turns to do the same thing to Mantis.[2]
Meanwhile, Avengers Mansion has been attacked by the Enchantress’ Lethal Legion whic includes the likes of the Executioner, Ultron, Wonder Man, and the Scarlet Witch, who has apparently betrayed the team.[3] Iron Man leads Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye, and Hellcat on the counter-attack. Although the villains have the element of surprise, ultimately the battle starts turning in the favor of the Avengers. The first to fall is the Executioner, who Hawkeye takes down with sonic arrows. Next is Ultron, who is blown to pieces when Captain America activates one of the mansion’s defensive cannons. Thor eventually knocks out Wonder Man. Seeing the situation turning into a losing situation, the Enchantress and the Scarlet Witch teleport away to evade capture.
In the aftermath of the battle, Captain America wonders who all their attackers were and what their motivations are. Thor recognizes the Executioner as an Asgardian, but doesn’t know how he could have survived Ragnarok.[4] With no way of containing the captured villains, Captain America reluctantly calls Nick Fury to collect the Lethal Legion.[5] Fury is unhappy with doing clean up duty after the Avengers cut ties with SHIELD,[6] but has no choice in the matter. He soon arrives with a team of agents who begin restraining the defeated members of Enchantress’ crew. Cap takes the opportunity to ask Fury to let him speak with the operatives of Advance Idea Mechanics that SHIELD is holding, particularly Baron Zemo and MODOK.[7] Fury is reluctant to do so, but is curious to find out how AIM got back in operation after SHIELD shut them down years ago.
However, at that very moment, aboard the SHIELD helicarrier, MODOK and the AIM prisoners are visited by the same entity that attacked Kang. Just like earlier, this being is able to convert MODOK into energy and absorb the cyborg into his body. In another part of the helicarrier, the inert body of the Vision has been left in storage. Little does anyone know that the androids creator Hank Pym — aka Ant-Man — has been trapped inside the Vision for some time now fighting for his life against the android’s internal defenses. Managing to reach the Vision’s mind, he discovers that someone although his body is inert, the Vision’s mind is working overtime. Jacking into the Visions’ brain, Ant-Man discovers something almost impossible to believe. However, before he can do anything about his discovery he is jolted with electricity and blacks out.[8] By this time, Nick Fury and Captain America have returned to the helicarrier only to discover that prisoners have mysteriously vanished without anyone noticing. Examining the shackles, Cap notes that they are still activated, meaning that Baron Zemo and the others weren’t responsible for their own escape.[9]
Later that day, Agatha Harkness — whose spirit is possessing the body of Ebony, her familiar — finally arrives at Avengers Mansion. However, before she can warn the team about the Scarlet Witch’s kidnapping she is zapped into unconsciousness when Hawkeye decides to shoot one of his shock arrows at what he thinks is a stray cat.[10] The archer is annoyed that they have to stay behind and clean up the mansion while Captain America is off on a mission. However, his desire for action is answered when the Avengers are ambushed by another team of villains. This time it is the Masters of Evil, consisting of the Black Knight, Whirlwind, the Radioactive Man, the Melter, and Klaw.
While the Avengers are dealing with this new threat, Loki appears in the cell block where the Lethal Legion has been detained following their defeat. As it turns out, he has been the one turning the Avengers former foes into energy and absorbing them into their bodies. Instead of offering Wonder Man and the Executioner salvation he absorbs them as well and disappears before the SHIELD guards can see what is going on.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, Vision, Hellcat), Kang, Manti, Loki, Lethal Legion (Enchantress, Executioner, Wonder Man, Scarlet Witch, Ultron), AIM (MODOK), Masters of Evil (Black Knight, Whirlwind, Radioactive Man, Melter, Klaw), SHIELD (“Nick Fury), Ant-Man, Agatha Harkness, Janet Van Dyne, Ebony
Continuity Notes
Kang was defeated by the Avengers in Avengers (vol. 2) #2-3.
Kang’s mystery attacker turns out to be Loki, who is absorbing all the Avengers foes in order to gain ultimate power as we’ll see in Avengers (vol. 2) #11.
Wanda was seemingly put under the Enchantress’ thrall in Avengers (vol. 2) #4. It’s later revealed in issue #10 that she was just faking in order to figure out what Amora was up to. Here, the Enchantress refers to the Scarlet Witch as her daughter, a claim she has been making since issue #1. This turns out to be complete bullshit as we’ll learn in Avengers (vol. 2) #12.
As per Avengers (vol. 2) #1, this Thor believes Asgard was destroyed in Ragnarok. In reality, this is a pocket dimension created by Franklin Richards to put heroes he saved during the final battle with Onslaught. This pocket dimension doesn’t have an Asgard and all of the Asgardians present — Thor, Loki, the Enchantress, and the Executioner — all all constructs created by Franklin. The only real characters are Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Ant-Man, and Janet Van Dyne. Even Thor is a construct, with the real Thor not making an appearance until issue #9. See Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1 and Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4 for the skinny.
The man who appears to be Nick Fury is actually an impostor. In reality, he’s a Life Model Decoy planted within SHIELD by the Son of the Serpent as we’ll learn in Captain America (vol. 2) #11.
When the Avengers were formed in issue #1, they were a SHIELD run operation. However, the destruction of Avengers Island and the near detonation of its gamma core prompted Iron Man to take control of the team away from SHIELD. See Avengers (vol. 2) #4-6, Fantastic Four (vol. 2) #6, Iron Man (vol. 2) #6, and Captain America (vol. 2) #6.
Captain America took down Baron Zemo and AIM in Captain America (vol. 2) #6.
The Vision has been inoperative since being heavily damaged during the battle against Kang in issues #2-3. Hank went inside the Vision in issue #4 to effect repairs only to be trapped inside by Ultron. Hank’s discovery is that someone is accessing the Vision’s memories. It turns out to be Loki who is using the Vision’s hidden memories of his past life to interface with the gamma core to create more villains for the Avengers to fight and Loki to absorb. See issues #9-11 for all the details.
Although Zemo is absorbed into Loki, he will turn up alive again in Thunderbolts #59-62.
Agatha’s late to the party as the she was turned into a tree back in issue #4. She escaped by transferring her soul into Ebony’s body last issue. She won’t be returned to human form until issue #11.
