#Essential Avengers

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #39: UPSET!

December, 1988

Swordsman’s Corpse: “So, Avengers, you thought you’d buried me for good, but you were wrong -- DEAD WRONG!”

Damn but if this isn’t the type of cover I love. A superhero team reacting to something and with dialogue right on the cover.

This is also the end of Englehart’s run. Or half of this is the end of Englehart’s run. I’ll get into it.

Lets last time so we can dig in.

Last time on West Coast Avengers: Well, directly last time Wonder Man just sat remembering stuff we’ve never seen before for the entire issue.

But in a broader sense.

Mockingbird hiding some cowboy manslaughter blew up in her face when the ghost of the cowboy revealed it to her husband/boss Hawkeye. Irreconcilable differences ensued and Mockingbird quit and took half the team with her. Scarlet Witch, Vision, and Mantis cycled in so the West Coast Avengers wouldn’t just be two sad dudes. Also, Mantis is here now. She has amnesia and wants the Avengers to help her find the son she may or may not have. Its pretty potent amnesia.

But in a narrower sense, last time, after Wonder Man remembered some new stuff for a while, the Quinjet started crashing.

As the Quinjet tumbles, rattling the Avengers around like peas in a tin there’s one of those action scenes I can’t help but love. Where each member of the team does their own thing in a situation.

Here, Mantis just has the reflexes to grab onto the seat belt that she should have had buckled. Scarlet Witch can use her hex to float in place long enough for Wonder Man to grab her using his belt jets. And Vision just intangibles enough to float but not so much he falls out of the Quinjet.

Good job everyone.

So what caused this aviation near-disaster?

Hawkeye was calling in a Savage Land report to the East Coast Avengers team (but who though?) and they said they’d already heard about it from Mockingbird.

And hearing Mockingbird’s (code)name was enough for this pre-divorcee to almost crash a jet into the ocean.

Hawkeye, I don’t think you’re okay.

I would also like to know who you spoke with since the East Coast Avengers disbanded thanks to Thor. Mostly Nebula and Dr Druid but some Thor.

There was an ad hoc team for the purposes of Evolutionary War and that’s going to get super funny in a second.

Wonder Man correctly guesses that Mockingbird somehow got involved in the Savage Land business and Hawkeye gets into a funk about it.

Vision asks whether the West Coast Avengers will work with the East Coast Avengers and Hawkeye goes “I’d rather not!”

His thought is that if Mockingbird’s group is already helping, the West Coast Avengers can get on with helping Mantis.

SO THE REASON WHY THE WEST COAST AVENGERS DIDN’T HELP THE AD-HOC AVENGERS AND DIDN’T RESPOND TO THE SPECIAL ALERT

was because Hawkeye felt it would be too awkward if his soon-to-be-ex-wife was there.

Fucking amazing.

Remember how a big deal was made out of the Avengers being so hard up for people responding to the super special emergency beacon that Yellowjacket II was a good option to bring along?

Turns out that the West Coast Avengers got the same alert and Hawkeye just ignored it.

The world was almost turned into furries because Hawkeye can’t be an adult.

Regarding helping Mantis, Scarlet Witch chimes in to say that if they’re doing that, they really need to stop in Paterson, New Jersey. They’ve been having Ma Williams watch the twins and one of them really should relieve her.

Scarlet Witch: “We don’t mean to slight your problem, Mantis!”

Mantis: “Of course not, Wanda! This one became the Celestial Madonna to have a child, though she doesn’t know now if she did or not! Naturally, you must see to yours!”

“As a potential mother, I understand your mother concerns. I potentially have a child!”

Cool contribution, Mantis.

Anyway. New Jersey!

Vision tells Ma Williams that they’re relocating to Los Angeles to join the Avengers and of course taking the kids. But Ma Williams is welcome to move with them.

Ma Williams: “I’m a little old to join the Avengers, Wanda -- and a little old to tear up my roots here! No, I’ll watch you on TV -- but don’t forget to call!”

Cool old lady.

Wanda takes the time to announce out loud to the audience and to Ma Williams, that she and Vizh aren’t going to sell their house in Leonia since they like it too much. But they will rent it out while they’re in LA.

Hawkeye gets so bummed out at seeing a family scene that he sighs and goes outside for some air.

Refusing to read the room, Mantis follows him and tells him that they can be miserable together.

Although she also insists that her misery is worse because she has no idea what she’s lost. Could be one-hundred children wondering where their mom is! So clearly she has it worse than Hawkeye who knows exactly what he lost out on by being too stubborn for couples counseling.

Thanks, Mantis.

The team jets out in the Quinjet but Wanda stays in New Jersey, probably to arrange the move.

And apparently she told Ma Williams all the hot goss because the old lady asks wasn’t that the Mantis homewrecker lady?

Which Wanda confirms but she’s not worried that Vision is going off with Mantis (and also Hawkeye and Wonder Man) because she trusts their marriage is solid.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Newark Airport, Tigra complains. Because the East Coast Avengers didn’t let them land at Hydrobase.

Considering the East Coast Avengers don’t exist right now...

Who do you guys keep talking to??

Giant-Man Bill Foster asks whether they should have helped fight against the High Evolutionary and Mockingbird says she doesn’t want to deal with Hawkeye if he showed up so she made the executive decision to skip the event.

Oh my god.

Both Hawkeye’s team and Mockingbird’s team decided helping stop the Gene Bomb was someone else’s problem and just went on with their day.

Amazing.

Giant-Man Bill Foster is still giant so Tigra asks... why? Bill explains the thing with the cancer. And being giant isn’t supposed to cure the cancer that should have already been cured. But all this extra mass from the mass dimension will replace his damaged tissue or something if he stays big long enough. Or something.

Look, they wanted the “stuck big” status quo for a size-changing character. That’s all.

Bill Foster Giant-Man takes off, going to find Hank Pym and help him cure his giant-brained wife. Aw, what a good friend.

