Avengers West Coast #92
When Goliaths Clash!!!!
The Avengers West Coast have returned to their compound and realize they have a lot of work ahead after the place was trashed during their battle with Ultron.[1] As US Agent starts to clean up the rubble, he and Goliath get into one of their usual spats before Mockingbird gets between the two.[2][3][4][5] She suggests to Clint that they go outside to talk while US Agent stays behind and cleans up. This annoys US Agent because he still continues to be treated like the odd man out even when he is right.
Without any crisis to deal with, the rest of the team goes their separate ways to enjoy the downtime. Spider-Woman takes off to move herself and her daughter Rachel to a new home having decided that Avengers Compound is no longer safe for her daughter. The Scarlet Witch agrees to come along to help the Carpenter’s settle into their new home. Seeing how the Avengers are becoming short staffed again following Wonder Man’s departure from the team, the Living Lightning offers to postpone his classes as the University of Southern California.[6][7] Wanda, however tells Miguel not to give up his chance at an education, pointing out that the Avengers are always in a state of crisis. As Wanda leaves with Julia and Rachel, she also thinks about how she can now start thinking about starting a new life now that she is facing up to the fact that her marriage with the Vision is finally over.[8]
Meanwhile, at the local jail, a reporter named Meggan McCambridge is trying to get an exclusive interview with the recently captured Erik Josten, aka the criminal Goliath. It’s not going so well because the criminal has been drugged since his recent defeat.[9] She wants to get his opinion on the “new” Goliath with the Avengers West Coast. However, when she mentions Wonder Man’s name, it causes Josten to snap out of his stupor.[10] Growing to giant size, the evil Goliath breaks out of his cell and heads toward Avengers Compound, demanding Wonder Man show himself.
By this time, Clint and Bobbi are talking things out in bed after a moment of romance together. Clint apologizes for the way he has been acting since he found out that she allowed the Phantom Rider to die many months earlier.[11] Bobbi also admits that she was being stubborn as well and apologizes as well.[12] That’s when they hear someone shuffling around outside their bed room. Fearing an intruder, the pair suit up and head into the hallway where they don’t see anything at first. That’s when they spot Kuroko of the Pacific Overlords trying to turn invisible again.[13] Clint manages to give her a tap to the face stopping her from completing her vanishing act. That’s when they notice her face is very badly beat up. However, this isn’t from Clint’s punch, but injuries sustained by her master Doctor Demonicus. However, before Kuroko can explain why Demonicus beat her she passes out from her injuries.[14]
Elsewhere, Spider-Woman and Rachel are still en route to their new home with the Scarlet Wtich. Along the way, both Julia and Wanda comfort Rachel, who is still coming to terms with the death of her father as well as Carlos the grounds keeper.[15] Seeing Rachel in such distress brings Wanda to tears.
Back at Avengers Compound, Clint and Bobbi have gotten Kuroko to a spare bed when the evil Goliath arrives looking for Wonder Man. When Clint grows to giant size to face the new intruder, it throws Eric Josten into another fit or rage. He does not want to lose his title as Goliath, particularly since his old name — Power Man — was taken from him by Luke Cage a few years earlier.[16] While Clint is eager to defend his right to use the Goliath name, Josten has an advantage over him: His size changing powers are augmented by the ionic energies in his body allowing him to grow even larger than those who just use Pym Particles like Clint. Still, Barton tries to match the other Goliath size for size, but pushing past his limit causes him to become disorientated and a hazard to all those around him.
Not far away, US Agent sulks in the forest, thinking about how he hasn’t gotten a fair shake in life. Wanting to be a hero like his brother, who died serving in the military, John tried to honor his brother by becoming a superhero. However, even when he was a fill in for Captain America, he was nothing more than a screw up.[17] He also laments that the women on the Avengers do not have any romantic interest in him either. He promises himself that when he does find a woman who loves him for who he is, he’s going to ditch the Avengers once and for all.
Meanwhile the brawl between the two Goliaths rages on and has spilled out into the city of Palos Verdes. Clint is experiencing quite the drubbing and realizes that if the battle carries on like this someone else might get hurt or killed. Luckily, Mockingbird arrives on a sky-cycle and shoots Josten with an electrified arrow staggering him long enough for Clint to lay into him until he goes down. With the battle over, Goliath and Mockingbird return to the compound just as everyone else is getting back. The Scarlet Witch is annoyed with Clint for leaving the other Goliath unattended, but he tells Wanda it was for good reason and takes the others upstairs to see Kuroko. Seeing how brutally injured the woman is, they ask why Demonicus has turned on her. She explains that her former master has gone mad and is plotting to destroy the world!
Recurring Characters
Avengers West Coast (Goliath (Barton), Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, “Mockingbird”, US Agent, Living Lightning, Spider-Woman), Goliath (Josten), Rachel Carpenter, Consuela Sanchez, Kuroko
Continuity Notes
Avengers Compound was seriously damaged in Avengers West Coast #89-90.
US Agent complains about how they are short on Quinjets. That’s because two of them were trashed in issues #90 and 91. Here, Goliath states that he has been getting the run around from Stark Enterprises since Tony Stark died. Tony seemingly died in Iron Man #284. In reality, he faked his death in order to go into cryogenic suspension until a cure for his current health condition was found. He’ll be back in issue #290 of that series. Here, Clint calls the company “Stark International” by mistake. Tony has been running Stark Enterprises since Iron Man #215. We should presume that Clint merely misspoke here.
