Avengers West Coast #51
I Sing of Arms and Heroes
Iron Man has returned to Avengers Compound and wonders if this wasn’t such a good idea, since nobody seems impressed to see him back.[1] He was hoping to get back on the team now that he will be spending more time in his armor, but he didn’t realize how much things have changed since he was last on the team.[2] Believing that the original Iron Man is dead and that this is his replacement, US Agent warns the armored Avenger that he isn’t going to be instantly welcomed back onto the team. When US Agent leaves the room the other Avengers — Hank Pym, Wasp, and Wonder Man — who all know that Tony Stark was secretly Iron Man. Since Tony is not really dead, they ask this Iron Man if he is Stark. However, he tells them that he cannot disclose who he really is, not helping his situation in the slightest.
While on the grounds of the compound, the Vision asks his wife the Scarlet Witch why she didn’t want to stay for the meeting with Iron Man. Embittered over her recent trials and tribulations, Wanda tells her husband that she doesn’t wish to associate herself with humans more than she wants to.[3] Before the Vision can get more clarification on what she means, they discover that Agatha Harkness is waiting for them in their bungalow. This comes as a surprise to Wanda, as last when last she saw her former teacher, she had died after being burned at the stake.[4] The old witch only says that her death was a minor inconvenience and tells her that they have more important things to discuss, specifically Wanda’s children Billy and Tommy. Agatha explains that despite their ordinary appearance, the boys are far from normal, and that they only exist as long as Wanda is thinking about them. However, whenever she doesn’t they wink out of existence, hence why the various babysitters that she has hired over the last while have claimed to lose the boys only for them to be found whenever Wanda came home.[5] Wanda refuses to listen to any of this, but Agatha says that this is important and not the worst of what is to come.
Meanwhile, the Human Torch is exploring the country and is amazed by how much has changed over the years since the end of World War II. He is happy that he has a place in this brave new world since being asked to join the Avengers West Coast. Landing back at Avengers Compound, the Torch meets with Ann Raymond, the wife of Toro his former partner during the war. The news that his old friend is dead comes as shock to the Torch.[6] However, the Torch doesn’t get much time to process this as he is ambushed by a horde of demons who knock him into the Avengers inground pool.
Hearing the commotion outside, the Wasp, Iron Man, Wonder Man, and Hank Pym rush outside. As they battle the demons, Iron Man recognizes them as the creatures used by their old foe Master Pandemonium. When he tells this to the others, Hank begins to wonder if Iron Man might actually by Tony Stark, or that Stark briefed his successor on his past adventures.[9] US Agent joins the battle as well as the Human Torch. Although he is soaking wet, the Torch is able to increase his body heat to evaporate the water and flame on.
While the others are busy fighting of the demon horde, Master Pandemonium and more of his minions attack the Vision and the Scarlet Witch’s bungalow. While they are distracted, Master Pandemonium manages to kidnap Billy and Tommy and teleport back to his demonic domain. With the infants now his prisoners, Master Pandemonium recounts his origins. He recalls how he was once a movie producer who got into a deadly car accident. He made a deal with Mephisto to save his life. However, the Lord of Lies replaced his limbs with demons and took his soul and split it into five fragments. After a seemingly endless search, Master Pandemonium believes that the Scarlet Witch’s children will hold the key to restoring his soul.
Back at the compound, Agatha Harkness meets with the Avengers and explains her unorthodox resurrection. The Scarlet Witch gets upset that the others are more interested in this than saving her children and begins another tirade about the superiority of mutants. When the Wasp tries to calm her down, Wanda swats her insect-sized teammate aside. They all take it down a notch and ask Agatha to open a mystical portal to the domain of Master Pandemonium. While the rest of the team is rearing to go, the Human Torch offers to stay behind to watch over things while they are gone.
Little do they know that they are being observed by Immortus. He is furious that they are going to the netherworld since what happens there will be beyond his ability to view. Since the Scarlet Witch is important to his current scheme, he hopes that no harm will come to her as he will be powerless to stop it and all his hard work will be for nothing.
