Keeping an Ion the Crowd

This story continues from Avengers (vol. 3) #33…

Count Nefaria has returned and is making a play to take back control over the Maggia crime family. To this end, he has enslaved both Wonder Man (Simon Williams) and Atlas (Erik Josten) to do his bidding. This has brought together their respective teams, the Avengers and Thunderbolts, together in an uneasy alliance to stop their mutual foe.

Both teams have assembled at Avengers Mansion to compare notes. The Thunderbolts are a little more than nervous given that they are former criminals trying to reform themselves, many former Avengers foes. Among their ranks are the former Avenger Hawkeye (Clint Barton), Mach-2 (Abner Jenkins, aka “Matt Davis”), Songbird (Melissa Gold), Charcoal (Charlie Burlingame), and the “Ogre” (secretly Techno) who is reporting from Thunderbolts HQ. The Avengers consist of Iron Man (Tony Stark), Goliath (Hank Pym), the Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), the Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff), the Vision, Warbird (Carol Danvers), and Triathlon (Delroy Garret, Jr.). Also attending the briefing are Avengers ally the Black Widow (Natasha Romanov), the criminal Madame Masque (Whitney Frost), and their government liaison Dwayne Freeman.[1]

As the Avengers outline their recent clashes with Nefaria,[2] the Thunderbolts detail their efforts to track down Baron Zemo’s old ionic power process.[3] While the Thunderbolts were unable to stop Cyclone — a Maggia rival to Nefaria — from escapeing, they were able to nab his associate Doctor Karl Malus, thanks to the quick thinking of Mach-2.[4] Malus is willing to provide his expertise in exchange for a reduced prison sentence.[5] “Ogre” and Goliath have already figured out that Nefaria wants to create some kind of ionic bomb but they can’t figure out why. Malus fills in the blanks, pointing out that Nefaria’s own ionically based powers allows him to draw power and control those just like him and the bombs purpose is to transform the entire population of Earth into ionic beings.[6]

It is as they are wrapping up this meeting that Captain America (Steve Rogers) and She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters) arrive, having answered the Avengers call for back-up.[7][8] As everyone is greeting Captain America, Hawkeye tells him of his teams recent issues, namely the murder of the teammate Jolt (Hallie Takahama),[9] and how Moonstone (Karla Sofen) went AWOL on them recently after being plagued by strange dreams of late.[10]

At that very moment, Moonstone has traveled to the Fantastic Four’s Pier 4 Headquarters. There she was using their computers to look up information on the Kree when she is caught red handed by Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) and the Invisible Woman (Susan Richards). When the attack, Moonstone begins speaking in the Kree dialect and uses her phasing powers to escape. Looking at the data she accessed, Reed determines that Karla was attempting to learn the origins of her powers.[11]

While in Washington, DC, investigative reporter has looked up her old friend Jack Norris to help in her investigation into the murder of a Roxxon employee.[12] Andrea needs to find a connection between that murdered employee and attempts to artificially replicate the hard air constructs of the mutant known as Colin Hume, aka Windshear of Alpha Flight.[13] Through his SHIELD connections to locate a file that had been deleted off the government data base, but not the spy agencies records. It is in regards to a program called Alpha-32, where Roxxon was given grant money to replicate Hume’s powers that was funded by the Commission on Superhuman Activities, the smoking gun that Andrea had been looking for.

Back at Avengers Mansion, Iron Man and Goliath are working with “Ogre” to pinpoint Count Nefaria’s location. They are able to figure out that the Count is somehow negating his ionic energy signature. Searching for an area with no ionic traces, they are able to narrow down their search to western Canada. As they make this discovery, Madame Masque and Doctor Malus have been working to put together an ionic lock weapon that shut cut off Nefaria’s powers. While they are working, the Wasp and She-Hulk take both Songbird and Mach-2 on a tour of the mansion and suggest that they too might one day become Avengers, as the team has had reformed criminals on the roster in the past.[14] Triathlon on the other hand is trying to get Charcoal to see that Blacks are mainly shoehorned into the Avengers, but Charlie isn’t buying it.[15] While outside, Captain America, the Black Widow and Hawkeye hold a private meeting. Cap agrees to look into the conspiracy the Thunderbolts appear to be wrapped up in and commends Clint on doing such a great job helping his new team reform.[16]

