Avengers Annual 2000
The Cat Came Back!
Following her return from the dead, Patsy Walker, aka the Hellcat, makes an appearance on the It’s Amazing program to plug her new book “Gidget Goes to Hell” which talks all about her life and death.[1] The hosts of the show are very interested to hear how “America’s Typical Teenager” went from being the inspiration for a comic book series and media empire fell into the world of super-heroes and the super-natural. Patsy reiterates that the comics were the work of her mother, and while based on real life were works of fiction.[2]
She eventually went on to marry her high school sweetheart, Buzz Baxter. It was during Baxter’s time working for the Brand Corporation she ended up befriending the monster-turned-hero known as the Beast.[3] Although they drifted apart, she reconnected with the Beast after he joined the Avengers. Involved in one of their missions, they discovered the costume previously worn by the Cat. At Captain America’s suggestion, Patsy put it on and dubbed herself the Hellcat.[4] Offered a chance to join the Avengers, Patsy turned it down to undergo training from Moondragon who sensed that Patsy had latent mental powers.[5] From there, she became a long standing member of the loosely knit team of heroes known as the Defenders. It was during this time that she met, fell in love with, and later married Daimon Hellstrom, aka the Son of Satan.[6]
Eventually, Daimon became dominated by his demonic heritage and Patsy went insane. Blaming him for what happened and wanting revenge, Patsy was able to commit suicide via the death entity known as Deathurge in an effort to punish him. However, even in the afterlife she knew she was still connected to the land of the living and could get out if she wanted.[7] However, it wasn’t until the Thunderbolts ventured into Hell itself and rescued her that she was able to return to the world of the living.[8]
When Patsy finishes her story, she is asked what she plans on doing next, and she admits that she isn’t quite sure yet. That’s when the hosts bring on a surprise guest for her to meet, her old high school friend Heddy Wolfe. As it turns out, after the death of Patsy’s parents, Heddy took over control of Patsy Walker Properties, Inc. and has come up with a brand new way to keep the brand going and wants to show it to her.[9]
Heddy takes Patsy back to their old home town of Centerville, where Patsy is astonished to see that the place has been transformed into one huge tourist attraction. Along with a well preserved version of the town, there are rides and attractions all based on Patsy, her friends, and their antics from the Patsy Walker comic books. Patsy is also delighted to see that many of her old friends and neighbors are still living in town including Tom and Nan Hale, her brother Mickey, John Wolfe, and former school teacher Miss Bliss. Heddy then introduces Patsy to the two people who helped make this all possible. Mr. Nicholas, the mayor who originally came from Colorado and Russell Daboia, the executive in charge of Resort Management.[10] When Daboia kisses Patsy’s hand in greeting, she is unnerved by how cold his lips feel.
After a tour of the amusement part facilities, Patsy is dropped off at the family home so she can rest up for the big gala opening in the morning. However, Patricia is having a hard time processing all of this and decides to take a walk to clear her head. When Mickey tries to tag along, she say she wants to be alone. However, while walking through town, Patsy is cornered by more well wishers including school principal Mary Meek, née Grant and her husband Donald, the school principal, among other friends. However as they all come to greet her, Patsy’s eyes begin to glow and she sees that they have all been possessed by demons. As she flees from the growing mob, Patsy is surprised when her clothes suddenly change into her Hellcat costume. Getting to the safety of the rooftops, Hellcat scans the whole town with her new vision and sees that the entire place is overrun by demons. Realizing that she is in over her head, Patsy knows just who to call.
