Avengers: The Crossing #1

Dec 19

Dec 19 Avengers: The Crossing #1

The Crossing…

This story continues from Iron Man #319….

Rita DeMara, aka Yellowjacket, is returning to the present day after spending a lengthy period living as a stowaway in the distant 30th century of an alternate timeline.[1] When she emerges from the timestream she discovers that she is a few years in the future where America has been taken over by some kind of imperial government. She witnesses as Hawkeye and the Black Widow — the only two surviving members of the Avengers — clash with government forces in the middle of Times Square. Hawkeye is gunned down and the Black Widow is apprehended. Spotting DeMara in the crowd as she is being dragged away, Natasha says that this is all her fault and to stay away from Avengers Mansion. Rita is also recognized by a young woman with blonde hair in the crowd who also remembers Rita from years earlier and fears that she cannot stop events from unfolding again. DeMara decides to reactivate her time machine and go back further in time so she can find out what happened, and maybe prevent it.[2]

Going back another 10 years, Yellowjacket she arrives in New York undergoing a powerful storm. She witnesses Thor fly by and tries to flag him down but he is moving too quickly. Before Rita can make sense of where she is, she is suddenly sent back further in time.[3] Rita now finds herself outside Avengers Mansion during a winter storm. As she tries to run for the front door she trips over a newspaper in the snow which has a headline about Captain America being labeled a traitor. That’s when Iron Man passes by overhead, seemingly making an intentional effort to ignore her calls.[4] Rita shifts yet again to the scene of a battle between the Avengers and some mercenaries invading Avengers Mansion. As a team enters the mansion, Crystal asks Jarvis if he’s sure he wants to accompany them. He tells her that he insists on going, as he will be the only one that will be recognized.[5] Before Rita can figure out what’s going on she is shifted backward in time once more as well.

Finally, Rita finds herself in what should be her proper destination out front Avengers Mansion. There she is approached by a mysterious woman who warns Rita that if he finds either of them they will be killed. The woman then vanishes and ignoring her warning, Rita knocks at the door of Avengers Mansion. The person who answers the door fatally kills Rita with an energy blast and then drags her body inside, little knowing that the murder was witnessed by Luna Maximoff, the infant child of the Avengers’ Quicksilver and Crystal.[6]

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Manhattan, an old woman has her pearl necklace stolen by a mugger. Unfortunately for him, he tries this stunt on the day that Giant-Man, the Wasp, Crystal, Quicksilver, and the Beast are all meeting up to celebrate the anniversary of the Avengers formation.[7] After the thief is handed over to the cops he is about to get away when Hawkeye shoots an arrow through his hand. Clint says he has invited himself to the party since he invitation seems to have gotten lost in the mail.

Meanwhile, Tony Stark has returned to Avengers Mansion, which was once his family home. He has heard that the old Avengers headquarters had been replaced with a version of the original mansion from another reality and is shocked how it is identical down to the very last detail from the home he grew up in.[8] As he walks through the halls he thinks of all the childhood memories he once had there. It makes him really miss his parents and makes him wonder what they would have thought if the knew his son had become a superhero and founded the Avengers.[9][10] His thoughts are interrupted by the Scarlet Witch, who has also come to celebrate the Avengers anniversary. Tony compliments her new costume and apologizes again for overstepping his authority over Force Works.[11] Wanda accepts the apology and looks forward to a new beginning together.

Elsewhere, Hercules is taking a walk in Central Park, his thoughts on having to grow accustom to not being an immortal anymore.[12] His thoughts are interrupted when the mysterious woman from the night before appears before him as well. She has come with a dire message from the future, but unfortunately her “Crossing” wasn’t perfect and she is being pulled back to her own time. She imparts knowledge to Hercules, even though he’ll likely forget it. Her warning that “when the oldest among you is near death, you must remember this: the twins have made their presence known to you.”[13] Moments later, the young woman disappears and, as she feared, Hercules doesn’t remember anything that just happened.

