Nick Peron

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Avengers (vol. 3) #5

Nick Peron

Accusation Most Foul

Credits

Thor returns to Avengers Mansion after another fruitless search for his missing people. However, he was able to find the Casket of Ancient Winters and brought it to the mansion for safe keeping.[1] Hearing how the Casket has the power to bring about another ice age is such a shock to Jarvis that he drops the mail. As Thor helps him pick it all up, he notes that the butler got a letter from someone in Costa Verde. Jarvis says it is a personal matter, so Thor goes about his business.[2][3]

Downstairs, in the training room, Captain America and Warbird are in a training session so they can gel better in battle. Even though he is now using a replica of his original triangular shield, Cap manages to hold his own, while Carol deals with the various threats without using her Binary powers. When Cap inquires as to why, she skirts the question, not wanting to reveal that she has lost her cosmic powers for fear she might be booted off the team.[4][5]

While in the lab, Iron Man is overseeing the reconstruction of the Vision’s body, which was damaged during their recent battle with Morgan le Fay.[6] Tony is pleased to see that the nano-tech reconstruction is going without a hitch. He is soon joined by a holographic projection of the Vision who inquires as to how the Scarlet Witch is doing. Iron Man explains that Wanda has asked for status updates but refuses to go down into the lab. Sensing tension between the two, Tony suggests that Vision patches things up with her. The android explains Wanda got upset because he told her that after his reconstruction he was basically dead and thus she had been freed from her marital bond. The Vision explains that this is necessary to set Wanda free to be her own woman again. Iron Man knows this is all bullshit and the Vision is hurting inside but decides not to say anything.[7]

At that moment, Wanda is out shopping with Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, as a means of trying to get over her current bout of depression. She tells Clint how she has had conflicting emotions ever since she used her power to will Wonder Man back to life during their battle with Morgan le Fay. Now that Simon is seemingly dead again she still feels as though he is still out there and he’s not done with her yet.[8] That’s when they get a call from Captain America, who tells them to return to base at once because of an emergency. There, the Avengers connect with Duane Freeman, their government liaison, who informs them of the situation. He explains that Project PEGASUS had sent a team to retrieve an alien ship that was recently discovered in the Atlantic Ocean from one of the Avengers’ old battles with Thanos.[9] As a matter of security, the team deployed took a commercial airliner, but it crashed under mysterious circumstances and foul play is suspected. Captain America tells Freeman that they’ll be right on it. As the team mobilizes, the Vision opts to stay behind on monitor duty since his physical body is still undergoing repairs.

When the Avengers arrive in their Quinjet, rescue crews are already on the scene trying to recover the survivors from the water. Cap orders Iron Man to dive down and secure the alien ship while the others help with the rescue efforts. Hawkeye isn’t happy with being assigned with helping get survivors to shore and bickers with Captain America the whole time.[10] Suddenly, the Squadron Supreme — heroes from another dimension trapped on Earth — arrive and accuse the Avengers of being impostors.[11] Their leader, Hyperion, believes that the Avengers are still dead and is ready to stop these “impostors”. This proclamation causes a panic among the bystanders who experienced the loss of the Avengers during the Onslaught crisis, and the revelation that the Thunderbolts were super-villains in disguise.[12][13][14] Captain America tries to talk reason with the Squadron, but they aren’t willing to listen and soon a battle breaks out between the two groups.[15]

While Hyperion clashes with Thor, Iron Man battles Power Princess, the Scarlet Witch and Moonglow pit their magical powers against one another,[16] and Warbird tires to battle Doctor Spectrum but has Haywire on her ass. At the same time, Captain America works to keep Skylark and Shape off of Hawkeye, who is trying to strike the Whizzer with an arrow. Meanwhile, Power Princes strikes Iron Man so hard that he is knocked under water. As he recovers from the blow he spots a diving team stripping equipment from the alien ship. However, with the other Avengers in desperate need of help, so he can’t stop them from completing their task.

Topside, things aren’t going so well for the Avengers, prompting Cap to order Warbird to change into her Binary form. She disobeys his orders and with the battle going south, the Scarlet Witch tries once again to summon the spirit of Wonder Man to aid them. She is able to pull off this feat much more easily than last time. Ultimately, the Squadron Supreme end up making the Avengers look bad by rescuing the rest of the stranded airline passengers. Hyperion then accuses the Avengers of trying to prevent them from saving lives. This is picked up by the media and results in some bad publicity for the team.

When they return to Avengers Mansion the team holds an emergency meeting with Duane Freeman. With the current public distrust in superheroes this humiliating defeat Freeman warns the heroes that unless they do something to clear their names in the next 48 hours the government will be forced to arrest them.

