Avengers (vol. 3) #8
Turbulance!
For many years, the Avengers butler Edwin Jarvis had been sponsoring a young girl named Maria de Guadalupe Santiago. Now a young woman, she is coming to America in order to study at Empire State University. With her impending arrival, Jarvis asks the Avengers for some time off so he can meet her at the airport. Captain America gives his blessing and Jarvis heads to JFK International Airport to meet Maria. However, as the plane arrives the front end blows open and an army of mercenaries begin attacking people on the terminal. They are joined by a silver-skinned woman calling herself Silverclaw who reminds the soldiers that nobody is to be killed. Jarvis runs for cover and tries to use his Avengers ID card to call for help. Unfortunately, an explosion knocks it out of his hands.
Back at Avengers Mansion, Firestar and Jusitce are trying on new costumes made for them by Janet Van Dyne, aka the Wasp. While Vance loves his new outfit, Angelica is horrified by how much cleavage hers shows off. She then kicks Vance out of their room so she can figure out how to modify the costume to be more modest.[1] Down in the basement, Captain America is in a training session getting used to his new photonic shield so he’ll be battle ready when duty calls.[2] After his training session is over, Cap is visited by Thor who tells him that circumstances in his personal life will take up much of his time and he won’t be as present for Avengers duty in the future.[3] Captain America understands and wishes Thor the best of luck. Upstairs, the Scarlet Witch tries to get in touch with Carol Danvers only to learn that she moved out of her parents house and hasn’t provided a forwarding address.[4] As she worries about Carol’s well being Hawkeye is on the tear after reading a magazine article about how the Thunderbolts have returned and are fighting crime again. He doesn’t believe that the group has gone straight as it appears and vows to get to the bottom of it.[5] Wanda is then visited by the Vision and while their conversation is cordial both are struggling with their past feelings for one another particularly in light of the return of Wonder Man.[6][7][8] As Wanda processes her feelings about Simon and the Vision they are interrupted when Jarvis finally is able to send out his distress call.
The call is received by all the Avengers current at the mansion, as well as Tony Stark who is in a meeting in Washington. He quickly wraps things up so he can join the team as Iron Man. While elsewhere in New York, Thor’s mortal alter-ego — Jake Olsen — has to ignore the call because he is currently in an ambulance heading to the scene of an emergency. He hopes that whatever the current crisis is, the Avengers can handle it without Thor.
The Avengers soon arrive on the scene and clash with Silverclaw and the terrorists. However, the heroes are soon trapped in an energy cage. It’s then that the mastermind behind this attack reveals himself: the illegal arms dealer known as Moses Magnum, who appears via a holographic projector as he is a wanted man on American soil. Although the Avengers are trapped, they are freed when a new hero named Triathlon arrives on the scene to help. In the ensuing battle, Captain America fights with Silverclaw who apologizes for her part in all of this, explaining that she has been forced into helping Moses Magnum. The battle doesn’t go too well for the Avengers who are off their game. Ultimately, Magnum’s men get what they have come for, a seismic cannon that was being shipped in the aircraft. That’s when Thor arrives to lend his teammates a hand. However, in order to cover their escape, they use the weapon to shatter the air traffic control tower. While the Avengers are busy saving lives and repairing damage, Magnum’s army retreats with the stolen weapon.
In the aftermath of the battle, Captain America and the others help Jarvis look for Maria. They soon figure out that Silverclaw is Maria and she apologizes for helping Magnum, but explains that they threatened to kill the other passengers if she didn’t assist them. Despite this, Maria is welcomed back to the mansion where she and Jarvis can catch up. The Avengers meanwhile get to work on figuring out where Moses Magnum might be hiding out and what he wants with the seismic cannon.[9] Hawkeye, meanwhile, asks the Vision to find everything he can find on the mysterious Triathlon. Captain America, on the other hand, wonders why Wanda didn’t summon Wonder Man in battle and decides they need to have a talk about it. Upstairs, Wanda is struggling with the current situation when she is suddenly visited by Simon again, this time of his own free will. Needing his comfort, Wanda allows Simon to kiss her and as they embrace, the Vision walks into the room. Seeing what’s going on, he backs out before they can see he has intruded upon this private moment.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Justice, Firestar), Moses Magnum, Triathlon, Silverclaw, Edwin Jarvis, Wonder Man, Demitrius Collins, Jake Olsen
Continuity Notes
Here, Vance knows that Angelica is actually concerned about how using her powers will make her sterile. She learned this back in New Warriors #63-64. Last issue she was forced to push her powers to the limit to save the Earth. Her health issues will ultimately get corrected thanks to a mesh given to her by Hank Pym in Avengers (vol. 3) #12.
Captain America lost his trademark shield in Captain America (vol. 3) #2. Cap started using this photonic shield in Captain America (vol. 3) #9. Cap will ultimately get his regular shield back in issue #22 of that series.
At the time of this story, Thor had just recently been bonded with a mortal ambulance driver named Jake Olsen, as seen in Thor (vol. 2) #1-3. This will remain the status quo for the thunder god until issue #79 of that series.
Carol Danvers, aka Warbird, was admitted back onto the Avengers (vol. 3) #4 at a time when she was developing a drinking problem. She was confronted about it last issue and quit. She will continue on her bender until she comes to terms with the fact that she has a problem and joins Alcoholics Anonymous in Avengers (vol. 3) #26.
The Thunderbolts were former members of the Masters of Evil who ended up posing as super-heroes as part of a complex world domination scheme, they were ultimately exposed by the Avengers, see Thunderbolts #1-12. However, many members of the group actually enjoyed being heroes and would continue fighting crime moving foward. Here, Hawkeye mentions their recent battle with Graviton, which occurred in Thunderbolts #17. Hawkeye’s investigation into the group will lead to him joining the team in issue #21 of that series.
The Vision appears here as a holographic projection because his body was severely damaged in Avengers (vol. 3) #3. He will remain in repairs until issue #12.
The Vision and Scarlet Witch were once married, as seen in Giant-Size Avengers #4. However, more recently, the Vision was disassembled and put back together in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42-45. The process stripped him of his capacity for emotion leading to their estrangement. He regained them in Avengers Spotlight #40, but continues to distance himself from Wanda.
Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man, died in a battle with the Kree in Force Works #1. Wanda has been able to summon him in battle since Avengers (vol. 3) #2. It’s later revealed in issue #11 that Simon been existing between life and death due to his love of the Scarlet Witch.
Mention is made of how Magnum previously fought the X-Men, Power Man, and Deathlok in the past. These conflicts happened in Power Man Annual #1, X-Men #118-119, and Deathlok (vol. 2) #11 and 22-25.
Topical References
In this story, the Scarlet Witch states that her new costume is to pay respect to her gypsy roots. The use of the word gypsy should be considered topical here because it is a dated term to describe the Romani people and to many it is now considered offensive.
When Tony Stark cuts his meeting, he tells the gathered government officials that he will fax them the details of his proposal. While fax machines still exist, they have fallen out of normal use due to digital technologies such as e-mail and aren’t typically used in business. As such reference to a fax machine here should be considered topical.
Here, Jarvis states that he started sponsoring Maria about 10 years ago and makes a point of saying that this was before the Avengers were founded. Measuring this statement against the Sliding Timescale, finds this statement accurate and should be considered factual. It is stated here that Jarvis sponsored her through Childcare, an international charitable organization that provides the necessities of life to children in impoverished regions. They were originally founded in 1979. References to Childcare here should be considered topical as they are a real world organization.
