Ignition

In the nation of Slorenia, a civil war is happening in the capital city of Tblunka. The ruling Slorenes and the minority Dudak peoples. One evening, a pair of soldiers have come to forcibly evict some Dudak business owners and their family. Searching the building for any Dudaks that might be hiding out they instead find the mystically powerful entity who slaughters the two soldiers.

Meanwhile, in California, the Scarlet Witch is blowing off some steam in the Vroom Room, the virtual reality training facility in Force Works’ headquarters. She fights against holographic representations of Master Pandemonium’s demons to get rid of her anxieties. However, some don’t go away that easy such as memories of her father Magneto, and the recent death of her teammate Wonder Man.[1] Having enough, Wanda tells PLATO to shut down the simulation and heads down to the Chaos Computer to see if there are any threats Force Works can investigate.

On her way down to the computer she bumps into Recorder RE-404, which startles her and she admits that she hates the way the robot has been lurking around since they found him. Going to the Chaos Computer and interfacing it with her hex powers, she becomes aware of an alert regarding the situation in Slorenia. She is shocked that this alert has come from nowhere and orders PLATO to gather the rest of the team. As PLATO is gathering the team together, Tony Stark is upstairs with his girlfriend Veronica Benning on a tour with Force Works’ two new civilian staff members: Their public relations director Amanda Chaney, and techniain Fisher Todd. Veronica thinks this is a huge waste of time because Tony’s focus is needed back at Stark Enterprises but these concerns are ignored as Tony receives his summons from PLATO.

Soon the team is suited up and heading to Slorenia in one of their hex-ships. US Agent is unhappy that they brought Century along, since he’s not officially a member of the team and doesn’t trust him. Wanda silences this squabbling by reminding the Agent that she needs to concentrate her powers in order to fly the ship and tells him to shut up. She then tells Iron Man that she stumbled upon the situation in Slorena when she used the Chaos Computer to see if there was any chance that Wonder Man is still alive. While Tony understands that Wanda did so because Simon was virtually immortal due to his ionic nature, he tells her that his body was destroyed at an atomic level and is certainly dead.[2] Spider-Woman changes the subject and asks what the situation in Slorena is all about. Iron Man and Scarlet Witch inform the team about the tensions between the Slorene and Dudak people in the region and suspect that they might be walking into the middle of a civil war between the two factions.

As they enter Slorenian airspace they are quickly intercepted by members of the local Air Force. Since Wanda grew up in neighboring Transia, she is able to speak the local dialect and is able to explain their presence and says that Force Works has come on behalf of Stark Enterprises to engage in dialogue with the local government. Their request is granted and Force Works is ordered to land their plane in Tblunka where members of the government council will be there to greet them. Suddenly, flares of green fire shoot up from the ground and shoot down the two fighter planes as well as Force Works’ hex-ship. Emerging from their craft unscathed, Force Works discovers that they are in the middle of a huge killing field where someone or something laid waste to Slorenian soldiers. That’s when they are ambushed by the powerful being that killed the two soldiers earlier. The entity speaks in the Slorenian tongue, making it hard for the team to understand what it is saying or what it wants. The being is powerful enough to take down the entire team until Iron Man is the last one standing. Pitting his armor against the being, Tony discovers that it’s power source is mystical in nature and that he cannot compensate against it. Soon, the eldritch energies overload his armor, knocking Stark out.

Tony and the others wake up moments later and discover that their attacker is gone. Soon, a military helicopter arrives on the scene and lands nearby. From it emerges a man in a suit of high tech armor and an army of battle droids. Calling himself the Black Brigade, he accuses Force Works of violating Slorenian airspace and attacking its Air Force. As Slorenia’s appointed protector, Black Brigade intends to make them pay.

Recurring Characters

Force Works (Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, US Agent, Spider-Woman, Century), Ember, Black Brigade, Recorder RE-404, Amanda Chaney, Fisher Todd, Rachel Carpenter, Veronica Benning, Consuela Sanchez, PLATO

Continuity Notes

1. There is quite a bit of Scarlet Witch exposition going on here in the opening scene. Let’s break it down:

   • The reason why she is running a simulation where she is fighting the demonic hordes of Master Pandemonium is because the sorcerer was responsible for erasing her children from existence. See Avengers West Coast #51-52.

   • Magneto is referred to as Wanda’s father. At the time of this story everyone was led to believe that Wanda is related to the master of magnetism since Vision and the Scarlet Witch #4. Years later we will learn that not only is she not related to Magneto, but she’s not even a mutant at all and this is all part of a deception created by the High Evolutionary. Her biological mother is Natalya Maximoff, but the true identity of her father (as of this writing in November, 2022) is unrevealed. See Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5 and Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #3.

