Avengers West Coast #56
Darker Than Scarlet
The Scarlet Witch, aka Wanda Maximoff, has finally woken up from her catatonic state and has now gone bad.[1] Using the full potential of her hex powers she now holds Agatha Harkness, US Agent John Walker), the Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), and Wonder Man (Simon Williams) suspended in mid-air in their bungalow. Janet is surprised to see Simon alive since US Agent said he was dead. Williams confirms that he was, but somehow Wanda brought him back to life.[2]
The Wasp can hardly believe that Wanda has the power to do this since her hex powers have always been unpredictable in the past. Wanda explains that she has recently tapped into her full potential and can now alter reality on a whim. She then turns to Wonder Man and mocks him for loving her when she was married the Vision. Now that she is no longer bound by her marriage she decides to show him some affection by raking her finger nails painfully down his chest.[3]
Elsewhere on the compound, Hank Pym is returning to his lab to check on Tigra for the first time since he shrunk he down in size. He bumps into the Human Torch and Ann Raymond who mention a bizarre looking cat that they’ve seen prowling around the property. Fearing what this might mean, Pym races to his lab to confirm that Tigra has escaped from her glass enclosure. Hank explains the the Ann and the Torch about how Tigra was becoming feral again and attacked him recently. In order to protect Tigra from herself as well as keep others safe, Hank used his Pym Particles to shrink her down in size and contain Tigra until he could find a way to cure her.[4] Little do they know that they are being observed by the time master known as Immortus from his domain in Limbo. He is amused by Pym’s discovery as he was responsible for Tigra escaping, part of his on going scheme to manipulate the Avengers.[5] Hank sends the Torch and Ann to get the others to search the ground for Tigra. After they are gone, someone teleports into the lab to talk to Hank.[6]
As the the Torch and Ann head outside they are called to the front gates by a man coming to serve a notice of eviction to the group. This comes as a shock to the Torch, as he believed that the Avengers West Coast owned their headquarters.[7]
At the same time, Iron Man is heading back to his home looking forward to spend some time as Tony Stark force once. Unfortunately, the moment he arrives he receives an emergency signal from Avengers Compound and quickly heads back to see what the trouble is.
Meanwhile, Hank Pym is staking out the Scarlet Witch’s bungalo. Now concerned about Wanda’s growing powers he thinks back to a recent run of tests that he wanted to do on her powers. At the time, her had her train her hex powers on a bar to titanium steel. Her powers caused the bar to shatter. At first, Hank believed that Wanda’s powers created a flaw in the steel to make it shatter. That’s when he realizes that no, he got the scans mixed up and is shocked to discover that her power didn’t just affect the probabilities of the steel bar, but instead retroactively created the flaw as though it was always there. This comes as a shock, because as far as Hank knew at that time her powers never worked in such a way.[8]
Inside, the Scarlet Witch is still taunting her prisoners and is about to turn her attentions toward US Agent, when Magneto comes in and tells his daughter to stop as they have more important things to do.[9] Spying in through the window, Hank Pym recalls how the other Prime Movers in the recent “Acts of Vengeance” conspiracy mentioned his involvement and suspects that the evil mutant abandoned his comrades to follow this new scheme.[10] Using his Pym Particles to shrink a portion of the wall, Hank tries to get the drop on Magneto. Wanda tells Hank that she has denounced the Avengers and now accepts her father’s ideals of mutant supremacy. When Hank pulls a miniaturized weapon out of one of his pockets he’s suddenly struck from behind by someone entering the room at super speed. Everyone is shocked to discover that the new comer is the Scarlet Witch’s brother Quicksilver. Slowing to a stop, he tells Magneto and his sister that he has come to rejoin his family so they can become masters of the world.
Recurring Characters
Avengers West Coast (Iron Man, Hank Pym, Wasp, Wonder Man, US Agent, Human Torch), Vision, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (Magneto, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch), Agatha Harkness, Ann Raymond, Immortus, Lockjaw
Continuity Notes
Going to get this out of the way right now, the Scarlet Witch has been through a lot recently. She saw the deconstruction of her husband the Vision and when he was put back together he no longer had any emotional attachment to her and left. Not long afterwards, her children were revealed to be imaginary and were erased from existence. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42-45 and Avengers West Coast #51-52. This left Wanda in a catatonic state until Magneto was able to wake her up last issue.
