Avengers West Coast #83
The Hyena’s Last Laugh
In Los Angeles, amid all the modern high rises stands a dilapidated Victorian mansion. Inside, the elderly super-villain known as the Hyena is going over the final details of his latest master scheme. Confident that everything is going according to plan, the villain smiles for the first time since 1947.[1] Soon a call goes out to the Hyena’s old foe the Human Torch, asking to meet up at a nearby junk yard that evening.
The Human Torch responds to the call and is ambushed by four armed men. The Torch easily defeats them in hand-to-hand combat and discovers that one of them is carrying a note. It’s from the Hyena, telling the Torch that he has the means of reviving the android’s lost flame powers, as well as help him find the missing body of his former partner Toro.[2] However, the villain wants something in return. He instructs the Torch to come to his home the following evening or else the offer will be rescinded forever.
Needing help, the Torch pays a visit to his new friends the Avengers West Coast. When he arrives he discovers that only the reserve members — Hank Pym, the Wasp, Quicksilver, Tigra, Mockingbird, and Machine Man — of the team are present as the core group is still on their way home after Operation: Galactic Storm.[3] The Torch sits down and tells them about his current situation and how the Hyena has offered to restore his powers. When Machine Man admits he is unfamiliar with the villain, the Torch explains how he clashed with the Hyena during World War II.[4] He also mentions a peculiar fact about the villain: They have said that through sheer will, the Hyena has not smiled since his arrest in 1947. Concluding his explanation, the Torch knows he is walking into a trap and asks the Avengers for help. While the reservists haven’t worked together before and are therefore untested in the field, the Wasp offers their aid if he wants it.[5]
Later, Hank Pym is driving the Torch to the Hyena’s mansion when they get struck in rush hour traffic on the freeway. With time running out, the Torch leaps out of the car and runs the rest of the way. When he arrives at the mansion he finds the Hyena waiting for him in the upstairs bedroom. The villain tells the Torch that he has deduced that the reason his flame powers ever existed was due to a miscalculation made by his inventor, Phineas Horton, and that over the years his body ultimately corrected the problem.[6] The Hyena has had a device created that will allow the Human Torch to interface with every computer in the Los Angeles area. By uplinking to all of these computers, the Torch will not only gain the computational power to restore his lost powers, but he can also check numerous law enforcement databases and potentially learn the location of Toro’s body.[7] The Hyena then reveals that he is offering this to the Torch so that the android can also obtain data that is important to him. The Torch agrees and puts on the device’s headset and beings interfacing with all the computers in the area.
With the Torch incapacitated, the Hyena then activates a series of traps he had set up to cause chaos on the highway. This includes a big rig that unleashes a pack of literal hyenas onto the road, a remote control monster truck that begins crushing traffic, and a plane crash that prevents cars from getting off the freeway. Luckily, the reserve team of the Avengers West Coast have been hovering over the area in a Quinjet and quickly deal with the threats.
Back at the Hyena’s mansion, the villain continues to goat that Torch, telling him to flame on. However, the android resists and ultimately rips off the headset, saying that he has the Hyena’s master plan all figured out. Annoyed that the Torch has saw through his scheme the Hyena summons his guards to attack him once more. That’s when the Avengers arrive and lend a hand. With the crooks all wrapped up, the Hyena’s master plan is all laid out. The villain wanted to restore the Torch’s flame so he would flame on instinctively and set off a massive rigged explosion that would have devastated the city and ruined the Avengers. When it’s pointed out that the Hyena would have died in the blast as well, the aging villain reveals to them that he has contracted a form of terminal cancer. Suddenly, he starts foaming at the mouth and collapses to the floor.
The Avengers then rush the Hyena to a nearby hospital and when the villain wakes up he is surprised that he is still alive. The attending doctor explains that the Hyena has a unique biology that not only caused the deformations that are his namesake, but also tied his overall health to his state of mind. The cancer, as it turns out, came about after the Hyena forced himself to never smile for decades. However, since he has been smiling the whole time he had been trying to trick the Torch, this changed his mood and the cancer went into remission. The doctor then tells him that he’ll be live for many more years and the Torch adds that he’ll be doing so from a prison hospital. As the Avengers leave the room, the doctor tells the Hyena to look on the bright side, telling him that laughter is the best medicine.
