Avengers West Coast #97
Fight the Power!
Infinity Crusade continues from Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme #56…
With the Scarlet Witch, US Agent, and Living Lightning gone missing, the Avengers West Coast are divided as the team tries to find out what happened.[1] Goliath and Mockingbird decide to take some time alone when they are suddenly attacked by Quantum’s Power Platoon.[2][3] The pair are alone as Spider-Woman is off on the east coast meeting with other heroes and War Machine is busy cleaning out his locker at Stark Enterprises.[4]
Unfortunately, the pair are no match for the Power Platoon, whose members each have their own unique super-powers. Mockingbird sends out a distress call to War Machine, who is just on his way back from Stark Enterprises. While Goliath and Mockingbird wait, a police officer tries to get involved. Bobbi tries to tell him it is too dangerous but the dumb cop has the bad luck of trying to shoot a member of the Power Platoon who is bullet proof. The shot ends up bouncing back at the officer, injuring him. The pair try their best to keep the Power Platoon contained, but there are too many and their powers too varied for Goliath or Mockingbird to be very effective.
Luckily, War Machine arrives on the scene to give a helping hand. While this tips the odds they are definitely not out of the woods yet. When Goliath mentions how glad he is that the Power Patrol’s leader Quantum isn’t there, Mockingbird reminds him how they managed to defeat him in the past.[5] Remembering how Quantum’s powers were derived from the sun, Clint runs to his car and retrieves his bow and arrows. He then fires a smoke arrow at the Power Patrol. Once covered in thick smoke, the army of aliens is cut off from direct sunlight and begin losing their powers. This allows the three Avengers to knock out all their opponents. With the battle over, War Machine wraps the Power Patrol in a metal awning allowing them to be safely transported without their powers being restored. That’s when a paramedic arrives to treat the injured officer. The EMT makes an off hand comment about how crime has dropped almost nation wide, leading the three Avengers to wonder if this has anything to do with the disappearance of the Scarlet Witch and the others.[6]
When they arrive at Avengers Compound, Goliath changes back into his Hawkeye costume while Mockingbird goes over Quasar’s report about the Power Patrol in order to try and find a way of effectively containing them.[7] In the report, Bobbi learns that the Power Platoon are members of the Dakkamite race. Believing that their people could gain powers from exposure to rays from Earth’s sun, they sent one of their own — a young man named Wundarr — to Earth to test this theory. Sure enough, Wundarr gained phenomenal powers on Earth through his exposure to rays from the sun.[8] The Dakkamites then sent pods containing their greatest warriors to orbit the sun and soak in the rays so they could gain even greater powers. While on — later named Quantum — was released earlier and subsequently fought the Avengers West Coast and Quasar himself.[9] The rest of the so-call Power Platoon were taken and made prisoner of the Stranger until Quasar and the Squadron Supreme liberated those trapped on the Stranger’s world.
That’s when the Power Platoon begins breaking out of their metal prison. Before the Avengers can stop them, Quantum arrives to collect his comrades. He has brought his fellow Dakkamite Aquarian with him, whom Quantum has managed to regress back to his Wundarr persona.[10] While the three Avengers are overwhelmed, they continue fighting against impossible odds. However, whatever is causing all crime to stop begins affecting Wundarr and the Power Platoon. Unaffected because he is out of quantum phase, Quantum demands to know why Wundarr and the others have stopped fighting. Wundarr tells him that he and the others now find themselves at peace with themselves and decide to return to the stars.
As the Avengers West try to figure out what’s going on they get a call from Spider-Woman with an update on the meeting at Four Freedoms Plaza. She tells them that what just happened to the Power Platoon is happening all over the universe. Furious at being defeated, Quantum vows to free himself from his out-of-phase prison and come back and kill them all before fleeing. With the battle over, Hawkeye thinks that perhaps the Scarlet Witch and the others joining this “crusade” is making the universe a more peaceful place then perhaps its not so bad after all. However, neither Mockingbird or War Machine feel as certain, as they fear that there might be something far more sinister to all of this.