An hour later, back at Avengers Mansion, Giant-Man and Black Widow show Janet the mysterious door that they have uncovered in the basement.[14] Despite their best efforts to understand it, their scans have turned up nothing that can help them determine its origins or its purpose. Giant-Man also doesn’t understand how a Watcher from another reality would gift them with this mansion when he didn’t know them. The discussion is interrupted when the Beast comes racing downstairs to show everyone that he found his long lost Mickey Mantle rookie card that went missing when he moved out of Avengers Mansion years earlier.[15]

Upstairs, Deathcry is keeping Jarvis company as he is preparing food for this evenings festivities. It’s then that Marilla notices that there is something wrong with Luna, however the girl doesn’t appear to be sick. When Janet comes to help Jarvis in the kitchen, Deathcry takes it as her cue to help Marilla bring Luna up for bed, deciding to give her parents some much needed time alone.[16]

Soon the other Avengers have returned for the celebrations. As the Black Widow plays the piano, Hercules silently stares out the window. The rest of the group — US Agent, Hawkeye, Crystal, Giant-Man, Quicksilver, the Beast, and Scarlet Witch — are sitting down to a game of poker. When Tony Stark arrives and asks to join in, Hawkeye gets all in his face, and accuses him of not being there when the Avengers West Coast needed him or when his wife, Mockingbird died.[17][18] Tony admits that he wishes he could have been there or done more but Clint doesn’t want to back down. The Scarlet Witch gets between the two and breaks them up, having known what it is like to lose a loved one she knows how they both feel. As does the Vision, who has just arrived.[19] The two go outside to speak in private, while the part resumes. While downstairs, something on the other side of the mysterious door is causing to scanners to burn out. Outside, the Vision tells Wanda how he has recently regain his capacity for emotion and how his feelings for her are back. She is happy to hear about this, but wonders if their marriage is already long in the past.[20]

That’s when the power suddenly goes out at the mansion and the team notices a bunch of flying mercenaries shooting at someone on a rooftop across the building. Quicksilver races out and rescues the old man under attack and brings him back to the mansion. That’s when the rest of the Avengers come out and fight back against these flying soldiers. They are disturbed by the fact that their combatants don’t speak. Eventually, the Avengers drive off these invaders. When Hercules gets a good look at the old man Quicksilver rescued, he recognizes him as the Eternal, Gilgamesh.[21] This makes him remember what the young woman in the park warned him about.

Back inside, the woman who appeared before Hercules makes another attempt to cross over into this time period, this time in Luna’s bedroom. She almost makes it but eventually fades away again. Deathcry enters the room moments later, thinking she heard someone but finds the room empty. While downstairs, the Black Widow gives Tony an update on Gilgamesh’s condition and uses the opportunity to talk to him about the situation with Clint. The two men are her closest friends and wishes they could make amends.[22] Little does she know that Clint is listening in on their conversation from outside.

Upstairs, Luna has started to cry and no matter what Deathcry does he can’t cheer the baby up. That’s when Crystal and Quicksilver come up to see their daughter. When Deathcry remarks how good they are at parenting, they admit to her that they are quite the imperfect couple. That’s when Marilla suggests that she and Deathcry go back downstairs so family can have some time alone. Thinking Luna might want her favorite stuffed animal, she goes down to the laundry room to get it from the washing machine. That’s when she sees a strange light in the other room and goes to check it out. There she finds Tony Stark standing before the mysterious doorway and is surprised that Stark managed to finally figure out a way to open it. When Tony confirms that she saw what she saw he fatally shoots the nanny right between the eyes, apologizing for killing her, but insists that it had to be done.[23]

… This story continues in Force Works #16.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Thor, Giant-Man, Quicksilver, Vision, Hercules, Black Widow, Crystal, Deathcry), Force Works (Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, US Agent), Hawkeye, Wasp, Edwin Jarvis, Marilla, Luna Maximoff, Yellowjacket, Gilgamesh, “Adult Luna”, Anachronauts

