Avengers Unplugged #2
The Day Gravity Went Wild
In the middle of the Arizona Desert, the US military is engaging in some exercises. However, as they enter the area they are shocked to see a bunch of vehicles and debris being hurtled away from the scene. Suddenly, one of the attack helicopters is pulled to the ground with tremendous force. When one of the fighter pilots finds himself caught in this strange energy field he attempts to eject. Unfortunately, whatever is affecting the planes also causes him plummet to the ground like a rock even after deploying his parachute.
The source of this strange energy field is the supervillain known as Graviton who stands in the epicenter of the chaos. His powers have gone out of control and he has no idea why.
Meanwhile, in New York, Deathcry is lamenting over the fact that she is stuck on monitor duty. That’s when the computers pick up a news report about the strange gravitational field that appeared in Arizona. That’s when Hercules comes in to check on her and hears the report. Checking the Avengers database, Herc determines that this has to be the work of their old foe Graviton. Calling in Giant-Man and the Vision the team quickly mobilizes. However, Deathcry insists on flying the Quinjet, reminding a reluctant Hank Pym that she was flying Shi’ar star cruisers since she was a child.
When they eventually arrive on the scene, the Quinjet is also caught in the gravitational field which has now swept up helpless people along with debris. While the other Avengers work on getting the innocent people aboard the Quinjet, Hercules leaps down to the ground to deal with Graviton directly. The villain insists that the he is not doing this intentionally and that his powers are out of control. When Hercules tries striking their opponent, he is repelled back with enough force to knock him out. When the Vision tries to phase through Graviton, the villain’s raging powers causes his atomic structure to be disbursed.
Seeing two of his fellow Avengers go down fighting their foe, Giant-Man fires a grappling hook down to the ground and climbs down. He increases his size so his mass isn’t adversely affected by the intense gravity and confronts Gaviton. The villain explains that he lost control of his powers after conducting an experiment upon himself. He was attempting to boost his powers by combining the three types of force: gravity, electromagnetism, and nuclear. However, by uniting all three within himself, Gaviton caused his powers to rage out of control.
By this point, Deathcry has saved the last of the people caught in Graviton’s field, allowing Giant-Man to come up with a solution to get the situation under control. He deduces that bombarding Graviton with Pym Particles should stabilize his powers. Thankfully, the gambit pays off, but this also turns out to have been Graviton’s plan all along. The addition of Pym Particles to his powers has not only stabilized him, but made Graviton more powerful than ever before.
By this time, the Vision has pulled himself together and attempts a desperate gamble against their foe. Becoming intangible again, the Vision occupies the same space as Graviton and begins increasing his density. He then orders Giant-Man to bombard him with more Pym Particles. Hank does so reluctantly and the combination of the Vision’s diamond hard density and the Pym Particles causes Graviton to take on the properties of a neutron star, having infinite density and zero volume. This resulted in the villain to collapse in on himself, vanquishing him.[1] This causes damage to the Vision, but nothing that his self-repair systems can’t handle. With the battle now over, the Avengers congratulate Vision on a job well done and head for home.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Giant-Man, Vision, Hercules, Black Widow, Deathcry), Graviton
Continuity Notes
Graviton will find himself shunted to another dimension where he will be trapped for some time. He’ll eventually be freed by Baron Zemo in Thunderbolts #27.
Topical References
The fighter planes and helicopters depicted as being used by the military were models of aircraft that were used in 1995. The helicopters are clearly Boeing Apache helicopters, but I can’t really figure out what the fighter planes are supposed to be. Regardless, the depiction of these aircrafts should be considered topical as the military has long since upgraded from the fighters and helicopters they used when this comic was first published.
When reading the newspaper, Deathcry notes that there is a sale going on at the Gap. The Gap is a chain of retail clothing stores that sell an exclusive line of clothing. At the time this story was published, Gap clothing was quite popular among young people. Its reference here should be considered topical as the Gap is a real world business.
