West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #34
Tales to Astonish Part 2: Prisoners of the Slave-World!
The West Coast Avengers have traveled to Hungary to investigate a rumor that Hank Pym’s first wife — Marya Trovaya — might still be alive.[1] Instead, they were arrested by the government backed People’s Defense Force and imprisoned. However, Hank and the Wasp avoided capture. Hawkeye, Wonder Man, and Tigra are eventually released thanks to pressure from the American embassy.
However, Madame X tells them that Moon Knight and Mockingbird will continue to be held due to their past actions against Hungary as a soldier of fortune and SHIELD agent, respectively. However, Clint and the others refuse to leave without their comrades and a fight breaks out. Fighting their way to the holding cells, they discover that Moon Knight and Mockingbird have been moved somewhere else.
That’s when the ambassador arrives and tells them to come back to the American Embassy to figure out their next move. There they are greeted by the Phantom Rider, who tells them that he is here on other business, but wants to help the Avengers out. In fact, he is very interested in finding Hawkeye’s wife and tells them the truth behind the death of his predecessor.[2]
Meanwhile, the Beasts of Berlin have taken Moon Knight and Mockingbird to another prison facility.[3] There, they are locked into a cell where Hank Pym, the Wasp, the Scarlet Witch, and the Vision have all been locked up. Hank and Janet explain they weren’t intentionally imprisoned, saying that they were looking for Hank’s first wife when they happened to find Wanda and the Vision in their cell. Since they haven’t met Moon Knight before, the Vision explains how he was created, his joining the Avengers, his eventual relationship and marriage to the Scarlet Witch, and how they retired to start a family and just recently had twin children. He explains that recently, they received a letter from Bova — the woman who raised Wanda her brother Pietro — asking for help. Leaving their twin children in the care of Martha Williams, the Vision’s “mother”, they went to investigate.[4] Only to discover it was a trap. They were knocked out by Hungarian authorities and put in this cell which is armed with a device that negates their super-human powers.
That’s when Quicksilver races into the cell and reveals that he is responsible for their capture. He is continuing to seek revenge against those he believes betrayed him after recently escaping the custody of the Inhumans.[5] He explains that he is working with the Hungarian government’s super-human program, part of a larger scheme to surpass his father Magneto as the king of evil mutants.[6] They try to subdue Pietro, but without their powers they can’t stop him from leaving the cell. Seeing how mad her brother has become, Wanda fears that she might go mad like her brother. The Vision consoles his wife as the spirit form of the Phantom Rider enters the room, unseen by the others. Seeing how close Wanda and the Vision are causes Mockingbird to break and she admits to everyone that she has been lying to her husband regarding the death of the Phantom Rider’s death. The Rider hopes this will turn her friends against her, but is enraged when the others are understanding and accept her reasoning for letting him die.
Annoyed, the Phantom leaves and reconnects with the other Avengers and tells them where their friends are being held. When Hawkeye and the others bust Mockingbird and the others, they reveal that the Phantom Rider told them everything and accuse Bobbi of being a murderer. However, there is no time for Mockingbird to explain herself when they are attacked by an army of Scarlet Beetles.[7] Fighting their way to freedom, the Avengers retreat in their Quinjet and try to flee the country. However, the jet is shot out of the sky with a missile and crashes into the neighboring nation of Latveria, home of Doctor Doom!
Recurring Characters
West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Hank Pym, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonder Man, Tigra, Moon Knight), Wasp, People’s Defense Force (Madame X, Beasts of Berlin, Toro), Quicksilver, Scarlet Beetles, Phantom Riders (Lincoln and Hamilton Slade), Billy Maximoff, Tommy Maximoff
Continuity Notes
The truth behind Maria Trovaya is muddy at best. The details (as best as they can be determined):
The story of Hank’s first marriage to Maria and her murder was first told in Tales to Astonish #44. Her supposed death inspired Hank to develop his shrinking potion in Tales to Astonish #27 and become Ant-Man in issue #35 of that series.