Wonder Man was seemingly killed last issue. Here he mentions that he’s been seemingly dead before only to come back to life in the past. He is referring to his apparent death in Avengers #9, an alleged side-effect of being granted ionic powers. In reality, Simon entered a death-like state as his body was converted into pure ionic energy, he returned from the grave in Avengers #151. However, the whys and hows weren’t explained until Avengers #164.
There was a bizarre love triangle between the Scarlet Witch, the Vision, and Wonder Man. Let me try and break it down for you:
When the Vision was first created it was during the period in which Wonder Man was believed dead. At the time, the Avengers had made a copy of his brain engrams and they were used by Ultron to create the Vision’s personality. See Avengers #57-58 and 134-135. The Vision eventually fell in love with the Scarlet Witch and the two got married in Giant-Size Avengers #4.
After the Vision was deconstructed in issues #42-45, Wanda attempted to get Simon to provide a new copy of his engrams to restore the Vision’s capacity for emotion. Wonder Man refused because he discovered that he loved Wanda as well and saw this as his chance to win her over. This didn’t go quite as you probably already guessed.
The Vision, meanwhile, no longer having an emotional connection with Wanda left to join up with the east coast team in Avengers #312, effectively abandoning his wife.
Also, just a fun FYI, John Byrne’s original sequence for this scene involved the Scarlet Witch giving an off-panel blow job to Wonder Man. The editors caught this and were like “yeah, nope” and had the scene slightly altered. Len Kaminiski later provided a recreation of the original page based on his recollection. If you want to see what was so scandalous read about it here, but make sure to ad-block the site because CBR is trash.
4. The whole Tigra situation is quite complicated so lets break this down as well:
Whoops
Greer Grant got her start in crime fighting as the Cat in, you guessed it, The Cat #1. After being exposed to deadly radiation, Greer was saved by the Cat People who transformed her the latest avatar for their champion, Tigra, as seen in Giant-Size Chillers #1.
Hank mentions here that Tigra had gone feral before and was seemingly cured by the Cat People. At that time, the explanation was that Greer and Tigra’s spirits were not properly aligned. This misalignment was later corrected. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #14-15.
More recently, Tigra discovered that she was going feral again, starting in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42. She tired to hide it but eventually her animal side took over and she attacked Hank in issue #49. He was forced to shrink her down in size in order to contain her. She managed to escape however, which is when the Torch and Ann saw her in Avengers West Coast #52.
A footnote here tells readers to check the letters page for clarification. In original print copies of this issue there was a one page comic where John Byrne apologizes for Tigra’s inclusion in the Atlantis Attacks event. Her appearances there was a mistake. Some digital reprints of this story don’t include that apology. If you want to see the goof yourself check out Avengers Annual #18.
Tigra will eventually be cured of her condition in Avengers Spotlight #38.
5. Specifically, Immortus has been manipulating the Scarlet Witch to reach her full potential as she is a nexus being that can reshape reality, as we’ll learn in Avengers West Coast #61-62. This is part of a much larger scheme to alter the destiny of the Avengers, as we’ll learn in Avengers Forever #1-12.
6. Well learn later this issue that this is Quicksilver. What he and Hank discuss is not disclosed here, but we’ll learn in issue #60 that he asked Hank that he intends to play along with Magneto’s desire to reform the original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in order to try and free Wanda from his control.
7. Indeed they did, the Compound was previously owned by actress Moira Brandon, who sold the property to the Avengers. This was detailed in Avengers #246 and Avengers West Coast #100. Issue #60 addresses this a little further, revealing that the reason why an eviction was served was because the municipal government of Palos Verdes thought they were bringing down the tone of the neighborhood. Nothing much comes of this, so I guess the notice had no legal grounds to stand on.
8. It is stated here that Wanda’s powers are due to the fact that she is a mutant. However, it’s later revealed that neither she, nor her twin brother Quicksilver are actually mutants. In reality, they were kidnapped and experimented upon by the High Evolutionary when they were just infants. In order to cover up his work, he made it so future genetic tests would have the pair register as mutants. See Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5 for the details.
