Death Trap, The Vault

Inside the Vault super-max prison, the psychotic criminal known as Venom vows to break out.[1] However, he has a challenge ahead of him thanks to the Vault’s newest administrator, Truman Marsh. Marsh’s parents were killed during an altercation between two teams of superhumans. While the press called one side good, and the other evil, Marsh considers metahumans all the same. Because of this deep seated hatred he vows no inmate will escape under his watch.

Upstairs, in the specially prepared court room, the Controller is being tried for his recent crimes. Although his lawyer argues for a mistrial due to the Vault’s high security, the judge declines and he is found guilty of his crimes.[2] Present for the trail are Captain America and Hank Pym of the Avengers. The Controller is soon taken down to the prison level and placed in a cell next to the Rhino and down the hall from Venom who is frantically pounding away on a typewriter to produce his latest edition of “Notes from the Underground”, his prison newspaper.[3] Moments later, the two Avengers leave the Vault in one a Quinjet.

Once they are gone, Warden Truman Marsh has his scientists continue experimentation on the criminal telepath known as Mentallo. This causes an electrical surge that has unforeseen circumstances for the prison: It’s boosted Mentallo’s power enough to get past the power dampeners in his cell. Needing more than his own powers to get out of prison, Mentallo makes mental contact with Venom and he agrees to help the telepath escape. Mentallo then begins calling for a guard. When one of the Guardsmen comes in to see what’s wrong, Mentallo uses his powers to make the guard think he is being attacked by a monster. This is quickly seen by the Guardsmen that are monitoring security. When they race down, they quickly find Mentallo and incapacitate him with knock out gas. That’s when one of them notices that Venom’s cell is empty. That’s when they are ambushed by Venom, who makes short work for them.

When security drones are activated to try and subdue him, Venom kicks one so it’s wild shot frees Moonstone and Speed Demon who begin assisting Venom with the security response. That’s when Warden Marsh becomes aware of the break out attempt and orders a security lock down. More prisoners are being freed from their cells when Thunderball detects the smell of knock out gas. He tells Vapor to change into cesium gas to counteract its effects.

While the cell block is eventually locked down some of the prisoners manage to escape such as the Griffin, Orka, and Bullet. Luckily, the alarm was also picked up by Captain America and Hank Pym, who return and capture the trio. Marsh considers this lucky and while things are locked down, he makes sure that his private escape route is still operational in case things go south.

Soon, the United States government dispatches their team of sanctioned superheroes, the Freedom Force. While they fly out to the Vault, the Blob scoffs over how easy this is going to be. However, Mystique keeps him on his toes by quickly shape changing into Venom to frighten him. Hearing her teammates express empathy toward the prisoners, as most of Freedom Force were former criminals themselves, makes Mystique worry that their loyalties will be sorely tested on this mission.[4]

Back at the Vault, Venom has all the captured guards tied up and begins making his demands. If the warden doesn’t let them out, Venom vows to kill one guard every five minutes. Since he can control the entire prison using a portable control unit, Truman Marsh refuses to answer to their commands, confident that he can keep the prisoners trapped until the situation is brought back under control.

At the same time, Captain America has called for reinforcements. Answering the call are the Wasp, Iron Man, Hawkeye, the Vision, She-Hulk, and Wonder Man. When they learn that the Freedom Force is also being called in, the Vision computes at 25% chance that they will side with the inmates and turn on the authorities.

At that same moment, Ironclad, Goliath, and Titania combine their strength to knock down a concrete slab that was dividing the cell block so they can continue consolidating their numbers. By this time, Venom’s first deadline has passed and when the warden still refuses to let them out, he uses his symbiote to asphyxiate one of the guards. Marsh is about to retreat to his secret bunker when the Freedom Force finally arrive to take control of the situation. Arming themselves with gas grenades that will knock out the prisoners, the team is then led to a sealed utility tunnel. From there, Avalanche uses his powers to dig a tunnel down to the cell block for the others to travel through.

