Avengers (vol. 3) #82
Once an Invader, Part 1
John Walker has traveled to the Middle East in search of a man named Mark Todd. His search leads him to an American man who has been a prisoner of the local government for some time. His cell is a literal hole in the ground. When Walker questions the man he confirms that he is indeed Mark Todd, born in 1910, and somehow still alive. Walker asks if he still has the power and Mark Todd confirms that he is still able to become the Blazing Skull.[1] Once the transformation is complete, Todd begins laughing like a mad man.
Meanwhile, at Avengers Embassy in New York, the Avengers are holding a funeral for Kelsey Lehigh. Lehigh had sacrificed her life in order to protect Captain America from the Wrecking Crew. This funeral is being held for the sake of her mother-in-law and her two children, Martin and Jenny. Nobody but the Scarlet Witch knows that their newest member, Captain Britain, is Lehigh. She had been resurrected by her predecessor, but she dare not reveal her true identity or else her children will suffer horrible deaths as a result.[2][3] As Captain America is giving his eulogy, Kelsey considers his words nothing short of bullocks and mutters this under her breath.
When the ceremony is over, Captain America pulls Captain Britain aside and orders her to tell him her thoughts about Kelsey Lehigh’s sacrifice. The British hero wonders aloud if Kelsey and all the other fallen Avengers are all dead due to the team not doing what is needed to eliminate threats. Regardless of the details, she says that Kelsey Lehigh would still be alive today if the Avengers had properly dealt with the Wrecking Crew the first time around. Steve takes offense to this, accusing the new comer as having now respect for the deceased or her grieving family. He also thinks she has no position to judge the Avengers for what they do. This pisses Kelsey off even more. Calling Cap a sanctimonious prat, she tells him that she knows enough about the deceased to know that she wouldn’t have wanted her children uprooted from their homeland, nor would Kelsey have wanted to be immortalized by a statue that also included the shameful scar she wore on her face. With that, she uses her powers to reduce the memorial statue of herself to rubble and storms off.[4]
After this incident, Captain America calls a meeting with Iron Man and Goliath. They all suspect that Captain Britain is somehow Kelsey Lehigh, but they don’t know why she is keeping her true identity a secret from her family. This at least goes some way to explain why the Scarlet Witch they insisted they bring the Leigh children and their grandmother back to the mansion with them.[5] Since the matter still has unanswered questions, Cap puts a pin on things for now. He and Hank then head down to the infirmary to see how Hawkeye is coming along after being injured while on their last mission.[6] Hank wants to tag along because he wants to talk to the Wasp, who has been spending a lot of time with Clint while he is recovering.[7]
However, Hawkeye isn’t in the infirmary, he’s out in the backyard practicing his archery even though his right hand and left leg are both in casts. The Wasp it outside with him and she is concerned that he might hurt himself if he pushes too hard. Clint deflects this by hitting on Janet and admitting that he has always been attracted to her. Janet finds this a shocking surprise and when she kisses him on the cheek for being so sweet he takes it as an invitation to kiss her on the lips. Janet, doesn’t stop him.
While back in the Middle East, John Walker is negotiating with a local leader to have Mark Todd released into his custody. Malik, the man in charge, refuses to do any such thing saying that Todd admitted to a bombing in Teywara a week earlier. This conflicts with the amount of time that Todd spent in the hole, and Mark points out that a man will confess anything to anything if he is being tortured hard enough. When Todd’s keeper asks for more money, John refuses. When the guards tries to shoot him, he pulls out “Convincer” his energized baton and uses it to snag one of the guards and use him as a human shield. Taking his gun, he then mows them all down.
When reinforcements arrive, Todd finally turns into the Blazing Skull and begins fighting back. Walker then calls for his evac. With their cover blown, he strips off his military shirt revealing that Walker is back to wearing Captain America’s colours again. He then pulls out his new shield and deflects shots being fired at him. Eventually, his evac team — Union Jack and Spitfire — come to lift airlift them out in a helicopter. Todd recognizes Union Jack from the war, but is told that this is his present day successor.[8] With the enemy combatans down, Union Jack suggests they get out of there before someone gets hurt, something the Skull takes exception to considering the number of human casualties. He then asks Walker why he is being broken out of prison. John tells him that it’s because they are reforming the Invaders.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Goliath, Wasp, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Warbird, Falcon, She-Hulk, Ant-Man, Captain Britain), Invaders (US Agent, Union Jack, Spitfire, Blazing Skull), Martin Leigh, Jenny Leigh, Redwing
Continuity Notes
According to Mystic Comics #5, Mark Todd’s abilities came from the training provided to him by the enigmatic Skull People a secret order with powers similar to his own. This issue marks the first time it is stated that Mark’s powers made him immortal.
Kelsey Lehigh’s harrowing death and resurrection, transformation into Captain Britain, and her need to keep a secret identity were all detailed in Avengers (vol. 3) #77-81. However, it’s later revealed in New Excalibur #24 that the threat to her children was all a lie in order to prepare her for a secret mission for the British government. The logic being it would spare her children the sorrow of losing their mother a second time if she died again.
