Avengers (vol. 2) #9
Shadowbox
As the Avengers were just recovering from their battle with the Lethal Legion, they are ambushed by another team of villains, the Masters of Evil, which consists of the Black Knight, Whirlwind, Radioactive Man, Klaw, and the Melter.[1] Although the attackers have he element of surprise, the Avengers — Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, and Hellcat — are able to defeat them in short order. They are soon joined by Captain America,[2] who has just arrived scolds Thor for suggesting they kill their foes, reminding him that the Avengers don’t commit murder.
This is the final straw for the thunder god who has been unhappy with the lack or murder and destruction since his revival in the present day and he takes off.[3] Thor’s departure is not the only issue with the team as Hawkeye is beginning to question Cap’s leadership and Hellcat has felt utterly useless after being defeated in the last two battles. Even though the team is in crisis, Cap and Iron Man decide to figure out why the Masters of Evil attacked them without provocation. The Black Knight explains that they picked a fight with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the hopes of achieving fame, fortune, and women. Iron Man finds this pathetic and comments about how this last bunch of villains they have fought have been pitiful compared to someone like Kang the Conqueror, Cap agrees and thinks that there is something bigger going on.[4] Still, this is a mystery for later as Captain America wants to go and visit the Swordsman in the hospital.[5]
This is all being observed in beyond time and space by Loki, the Enchantress, and the Scarlet Witch. Loki explains that being on a world without an Asgard or Odin, Loki now has the opportunity to obtain ultimate power and conquer Midgard. He tells Enchantress to trust him as he has the plan all figured out.[6]
Back on Earth, Iron Man has just finished shackling up the Masters of Evil and is waiting for SHIELD to pick him up. That’s when he is visited by Janet Van Dyne, who needs help finding her boyfriend Hank Pym, who has been missing for days. Iron Man figures that Hanks disappearance might be tied to the Vision and decides that they should pay SHIELD a visit.[7] Moments after Iron Man and Janet are gone, Loki appears before the Masters of Evil. However, instead of freeing them, he transforms them all into energy and absorbs them into his body.[8]
Meanwhile, Ant-Man wakes up inside the Vision’s memory core after being shocked into unconsciousness. He has just discovered that someone has been tapping into the Vision’s memories and transmitting the information to the outside. When the Vision’s internal defenses start attacking him again, Hank has decided he has had enough and exist the Vision’s body via the ear canal. He gets out just as Iron Man and Janet find him and before he can tell them anything, Nick Fury and a security team come barging in and demands Hank be surrendered over to him for a debriefing. Janet refuses to let them hand over Hank and shrinks down to wasp size to join her boyfriend. Iron Man tries to reason with Fury, but the SHIELD director refuses to let anyone go. That’s when the Vision’s body begins to start smoking. Realizing the android is about to explode, Iron Man grabs the Vision and tosses him outside the helicarrier where the android harmlessly explodes.[9] The blast also allows Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp to escape.
Elsewhere in the New York City, Thor laments his situation on a rooftop. As he tries to figure out his next move, the Enchantress appears by his side and seduces the thunder god into joining her cause. At that same moment, Captain America arrives at the hospital only to discover that the Swordsman has vanished. The attending nurse explains that when they last checked on the wounded hero they found his room deserted with only a trace of blue smoke that quickly vanished.[10]
Back at Avengers Mansion, Loki has finished absorbing the Masters of Evil only to discover the source of his information (the Vision) and the key to his power has been cut off. He turns to tell the Scarlet Witch to help, only to notice that she has disappeared. This is because Wanda has gone inside the mansion where she finds Hellcat who is lamenting over her freakish appearance. When Wanda asks where Cap is, Hellcat attacks her for betraying the team, unaware that her betrayal was all staged to figure out what the Enchantress is up to. This is overheard by the arriving Loki who uses his magic to incapacitate the Scarlet Witch. He then offers Hellcat the chance to possess Wanda’s body and finally become a beautiful woman. As Hellcat accepts this offer, neither are aware that they are being observed by Agatha Harkness, whose soul is possessing the body of her feline companion, Ebony.[11]
Meanwhile, Iron Man, Captain America, Ant-Man, and the Wasp, has tracked the use of the Vision’s data to the gamma core on Avengers Island. They are surprised to see that the core has somehow been reactivated,[12] and even more astonishingly some of Iron Man’s old foes are being reformed inside its energies.[13] Blasting the partially formed villains causes them to instantly dissipate. As they try to figure out what’s going on, Ant-Man detects the energies inside the core building up again. Bracing themselves for another villain to appear, the Avengers are instead surprised when a second Thor emerges from the core instead.[14]
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, Wasp, Hawkeye, Vision, Hellcat), SHIELD (Nick Fury), Scarlet Witch, Loki, Enchantress, Masters of Evil (Black Knight, Radioactive Man, Whirlwind, Klaw, Melter), Agatha Harkness, Ebony, Super-Adaptoid, Grim Reaper, Living Laser, Thor
Continuity Notes
Nearly all the characters in this story are constructs created by Franklin Richards when he created this pocket dimension to save the lives of the heroes who sacrificed their lives in the battle against Onslaught.. The only original beings in this story are Captain America, Iron Man, Ant-Man, the Wasp, Hawkeye, Vision and the Scarlet Witch. 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.
