Earth’s Mightiest, Part 1: The Smallest Man in the Room

The Vision (Jonas) and Stature (Cassie Lang) arrive at the ruins of Avengers Mansion after receiving a summons from their fellow Young Avenger, Wiccan (Billy Caplan) about a major mystical disturbance.[1] When they arrive, they pause to pay their respects to the newly installed statue for the Wasp (Janet Van Dyne) who recently died during the failed Skrull invasion of Earth.[2] A littler further down, they discover that the other Young Avengers — Patriot (Eli Bradley), Hulkling (Teddy Altman), Wiccan, Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), and Speed (Tommy Shephard) — have been turned into stone. Worse, the cause of this transformation is spreading, prompting the Vision to grab Cassie and fly into the air.

That’s when they spot the Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) above them.[3] This sets them both on edge since the Witch adversely affected both of their lives.[4] As a red rain begins to fall from the sky, the Scarlet Witch teleports them away. Moments after they are gone, massive tidal waves threaten to flood New York City. In response to this threat are Norman Osborn’s new Avengers team — Iron Patriot (Osborn himself), Ms. Marvel (Karla Sofen), Spider-Man (Mac Gargan), and the Sentry (Bob Reynolds) —[5] The Iron Patriot finds reporter Trish Tilby on the ground reporting on the incident and uses her live coverage to boost the PR of his team. Tilby tells him how this is one of many global disasters happening all over the globe. She tells him how San Francisco has been encased in amber, while the Atlantic boils and Wakanda is in flames. Flipping up his face plate, Norman addresses the viewing audience and promises that his Avengers will resolve this crisis.

Elsewhere, former Avengers butler Edwin Jarvis is driving across the Kansas border in his vintage car. Hearing reports about Norman Osborn and his team causes him to turn off the radio in disgust. That’s when he notices the road sign announcing that he is leaving Kansas suddenly changes into another sign welcoming him to Texas. This shocks him enough to slam on the breaks and check his GPS system. It tells him, impossibly, that the state of Oklahoma no longer exists, cutting off his attempts to reach Thor and the people of Asgard.[6] That’s when Hercules and Amadeus Cho happen by in a flying car. They were also heading to Oklahoma in the hopes of recruiting former Avengers to deal with this “chaos cascade”. As it turns out, they were actually seeking Jarvis himself as he — according to Cho’s calculations — is the important dynamic needed to form a great team of Avengers. Jarvis can’t argue with this logic and suggests that they head north to find their new team.

Meanwhile, the New Avengers — Ronin (Clint Barton), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Wolverine (Logan), Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers), and Captain America (James Barnes) — are in Philadelphia defending the city from thorned vines that are shooting up all over the place. That’s when the Scarlet Witch arrives to recruit Captain America. Unfortunately, she is too late as the heroes are being killed by the vines.[7] She then seeks out an alternative in Toronto, where Omega Flight — US Agent (John Walker), Arachne (Julia Carpenter), Guardian (Michael Pointer), and Sasquatch (Walter Langkowski) — are failing to stop a plague of insects. This time, the Witch manages to teleport US Agent to safety before he perishes with his teammates.

In Florida, a Stark Aerospace Lab is being terrorized by sudden volcanos that are sprouting out of the ground. Luckily, Iron Man (Tony Stark) is there to keep his employees safe until they can get to an emergency bunker.[8] When everyone is safely under cover, Tony airlifts them to safety. The Scarlet Witch appears in the middle of the chaos briefly, and is miffed that she just missed Stark and teleports away. She then goes to Canyon de Chelly in Arizona to recruit the Hulk. The area has been struck by a flash blizzard that immediately freezes the Hulk in a prison made of ice. The Witch is about to write him off when the Hulk breaks free from his prison, prompting her to teleport him away despite his demands to be left alone.

By this time, Amadeus, Hercules, and Jarvis have gone to a shopping mall in Chicago that is the location of a Van Dyne Fashion Outlet owned by the late Janet Van Dyne. They have come here because Jarvis knows that Hank Pym has a lab at this location disguised as a maintenance entrance.[9] When Hercules tries the buzzer, a voice tells him that Dr. Pym is not seeing guests at this time. When Jarvis speaks, Jocasta gladly opens the door to greet them, believing that Hank can spare time to visit the Avengers dutiful butler. When they are inside the lab, Hercules is taken aback by how much larger this lab is to the outside. Jocasta explains that this is one of Pym’s latest experiments, what he calls a “Pym Pocket”. Hank is annoyed that Jocasta let guests in, but she says that she couldn’t turn away Jarvis.

