West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #1
Teammates!
At Avengers Compound, Hawkeye is kissing his wife, Mockingbird, when someone rings the doorbell. It turns out to be Hank Pym — formerly known as Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, and Yellowjacket.[1] Hawkeye welcomes Hank inside and asks if he has come to fill the final open spot on the new West Coast Avengers team. Hank, who gave up heroics after they upended his life, takes offense to the offer.[2] Regaining his composure, Pym explains that he came to examine the new Goliath, who is being held prisoner at Avengers Compound.[3] As Clint and Bobbi lead him to the holding cell, Pym apologizes for his outburst and asks how things are going with the new team.
Meanwhile, Wonder Man is flying back to base carrying his teammate Tigra along the way. As they fly over the ocean, her cat side of her personality becomes afraid of falling in the water because she hates getting wet. Simon assures Greer that he won’t drop her and talks about how he still feels inadequate as an Avenger given his criminal past and his fear of death after his brush with it.[4] Their conversation is interrupted when Iron Man arrives on the scene and saves them from a swarm of attacking robots. Although Iron Man is there to lend an assist, Wonder Man isn’t effective in the fight because he has to focus on shielding Tigra from the robot’s energy blasts. Realizing she has no other choice and hating every moment, Greer leaps from Simon’s arms into the ocean below. With Wonder Man at his full fighting ability he and Iron Man drive the robots away.[5]
Back at Avengers Compound, Hank Pym recognizes the new Goliath as the original Power Man and demands to know how he gained the ability to increase his size.[5] Unfortunately, the criminal refuses to talk and is confident that he will be free very soon. As Hank continues his examination, Mockingbird asks Hawkeye why Hank won’t join up, and Clint explains his recent troubles.[7] This has Barton feeling like a terrible leader and wonders why the Vision thought he’d be the right choice to head this new team of Avengers. His wife, however, has a lot of confidence in Clint and tells him he’ll sort everything out eventually.
That’s when Wonder Man, Iron Man, and Tigra return to base and tell of their encounter with the robots.[8] Hearing this makes Goliath laugh, but he still won’t talk. Meanwhile, Tigra takes a flirtatious interest in Hank, apparently putting aside her past dislike of him.[9] The team decides to track the robots using their new equipment and are able to pinpoint a strong energy signature in San Pedro. When deciding who should come along on the mission, Hank Pym offers to stay and watch things at base so everyone can go and he can continue his examination of Goliath.
Taking a Quinjey, the Avengers track the source of the signal to a ship moored on the pier. As Hawkeye leads the team to investigate, Tigra pulls Mockingbird aside so they can talk one-on-one. Greer tells Bobbi that she feels like she is losing control of the cat side of her personality, and briefly explains how she got her powers.[10] Hearing this, Mockingbird tells Tigra that she is part of a team now and after this crisis is over they will do everything they can to help her. When they get aboard the ship, the outside is clear. As they head into the lower decks, Tigra and Wonder Man take the lead since they are able to see better in the dark. They soon find a massive web made out of metal and discover that this boat is the lair of Ultron. Quickly, Hawkeye fires a gas arrow that will protect the team from the effects of Ultron’s power blasts.[11]
Ultron then activates a death trap that sees the room begin filling with Adamantium cylinders in an effort to smash the Avengers to pieces. Getting poked in the ribs, Hawkeye decides evasive action is needed and fires his one and only Vibranium arrow into the the mechanism, shutting it down.
Back at Avengers Compound, Hank concludes that Goliath got his powers from the same formula that he invented.[12] That’s when a call comes in from the East Coast Avengers leader, the Wasp. At first, Hank is reluctant to answer it given their past, but he decides to do so anyway. As he is explaining his presence to Janet, Hawkeye and the others arrive. Much to Hank’s relief, Clint asks to talk to Janet privately and tells her about their battles with Ultron. However, when she offers the aid of her own team, Clint declines confident that the west coast team can handle it on their own.[13]
That’s when the alarm goes off, warning the team that Ultron and his army of robots are preparing to attack the compound. Hawkeye splits everyone up into teams: Iron Man is to keep Hank safe, Tigra is ordered to guard Goliath, and the rest of the team join Hawkeye outside to fend off the invaders. When they get outside, the coast is surprisingly clear. Unaware that Ultron is listening in on their conversation, the robot decides to change his plan after hearing his creator is inside the compound. Meanwhile, Tigra is ambushed by the Man-Ape who has come to liberate Goliath. Giving into her feline savagery, Tigra is able to hold her own against the Man-Ape until Ultron sneaks up behind her and knocks her out with a blow to the head. When the Man-Ape balks at Ultron going against their master’s plan. Ultron explains that he acts on his own and blasts the Man-Ape.
Ultron then ends up trying to ambush Hank Pym, but Iron Man is there to protect him.[14] As they battle it out, Man-Ape finally frees Goliath and the pair try to make their escape. The battle quickly turns however, and the villains escape after taking both Hank Pym and Wonder Man prisoner. In the aftermath of the battle, Hawkeye finally puts two-and-two together. This whole time he was struggling to figure out Ultron’s connection to Goliath until he saw the Man-Ape. He remembers that Man-Ape was a member of the Lethal Legion, led by Wonder Man’s brother, Eric Williams — aka the Grim Reaper![15]
… This story continues in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #1.