Elsewhere, a woman named Talima reports to her boss that the recovery of the alien ship was a success and it has been transported to his warehouse in Boston. The man is pleased and hopes that this lead will lead the Avengers right to him so he can destroy them at his leasure.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Warbird), Squadron Supreme (Hyperion, Power Princess, Doctor Spectrum, Whizzer, Skylark, Moonglow, Haywire, Shape), Edwin Jarvis, Duane Freeman, Wonder Man, Imus Champion (unidentified)

Continuity Notes

  1. The people of Asgard went missing following the events of Journey into Mystery #513 (this issue once again misattributes that event to issue #514) Thor’s search for the missing Asgardians will be chronicled in Thor (vol. 2) #1-12.

  2. Thor states here that he has been to Costa Verde in the past. The Avengers have had a history of liberating the island nation in the past. The team had done so in Avengers #35, although Thor wasn’t present. The thunder god’s liberation was chronicled in Thor #246-247.

  3. The letter for Jarvis is about a child he has sponsored for years named Maria de Guadalupe, who will be coming to America to study, as seen in Avengers (vol. 3) #8-9. Her backstory and how Jarvis ended up sponsoring her is explained in issue #28.

  4. This is a replica of the original shield that Cap wielded back in Captain America Comics #1. His trademark round shield, first seen in Captain America Comics #2, was lost at see in Captain America (vol. 3) #2. The shield will be recovered in issue #13, but in shattered form. It will ultimately get repaired in issue #22 of that series.

  5. Carol got the power boost that turned her into Binary back in Uncanny X-Men #163-164. However, those powers began to wear off as revealed last issue.

  6. Vision’s body was blown in half by Morgan in Avengers (vol. 3) #3. He will be fully operational again in issue #12.

  7. The Vision and Scarlet Witch got married way back in Giant-Size Avengers #4. A few years later, the Vision was deconstructed by a government agency and put back together. The process eliminated his ability to feel and thus no longer had the capacity for love. He and the Scarlet Witch became estranged soon after. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42-45. However, the Vision’s emotional capacity was restored in Avengers Spotlight #40.

  8. Wonder Man died during a battle with the Kree in Force Works #1. More recently, Wanda has willed him back to existence as seen in Avengers (vol. 3) #2-3. She almost summoned him back in issue #4, but she got distracted at the time. It is later explained in Avengers (vol. 3) #11 that Simon has been able to cling between life and death due to his love for the Scarlet Witch.

  9. This would have been during the Thanos War chronicled in Captain Marvel #25-33 and Avengers #125.

  10. Cap knows that the reason Hawkeye wants a bigger role after he flubbed capturing Whirlwind during a bank robbery. That happened last issue.

  11. The Squadron Supreme are natives of Earth-712, per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Realities 2005 #1. They found them trapped on Earth-616 following the events of Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe #1/Quasar #13. They have been stranded in this reality since Quasar #19, when Doctor Imam — their universe’s Wizard Supreme — refused to allow them to return home. They will eventually get back in Avengers Annual 1998.

  12. This story takes place shortly after the Avengers had been missing for some time. The world believed them dead following the defeat on Onslaught. In reality, they were whisked away to a pocket dimension by Franklin Richards where they relived reborn lives until they were found and brought back to their proper reality. See Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1, Avengers (vol. 2) #1-13, and Heroes Reborn: The Return #1-4.

  13. While the Avengers were gone and believed dead the Masters of Evil reinvented themselves as super-heroes called the Thunderbolts to fill the void. This was all part of Baron Zemo’s plan to win the trust of the world as part of a grand scheme of global domination. Zemo was exposed when the Avengers returned and his plan thwarted. See Thunderbolts #1-12.

  14. The Skrulls are also mentioned here. This is because the public trust was compromised by a Skrull named Sn’Tlo who was trying to trick the world into thinking that the government and Captain America were replaced by members of his race before being exposed by the real Cap, but that only made matters worse. See Captain America (vol. 3) #3-7.

  15. Hawkeye makes a sarcastic remark about how the Squadron Supreme are always being mind controlled by others. He’s not wrong, it happens a lot. The group was manipulated by Brainchild in Avengers #85-86, a second time by the Serpent Crown in Avengers #141-143, and 147-148 as well as twice more by the Overmind in Defenders #112-115 and again in Quasar #13-16. Hawkeye is also guessing correctly as we’ll learn that the Squad is under the mental domination of the Corruptor next issue. It is also revealed then that this was all some grand manipulation orchestrated by Imus Champion.

  16. Wanda remarks how she can feel Moonglow’s magic and commune with it. Agatha Harkness will later explain how Wanda’s affinity to magic is maturing. See Avengers (vol. 3) #11 (again).

Topical References

  • Wanda’s drivers license states that it was issue in December 1, 1997 and will expire in January 17, 2003. These dates should be considered topical.