   • Wonder Man had seemingly perished on Force Works’ first mission in Force Works #1. In reality, he now exists on the threshold between life and death until Wanda is able to summon him back starting in Avengers (vol. 3) #2. He’ll be brought back following the events of issues #10 and 11 of that series.

   • Also mentioned is Force Works’ battle against the Scatter which took place in Force Works #2-3.

2. The idea that Wonder Man was still alive is not that outlandish. Wonder Man had seemingly died in Avengers #9 only to come back from the “dead” in issue #151. As explained in Avengers #164, Williams entered a death like state as his body underwent a metamorphosis into a being of pure ionic energy. The idea that Simon is actually immortal was floated by Mephisto in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #22-25. As I’ve said above, Simon’s death in Force Works #1 will prove to be as temporary as the last time.

Topical References

• Century is depicted watching Beavis and Butthead an animated cartoon that ran on MTV 1993 to 1997. The series was at the height of its popularity at the time this comic was first published. The series has experienced two one season revivals in 2011 and 2022 as well as two feature films, 1996’s Beavis and Butthead do America and 2022’s Beavis and Butthead do the Universe respectively. Its appearance here should be considered topical.

Familiarization

At the Works, Amanda Chaney and Fisher Todd are settling into their new positions as support staff for Force Works. PLATO has been instructed to go over the histories of each member of the team. He starts with the Scarlet Witch, team leader, and details her past. He reminds them that she is the daughter of Magneto and the sister to Quicksilver. A mutant and magic user she was part of the second team of Avengers and was a mainstay of the team until she joined up with Force Works.[1] Next is Jack Daniels, aka US Agent, who started his career as a replacement of the original Captain America before adopting his current identity. More recently, the Agent ditched his shield and costume before being outfitted with a new one and gauntlets that can create photonic shields.[2]

Next he moves on to Julia Carpenter, aka Spider-Woman, noting how her psi-webs work. He also mentions how Julia’s daughter Rachel lives on site with her nanny Consuela. Fisher pays particularly close attention to this profile because he’s attracted to Spider-Woman. The following profile is regarding Iron Man, who needs very little explanation due to his long career as a superhero.[3] Both Amanda and Fisher are surprised when PLATO doesn’t reveal the armored heroes identity to them. Despite their high security clearance with the organization, this is apparently one secret that is denied to them. PLATO moves along to a profile of Wonder Man, Force Works’ first casualty. Lastly, he gives a brief profile on Century, although there is not much that is known about the alien at this time.[4]

Amanda tells PLATO to get her more information as quickly as possible as the news that a mysterious alien, one that might be here illegally, might create a PR nightmare for the fledgling group. PLATO promises to get further data once the team has returned from their current mission in Slorena. Hearing this also upsets Amanda because of the sensitive political situation in the country. Chaney also wants to be informed in the future before Force Works goes into a situation that could spark a foreign war.

That’s when they are interrupted by Rachel Carpenter who is bored and looking for something to do. Fisher decides to entertain the young girl by taking her on a tour of the complex. With Fisher gone, Amanada asks PLATO to go over the team profiles once more as she has a lot of work to do.

Recurring Characters

Amanda Chaney, Fisher Todd, PLATO

Continuity Notes

1. I already covered the parentage issues with the Scarlet Witch and the truth about her “mutant” nature. That said, Quicksilver is indeed her brother. The pair joined the Avengers way back in Avengers #16. Wanda has almost consistently been a part of that team in one form or another. Most recently she joined up with the western branch of the group in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #37 until the group was disbanded in Avengers West Coast #102. She joined up with Force Works immediately afterwards as seen in Force Works #1 (as did everyone else on the team).

2. When the United States government stripped Steve Rogers of the Captain America identity it was given to John Walker in Captain America #333. He was terrible at the job and eventually relinquished the identity back to Rogers in issue #350 of that series. The government still had a use for Walker, so they faked his death in the following issue. They then reinvited him as the US Agent in Captain America #354 and created a new cover identity for him, hence why he is called Jack Daniels here. US Agent turfed his old costume and shield in Avengers West Coast #102.

3. Here we get the obligatory showcase of past suits of Iron Man armor. Starting with his original grey armor (Tales of Suspense #39), his first suit of red and yellow armor (Tales of Suspense #48), the more commonly seen model 4 armor (Iron Man #85), the Silver Centurion armor (Iron Man #200), the model 9 armor (Iron Man #231), and lastly his most recent suit (at the time of this story) the modular armor (Iron Man #300).

4. Century is later revealed to be created by the Hodomurians to track down and destroy their enemy, a nexus being named Lore. When he first appeared he had little memory of his past. This is because his mind is a composition of the greatest warriors of his race that are kept in check by Parallax, his trademark weapon. This is all exposition dumped in Century: Distant Sons #1.