Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #8
Sweet Sister!
At the Gem Theater in New York, Luke Cage — aka Power Man — has been attacked by the demons who have come seeking the Idols of Zor. Forced to fight these creatures alone, Luke recalls how he previously fought them with his partner Iron Fist as well as the Scarlet Witch and Vision.[1][2] Unable to match Cage’s strength, the demon priest vows to get the Idols of Zor and claim his immortal soul before teleporting away. With his partner off meditating, Luke decides the next move is to warn the Vision and the Scarlet Witch that they are in danger.
Meanwhile, in Leona, New Jersey, the Scarlet Witch continues training Holly LaDonna in the art of witchcraft. They are out in the snowy weather where Holly is attempting to manipulate the fall of fresh snow. That’s when Wanda suddenly feels the baby kick for the first time and rushes inside to show her husband, the Vision. Unfortunately, the Vision is too late and feels nothing. Crystal and Quicksilver — who have come to Earth for a visit with their daughter Luna — tells Vision not to worry as there will be plenty of opportunities once the baby is farther along. Holly feels uncomfortable seeing Crystal since she saw her kissing Norm Webster — Wanda and Vision’s real-estate agent — a month ago and has been struggling over what to do about it.[3] When Wanda agrees to watch Luna while Crystal goes shopping, Pietro warns her that this might encourage Crystal to come to Earth more often.[4] Pietro, however can’t linger much longer as he wants to return to the moon and back to training the Inhuman militia.
Suddenly, Luke Cage comes crashing in through the living room window, having been attacked by more demons seeking the Idols of Zor. Wanda is able to fend the creatures off with a hex bolt and they teleport away once again.[5] With the threat posed by the demons, Wanda, Vision, and Quicksilver all agree to help Luke fend off the invaders. However, Luke laments having to work on his day off, reminding them all that it’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.[6] The others aren’t comfortable with Wanda coming along since she is visibly pregnant. However, she refuses to stand on the sidelines, telling them that only she knows where the idols were hidden and they’ll need her if they are to prevent the demons from acquiring them.
They then take Pietro’s ship to Avengers Mansion so they can start their quest to recover the Idols.[7][8] Once they get outside, the area around them begins to be transformed by magic. In Central Park they have to fight through animated trees and winged demons. Entering midtown, Wanda leads the team into the subway, which has been transformed into a medieval dungeon. After fighting off more demons while riding the subway, Wanda leads them to the World Trade Center, saying she hid the idols inside. Despite the fact that the WTC has been transformed into a stone tower, the heroes take the elevator up to the roof. There, Wanda matches her magic against the demonic priest when suddenly, the demon loses his power.
As it turned out, Wanda had led the demons on a wild goose chase to find the Idols of Zor. In reality, they were actually hidden in her home and while she and the others were leading the demons into the city, Crystal was instructed to use her elemental powers to incinerate them. With the idols destroyed, Crystal then meets up with Norm Webster. As they walk off hand in hand, they are unaware that they are being observed by Holly LaDonna once again.
Back in the city, the demon priest and his horde vanish and everything is restored back to normal. In the aftermath of the battle Luke Cage reflects on the words of Martin Luther King and believes that white and black people working together as equals is what this holiday is all about. It’s not about being better than white people but seeing how Pietro is bickering with his sister he’s certain that blacks aren’t any worse.
Recurring Characters
Vision, Scarlet Witch, Power Man, Quicksilver, Crystal, Luna, Edwin Jarvis, Norm Webster, Holly LaDonna
Continuity Notes
The last time Luke encountered these demons was back in Power Man and Iron Fist #102.
This story is stated as happening on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (usually held between January 15th and the 21st) and a month after the events of last issue. This puts the story at odds with the Sliding Timescale. Marvel has yet to explain how this works. My theory is that Wanda has created a pocket of “real time” around the area while she goes through her pregnancy.
Holly caught Crystal kissing Norm last issue. The affair will eventually get exposed in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #10, ruining Crystal’s marriage.
Here it is stated that Crystal needs to drink a potion in order to spend an extended period on Earth. This is due to the fact that humanity’s pollution is extremely toxic to Inhumans. This began in Fantastic Four #104. It eventually got so bad that, by Fantastic Four #240, the Inhumans had to relocate to the Moon even though Reed Richards had developed an experimental serum to make them temporarily immune to pollution.
Wanda and her brother Pietro are referred to as mutants in this story. However, this is not really the case. As they will learn, years later, they were actually experimented upon by the High Evolutionary as part of his secret experiments. In order to cover up his work he made it so future genetic tests had the twins register as mutants. See Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5.
Quicksilver almost mentions his battle with the Toad. He, Magneto and the Vision prevented Toad from crashing Wanda’s Thanksgiving celebration in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #6. The trio vowed to keep the fight a secret. The Vision also mentions how he recently replaced his hand. It was destroyed fighting the Toad’s android duplicate of Mastermind last issue.
Jarvis worries that NSA agent Henry Gyrich is not going to like them landing Quicksilver’s ship at the mansion. In Avengers #261 the Avengers had their license to store and land their Quinjets at Avengers Mansion revoked.
Wanda doesn’t care about Gyrich because she and Vision quit the Avengers. After the Vision tried to create world peace by taking over every computer on Earth (Avengers #253-254), he was interrogated by Henry Gyrich for a lengthy period of time. Wanda got so upset over their treatment that she and her husband quit the team. See Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #1.
Topical References
Power Man states that he fought the demons of Zor “last year”. Power Man and Iron Fist #102 was published in February, 1984 while this story was published in May 1986. When measuring up against the Sliding Timescale, this assessment of the passage of time is more-or-less correct as 1984 publications fall under “Year Six” and 1986 publications fall under “Year Seven” of the Modern Age.
Here, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is referred to as a “new holiday”. The holiday was first observed on January 20, 1986, the same year this comic was first published. However, references to MLK Day being “new” should be considered a topical reference.
Here, the original twin towers of the World Trade Center are depicted as part of the New York City skyline. This should be considered topical as the towers were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and subsequently replaced with the Freedom Tower.
