West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #18
Lost in Space-Time Part 2: Time Was…
Time Has Split in Two
The Avengers West Coast, trying to find Firebird and convince her to join the team, stumbled upon a world domination plot by an alien invader named Dominus. However, before they can stop him they are sent back in time on a damaged Time Platform.
While in the present day, Hank Pym is about to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head when he is stopped by Firebird — now calling herself La Espirita, who has come to bring him hope from God!
Avengers Compound, Now
La Espirita tells Hank Pym that he has a lot to live for and suicide is not the answer. She gets him to recall his past achievements: His growth formula as well as his creation of an artificially intelligent robot, Ultron. Hank admits that these were great achievements, they blew up in his face: He failed being a super-hero on four different occasions and Ultron became self-aware and became a menace.[1] Bonita tells Hank that she should take his failures and build upon them to become the hero he was meant to be. Hank doubles down on the fact that he doesn’t want to be a super-hero anymore, La Espirita tells him not to try and be an Avenger, but a hero in his own right. Having someone to listen to his problems is such a relief to Hank he breaks down in tears and tosses the gun away.
The Past
The West Coast Avengers materialize in the same cave where they confronted Dominus in at some point in the distant past. After getting their bearings, Iron Man decides to look at the controls of their damaged Time-Platform to try and repair the device. Seeing this, Wonder Man — who has grown quite the ego and has been trying to prove himself as superior to one of the original Avengers — steps in and demands to check it out himself, reminding everyone that he used to be in the electronics industry himself. This irks Iron Man, but he decides to give Simon a chance.[2] That’s when Hawkeye hears a familiar battle cry coming from the distance and becomes excited to check it out.
They race to the scene where Hawkeye confirms his suspicions: They are in the days of the American Frontier, and the battle cry they heard was from his old friend the Two-Gun Kid. Two-Gun is out with his allies the Rawhide Kid and the Phantom Rider rounding up some coach robbers.[3] The Avengers quickly help stop the crooks and Two-Gun is happily reunited with his old pal, Hawkeye. The Kid confirms the year, saying it is 1873, three years after Two-Gun made a short trip to the future and returned home.[4][5] Two-Gun and Rawhide are glad to see the Avengers because this era’s super-villains have consolidated their power, emboldened by Kang’s previous attempt to conquer this era. Led by Iron Mask, they include Hurricane a lightning fast gunslinger, the snake themed Rattler, the flying Red Raven, Doctor Danger the so-called master of magnetism, and lastly the boomerang wielding Fat Man.[6]
By this time, Wonder Man has decided to take a crack at repairing their broken time machine. Luckily, Two-Gun Kid is friends with Boom Boom Brown, the local blacksmith. With time to kill while Simon tries to fashion repairs, Hawkeye offers the Avengers assistance in dealing with the gang of super-powered outlaws. Iron Man takes the lead, using his tracking devices to locate their quarry while the rest of the team doubles up with the cowboys. While Hawkeye rides with Two-Gun and plays catch-up, Tigra hitches a ride with Rawhide Kid and flirts with him along the way,[7] while Mockingbird rides with the Phantom Rider who remains eerily silent.
Iron Man finds the cave where the crooks are hiding out and our heroes confront them. At first, the Avengers consider this era’s super-villains ridiculous they quickly realize that even though they aren’t as technologically advanced they are actually quite skilled. It is only through working together as a team that they take down everyone but Iron Mask. The villain then unleashes his ace-in-the-hole, the massive alien creature known as the Living Totem.[8] Although the creature is nearly invulnerable and incredibly strong, the Avengers make short work of him by collapsing the ceiling of the cave on the monster, burying it under tons of rock. With the battle over, they round up Iron Mask and his cronies and hand them over to the sheriff in Tombstone.
By this time, Wonder Man has attempted to repair the Time-Platform but he cannot manufacture the missing components. While the other Avengers are at a loss over what to do next, Simon comes up with a possible solution. While the time machine can’t bring them forward in time, they should go back further into the past to get help from someone else, namely Rama-Tut, the time traveler who later became Kang. He reminds the group how the Fantastic Four faced Rama-Tut in ancient Egypt in one of their early adventures and how later on, a repentant Kang resumed his Egyptian rule later on.[9]
Hawkeye agrees that this is probably their best option but in order to make sure that the machine will work properly going backwards in time, they decide to make a shorter trip into the past by about 100 years to be safe. However, as Wonder Man fires up the machine, the Phantom Rider shocks everyone by refusing to allow Mockingbird go. Having decided that she is a goddess, the Rider knocks her out and pulls her from the Time-Platform just as it is powering up. Hawkeye tried to go after his wife, but his teammates hold him back, telling him that they can come back for her later. As Two-Gun and Rawhide Kid chase after the Phantom Rider, the Avengers are hurtled backward in time.