Meanwhile, Moon Knight sounds racist by saying Giant-Man is not their kind. But what he means is that this is the murder is good group and Bill is too idealistic.

And they’ll need to be ruthless to stop Phantom Rider! Who is still totally haunting her and oh hey speak of the devil.

Seriously. Was he just hanging around invisibly waiting for someone to mention him so he could pop out and go boo?

This is a stupid way to spend an afterlife.

Tigra didn’t know about Mockingbird being haunted by Phantom Rider. She’s just confused by this new detail. I love her surprised kitty face.

She asks why Phantom Rider helped in Budapest if he’s a revenge-fueled dick but Phantom Rider said that was helping himself.

Phantom Rider: “I only pretended to help you, TIgra -- in order to destroy Barbara’s marriage!”

And then he shoots Tigra a whole bunch with ghost bullets.

What a dick.

The bullets don’t injure her. Because they’re ghostly. But she’s stunned.

Although, it’s unclear whether that’s an inherent property of them or whether getting shot a whole bunch will just throw you off your game.

Moon Knight tries to get Phantom Rider but the ghost punches him in the face and then has his horse kick him.

What a dick.

But getting clobbered knocks Moon Knight the fuck out and Khonshu pops out to play.

Which is actually good. Khonshu possessing Moon Knight can’t do a lot against a ghost. But freed of his meat puppet, he’s a lot more mighty.

Phantom Rider even recognizes it, fleeing when this new factor joins the battlefield. But he muses to himself that he wasn’t prepared for Khonshu this time but he’ll definitely be ready other times!

Unable to see Khonshu, Mockingbird comments that Phantom Rider sure fucked off a lot sooner than she expected.

Moon Knight wakes up and announces he knows how to solve Mockingbird’s Phantom Rider problem.

Over in Connecticut, the West Coast Avengers search the home of Mrs. Mandy Celestine trying to find clues about Mantis’s lost memories.

Mantis woke up in this house and Mandy Celestine is the kind of name Mantis, Celestial Madonna, might come up with if she had absolutely no imagination at all.

Which, I guess she doesn’t.

Someone knocks on the door so Mantis turns her green skin to be human Vietnamese/German skin tone instead to answer.

Yeah, she can do that. She just wants to be green. Are you going to tell her she can’t be green?

Anyway, it’s just the mailman needing her to sign for a package. And him recognizing her as Mrs. Celestine confirms she’s been living a life here.

So, that’s useful.

But Hawkeye is tired of this location and proposes they go and visit

The Vietnamese temple of the Priests of Pama.

Remember Mantis’ wacky backstory?

She was taken as a child and raised by the Priests of Pama (who were secretly Kree pacifists who were friends with tree people), trained in martial arts and MIND POWERS, mindwiped on her 18th birthday and given false memories of growing up as an orphan, before dumping her in a city where she eventually became a sex worker? This last part was essential because it meant she stayed humble unlike Moondragon. Or something. Anyway, she met Swordsman and swooned over the broken man, helped him clean himself up and join the Avengers, and then started trying to hit on Vision instead because he was emotionally unavailable.

Yadda yadda, Avengers stuff, Kang tries to figure out if Mantis, Scarlet Witch, or AGATHA HARKNESS is the Celestial Madonna by kidnapping them all and trying to decide which one he should date. Avengers stuff, Avengers stuff, Swordsman dies, Mantis learns she’s the Celestial Madonna, Immortus shows up to dump a whole bunch of exposition, Mantis marries a tree possessing her dead boyfriend in a double marriage with Vision and Scarlet Witch, then Mantis and Tree Boyfriend blast off into space.

God, Mantis’ life is weird.

So, remember how I said this is half of the end of Englehart’s run? Or I guess more specifically that half of this issue is the end of Englehart’s run?

Englehart himself has complained that half of this issue was re-written by editorial against his wishes. He has also complained that he was fired from West Coast Avengers supposedly for deadline issues but that also Marvel wouldn’t send him the pages he needed to work.

So I don’t even know if the back half of this book was even in Englehart’s script.

At least according to Englehart, Tom DeFalco had it out for him. And would do stuff like withhold the letters column.

Given that he also cites the missing text bubbles for Mantis in the previous annual, I dunno, he may be onto something.

That said.

If half of the book was rewritten, I’m guess that Marvel Unlimited pg 13 is where it starts. Because it has that hallmark of retcons.

The walls of text.

The West Coast Avengers and Mantis find where Swordsman was buried and have to clear the area since its overgrown. Hawkeye cracks a joke about the Priests of Pama not being much for lawn maintenance, perhaps forgetting the big plot point that they all died.

Wonder Man gets a bee in his bonnet about the specific way that the tree marriage and tree honeymoon played out, claiming that despite what everyone saw that day, it made a lot more sense that Swordsman’s body was just left to rot on Earth instead of being turned to energy.

And this is important because, somehow, Wonder Man has cracked this whole case wide open.

But first,

A corpse, of course.

I guess the body was left to rot. And not turned into pure thought or energy or whatever.

I hate it when Wonder Man is right about things.

Cotati Swordsman is here to Explain It All.

By stabbing Mantis.

She doesn’t much like that so she dodges out of the way and now there’s a fight. A fight that the West Coast Avengers jump into to protect their good friend Mantis.

Cotati Swordsman is one dude against a team and has a gimmicked up sword so he’s in full on stomp mode. Its like conservation of ninjas.

He shoots nerve gas out of the sword at Mantis that works on skin contact so she can’t just hold her breath. He hits Wonder Man with a force blast to mess up his ionic body. And when Vision blocks the disintegrator beam with a SOLAR BEAM, Cotati Swordsman just hits Vision with another force blast. Good enough for Wonder Man, etc.

Hawkeye is able to fight him for a bit due to his familiarity with the guy but the same is true reversed. Swordsman easily cuts a bunch of arrows out of the air.

Vision pops out of the grave intangible-style to grab Cotati Swordsman’s ankles so Wonder Man can try to disarm him.

