The Unspoken, Part 4

The Wasp (Hank Pym) is on a expedition into the Macroverse, the dimension that exists above known reality. After successfully breaching the barrier he soon finds himself in an empty white void that is so vast it is nearly impossible to comprehend. As he tries to make sense of his surroundings, he is greeted by Eternity, the living embodiment of all reality! He tells Hank that it is past time for them to talk.

At the Avengers Infinity Mansion, Jocasta panics as the monofilament tether that connected her to Hank has gone slack. She tells Jarvis (the Avengers butler) what happened and he goes to gather the rest of the Mighty Avengers to help. In the next room he is surprised to see they Young Avengers — Patriot (Eli Bradley), Hulkling (Teddy Altman), Wiccan (Billy Kaplan), Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), and Speed (Tommy Shepherd) — recovering from their battle with the impostor posing as the Scarlet Witch (actually Loki in disguise, but they don’t know that).[1] Also arriving at the New Avengers — Ronin (Clint Barton), Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers), and Captain America (James Barnes) — and Clint is happy to be reunited with Jarvis. They have come because they heard that Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff) and US Agent (John Walker) are in trouble in China.[2]

Jocasta is still worried about Hank, but Jarvis reminds her that his instructions were for his team to deal with any crisis going on outside. However, now that he is out of the lab, he should be able to contact Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four) for assistance in rescuing Pym. Since Speed and Hawkeye were injured during the fight against the “Scarlet Witch”, Wiccan offers for them to stay behind and help while they recover.

Meanwhile, Stature (Cassie Lang), the Vision (Jonas), Amadeus Cho, and Hercules are out recruiting others to help them with the situation in China. The Vision is recruiting the Avengers Resistance — Justice (Vance Astrovik), Rage (Elvin Haliday), Tigra (Greer Grant), and Gauntlet (Joe Green) — while Hercules and Cho try to convince Norman Osborn’s Avengers to help. At that moment the Iron Patriot (Osborn), Ms. Marvel (Karla Sofen), and Sentry (Bob Reynolds) are going over intel about the situation in China. Seeing photos of US Agent fighting the Collective Man, Norman is convinced that he can spin this to discredit Hank’s team. That’s when Hercules and Cho barge in and demand they join forces. When Osbron tells them they have to be kidding, Cho realizes that this isn’t going to work and the pair make a hasty retreat through a dimensional doorway back to the Infinite Mansion. Annoyed by the intrusion, Osborn orders the Sentry to toss the doorway into the sun.

Soon, everyone who has been recruited are at the Infinite Mansion preparing for the battle ahead. Jarvis is serving drinks with a big smile on his face. When Hercules asks him if he is ok, the typically studious butler explains that he is happy because it has been a long time since he’s seen such an assemblage of Avengers together.[3]

As they prepare, the Wasp continues his meeting with Eternity.[4] The cosmic entity explains that it is the living embodiment of the universe and that seeing him, Hank is actually outside of his own universe. As Pym tries to make sense of this Eternity suddenly starts attacking him. When Hank asks why, Eternity says that he is reacting because this is how Hank sees the universe. Hank stops thinking of things that way and Eternity stops his assault. The entity then thanks Pym for saving it when it gathered a new team of Avengers to stop Chthon and as a result, it owes him. It explains that the Avengers are always formed to defend reality from chaos.[5] Hank doesn’t understand why Eternity has a need for him and wonders why it doesn’t choose Reed Richards, Tony Stark, or Stephen Strange. Eternity tells Hank that he needs him to be his other champion, the other side of the coin to Sorcerer Supreme, Earth’s Scientist Supreme.

Meanwhile, in China, Quicksilver, Ban-Luck, and Radioactive Man (Chen Lu) are the only remaining heroes who have not been turned into Alpha Primitives by the Chosen’s Xerogene mists. Forced to fight their comrades — US Agent, Collective Man, and Lady of 10 Suns — it becomes clear that they are merely distractions while the Unspoken starts up a ship carrying the Slave Engine. Things are looking bleak when suddenly a door to the Infinite Mansion opens and Ronin arrives to lead the other Avengers into battle. While their arrival is greatly appreciated, soon Quicksilver, Hulkling, Spider-Woman, and Justice are knocked into the mists and turned into Alpha Primitives. Amadeus Cho decides to take a different tactic and directs Hercules to rip a hole in the side of the Unspoken’s ship so they can take it down from the inside. While getting aboard was simplicity itself, their path to the Slave Engine is barred by a massive robot.

Back in the Macroverse, Hank doesn’t understand why he is the chosen Scientist Supreme when there are people out there smarter than him. Eternity explains that the others have different rules in the grand scheme of things. Reed Richards is the explorer, while Tony Stark is the engineer. It refers to Hank as the mage, because his scientific expertise is making the impossible possible. Hank’s drive is to push science to the point where it almost seems like magic only for the sake of trying. This is what makes him the Scientist Supreme. Eternity then envelops Hank to send him back home, telling him to prepare for the future as a new age of heroes is dawning soon and he will play an important role in it.

Moments later, Hank reappears in his lab much to the relief of Jarvis and Jocasta. They try to tell him about the situation in China but Pym already knows. He begins gearing up and tells the others that he is going to save everything.

Recurring Characters

Mighty Avengers (Wasp, Quicksilver, Hercules, Jocasta, Stature, Vision, Amadeus Cho), The Unspoken, Eternity, Edwin Jarvis, Young Avengers (Patriot, Hulkling, Wiccan, Hawkeye, Speed), Avengers Resistence (Ronin, Spider-Woman, Ms. Marvel, Captain America), New Warriors (Justice, Rage, Tigra, Gauntlet), People’s Defense Force (Collective Man, Radioactive Man, Scientific Beast, Lady of Ten Suns), Ban-Luck, Dark Avengers (Iron Patriot, “Ms. Marvel”, Sentry), Alpha Primitives

Continuity Notes

1. Loki has been posing as the Scarlet Witch to manipulate the Mighty Avengers since Mighty Avengers #21, as we saw in issue #23. The Young Avengers fought her last issue.

2. The pair have been in China since Mighty Avengers #25 and have spent the last 3 issues trying to stop the Unspoken from enslaving humanity. Try to keep up.

3. For Jarvis, its been a while because the original Avengers had disbanded following the events of Avengers #500-503/Finale #1. Not long after this he was kidnapped by the Skrulls prior to New Avengers #1 as explained in New Avengers #42. When he was freed post-Secret Invasion #8, the New Avengers had become outlaws while Norman Osborn formed his own team in Dark Avengers #1. He had only recently hooked up with Hank’s team when they were formed in Mighty Avengers #21-23.

4. Here, Hank says he learned about Eternity’s existence from Doctor Strange. Strange first met Eternity back in Strange Tales #138.

5. Eternity mentions all the times that the Avengers have been reformed over the years. They include:

   • “Capturing a Monster” this is in reference to Avengers #1, when the team first formed to capture the Hulk who had been framed by Loki.

   • “Thwart a sorceress” is in reference to when the team reformed to fight Morgan le Fay in Avengers (vol. 3) #1-3. Prior to that the Avengers had been MIA on the Prime Marvel Earth since Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1.

   • “Stop a prison break out” is in reference to the formation of the New Avengers in New Avengers #1-5, which came after the original team disbanded in Avengers: Finale #1.

6. Ronin asks Quicksilver to call him a poltroon for old times sake. This is in reference to how they were the first new recruits into the Avengers in Avengers #16. I am not about to pour into a bunch of old Avengers comics to figure out what specific issue he makes this insult. If anyone wants to share it with me please drop me a line.