Avengers (vol. 3) #24
Harsh Judgements
It’s dawn in Lower Manhattan, where a homeless man is woken up by someone running by his sleeping spot in a darkened alley. The runner is weakly muttering about needing to get the help of the Avengers or else the world is doomed. Opening his eyes, the homeless man recognizes who the runner is and immediately fears for his life.
That morning, the protests outside Avengers Mansion has grown exponentially since they both began. The mob consists of various groups demanding that the Avengers roster conforms to their views. One side wants more representation from visible minorities, others want all mutants kicked off the team, and some racist pieces of shit want an all white Avengers team.[1]
Senior Avengers — Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor — are now holding an emergency meeting with their government liaison, Duane Freeman, regarding this matter. Thor is the most upset by the protesters outside, seeing it as an insult to all the times the Avengers saved the Earth. That’s when Jarvis arrives with the mail which is the first of four trips due to the volume of complaints they have received. It’s not just complaints either, they have also been contacted by various media organizations and personalities who wish to interview the team. The Scarlet Witch can hardly believe this, and say out that popularity isn’t important in their line of work, pointing out that the X-Men have been feared and hated for years. However, she only stopped in trying to find Wonder Man. Captain America has grown frustrated with all of this and heads down to the training room to blow off some steam.
In another part of the mansion, Justice is finally having his cast removed.[2] Although his leg is fully healed, Jane Foster warns him to be easy on it for the time being. Vance is pleased to finally be out of his cast and his fiancée Firestar has brought him a gift from the Wasp, a brand new costume. After celebrating his recovery, Vance tells Angelica that he has something important to ask her.[3]
Meanwhile, the Scarlet Witch finally finds Wonder Man in the com-room. Simon has been trying to figure out where the Vision went when he abruptly left the day before.[4] He thought to contact Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch. Unfortunately, Hammond hasn’t the faintest idea where to find the Vision. He also thanks Simon for confirming and explaining the complex set of circumstances in which the Vision was built from the Torch’s body.[5] Seeing how Simon blames himself for the Vision leaving, Wanda assures him that this is not the case and that the android will come back eventually.
Outside, Quicksilver arrives outside Avengers Mansion to the astonishment of the protestors outside. Seeing the anti-mutant signs among the others, Pietro is hardly surprised. He had come on business on behalf of his father’s new Genoshan government at the United Nations and decided to stop by and visit the Avengers.[6] Since there is no getting in the front gates, Quicksilver decides to try the side entrance and discovers two men rifling through the Avengers’ trash. He stops them but they claim to be reporters. As he searches the dumpster divers, he discovers one of them is wearing a peculiar pin and races inside.
Finding Iron Man, Pietro asks him to call an emergency meeting. Once Justice shows off his new outfit, and a tense moment between Wanda and Pietro regarding their father, the get down to business. Quicksilver shows the team about the reporters digging through their trash. While searching them, Pietro discovers that they were carrying a bunch of Triune Understanding pins. This suggests to Quicksilver and the other Avengers that the religious group has something to do with their current bout of bad press. Duane Freeman, however, finds this preposterous. He then reveals to the team that he is a follower of the Triune Understanding and assures them that he is no spy for the organization.
That’s when the alarm begins to sound and the Avengers are informed by Jarvis that a massive stone ship has appeared in the skies over Manhattan. Rushing into the city, the Avengers work together to get people out of the path of falling debris. When Iron Man, Thor, and Wonder Man try to get close to the ship, they are pushed back by an energy blast. Inside the vessel, the Exemplars known as Carnivore and Conquest fight each other to determine who is the strongest. Soon, Tempest begins squabbling with Decay when his touch kills her flowers. Seeing their group fracture, Inferno and Bedlam use their powers to get everyone under control. Inferno tells the others to stop bickering with one another as now isn’t the time to find out which is the most powerful among them.
Outside, the Juggernaut arrives on the scene and calls to the Avengers as he needs their help. He tells them that the ship in the sky is being piloted by the Exemplars. Like himself, they are people transformed into avatars for powerful mystical beings. However, the spell that turned Cain Marko into the Juggernaut was incomplete and he still retains his free will, while the others are governed by the desires of their masters. He explains that they are going to take over the world and carve it up into seven kingdoms before warring with one another to determine who is the most powerful among them. Thor and Iron Man confirm the Juggernaut’s story, as they were involved when the Exemplars first got their powers and drove them away.[7]
That’s when they are ambushed by the Exemplars, who focus their attack on the Juggernaut. Inferno and Stonecutter combine their powers to blast the Juggernaut’s helmet off his head. This leaves him open to telepathic attack from Bedlam. With the Juggernaut incapacitated, the Exemplars tell the Avengers that their prisoner will be tried and executed for betraying their cause. When the powerful beings return to their stone ship, the Avengers are left wondering how to deal with this conflict.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, Firestar, Justice), Exemplars (Bedlam, Carnivore, Conquest, Decay, Inferno, Stonecutter, Tempest), Juggernaut, Quicksilver, Jane Foster, Duane Freeman, Human Torch, Edwin Jarvis
Continuity Notes
These protests have evolved from the Triune Understanding’s smear campaign against the Avengers since Avengers (vol. 3) #13. The protests are a new wrinkle after the Avengers got in a fight at the Triune Understanding’s headquarters in Avengers (vol. 3) #15, leading to uncomfortable questions from the press in issue #19. The protests out front the mansion began last issue. The reason the Triunes have it against the Avengers is because their leader, Jonathan Tremont, believes the Avengers are responsible for a coming doomsday prophecy. This is actually the Triple-Evil as we’ll learn in Avengers (vol. 3) #50.