At Avengers Mansion, Captain America has returned to visit his friends and runs a training session with Iron Man and the Scarlet Witch.[11] That’s when they are telepathically contacted by Moondragon who tells them that Hellcat is in need of their help. The three Avengers then load up into a Quinjet and rendezvous with Moondragon at the given coordinates.[12] They are also joined by Hawkeye and Songbird of the Thunderbolts, who were called in also. Clint explains that her brought Melissa along because he felt that she could spend more time getting to know the Avengers.[13]
When the team lands in Centerville, they are greeted by the whole town including Patsy and Heddy who try to convince them it was all a false alarm. However, the Scarlet Witch can detect magic at work and casts a hex that exorcises the demons possessing the two women. Needing to get clear of the others and make a plan, Moondragon uses her mental powers to carry the non-fliers just out of town. There, they are brought up to speed by Patsy and Heddy. That’s when Patsy’s demonic sight and Hellcat costume return. She scans the town for the highest concentration of demons and discovers that they are coming from a chamber under the Centerville Serpent Rollercoaster.
Heading to the ride, the Avengers and their allies discover a hatch that leads down into a secret chamber. They find a skylight that overlooks a mystical circle where the Sons of the Serpent are in the middle of a mystical ceremony that binds demons to captured residents.[14] The Avengers and their allies come crashing in through the window, interrupting the ceremony. The leader of the Sons of the Serpent turns out to be none other than Russell Daboia, who suddenly transforms into a massive serpent man. He also summons the previously deceased members of the Salem’s Seven — Brutacus, Gazelle, Hydron, Raptilla, Thornn, Vakume, and Vetigo — to assist them.[15]
The Avengers are able to hold their own against the Salem’s Seven and the Sons of the Serpent. Growing frustrated with his minions, Daboia sits in a mystic pentagram and casts a spell that summons ephemeral snakes made out of smoke from a nearby brazier. These creatures quickly coil around the heroes, subduing them. Russell figures his master will be pleased with him that he was able to deal with this annoyance. However, while Daboia pats himself on the back he doesn’t see that Heddy Wolfe had followed the Avengers into this underground lair. Seeing how she had been manipulated, she tries to fight back by knocking over the brazier. when the contents spill out and wash away part of the protective pentagram, it causes Daboia’s spell to be reflected back on him, banishing him and the snake monsters.
With their leader defeated, the Sons of the Serpent quickly surrender. Soon the authorities arrive to take all the criminals away. With the town now free from demonic influence, the Avengers bid farewell to Patsy Walker and head for home. However, for Patsy Walker, the work isn’t done yet. She overheard Daboia mention having a master and she now wonders if their plans are for her home town. Patsy is unaware that she is being observed by Mayor Nicholas from his office window. He realizes that Patsy may have suspected him as the mastermind behind everything and begins planning to make her regret interfering with his plans.
… This story is continued in Hellcat #1.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch), Hellcat, Moondragon, Hawkeye, Songbird, Nicholas Scratch, Sons of the Serpent, Salem’s Seven (Brutacus, Gazelle, Hydron, Raptilla, Thornn, Vakume, Vertigo), Hedy Wolfe, Mac Sanders, Diane Cummings, Tubs Hale, Nan Hale, Mickey Walker, John Wolfe, Betty Bliss, Mary Grant, Donald Grant, Periwinkle Potter
Continuity Notes
It’s Amazing refers to itself as the “All-New”, that’s because this TV show has existed in the Marvel Universe all the way back to the early days of Spider-Man’s career as seen in Amazing Fantasy #18.
Publication wise, Patsy Walker first appeared in comics targeted at teenage girls starting in 1944’s Miss America Magazine #2. She also appeared in many other books including Miss America Magazine, Patsy Walker, Teen Comics, Cindy Comics/Cindy Smith, Margie Comics, Actual Romances, Patsy and Heddy, Patsy and Her Pals, Hedy Wolfe, A Date with Patsy, as well as a spin-off Meet Miss Bliss. Per Defenders #89, all of these comics are adaptations of real life events that happened in the life of Patsy Walker and the people in her hometown of Centerville. The “real” Patsy first appeared in Fantastic Four Annual #3.