But remember the conservation of ninja? Swordsman is able to bat Wonder Man out of the air with his sword - just the sword, not any of its built-in powers - and smack him into Vision.

Both fall against the Swordsman’s grave so Wonder Man can have a moment where he rehashes his fear of death.

Well, I guess fears don’t just go away.

Mantis recovers from the nerve gas and side kicks Cotati Swordsman.

Mantis: “You have something this one wants, Prime One -- desist in this pointless scuffle and deliver!”

I mean, she has a point. I looked ahead and there’s no reason he couldn’t just explain what he’s going to explain without all of this fight scene.

What he does do is promise what she wants is in the temple and baits her into following.

Then he traps her and throws his sword into her gut.

Oh no!

Good thing she has an extra guy!

So apparently the real Mantis has been buried alive in a grave this whole time.

Half of this book being an uncredited rewrite, I’m pretty sure this is a retcon.

Mantis going around in a plant simulacrum is from Englehart. In his Silver Surfer book, that’s how she was hanging around in space. Formed a body out of alien plants to go on space adventures.

But when she blew up and ‘died’ in the fight against the Elders, she woke up in her Connecticut home with AMNESIA. The implication is that the body in Connecticut was her real body because why wouldn’t it be? Why make this convoluted?

Well, we’re making it convoluted.

Also, Mantis is not green anymore. She could turn herself not green. But since this is her original body, I guess she’s just not green.

Except later, when she helps form the Guardians of the Galaxy. Where she’ll be green again.

Shrug.

Since Mantis has her memories back, she Explains It All.

After the tree wedding, Mantis and Prime Cotati ditched their bodies and flew off into space to fuck a Celestial Messiah into being.

Mantis: “Love, after all, is for souls, not bodies.”

Well, you clearly don’t know how fucking works. Because that’s very much for the bodies.

While Mantis and Prime Cotati are off in space fucking with their souls, the Priest of Pama bury the abandoned bodies.

The Priests of Pama were definitely dead by this point but we’re in uncredited rewrite territory. The goal is to wrap this up and fire Englehart.

After getting soul pregnant, Mantis returned to Earth to make herself a plant body because her special hybrid baby is part tree so needs a tree womb.

Sure!

Then the rest of what’s happened since the tree wedding happens.

Mantis gives birth to Sequoia, her future dirtbag son. She raises him in a Connecticut suburb so her former superhero life doesn’t disturb the air of tranquility she’s going for.

When Sequoia is old enough, the Cotati come and take him off Mantis’ hands to teach him his tree heritage.

Left with nothing to do, Mantis decided to go exploring space. We know this part. She made a plant body to hang out with Silver Surfer. Died in one of his adventures and woke up in her original plant body in Earth with AMNESIA.

The Cotati Swordsman explains that he was pretty sure that killing her near her meat body would jog her memory and force her spirit back into her original body.

Cotati Swordsman: “I am glad I surmised correctly.”

Hell of a thing to gamble on, asshole.  

Then he tells Mantis to go live her best life. Because she’s done Celestial Madonna-ing. She made the Important Baby she needed to make. She took care of that pesky baby stage of things. Now she’s not needed anymore. “The child no longer needs a mother.”

And Prime Cotati wearing Swordsman is basically telling her to fuck off, she doesn’t get anything to do with her kid anymore.

Mantis tries to object or ask follow-up questions but Cotati Swordsman just moves on to talking to Hawkeye.

He bequeaths Swordsman’s sword to Hawkeye and then immediately crumbles to corpse dust and plant matter.

Hawkeye is clearly a bit perplexed by the ending of this Mantis quest but, well, it did end. Amnesia cured. He implicitly invites her to keep hanging out with the West coast Avengers.

But she needs time to process all this biz so she stays in Vietnam to meditate on a grave.

I have no doubt that if Englehart had remained as writer, Mantis would have stayed on the team. It also seems likely that if he remained as writer, the Mantis quest would not have been wrapped up this quickly. Not a single subplot in this book has wrapped up quickly.

What’s there to say here?

The rewritten part of this issue was meant to get Mantis out of the book as soon as possible because nobody likes her but Englehart and he has a habit of putting her in one of his books if he can get away with it and even if he can’t.

I like Mantis.

Mostly, that’s from her later Guardians stuff. But even in her time with the Avengers, even despite the stupid love triangle and the Celestial Madonna stuff, I liked her there too. And I liked when she got silly plant powers in Silver Surfer from fucking a tree man. And I like the tree wedding, as a joke. As a silly thing to tell people about that happened in comics.

There’s a lot of problems with the character and with Englehart’s writing for her. But I still like her.

So it is a shame that she’s in West Coast Avengers for, like, two issues.

And. Eesh. This isn’t a great wrap-up for her. Her amnesia is solved but mostly its nothing that hadn’t already been covered in her Silver Surfer appearances.

There’s a lot of problems with Englehart’s West Coast Avengers run so I’m not necessarily sad to see him go. He’s had 30ish some issues, some clunker stories, and it really is time for something new. But he’s being followed up by John “I’m going to mess up Vision” Byrne. And I don’t like that either.

So at the end of Englehart’s run, wherever it fell in this specific issue, it feels like out of the frying pan and into the fire. Because I’m gonna get Byrned. That’s the joke.

Follow @essential-avengers​ because I’m not a tree puppeting around a corpse of a supervillain turned superhero. And I think that gives me a lot of credibility. Like, reblog, and comment if you please. I’m lonely down here in the italics.

#avengers #essential avengers #west coast avengers #hawkeye #wonder man #the vision #scarlet witch #mantis #she's not listed as an avenger for this issue on marvel wiki #very rude #mockingbird #moon knight #tigra #swordsman #cotati swordsman #not a lot going on here #just some tree murder

[incorrectsibunaquotes]

I had the funniest idea that once the dust settles from Sibuna activities, that the other Egyptian gods and goddesses are looking over these rag tag children lead by the Chosen One (Anubis’ protege) and the Osirian (Osiris’ protege), and they think: “My word, I want one of those as well!” and they just start claiming their very own Sibunas to be their new priests and priestesses.

