Avengers West Coast #63
When Lives the Lightning
A young man named Miguel Santos has ventured into the Santa Ana Mountains in California in order to find a connection to the past. His father was once a member of the terrorist organization known as the Legion of the Living Lightning. Following his father’s old maps he is able to find the ruins of their long abandoned headquarters. There, this angry young man hopes to accomplish what his father and his organization failed to do.[1]
Meanwhile, the Avengers West Coast have come to visit the Scarlet Witch in the infirmary at Avengers Compound, where she has been recuperating after their recent battle with Immortus.[2] Her doctor gives Wanda a clean bill of health and asks the Avengers to leave so Wanda can get her rest. As the others clear out, she asks Wonder Man to stay behind for a moment so she can thank him for his help during the fight with Immortus. Outside, Quicksilver — Wanda’s brother — asks the doctor if his sister’s hex powers will ever return. The doc isn’t certain as he hasn’t had much experience treating mutants.[3] Quicksilver takes this as an insult and almost comes to blows if it isn’t for Hawkeye stepping in. When Pietro speeds off, Clint apologizes for his behavior. With nothing going on, Hawkeye heads into Hollywood to meet up with his estranged wife while Iron Man heads back to Stark Enterprises.[4][5]
Back in the Santa Ana Mountains, Miguel continues his search of the abandoned Legion of the Living Lightening facility. He recalls how his father was killed when the Hulk went on a rampage through the Legion’s headquarters. Although all the members of the Legion are dead, Miguel has come to revive his father’s legacy. Trying to reactivate the lightning cannon, Miguel reconnects the main powerline. However, when he connects the two terminals together something goes wrong and he is electrocuted instead.
While at Avengers Compound, US Agent tries to get friendly with Wonder Man before they go out looking for Tigra.[6] Simon reclines an offer to play some pool, saying that he has important business to attend to. US Agent is rankled by this as he has been having a hard time finding friends since he was imposed upon the Avengers West Coast.[7] He considers trying to strike up conversation with Hank Pym and the Wasp, who are speaking with Agatha Harkness, but decides against it and storms off. Hank notices this and feels sorry for the Agent, who keeps acting the loner among the group, and hopes that over time he will mellow out. Meanwhile, Agatha Harkness has decided to remain on the Compound until Wanda has fully recovered and offers to help in their search for Tigra. Hank and Janet welcome her assistance as they also must work on a way of reviving the Human Torch.[8]
As Hank and Janet re-enter the Compound,[9] they overhear Wonder Man talking on the phone with the Vision, trying to convince him to return to California to be there for Wanda as she recovers. Unfortunately, due to his recent deconstruction, the Vision no longer has an emotional connection to Wanda and believes its better to keep away. This angers Wonder Man who crushes the phone, he is furious that the Vision could be so callous and wonders how he can compete for Wanda’s love with the ghost of her former marriage.[10] Taking into the air with his jet belt, Simon flies off into the night sky. While Hank wants to go after him, Janet figures that Simon needs to work this out on his own.
Back in the mountains, Miguel Santos blasts himself free of the rubble of the Legion’s headquarters. The electrical jolt he suffered caused him to transform into a being of pure electricity. Discovering that he can now fire bolts of electricity and fly, he calls himself the Living Lightning and heads back into the city to carry out his father’s work.
At that same moment, Hank Pym and the Wasp arrive in the lab to discover Ann Raymond standing in front of a now empty stasis chamber. They ask what happened to the Torch and she explains that she went down to visit him when the android suddenly sprung to life, flamed on, and took off. After treating Ann for minor burns Hank decides to go looking for the Torch and uses his Pym Particles to enlarge Rover, his personal flying ship to carry out the search.
Meanwhile, the Human Torch is flying high above Orange County and remarking on how much things have changed since he’s been gone. This gets him thinking about his former partner, Toro, who died in the years the Torch has been deactivated.[11] With a new Human Torch also existing in this time period, the Torch wonders if he really belongs in this time.[12] Spotting a donut shot, the Torch lands and observes the people inside and takes comfort that at least somethings haven’t changed in the future.[13] That’s when he overhears a radio report about the Living Lightning from a car radio and decides to go and check it out. The report is also heard by Hank Pym and the Wasp who think this might be the Torch and head out to investigate.
They arrive just as the Torch clashes with the Living Lightning and witness as the Torch has his flame snuffed out shielding a young couple imperiled by the Living Lightning. Janet flies down to check on the Torch who is feeling more useless than ever before.[14] When the Lightning shoots down Rover, the Torch becomes concerned for Ann Raymonds’ safety as she was on board. Hank then tosses the Torch a cable leading into rover and instructs him to throw it at their foe. The Lightning instinctively grabs the cable and — just like a bold of lightning striking a lightning rod — the Living Lightning is channeled through the cable into Rover, causing the vehicle to explode and seemingly killing the Living Lightning in the process.[15] Hank and Janet thank the Torch for his help and point out that they couldn’t have won this fight without his help.[16] They convince the Torch that he has worth and that they need him on the team. Grateful for finding a new purpose in life, the Torch agrees to remain with the Avengers West Coast. With the battle now over, Hank enlarges a miniaturized Quinjet so they can all head for home.
Recurring Characters
Avengers West Coast (Iron Man, Hank Pym, Wasp, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, US Agent, Human Torch), Quicksilver, Living Lightning, Agatha Harkness, Anne Raymond, Vision, Quasar, Ebony
Continuity Notes
Going to get this out of the way right now as this story references it a lot. The Legion of the Living Lightning was a terrorist organization that sought to take over the United States. Their plans for conquest were thwarted by the Hulk, who trashed their headquarters. See Tales to Astonish #97-99. The organization will remain defunct for years until it is revived again in Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos #1-4.
