West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #8
A Bird in the Hand!
The West Coast Avengers and their allies the Thing and Firebird are returned to Earth after their trip to the other dimensional world of the Land Within. Tigra is looking forward to the completion of her deal with the Cat People that will see the removal of her cat soul so the conflict between her personalities end. However, she doesn’t tell her teammates that in order to get the help she must kill Master Pandemonium.[1] As the group leave Daemon Mansion and head for Avengers Compound, Hawkeye once again pressures the Thing to join the group, but the former member of the Fantastic Four isn’t interested.[2]
On the way back, Firebird is suddenly struck by a vision. In it, she is a woman named Carlotta Valdez, who is part of a missionairy trail sometime in the 1800s. They are suddenly attacked by a army of Native American warriors leading to a gun battle. Carlotta is a capable woman who returns fire until she is shot in the back by a betrayer.[3] Snapping back into reality, she tells her friends what she saw and how she couldn’t see who he betrayer was in the vision.
They soon arrive at Avengers Compound where they are greeted by Wonder Woman, who proudly tells them how he single handedly ended the threat of Ultron-11.[4] As Iron Man consoles Hank Pym — who is experiencing loss after the destruction of the benevolent Ultron-12 — Hawkeye is excited to report back their victory to the east coast team. Wonder Man, on the other hand, is exhilarated by what he was able to accomplish on his own and finally feels like he can accomplish anything.[5] When Clint once again tries courting the Thing to join the team, Firebird walks away upset. Seeing what’s going on, Mockingbird pulls her husband aside and explains to him that Firebird is obviously waiting for him to invite her onto the team and that he should do that instead of pressuring the Thing into joining since he’s clearly uninterested. This turns into a spat where the pair fight with each other, but they quickly go from rough-housing to fooling around as they quickly make up. Meanwhile, Firebird — who believes her powers are of divine origin — goes to the Avengers private beach to pray to God for guidance.[6] After a moment of prayer she suddenly get some inspiration.
Meanwhile, Wonder Man has decided to get some air by flying across Los Angeles with his jet belt. He happens upon a robbery in progress at Los Angeles Savings and Loan. Although the crooks are armed with automatic weapons and a rocket launcher, Wonder Man shrugs off their bullets and easily trounces the crooks.
Back at the compound, the Thing and Tigra are getting some sun by the pool. Ben has noticed a family-like connection between the members of the West Coast Avengers, not unlike the bond between his former teammates in the Fantastic Four.[7] This concerns him and asks if the Avengers would stab each other in the back. Tigra — who has her own secrets — is reluctant to make a comment when Firebird comes by to tell them that she has something to say. However, what she has to say is interrupted by the arrival of Firebird’s old team, the Rangers — Texas Twister, Shooting Star, Red Wolf, and the Ghost Rider.[8]
The rest of the Avengers come out to greet the team of south western heroes. Hawkeye welcomes his old friend Red Wolf and asks what brings the Rangers to the compound.[9] Red Wolf explains that they have come for Firebird, their former teammate. The news that Bonita is leaving comes as a shock to Hawkeye. When Shooting Star reaches out and touches Firebird, Bonita suddenly becomes aware that her former teammate has been possessed by some kind of demonic presence and that all of the Rangers are similarly tainted. This causes a battle to break out between the two teams. Any doubt that demonic possession is involved are quashed when Red Wolf’s pet Lobo suddenly grows in size.
The Avengers and the Thing are able to hold their own against the Rangers, but the battle rages out of control until Firebird unleashes a blinding flame in the shape of her namesake. This blinds all the Rangers except Shooting Star, who appears to be protected by some kind of magic. Bonita grabs Shooting Star and sears her with flame. This breaks the spell that has been controlling the other Rangers and exposes Shooting Star as a demon. The demon — its real name is Riglevio, who claims to have always been Shooting Star and that her purpose was to make sure that the Rangers did not remain together as a team. Tigra correctly guesses that Riglevio has been working with Master Pandemonium finally giving them a lead on their foe.
Recurring Characters
West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra), Hank Pym, Thing, Rangers (Texas Twister, Firebird, Red Wolf, Phantom Rider) Riglevio, Lobo
Continuity Notes
Tigra’s warring souls have been a problem since West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #1. She struck a deal with the Cat People in issue #6. What exactly Master Pandemonium did to earn the ire of the Cat People is unexplained here.