Crossing through the portal, the Avengers are surprised to find themselves in an idyllic forest instead of the hellscape they were expecting. However, this location is not without its dangers as the plant life comes to life and begins attacking them. Not wishing to wait for her comrades, the Scarlet Witch presses forward and finds Master Pandemonium’s castle. Using her hex powers to get inside she confronts her foe. She is horrified to see that Master Pandemonium has merged with Billy and Tommy, making the frightened babies become his missing arms.
Recurring Characters
Avengers West Coast (Iron Man, Wasp, Hank Pym, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonder Man, US Agent, Human Torch), Master Pandemonium, Agatha Harkness, Ann Raymond, Billy Maximoff, Tommy Maximoff, Immortus
Continuity Notes
Recently, Tony Stark discovered that his Iron Man technology was stolen and sold to others and went on a mission to deactivate all unauthorized use of his technology. It brought him a lot of negative press, forcing the West Coast Avengers to kick him off the team. Since the general public didn’t know Tony Stark was also Iron Man, he faked his alter-ego’s death and publicly claimed that a replacement was now in the suit. See Iron Man #225-232.
The reason Tony is wearing his armor more frequently because he was recently shot by a stalker in Iron Man #242 and when not wearing his Iron Man armor he is confined to a wheelchair. He will be cured of this disability in issue #248 of that series.
Wanda has been under a lot of pressure recently. The facts:
She recently suffered a loss when the Vision was disassembled by a government organization called Vigilance. Although he was rebuilt, he was bereft of his emotions and personality. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42-45.
After that, she was targeted by That Which Endures, a biological entity that exists in the dominant life form on the planet. The creature was seeking to make the leap from humans to mutants as they were viewed as the next dominant race on Earth. This had kind of put her on this mutant superiority kick. See Avengers West Coast #47-49.
Although Wanda is referred to as a mutant here, she actually isn’t. As revealed in Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5, she was experimented upon by the High Evolutionary when she was still a child. To cover up his work, he made it so future genetic tests had her register as a mutant.
What nobody knows is that Wanda’s trials were all part of a grand manipulation by the time-master Immortus to exploit her power as a nexus being. See Avengers West Coast #61-62.
Agatha Harkness was burned at the stake by the people of New Salem back in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #3. She was revealed to be alive last issue. Old Aggy trained Wanda in the mystic arts from Avengers #128 through 137.
Wanda used magic to create her twin children, Billy and Tommy in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #3 and gave birth to them in issue #12 of that series. The twins have been disappearing when left in the care of babysitters since West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42.
The android Human Torch’s situation is quite a bit more complicated than what is recounted here:
Per Marvel Comics #1, he was built by Phineas Horton in 1939. He fought crime all through World War II. Toro, his crime-fighting partner, joined his crusade against injustice in Human Torch Comics #2.
By the 1950s, the Torch’s powers had burned out and he was deactivated for decades. His body was recovered by the Mad Thinker in the Modern Age and revived in an attempt to destroy his success, Johnny Storm the Fantastic Four’s Human Torch. The original Torch was deactivated again during that battle. See Fantastic Four Annual #4.
What nobody knows is that at this time, Immortus used his power to create a chronal duplicate of the Human Torch. One copy was buried in a cemetery while the other was taken by Ultron and rebuilt into the Vision. See Sub-Mariner #14, Avengers #134-135, and Avengers Forever #8.
Toro was later manipulated by the Mad Thinker into fighting the Sub-Mariner. He died stopping the Thinker’s scheme. See Sub-Mariner #14.
Another part of Immortus’ scheme was to trick the Avengers into thinking that the Vision wasn’t built from the Torch. Seeking answers in Avengers West Coast #50, they visited the Torch’s grave and reactivated him.
Master Pandemonium previously fought the Avengers in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #4, 9, and 14-15. When last they saw him, Master P. got lost on the River of Oblivion in the Land Within. Here, Pym recounts how the Fantastic Four reported that Pandemonium was back on Earth, this happened in Fantastic Four #315.
Topical References
World War II is stated has having happened 40 years prior to this story. This should be considered a topical reference due to the Sliding Timescale. As the Modern Age is pushed forward in time, the number of years between the end of WW2 and the start of the Modern Age will continue to grow larger with the passage of time.
Wonder Man makes a comparison between Agatha Harkness’ resurrection to a similar plot in an episode of the sitcom Bewitched. Since he refers to the show as “old” this reference wouldn’t be considered a topical reference.