Patsy’s involvement with the Beast was chronicled in Amazing Adventures (vol. 2) #11-15. Patsy states that her marriage with Buzz didn’t last. The two ended up getting divorced shortly after these appearances as reported in Avengers #144, which led to…
Hank McCoy later went on to join the Avengers in issue #137 of their series. Patsy came looking for him shortly thereafter as he promised to make her a super-hero. Insisting on tagging along on a mission to investigate the Roxxon Corporation, they found the Cat costume and she became Hellcat. This all went down in Avengers #141-149. Prior to ending up in Patsy’s possession, the Cat costume was previously worn by Greer Grant from The Cat #1-3 until she was transformed into Tigra in Giant-Size Creatures #1.
Patsy’s invitation to join the Avengers, which she declined to train under Moondragon, happened in Avengers #150-151.
Hellcat joined the Defenders in Defenders #44, met Hellstrom in issue #62. The two fell in love over time and were married in issue #125. They left the team right after.
Hellstrom went full demon starting in Hellstorm: Lord of Lies #1. Patsy went batshit crazy and died in issue #14. While the first hint that she could be brought back was dropped in issue #16 of that series.
This was all very complicated. It started when the Avengers fought the Legion of the Unliving in Avengers (vol. 3) #10-11. In that battle they fought what they believed was a reanimated corpse of Mockingbird who had a message for her husband Hawkeye. This prompted Clint and the Thunderbolts to venture to Hell to try and rescue her. They ended up rescuing Hellcat instead, as seen in Thunderbolts Annual 2000. The woman everyone thought was Mockingbird however was really a Skrull spy who took her place, as we’ll learn in Secret Invasion #8 and New Avengers: The Reunion #2. It was the Skrull that died in Mockingbird’s place in Avengers West Coast #100.
Dorothy Walker died of cancer in Defenders #89. Josh Walker was last seen in Defenders #125. This is the first reference to his death, however as of this writing in January, 2023, his cause of death has yet to be detailed.
“Mayor Nicholas” is actually the sorcerer Nicholas Scratch. He hales from the hidden Witches Coven known as New Salem, in Colorado. As will be explained further in Hellcat #1, Scratch is to obtain ultimate power from the demon Dormammu via the souls of the people who live and visit Centerville.
A couple of Captain America’s recent goings on in his life around the time this story was published. They include:
Captain America’s resignation from the Avengers. He quit in Avengers (vol. 3) #26, as he felt he was ineffective in dealing with a bout of bad publicity manufactured by the Triune Understanding. His departure will be short lived as he’ll be back on the team in issue #36-37.
Cap mentions how he recently fought the Hate-Monger and Counter Nefaria. These conflicts took place in Captain America (vol. 3) #25-27 and 28-31 respectively.
Moondragon reminds the Avengers that she is a member of the team. However, it’s not by much. She was on the team on a provisional basis in Avengers #137. When she was offered full membership in issue #151, she went off to train Hellcat instead. Moondragon’s only other time with the team was during the Korvac Saga in Avengers #167-177.
Hawkeye joined up with the Thunderbolts in issue #21 of their series. A footnote here states that Clint’s motivation for introducing Songbird to the Avengers is due to a dim recollection of meeting a future version of Songbird who was a member of the Avengers, as seen in Avengers Forever #1-12. However, per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #5, that version of Songbird comes from an alternate reality. It has been designated Reality-98120. As of this writing, Melissa has only been a member of Sunspot’s New Avengers team briefly as a spy for SHIELD as seen in New Avengers (vol. 4) #1-10.
Iron Man mentions how the Sons of the Serpent were always a garden variety hate group. This has been the case since their first appearance in Avengers #32 and all their subsequent appearances before and after this story. This issue is the only time they dabbled in magic to date.
The Scarlet Witch finds it impossible that the Salem’s Seven could be there because they were dead the last time she saw them. Indeed, the Seven were wiped out along with all the other witches of New Salem in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #2. Wanda also saw them in the afterlife in issue #5 of that series. However, Agatha Harkness was able to cheat death in Avengers West Coast #50. In fact, New Salem is completely restored eventually, as seen in New Warriors (vol. 5) #1. With that in mind, it doesn’t seem that outlandish that the Salem’s Seven could be resurrected as well.