#anubis and osiris started a trend essentially and now the rest of the kids are suddenly being adopted by various gods #not to the same extent that nina and eddie are #but like thoth is constantly coming to fabian in dreams telling him to write bloody EVERYTHING down #amber and hathor start having girlie chats over coffee #cats start following patricia around because bastet has decided she’s the perfect acolyte for an avenging lion goddess #and so on #and Eddie and Nina are completely flabbergasted… as are Osiris and Anubis #house of anubis #idk might add this to my fic list

[moonsun2010]

some highlights from 3 October's entry:

Top left: "With his left hand he held both Mrs. Harker's hands, keeping them away with her arms at full tension; his right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man's bare breast which was shown by his torn-open dress."

Top right: "Her face was ghastly, with a pallor which was accentuated by the blood which smeared her lips and cheeks and chin; from her throat trickled a thin stream of blood; her eyes were mad with terror. Then she put before her face her poor crushed hands... and from behind them came a low desolate wail".

Bottom left: "She shuddered and was silent, holding down her head on her husband's breast. When she raised it, his white night-robe was stained with blood where her lips had touched, and where the thin open wound in her neck had sent forth drops."

and

"Harker was still and quiet; but over his face, as the awful narrative went on, came a grey look which deepened and deepened in the morning light, till when the first red streak of the coming dawn shot up, the flesh stood darkly out against the whitening hair."

Bottom right: ""Hush! there is someone in the corridor!" I got up softly, and crossing the room, gently opened the door.

Just outside, stretched on a mattress, lay Mr. Morris, wide awake."

#my art #dracula #dracula daily #just a few doodles to get this entry out of my system because holy hell what an entry #cw blood #mina harker #mina murray #jonathan harker #quincey morris #to have all this chaos in dracula happen on my birthday makes this entry extra banger to me hahaha #cw assault #one of these is not like the others lolol #man the aftermath of this is like. chilling. like truly the low point but also the turning point? from here the count is on the run #and jon definitelt wont stop till he gets vengence lol #but i cant help but think of the seeking vengence thing in comparison with shakespeare the rape of lucrece where lucrece is telling the men #who want to avenge her by killing tarquin #that their actions are essentially useless and it wouldnt really help her #theres deeper meaning but its the about gist of it. i cant help but compare that to minas plea to jon to stay when he wanted to go and #immediately hunt down the count too like ik we readers are baying for the counts blood at this point #but its interesting to think of how this idea of vengence and honour intersects with gender stuff in the novel. esp given victorian ideals

[musclesandhammering]

People who agree that Loki wasn’t mind controlled in Avengers get an instant follow from me

#influenced? yes #mind controlled and forced to do an invasion he was ever so against? no lmao #the sceptre decreased inhibitions and dialled up strong emotions #that’s it #so essentially he snorted a few lines of coke throughout the invasion and that’s that #he was lucid he was in control of his faculties he was fully aware of what was going on #he was just a lil extra spicy 💀 #loki meta #mcu #og loki #avengers 2012 #loki

[dead-chela]

Who is my new favorite AA character and why is it Sam’s mom

#Darlene Wilson is a true joy #what an essential episode #avengers assemble #avengers assemble cartoon #sam wilsom #Darlene Wilson

[distort-opia]

Every time I come across a "[insert any Gotham rogue] should be Batman's nemesis, Joker isn't a good narrative foil!" post I have to exercise vast amounts of self-control as to not explain why that is wrong, but what actually gets me about this take is that. Objectively, none of the Rogues make for the second best narrative foil/potential arch-enemy to Batman. It's actually Jason.

#IN THIS ESSAY I WILL-- #no but seriously. Two Face does come closest among the Rogues barring Joker #but Batman is inherently about the loss and avenging of FAMILY. a fact that seems woefully unmentioned in these discussions #Jason cuts right at the core of this essential theme. he's family lost in the process of trying to protect family #he's the unavenged. he's a character defined by Batman and betrayed by Batman #putting the entirety of Batman's proclaimed system of principles under doubt #it's so good!! #anyway. had to get this a little bit out of my system #rants.txt

[heliads]

the tumblrina urge to disregard studying for finals/write literally any request i have been given in favor of writing long extended plans for yet another series i will never actually write

#i have so many good ideas tho #i mean i need to finish unwind space au obviously #but then there's the maze runner fae au #au where katniss essentially becomes snow after the events of mockingjay #marvel au where to avoid the fallout of spiderman no way home extensive memory spells are cast on the avengers so none of them actually kno #who they are outside of the moniker (ex no one knows nat is black widow or steve is captain america or peter is spiderman etc) #or any number of other things currently locked inside my drafts #not writing

[rosieshipper]

So here’s an idea for Rose

What if she was the embodiment of Mother Nature herself? What if she was more then just the violet beast, a former avenger?

What if she traveled to the heart of the earth and truly discovered herself as the protector of all natural life?

Hmm what if indeed

Tags: @astralshipper @arickaandherfictionalothers

#I was thinking of what more could Rose be other than an avenger? #what if she was more? #after the avengers disband after Tony; Nat; and Steve Die #and after the events of multiverse of madness and the loss of her wife #and after her twin boys grow up #Rose in her old age finds herself leaving her home one night #being called to some unknown place #she doesn’t know where she’s going but she’s following the call #she finds herself in the densest of jungles on the planet and when she finally reaches the middle of it she finds and ancient shrine #one of a beautiful woman with long flowing hair #and stood up on a pedestal is a single glass orb #and when Rose touches it #she is given a vision #a vision of her becoming the very embodiment of Mother Nature herself and become the protector of all natural life #after her vision she is transformed and essentially becomes young once more and becomes immortal to forever roam and protect the earth #this is rambling at this point but I hope I get the point across #self shipping #self ship #selfshipping #self ship community #self insert #selfship community #f/o #marvel #mcu #rose stark #Rosemary stark #marvel oc #mcu oc

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers West Coast #51: I SING OF ARMS AND HEROES...