Mention is made of the death of Carlos, the Avengers groundskeeper. He died protecting Rachel Carpenter when Ultron attacked the compound in Avengers West Coast #89.
US Agent mentions how Clint recently switched from being Hawkeye to Goliath. He did so in issue #90 to add extra strength in the fight against Ultron. This is the third time Clint has become Goliath, the previous two times being in Avengers #63-98 and Avengers #345-347/Iron Man #278-279/Captain America #399-400.
The woman who appears to be Mockingbird here is actually a Skrull spy named H’rpra who took Bobbi’s place between issues #90 and 91. This is all part of a years long plot by the Skrulls to invade the Earth. However, nobody will not learn this until many years later in New Avengers: The Reunion #2. The real Mockingbird will be rescued from the Skrulls in Secret Invasion #8.
Miguel decided that he was going to attend USC in Avengers West Coast #89.
Wonder Man quit the team in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #18. His motivation was due to being caught in a nega-bomb explosion in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #9. This caused his emotional state to be affected by his powers, making him unstable and prone to fits of rage whenever he used his abilities. He’ll ultimately be cured of this affliction in issue #25 of that series.
The Scarlet Witch had been married to the Vision since Giant-Size Avengers #4. More recently, the Vision was disassembled in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42-45. Although put back together, the Vision was no longer capable of emotion and left his wife in Avengers #312 to spare her any pain. Wanda still held on to the possibility that the Vision would return to her until their recent battle with Ultron in Avengers West Coast #89-91. Vision’s lack of concern for her well being during that conflict convinced her that there was no going back from their estrangement.
The criminal Goliath was recently defeated by Bill Foster, aka Giant-Man in Marvel Comics Presents #113-118.
The reason why Josten wants revenge against Wonder Man is because he was recently trounced by the hero in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #1.
Goliath and “Mockingbird” recently reconciled their failing marriage. What went down is quite complicated:
Clint and Bobbi got married back in Hawkeye #4. It was all marital bliss until the time when the West Coast Avengers were struck going backward in time circa West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #17-24. As seen in issue #18, while in the 1800s, Bobbi was kidnapped by the Phantom Rider just as the rest of the Avengers were going backward in time.
Bobbi was forced to drink a love potion that made her loyal to the Rider. Eventually, she shook off the effects of the potion and, in a battle with her captor, did nothing to prevent him from falling off a cliff to his death, as seen in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #23. Because of Clint’s staunch belief in the Avengers rule about killing, Bobbi kept the truth of what happened a secret for months.
Things went south when the the spirit of the Phantom Rider possessed his modern day descendant and revealed the truth to the rest of the Avengers. As seen in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #34-35, Hawkeye didn’t take it very well either and this put a strain on their marriage.
From issue #37 on, Clint and Bobbi split up. However, Mockingbird came back in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #46 and convinced Clint to help her train the Great Lakes Avengers and work on their marriage. Although Clint agreed, the two could not reconcile and Clint returned to the west coast team in Avengers West Coast #60.
Bobbi revealed issue #88 that she filed divorce paperwork and that they have two weeks before it becomes final. Clint finally realized how much Bobbi still meant to him after she was abducted by Ultron in issue #90. It appeared they reconciled their differences last issue. About that….
Remember though that this isn’t the real Mockingbird by a Skrull and her wanting to end the divorce was so she could continue spying on the Avengers West Coast. As revealed in New Avengers: The Reunion #1-4, the real Mockingbird actually wanted to got through with the divorce.
Which I don’t think she really needed to apologize for anything. As we’ll learn in Hawkeye & Mockingbird #1-5, Bobbi was raped by the Phantom Rider. As far as I’m concerned she had every right and Hawkeye should be the one profusely apologizing for being an absolute dick about it.
Clint recognizes Kuroko from their clash with the Pacific Overlords in Avengers West Coast #70-74.
The reason why Demonicus attacked Kuroko is because he and the other Pacific Overlords have been taken over by the demon Raksasa as we’ll learn in Avengers West Coast #93-95.
Larry Carpenter was killed by the Deathweb as seen in Avengers West Coast #84-86.
When Josten first got his ionic powers in Avengers #19 he went by the name Power Man. A few years later when Luke Cage appeared on the scene and took the same name, Josten took issue with it and fought Cage over the right to use that name. Josten lost and had to give up calling himself Power Man as seen in Power Man #21. He started calling himself the Smuggler starting in Spectacular Spider-Man #49 until he was given size-changing powers by Doctor Malus and started calling himself Goliath circa Iron Man Annual #7.
John’s family history, particularly that of his brother Mike’s military service and death were covered in Captain America #333 when John first took over as Captain America. This was during a period when the government reclaimed ownership of the identity and replaced Steve Rogers. John was an absolute failure as Captain America and gave the identity back to Rogers in issue #350 of that series. John has been trying to make it as US Agent since Captain America #354. He was forced onto the AWC in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #45 and has been maligned by his teammates from day one.
Topical References
When recounting his past, US Agent states that his brother Mike served in the military and died in the Vietnam War. This should be considered a topical reference. Per History of the Marvel Universe #2, one could assume that Mike fought in the Sin-Cong Conflict instead.