Broken Hearts

After hours of isolation, Jack of Hearts is released from his isolation room in the basement of Avengers Mansion. He is greeted by Iron Man and a team of medics who begin examining him immediately. As they examine him, the doctors detect anomalous traces of gamma radiation in Jack’s system that shouldn’t be there.[1] It is having an effect on the amount of time he can spend out of isolation from his Zero Room. Tony tells him that it has been reduced to a mere 10 hours of freedom.

Meanwhile, Scott Lang — aka Ant-Man — has arrived at court. He is fighting his ex-wife, Peggy Rae over custody of their daughter Cassie. The judge has come to believe that Scott’s association with the Avengers puts Cassie in unnecessary risk. However, Lang insists that he is not a member of the team, he just answered a single emergency call when they needed help.[2] However, he can’t answer how often he’ll be answering these kind of emergency calls.

Back at the mansion, Yellowjacket finishes his evaluation of Jack’s physiology and doesn’t have good news. Since Jack returned from years in space, his containment suit and zero gas treatments will no longer cut it for him, leaving the Zero Room the only viable option to drain Jack of his energies from now on.[3] As a precaution, Hank is also recommending that Jack spent more time in the Zero Room, increasing the time to 14 hours. While Jack considers this a torment, Yellowjacket reveals that his father actually saved his life. Hank shows Jack that he had found one of Phillip Hart’s journals. It revealed that Jack’s father was aware of his son’s mixed Contraxian heritage and that the Zero Energy he created was actually intended to save his son’s life. His original intent on selling it as a new energy source being merely a cover story. This revelation angers Jack that he burns his father’s journal and flies off, smashing through the ceiling to do so. Needing to get Jack back in the Zero Room, Iron Man agrees to go and bring him back.

While at the courthouse, the judge rules that full custody of Cassie is being awarded to her mother for her own safety. Scott is furious at this decision and promises they’ll be hearing from his lawyers. He confronts Peggy outside and demands to know why she is so hell bent on getting Cassie back. As it turns out, Peggy is getting remarried and wants to start a family. That’s when a police car rolls up and at first Scott thinks she called the cops on him. However, it turns out that the officer is Peggy’s new fiancée, Blake Burdick. As Peggy and Cassie get into the back seat of Blake’s squad car, he tells Scott that Cassie needs a normal life. To punctuate his thoughts about Scott, Blake swats a fly that buzzes to close to him. Scott isn’t intimidated by this, but Blake mockingly tells him that they’ll see plenty of each other on weekend visitations. As Blake drives off, Scott wipes a tear from his eye.

Meanwhile, Iron Man catches up to Jack of Hearts and tires to convince him to come back to the mansion. He promises that he and Hank will do everything they can to cure him. He even tries to relate to the isolation that Jack feels during his time in the Zero Room.[4] Unfortunately, Jack doesn’t buy any of it and takes off again.

As the sun begins to set, Ant-Man returns to Avengers Mansion and asks the Wasp if they’ll still allow him on the team. That’s when Jack of Hearts shows up and chides Lang for getting on the team just by asking, while he had to work his ass off to prove himself.[5] That’s when Iron Man arrives and he and Janet point out to Jack that Scott has earned the right to be an Avenger just as much as he has.[6] Put in his place, Jack heads inside as he needs to return to the Zero Room. Iron Man apologizes on his behalf and then welcomes Ant-Man onto the team.

However, Jack and Scott aren’t all that different. While Jack sits in the baren Zero Room, alone with his thoughts, Scott heads up to his own quarters to do the exact same thing.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Iron Man, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Jack of Hearts, Ant-Man), Cassie Lang, Peggy Rae Burdick, Blake Burdick

Continuity Notes

1. Jack of Hearts’ powers come from a combination of being exposed to Zero Energy as well as his mixed human and Contraxian heritage. See Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #22 and Jack of Hearts #1-4. More recently, Jack’s power build up has become dangerous to the point where if the excess isn’t drained every few hours he’ll reach critical mass and explode. This began in Avengers (vol. 3) #57. It’ll later be discovered in issue #67 that Jack’s problems stem from his body absorbing gamma radiation from the She-Hulk. This solution doesn’t get resolved as Jack will later be seemingly killed in an explosion in Avengers (vol. 3) #76.

2. Scott decided to help the Avengers out during their battle with Scorpio after receiving an Avengers priority alert through his helmet in issue #57. However, he was never made an official member of the Avengers and even declined an offer to become one last issue.

3. Jack left Earth in Jack of Hearts #4. Other than a brief visit between Quasar #19-29, he did not return until after the events of Maximum Security #1-3 and Avengers (vol. 3) #36.

4. Iron Man can relate as his early career was lived in isolation of sorts. Due to an injury to his heart, he was forced to wear his armored chest plate 24/7 to keep from beating. Keeping it a secret, this always put up an emotional barrier that deeply effected his personal and romantic life. This started in Tales of Suspense #39 until his heart was repaired in Iron Man #19.

5. Jack refers to Scott as the second Ant-Man. The identity was previously used by Hank Pym starting in Tales to Astonish #35. Scott was passed the mantle in Marvel Premiere #47.

6. Iron Man mentions the time the Ant-Man helped the team with the Taskmaster (Avengers #196 and 223) and the Masters of Evil (Avengers #275-277).