Welcome back to our continuing Avengers coverage!
Picking up where
we left off, we start with
Avengers #35 (December 1966, art by
Don Heck) and, welcome aboard
Roy Thomas, as the new writer of the team, taking over for
Stan Lee.
This is the beginning of a more advanced Avengers run, so we’ll be
moving through a little more quickly, and taking advantage of the rich
history of the team and how much more connected the Avengers universe
becomes.
Carrying A Heavy Load
The team proceeded along as usual, finishing their battle against the
Living Laser, and fighting the invading robots called the Ultroids
(over the course of issues
#36 and
37, until meeting up with a demi-god in
Avengers #38
(March 1967) and this was a different demi-god than the mighty Thor,
who had been a member!). Though, oddly enough, that’s where he got his
start.
Yes, Hercules began his legendary journeys (for mighty Marvel) in
Journey Into Mystery Annual #1 (1965, by
Stan Lee and
Jack Kirby),
then the son of Zeus continued his battles with Thor in his own
magazine for a time, as well as his own Olympian father, Zeus (himself
no stranger to using lightning as a weapon, not unlike Thor), and the
Olympian lord of the underworld, Pluto (as Hercules tried to take
Hollywood and got into a bad contract that his friend Thor helped him
out with…ironic, as Hercules wasn’t to be in the Thor movie, or the
Avengers movie…), before becoming a guest of the Avengers after a battle
with the Enchantress, who wasn’t above using strong men in attempts to
defeat the team.
The Avengers kept this super-strong demi-god busy for a while (fighting the Hulk in
Tales To Astonish #79, Fantastic Four foes like the Mad Thinker in
#39, Sub-Mariner in
#40, Diablo and the Dragon Man in
#41 and
42,
meeting Black Widow along the way, who was having commitment issues
with Hawkeye and the Red Guardian – a Russian version of Captain America
- and she didn’t join the Avengers at this time in
#43 and
44.
The Avengers faced a team of Avengers villains including former Avenger, the
Swordsman, and the Enchantress and her two other strong men, Power Man
and the Executioner, in their first Annual) before finally letting him join the team in
Avengers #45 (October 1967, drawn by
Don Heck, while facing the Super-Adaptoid, who had previously only menaced Captain America in
Tales of Suspense). The team deals with Magneto in
Avengers #47 and
49, and a few other problems like t
he Black Knight in
Avengers #48 as well.
Hercules didn’t stick around long, leaving soon after a confrontation with the titan Typhon in
Avengers #50 (March 1968, drawn by
John Buscema, and Typhon first appeared in
Avengers #49, also by
John,
though not on the cover) …and disappeared for a while after that as
well. Over the years, Hercules would wander back to the team (usually
to fight an Olympian menace like Ares, Herc’s half-brother and the god
of war) and leave the Avengers for a time, meet up with Thor and help
the son of Odin, co-founded the Champions (with
Black Widow, Ghost Rider, Angel and Iceman) to combat Pluto, and just
be the great Greek almost-god that he was living the life in Hollywood,
and even recently became strong enough to carry his own title, the
Incredible Hercules! True, Hercules has had difficulties over the years, but he’s always fought back!
African Royalty
But,
with Hercules leaving, the team needed a new member, and were lucky
enough to find one in the acrobatic Black Panther. T’Challa started out
in
Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966, by
Stan Lee and
Jack Kirby),
and he was the chieftain of the land of Wakanda, a technologically
advanced nation in Africa that controls the world’s supply of vibranium
(a metal which absorbs vibrations). After testing himself against the
FF, they aid him in his battle with Ulysses Klaw, the man who killed
T’Chaka, the Panther’s father. T’Challa defeats Klaw, who returns as a
being of sound thanks to his mechanical hand in
Fantastic Four #56. (November 1966, by
Lee and
Kirby). After aiding the Fantastic Four and the Inhumans in a battle with the emotion-manipulating Psycho Man in
Fantastic Four Annual #5, (November 1967, by
Lee and
Kirby) Black Panther goes to meet Captain America in
Tales of Suspense #97-99 (1968) and
Captain America #100 (April 1968, all by
Lee and
Kirby), as together, they battle the forces of Baron Zemo.
When the king and the super-soldier defeat the faux Zemo, Cap suggests that the Avengers take Black Panther as a member in
Avengers #51 (April 1968, art by
John Buscema) and T’Challa joins the team in
Avengers #52 (May 1968, drawn by
John Buscema)
where the team needs the help against the Grim Reaper – a foe just
introduced, but with ties to the Avengers’ past, he’s the brother of
Simon Williams/Wonder Man (whom the Avengers haven’t dealt with since
his “death” at the hands of the Masters of Evil), who holds the Avengers
responsible for Wonder Man’s death. The Grim Reaper is the first of
many villains that are introduced at this time that will come back to be
a constant menace to the Avengers, no matter what their membership.
After
a quick battle with the X-Men in
X-Men #45 and
Avengers #53, the new Avengers face a new Masters of Evil in
Avengers #54-55,
that includes some of the original members like the Melter and
Radioactive Man, plus Black Panther foe Klaw and Whirlwind (formerly the
Giant-Man & Wasp foe, the Human Top, who changed his name to
Whirlwind when he returned in
Avengers #46 to combat
Goliath), a new Black Knight (Dane Whitman, the nephew of Nathan Garrett
of the original Masters of Evil, who died after sustaining injuries
fighting Iron Man…and as the Avengers found out in
Avengers #48, was not villainous) and mystery villain, the Crimson Cowl, who is really the robotic Ultron (making his first appearance in
Avengers #54, July, 1968 drawn by
John Buscema). Ultron is like the Energizer Bunny, he just keeps going!
The
coming of Ultron…leads into the induction of the next two Avengers, and
their creation as well, which the team deals with after getting a
little more information on Cap’s past and how he came to be frozen in
Avengers #56, (September 1968, art by
John Buscema)
and dealing with the time-traveling Scarlet Centurion (yes, he’s an
alternate Kang too and comes back as a menace to another alternate
world) and alternate versions the early Avengers in
Avengers Annual #2
(1968). This is an early example of the Avengers traveling to
alternate dimensions and through time…something they will continue to
do, even recruiting from those places…and time is something that will
reveal more about the next Avenger as well....and we'll have more on them soon!
Though Black Panther didn't leave the Avengers for a while, it take a little time for him to get his own series, first in
Jungle Action (from issues
#5 to
#24), then his first own series that lasted 15 issues from January, 1977 to May, 1979 (finally ending in
Marvel Premiere #51 to
#53), and back to working with the Fantastic Four, and having a few mini-series, and then a 62 issue series from November, 1998 to September, 2003 and another regular series lasting 41 issues from April, 2005 to November, 2008 that involves him with the X-Men and Fantastic Four as well as the Avengers and the Civil War!