Justice broke his leg during a fight with the Doomsday Man in Avengers (vol. 3) #17.
The pair discuss taking a leave of absence from the Avengers. This will come to pass in Avengers (vol. 3) #27.
When Wonder Man was believed to be dying due to a side-effect of his new powers, the Avengers made a copy of his brain engrams, as seen in Avengers #9. Later, these were stolen by Ultron who used them to create the Vision’s personality, as detailed in Avengers #57-58. Wonder Man later returned to life in Avengers #151. However, it wasn’t until last issue that the Vision realized that all of his interests were the exact same as Wonder Man’s and left in a fit of anger. Vision will turn up again in Avengers (vol. 3) #30, where it is revealed that he has been trying to track down the Grim Reaper and bring him to justice.
The origins of the Vision and his connection to the original Human Torch have been obfuscated for many years.
It all started when the android Torch was briefly revived in Fantastic Four Annual #4. From there, there were two conflicting reports of what happened after deactivation.
Sub-Mariner #14 depicted the Mad Thinker holding a funeral for the Torch in order to capture and brainwash his former partner, Toro.
Later in Avengers #134-135, it was revealed that Ultron stole the Torch’s body from the Thinker and used it to build the Vision.
Later, in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42-45 and 50, a man claiming to be Phineas Horton (the Torch’s creator) claimed that the Vision was not made from his parts. The Avengers then found the original Torch’s body buried in the grave.
It was just recently revealed that this was all part of a grand deception created by the time traveler known as Immortus as part of his scheme to manipulate the Avengers. Going back in time to just after the battle in Fantastic Four Annual #4, Immortus used the Forever Crystal to create a chronal duplicate of the Torch. One Torch was then buried, the other went on to become the Vision. Using a Space Phantom who posed as Horton, Immortus then tricked the Avengers into thinking that he and the Torch were separate entities as it suited his purposes at the time. This was all explained in Avengers Forever #8.
The situation with Quicksilver at the time of this story and some of the facts about him (and his sister the Scarlet Witch) have since been revealed to be false.
First off, the pair are identified as mutants here. However, this has since been revealed as false. Per Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5, Wanda and Pietro were kidnapped as children and experimented upon by the High Evolutionary. To cover up his work he made it so genetic tests on the twins would have them register as mutants.
The twins have been led to believe that Magneto is their father since Vision and the Scarlet Witch #4. This is another falsehood. Their biological mother was revealed to be Natalya Maximoff in Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #3. Their father, as of this writing in January, 2023, remains unidentified.
At the time of this story, the United Nations had just recently agreed to hand over rule of the island nation of Genosha to Magneto. Quicksilver also accepted an offer to become part of his governing council. See Magneto Rex #1-3.
The Exemplars first reared their ugly heads during The Ninth Day event which took place in Iron Man (vol. 3) #21-22, Thor (vol. 2) #17, Peter Parker: Spider-Man #10, and Juggernaut: The Eighth Day #1. The Juggernaut first got his powers years earlier from the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak in X-Men #12. However, the spell was interrupted by an airstrike. As a result, Cain Marko retained his full personality while the spell to compel others to find the other temples was interrupted until one was found by accident years later.
Topical References
The original twin towers of the World Trade Center are depicted as part of the New York City skyline in this story. This should be considered a topical reference as they were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. They have subsequently been replaced with the Freedom Tower.
Of the people/organizations wanting to interview the Avengers there are requests from:
Good Morning America: An early morning news program that has aired on ABC networks since 1975. Usually a real world news program would be considered a topical reference. However, since ABC and Marvel Comics are now owned by Disney, this sort of brand synergy is not long a topical reference.
Larry King: At the time this comic was published, Larry King was best known for his TV show Larry King Live where he would interview celebrities and politicians. It also included a call in segment where viewers could call in with questions. This should be considered topical as King retired from the show in 2010. He later died in 2021.
Rush Limbaugh: Is basically the Bizarro version of Larry King. This pompous right-wing propagandist also was the voice of conservative radio from 1957 until his dead in 2021. Good riddance.
Pietro suggests that they get in touch with CNN about the Triune Understanding’s alleged smear campaign. This should be considered a topical reference as CNN is a real world news network.
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