When Edwin starts pitching the idea of a new team of Avengers, Hank turns him down flatly saying that he is in the middle of some very important work. That’s when they notice Hank’s new costume and when Jarvis asks how he should be addressed, Hank says that he has taken on the identity of the Wasp.[10] This gets some snide comments from Amadeus whom Hercules introduces. Cho boasts that he is the seventh smartest person on the planet, something that Pym suggests the boy genus has been bumped down from since his return.[11] This leads to Cho getting into the reason why they have come, the chaos cascade that is affecting Earth. After hearing what’s been going on outside of his Pym Pocket, Hank deduces that the point of origin is likely the nation of Transia. This is the same conclusion that Iron Man is making after scanning the Earth with a satellite. Stark heads down to investigate this further, even though he hates having to deal with magic.

The global catastrophes are the work of Modred the Mystic, who has attacked the Knights of Wundagore and taken prisoners. He forces Bova the cow-woman to hold open the book of Darkhold while he casts his spells.[12] Bova’s pleas for Modred to stop fall on deaf ears, as he intends to continue his work which involve his other prisoner, a child of Magda.[13]

Back in the Pym Pocket, Hercules explains how they need Hank’s help in reforming the Avengers because Earth’s other heroes have been incapacitated by the chaos wave.[14] Jocasta really drives this home by turning on the TV to reveal that the Fantastic Four are literally trapped on channel 4. When Hank continues to bristle at the idea of leading the team, Hercules deduces that Pym is afraid to lead the Avengers. Pym then admits that Herc is correct and explains why. Hank explains that it all started when the Avengers first formed to battle Loki and how he was instrumental in stopping the villain. This led him to believe that he was the smarted member of the group. He continued to believe this after he further developed his size-changing formula to become Giant-Man during a battle with Doctor Doom.[15] However, after that victory, Hank kept screwing up, leading to Iron Man and Thor picking up the slack.[16] The final blow to his ego was one day when he was thinking his next move at Avengers Mansion when someone entered the room. Not wanting to be seen, Hank shrunk down to ant-size and was shocked to see Iron Man remove his helmet, revealing that he was Tony Stark. Hank learned Tony’s secret years before anyone else found out and this revelation made him realize that he wasn’t the smartest man in the room after all.[17]

Cho finds this a lame excuse, pointing out all of the screw ups that Tony Stark has made while Hank was missing — like sending the Hulk into space, a plan that backfired spectacularly;[18] the superhero civil war which claimed the lives of Bill Foster (aka Golaith) and Captain America (Steve Rogers);[19] and the Skrull invasion — this convinces Hank that he is the leader they need. He then uses his Toolbot — a multi-tool device — on the exit door to his lab re-setting its exit location to Transia. There they find the Scarlet Witch and her recruits and the two join forces. With everyone together, the Wasp gives the “Avengers Assemble” battlecry.

Meanwhile, Modred has completed his incantation summoning the spirit of the demon Chithon and putting it in a new host body, that of Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff). With Pietro’s super-speed at his command, Chthon believes that this reality will fall to him in the blink of an eye!

Recurring Characters

Mighty Avengers (Wasp, Jocasta, Hulk, Hercules, “Scarlet Witch”, US Agent, Vision, Stature, Amadeus Cho), Edwin Jarvis, Modred, Quicksilver (possessed by Chthon), Iron Man, Young Avengers (Patriot, Hulkling, Wiccan, Hawkeye, Speed), Dark Avengers (Iron Patriot, “Ms. Marvel”, “Spider-Man”, Sentry), New Avengers (Ronin, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ms. Marvel, Captain America), Omega Flight (Guardian, Sasquatch, Arachne), Mister Fantastic, Thing, Trish Tilby, Knights of Wundagore, Bova

Continuity Notes

1. At the time of this story, Avengers Mansion was left in ruins after the original Avengers were attacked by the Scarlet Witch in Avengers #500-503. It will remain in this state until New Avengers (vol. 2) #1.

2. The Wasp seemingly perished in Secret Invasion #8. However, we’ll later learn that she was actually shunted to the Microverse. See Avengers (vol. 4) #31-34.

3. This isn’t really the Scarlet Witch, but Loki in disguise as we’ll learn in Mighty Avengers #23.

4. The real Scarlet Witch had an effect on both the Vision and Stature when she went mad in Avengers #500-503. The details:

   • The original Vision was destroyed by the Scarlet Witch in Avengers #500. His memory was copied into the psycho-kinetic armor of Iron Lad, which later turned into the new Vision in Young Avengers #1-5. The original Vision will later be repaired in Avengers (vol. 4) #19.

   • Cassie’s father, Ant-Man (Scott Lang), was seemingly killed by the Scarlet Witch in Avengers #500 as well. In reality, he was pulled forward in time by the Young Avengers in the near future, as seen in Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #5.

5. Norman secured the spot as America’s “top cop” after he killed the leader of the Skrull invasion of Earth in Secret Invasion #8. One of his first acts was forming his own team of Avengers which mostly consists of villains posing as previously established heroes. See Dark Avengers #1.

