West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #9
Hot Pursuit
Shooting Star has fled into a dark alley in Los Angeles where she meets with Master Pandemonium. The sorcerer takers her inside his hideout. Inside, he detaches the demons who make up his arms and has them guard the door while he questions Shooting Star on how she managed to escape the battle with the West Coat Avengers and the Rangers.
As it turns out, this isn’t Shooting Star, but Mockingbird in disguise. While she stalls for time, the West Coast Avengers and their allies Firebird and the Thing make their way to Pandemonium’s hideout. Along the way, Hawkeye thinks about the circumstances that led to this mission. Following their battle with the Rangers, it was discovered that Shooting Star was actually a demon named Riglevio, who is in league with Master Pandemonium.[1] At the time, Clint asked the Rangers to let his team handle the situation. As they are being rejoined by Iron Man, Mockingbird suggests going under cover as Shooting Star to lure Master Pandemonium into a trap.[2]
Unfortunately, the Avengers arrival is detected by Master Pandemonium, who teleports away with “Shooting Star”, leaving the tracking device planted on Mockingbird behind. As Hawkeye begins to panic, Tigra suggests they enlist the aid of the Cat People and summons their Earthly emissary, Balkatar.[3]
Meanwhile, Master Pandemonium and Mockingbird materialize in a dungeon of some kind. The sorcerer rants and raves over the Avengers interference in his quest to find the “Five”.[4] After showing off his Amulet of Azmodeus, he sits in his throne. the villain decides to tell “Shooting Star” how he came to become Master Pandiumonium. He explains that for twenty-seven years he was the self-professed “king” of Hollywood. Incredibly wealthy, he spent enjoyed grabbing a bottle of booze and race his car in the canyons. As you’d expect, this sort of reckless behavior resulted in the man driving his car off a cliff. Although his seatbelt saved his life, the crash severed his arm. Crying out for help, he was visited by the demon Mephisto who agreed to make a deal with him. However, rather than taking his soul, he grafted a demon’s arm to replace the one the future Master Pandemonium lost in the crash. However, he didn’t stop there, and the agony of having demons grafted to him was more painful than the accident he suffered. Since then, as Master Pandimonium, he has been on an endless quest to find the “Five”.[5]
By this time, Balkatar has completed his search for Master Pandimonium and informs Tigra and the others that he is hiding out in the abandoned Anvil Studios. Racing to the scene, the group fall through a trap door and are split up. Hawkeye, Tigra, and Firebird are dumped into one room, while Iron Man, Wonder Man and the Thing are dumped in the other. Although the walls of their prisons are made of metal, a spell prevents them from breaking through with their weapons and powers. When Master Pandemonium appears on a television screen to mock them, Mockingbird takes this opportunity to strike. Stripping off her Shooting Star disguise, Bobbi takes the Amulet of Azmodeus and begins attack Master Pandemonium with it. Surprisingly, contact with the amulet nullifies Pandemonium’s powers, allowing the captive Avengers and their allies to escape. Unfortunately, there is a horde of demons waiting for them outside the cells.
As the battle rages, the Thing is really starting to enjoy himself prompting Wonder Man and Iron Man to wonder if he has had a change of heart about joining the team. The Thing tells them to ask again after the battle is over. As the team pushes forward, Tigra is visited by Balkatar who shows her a secret passage way that will get her to Master Pandemonium ahead of the others so she can carry out her mission and kill the sorcerer. By this time, Mockingbird has Master Pandemonium on the ropes but she is knocked out from above by Tigra, who doesn’t want witnesses to her act of murder.[7] Unfortunately, Tigra gets too focused on explaining her plan that Master Pandemonium manages to get the amulet back and uses it to escape.
The Avengers arrive moments later to learn their foe got away. Tigra convinces Mockingbird that she was ambushed by a demon to cover up for her true mission. Although the team is disappointed by Pandemonium’s escape, they are all delighted when the Thing finally decided that he wants to join the West Coast Avengers, everyone that is, except Firebird who was hoping they’d ask her to be the sixth member of their team.
Recurring Characters
West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra, Thing), Rangers (Texas Twister, Shooting Star, Firebird, Red Wolf, Phantom Rider), Master Pandemonium, Azmodeus, Mephisto, Balkatar, Lobo
Continuity Notes
This story presents Shooting Star as a cover identity of Riglevio. However, Solo Avengers #18 reveals that Shooting Star is a real person and she is merely being possessed by Riglevio.
Iron Man states here that he has managed to calm Hank Pym down. He’s reeling from the death of the benevolent Ultron-12, who was killed by Ultron-11 in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #7.
The Cat People have agreed to help free Tigra of her conflicting human and cat souls if she kills Master Pandemonium. See West Coat Avengers (vol. 2) #6.
In reality, Master Pandemonium has been charged with reforming the fragmented soul of Mephisto, Marvel’s answer to the devil as we’ll learn in Avengers West Coast #51-52. Mephisto was destroyed by Franklin Richards in Fantastic Four #277.
This origin is expanded upon in West Coast Avengers (vol.2) #15 and Avengers West Coast #51-52. Master Pandimonium’s real name is revealed to be Martin Prestin. This story states that Prestin was a big name in Hollywood for 27 years. There is no reason to accept this as a factual reference, as such per the Sliding Timescale, Prestin’s rise to fame started 21 years prior to the start of the Modern Age of the Marvel Universe.
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.
Mockingbird makes mention of how she was trained by SHIELD and learned more fighting skills from Ka-Zar. This story specifically cites Astonishing Tales #8. Bobbie spent and extended period of time in the Savage Land from issue #6 to 20 of that series.