Once they are gone, Marsh is horrified to discover that the detonator on a bomb designed to blow up the entire prison has been activated. Fearing for his life, Truman tries to use the escape tunnel but he is ambushed by Venom who was led upstairs with some help from Vermin. Rather than allowing the pair to escape, Marsh detonates the elevator, causing the shaft to seal with an indestructible Adamantium plate, trapping everyone inside, himself included.

On the upper levels of the facility, the Avengers arrive and are being escorted through the building by one of the staff. With the warden missing, they go to one of the security prompts and Iron Man uses his skills to decode the message, informing them of the bomb. Worse, their guide had no idea that such a weapon was on site and has no clue where it might be hidden. They try to send down a warning to Freedom Force, but as they are being informed about the bomb, their tunnel is suddenly flooded by a torrent of water, cutting off radio contact. With innocent people trapped inside the prison, the Vision uses his phasing powers to scope things out down below while Hank Pym goes over the prison schematics to try and figure a way to get people out or disarm the bomb.

The Vision arrives in the cell block just in time to stop Venom from executing another guard. Unfortunately, the synthezoid is quickly incapacitated by Klaw and imprisoned in a solid sound cube. That’s when Thunderball starts jockeying for command of the breakout, pointing out how its his intelligence that has allowed them to remain free while Venom has been using ineffectual hostages. The two almost comes to blows until Electro fires a bolt of lightning between the two and reminds them that the only way they can get out is to work together. While Venom insists that his plan will work, Thunderball recruits Ironclad and Electro to climb into the ventilation system with him to try and find a way out.

Elsewhere, Hawkeye, the Wasp, and Wonder Man try to reach the cell block through a utility shaft. They are briefly slowed down by a laser grid but Hawkeye is able to shoot the Wasp across the room to activate the shut down switch. That’s when they are ambushed by Titania, Moonstone, Speed Demon, and Piledriver.

While in the water in the flooded tunnel turns out to be Hydro-Man’s handy work. When Mystique waves in surrender he relents. The water based villain is not alone as he has been followed by the Grey Gargoyle, X-Ray, and the Wrecker. While X-Ray and Wrecker restrain Crimson Commando, Avalanche, and the Blob, the Grey Gargoyle tries to reason with Mystique to join their side. When she admits that her team is no different than the rest of the criminals, Crimson Commando fears that she and the others are about to change sides.

With 9 hours left before the bomb goes off, Thunderball’s team of escapees run into Captain America and She-Hulk who make short work of them. That’s when Cap is contacted by Mystique who asks for help, telling him that they have injured parties in need of medical aid. She-Hulk wonders if they should be worried about being betrayed by Freedom Force, but Captain America would really not like to think about that.

Back down below, Venom is about to kill another hostage when he is suddenly attacked by both the Armadillo and the Rhino who, for reasons of their own, wanted to finish their sentences in peace.[5] They are quickly taken down by Klaw and the Controller, but Truman Marsh mocks Venom for slowly losing control of the situation. Venom doesn’t take kindly to this and warns Marsh that his life will come to an end the moment his life no longer has any value to to him.

Meanwhile, Captain America and She-Hulk meet up with Freedom Force unaware that they are walking into an ambush. Luckily for both sides, Hawkeye’s team managed to come in the other way and spoil it. Mystique is particularly relieved as her team didn’t have to be forced into deciding where their loyalties are. While the shape-shifter insists that she would have somehow signaled Cap that there was danger, She-Hulk doesn’t entirely buy it. They soon find Mister Hyde and Nekra making out in a hallway and quickly add them to the capture villains. However, the uneasy alliance between the Avengers and Freedom Force reaches the breaking point when Pyro and Blob want to resort to torture to get information out of their captives. Before they can come to blows they are interrupted by Venom and his followers who reveal that they have also captured Iron Man and Hank Pym.

When Hank tries to reason with Venom, the mad man doesn’t buy that there is a bomb. However, Thunderball confirms that what the heroes are saying is true and that it is going to go off in minutes unless it is defused. However, in order to disable the explosive, Thunderball will need the expertise of both Pym and Iron Man. After having Klaw imprison the rest of the heroes in a solid sound prison, Venom allows the trio to work on disarming the explosive. When the other prisoners cheer Thunderball for saving their lives, Venom goes insane with jealousy and attacks him.