The Crossing
This issue also includes a two page feature identifying the characters and locations involved in the Crossing event that was occurring in Avengers related titles at the time of publication. Many of the details are incomplete and are fleshed out later either during the event itself, or after the fact. I’ll address the references made in this feature by character/location:
Avengers Mansion: It is stated that the mansion was recently restructured and contains a new addition, a trans-temporal door:
The original mansion was trashed when it was attacked by the Masters of Evil in Avengers #273-277. It was later relocated to Hydrobase where it was sunk into the ocean in Avengers #311. The Avengers then constructed a brand new headquarters on the grounds of the original, that opened to the public in Avengers #329. This headquarters was damaged during an attack by the Gatherers and was later replaced with a replica of the original Mansion from another reality, as seen in Avengers #372-375. The trans-temporal door was found in Avengers #382.
Iron Man: It is stated here that he has turned against both the Avengers and Force Works, but the reasons are unknown at the time this feature was published.
One of the plot revelations in The Crossing was the fact that Tony Stark was apparently a sleeper agent of Kang the Conqueror since the early days of the Avengers. This “revelation” was made in Iron Man #323.
This was later revealed to be false in Avengers Forever #8, Iron Man’s mind was altered by Immortus and the entire Crossing event was merely a distraction as part of the time master’s efforts to manipulate the Avengers destiny. Immortus had been influencing Iron Man’s mind since Iron Man #278.
War Machine: Is stated to have lost his original suit of armor and recently obtained a suit of Eidolon Warwear from a mysterious woman named Skye.
War Machine lost his original suit of armor during a trip through time in War Machine #15-17.
He obtained the Warwear in War Machine #18. Skye was a mystery woman who claimed to know all about the Warwear. She was killed in War Machine #23 before any proper explanations. These mysteries became moot later one when Jim sacrificed the Warwear to erase all records of Tony Stark’s Iron Man tech in Tales of the Marvel Universe #1.
Quicksilver and Crystal: Are stated as trying to repair their marriage after the departure of the Black Knight, and motherfucker I thought I was done referencing this lengthy lover triangle, yet here we are. 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.
Tuc: Is stated here as being the future son of Quicksilver and Crystal who is not yet born. Tuc first appeared in Avengers #390. However, as revealed in Avengers Forever #8, Tuc is actually a Space Phantom in disguise in order to help Immortus sell his big lie.
Luna Maximoff: It states here that Luna is the only one that knows the truth about Iron Man’s betrayal. This is in reference to the fact that Luna witnessed Tony Stark murder Yellowjacket and her nanny Marilla in Avengers: The Crossing #1. The Avengers won’t learn the truth until Iron Man #323.
Deathcry: All it states here is that she is exiled from the Shi’ar empire for reasons unknown and a ward of the Avengers. Deathcry ended up on Earth in Avengers #363. The mysteries behind this are raised in Avengers #389 and she’ll eventually decide to return home for answers in Avengers #398. If you wanted any clear answers, none are ever given.
Hercules: Mentions the recent loss of his girlfriend Taylor Madison and half of his godly strength an immortality. Also states that he unknowingly holds secrets behind what’s going on.
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.
Hercules was told the “truth” about Tuc’s “origins” in Avengers #390, but was made to forget them. He’ll suddenly remember what he was told in Avengers #394.
???: This mystery woman later is identified as a future version of Luna in Avengers #394. However, this is another falsehood per Avengers Forever #8. This is yet another Space Phantom in disguise.
Scarlet Witch: Is stated as being the field leader of Force Works and has been struggling with leadership with Iron Man. In Force Works #1, Iron Man appointed Wanda the leader of the team. However, Tony had been clashing with her leadership and overstepping her since Force Works #5.
Vision: States here that he just recently regain the capacity for emotion and that he has a central role to play in the Crossing.
The Vision was stripped of his capacity for emotion in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42-45. More recently a software error was corrected by having the brain engrams of Alex Lipton installed in Avengers Spotlight #40. The Vision tried to ignore the fact that he was feeling emotions once more until he was forced to confront the truth in Vision #1-4.