The Avengers graveyard has statues of past members who have died or were considered dead at the time of this story:
There is a statue of the Swordsman and his lover Mantis. The Swordsman sacrificed his life for Mantis back in Giant-Size Avengers #2. Mantis, however, never died at least not for very long and not in a way that the Avengers were ever aware of. One could presume that the inclusion of Mantis was a symbol of the love between her and Swordsman and not a marker for her death.
Captain Marvel: Mar-Vell has been dead for years at this point after succumbing to cancer in Marvel Graphic Novel #1.
Jocasta: Jocasta the robot has seemingly died twice. The first time when she was critically damaged by Ultron in Marvel Two-in-One #92-93, and again by the High Evolutionary in Avengers Annual #17. However, at the time of this story Jocasta is still alive, now existing as an artificial intelligence inside a computer since Iron Man (vol. 3) #18. That said, I wouldn’t think the Avengers were rip down a statue of a fallen comrade after they have come back to life.
Jack of Hearts: The most recent Avenger to die in the line of duty. He perished when the energies in his body hit critical mass and he exploded in Avengers (vol. 3) #76.
In the deep background there is a statue of Thor, perhaps a hold over from when he and many other Avengers were believed killed during Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1.
Mockingbird: Seemingly perished during a battle with Mephisto in Avengers West Coast #100. However, this was really a Skrull spy and the real Bobbi Morse is still alive and will resurface in Secret Invasion #8. Details regarding her replacement are explained in New Avengers: The Reunion #2.
Wonder Man: Simon Williams is the first casualty since the Avengers first formed when he seemingly died back in Avengers #9 as the result of a side effect of his powers. In reality, he entered a death like state as his body was converted into ionic energy. He turned up alive again in Avengers #151. An explanation for his resurrection was given in issue #164.
As revealed in Avengers (vol. 3) #60, Kelsey was attacked in her home one night. When she tried to fight back against her rapist he responded by cutting her face with a broken bottle, permanently scarring her face while her cowardly husband watched.
This is the second time Hank makes a veiled comment regarding his mother. The last time he did was in Avengers (vol. 3) #79, when he offhandedly mentioned that she was killed. It seems like this was something that writer Chuck Austin was going to explore. The opportunity never happened as all his plotlines were dropped when the Avengers Disassembled revamp happened shortly after this issue. That all said, we know very little about Doris Pym. She is seen briefly in flashbacks in Age of Ultron #10.AI, but nothing is said about her ultimate fate.
Hawkeye got the shit kicked out of him by the Wrecking Crew in issue #79.
Hank emphasizes that Janet is his former wife. The two had been married for years starting in Avengers #60. The marriage ended in divorce after Hank struck her in issue #213. The pair have been in an on-again-off-again relationship. They are currently off again after an argument in issue #79 that brought up Hank’s past abuse and mental health issues.
This Union Jack is Joseph Chapman, the third known Union Jack. He succeeds the original, Montgomery Failsworth, who retired after his legs were crushed in Invaders #10. He was succeeded by his son, Brian, in Invaders #19. Brain died sometime prior to Captain America #253 when Chapman took up the role.
Topical References
Hawkeye’s casts are depicted as being made out of plaster and bandage. This is a very dated method of making a cast. Its use has fallen out of favor thanks to further advancements in medicine and new methods of casting broken bones. As such, this depiction should be considered topical.
Malik asks for an additional million dollars in payment. Adjusting for inflation that would be worth about 1.5 million dollars in 2023 money.
Translations
Some of the dialogue in this story is presented in Arabic without a translation. Incidentally they are almost all swear words or insults. Hope you appreciate the extra research I put into this because Google Translate was useless on this one. I’m not an expert so if there is some nuance I’m missing here don’t hesitate to e-mail me (I’d really be interested in learning more Arabic insults) They are:
Koos = Is used here as though the characters are calling each other “dog”. However, the correct word is apparently Chelb. Ibn al Kalb means “Son of a dog”. So perhaps the writer misunderstood the spelling or is using the wrong word here.
Fatah, Koos! = Since fatah means girl or woman, I’m guessing this is supposed to be a stand in for “son of a bitch”.
Royh ya Ayr = I couldn’t find anything that resembles whatever this phrase. However, Ayreh Feek is equivalent “Fuck You”. Given the context this is being used, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is someone calling John Walker a motherfucker.
Kul khara = This one is misspelled apparently, the proper English spelling of this phrase is apprently Kol Khara. It means “eat shit”.
Omak zanya fee erd = Again, this looks like it’s mangled spelling. It should be spelled Ommak zanya fee erd. I think this roughly translates to “Your mother is a cheap whore” or something to that effect since Ommak means mother, zanya means adultress, and erd means “an offer”.
Hmar = Is one of the lighter insults used in this story. It simply means donkey.
Khanzeera al matina = Roughly translates to filthy pig.
Ma fish kahraba = Based on what I can figure, this is something to do with religion. Like insulting someone for not having a god to worship.