9. In this story everyone believes that Wanda and Pietro are Magneto’s children. They have been led to believe this to be true in Vision and the Scarlet Witch #4. This was probably told in order to maintain the High Evolutionary’s lie about their “mutant” heritage. Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #3 reveals that their mother was Natalya Maximoff. As of this writing (September, 2022) the identity of their biological father remains unrevealed.
10. Magneto was indeed one of the supervillains that Loki recruited to be one of his Prime Movers, as seen in Web of Spider-Man #60. He left the group to follow his own agenda in Captain America #367.
Reunion
This story occurs during the events of Iron Man Annual #10…[1]
Captain America and Sersi are on monitor duty at Avengers Mansion. Cap is concerned about catastrophes that have been happening along the American coast. He is worried that the Atlanteans might be engaging in renewed hostility toward the surface world. However, try as he might, he is unable to reach the Sub-Mariner to find out what’s going on. Sersi doesn’t think it just as to do with the Atlanteans as her senses have alerted her of something of concern to her people, the Eternals.
However, before Sersi can explain what that is,[2] they are interrupted by the original Human Torch, who has come to be reunited with his old friend Captain America.[3] Cap is both surprised and delighted to see his old wartime ally back among the living. He introduces the Torch to Sersi, who remembers the stories about the Human Torch and his sidekick Toro, both of whom assisted the Allies during World War II and fought alongside the Invaders.[4] Hearing his former partners name saddens the Torch, who tells them that Toro has been dead for years.[5] Captain America knows the Torch’s sorrow, telling his friend that Bucky died as well.[6] Cap wonders, in hindsight, if it was a bad idea getting children involved in their battles during the war.[7] The Torch thinks that Cap is being too hard on himself and changes the subject, saying he came to see both Captain America and Namor, since he learned that the Sub-Mariner is also an Avengers.[8] That’s when Iron Man arrives and tells them that an Invaders reunion won’t be happened because the Sub-Mariner is dead![9]
Continuity Notes
This story serves as a prelude to the Atlantis Attacks event. See Silver Surfer Annual #2, Iron Man Annual #10, Uncanny X-Men Annual #13, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #23, Punisher Annual #2, Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #9, Daredevil Annual #5, Avengers Annual #18, New Mutants Annual #5, X-Factor Annual #4, Web of Spider-Man Annual #5, Avengers West Coast Annual #4, Thor Annual #14, and Fantastic Four Annual #22.
She is likely sensing the resurrection of Ghaur, one of the major players in Atlantis Attacks. Prior to that event he attempted to obtain the power of the Dreaming Celestial and was transformed into a disembodied mass that floated into space, as seen in Eternals (vol. 2) #1-12.
At the time of this story, the Human Torch had recently been reactivated by the Avengers West Coast, as seen in Avengers West Coast #50.
The Human Torch was built in 1939 circa Marvel Comics #1, and paired up with Toro in Human Torch Comics #2. The pair joined up with the Invaders in Giant-Size Invaders #1. Sersi’s comment that the Torch “almost single handedly won the war” is likely the reference that, at least in the Marvel Universe, the Torch was responsible for killing Adolf Hitler, as seen in Young Men #24.
Toro managed to survive until the Modern Age where he was brainwashed by the Mad Thinker and died battling Namor, as seen in Sub-Mariner #14. He’ll get resurrected many years later as seen in Avengers/Invaders #12.
At the time of this story, Captain America believes that his partner Bucky died in 1945, as per Avengers #4. In reality, Bucky survived and was transformed by the Russians into an assassin called the Winter Soldier. Cap won’t learn the truth until many years later as seen in Captain America (vol. 5) #14.
Captain America specifically mentions the Kid Commandos, who were formed in Invaders #28. He neglects to mention the Young Allies, a team that preceded the Kid Commandos and included Bucky and Toro as well. They first formed in Young Allies Comics #1.
The Sub-Mariner officially became a member of the Avengers in Avengers #270.
Iron Man is just coming in following the events of Iron Man Annual #10, where Namor seemingly perished in a fight with the Maggia and Hydra. Namor has actually seriously injured and gone to ground until he healed. His survival will be revealed in Fantastic Four Annual #22.