Hawkeye notes that Captain America changed the eagle emblem on his forehead with the letter A. Cap states here that the eagle symbol never felt right, an allusion to the fact that Cap’s A symbol has been a staple of his character design since his first appearance in Captain America Comics #1. The Heroes Reborn version of Cap had the Eagle emblem the entire time since Captain America (vol. 2) #1. Cap switched to the classic “A” symbol in Captain America (vol. 2) #8 to further distance himself from the United States government in this reality. His appearance here follows his battle with the Sons of the Serpent in Captain America (vol. 2) #8-11.
Thor was revived in the modern day in Avengers (vol. 2) #1, from day one he has been frequently told by Captain America to tone it down a bit and many have been concerned about his more barbaric attitudes.
The Avengers got their asses handed to them by Kang before they defeated him, as seen in Avengers (vol. 2) #2-3.
The Swordsman’s hands were crushed during the Avengers battle with the Hulk in issue #4.
That there is no Asgard was established in Avengers (vol. 2) #1. No real explanation is given but likely has to do with the fact that Franklin didn’t create one when he created this pocket dimension.
The Vision was seriously damaged in the battle with Kang in issue #3. Hank went spelunking inside the Vision as Ant-Man to make repairs and got trapped inside by Ultron in the following issue. Unaware that Hank was trapped inside, SHIELD repossessed the Vision in Avengers (vol. 2) #7.
Although seemingly killed here, the Masters of Evil will turn up alive again in Heroes Reborn: Masters of Evil #1, with little explanation how they survived being uncreated by Loki. Since the Swordsman is seen alive later (see reference #10 below), one could assume that when Loki was defeated in Avengers (vol. 2) #11, all those he absorbed were somehow freed and restored to normal.
This is not the end of the Vision. As revealed in Avengers (vol. 2) #12, Hank pulled out the android’s memory circuit and builds a new body for the android in that very same issue.
Although the Swordsman is seemingly killed off here, he inexplicably appears again in Captain America (vol. 2) #12 with out much explanation. He also has a starring role in Heroes Reborn: The Remnants #1, where it is revealed that Swordy is this world’s version of Deadpool for some incredibly stupid reason that makes not a lick of sense.
Okay, the Enchantress appeared to lure Wanda into joining their side in issue #4. This was also the same issue where Loki turned Agatha Harkness into a tree forcing the witch to use her power to possess Ebony’s body to escape in issue #7. Harkness will be restored to normal in issue #11.
Avengers Island and the gamma core were previously shut down after the Hulk trashed the place, nearly triggering a melt down. See Avengers (vol. 2) #4-6, and the 6th issues of Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and Captain America.
Here Iron Man states that both the Grim Reaper and the Living Laser were previously dead. The Counter-Earth versions of these foes did indeed die. The Grim Reaper died in a long ago mission with Hawkeye, as revealed in Avengers (vol. 2) #7, while the Living Laser was seemingly destroyed battling Tony Stark in Iron Man (vol. 2) #3-4.
This turns out to be the true Thor, as somewhat explained next issue. A full explanation is not really explained. My guess is that Walt Simonson really hated the version of Thor that Rob Liefeld created. In lieu of an in-universe explanation, I have two theories on how this may have happened: The first is that Thor was the first person to plunge into Onslaught’s energy form at the end of Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1 so perhaps he sustained more damage to his body than the others and needed more time to recover. The other possibility is that perhaps resurrecting a god was more difficult for Franklin to pull off and he needed more time to do so and so he created the Thor construct as a place holder.