While the two are brawling, Klaw is distracted enough that the Vision is able to phase through the prison and knock him out. With Klaw down, the other Avengers and Freedom Force are now free and soon a massive brawl breaks out. While everyone is busy, Truman Marsh slips away unaware that Venom has camouflaged himself and is following from behind.

As the battle rages on, the Crimson Commando subdues Mentallo as Iron Man and Wonder Man take down the Controller. Taking the villain’s slave discs, Iron Man wires them into his armor and uses them to mentally control Mentallo and order him to telepathically stop all the other criminals. Although this burns out the slave discs, it buys them enough time to get the prisoners under control.

Meanwhile, Warden Marsh has gone down to the nuclear reactor that powers the Vault. Having gone completely off his nut, he has decided to cause a nuclear melt down in order to prevent the villains from escaping. He is attacked by Venom, who knocks Marsh over a railing and into reactor, killing him. Moments later, the Avengers arrive and Hank Pym incapacitates Brock with a sonic blaster. Unfortunately, Marsh’s death has trigged the melt down that he planned on creating anyway. Quickly, Iron Man and the enthralled Radioactive Man are sent down to absorb as much radiation as they can and restabilize the reactor. Iron Man quickly flies himself and Radioactive Man outside where they can safely unleash the atomic energy they absorbed.

With the battle over, the Avengers commend themselves for getting the prison break under control with very little loss of life.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Captain America, She-Hulk Vision), Avengers West Coast (Iron Man, Hank Pym, Wasp, Hawkeye, Wonder Man), Freedom Force (Mystique, Avalanche, Pyro, Blob, Crimson Commando, Super Sabre), Guardsmen, Rhino, Armadillo, Scarecrow, Radioactive Man, Venom, Controller, Hydro-Man, Mentallo, Moonstone, Speed Demon, Headmen (Gorilla Man, Ruby Thursday, Shrunken Bones) Electro, Frenzy, Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver), U-Foes (Vector, Vapor, X-Ray, Iron Clad), Bullet, Griffin, Orka, Goliath, Nekra, Powderkeg

Continuity Notes

1. It is stated here that Venom has broken out of the Vault before. At this point in time, Venom had broken out of the Vault twice. The first happened in Amazing Spider-Man #315 and the other in Quasar #6.

2. The Controller was apprehended following the events of Captain America #365-367.

3. It’s mentioned here that Eddie Brock — before becoming Venom — was once a reporter for the Daily Globe. Brock lost his job when he interviewed someone he thought was the spree shooter known as the Sin-Eater. When Spider-Man caught the real killer, Brock was out of a job. The Sin-Eater incident happened in Spectacular Spider-Man #107-110. Brock’s involvement was told in Amazing Spider-Man #300 and expanded upon in Venom: Dark Origin #1-5.

4. Mystique, Blob, Pyro, and Avalanche were all former members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants starting in X-Men #141. With anti-mutant hysteria on the rise, Mystique was able to convince the government into hiring them on as an officially sanctioned team of superheroes called the Freedom Force in Uncanny X-Men #199. The only two members that aren’t criminals are Crimson Commando and Super Sabre, they were actually wartime heroes as explained in Uncanny X-Men #215-216. They joined up with Freedom Force in Uncanny X-Men #223.

5. The Rhino hopes that his “rhino skin” removed from his body which has been fused to his body since he had a version of his iconic suit fused to his body in Incredible Hulk #104. He’ll eventually get it removed in Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #4.

Topical References

• Venom is depicted as using a typewriter in his cell in or to make a write a prison newspaper. Ususally something like this would be considered a topical reference since typewriters are obsolete. However, it seems unlikely that someone would give him a computer to use in his cell. I could see them getting him a vintage typewriter on the other hand. Also, the joke doesn’t really land without a typewriter so….

• The plans to the Vault are depicted as being stored on a CD. While CDs were a relatively new data storage medium when this comic was first published, their use has fallen on the wayside as more efficient ways of storing data have been invented. While CDs are still around, the technology is on its way to obsolescence and its use here should be considered topical.