Recurring Characters
West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra), Hank Pym, Lethal Legion (Grim Reaper, Nekkra, Ultron, Goliath, Man-Ape, Black Talon), Wasp
Continuity Notes
Hank Pym was a founding member of the Avengers who also had a long career in crime fighting under many different identities:
He started his crime fighting career as Ant-Man in Tales to Astonish #35. It was under this identity he helped found Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in Avengers #1.
He later became Giant-Man when he added growing to his size-changing abilities circa Tales to Astonish #49.
Later, he renamed himself Goliath during a period he was stuck at a height of 18’ in Avengers #28.
After suffering a mental break down, Hank reinvented himself as Yellowjacket in Avengers #59.
At the time of this story, Hank had given up costumed heroics after disgracing himself in front of his fellow Avengers. This started in Avengers #213 when his struck his then-wife Janet Van Dyne, aka the Wasp. He was court-martialed and kicked off the team. He was later manipulated into assisting his old enemy Egghead in the commission of a crime and was arrested in Avengers #217. Ultimately, he cleared his name in issues #228-229 and redeemed himself, however he decided to give up on heroics all together.
The new Goliath — Erik Josten — was taken down by Hawkeye, Mockingbird ,and Iron Man in Iron Man Annual #7.
Wonder Man goes into his complicated past here:
He indeed started off as a villain back in Avengers #9 and was given his powers by Baron Zemo to infiltrate the Avengers. That was after Williams got into legal trouble for embezzling money from his own company. Discovering his powers were slowly killing him, Williams asked the team to help him find a cure, but they were unable to do so, leading to his apparent demise.
Wonder Man soon returned to life in Avengers #151 and it was later discovered in issue #165 that Simon didn’t really die, but entered a death-like state as his body went under a metamorphosis and was transformed into a being of pure ionic energy. Despite this, Simon had a fear of death for a very long time.
Wonder Man seemed to get over his fear of death during his battle with the god-like Michael Korvac in Avengers #177, however he has started having issues more recently. It’s later detailed in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #2, and Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #2 that this stems from the fact that Simon feels guilt over never confessing to his crimes back before he became Wonder Man, allowing the blame for his company’s downfall be put on his brother Eric, aka the Grim Reaper.
Here, Iron Man states that he needs practice. At the time of this story, Tony Stark had been on an alcoholic bender from Iron Man #167-182. During that time Jim Rhodes took on the role of Iron Man in issue #169. Although Tony sobered up in Iron Man #182, it took until Iron Man #200 before he got back in the saddle again.
Erik Josten started his career as a super-villain by becoming the first Power Man in Avengers #21, using the same process that gave Wonder Man his powers. He’s referred to as the “original” Power Man as the name was taken by Luke Cage when he started his career in Hero for Hire #1. In fact, he fought Josten over the right to use that name and won in Power Man #21. As seen in Iron Man Annual #7, Josten got his new powers from Dr. Karl Malus.
It’s also mentioned here that Clint Barton also called himself Goliath for a period of time. When Hank Pym became Yellowjacket, Hawkeye felt inadequate on the team and decided to give himself a power boost by using Hank’s growth formula to become a new Goliath in Avengers #63. However, after getting stranded in space without his growth formula for a time, Clint went back to being Hawkeye in Avengers #98.
Seeing Hank Pym again is awkward for Iron Man, since he briefly tried dating his ex-wife, the Wasp, in his alter-ego of Tony Stark. This wasn’t received very well, as you can probably imagine. See Avengers #224.
Tigra was previously a member of the east coast team from Avengers #211 to 216. She was around during the whole thing with Hank hitting Janet and his downfall and was present when he was arrested in issue #217. Her sudden shift in opinion in Hank is probably due to the growing conflict between her two personalities, something that will become quite the issue by West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #6.
It’s mentioned here that Greer started her career as the Cat until she was inflicted with radiation poisoning and, in order to save her life, was involved in a mystical ceremony that transformed her into Tigra. See The Cat #1-4 and Giant-Size Creatures #1.
Hawkeye recounts how Ultron was built by Hank Pym. This was detailed in Avengers #57. The creation of the gas to protect them from Ultron’s primary weapon was devised in issue #177.
Here, Hank believes that Ultron is dead, having heard that he died in space. This is quite complicated:
Ultron was among the super-villains gathered by the Beyonder to fight heroes to the death during the original Secret Wars. See Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1-12.
Ultron’s body was destroyed, leaving only his severed head which got kicked around during the Thing’s extended stay on Battleworld after the war’s end. See Thing #11-22. The Thing brought it back to Earth with him but it was lost during a battle with the Dire Wraiths in Fantastic Four #277.
This current version of Ultron is actually a separate entity, as we’ll learn in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #7, Ultron was abducted while in the process up upgrading himself for the 12th time. The Mark 11 Ultron ended up on Battleworld, while his secret lab built the Mark 12 as a separate and unique entity.
Hawkeye reminds Janet of a time when the east coast team was once thought as inadequate against a powerful threat. This was in Avengers #50 when a team consisting of Goliath, Hawkeye, and the Wasp helped Hercules liberate Olympus from the Typhon.
Iron Man boasts that Ultron will not be able to drain the power from his suit of armor as he has in the past. He is referring to their battle in Avengers #202.
Hawkeye remembers the Lethal Legion from the time he fought them back in Avengers #78-79.
Topical References
When the Avengers arrive at the San Pedro pier, the narration states that visitors could come here and film an episode of The Love Boat. This was a popular television romance that took place on a cruise ship. It’s reference here should be considered topical since the show only ran from 1977 to 1986. I hate to break it to you but if you go to San Pedro today nobody will film an episode of the Love Boat with you.