Marvel Team-Up (vol. 3) #21
Freedom Ring Part Two
After finding a magical ring on the ground, Curtis Doyle and his friend Troy have figured out all of its abilities and limitations. Through experimentation, Curtis can alter reatlity and create nearly anything out of thin air in a 15 foot radius around himself. He can summon anything he can think of, even if he doesn’t know how to make it in real life. Anything that he creates that travels out of his radius will fade from existence. Complicated and multiple items require a lot of concentration in order to maintain their existence. For example, Curtis could not conjure up both a truck and a rhino at the same time. Lastly, the ring still operates even if Curtis is asleep, so he has to remember to take it off at night otherwise his dreams will manifest as reality. Curtis then brags about how he can use the ring to create food that he can actually digest, making it so he never has to buy groceries again. He then decides to show Troy the costume that he made for himself, as he has decided to use his powers as a superhero. Troy thinks that you can’t be a superhero without a tragic back story, but Curtis doesn’t think such a cliché is necessary to want to do the right thing. When Troy asks what Curtis has called himself, Doyle says he was inspired by what Troy said when he first found the ring on the sidewalk and decided to call himself Freedom Ring. When Troy asks when Curtis plans to go out looking for bad guys, Curtis says it won’t be tonight as he has a date with Jeffrey, the server at the diner where they have breakfast every morning.
Soon, Curtis meets up with Jeffrey outside his apartment, and not sure if its cliche to buy gifts for a date, he gives Jeffrey an album that he particularly like. The two then agree to do dinner and a movie.
Elsewhere in the city, Spider-Man is testing out the new costume created for him by Tony Stark.[1] As the mechanical arms built into the costume make it easier for him to eat donuts while hanging upside down, Peter decides that his new costume is officially awesome. That’s when he hears an explosion and rushes to go check it out.[2] At that moment, aboard the SHIELD helicarrier, Agent Mitch Carson is unhappy to be assigned to watching a Diamondback LMD that thinks it’s real and an evil version of Tony Stark from another dimension.[3] His superior warns Mitch that even though these prisoners are being held in stasis they are still dangerous and his job is to kill them if they somehow manage to escape while he applies a new dose of sedative. He starts with Tony Stark, but when their backs are turned, Tony wakes up and attacks Mitch’s superior. When Carson puts a gun to Tony’s head, Stark tells Mitch that if the SHIELD agent had any idea what he was capable of, he’d turn the gun on himself.
At that same moment, Curtis and Jefrrey are still trying to find a place to go for dinner when they hear the same explosion that Spider-Man did. Wanting to go into action as Freedom Ring, Curtis pretends to be frightened and runs away from the scene. He quickly changes into Freedom Ring. Hangliding onto the scene, he comes upon Spider-Man in a battle with the Abomination. Landing on the ground, Freedom Ring then changes the glider into a rocket launcher and fires it at the gamma-spawned brute. Curtis thinks it was a pretty easy win, but Abomination actually survived the blast and comes charging at then ovice hero. Thankfully, Spider-Man is quick enough to swing Freedom Ring out of the way. Spider-Man begins to get an idea that this new comer is out of his league when he fails to recognize the wall-crawler in his new costume and he thinks the Abomination is actually the Hulk.[4] When the Abomination begins attacking again, Freedom Ring tries to stop him from dropping a cement block on his head. When this doesn’t work either, Curtis begins to panic and flees. Unfortunately, the Abomination eventually catches up to him and hits him in the chest at full force. With his concentration broken, the Freedom Ring costume disappears. As Spider-Man scoops Curtis off the battle field, he wonders how he can deal with the Abomination now. Thankfully, the X-Men arrive on the scene to deal with him,[5] allowing Spider-Man to rush Curtis to the hospital, telling the kid to hold on and not die on him.
Recurring Characters
Spider-Man, Freedom Ring, Abomination, X-Men (Cyclops, Emma Forst, Beast, Wolverine, Colossus, Shadowcat, Lockheed), Iron Maniac, SHIELD (Mitch Carson)
Continuity Notes
Tony Stark gave Spider-Man this new costume in Amazing Spider-Man #529.
Peter comments that it almost seems like villains know when he is hiding the sickening amount of donuts he eats when his wife is not around. At the time of this story, Peter is married to Mary Jane Watson. However, not long after this story, their marriage is erased from existence by Mephisto in Amazing Spider-Man #545. In the new timeline, Peter would refer to Mary Jane as his fiancee instead of his wife.
The LMD of Diamondback has been in suspended animation following Captain America (vol. 4) #29-32. The evil Tony Stark has been incarcerated following the events of Marvel Team-Up (vol. 3) #2-6. This Tony Stark, according to Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #2, comes from Reality-5012.
Spider-Man points out to Freedom Ring that he’s been in the Avengers for a while in case he hadn’t been keeping track of the news. Spider-Man has been a member of the New Avengers since New Avengers #1-6.
Kitty Pryde complains about how Cyclops wants the X-Men to go out and be heroes to the people again. This has been the mandate of Cyclops’s X-Men team since Astonishing X-Men (vol. 3) #1.
Topical References
The album that Curtis gives Jeffrey is Indiana by the Fuglees and it’s depicted as being on compact disc. This should be considered topical since (a) Who the hell listens to the Fuglees? and (b) compac discs, while still around, are not a ubiquitious as they used to be due to the proliferation of digital music.
Curtis also joking suggests they get dinner at McDonalds. This should be considered topical as McDonalds is a real-world business.
