Gauntlet

Hercules, Amadeus Cho, and Athena went to the Excello Soap Company factory in Brooklyn hoping to save Aegis (Trey Rollins) from the Olympus Group. When they arrived, they discovered Athena’s champion dead and a trap laid out for them by Hera, Typhon, Pluto, the Huntsman, and Delphyne Gorgon. That’s when Norman Osborn’s Dark Avengers — Iron Patriot (Osborn himself), Ms. Marvel (Karla Sofen), Ares, Captain Marvel (Noh-Varr), Hawkeye (actually Bullseye in disguise), the Sentry (Bob Reynolds), Spider-Man (aka Venom, aka Mac Gargan), and Wolverine (actually his son Daken) — came crashing in to arrest them all.[1]

As Hercules deals with the Sentry, Ares is furious about this situation as Osborn told him that they would only find Hercules here. That’s when he is ambushed by Typhon, who is looking forward to getting revenge on the god of war over the battle at Bathos centuries earlier. He is unimpressed with Osborn’s Avengers as he has fought the real Avengers in the past.[2] Wolverine is goaded into fighting Pluto, who knows the day when Daken is going to die. When Daken stabs Pluto with his bone claws, the death god merely laughs and promises he’ll know who he is in a moment.[3] This is because Pluto has summoned an army of undead mobsters to join the fight.

With the situation growing out of control by the minute, Athena suggests that she, Hercules, and Amadeus retreat. Before they can, she is sprayed with Spider-Man’s webbing. When Hercules attacks who he thinks is his friend, and the Venom symbiote creates teeth to grip onto Herc’s fist. This makes Hercules realize that this isn’t Peter Parker and uses “Spider-Man” to bludgeon the Sentry until he can get his hand free.[4]

Meanwhile, Amadeus Cho comes to the aid of Delphyne Gorgon who is fighting Ms. Marvel.[5] He takes the enchanted breast-plate off of Aegis’ dead body,[6] and clamps it on Ms. Marvel. The magic of the armor and her Kree Moonstone conflict with one another, causing enough feedback to knock her out. He doesn’t understand why Delphyne has joined with the Olympus Group to destroy Athena. She explains that she wants to destroy Athena because she is the reason why she has her reptilian appearance and snake for hair. Amadeus doesn’t understand, and so Delphyne explains. In ancient Greece, the women of Gorgon were the most beautiful in the world. The fairest of them all was a woman named Medusa who was a chaste priestess who worshiped Athena. However, she was later seduced by Poseidon and earned Athena’s wrath when the two made love before an altar. As punishment, Athena cursed the all Gorgon women to their reptilian forms. Although Amadeus likes the way Delphyne looks, she still rejects him as she wants to stand by the Olympus Group.

When “Hawkeye” begins shooting arrows at them, Athena tells Cho they need to get out of there. He tells Delphyne that he is only leaving because she is forcing him to do so. She tells Amadeus to get going and engages “Hawkeye” to cover his escape. Reuniting with Hercules outside, they decide to make a break for it. However, they will need a distraction. Amadeus suggests that Hercules sinks a nearby cruise ship, which will force Osborn’s Avengers to deal with that. Athena approves of this plan and suggest they split-up afterward and meet up at the Stygian Casino in Atlantic City. Herc and Cho are confused by this, but she says she’ll explain it all later.

Sure enough, when Hercules damages the ship it attracts the media. With his Avengers standing dumbfounded over what to do, Osborn orders them to break off the attack with the Olympus Group to save the passengers to avoid a PR nightmare. In the aftermath of the battle, Hera decides to make peace with Osborn for now. She explains that she would consult with HAMMER on the roll out for Continuum which she would have said earlier had he not stormed out of their meeting. If Osborn wants to pass on it later, she promises that their enmity will continue. Ares also tells Osborn if it comes to that, he will fight alongside his people. That Continuum hasn’t been rolled out is a surprise to Osborn because he received word that they were already moving ahead with it. This makes Hera realize that someone in her organization leaked this info to Osborn to orchestrate this fight.

Who is this betrayer? Hera’s secretary Hebe, who is just returning home from her job at the Olympus Group. After feeding her many cats she then goes into a room where she has created a shrine for her husband, Hercules!

Recurring Characters

Hercules, Amadeus Cho, Athena, Olympus Group (Hera, Typhon, Pluto, Huntsman, Delphyne Gorgon, Hebe, Argus), Dark Avengers (Iron Patriot, “Ms. Marvel”, Ares, “Hawkeye”, Captain Marvel, “Hawkeye”, “Spider-Man”, the Sentry, “Wolverine”), Aegis (corpse)

Continuity Notes

1. Hercules and Amadeus state that these Avengers are different from the team they just recently joined. At the time of this story, Herc and Cho are members of the Wasp’s so-called Mighty Avengers, having joined the group in Mighty Avengers #21-23. This team was formed by Norman Osborn in Dark Avengers #1.

2. This issue references the times the Typhon fought the OG Avengers in Avengers #50 and Annual #23. It forgets to mention the other time he fought them in Avengers #163.

3. Pluto states that Daken’s death will be coming soon. Daken will be killed in Uncanny X-Force #34. His death will prove short lived as he gets resurrected in Uncanny Avengers #9.

4. When thinking that this Spider-Man is Peter Parker, Hercules comments that the editorials published by the Daily Bugle’s J. Jonah Jameson were right. Jameson has had it out for the wall-crawler for years, starting in Amazing Spider-Man #1. What Herc doesn’t know is that, at the time of this story, Jameson is not longer the owner of the Bugle after his wife sold the paper to Dexter Bennett in Amazing Spider-Man #548. I think we can cut Herc some slack since he’s been pretty busy. Having Mac Gargan has been posing as Spider-Man since joining Osborn’s Avengers team in Dark Avengers #1.

5. Getting this out of the way, but Amadeus and Delphnye kind of had a thing going on until she had to join the Amazons. This ended their potential romance before it could start because Amazonian law decrees that their leader would have to eventually kill any mate they take. See Incredible Hercules #121-125.

6. Aegis was killed last issue. As of this writing (August, 2024), he is still considered among the deceased. However, we will see him again in Hades in Incredible Hercules #129-131.