The Unspoken, Part 4

The Inhuman exile known as the Unspoken has resurfaced and activated his Slave Engine. It is now exposing people in China to Xerogenesis Mist, causing them all to turn into obedient Alpha Primitives. Standing in his way are the combined efforts of the Mighty Avengers — Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff), Hercules, US Agent (John Walker), Stature (Cassie Lang), Vision (Jonas), and Amadeus Cho — the Young Avengers — Patriot (Eli Bradley, Hulkling (Teddy Altman), Wiccan (Billy Kaplan), Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), and Speed (Tommy Sherpherd) — the New Avengers — Ronin (Clint Barton), Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers), and Captain America (James Barnes) — the Avengers Resistance — Justice (Vance Astrovik), Rage (Elvin Haliday), Tigra (Greer Grant), and Gauntlet (Joe Green) — the People’s Defense Force — Collective Man, Radioactive Man (Chen Lu), Scientific Beast, and Lady of Ten Suns — and Agent Ban-Luck of GRAMPA.

Despite their best efforts, the Unspoken is incredibly powerful and some of their numbers have already been turned into Alpha Primitives themselves. The Unspoken tells the heroes to surrender, and says that he has been spurred into action due to the Inhuman’s “Silent War” with the Earth. This horrifies Quicksilver since he was the cause of the conflict when he allowed Terrigent Crystals to fall into the hands of the United States government.[1] That’s when the Wasp (Hank Pym), fresh from his meeting with Eternity who bestowed him with the title of Scientist Supreme, arrives with guns blazing. Ronin is happy to see his old friend and admits that he loves Hank when Pym says he’s coming up with a plan.[2]

He contacts Amadeus Cho who is inside the Slave Drive ship with Hercules trying to shut it down. They have been pinned down by a massive robot, but while Hercules is busy brawling with the behemoth, Cho makes his way deeper into the ship. When he is confronted by three smaller robots he takes them out by flicking a single coin in such a way that it ricochets off his attackers in a way that destroys them. Cho then races to the engine room and is horrified by the sight of the massive device as it is being pumped with a massive supply of Xerogene Crystals.

Outside, Hank assumes giant size and tries attacking the ship with a laser sword built into his glove. However, the Unspoken is amazingly able to match his abilities and lock him in a stalemate. Worse, the Xenogene mists are becoming so thick those stuck on the ground will be unable to avoid it for very long. While the fliers head into the air to help the Wasp, Ronin has Stature shrink down small enough to lay on the head of an arrow so he can fire her up at the ship to help Cho out.[3] That’s when the gas fully envelops those on the ground. Only Quicksilver and Radioactive Man are able to protect themselves from being transformed into Alpha Primitives and they are soon attacked by their own allies.

Meanwhile, the Wasp and the Unspoken continue their brawl. The whole time the Inhuman rants about how he was exiled from his people for making the mistake of not enslaving humanity and vows to correct that error.[4] He tells Hank to give up, but Pym refuses to keep fighting for the future. After his experience with Eternity he believes that he has already won this fight. Overhearing this through his Ant-Man’s helmet, Amadeus gets inspiration from Hank’s talk from the future. He realizes that one of the devices used in the Slave Engine is some kind of chronal ray that rapidly ages the Xerogen Crystals to create an unending supply of the material. Checking on Hercules, Cho learns that the Olympian finally defeated the robot and has taken commend of the vessel.

With the aid of Stature and the Vision, Amadeus takes down the remaining Alpha Primitives on board the ship. With all resistance out of the way he has Quicksilver temporarily blind the Unspoken by throwing a rock in his eye. While the Inhuman tries to clear his vision, Cho trains the chronal ray on him rapidly aging the madman to the point where his powers have faded due to age, rendering him harmless. With the immediate threat over, they then use the device to restore everyone to normal. In the aftermath of the battle, Ronin suggests that Hank use the device in order to undo his past mistakes. However, Pym instead destroys the device because it would undo all the mistakes he learned along the way.[5]

As everyone prepares to head home, Ban-Luck thanks US Agent for his help and suggests they hook up some time. Meanwhile, Ronin tells Hank that the Scarlet Witch they have been dealing with of late is an impostor, but won’t say why how he figured it out unless he wants trouble from his partner, Mockingbird.[6][7] Hank also takes the time to commend the new Captain America, saying that Steve Rogers would be proud of James for taking up the mantle.[8] Lastly, Quicksilver asks Hank to utilize the dimensional doorways of the Infinity Mansion to dispose of the Xerogenesis Crystals, as he has figured out what to do with them.