By this time, Iron Man, Goliath, and “Ogre” have managed to pinpoint Count Nefaria’s location to somewhere in Northern Alberta. Techno is happy to be done with the two Avengers so he can finally drop his disguise and work on his real projects, his search for Baron Zemo and the restoration of a life he has kept in a state of susended animation.[17][18] That’s when Scourge steps out of the shadows and makes his presence known. When he’s told that the real Norbert Erbersol is dead, Scourge admits he doesn’t care, as he is going to destroy Techno one way or another.[19]

Meanwhile, Moonstone has arrived on the Moon in the hopes of getting answers from the Inhumans. However, she has just discovered that their city of Attilan has been moved someplace else without a trace.[20] Once she gets her temper back in check, Karla realizes that if she is going to get any kind of answers, they aren’t going to be found on Earth.

Later, the Avengers and Thunderbolts have arrived outside of Nefaria’s castle in the Crowsnest Pass region of the Rocky Mountains. There, half the team creates a diversion to draw out Wonder Man and Atlas into a battle while the other half of the group sneaks into Nefaria’s castle. Unfortunately, Charcoal is a little too eager to fight, preventing Iron Man from getting a clear shot with the ionic lock weapon. Eventually, they are able to use the weapon on Simon and Erik, temporarily de-powering both. However, the other team is too late to stop Nefaria from emerging from his castle with his ionic bomb. When They try the ionic lock on him, they are shocked when it doesn’t work. To Nefaria, this is a sign that his ultimate victory is near at hand.

… This story concludes in Avengers (vol. 3) #34.

Recurring Characters

Thunderbolts (Hawkeye, Altas, Moonstone, Songbird, Mach-2, Charcoal, “Ogre”), Andrea Sterman, Count Nefaria, Scourge, Black Widow, Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Goliath, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, Warbird, She-Hulk, Triathlon), Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Duane Freeman, Andrea Sterman, Jack Noriss, Madame Masque, Karl Malus, Ogre, Humus Sapien, Jolt, Black Bolt, Medusa, Ronan the Accuser, Supreme Intelligence

Continuity Notes

1. Iron Man is depicted wearing his Model 4 armor, which was first created back in Iron Man #85. Tony is wearing this outdated armor after his then current suit somehow became sentient and tried to kill him. Tony decided to wear an older suit out of fear that using newer tech will just recreate the same problem. He’ll stick to this until Iron Man (vol. 3) #42-45. It’s later revealed that this was actually the work of Ultron. See Iron Man (vol. 3) #26-31 and 46-48.

2. Recapping the events of Avengers (vol. 3) #32 and 33.

3. Which happened last issue.

4. Here, Hawkeye does a real bad job of convincing the Avengers that Mach-2 is different from the original Mach-1. Despite the fact that one is Caucasian and the other African-American, they are actually the same man. The details:

   • Years ago, Abner Jenkins — as the Beetle — committed an act of murder in Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #3.

   • Later, when Hawkeye joined the Thunderbolts in Thunderbolts #21, he convinced the reformed Jenkins (now Mach-1) to surrender to the authorities and serve out his sentence. Jenkins surrendered to the authorities in issue #23.

   • He was later recruited to become the Beetle again by the Commission on Superhuman Affairs to help capture Justin Hammer in issue #26. This caper lasted until Thunderbolts #37. Hawkeye then blackmailed Henry Gyrich to let Abe go. To cover up the fact that he was free, Abe under went facial reconstruction that made him look the way he does now. This will remain his status quo until Avengers/Thunderbolts #1.

5. It is mentioned here that Malus was responsible for giving Atlas his ionic powers back in the day. They are referring to the events of Iron Man Annual #7.

6. Count Nefaria gained his ionic powers in Avengers #164-166. However, it has only been very recently that he has needed to draw power from other ionically powered beings, that started in Iron Man (vol. 3) #16.

7. Iron Man mentions how more powerful Avengers such as Quasar and Thor are unavailable at the moment. That’s because they are with a team of space faring Avengers on a mission to stop the Infinities, as we’ll see in Avengers: Infinity #1-4.

8. Captain America compliments Hawkeye’s new belt buckle. Clint had recently changed his belt buckle from an Avengers insignia to the one chosen by the Thunderbolts. He made the change last issue.

9. Hallie was seemingly killed by an assassin’s bullet back in Thunderbolts #33. What the Thunderbolts don’t know is that there was still a spark of life left in her and that Techno has been secretly restoring her to full health. This won’t be revealed until issue #46.