November, 1989

Guess who's BACK... and guess who aren't too sure they're HAPPY about it...

Well, Hank and Jan don't look too happy about it. Neither does US Agent. Lookit him frown, the gwumpy pumpkin. Wonder Man looks like he has dull surprise going on. I cannot fathom Robot Human Torch's expression. The man would do great at poker. Wanda looks like she's offended. That's a "how dare?!" expression if I've seen one. And Vision looks like he's staring directly at the sun and isn't sure why people keep screaming at him to stop.

So my guess is that Hank, Jan, John, and Wanda aren't happy about it and the others may or may not be happy about it.

They might have been more pleased to see Iron Man if he hadn't just flown through a perfectly good wall for no reason.

Last times in Avengers West Coast: Iron Man left the West Coast Avengers because of the Armor Wars arc in his own book. Wow, that was a while ago.

At the end of Armor Wars, Iron Man faked his own death by letting the government blow up an armor full of blood. When more Iron Manning was needed, Tony Stark just built a new suit and claimed he'd hired a new bodyguard/superhero.

And now, all these issues later, he's back to rejoin the Avengers because he's become more dependent on his armor due to stuff happening in his solo. He figures more time stuck in the armor, might as well be putting it to good use.

Also happening, Wanda has had the worst fucking period of her life (so far). Her husband got disassembled by the government, her teammates don't seem to care, her children keep blinking in and out of existence whenever she's not paying attention, evil bacteria shoved her full of goo until she became a mutant supremacist, the robot Human Torch came back to life to take the hottest robot on the team role from Vision. Just a lot going on!

I sure did talk about Wanda a lot in this issue featuring Iron Man.

Anyway.

Iron Man.

What a shiny guy he is.

Yeah. The Avengers (West Coast) aren't thrilled to see Iron Man.

Because: who even is this Iron Man?

US Agent John Walker is not privy to all the details of Iron Man's identity. But he does know that the original Iron Man was supposedly killed and a new guy took over.

Original Iron Man may have been a founder of the Avengers but New Iron Man is just Some Guy. Some Guy who can fuck off if he thinks he gets to swan in and get automatically put on the team.

Iron Man understands that he doesn't get any special consideration and says he's willing to go through whatever initiation process the Avengers consider necessary.

US Agent is a big company man so even though he's maybe the leader of the Avengers possibly? (he's done literally zero leading and nearly zero interacting with the team), he storms off to go call his handlers in Washington so they can tell him what to do.

With him gone, that just leaves Hank, Wasp, and Wonder Man who all know that Tony Stark is Iron Man. Or was. They know that at certain points, Tony Stark has been Iron Man.

(Way to just spill the beans in front of an Iron Man that you don't know whether he's Tony or not, guys)

So they ask Iron Man straight up if he's Tony.

For some reason that would probably make sense if I was reading Iron Man, Iron Man apologizes and says he can't say.

I do want to read olde Iron Man. One of these days, I want to dig into that backlog. He's one of the prominent Marvel characters I haven't read significant material from pre-2000.

Anyway.

On the other side of the compound, Scarlet Wanda and Vision.

Wanda is in a mood. Because she's been in a mood Byrne's whole run because shit keeps happening to her. Possibly goo related shit.

Vision: "It surprises me that you did not wish to stay for the meeting with Iron man, my wife. I am curious as to your reason..." Scarlet Witch: "Please, Vision... I know you're programmed to use words like 'surprised' and 'curious,' but I wish you wouldn't. It only emphasizes how much more robotic you've become." Vision: "My apologies, Wanda. It was my impression you wished me to sound as human as possible." Scarlet Witch: "Human? Why would I wish that, husband? Why would any mutant worthy of the name wish to associate herself with humans?" Vision: "And yet... you are a mutant, and for years, you have gladly associated with the Avengers -- most of whom are human." Scarlet Witch: "A passing weakness, Vision."

Okay. Seriously. Did nobody think to de-gooify her after that Absolom University adventure? Give her a medical check or anything?

I'm getting a little perturbed with how little a shit this era of the West Coast Avengers seem to give about each other.

Nobody noticed Tigra was going nuts. Nobody bothered to do anything as Wanda has clearly been emotionally spiraling. Wasp decides to help Wonder Man undermine Wanda's marriage.

You all suck.

Wanda is behaving like a jerk now but at least we know external factors contributed. The rest of you just suck.

Anyway, Wanda and Vision reach their quarters and find Agatha Harkness waiting for them there.

Hi, Agatha.

Are you the Agatha that does horrible shit to Wanda to teach her something or the Agatha that's helpful without being traumatizing?

I feel like Wanda is a couple pieces of straw from just breaking so maybe considering the latter approach today.

Also, maybe consider calling ahead.

The last time Wanda and Vision saw Agatha, in the second Vision and the Scarlet Witch series, Agatha was burned at the stake.

She tells them that being burned at the stake sucked but that's not what she's here to talk about.

She's here to talk about Wanda's kids.

Wanda's weirdo kids. To talk about them and to understand what precisely they are.

Scarlet Witch: "They are only children. Normal in every way!" Agatha Harkness: "Normal, Wanda? With a mother who is a mutant and a father who is a synthezoid?"

Rude.

Agatha tells Wanda that her kids are far from normal and if she hadn't been busy resurrecting herself, she would have been here sooner.

Agatha Harkness: "But you already know yourself, that when you are not thinking about them... they disappear!"

Vision asks if that's true but Wanda denies it. BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY AS A GOOD MOM SHE IS ALWAYS THINKING OF HER KIDS AT ALL TIMES 100%.

