World Trust, Part 1: New Alliances

In the early hours of the morning, a storm rages over New York City. At Avengers Mansion, the Scarlet Witch suddenly wakes up from a terrible nightmare.

That morning, in Washington, DC, the Wasp and Yellowjacket have arrived outside the White House. Janet is impressed by how quickly Washington was rebuilt after it was decimated by Kang.[1] Still she is upset that they were dragged down to Congress to answer for the “security risks” posed by current members of the team. Janet is annoyed that it didn’t take long for the government to breath down their necks again. To get her mind off things, she and Hank shrink down to insect size and fly to a nearby art gallery. There, Jan shows Hank her favorite painting, “City Night” painted by Georgia O’Keef.

Yellowjacket figures they can straighten out their government problems and figures it could be worse, they could be stuck with Henry Gyrich as a liaison again.[2] This makes Janet laugh and she then tells Hank she loves him and they kiss. Their romantic moment is interrupted when the gallery is suddenly rocked by a powerful earthquake. After saving people from falling debris, the Wasp and Yellowjacket fly outside and see that the sky has suddenly gone pitch black.

Back in Manhattan, Captain America and the Falcon are on a case together. The two catch up on what Sam has been up to recently, notably his change back to a more basic costume, and how he has been working on a restoration project with the city.[3] That’s when Redwing, Falcon’s pet bird, locates their target and relays it back to them via its mental link with Sam. They are after Calvin Zabo, aka Mister Hyde, after he savagely beat his last girlfriend. Zabo has just bought a batch of 90-proof alcohol, the only thing that can get his alter-ego drunk. When Captain America and the Falcon ambush him, Zabo breaks a vial of his Hyde formula hidden beneath the skin of his wrist, causing him to transform into his monstruous other form. When Hyde asks how the two ordinary men are going to stop him, that when Cap calls in the other Avengers that have been searching for Zabo: Iron Man, the Scarlet Witch, Vision, and Warbird!

Mister Hyde tries fleeing the scene, slowing up the Avengers by tossing cars around.[4] When the Avengers catch up, Hyde lifts up a cab with a ruptured gas tank. Seeing the fuel leaking all over him, Captain America orders the Scarlet Witch to use her hex powers on him. Even though she is a little off her game, Wanda complies, causing the gasoline to suddenly ignite. Throwing the cab to the ground in an effort to put out the flames, Mister Hyde causes a piece of shrapnel to fly and slice open the side of Wanda’s arm. The Vision and Captain America then double team their foe, knocking him out. As they all check on Wanda, Cap gets a call from Jarvis who tells the Avengers they are needed back at the mansion immediately.

When they return, Jarvis shows them satellite photos of a strange swirling void that has consumed the entire city of Washington, DC. Given the gravity of the situation, Jarvis has gone ahead and called in every reserve Avenger he could reach. Arriving in answer to the call are the She-Hulk, Jack of Hearts, and Ant-Man. This is just as Iron Man scans the strange void and determines that Washington has been plunged into some kind of chasm in reality. When Ant-Man asks for clarification, he and Jack of Hearts get into spat over the fact that Ant-Man is not an official Avenger.[5] Captain America breaks it up and tells them that they have more important things to focus on than bickering with one another.[6] That’s when Iron Man reports more voids appearing over London, Islamabad, Doomstad in Latveria. That’s when the Black Panther enters the room and reveals that his native Wakanda has also fallen victim to this strange void.

The other Avengers are unhappy that T’Challa has arrived alongside Henry Gyrich, their former government liaison. Gyrich — who has been suffering some career setbacks — has come to petition the team into letting him work with them again, pointing out that his connections to the government will help the Avengers cut through red tape during this crisis. Since they are getting emergency calls from all over the globe, Iron Man concedes that — like it or not — they need Gyrich’s experience. That’s when they get a call from the Chairman of the United Nations. He informs the Avengers that in light of the current crisis, particularly the disappearances of entire governments, the other member states have decided to using emergency powers to grant the Avengers world leader status within the organization.

