West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #31
The Friday Night Fights!
It’s a dark and stormy night as the Phantom Rider races to his secret cave hideout. Inside is his fellow Ranger, the Texas Twister, who is trying to contact mystical forces to find his lost teammate Vicki Star — aka Shooting Star — with little progress.[1] The Phantom Rider is disgusted by the hovel the Twister made his home, but understands the lengths one would go for love. Possessed by the spirit of his ancestor — Lincoln Slade, one of the Phantom Riders of the American Frontier — once sought to win the love of the Avenger Mockingbird. However, she got free of his love potion and let Lincoln fall to his death. Now, centuries later, he will finally have his revenge.[2] He pretends to help the Texas Twister by adding his own strength to the spell. However, rather than summon Shooting Star, they summon Arkon, the ruler of Polamchus, to Earth.[3] As it turns out, Arkon was trying to get Earth in order to get revenge against Wonder Man for starring in a film about Arkon’s life that he sees as an insult. This pleases the Rider who offers to assist Arkon get revenge.
Meanwhile, at Avengers Compound, Moon Knight is overlooking the moon and communing with Khonshu, the Egyptian god of the moon who gave Marc Spector his powers. He is curious about the relationship between Mockingbird and the Phantom Rider, after Bobbi recently defended the idea of killing and wonders if there is some kind of connection.[4] His thoughts are interrupted by Tigra who has come looking for romance. They, in turn, are interrupted by Iron Man who was looking for someplace to be alone with his thoughts. Iron Man and Moon Knight are about to come to blows when Hawkeye steps in between them. Talking to Iron Man in private, Hawkeye asks what’s wrong, but the long time Avenger says he can’t really talk about it.[5] Iron Man asks Clint to trust him and flies off. Clint is then joined by his wife, Mockingbird, and he asks her what she wanted to talk about earlier, but she tells him it’s unimportant.[6] Before Clint can get her to talk anyway, Hank Pym comes to tell them that an emergency has come in from the east coast team.
Calling an emergency meeting, the West Coast Avengers learn from Captain Marvel — leader of the eastern team — that Iron Man had attacked the Captain and shut down the Vault’s Guardsmen armor. Hawkeye can’t understand what would cause Iron Man to get in a fight with Cap.[7] However, all thought of this current development are put aside when the compound is suddenly struck by a bolt of lightning.[8] The Avengers race outside and find Arkon waiting for them outside. The ruler of Polmachus challenges Wonder Man to a one-on-one battle. Simon Williams insists on fighting Arkon alone. In the ensuing battle, the two men find themselves equally matched in strength. However, Arkon has the advantage by having his shield and lightning bolt weapons. Remembering how Thor was able to trounce him with his ability to control the storms, Wonder Man crumples the shield and removes Arkon’s quiver of thunderbolts.[9]
As the Avengers watch from the sidelines, Mockingbird spots the Phantom Rider lurking around behind her. Worried he might tell her teammates the truth about his death, she follows after him. He leads her to a cliff overlooking the ocean where and challenges her to a fight. Bobbi thinks that the Rider is using his old illusionary tricks, but quickly discovers that the Phantom Rider’s ghostly powers are real this time around.
Meanwhile, Wonder Man has fought Arkon to a stand-still and suggests that they talk instead of engaging in a pointless battle. Although the idea of discussion is seen as weak to him, Arkon agrees to hear him out. Wonder Man explains that the Arkon films that he has starred in were do in his honor and weren’t meant to be an insult, something he’d know if he would stick around long enough during his trips to Earth. However, he understands that Arkon didn’t give his permission to user his likeness and promises to talk to the Hollywood producers who make the Arkon films to stop them. This is satisfactory enough for Arkon who departs back to his own dimension.
That’s when the other Avengers notice that Mockingbird is gone and go looking for her. By this time, the Phantom Rider has knocked Bobbi off the cliff and she finds herself clinging to the edge for dear life. The Rider takes perverse joy in seeing Mockingbird in the same situation she put him in generations ago. However, he doesn’t want her death to be so easy and promises to make her beg for her end before finally taking her life and rides away. The Avengers arrive just as Mockingbird climbs back up from the cliff. Unaware of the fight she just had, Hawkeye wonders where she went, jokingly telling her that she missed all of the excitement. She is speechless because she can see the image of the Phantom Rider’s face hovering in the sky behind her allies.
Recurring Characters
West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Iron Man, Hank Pym, Wonder Man, Tigra, Moon Knight), Aarkon, Phantom Rider, Texas Twister, Avengers (Captain Marvel, Black Knight, Doctor Druid, Sub-Mariner, She-Hulk)
Continuity Notes
Shooting Star was replaced by the demon Riglevio who infiltrated the group. For the full story see West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #8 and Solo Avengers #18.
Mockingbird became a victim of the Phantom Rider’s unrequited love during a trip through time. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #17-23.
A footnote here reminds readers that Arkon first appeared in Avengers #75.
Mockingbird came to Moon Knight’s defense when Taurus was killed in a one-on-one battle with him in issue #29.
At the time of this story, Tony Stark has just discovered that his Iron Man technology has been stolen and sold to others. He will go on a quest to shut down those who are using Iron Man tech without Tony’s permission. See Iron Man #225-232.
Mockingbird lied about how the Phantom Rider died. She will ultimately tell him the truth in issue #35.
Iron Man’s fight with the Captain in Iron Man #228 and Captain America #340. This story makes a point of referring to Steve Rogers as simply the Captain. This is because this story happens during a period in which Steve was forced to give up being Captain America. See Captain America #332-350.
Here, Hawkeye mentions how Captain America was his first leader on the Avengers. Cap was in charge when Clint joined the team back in Avengers #16.
Wonder Man had recently fought Thor back in West Coast Avengers Annual #2.
