Avengers West Coast #66
The Reaper and the Robot Part Two: Tunnel Vision
Iron Man and US Agent have been called out to watch over a protestors who are against the use of Malathion spraying on crops. US Agent isn’t happy about this as he believes that the Avengers could be using their time on larger problems. As Iron Man prevents a helicopter from crop-dusting on the protestors, US Agent tries to get them to clear out. Unfortunately, the protestors don’t want to go and one of them even tries to attack him. That’s when US Agent notices that patches of the man’s skin have been turned to metal, something the man says was caused by the Malathion spraying.
When Iron Man brings the chopper down, the pilots explain that they tried to stop the spraying when they saw the protestors but there was a malfunction. By this time, US Agent has come to believe the protestors and accuses the pilots of also spraying the chemicals at night, something they flatly deny. With the Agent becoming more and more inflamed, Iron Man grabs him and takes off. As they head back to Avengers Compound, Iron Man reminds the Agent that the Avengers West Coast’s job wasn’t taking sides on the Malathion spraying debate but to make sure there is no violence on either side. US Agent scoffs at this, telling Iron Man that after seeing the people with patches of metal on their skin, they should be out there doing some real avenging.
When they arrive at the compound, they are greeted by Tigra, who has just come back after being cured of her feral transformation by Agatha Harkness.[1] She tells them that they have arrived just in time as Hank Pym has called an emergency meeting down in the conference room.[2] Inside, they join Hank, the Wasp, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Wonder Man, and the Scarlet Witch. Hank then explains the bizarre situation he and Jan found up north, a pair of androids that were operating out of a farm.[3][4] When US Agent wonders if this has any connection to the Malathion spraying, Hawkeye calls the idea preposterous and the two get into an argument that has to be broken up by the others.[5][6] Hank calls the meeting to order and when he tries to mobilize the team to investigate the Malathion situation, Wonder Man explodes with anger because he believes that his brother — the recently resurrected Grim Reaper — should take priority because he is a more pressing threat to human life to some crop dusting mystery.
When Hank won’t follow his suggestion, Simon storms out of the meeting. Wanda follows him outside and tries to get him to listen to reason. Simon refuses to let his brother to run free and asks Wanda to help him track Eric down. She declines, reminding him that she isn’t must use in a fight without her hex powers. Growing angry again, Wonder Man flies off to deal with the situation alone.
Meanwhile, Hank has split up the team and sends them out to search different parts of the Los Angeles area for any sign of secret Malathion spraying. While Iron Man searches Riverside, US Agent tackles Hollywood, while the Wasp searched Pomona. Lastly, Hawkeye, Tigra, and Quicksilver are sent to investigate the downtown area. Hawkeye decides to check out the Metro Rail Tunnels since the reports of night time spraying seem to center around the location of a recent tunnel fire that is being repaired. Entering the tunnels the trio soon finds a secret underground lab of some kind. There they are attacked by a small group of humanoid robots, which they quickly trounce. They are then attacked by Ultron-13, the one who built this underground complex. Despite their efforts, Hawkeye and the others are quickly incapacitated by Ultron.[6]
Ultron places the trio in stasis chambers and when they wake up he explains his master plan. He confirms that he has been tainting the Malathion sprayings with a specially made crystalline substance. This is in order to taint the food supply with a substance that will transform the human population in to robots. In fact, Ultron has been slowing exposing Hawkeye, Tigra, and Quicksilver to the same substance to transform them into living robots as well. While this process will take some time, Ultron believes he will succeed and soon he will rule over a world full of robots.
Recurring Characters
Avengers West Coast (Iron Man, Hank Pym, Wasp, Hawkweye, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, Tigra, US Agent), Quicksilver, Ultron
Continuity Notes
Tigra began devolving into a more feral state back in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42. After Hank Pym shrunk her down in size in issue #49, she managed to break free from captivity in Avengers West Coast #52. Agatha Harkness was able to track Tigra down and cure her in Avengers Spotlight #38.
Here, US Agent states that Hank and Janet were heading up north to try and rekindle their romance. Hank and Jan were married way back in Avengers #60. They later got divorced when Hank struck her in issue #213. The couple have been trying to rekindle their romance since West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42. They went up north last issue.
Here, Wanda makes a passing mention to how she was once married to an android. She is referring to the Vision, whom she married back in Giant-Size Avengers #4. Years later, the Vision was disassembled by a government agency and when the Avengers put him back together, the Vision was robbed of his capacity for emotion. No longer having any emotional connection to Wanda he left the team, effectively ending their marriage. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42-45 and Avengers #312.
