Buried Monsters!

The Wasp has come to Avengers Compound to provide her support to the west coast team after they were forced to kick Iron Man off the team.[1] Hawkeye is suspicious of Janet’s arrival, but she assures him that she hadn’t come to replace him as leader of the west coast team, saying she just recently resigned as chairwoman of the eastern team and was actually on vacation until recently.[2]

The other Avengers have differing opinions about Iron Man’s situation. However, things almost get heated when Hank Pym — Janet’s ex-husband — enters the room.[3] As they are all having this discussion, Mockingbird is trying to find out if the Phantom Rider has any surviving relatives left.[4] After speaking with Mormon Genealogical Society, she learns that he has one descendant alive today: Hamilton Slade, an archeologist who works for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.[4] Learning where Hamilton is working now, Mockingbird suggests that the team could use a vacation and suggest they check out the Grand Canyon, not telling them the real reason why she wants to go.

Everyone unanimously agree — except Hawkeye, who wanted to go Seattle. Arriving in Arizona the pair change out of costume to keep a low profile and make their way to the Grand Canyon. Along the way, Simon Williams makes a romantic oveture toward Tigra only for Marc Spector to tell him that Tigra is his woman. Tigra takes offense to being treated like property and reminds both men that she is her own woman. However, their efforts to maintain a low profile prove to be fruitless as, when they arrive at the Grand Canyon, people recognize Simon from his recent film role and ask for his autographs.

A Park Ranger guides the team along the trail and along the way, Janet tries to make up with Hank. She tells him that she is glad that he has reinvented himself, since after the last time they spoke he sounded pretty depressed.[6] As the others are paying attention to what’s going on with Hank and Janet, Bobbi tells Clint she wanted to see the Grand Canyon because she heard so much about it from her time at SHIELD.[7] While everyone is distracted, she tosses an explosive device down into the canyon and when it goes off, it frees Yatrigar, a massive mutated prehistoric man who had been buried here for some time.[8]

Bobbi has done this to distract her teammates while she goes looking for Hamilton Slade. Everyone believes that she fell down the canyon when in reality, she ducked down a side trail. This is seen by Marc Spector who decides to find out why she created this deception and changes into Moon Knight while the other Avengers deal with Yetrigar. As he pursues Mockingbird, Moon Knight struggles to keep his multiple personalities in check. Luckily, the spirit of Khonshu is there to quiet them.[9] Mockingbird eventually finds Hamilton and attacks him and threatens to kill him. Slade, who doesn’t remember his time as the Phantom Rider, doesn’t know what she is talking about. Moon Knight eventually intervenes and forces Mockingbird to stop. He then tells Hamilton to send him any medical bills and convinces him not to report the attack. Moon Knight tells Mockingbird that he understands why Bobbi is seeking revenge and promises to help her get it as well as keep things a secret from the rest of the Avengers. As the pair leave, Hamilton wonders if this has anything to do with the strange black outs he has been happening recently. Suddenly, the spirit of Lincoln Slade takes over Hamilton’s body and begins to laugh.

By this time, the Avengers have been making a coordinated effort to keep Yatrigar disorientated while Hank and Tigra climb up onto the monster’s shoulder. Here, Hank stuffs a sonic device into the Yatrigar’s ear canal. It causes the monster so much pain it blacks out and comes crashing down. With the situation under control, Hank then uses his Pym Particles to shrink Yatrigar down to a more manageable size.[10] That’s when Mockingbird and Moon Knight return and make up a story about how Bobbi had her leg pinned under a boulder. While everyone accepts this explanation, the Wasp can’t help but notice the tell-tale signs of a marriage in distress and wonders what’s going on between Mockingbird and Hawkeye.

Recurring Characters

West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Hank Pym, Wonder Man, Tigra, Moon Knight), Wasp, Yetrigar, Hamilton Slade, Phantom Rider

Continuity Notes

1. At the time of this story, Tony Stark had learned that his Iron Man technology was stolen and sold to others. He went on a mission to destroy all this rogue technology before innocent people got hurt. Since he attacked government operatives and foreign agents, Hawkeye was forced to kick him off the team. See Iron Man #225-232.

2. The Wasp left the East Coast Avengers in Avengers #273. Here, Hawkeye mentions when he joined that team, this was back in Avengers #16.

3. And here we go into the litany of issues Hank Pym has had over the past decade of publications… I’ll be happy when I can stop repeating this footnote over and over … Hank Pym suffered a series of set back and losses, including a divorce, getting kicked out of the Avengers, being framed, retiring from heroics, losing his “son” Ultron, and being dumped by Tigra, Hank Pym was about ready to end it all in issue #17. See also Avengers #213, 217, 227-230, and West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #7 and 16. He was encouraged by La Espirita to find a new purpose in life. He decided to become a scientific adventurer in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #21. Also mentioned was how Hank recently beat Janet in a one-on-one battle. That was in West Coast Avengers Annual #2.

4. During a trip through time, Mockingbird was made the love slave of Lincoln Slade, the Phantom Rider of the 1800s. Getting free of his love potion, she let the Rider fall to his death. More recently, his spirit has come back from the grave and began terrorizing her. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #17-23 and 31.

5. Lincoln Slade became the present day Phantom Rider back in Ghost Rider (vol. 2) #56. Mention is made of the two Phantom Riders — Carter Slade and his brother Lincoln — Carter was the first, appearing in Ghost Rider #1. After he died in Western Gunfighters (vol. 2) #7, Lincoln took over the identity.

6. Hank had called her to say “goodbye” in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #17, because he was contemplating suicide. This is something Janet hasn’t found out.

7. Wonder Man comments how Hank and Janet seemed to be the perfect couple when he first met them. This was back in Avengers #9.

8. Yatrigar terrorized the area back in Godzilla #10-11. It was buried alive by the book’s titular giant-lizard with an assist from the Red Ronin robot.

9. Moon Knight suffers from dissociative personality disorder that dated back to his childhood, as seen in Moon Knight (vol. 9) #9-10. On top of being Marc Spector, he started using two other personalities: playboy Steve Grant and taxi driver Jake Lockley since Marvel Spotlight #28. More recently, in Moon Knight #37-38, Moon Knight blamed these other personalities for driving himself mad and decided to stop using them. However, mental illness doesn’t work that way and Marc’s other personalities have been rearing their ugly heads again in West Coast Avenger (vol. 2) #29.

10. Yetrigar doesn’t stay small for long, as we’ll see when he appears again in Avengers Spotlight #26.

Topical References

• Hamilton Slade is referred to as the great-great-grandson of Lincoldn Slade. This should be considered a topical reference due the Sliding Timescale. As the Modern Age of the Marvel Universe is pushed forward the number of years between the American Frontier and the present will grow in size that it will be impossible for Hamilton to be the great-great-grandson of Lincoln Slade. Modern readers should interpret Hamilton as being a descendant of Lincoln Slade, but not specifically his great-great-grandson.