Agatha pulls the nuh uh on this. There have been recent times where she was too distracted in battle or knocked unconscious where obviously she wasn't thinking about her kids. And wee baby Thomas and William just cease to exist during those times.

Remember those times? All those times they disappeared, freaking out the governesses? Who tried to report it to Wanda and got fired for it?

Wanda refuses to listen to this. Literally putting her hands over her ears and shouting she won't hear it.

Eesh.

Agatha tells Vision that Wanda will need his strength and love more than ever and oof is she behind the times. The government took away his capacity to love! Bad timing!

Elsewhere, up in the sky, a bird, a comet, a (robot) human torch!

Jim Hammond took off when the Avengers grouped up to meet with Iron Man. He took the time to fly over the countryside for about a half hour, just get an idea of how much things have changed.

And he's amazed! To him, it looks like 400 years have passed instead of just 40.

He lands back at the Avengers West Coast Compound and lands right into some drama without even trying.

Ann Raymond saw him being all human torchy and mistakes him for Toro. And when she realizes he's Jim Hammond instead, she, of course, gets upset because for an instant she let her hopes get up and now she's been reconfronted with the fact that her husband died in an entirely stupid and unnecessary way.

And now Jim knows Toro's dead too and is also emotionally staggered by the news.

Also: demons.

Flaming fireballs! Demons!!

Robot Human Torch gets immediately slapped into the pool. A sad casualty of being the first one the demons run into.

But Ann screaming alerted the other Avengers and they assemble and start walloping demons.

Hank Pym suggests that if a bunch of demons suddenly show up to the Avengers West Coast Compound, why there's only possible explanation.

Iron Man: "You mean it's MASTER PANDEMONIUM?? But the last we saw of him, he was being swept away by the river of oblivion... deep in the realm of Mephisto!"

Hank Pym makes a mental note of Iron Man knowing about the Avengers' last encounter with Master Pandemonium. Because Tony Stark Iron Man was on the team at the time. So is this Tony or did Tony just brief New Iron Man on all his Avengers' cases?

I don't know why Tony isn't telling the Avengers he's him so I don't know how tense it should be that Hank is piecing things together.

Anyway!

US Agent comes out to yell at the commotion and he's not really alarmed by a sudden invasion of demons. It does make him punchy so he starts punching.

Robot Human Torch pulls himself out of the pool. He's soaking wet but all he has to do is FLAME ON! to boil the water away.

Then he can "show these demonic delinquents how we used to deal with their kind back in the 50's!"

Did... you deal with a lot of demons in the 50's specifically?

Wasp takes note that the demons don't seem to be after anything and aren't really trying that hard to kill the Avengers. So why are they here?

Whoops, they're a distraction.

While the Avengers are outside fighting the demons, Master Pandemonium busts into Wanda and Vision's quarters right when Wanda is about to have a nervous breakdown over everything that's happened to her over the past few weeks.

Agatha Harkness tries to ward off the demons with her witchcraft but Master Pandemonium tries belches hellfire in her face.

Gross.

Vision tries to do the intangible fisting thing he does which either works great or doesn't work at all.

Whoops, this is one of the times it doesn't work at all.

Master Pandmemonium just blasts out demons from his arms to overwhelm Vision.

Leaving only Wanda to face him, as she boasts that nothing can withstand her hex power.

Although she seems to fend him off and force him to retreat, she doesn't notice until he's gone that one of his demons snuck behind her and yoinked the children.

He drags the poor, probably innocent tots down to probably Hell.

What does he want from them?

Well, first, he wants a captive audience to recap his entire backstory.

Villains gonna villain.

He was an actor man who drunk drove himself into a bad car crash that cost him his arm. As a big Hollywood type in the 80s, he was big into the occult?? Apparently? So he called upon dark powers, promising his soul for his arm back.

Mephisto was bored and decided this would be funny so he replaced the guy's arm with demons. And then he replaced all his limbs with demons.

Mephisto's sense of humor is beyond me.

He didn't want the guy's soul so he ripped it out, broke it into five pieces, and scattered them around.

Master Pandemonium has been searching for them since, trying to become whole.

He found one with the Cat Demon People of Tigra's origin. But whatever Englehart was planning for this dude, he didn't get around to. Guy got one soul piece back and then dropped out of the plot.

So Byrne is bringing back that plot thread.

Master Pandeominum declares to these two stupid children who don't understand any of this that kidnapping them will allow him to replace his missing 4/5ths of a soul much more efficiently than all his aimless searching up until now.

Now, I know where this is going already. It is renowned, infamously.

But try to make your best guesses before I get to the end of the issue. See how close you get.

Anyway.

In the pressing urgency of some innocent children being kidnapped... the Avengers all sit down to discuss classic sitcoms.

That's a fair response, to be honest.

But here's how the conversation unfolds.

Instead of leaping into action, the Avengers sit around and quiz Agatha on how she's alive again. Even though she keeps telling them it was fucking magic and it's not going to make sense to their science brains.

Wonder Man chimes in that HE's seen Bewitched so he can vouch for Agatha's point.

So Wanda starts yelling at him for talking about television when her children are kidnapped.

Wasp tells Wanda to settle down. Clearly they're treating this with all due urgency! Since, y'know, maybe her kids are fake as shit. Maybe they've just stopped existing again like all the governesses said.

And that's when Wanda does her a slap.

Granted, her mutant supremacy is not called for but, yeah, the Avengers are all a bunch of jerks now who can't muster a bit of urgency when a demon man kidnaps some children.

Wasp isn't even hurt because of her small size. But she is concerned that Wanda said that thing the way she did about humans.

Anyone else concerned? Nobody else reacting? Okay.

Wanda begs Agatha to help her follow Master Pandemonium.

I'm surprised we didn't start with that but I've already made clear how I feel about how the team is reacting to this.

Master Pandemonium tried to hide his path but Agatha took precautions when he first arrived so she can trace him. But Wanda can't do it alone! So... will the Avengers step up to action when a witch very lightly implies that they should?