6. The town of Broxton, Oklahoma became the home to the gods of Asgard since Thor (vol. 3) #1-2.

7. Don’t worry, all of these deaths will be undone when Chthon is defeated in Mighty Avengers #23.

8. Stark complains about his recent woes, namely having his Extremis tech (gained in Iron Man (vol. 4) #1-6) compromised and losing his SHIELD Directorship (which he held since New Avengers #25). These things happened during the Skrull invasion of Earth in Secret Invasion #1-8. He also mentions how most of his business was sacrificed to stop Zeke Stane, that was in Invincible Iron Man #1-6.

9. Mention is made about how Hank Pym was previously went under different identities. I am going to list them all here even though only two are mentioned because I’m sure they’ll be mentioned elsewhere in this story. They are Ant-Man (Tales to Astonish #35), Giant-Man (Tales to Astonish #49), Goliath (Avengers #28), Yellowjacket (Avengers #59), and most recently, the Wasp (Secret Invasion: Requiem #1).

10. Cho points out that Hank is the ex-husband of the Wasp. The two got married back in Avengers #60. However, the marriage came to an end after Hank struck her in Avengers #213. Although they were divorced, the two had an on-again-off-again relationship for years until Jan seemingly died.

11. Pym refers to Cho as Hercules’ “Rick Jones”, this is in reference to the fact that Rick Jones was responsible for the original Avengers forming back in Avengers #1. Hank also makes passing mention to how he was replaced by a Skrull in Mighty Avengers #15. He was freed after the failed Skrull invasion.

12. Bova tries to remind Modred how she cared for him in the past. After his brains were turned to mush in Avengers #187, Modred was left in the care of Bova until he wandered off in Captain America #305.

13. Quicksilver is referred to as a “child of Magda” here because at the time of this story, everyone believes that Pietro is the son of Magneto and his wife Magda since Vision and the Scarlet Witch #4. This is later revealed to be false in Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5. As of Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #4, his mother has been identified as Natalya Maximoff. Time of this writing, the identity of his biological father has yet to be revealed.

14. Hercules specifically mentions his friend Angel (Warren Worthington III) of the X-Men. The two had been allies since they founded the Champions back in Champions #1. The two were more recently reunited during the Hulk’s invasion of Earth, as seen in Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #106-111 and Incredible Hercules #112.

15. Hank first used his Giant-Man powers on an Avengers mission in Avengers #1.5.

16. Here we see a scene where Giant-Man eating shit when a train he is riding on passes into a tunnel. That was from Avengers #3.

17. Tony Stark’s double-identity wouldn’t become common knowledge to the public until Iron Man (vol. 3) #55.

18. Iron Man and the Illuminati sent the Hulk into space in Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #91. He came back more pissed off than ever, as seen in World War Hulk #1-5.

19. The civil war was triggered by the passage of the Super Human Registration Act (SHRA) that required all superhumans to be registered with the government. This split the hero community in half with Iron Man supporting registration and Captain America being against it, as seen in Civil War #1-7. Among the casualties of this conflict were Bill Foster (killed in Civil War #4) and Cap himself (in Captain America (vol. 5) #25). While Bill Foster is still considered among the deceased Cap was actually hit with a chronal bullet that has him reliving his entire life in a loop. He will be rescued from this purgatory in Captain America: Reborn #1-6.

Topical References

• There is a conversation between Vision and Stature at the beginning of this story where they go into some of his technical specifications and data storage:

  • Vision states that he has wifi, which was a form of wireless internet that was common in 2009 when this story was published. This is still the dominant form of wireless internet as I write this in July 2024, however it should be considered a topical reference as this technology will likely be replaced in our lifetimes.

  • Cassie asks Vision if he has an MP3 player. MP3s were a popular audio format that was commonly used during the publication period due to the fact that its compression allowed for smaller file sizes. While MP3s are still around, other formats have surpassed them as the dominant audio format.

  • Vision states he has Taylor Swift, Daughtry, and Kenny Chesney on his playlist. These were all fairly popular musical acts at the time this story was published. This would be the type of music that a teenage girl would listen to in 2009. Since the context was meant to be what was commonly listened to by teenaged girls around the time of publication, these references should be considered topical.

• Amadeus Cho makes the obvious comparison between the Pym Pocket and the Tardis. The Tardis is a time/space machine that looks like an old British police callbox on the outside but has a massive interior. It is the primary mode of transit for the cast of the long running British science fiction series Doctor Who. Which, time of this writing (July, 2024) has run for 40 seasons since 1963. You could probably call this a topical reference as you could find a more contemporary example of a tesseract room in popular culture, however Doctor Who is an iconic series so… YMMV.