Hawkeye has been trying trying to convince the Thing to join the West Coast Avengers since issue #4. He has refused so far due to his falling out with the Fantastic Four. The details:
In Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #1-12, Ben discovered that he could change between his human and Thing forms on Battleworld. He decided to remain on the alien world to enjoy this ability. He lived there from Thing #11-22. He had to sacrifice this power to return home.
It wasn’t a great homecoming as he discovered that the Human Torch was apparently dating Ben’s long time girlfriend Alicia Masters in Fantastic Four #277. He rage quit the FF in Thing #23 after he learned that Reed knew about Ben’s ability to change form and that it didn’t require him being on Battleworld. What nobody knows is that “Alicia” is actually a Skrull spy who took her place in Fantastic Four #265. The truth won’t be discovered until issue #358 this series. Ben will also be convinced to return to the Fantastic Four in issue #296.
What Firebird is seeing is a vision of one of her past ancestors. This is foreshadowing the Avengers upcoming trip through time that will see them interacting with Firebird’s ancestors. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #17-24.
Wonder Man seemed to destroy Ultron with his bare hands last issue. However, the homicidal robot will get rebuilt and be seen again in Daredevil #275-276. References are made to Ultron’s first appearance in Avengers #57 and his recent battle and escape against their west coast team in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #1-3 and Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #1-2.
Simon Williams has been going through a lot of soul searching recently after the guilt of a years long embezzlement scandal upended his life way back in Avengers #9. He confessed his past crimes to the world in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #4. His admission actually caused him a boost in popularity that has helped his acting career, landing him a role in the fourth Arkon movie. See issues #5 and 6.
Despite Firebird’s lofty ideas that Firebird has regarding the source of her powers, she’ll discover in Avengers Spotlight #24 that they are of alien origin and an toxic waste accident at that. This took her down a few pegs.
The Thing states here that he and Tigra go “way back”, this is in reference to the time when Tigra hung around with the Fantastic Four for a period of time. This was in Fantastic Four #177 through 184.
A footnote here reminds readers that the Rangers were last seen in Incredible Hulk #265.
A lot of references about the individual members of the Rangers are dropped here:
Hawkeye and Tigra both mention the times they worked with Red Wolf. This happened in Avengers #80 and Marvel Chillers #5-7 respectively.
Mockingbird mentions how Texas Twister was part of SHIELD’s short lived super-agents. This group was first formed in Captain America #217 and disbanded in issue #230 when it was discovered that it had been infiltrated by agents working for the criminal Corporation. In the ensuing battle, the Twister mentioned how he almost joined the Frightful Four. See Fantastic Four #177.
Hawkeye also raises questions about the Ghost Rider and his origins. He encountered the original during a time travel adventure to the days of the American Frontier in Avengers #142-143. The western hero, real name Carter Slade, has operated under may different monikers of Ghost Rider (Ghost Rider #1), the Night Rider (Giant-Size Kid Colt #3) and will later be called the Phantom Rider (West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #40) These name changes were to differentiate the character by the contemporary Ghost Rider, you know the one with the flaming skull and motorcycle? That Ghost Rider.
While the Rangers are ambiguous about the identity, suggesting that he might be the vengeful spirit of Carter Slade. In reality, he is actually his present-day ancestor Lincoln Slade who took on the role in Western Gunfighters (vol. 2) #6-7.
Riglevio’s claims of always being Shooting Star is later revealed to be a lie. What did you expect a demon to tell the truth? As revealed in Solo Avengers #18, Riglevio made a deal with Texas Twister who, at the time, was afraid that he was going to lose his powers. That story reveal that Shooting Star was not a creation of Riglevio, but was possessed by the demon.
Topical References
While flying through Los Angeles, Wonder Man passes by billboards advertising the Rocky IV, and Commando. Both of these films were released in 1985 and their reference here should be considered a topical reference.
In this story, Native Americans are called Indians. This stems from the fact that early colonialists mistook the Indigenous population for the people of India and it stuck for hundreds of years. By today’s standard this term is no longer accurate and is considered pejorative to many. Its use in Firebird’s vision of the past would be historically accurate, the later use by “Shooting Star” should be considered topical.