Recurring Characters
Avengers West Coast (Hank Pym, Wasp, Quicksilver, Tigra, Mockingbird, Human Torch, Machine Man), Hyena
Continuity Notes
The Hyena was indeed a character who existed in the 1940s, as seen in Human Torch Comics #30 and Invaders Annual #1. How he has managed to survive until the Modern Age is, as of this writing in October, 2022, unexplained. See below for a possible theory on why this might be.
The Torch’s wartime partner Toro died in a battle with the Sub-Mariner back in Sub-Mariner #14. The Torch has been searching for his body since Avengers West Coast #60. The Torch recently lost his powers in Namor the Sub-Mariner #12 after giving a much needed blood transfusion to Jacqueline Falsworth. It should be noted that this is the last story that mentions that the Torch is looking for Toro’s body. Presumably he found it as we’ll actually see it in Avengers/Invaders #12.
There is a lot of continuity drops here so let’s break them all down at once:
Operation: Galactic Storm was a massive event that saw the Avengers in the middle of an intergalactic war between the Kree and the Shi’ar. See Captain America #398, Avengers West Coast #80, Quasar #32, Wonder Man (vol. 2) #7, Avengers #345, Iron Man #278, Thor #445, Captain America #399, Avengers West Coast #81, Quasar #33, Wonder Man (vol. 2) #8, Avengers #346, Iron Man #279, Thor #446, Captain America #400, Avengers West Coast #82, Quasar #34, Wonder Man (vol. 2) #9, Avengers #347, Captain America #401, Quasar #35
Most of these reservists were selected during the AWC’s most recent roster shuffle which took place in Avengers West Coast #69.
The Wasp states that she, Hank, and Mockingbrid just got back from upstate New York where they were guarding Kree and Shi’ar prisoners at Project PEGASUS. This was in Avengers West Coast #81. She also states that Spider-Woman left to spend time with her daughter. This all happened last issue when the AWC members got back.
She also states that US Agent was called away on a mission to the North Pole on behalf of Captain America. This was to deal with the renewed threat made by ULTIMATUM and Flag-Smasher while Cap is still in space. See Captain America #400.
Tigra says she just flew in from “Oz” — meaning Australia — where she decided to stay following the AWC’s battle with the Pacific Overlords in Avengers West Coast #70-74.
Here, the Torch states that the world at large believes he is dead. This is another reference to Namor the Sub-Mariner #14. After losing his powers, the Torch let the world believe he had died so he could live retirement in peace. This moment also recaps the Torch’s battle with the Hyena. It incorrectly references Human Torch Comics #27, however the Hyena didn’t appear until issue #30. It also tells readers to check out a reprint which was featured in Human Torch #2.
Quicksilver states that this will be his last active mission as an Avenger as he has accepted an invitation to join the government sponsored X-Factor team. This happened in X-Factor #71. He’ll remain on that team until rejoining with the east coast Avengers in Avengers #372.
There are conflicting accounts as to why the Human Torch would burst into flame. The first, stated back in Marvel Comics #1, was that it was an error made by Horton. Later, in Avengers/Invaders #6 it was stated that the Torch’s flame powers were an intentional design choice as Horton was Jewish and wanted his creation to be the living embodiment of revenge for all of his people who were exterminated in the Nazi concentration camps of World War II.
Topical References
Hank Pym’s car is identified as a Toyota. This should be considered topical as that is a real world automobile brand.
Supplementary Material
This issue also features a pin-up of the Avengers and Spider-Man fighting Deathweb as a preview of next issue.
Theory: How Can the Hyena Still Be Alive?
As stated in this story and seen in other tales, the Hyena was one of the Human Torch’s foes in the 1940s. While it was possible for the Hyena to still be alive when this story was originally published in 1992, this becomes increasingly impossible as the Sliding Timescale pushes the Modern Age forward in time. Most war time characters who are still alive in the Modern Age have endured due to some method of slowing, retarding, or stopping the aging process. As of this writing (October, 2022), Marvel has not yet provided an explanation.
The Hyena received a profile in Avengers: Roll Call #1, however no mention was made as to how he could still be alive.
However, this story presents a possible explanation. The story is centered around the Hyena’s health and how his mental state affects his overall health. It’s explained that the Hyena’s unique physiology was the result of the connection between his physical health and his mood. Perhaps this quirk of nature also allowed him to live longer than most normal humans.