Immortus kidnapped Wanda in order to utilize her power as a Nexus Being to shape all reality. The Avengers West Coast defeated him at the cost of Wanda’s new suped-up powers. See Avengers West Coast #60-62.
At the time of this story, everyone believes that Pietro and Wanda are mutants. However, year later it is revealed that they actually aren’t. As explained in Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5, they were kidnapped as children and experimented upon by the High Evolutionary. In order to cover up his work he made it so future genetic scans of the twins would have them register as mutants.
Clint refers to Mockingbird as his “estranged” wife. The pair got married in Hawkeye #4. However, their marriage hit the rocks after a series of complicated events:
During a trip back in time, Mockingbird was kidnapped by the western hero known as the Phantom Rider who enslaved her for a time. When she finally freed herself, she did nothing to prevent the Rider from falling to his death. Bobbi kept this a secret from her teammates, but the vengeful spirit of the Rider revealed the truth. Leaving the Phantom Rider to die didn’t sit well with Clint and their marriage has been strained ever since. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #17-24, 34-35, and 37.
While these old stories kind of dance around the issue, Mockingbird was technically raped by the Phantom Rider. Making Clint’s differences with her really cringe in retrospect. See Hawkeye & Mockingbird #1-5.
At any rate, Clint and Bobbi were trying to work on getting their romance back on track by mentoring the Great Lakes Avengers in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #46. More recently, Hawkeye grew bored with the GLA and rejoined the AWC in Avengers West Coast #60.
Here, Clint tells Iron Man not to let Tony Stark ream him for playing hookie. At the time of this story, Tony Stark had just recently gone on a mission to brick all stolen and unauthorized use of his Iron Man tech. This made Iron Man very unpopular as he also had to deactivate the armor used by government agents. As Tony’s double-identity was not public knowledge at the time, he faked Iron Man’s death and convinced everyone that he hired somebody new to wear the suit. See Iron Man #225-232. Tony has even tried to maintain this deception with his fellow Avengers even though many of them knew his secret. Stark will stop maintaining this pretense with his teammates in Avengers West Coast #72.
At the time of this story, Tigra had gone feral starting in Avengers West Coast (vol. 2) #42. Attacking Hank, he was forced to shrink her down in size in order to contain her in issue #49. She later broke out in issue #52. Hank discovered that she had escaped in issue #56. Tigra will ultimately be found by Agatha Harkness who will restore her humanity in Avengers Spotlight #38.
US Agent was imposed on the west coast team in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #44. Here, US Agent refers to himself as Jack Daniels instead of his real name, John Walker. John went through a stint where he took over as Captain America that ran from Captain America #333-350. His secret identity was later compromised in issue #341. Later, in issue #350 of that series when Steve Rogers reclaimed the mantle, the government still wanted to use Walker. In issue #351, they faked John’s death and in issue #354 reinvented him as the US Agent. To that end, the government created the Jack Daniels identity and even brainwashed Walker into thinking that was his true identity. John will have the brainwashing undone in Captain America #380-383, but will still occasionally refer to himself as Jack Daniels from time-to-time throughout the rest of his appearances in Avengers West Coast.
The Torch was shut down by the Scarlet Witch’s hex powers in Avengers West Coast #57. Here, Hank mentions how the Torch was briefly re-activated during the Terminus Factor event. See Captain America Annual #9, Iron Man Annual #11, Thor Annual #15, Avengers West Coast Annual #5, and Avengers Annual #19.
Janet states here that it must be hard for the Torch to settle into the present day world after being deactivated since the 1950s. Indeed the Torch has been inactive since the 1950s, although he was briefly reactivated in Fantastic Four Annual #4, he was buried in a grave until he was revived again in Avengers West Coast #50. Hank figures the Torch will climatize to the modern day much like Captain America did when he was revived in Avengers #4.
The Vision and Scarlet Witch had been married since Giant-Size Avengers #4. More recently, the Vision was captured by a government agency and disassembled. When the Avengers put him back together it was bereft of his capacity for emotion. Also during that time, Simon realized that he loved the Scarlet Witch as well, see Avengers West Coast (vol. 2) #42-45. The Vision later decided to return to the east coast team in Avengers #312 as he thought it would be less painful to Wanda to do so.
Toro was the Torch’s sidekick dating back to Human Torch Comics #2. In the Modern Age he brainwashed by the Mad Thinker and died battling Namor in Sub-Mariner #14. He will remain among the deceased until he is resurrected in Avengers/Invaders #12.
He is of course referring to Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four who has operated under the Human Torch name since Fantastic Four #1.
The Torch also recalls how he once adopted the name Jim Hammond and became a cop. The Torch took on the Hammond name in Marvel Mystery Comics #2 and became a member of the NYPD in issue #7 of that series.
Here it is mentioned that Hank and Janet are divorced. The pair were married back in Avengers #60. However, they have been divorced since Hank struck her in issue #213. The pair have been giving their relationship a second chance since West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42.
The Lightning isn’t killed here however. Instead his electrical form is disbursed. Soon after, he is reformed by Doctor Demonicus as we’ll see in Avengers West Coast #70.
It’s mentioned here that the Torch was also a member of the Invaders and the All-Winners Squad. Hammond was a founding member of the Invaders in Giant-Size Invaders #1. He remained on the team when they renamed themselves the All-Winners Squad, as seen in What If? #4.
Topical References
In this story, the Human Torch states that he has been deactivated for about 36 years. This should be considered a topical reference relative to the date of publication (1990). Due to the Sliding Timescale, the Modern Age is bumped forward in time making the gap in time between 1954 and this story to grow longer with the passage of time. For more on how this works, click here.
During the battle between the Human Torch and Living Lightning, an Exxon gas station is blown up. This should be considered a topical reference as Exxon is a real world company.
