The Price of Power!

SHIELD have gotten a hold of the light bands once worn by the 1950’s super-hero known as Marvel Boy. Calling in Tony Stark and a team of scientists, Nick Fury informs tells them everything they know about them. Apparently, Marvel Boy — real name Richard Grayson — and his father fled to another world. Grayson returned to Earth in the 1950s and used his bands to fight crime and the scourge of communism. He disappeared shortly thereafter, only to return decades later and went on a rampage. He clashed with the Fantastic Four and in the ensuing battle, Grayson was apparently killed when his bands overloaded and incinerated his body, leaving behind only the bands.[1] Reed Richards took them into his possession, but ultimately the government compelled him to turn them over to SHIELD. Fury asks Stark and his colleagues to help them understand how the bands work and how to utilize their power safely. Although Stark has backed away from providing weapons to SHIELD, Tony agrees to assign some of his best scientists onto the project, including one Gilbert Vaughn.

Nick is interested in talking with Vaughn, because he has learned that Gilbert’s son Wendell had recently signed up to join SHIELD. Although Gilbert is aloof about his son, Fury offers to pull some strings and get Wendell as part of the project’s security detail.[2] Gilbert is brought to a monitor room where Dum Dum Dugan is observing the trainees. This just so happens to be as Wendell is going up to spar with fellow SHIELD trainee Gail Runciter. Wendell is nervous about fighting Gail since she is the more proficient fighter. After a brief moment, their sensei calls an end to the match before there is a conclusive victory, making the younger Vaughn wonder if he did poorly.

The next day, Wendell is called before a tribunal of senior SHIELD agents, headed by Dum Dum Dugan. Dugan tells Wendell that he doesn’t have the killer edge needed to be an active field agent. This makes him feel like a failure but Dugan assures him that he still has a future within the agency. Vaughn figures this would be a desk job and thinks will make him a disappointment in his father’s eyes.

A few days later, the light bands are transported to a Stark facility in Pittsburgh, where Gilbert Vaughn begins testing their abilities. Little do any of them know that one of the scientists on the team, Stanley Zane, is actually a spy for Advance Idea Mechanics, who wish to steal the bands for themselves.

Three days later, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Wendell Vaughn has returned to his mother’s home to sulk over his disappointing performance evaluation with SHIELD and his father’s continued disappointment in him. His mother, Lisa, tries to console her son with a letter that just arrived from the spy agency. Wendell is overjoyed to finally have an assignment, but they quickly sink once he discovers that he is being put on the security detail posted at the Stark facility where his father works.

When Wendell eventually arrives on the job, his father hardly takes notice of his presence. Instead, he is more interested in William Westley, a test pilot brought in to use the power bands and learn the limitations to their powers. Westley quickly adapts to the use of the power bands, as they are controlled by his thoughts. As he tests out their abilities to project light energy and create light constructs, the power levels on the bands begin to steeply climb. Fearing for Westley’s safety, they call an end to the tests for the day. However, when they try to remove the bands, they discover that they have fused to William’s wrists. The energy continues to build up until Westley cannot contain them anymore and he is incinerated just like Robert Grayson before him.

That’s when AIM launches their attack to try and steal the bands. Finally noticing his son, Gilbert tells Wendel to keep the bands safe. With everyone pinned down and his fellow SHIELD agents dropping like flies, the younger Vaughn decides to put on the bands and use them, even if doing so might mean his own destruction. The moment he puts the bands on, he suddenly gets a brief flash of vast alien worlds and a powerful cosmic presence.[3] He briefly wonders what this could mean but puts these concerns aside to deal with the android shock troop unleashed by AIM.

He quickly figures out how to command the power of the bands and destroys the invaders. However, when the energy begins building up within Wendell as it had done with others, he flies high into the upper atmosphere so nobody is hurt when he is disintegrated. Resigning to his fate, Vaughn stops resisting the build up of energy. He is surprised when the energy begins to finally subside instead of destroying him. As he heads to Earth, Wendell wonders if this lack of a killer instinct was what saved his life this day. When he returns to the Stark building, Gilbert is happy to see that his son is still alive and hugs him. However, Wendell wonders if this is out of genuine concern or because his father sees him as a scientific curiosity to study.

Seeing Wendell in action also impresses Nick Fury who has come to make Wendell an offer. Soon, Wendell is trained through SHIELD’s then brand-new Super Agent Program. However, it wouldn’t be until six months later after Wendell left the program that the legend of Quasar really began….[4]

Recurring Characters

Quasar, SHIELD (Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, Gail Runciter, Gaffer), AIM, Gilbert Vaughn, Tony Stark, Lisa Vaughn

Continuity Notes

1. Marvel Boy — aka Robert Grayson’s — time as Marvel Boy is far more complex than Fury makes it out to be. However, this is because nobody knew the full truth at the time.

   • Indeed, Grayson and his father fled Germany in the 1930s and piloted a shit to Uranus. There they discovered an alien society that welcomed them with open arms. Grayson grew up there and later used the Quantum Bands to return to Earth and fight crime. The accounts made here were depicted in Marvel Boy #1-2 and Astonishing #3-6.

   • A man purporting to be Robert Grayson later returned to Earth in the Modern Age to get revenge against the people he blamed were responsible for the death of his father. This led to his clash with the Fantastic Four and his alleged death, as detailed in Fantastic Four #164-165.

   • However, this is revealed to have not been the real Robert Grayson, but a Uranian Eternal named Thelius who was chosen to take Grayson’s place. It was incomplete and Grayson himself was unable to return to Earth to stop his doppelganger due to recently being bonded to the Uranians. He will remain MIA until later on in the Modern Age when Jimmy Woo recruits him into the Agents of Atlas. See Marvel Boy: The Uranian #1-3 and Agents of Atlas #1-6.

2. Tony Stark’s company, Stark International, got out of the weapon’s manufacturing business back in Iron Man #46.

3. Next issue it is revealed that this vision was sent by the cosmic entity known as Eon, who had decided to select Wendell to be the next guardian of the universe.

4. This story really glosses over the time that Quasar spent on SHIELD’s Super Agent team. This was chronicled in Captain America #217-218, 228-231 and Incredible Hulk #232-233. Wendell didn’t simply leave the Super Agent program. It was disbanded after it was discovered that it had been infiltrated by the Corporation. This was likely omitted due to narrative pacing.

Topical References

• This story states that Marvel Boy had been absent from Earth for about “well over a decade” before his “return” and clash with the Fantastic Four. This should be considered a topical reference because it is in reference to dates of publications between Grayson’s last appearance in Astonishing #6 (October, 1951) and Fantastic Four #164 (November 1975) Per Agents of Atlans #3, Grayson was last seen in 1957. As such, the Sliding Timescale will make it so the length of time between Grayson’s last known sighting and Thelius’ appearance in the Modern Age grow longer with the passage of time.