Continuity Notes

Rita DeMara hitched a ride to the 30th century when the Guardians of the Galaxy returned home from an excision to the Modern Age in Guardians of the Galaxy #33. She ultimately decided to return home in issue #60 of that series.
This possible future has been designated as existing in Reality-95411. This designation was given in the listing for this issue in Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Avengers. The young blonde is supposed to be an adult version of Luna Maximoff. However, as we’ll learn in Avengers Forever #8, this is actually a Space Phantom in disguise. In fact, The Crossing is all one big deception created by Immortus as part of an ongoing scheme to manipulate the team’s destiny.
Nobody has figured out where Thor’s appearance here fits in his chronology or if this is yet another future timeline. Given the way Thor is dressed, I think this is actually the future of Earth-616 and Rita is seeing events that happen after The Crossing. Given the outfit Thor is wearing, it’s my opinion that she must be viewing seeing him on or around the events of Thor #502, the only other story that really shows him in this outfit.
This is another point in time taking place after The Crossing. The newspaper proclaiming Captain America is a traitor is in reference to the Man Without a Country storyline from Captain America #450-453, where Cap is forced into exile by the government for a time. That means the Iron Man she is seeing here is Teen Tony Stark, the Iron Man from Reality-96020 who will be brought to the present day in Avengers: Timeslide #1. Teen Tony’s reality was identified in Marvel Legacy: The 1990s Handbook #1.
What Rita is seeing here are the events of Avengers: Timeslide #1, where the Avengers are attempting to go back in time to recruit the teenaged Tony Stark to help them stop his present day counterpart who has gone rogue. The Wasp here is depicted in her insectile form which she was obtain in Avengers #394.
Going to get this out of the way right now, this story will later reveal the murderer to be Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. According to Iron Man #323, Iron Man has allegedly been a sleeper agent for Kang the Conqueror since the early days of the Avengers and now he is helping with the time master’s final conquest of the present day. As later revealed in Avengers Forever #8, this is all a hoax created by Immortus who had been manipulating Stark throughout this event via a neural link in his armor that he has been secretly exploiting since Iron Man #278. As of this writing (January, 2023), Yellowjacket remains among the deceased although she was briefly resurrected in Chaos War: Dead Avengers #1-3, Chaos War: Aries #1, and Chaos War #5.
The Avengers were obviously formed in the first issue of their series. Per the Sliding Timescale the team has been together for about 9 years at this point. Everyone present here were currently active as Avengers at the time of this story except for the Wasp and Beast. About them….
- The Beast was a long standing Avenger from Avengers #137 to 211.
- The Wasp has been a founding member of the team, serving on-and-off for years. At the time of this story she had been on a lengthy leave of absence after leaving the west coast team in Avengers West Coast #74 and has maintained reserve status since.
Stark donated his family mansion to the Avengers after they were first formed. When the Mansion was severely damaged by the Masters of Evil in Avengers #273-277, it was relocated to Hydro-Base. Later, the mansion was completely lost when Hydro-Base was sunk by Doctor Doom in Avengers #311. A new headquarters was built at the original site of the mansion, it opened its doors in Avengers #329. Later, it was severely damaged during a battle with the Gatherers. In the aftermath of the battle Ute the Watcher replaced it was a version of the original mansion from another reality. See Avengers #372-375.
At the time of this story, Tony believes that Howard and Maria Stark are his biological parents. However, in Iron Man (vol. 5) #17 it is revealed that Tony was adopted. International Iron Man #5-7, his parents are revealed to be SHIELD Agents Amanda Armstrong and a man known only as Jude. As far as Tony knows, his adopted parents died in a car accident, as explained in Iron Man #288. However, according to S.H.I.E.L.D. #5 revealed that Howard Stark worked for the clandestine organization known as the Brotherhood of the Shield. They had come up with a plan to fake Howard’s death via a car accident if they ever needed for him to disappear from public life. As of this writing (January, 2023), it has yet to be clarified if Howard Stark faked his death or really died in the car accident.
Tony recounts that he became Iron Man to survive an injured heart, that’s putting it lightly, as seen in Tales of Suspense #39. He also recalls how he was a founding Avenger. Here he incorrectly states that Captain America helped found the team. This is not correct as he was only recovered from suspended animation in Avengers #4, shortly after the team was already formed. Avengers (vol. 3) #4 reveals that Cap was eventually given retroactive founder status, so perhaps this is what Tony really meant.
When Tony first formed Force Works in Force Works #1, he appointed Wanda to be the team leader. However, by issue #5, he began overstepping her authority, much to her annoyance.