Recurring Characters
West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra), Hank Pym, La Espirita, Two-Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid, Phantom Rider, Iron Mask, Hurricane, Rattler, Red Raven, Doctor Danger, Fat Man, Living Totem
Continuity Notes
We go into a litany of Hank Pym’s achievements/failures over the years:
His invention of Pym Particles that allowed for size changing. He discovered them in Tales to Astonish #27. With this new formula he operated under multiple identities: Ant-Man (Tales to Astonish #35), Giant-Man (Tales to Astonish #49), Goliath (Avengers #28), and Yellowjacket (Avengers #59).
Hank suffered a series of setback: striking his wife the Wasp, getting discharged from the Avengers for misconduct and having Janet divorce him (Avengers #213), and being framed for a crime (Avengers #217). Although he cleared his name in Avengers #228-229, he decided to retire from heroics in the following issue.
Hank created Ultron in Avengers #58. The robot became self-aware and was a menace to both Hank and the Avengers. More recently, the latest incarnation of Ultron — Mark-12 — tried to reconcile with Hank in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #7, but it was destroyed by the Mark-11. Hank, who came to see the Mark-12 as a son, was devastated by its destruction.
Hank decided to quit suicide after he was dumped by Tigra in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #16.
Wonder Man’s attitude problem is complex:
Prior to becoming Wonder Man, Simon Williams owned Williams Industries a tech company that couldn’t complete with Tony Stark’s company, Stark Industries. Caught up in an embezzlement scandal, Simon agreed to become Wonder Man to destroy the Avengers. He ultimately turned against Baron Zemo — the man who empowered him — but the process seemingly killed him. See Avengers #9.
Wonder Man remained “deceased” for a while, until his resurrection in Avengers #151. Issue #165 revealed that he wasn’t dead, but in a death-like coma as his body metamorphosized into an ionic energy life form.
Wonder Man’s shitty attitude comes from his newfound confidence after publicly admitting his past crimes in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #4, the positive public response resulted in Simon landing a important film role in issue #6, boosting his ego. The footnote here references issue #2, which is not correct. That was just the time he realized that he still felt guilty about his past.
Hawkeye recounts the last time he and the Avengers were in this era: Avengers #142-143.
When Hawkeye returned to his own time in Avengers #147, Two-Gun Kid asked to come along. After some time in the present day, the Kid realized he was out of his depth during the Korvac Saga and was returned to his own time in Avengers #175.
Tigra wonders if the Phantom Rider here is the same one they recently encountered in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #8. It’s not. This man is Lincoln Slade, the second Phantom/Night/Ghost Rider, who first appeared in Western Gunfighters (vol. 2) #7. He succeeded his older brother, Carter, the original who operated from Ghost Rider #1 until his death in the same issue that Lincoln took his place. The present day Phantom Rider is the descendent of the first two, Hamilton Slade, who took on the identity in Ghost Rider (vol. 2) #56.
A footnote here reminds readers of the first appearances of all these western villains, Kid Colt Outlaw #110 (Iron Mask), 116 (Doctor Danger), 117 (Fat Man), Two-Gun Kid #70 (Hurricane), 88 (Rattler), and Rawhide Kid #38 (Redwing).
Oh Tigra, you’re barking up the wrong tree there as anyone who read Rawhide Kid volumes 3 and 4. Yes, Rawhide is gay. Yes All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #9 said this was just an affectation to confuse his foes, but that line was excised from when the profile was revised and reprinted in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #9 hardcover, do your research!
A footnote here reminds readers that the Living Totem was last seen in Rawhide Kid #22.
The Fantastic Four encountered Rama-Tut in Fantastic Four #19 (this story incorrectly cites issue #20). The Avengers learned about Rama-Tut’s reformation in Avengers #129-135 and Giant-Size Avengers #2-4.
Topical References
This story frame the present day as taking place in the year 1987 and the Modern Age of the Marvel Universe as occurring in the late 20th Century. This should be considered a topical reference per the Sliding Timescale, which regularly pushes the Modern Age forward in time. As such, it no longer occurs until after the start of the 21st Century. Furthermore, the length of time between it and the other time periods in this story (which should be considered factual) will continue to change. As such, all measurements of time between the present day and the year 1876 should be considered topical as well as they are relative to the date this story was published.
This story refers to Native Americans as Indians in this story. If used in a modern context this would be considered topical as it is an outdated term and considered pejorative by today’s standards. However, since the characters using this term are from the 1800s it is not, since that is what they (incorrectly) called the Indigenous population back in those days.
