West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #37
Avengers Dissassemble!
Returning from their mission from Hungary, the West Coast Avengers find themselves witness to an explosive argument between Hawkeye and his wife, Mockingbird. Clint is furious to have learned that Mockingbird had let the Phantom Rider fall to his death while Bobbi was lost in time and then lied to him about it.[1]
Mockingbird is furious with Clint for not being more supportive and accuses him of putting Avengers duty ahead of their marriage. The pair ultimately decide that they are getting divorced, and Bobbi quits the team. Discussing the situation, the Avengers also find themselves divided over the situation. Both Tigra and Moon Knight strongly side with Mockingbird and decide to join her.
The other Avengers, while still wanting to remain on the team, try to get Clint to see things from Bobbi’s point-of-view. Hank points out how he was once punished for breaking the Avengers rules and getting kicked out, only to redeem himself later.[2] Wonder Man, recounts how he thought being a Hollywood actor was more important than being an Avenger before learning the errors of his way.[3] The Wasp wants Clint tries to appeal to him as a former chairwoman for the east coast team, telling him that its just as important to do what it takes to keep the team together than not.[4] While the Vision and the Scarlet Witch try to appeal to him by reminding him of the sanctity of marriage. Hawkeye however, is steadfast, pointing out that even he has killed in the past — when he killed Egghead — but points out that it was an accident and that there is a difference between that and willingly allowing a foe to die, like Bobbi did with the Phantom Rider.[5]
Seeing that Hawkeye isn’t going to have a change of heart, Mockingbird leaves with Tigra and Moon Knight. Also departing is Hank Pym, who is leaving to find a cure for his first wife, Maria Trovaya.[6] The Wasp is also departing because she only came out west to try and pull the team together after Iron Man was kicked off the team.[7] Inside the compound, Mockingbird is turning in her Avengers ID and related equipment while she, Tigra, and Moon Knight figure out their next move. Tigra has heard that the Fantastic Four recently encountered their old foe Master Pandemonium at the South Pole and they decide to hunt him down.[8]
Back outside, Hawkeye offers the Vision and the Scarlet Witch a lift back to their home in New Jersey. However, the pair have decided that they want to rejoin the Avengers in their time of need. This really touches Hawkeye and Wonder Man is glad to live with his “brother”.[9] However, Hawkeye is still concerned about the team being understaffed at only four members.[10] That’s when they are greeted by Mantis, who the Avengers haven’t seen since she became the Celestial Madonna some years earlier.[11] She has come to rejoin the team because she needs their help. However, before she can explain what aid she needs she suddenly starts attacking everyone.
Despite any super-human powers, Mantis is an excellent martial artist and is even able to incapacitate Wonder Man with some well timed nerve punches. Hawkeye deduces that this has to be the work of the Voice and leaves the battle to find him. Sure enough, he finds the Voice lurking around just outside the compound.[12] Getting the drop on the villain, Hawkeye threatens to shoot him with an arrow at point blank range unless he orders Mantis to stop attacking his teammates. The Voice complies and the Scarlet Witch uses her hex powers to silence him until they can hand him over to the Vault prison.
Back in control of her own mind, Mantis tells the Avengers that she doesn’t remember anything after the moment she left the Avengers. She tells them that she woke up in a bedroom of a house that she didn’t recognize.[12] She went to the east coast team to get help, but discovered their mansion in ruins.[13] That’s when a police officer remembered her as the daughter of Libra of the Zodiac and tell her that her that the West Coast Avengers recently battled the Life Model Decoy Zodiac, who had murdered her father. Mantis then came to the west to join this team and help her find her missing memories.[14] Hawkeye agrees to help her out and welcomes her onto the team, shouting “Avengers Assemble!”
Recurring Characters
West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Hank Pym, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonder Man, Tigra, Moon Knight, Mantis), Wasp, The Voice,
Continuity Notes
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. Clint learned the truth issue #35 as well, it didn’t go so well. This story dances around what exactly the Phantom Rider did to Bobbi while she was under the control of a love potion, probably because the Comics Code restrictions. However Hawkeye & Mockingbird #1 confirms that he technically raped her.
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.
After Wonder Man landed a big time role in a movie in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #6, he became a bit of a dick until he realized that the Avengers is more important than fame in issue #25.
The Wasp was chairwoman of the east coast team from Avengers #217 through 238 and again from issues #255 and 279.
Hawkeye accidentally killed Egghead by firing an arrow into the barrel of his gun causing it to misfire. This happened in Avengers #229. However, Egghead injected himself with a rejuvenation formula before his death and will come back to life in Ant-Man Annual #1.
For years, Hank believed his wife first wife Maria Troyava had been murdered by her father’s political enemies, as detailed in Tales to Astonish #44. However, in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #33-34 and 36, Hank heard that she was apparently alive and rescued a woman claiming to be her. She had her brain mutated to titanic size. Hank will attempt to cure her through the course of Solo Avengers #14-16. Sometime after this, the villainous Omega Red claimed that “Maria” is actually an impostor and that she is really a Russian spy named Olinka Barankova in Iron Man #296. However, this claim has also been refuted and has yet to be confirmed or denied.
At the time of this story, Tony Stark had learned that his Iron Man technology had been stolen and sold to unauthorized individuals. He then went on a crusade to destroy this rogue technology before it is used to harm innocent people. This included government operatives and foreign agents, making Iron Man’s war very unpopular with the public, and forcing the Avengers to kick him out. See Iron Man #225-232.
Master P’s encounter with the FF happened in Fantastic Four #314-316. Mockingbird’s team trip to Antarctica is chronicled in West Coast Avengers Annual #3.
Wanda and the Vision moved to New Jersey in Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1 after retiring from duty in Avengers #211. Although they briefly returned to duty in issue #233-235, they quit again in issue #255 and returned to New Jersey to start a family. See Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #1-12. Simon refers to the Vision as his brother here because the Vision’s mind was created using Wonder Man’s brain patterns, as explained in Avengers #57-58, the two came to consider each other brothers following West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #2/Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #2.
Hawkeye recounts the last time the Avengers had only four members. It was when he first joined in Avengers #16 alongside Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver, with Captain America as leader. This only lasted until Goliath and the Wasp rejoined the team in issue #26-28.
Mantis was a member of the Avengers from Avengers #114 until she became the Celestial Madonna in Giant-Size Avengers #4. Mention is made of how Mantis tried to seduce the Vision during this period.
Here, the Voice states that his former employer, Quicksilver, was turned over to the Inhumans. Quicky was defeated by the Avengers in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #36. He was turned over to the FF who then turned him over to the Inhumans in Fantastic Four Annual #21.
At the time of this story, Mantis had teamed up with the Silver Surfer to prevent escalation of the Kree/Skrull War and prevent the Elders of the Universe from obtaining the Infinity Gems. She was seemingly killed in an explosion. However, she woke up on Earth with no memory of how she got there. See Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #3-9 and Annual #1. West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #39 reveals that her memories are trapped in her physical body which was buried after her marriage in Giant-Size Avengers #4 and that reintegrating with it will restore her lost memories.
Avengers Mansion was recently trashed by the Masters of Evil in Avengers #273-277, forcing the east coast team to relocate to Hydrobase for a time. This will remain the status quo until Hydrobase is sunken in Avengers #311.
The WCA battled the LMD Zodiac in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #26-28. The LMDs murdered their human counterparts in issue #26. However, Libra managed to cheat death and will resurface in Avengers Forever #1.