Prior to this story, Hercules was stripped of his immortality and half of his godly strength following a complex plot orchestrated by his father, Zeus. When Zeus’ wife Hera sought revenge against Hercules, she did so by making him fall in love with a mortal woman named Taylor Madison in Avengers #349. Madison was selected because she was dying of a terminal illness and her passing would break Hercules’ heart. However, it was later revealed that Madison was merely a mystical construct created by Zeus to catch his wife in the middle of her misdeeds in Avengers #384. Her purpose served, Madison ceased to exist, much to Hercules’ dismay. When Hercules a rightfully angry Hercules refused to return to Olympus after, Zeus punished him by stripping away most of his powers. This will remain the status quo for Hercules until Aries #1-5.
She is referring to the death of the Eternal Gilgamesh, which we will see later this issue. The “twins” she is referring to are Tobias and Malachi who will first appear in Avengers #392. They will claim to be the children of Kang and Mantis, but they are also Space Phantoms playing a role, per Avengers Forever #8.
This mysterious door was first discovered by the Black Widow in Avengers #385.
Here, the Beast states that he left the Avengers to rejoin the X-Men. This is not accurate. After leaving the Avengers in Avengers #211, Hank went on to join up with the Defenders in Defenders #104. When that team disbanded in Defenders #152, he joined up with the original X-Men to form X-Factor in X-Factor #1. He only recently rejoined the relatively X-Men in X-Men (vol. 2) #1. Perhaps Hank kept some things in storage at Avengers Mansion and only came back for them when he rejoined the X-Men.
Quicksilver and Crystal have been giving their marriage another shot after an extended period of marital problems. The details:
- Since Fantastic Four #150, Crystal has been married to Quicksilver. However, their marriage has been troubled since she cheated on him in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #6-12. This was made all the more harder when Crystal joined the Avengers in issue #336 and both she and the Black Knight became smitten with one another.
- Sersi on the other hand has been throwing herself at the Black Knight since Avengers #350. Later, when she was accused of suffering from the Mahd W’yry, her fellow Eternals forced Dane to become her Gann Josin, a telepathically bonded life mate. This happened after Crystal came to believe her marriage couldn’t be saved after a disastrous romantic getaway with Quicksilver in X-Factor #89 went bad. This led to Crystal having a romantic tryst with Dane.
- More recently, Quicksilver was injured in a battle with Exodus in Avengers #369 and has been living with the Avengers while he recovers, adding significant strain on the situation. In issue #372, Crystal admitted to her husband that she loves both him and Dane. The love triangle came to an abrupt end when Dane and Sersi left for another dimension in Avengers #375. Pietro and Crystal have been giving their marriage another shot ever since.
Clint makes reference to Tony “drinking the night away” when he throws his lavish party. This is a reference to Tony’s long standing drinking problem. At the time of this story he had underwent two bad benders the first from Iron Man #120-128 and 167-182. Mostly recently, when Tony’s body was subject to alcohol when it was possessed by the artificial intelligence called VORTEX in Iron Man #307-309. Tony will remain on the wagon until Iron Man (vol. 2) #1.
Hawkeye has more than a few grievances with Tony Stark:
- Tony wasn’t present when Mockingbird seemingly died during the Avengers battle with Mephisto in Avengers West Coast #100. This was actually a Skrull spy that took Bobbi’s place, something that won’t be discovered until years later. See Secret Invasion #8 and New Avengers: The Reunion #2.
- He also blames Tony for the dissolution of the Avengers West Coast. This one is totally on Tony, whose cast the deciding vote to disband the team in Avengers West Coast #102.
What Wanda is referring to is the end of her marriage to the Vision. The pair were married in Giant-Size Avengers #4. However, years later, the Vision was disassembled and stripped of his capacity for emotion as seen in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42-45. Not wishing to cause his wife pain, the Vision had become estranged from her shortly thereafter.
When suffering a software problem, the Vision had it corrected by installing the brain engrams of one Alex Lipton in Avengers Spotlight #40. This corrected the problem and starting him on the road to regaining his emotions, he finally regained control of them following Vision #1-4.
Gilgamesh was a short lived Avenger from Avengers #300 to 310. We’ll learn in Avengers #391 that he was kidnapped by “Kang” and forced to train his soldiers.
The Black Widow’s association with Tony Stark and Iron Man dates back to Tales of Suspense #52 and with Hawkeye since issue #57 of that series. She also mentions when she emigrated to America. This would be after she defected as a Russian spy circa Avengers #30.
As of this writing, Marilla remains among the deceased.

Topical References

The present day of this story is stated as happening in the 20th century. This should be considered a topical reference. This is because the Sliding Timescale has pushed the Modern Age of the Marvel Universe forward in time enough that it doesn’t begin until after the start of the 21st century.