Having Her Baby!

The artificially created woman known as Her has just selected Quasar as her ideal mate. this has instantly earned the ire of Moondragon, who seeks to make the hero her consort. In response, she dispatches Jack of Hearts to attack Her. As Quasar and Hyperion try to contain the battle between the pair, Quasar gets a call from Captain America. Cap is reporting that more individuals “impregnated” by Her have shown up at the mansion. Seeking to wrap things up, Quasar uses the power of his Quantum Bands to try and restrain the two combatants. Although he manages to subdue Jack of Hearts, Her manages to escape.[1]

Quasar quickly learns that Jack has had his emotions manipulated by Moondragon and he points out that she has used her telepathy on him before reiterating that he has no interest in Moondragon before departing to Avengers Headquarters.

There, Captain America welcomes the most recent victim of Her’s cocoon rape, Doc Samson, and introduces him to Hercules and Wonder Man, two of Her’s other victims.[2] Hercules is particularly bothered that there are other potential mates for He since he figured he’d be a sure winner of such a competition. That’s when Hyperion joins the group to inform them that he too is one of Her’s chosen mates and that he was sent back to wait for Quasar to return.[3]

Meanwhile, Her is continuing her search for her ideal mate when she is intercepted by Moondragon’s ship.[4] Invited on board, Her is warned to stay away from Quasar as Moondragon seeks to romance him. When Her refuses to do any such thing, Moondragon uses a radiation lamp to cut Her off from her supply of cosmic power. Moondragon then leaps in for the attack, confident that her martial arts skill are more than enough to destroy her competition.

While back at Avengers Mansion two more of Her’s victims arrive, the Eternals Gilgamesh and Ikaris. While Hyperion and Ikaris talk about their mutual Eternal heritages,[5] Hercules and Gilgamesh argue over which one is the more prolific hero.[6]

Meanwhile, Quasar has tracked Her back to Moondragon’s ship and interrupts the two women while they are brawling. He once more insists that he is not romantically interested in either one of them. He also once again asks Her to remove the cocoons she implanted on her potential mates since they did not consent for her to do that. However, he is interrupted by an ambush from Jack of Hearts, who sees Quasar’s presence on Moondragon’s ship as a sign that he does love Moondragon.

Back on Earth, Doctor Keith Kincaid — the Avengers resident doctor — is called in and he begins examining Wonder Man to devise a way to remove the cocoons with a massive laser. While outside, Hercules and Gilgamesh’s argument gets so heated that the pair come to blows.

In space, Quasar is easily able to knock out the mentally enthralled Jack of Hearts, while Moondragon defeats Her in hand-to-hand combat. Annoyed by the way Jack has become obsessed with her, Moondragon removes her mental hold from him causing him to lose all the fight in him. Quasar then picks up Her and, after reiterating that he isn’t interested in either woman, leaves with Her.

Once out from under Moondragon’s radiation screen, Her quickly revives and senses that her cocoons on the surface are being destroyed. She decides that this proves that Quasar is her ideal mate. Wendell, however, doesn’t want to become a father and points out to Her that she only wanted to spawn a child because that’s what her creators wanted her for. He points out that she has a mind of her own and can forge a destiny for herself. He recommends that she take the time to figure out if having children is really something she wants. This advice sounds appealing to Her and she decides to take it then removes the cocoon she implanted on Quasar’s back. However, Her has decided that she has seen enough of outer space, she wants to get to know the world of her birth better and has decided to do so at Quasar’s side, much to his chagrin.

Recurring Characters

Quasar, Jack of Hearts, Her, Hyperion, Wonder Man, Captain America, Hercules, Moondragon, Ikaris, Gilgamesh, Doc Samson, Keith Kincaid

Continuity Notes

1. The bizarre love triangle involving Quasar, Moondragon, and her is a complicated one:

   • Moondragon has been following Quasar around for a time dating back to Quasar #11 in the hopes of making him her mate since she viewed him as perfection since he was chosen by Eon to become guardian of the universe. However, she turned her down in Quasar #26, earning her ire.

   • Her, on the other hand, sought to mate with Adam Warlock, her male counterpart dating back to Marvel Two-In-One #61. When she encountered Warlock in Quasar #27, he turned her down. She has been trying to find a suitable replacement for her mate since last issue.

2. Wonder Man recalls meeting Doc Samson in the past. That happened in Marvel Two-In-One Annual #7 when both men selected as opponents to fight the Elder of the Universe known as the Champion.

3. Captain America checks to make sure that this Hyperion is part of the Squadron Supreme and not the Squadron Sinister. This is a little complicated so allow me to explain:

   • The Avengers first encountered the Squadron Sinister back in Avengers #69, a group of super-villains created by the Grandmaster. Squadron Supreme #8 reveals that the Grandmaster was inspired when visiting the Squadron Supreme’s reality.

   • The Squadron Supreme hale from an alternate reality. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005 #1 designates this reality as Earth-712. The Avengers first met this Squadron in Avengers #85.

   • The Squadron Supreme have been stranded on Earth-616 (the Prime Marvel Universe) since Quasar #13 following the events of Squadron Supreme: Death of a Universe #1. They will remain stuck in this reality until Avengers Annual 1998.

4. Her recounts how Moondragon was present when she was originally sought out Adam Warlock. See Marvel Two-In-One #61-63.

5. Hyperion had just recently learned that he is an Eternal after meeting Makkari. See Quasar #13 and 16 for the full story.

6. The feud between Hercules and Gilgamesh is due to the myth surrounding the 12 labors of Hercules. In particular, the tale in which Hercules cleaned out the Aegean Stables. In Thor #291, Hercules stated that Gilgamesh was the one who cleaned the Aegean Stables and was mistaken for Hercules by the ancient Greeks. However, Hercules later makes a claim that he did it himself in Avengers Annual #23. The profile for Hercules in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #5 clarifies. While Hercules did shovel out all the horse shit from the stables, Gilgamesh diverted a river to clean them out faster.