Yes. They finally get their asses in gear and jump through the swirling magic portal.

Even US Agent agrees that where Wanda goes, the Avengers go too. Which is a big team player moment from the guy who doesn't seem to realize he's leading a superhero team.

Watching from the time Limbo that isn't the demonic Limbo or the game Limbo, Immortus freaks the fuck out.

This wasn't how things were supposed to go for his vague yet menacing plan!

And he can't do anything to alter the flow of events because, I dunno, he can't touch demonic realms. So if anything happens to Wanda, he won't be able to protect her!

Dun dun dun??

I wonder what his vague yet menacing evil plan needs Wanda for?

Back at the Avengers, Hank Pym asks Jim Hammond Human Torch to stay behind to watch the Compound.

So despite making a big deal about him joining the team last issue, with WANDA BRINGING HIM BACK FROM THE DEAD, he gets to sit on his ass for the rest of this story.

What a weird writing decision.

Byrne is all over the place with all the subplots he's juggling for this book and a lot of them just get backburnered hard.

Iron Man gets to go. And he hasn't even officially (re)joined the Avengers at this point. They don't even know if they can trust him because he won't admit to being Tony Stark to his closest friends, for some reason.

The Avengers and Iron Man arrive in a seemingly peaceful fairy tale glade but Agatha's floating head warns them not to trust it.

And the very scenery attacks them a few panels later so. Yeah. Floating Head Agatha called it.

In the distance, past all the killer foliage, Wasp spots a building made of twisted agony.

The Avengers fight their way through the angry vegetation and Scarlet Witch blows open the twisted agony fortress front door with her probability manipulation.

But they find that Master Pandemonium is ready for them. Waiting for them.

And he's done the dumbest thing possible.

He's attached Billy and Tommy to his arms so now he has literal baby hands.

It's horrifying.

It's also the dumbest thing possible.

He's so proud of himself for thinking of this.

Was this where you would have guessed him kidnapping some babies was going to go?

Also, jamming babies onto his arms seems to have filled in two points on the star shaped hole in his tum tum.

I used to like what a silly concept Master Pandemonium's entire deal was. But he's ruined it by going even dumber.

For shame, everything that went into making, publishing, and printing this comic book. For shame. You took a perfectly goofy villain and you ruined him.

Follow @essential-avengers and maybe like or reblog. I appreciate being appreciated.

#avengers #essential avengers #west coast avengers #Master Pandemonium #US Agent #Wonder Man #the Wasp #hank pym #dr pym #Scarlet Witch #the Vision #robot Human Torch #Iron Man #Agatha Harkness #Immortus #for some damn reason #this ends on a really dumb note

[githvyrik]

see the thing abt me is I take the roleplaying in video games so seriously that I just start making shit up about the character I play and their rich inner history and complications and motivations and hobbies and quirks. so basically I made up too much of a backstory and personality for my bg3 character and now I don’t even wanna finish the stupid game I just wanna play this character in a dnd campaign

#their name is tisiphone they’re a tiefling paladin. oath of vengeance because it’s edgy #and I made up a lot of tiefling lore #wherein sometimes part of the price for making a pact with an archdevil is that they can essentially claim one of your descendants #to do some shit for them #so basically this human kid one day randomly got claimed by zariel (bc of course it’s zariel) and kinda got rejected by society #and then went to a gladiator ring where they found somewhere to live #and they formed a group with 2 others whose stage names are megaera and alecto #tisiphone is their stage name. it’s a furies thing #anyways at some point smth happened to the other 2 they probably got grabbed by their respective archdevils #and now this character is looking for traces of them and is out to avenge them or whatever it’s not all solid in my head #anyways. you don’t care. but anyways I think it’s like. their ‘scariness’ was super played up in the ring #as the equivalent of their like wrestling persona (but with more death) #so they had to get all these scary tattoos and they have devil horns and scary eyes #but they’re actually like. nice to comedic effect. and rly shy #idk I just think it’d be funny. #anyways is any of this relevant to bg3??? no. and I don’t care

[navree]

if there’s one thing that always surprises me when reading macbeth, it’s the explicit point shakespeare makes that being A Man isn’t just being insensitive and brushing off your feelings, but letting yourself feel them, and an explicit denunciation of the ideas the macbeths have that maculinity involves the denial of feelings. 

like, macbeth is our protagonist but decidedly a villain, and his turns to full dark comes as he desensitizes himself to death, not caring about the death of his wife when he was a wreck at the death of the king earlier in the play. and lady macbeth never caring and never feeling about death or even anything in general is meant to show the audience that she’s been Wicked since day one (she’s interpreted in a lot of different ways and i love them all but it’s textual that we’re meant to see the macbeths, and lady macbeth in particular, as bad people). 

and then contrast it to macduff, our beacon of goodness and virtue, our embodiment of what good traits are, who very clearly and loudly responds to malcom telling him ‘be a man and avenge your family’s deaths’ with “i shall do so, / but i must also feel it as a man.”, explicitly tying in his masculinity with his ability to feel his emotions about the situation and not shy away from there or how they make him act. macduff is a good guy, the seminal good guy of the play, the hero defeating the tyrant king, and he’s really clear on the idea that masculinity involves emotional sensitivity, feeling your emotions and acknowledging the depth of them is what it means to ‘be a man’.

it’s always a message that hits no matter how many times i interact with the play.