… Infinity Crusade continues in Darkhawk #31.
Recurring Characters
Avengers West Coast (Hawkeye/Goliath, “Mockingbrid”, Spider-Woman, War Machine), Power Platoon, Quantum, Aquarian
Continuity Notes
It’s not clearly explained here but missing AWC members in this story are being influenced by the Goddess. The “good” side of Adam Warlock personified, the Goddess is attempting to bring peace to the entire universe. To aid her in this quest she is enthralling many of Earth’s heroes who are religious and/or spiritual in one fashion or another. What nobody knows is that the Goddess’ plans for universal peace is basically destroying the current universe. This is all covered in a lot more detail in Infinity Crusade #1-6.
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.
Here, Goliath recognizes the Power Platoon because Quasar told him about them. Indeed Quasar fought the Power Platoon in Quasar #14-15.
Spider-Woman left to join up with other heroes investigating the Goddess last issue, for more on that see Infinity Crusade #2. War Machine is cleaning out his locker at Stark Enterprises is because he and Tony Stark had a falling out after Tony faked his death and didn’t tell Jim. See Iron Man #284 and 289-290.
The Avengers West Coast first fought Quantum in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #12-13.
Indeed it does! As the Goddess’ influence has spread it has caused all conflict and crime to stop across the universe as seen in Infinity Crusade #3.
Hawkeye decided to become Goliath again in Avengers West Coast #90 after Mockingbird was kidnapped by Ultron. He continued to use these powers from then on because the team was understaffed. However, he was ill prepared for how taxing size-changing was on his body and these powers were more often a hinderance than much help.
Wundarr first came to Earth in Fear #17.
Quasar fought Quantum in Quasar #4 and that’s when he learned about their origins and connection to Wundarr.
After being exposed to the power of the Cosmic Cube, the child-like Wundarr was transformed into what I can best describe as a space hippie called Aquarian. See Marvel Two-In-One #58. His regression here proves to be short lived as he’ll be back to being Aquarian again when he pops up again in Spider-Man Team-Up #6.
Topical References
The coffee shop where Goliath and Mockingbird are attacked is depicted as being next door to an electronics store that is having a huge sale on televisions. All the TVs in the shop window are depicted as CRT models. This should be considered topical as this is an obsolete technology.
Mockingbird states that they are at Couto’s Coffee Shop. Couto Coffee is a chain of Portuguese cafés with stores across America, particularly in the state of California. This reference should be considered topical as it is a real world business.
Goliath compares on of the Power Platoon’s fighting prowess to action star Jean-Claude Van Damme. At the time of this story, Van Damme was at the height of his popularity and was best known for his martial arts skills if not his acting. His name was briefly ubiquitous with skilled martial artists. As of this writing (October, 2022), JCVD is in his early 60s and isn’t the first person people today would think about when talking about martial arts. As such, this reference should be considered topical.
Supplementary Material
This issue features a pin-up teasing the new Lethal Legion that will appear in Avengers West Coast #98-100.
Infinity Crusade Reading Order
Infinity Crusade #1, Iron Man #294-295, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #18, Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme #54, Alpha Flight #122, Marc Spector: Moon Knight #56, Terror Inc. #13, Thor #463, Avengers West Coast #96, Thor #464, Warlock Chronicles #1, Infinity Crusade #2, Web of Spider-Man #104, Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme #55, Thor #465, Alpha Flight #123-124, Darkhawk #30, Warlock Chronicles #2, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #19, Cage #17, Web of Spider-Man #105, Marc Spector: Moon Knight #57, Infinity Crusade #3, Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme #56, Avengers West Coast #97, Darkhawk #31, Silver Sable and the Wild Pack #16-17, Warlock Chronicles #3, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #20, Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #83, Infinity Crusade #4, Warlock Chronicles #4, Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #84-85, Infinity Crusade #5, Deathlok (vol. 2) #28, Web of Spider-Man #106, Warlock Chronicles #5, Thor #466, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #21-22, Infinity Crusade #6, Deathlok (vol. 2) #29, Thor #467