This story presents Maria’s past life living in communist Hungary. This ultimately became a topical reference. Modern retellings of her story (such as Avengers Origins: Ant-Man & Wasp #1) update this story, see below for more details on these changes.
It is later claimed in Iron Man #296 by Omega Red that the Maria Trovaya being talked about here is actually an impostor whose real name is Olinka Barankova. However, this has been refuted by the woman claiming to be Maria in that same story.
More over, the most recent MODAM profile in Captain America: America’s Avengers #1, still leaves the truth ambiguous. Despite what a certain crowd-sourced website may state, her true identity has not been confirmed.
What nobody knows at this time is that Maria was actually pregnant at the time and gave birth in captivity before her apparent death. This child, later named Nadia Van Dyne, will turn up in Free Comic Book Day: Civil War II #1 and her connection to Hank will be revealed in All-New All-Different Avengers #9.
During a trip through time, Mockingbird was kidnapped by the Phantom Rider who forced a love potion on her. When she was freed from its spell, she let him fall to his death. However, the Rider’s spirit survived to the present — possessing his descendant Hamilton Slade — and terrorizing Bobbi anew. Moon Knight found out and kept it a secret. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #17-23 and 31-32. Mockingbird will be forced to reveal the truth in issue #35.
Mention is made about how the Avengers had recently been locked up in the Vault recently. That was in Avengers Annual #15/West Coast Avengers Annual #1, when they were framed by their former teammate, Quicksilver.
The Vision goes into his very lengthy history. The details:
His body was derived from the body of the android Human Torch which was created in 1939 by Phineas Horton. See Marvel Comics #1.
The Toch’s powers burned him out in the 1950s. In more recent times, his body was recovered by the robot Ultron who used the brain patterns of Simon Williams to rebuild the Torch into the Vision. See Avengers #57-58 and 134-135.
The Vision joined the Avengers and later met Wanda in Avengers #76. They fell in love in issue #91 and began dating in issue #108.
It is stated here that Wanda’s brother, Quicksilver, did not approve of their romance. This was the case when he first heard about it in Avengers #110. He was later forced to accept it when Moondragon altered his mind in Avengers #175.
The Vision and Scarlet Witch later got married in Giant-Size Avengers #4.
The two recently left the team in Avengers #255 to focus on their marriage. Wanda used her powers to get pregnant in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #3 and gave birth in issue #12 of that series.
Wanda and Pietro are referred to as mutants here. However, they aren’t. It’s later revealed in Uncanny Avengers #4-5 that they were experimented upon by children by the High Evolutionary. To cover up his work he made it so future genetic tests would register them as mutants.
Bova cared for the children after they were born, as detailed in Avengers #185.
Here, Martha Williams is referred to as the Vision’s “mother”. This is due to the fact that his mind was based on Wonder Man’s brain imprint. Martha accepted the Vision as her son in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #2.
Quicksilver has been off his nut since learning his wife, Crystal of the Inhumans, was having an affair in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #10. He details how he went after the Avengers in West Coast Avengers Annual #1, his capture in Fantastic Four #304 and being handed over to the Inhumans in issue #306. What nobody knows at this point is that Pietro’s madness was caused by Maximus the Mad, as revealed in X-Factor Annual #2.
Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were led to believe they are Magneto’s children in Vision and the Scarlet Witch #4. This turned out to be another falsehood. Their real parents are Natalya Maximoff and an unidentified Scarlet Warlock. See Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #4 and 11.
A footnote here reminds readers that this is another old Ant-Man villain, first seen in Tales to Astonish #39.
Topical References
This story presents the country of Hungary as a communist nation. However, Hungary became a democracy in 1989 and these references should be considered topical.
The Beast of Berlin states that the Avengers were locked up in the Vault a year prior to this story. This is a measurement of time between publications and should be considered topical. Per the Sliding Timescale, this would have happened a few months prior as opposed to a year.