#personal #macbeth #also malcolm is an asshole for seeing a man rent asunder with grief and essentially going 'just fight it out man' #like no macduff is right he needs to feel it not just avenge it #i just really love macduff he's my number one scottish boy

[daydreamerdrew]

The Avengers (1963) #7

#so in that Tales of Suspense issue Tony temporarily quit being Iron Man because he was sick of his life #having to split his time between two identities all the while not being happy #because he can’t enjoy himself even with his wealth and popularity #because of his damaged heart meaning he never knows which moment will be his last #he decided that he could enjoy whatever time he has left in his life if he quit being Iron Man and focused on playboy stuff #of course the issue had disaster strike during the single night off his retirement as Iron Man ended up being #which makes Tony vow to never give up on being Iron Man #which because him quitting only lasted for a night off it reads like he’s saying he’ll never even take a night to himself again #I think that it makes sense that Tony would be punished for this as it’s explained to the other Avengers as #‘I allowed a personal problem to effect my sense of duty.’ #emphasis on ‘sense of duty’ there- it wasn’t because there was some other more pressing emergency that he had to deal with #but it doesn’t really make sense to me that his punishment is essentially a week off from the Avengers #you’d think they’d make him do more work to make up for flaking and to prove his commitment #marvel #tony stark #thor odinson #steve rogers #my posts #comic panels

[lee-sol]

“ you look a bit lost, but i don’t think you’re gonna find answers in a place like this. i think i’m the definition of an unreliable source. ”

@hxnger-unbcund liked this for a one liner !!

#hxnger-unbcund #// for your marvel verse mayhaps? #// i need to write his out but he’s essentially a barista in the heart of new york city #// he’s seen a few of the avengers in person #( in character. )

[whyrubuyingclothesatthesoupstore]

So maybe this is late. So maybe this is short. So maybe I might have slightly misinterpreted the prompt. Anyway,

@routeweek day 1 (late?) (easiest choice/hardest choice)

Keiji has always been a selfish person. That’s what he liked to think, at least.

By now there was no point for him to try and be something else. He missed so many opportunities to better himself that he doubted he’d ever get another one. Though even if he did, he’d probably fail if he took it up anyway. It would be easier to just accept he’s reached the point of no return than to try and change now. He’d never be able to wash all this blood off his hands, so there was no reason to be afraid of staining them further.

Keiji told himself that after he realized Sara had the sacrifice. Trying to save her now would just mean risking his own life, and he would rather live with the guilt of killing Sara than die for her sake. Self-sacrifice was a heroic act, and Keiji couldn’t see himself dying a hero after all he’s done. He was less someone’s knight in shining armor and more an executioner, someone to punish a criminal after the crime was already committed. Maybe he couldn’t be the one to save her life, but at least he could avenge her death.

Keiji told himself that after he finally cornered Sou. Maybe it looked like defeating a dangerous villain, and maybe that’s how the others saw it, but Keiji knew he was just doing this because of a personal grudge. Sou has been a thorn in his side since the beginning, and now it was finally time to get rid of him. If everyone else went along with this plan, it would’ve been the most direct out of the murders Keiji’s committed. If Sou’s name was really Sou, and if Kanna didn’t end up standing up for him, it would’ve been the murder Keiji regretted the least.

Keiji told himself that after he voted for Kanna. It wasn’t the worst thing he’d done in his life. He wanted to live, she wanted to die. Killing her would mean everyone had a better chance of survival, the other kids included. There was no reason to think about it further than that, so he chose what was easiest for him and hoped that Sara would do the same.

And she did. It’s just that for her, the easiest option was a bit different.

Keiji had no right to judge, really. But when he watched Sou — or Shin — leave the main game grounds covered in his own blood, he couldn't help but feel… Disappointed? Dejected? Guilty? He wasn’t really sure. Maybe he was just annoyed at the lost opportunity of escape, maybe he wished he would have actually gotten to know Shin outside of their pointless fights, or maybe it was just out of pity, but Keiji found himself in the ruined corridor long after everyone else had left. He didn’t go into that room, of course, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to leave either. He wouldn’t fall asleep if he went to his room anyway, so maybe this was the better option.

“I think you should leave,” He heard, and turned around to see Safalin standing in the doorway. She didn’t make eye contact, instead looking at the floor and fidgeting mindlessly. She sobbed quietly before continuing. “We need to collect the body… It would be bothersome with you here.”

“Right,” Keiji replied as the woman hurried to the room of rubble, wiping away fake tears. He didn’t say anything else and instead headed to the lobby. No point trying to argue with someone like her, especially over a dead body. It was easier to just give in and leave.

#routeweek #routeweek2022 #not maintagging this cause I'm not that proud of how it turned out #honestly I'm glad that this even TURNED OUT #anyway I have brainworms over Keiji's behaviour in chapter two #the way he essentially tries to avenge Sara's death WHILE SHE'S STILL ALIVE #what is Wrong with him <3 #hopefully I didn't make this too shippy. I didn't mean to I swear it came out on it's own #haha get it. came out #okay I'll just post this now.

[bridgetoon]

I love that in avengers assemble, it's a kids show so whenever a bad guy is neutralising the avengers it's usually to the point of knocking them down or locking them up, with only the implication that they want to kill them, except when it's Tony, in which case they aim right for the arc reactor, which will 100% kill him

#avengers assemble #tony stark #its so funny to me even sams contingency plan was essentially short out the armour which implies shorting out the arc #and then when its made into a really strong magnet sams advice is to take it out. like boy that will KILL him #bridge.talkies #watchthoughts

[age-of-moonknight]

“Age of Khonshu: Part 1 - Moon Knight vs. The Avengers,” The Avengers (Vol. 8/2018), #33.

Writer: Jason Aaron; Penciler and Inker: Javier Garrón; Colorist: Jason Keith; Letterer: Cory Petit

#Marvel #Marvel comics #Marvel 616 #The Avengers #Avengers vol. 8 #Avengers 2018 #Moon Knight comics #Moon Knight #Marc Spector #Steven Grant #Jake Lockley #Mr. Knight #Khonshu #ouch oof my bones #“the road to hell is paved with good intentions” and what not #which is ironic seeing as they go to what is essentially the deepest circle of Hell next #but yeah I’ll probably be wrestling with this endlessly #with how much I can blame Khonshu for this #because I do believe that /Marc/ believes that he’s trying to avoid a horrible fate even if he hates the means he stoops to #but Khonshu’s noxious influence is undeniable too…so yeah