10. Moonstone has been plagued by dreams of a Kree warrior named Ajes’ha, who wielded the Moon Stone many centuries ago. As a result, she has found herself becoming more altruistic and heroic over time to reflect Ajes’ha’s personality. This began in Thunderbolts #28. However explanations to what is going on will not be made until Thunderbolts #45.

11. There are some deep cut references to the aliens known as the Kree on screen here. They include:

    • A Kree soldier in a captain’s uniform. This may very well be the most well known captain of the Kree empire, Mar-Vell, aka Captain Marvel. Regardless, Mar-Vell’s first appearance and that of this specific uniform both were seen in Marvel Super-Heroes #12.

    • We also see Carol Danvers in her original Ms. Marvel costume, which was first seen in Ms. Marvel #1.

    • We also see the Kree Supreme Intelligence and Ronan the Accuser, both of whom first appeared in Fantastic Four #65.

    • Lastly, we see an image of Black Bolt and Medusa of the Inhumans, who were first seen in Fantastic Four #36 and 45 respectively. It’s revealed in Thor #146-147 that the Inhumans were created by the Kree.

12. Andrea and Jack worked together researching Nomad. Sterman took all that investigation and published it in a book. See Nomad #1-4 and (vol. 2) #1-25.

13. For more on Windshear’s connections to Roxxon see Alpha Flight #87-95.

14. Indeed this is correct, in fact the first roster change in Avengers #16 included three reformed criminals: Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch. The Wasp is hinting at this particularly in the case of Songbird, as Janet recently went on a mission through time and space with various Avengers from different time periods. One of whom was a version of Songbird from a future where she joins the Avengers, as seen in Avengers Forever #1-12. However, Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #5 states that this was the Songbird of Reality-98120. To date (July, 2023), the Songbird of Reality-616 has only been a member of the New Avengers from New Avengers (vol. 4) #1-10, and not the core team.

15. Triathlon is correct about the fact that the Falcon was pressured into joining the team to meet a government quota of non-white Avengers, as seen in Avengers #181. Once this government mandate was lifted, Falcon ended up leaving the team in issue #194. Triathlon is making this comparison because he believes he is being shoe horned onto the team due to their recent bad publicity from the Triune Understanding, a religious group that Triathlon is a member of. See Avengers (vol. 3) #27.

16. They are referring to a string of murders involving the hard air compound known as Omega 32 and a mystery assassin who has been gunning for the Thunderbolts. This turns out to be the Scourge of the Underworld who is under the command of the CSA’s Henry Gyrich. See Thunderbolts #34-38 and 49-50.

17. What Techno doesn’t know is that Baron Zemo was seemingly killed by Scourge back in Thunderbolts #39. However, thanks to a bio-modem, Zemo’s mind was downloaded into the body of John Watkins III, the present day Citizen V, as we’ll see in Thunderbolts #45.

18. There are three bodies that Techno is keeping in stasis, one is the Ogre who has been Techno’s prisoner since the robot took his place in Thunderbolts #33. The other is Jolt, who Techno has been slowly restoring to life since she was shot and seemingly killed in issue #34. She will be revived in issue #46. The third is a powerful mutant named Humus Sapiens. See Thunderbolts #54-55.

19. This is the first admission by Techno that he’s not the same person as Norbert Ebersol, aka Fixer, aka the original Techno. Norbert got his neck snapped back in Thunderbolts #7. His mind was copied into his tech-pack, making it a sentient robot that assumed his place in the following issue. The real Norbert has been secretly revived, as we’ll see in issue #49.

20. The Inhumans had been living on the Moon for quite some time, starting in Fantastic Four #240. However, in more recent times, their home was relocated back to Earth, as seen in Fantastic Four: Atlantis Rising #1-2. It’ll remain there until Attilan is returned to the Moon once more in following the events of Fantastic Four (vol. 3) #54.

Translations

• When Moonstone speaks in the Kree language an alien looking font is used. The font type used here is appropriately called Gobbledygook and if you got $29 in font money you too can own it for yourself! It is exactly as Reed Richards understands it on the next page. When you change the fonts back to the alphabet it is word for word what he says “I have to look within the life-stone! “

• When Captain America commends Hawkeye on the work he is doing with the Thunderbolts, Clint responds by saying that he is verklempt. This is a Yiddish term meaning that the speaker is about to get emotional.