While the caption here states that the Vision has an important role to play in The Crossing. He doesn’t really play much of a role in the event itself. I think they were overselling it. Either that or this was yet another example of the sloppy writing that was rampant during The Crossing. Or maybe he did have an important role? Kind of hard to say when the storyline is later made irrelevant.
Black Widow: States that on top of investigating a murderer among the Avengers, she had to let Captain America go without telling him how she felt. About that….
Captain America: Mentions how he disappeared after a prolonged illness. At the time of this story, the Super Soldier Serum in Steve’s body was wearing out, starting in Captain America #425. It eventually left him incapacitated in issue #443 and then he mysteriously vanished. He was captured by the Red Skull, who gave him a restorative blood transfusion in Captain America #445. Cap will return to the Avengers in Avengers: Timeslide #1.
Janet Van Dyne: States that she just lost her fortune to Tony Stark and that her life is going to be irrevocably altered.
Janet discovered that Tony Stark had stolen her fortune in Avengers #390-391.
This blerb is hinting at how she is going to be seriously injured by Iron Man in Avengers #393. In order to restore her to health, Hank Pym will put her through a process that’ll turn her into an insectile form in Avengers #394. As much as this story says this will be irrevocable, she’ll be restored to her more human form in Avengers (vol. 2) #1.
Giant-Man: Basically hints at what I said above.
Hawkeye: States that he left the Avengers after the death of his wife just prior to the formation of Force Works and that he is bitter towards Tony Stark.
Hawkeye’s wife Mockingbird seemingly died at the hands of Mephisto in Avengers West Coast #100. However, it’s later revealed in Secret Invasion #8 and New Avengers: The Reunion #2 that she had actually been replaced by a Skrull spy. Unaware of this until years later, Clint quit the Avengers and had been going solo for a while.
Clint is bitter toward Tony Stark because it was Tony’s deciding vote that led to the dissolution of the west coast roster in Avengers West Coast #102, a team that Hawkeye helped found and led for many years. Clint wouldn’t learn the truth until well after Force Works was formed, as seen in Marvel Comics Presents #159.
Cybermancer: States that she is Suzie Endo, a Stark Enterprises employee who just recently joined Force Works. This is actually the Suzie Endo of another reality who took the place of her Earth-616 counterpart in Iron Man #321. The truth surrounding her won’t be revealed until Force Works #20-22.
Moonraker: States that everyone knows who he is and that he has been a member of Force Works since the beginning, or has he? This is referring to his sudden appearance in Force Works #16. During the course of the Crossing, we’re led to believe that he is Gustav Brand, aka Libra of the Zodiac crime cartel, reincarnated in a new body and planted among Force Works to stop “Kang’s” master plan, as detailed in Force Works #18-19. However, Avengers Forever #8 reveals that he is yet another Space Phantom in disguise.
Thor: States that he recently left the side of the High Evolutionary and the Godpack, was forced to slay Thunderstrike, and is in seclusion unaware that he is dying.
Thor had just finished a lengthy partnership with the High Evolutionary. He agreed to help mentor the God Pack, the Evolutionary’s newest creations. This happened between Thor #472-489.
Thor had to take down Thunderstrike, after the hero was corrupted by the power of the Bloodaxe, as seen in Thunderstrike #22-24.
Thor’s loss of power and the fact that he was dying was caused by the mysterious WorldEngine in Thor #491-494. Although Thor destroys the device he will be stripped of most of his godly powers until they are restored in Avengers (vol. 2) #10.
Thor also returns in Avengers: Timeslide #1.
The Works: Headquarters of Force Works. The description here reads that it holds some deadly secrets. This is referring to a secret sub-basement that Tony kept hidden from the rest of the team. It was discovered in Force Works #15. In issue #20 it is revealed to be where Stark has built a chronal weapon that will decimate the Earth and prepare it for “Kang’s” conquest.