Quicksilver states that he is no longer an Avenger. He joined up with the team way back in Avengers #16. At the time of this story, Pietro hasn’t really been a full fledged member since Avengers #104, only returning to the team briefly during the Korvac Saga in issues #170-177. He is currently slumming it at the west coast team’s compound to care for his sister as she recovers from her recent loss of powers. See Avengers West Coast #56-57 and 60-62.
Hawkeye calls US Agent a “poor man’s Captain America” to which the Agent retorts that he was Captain America. John Walker took over the mantle when the government took away the identity from Steve Rogers from Captain America #333-350. Walker was bad at the job allowing Rogers to take it back. Hawkeye and US Agent have been at odds with one another since the Agent was imposed on the team in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #45.
Ultron brags about a couple of his achievements over the years:
The creation of the Vision. See Avengers #57-58 and 134-135.
Fighting the Avengers and the Fantastic Four in Attilan, home of the Inhumans. This happened in Avengers #127 and Fantastic Four #150.
Destroying his rogue predecessor, Ultron-12 in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #7.
Topical References
Of the things that US Agent thinks the Avengers should be involved in are actually topical references:
He mentions how gangs are running the streets of Los Angeles. This is a reference to the high crime rate in Los Angeles when this story was first published in 1991. It came out at the time when the California city was dealing with a high crime rate that was partially fueled by crack cocaine. The drug problem was so bad it was considered an epidemic at the time.
He also talks about a “crisis to end all crisises in the Persian Gulf”, this is in reference to the Gulf War that took place from August 1990 to February 1991. The conflict began when Iraq invaded the neighboring nation of Kuwait. This move was widely condemned by the United Nations and they responded by sending coalition forces to liberate Kuwait.
US Agent also sarcastically asks one of the protestors if there isn’t a Greenpeace meeting he should be attending instead of protesting. Greenpeace is a non-government organization that supports environmental causes. It was first founded in 1969. This should also be considered topical as this is a real world organization.
When ranting about his brother’s murder rampage, Wonder Man likens his soul drinking abilities to binge drinking Miller Lite (gross). This should be considered a topical reference as Miller Lite is a real world product.
When talking about the metro tunnel fire, the Avengers are specifically referring to the fire that occurred in July of 1990. References to this specific fire should be considered topical as they are relative to the date of publication.
When hearing Ultron’s plan to turn humans into robots, Tigra quips that even if he slips this scheme past Ralph Nader it’ll take a long time. Ralph Nader is possibly the most well known independent in American politics. He has unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008. Mention of him here should be considered topical.
In this story, Ultron states that the world population is about 4 billion people. This should be considered topical as that was roughly the population when this story was first published in 1991. The world population has since grown exponentially reaching 7.7 billion people in 2020.
… That Shall He Reap!
Eddie Staples, one of LA’s many homeless people, is digging through some trash to find something to eat. He is interrupted by the Grim Reaper who is in need of more human life force to prologue his existence and Staples is an easy victim.[1] Wonder Man arrives too late to stop him from killing the homeless man. Simon wants his brother to stop his murderous rampage and asks if he has anything to do with the Malathion spraying that is turning people into robots. Eric points out that doing so wouldn’t make any sense since transforming people into robots would cut him off from the vital life forces he needs to sustain his undead body. The Reaper then blasts Wonder Man into a wall and then threatens to bring an entire building down around his head.
Before the Grim Reaper can do this, he is attacked by the Mandrill, Nekra’s brother who has come to get revenge against the Reaper for murdering his sister. Despite the surprise attack, the Mandrill is no match for the Grim Reaper who absorbs his life force, killing him as well.[2]
As Simon digs himself free from the rubble, Eric decides to spare his brother’s life taking pleasure in the fact that every murder he commits will agonize his brother. He then escapes into the sewers through a manhole cover. That’s when police arrive on the scene and as Wonder Man gives them his statement, he is asked if he knows who the killer was. Simon cryptically tells them that it was someone he never really knew.
Recurring Characters
Wonder Man, Grim Reaper, Mandrill
Continuity Notes
The Reaper died by suicide in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #12. He was resurrected by Nekra as an undead zombie last issue.
Despite being killed here, the Mandrill will turn up alive again in She-Hulk #5 among the prisoners of the Big House. This is not the first time the Mandrill has been seemingly killed either. He appeared to fall to his death in Daredevil #112 and survived and later he was fatally shot in Defenders #91. His profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #7 suggests that his means of cheating death might be due to some kind of healing factor, although this has yet to be verified as of this writing in September, 2022.
Topical References
The narrative of this story states that the homeless population in Los Angeles is somewhere between 50,000 and 500,000 people. This should be considered a topical reference relative to the date of publication. Much like the world population in the story above, the homeless population in LA has increased over the years. According to 2022 statistics the current number of homeless in Los Angeles has increased to nearly 70,000 people, although it’s probably much larger since gathering these statistics are often difficult given the transitory nature of homeless people.