Quicksilver uses the door to go to the Inhuman city of Attilan on the Moon. There he turns over the Xerogen Crystals and uses the opportunity to claim that the man who caused the royal family such grief in the recent past was actually a Skrull impostor. Medusa accepts this explanation and tells Pietro that his citizenship has been reinstated. This delights Quicksilver as it allows him to see his daughter, Luna, again. However, when they hug her, Luna reveals that she knows her father is lying and that because of this she no longer respect him ever again but promises that the truth will remain unspoken.

Recurring Characters

Mighty Avengers (Wasp, Quicksilver, Hercules, Jocasta, US Agent, Stature, Vision, Amadeus Cho), The Unspoken, New Avengers (Ronin, Spider-Woman, Ms. Marvel, Captain America), Young Avengers (Patriot, Hulkling, Wiccan, Hawkeye, Speed), Avengers Resistance (Justice, Rage, Tigra, Gauntlet), People’s Defense Force (Collective Man, Radioactive Man, Scientific Beast, Lady of Ten Suns), Ban-Luck, Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon, Karnak, Crystal, Luna), Edwin Jarvis, Alpha Primitives

Continuity Notes

1. Following the events of House of M #1-8, Quicksilver stole Terrigen Crystals in a misguided attempt to restore the mutant race in Son of M #1-6. This led to the US government stealing the crystals. The Inhumans took this as a declaration of war, a conflict that will be resolved in Silent War #1-6. Quicksilver has attempted to distance himself from this mistake by claiming he was one of many heroes that were replaced with Skrulls during the Secret Invasion of Earth, as seen in Mighty Avengers #24.

2. Clint refers to Hank as a founding Avenger. Indeed, Hank (as Ant-Man) helped form the titular group back in Avengers #1 (but I didn’t need to tell you that, did I?)

3. Clint states that he used to do this trick all the time with Cassie’s father. He is referring to Scott Lang the second Ant-Man. The first time they did that trick was in Avengers #223. Scott is referred to in the past tense here because everyone believes he died in Avengers #500. In reality, he was actually pulled forward in time as we’ll see in Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #5.

4. As we saw in Mighty Avengers #27, the Unspoken was the former ruler of the Inhumans until Black Bolt and his cousins deposed him over his not using the Slave Engine. He has been living in exile ever since.

5. Hank has been a troubled Avenger for quite some time having suffered a mental breakdown in Avengers #59, hitting his then wife (Janet Van Dyne, the original Wasp) in Avengers #213, which led to a fall from grace that lasted until issue #230 as well as grappled with suicide in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #17-24.

6. What our heroes don’t know is that the “Scarlet Witch” who helped found the new team in Mighty Avengers #21-23 is really Loki in disguise. Clint confirmed that they were dealing with an impostor after kissing her in issue #29. He knew how Wanda kissed after a one night stand with her in New Avengers #26.

7. Clint and Mockingbird had been married after their first adventure together in Hawkeye #1-4. However, they had been separated for years after she was believed to have died in Avengers West Coast #100. In reality, as revealed in Secret Invasion #1-8, she had been kidnapped and replaced by a Skrull prior to her “death”. Per New Avengers: The Reunion #1-4, she was replaced circa Avengers West Coast #91. She and Clint have gotten back together, but not as a married couple since Bobbi was thinking of divorcing Clint around the time she was abducted.

8. At the time of this story, the original Captain America (Steve Rogers) was believed to have been killed in Captain America (vol. 5) #25, resulting in James taking his place in issue #34 of that series. Cap isn’t really dead though, as he was shot with a chronal bullet that has forced him to relive his life in a loop. He will be rescued in Captain America: Reborn #1-6. Here, James mentions how Hank was one of the Avengers that first freed Steve from suspended animation. That was in Avengers #4.