Meanwhile, upstairs, the Scarlet Witch is recovering from their battle with Mister Hyde. To pass the time she is giving herself a tarot card reading. Suddenly, the cards flutter off her bedside tray and into the air. The first card “The Lovers” flips up, depicting two lovers that look suspiciously like herself and the Vision walking away from one another.[7] The next is “Death”, which shows the grim reaper holding Captain America’s shield. Lastly, a card appears before her showing the swirling void that is affecting so much outside. Within it a face — half light, half dark — appears and pleads to Wanda for help.[8]

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, Vision, Warbird, Falcon, She-Hulk, Jack of Hearts), Mister Hyde, Ant-Man, Henry Gyrich, Edwin Jarvis, In-Betweener, Redwing

Continuity Notes

1. Kang invaded present day Earth in Avengers (vol. 3) #41-54. During this conflict, Washington, DC was decimated by a massive bomb in issue #49.

2. Henry Gyrich was an infamous government liaison to the Avengers. His tenure lasted from Avengers #165 to 231. He famously revoked the team’s security clearance in issue #172, forced the team to pair down its roster in issue #181 (which included forcing the Falcon onto the team). Gyrich only backed down after the Avengers stopped the menace of the Grey Gargoyle and saved countless lives in Avengers #190-191. Petey later went on to become a member on the Commission on Superhuman Affairs starting in New Mutants #1 and hasn’t been much of a thorn in the side to the Avengers since.

3. Falcon states here that he recently ditched his armored costume for something less bulky. Sam had started wearing a costume with more armor plating starting in Black Panther (vol. 3) #16. He was last seen wearing in Captain America (vol. 3) #50.

4. When Iron Man saves the life of a cab driver, he asks him if he has any stock tips. Hearing this, Carol quips that this must be the downside of Tony Stark revealing his secret identity to the world. At the time of this story, Tony had inadvertedly revealed his true identity in Iron Man (vol. 3) #55.

5. Indeed, at the time of this story, Scott Lang was had not been a member of the Avengers. He answered the call because the equipment he used was previously used by Hank Pym, a founding Avenger, when he was Ant-Man. Scott succeeded Hank as Ant-Man in Marvel Premiere #47, stealing the equipment in order to get a cure for his daughter Cassie’s medical condition. Impressed by Lang’s work, Hank allowed him to continue being Ant-Man with his blessing.

6. Warbird tells Jack to calm down, reminding him what Hank Pym said about maintaining control. This is a hint that Jack is losing control of his powers. As we’ll learn in Avengers (vol. 3) #61, Jack now has to spend hours in a specially prepared room to drain off his excess radiation or risk exploding.

7. This is reference to the long and complicated relationship between the Vision and the Scarlet Witch. I’m kind of tired of writing about it, so we’ll just do the basics: They got married in Giant-Size Avengers #4, they separated in Avengers #312, and Vision declared it over in Avengers (vol. 3) #4. Get it? Got it? Good.

8. As we’ll discover over the next three issues, this is the cosmic entity known as the In-Betweener. He has fallen victim of the new Scorpio and the Brotherhood of the Ankh who have used the Zodiac Key to split him in two and disrupt the cosmic balance between order and chaos.

Topical References

• Hank figures that the Avengers problems with the government when Captain America picks up the phone and calls “George, Jr.”. This is in reference to then President of the United States, George W. Bush. He is referred to as “George, Jr.” because he is named after his father, George H.W. Bush. This should be considered a topical reference as Bush the 2nd was only President from 2001 to 2009.

• In this story, the Falcon states that he is involved in the effort to rebuild the World Trade Center. This story was published shortly after the iconic twin towers were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. Construction started on the new Freedom Tower in 2006. The building finally opened to the public on November 3, 2014. As there is now a new building in its place, references to the original twin towers, “Ground Zero”, and the reconstruction efforts should now be considered topical. Once could assume that Falcon is involved in some other, more general, type of reconstruction project other than the WTC.

• The Chairman of the United Nations is depicted as Kofi Annan. Annan was in charge of the UN from 1997 to 2006. He subsequently died in 2018. His appearance here should be considered topical.