Captain America – Some Assembly Required

Avengers #88
Story: Harlan Ellison
Adaptation: Roy Thomas
Penciller: Sal Buscema
Inker: Jim Mooney
Letterer: Shelly Leferman

Featured Issue: Avengers #88

Plot Summary

That poor, unfortunate and misunderstood former Avenger known as the Hulk finds himself at the unrelenting mercy of two pulsating electrodes. Within Boulder Dam, and at the direction of General Thunderbolt Ross, Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four and Professor Xavier attempt to use the device in question to subdue the Hulk. After months of preparation and in concert with Tony Stark, the scientists are nearing the end of their work, the goal of which is to rescue Bruce Banner from the curse he is forced to live with. Although the Hulk is mighty, eventually even he succumbs to the power flowing in to him. As Hulk’s consciousness slips away, Ross orders the power cut so that they may move on to the next step of their plan.

Elsewhere, in a remote jungle, the Avengers find themselves slogging in search of answers. Only a few short hours ago Captain America agreed to join his partner, Falcon, on a mission to locate a friend who had gone missing near New Orleans. Upon arrival in the Big Easy, the pair discover that Ralph had wandered off into the bayou in some form of trance. As they traced their query, the heroes quickly stumbled on a voodoo ritual being performed. Cap and Falcon are almost immediately discovered and attacked by the cultists who have been driven to a frenzy by the words of the voodoo priest. Unbeknownst to the heroes, the local police department is waiting just on the edge of the bayou, ready to confront the cultists. As the situation deteriorates and the police move in, Falcon is saved from a potentially mortal blow from the priest by his trusty bird, Redwing. Falcon is then able to unmask the priest and to his horror he discovers that it is Ralph, the friend he had been looking for. Ralph is still in some form of trance, only muttering a set of longitude and latitude coordinates. With this information, the pair return to Avengers Mansion in order to investigate things further.

Back at their headquarters, the assembled Avengers agree to join Cap and Falcon in their search, though not all of the team will be joining. Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and Vision have all promised Reed Richards that they would stay behind on monitor duty. Even more shocking is the announcement by Black Panther that he will be leaving the team and returning to his kingdom of Wakanda, and thus will not be joining the expedition. With this, Captain America and Falcon are joined by Thor, Iron Man and Goliath on their quest for answers. As the team wades through the jungles of an unnamed Pacific island, they are shocked by what they encounter. At first it appears to be a living, breathing dragon, but on closer inspection it is a stone carving of unknown design. What is most shocking however is that the face of the creature matches exactly the mask worn by Ralph, the voodoo priest. An unlikely coincidence to be sure.

Back in Boulder Dam, Reed Richards directs a soldier on how best to use a special crane to lift the motionless body of the Hulk for transport into the specially designed Coma-crypt. Just as the team is ready to begin their task, the Hulk starts to become transparent and eventually blinks out of existence entirely. Or at least that is what the team at Boulder Dam is lead to believe. In reality, Hulk has been transported by a humanoid being that identifies itself only as Psyklops, a member of an ancient race that occupied the Earth before mankind. Psyklops has been awakened by the Dark Gods whom his people worshiped and who also placed his race in an eternal slumber. Just as he is about to explain their nefarious purpose, Psyklops senses the approach of the Avengers. Not wishing to be disturbed, he dispatches a creature to deal with the intruders. The beast is powerful to say the least, but eventually the Avengers are able to gain the upper hand and a powerful final strike from Mjolnir lays the creature low. Entering the subterranean lair, the Avengers find the passageways lined with bizarre looking gargoyles which remind Iron Man of something straight out of a comic book. With time growing short, Psyklops explains that he intends to use Hulk as a food source to power the Dark Gods to which he answers in order that his people may be awakened once again. So that he may make the best use of Hulk’s awesome power, Psyklops decides to shrink him down so that he may be more easily analyzed. Just as the shrinking process begins, the Avengers arrive on scene and immediately confront Psyklops. His attention distracted, Psyklops accidentally allows Hulk to be shrunken down, past the intended point, and apparently into nothingness. With his experiment a failure and knowing he is out number, Psyklops turns a device on the Avengers who are instantly transported back to New York, landing on a subway platform. Not only that, but the device wiped their memories clean of the whole incident, leading the team to wonder exactly why they were trying to catch a train in the first place.

Avengers

Black Panther
Captain America
Falcon
Goliath
Iron Man
Quicksilver
Scarlet Witch
Thor
Vision

Villains

Psyklops

Plot Summary

In the early hours of September 21st, 1970, the island of Manhattan begins to awake to a new and horrific reality. As the sun rises, the citizenry is stunned to find that they are being held hostage by a small and well armed military force. Although the NYPD make a desperate stand, they are laid low by a gas attack, knocked unconscious by the non-lethal concoction. With the primary form of resistance under control, the army goes about destroying bridges and tunnels and then taking the mayor into custody.

Deep within the White House, the President receives the ransom demands from Aries, leader of the criminal cartel known as Zodiac. Aries makes it clear that he and his forces are in complete control of Manhattan, having just defeated an attempt by Army paratroopers to invade the island in an effort to retake it from Zodiac. Not only was the invasion defeated, but now all the paratroopers have been added to the island’s population as hostages. To make matters worse, Aries displays the motionless figures of Thor, Iron Man, Captain America and Quicksilver. Aries then demands one billion dollars in ransom or else he will begin to execute the entire population of the island. As the news makes its way across the nation, the remaining Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man all wonder what kind of help they might be able to render from outside the ensnared island.

Unbeknownst to the invading army, the Avenger, Black Panther remains free and on the run. Having recently aided Daredevil, Black Panther heads to Hell’s Kitchen in order to again illicit his aid in saving the city. Unfortunately, Daredevil’s alter ego, Assistant District Attorney Matt Murdock is wanted by the occupying army. Just as they are about to take him in to custody, Black Panther kills the lights in Murdock’s office allowing Daredevil to make quick work of the two soldiers. Black Panther then quickly catches Daredevil up on the current situation and that to the best of his knowledge the pair are the only two heroes left free in Manhattan. The duo decide that their first objective should be to rescue the Avengers from the television studio where they were being held.

Smashing their way through a skylight, Daredevil and Black Panther eliminate the waiting guards. Unfortunately for them, Aries had foreseen this possibility and moved the Avengers away from the studio shortly after recording his ransom message. Although he faces the heroes alone, Aries still holds the Key to the Zodiac, his supremely powerful badge of office. Using the emblem, Aries destroys the station, knocking out Black Panther. Fortunately for Black Panther, Daredevil faired better and manages to drag his comrade out of the burning building.

Knowing that his position is vulnerable, Aries decides to make an example of the captive Avengers as punishment for Daredevil and Black Panther’s defiance. Soon, Zodiac’s army has rounded up thousands of New Yorkers and herded them in to Madison Square Garden in order to watch the execution. Among those in the crowd is Daredevil, once again in the guise of his alter ego, Matt Murdock. When Aries’ plan becomes clear, Murdock begins to rouse the crowd into an angry mob, hoping to overwhelm their captors. While some members of the crowd join in, others are too afraid to resist. Murdock is quickly taken captive by the soldiers, but not before launching a fine wire out of his cane and into the machine holding the Avengers in suspended animation, causing it to fail. No longer immobilized, the Avengers break free of their restraints and with the help of Black Panther and Daredevil, quickly route Zodiac’s army. Aware that he is rapidly losing control of the situation, Aries flees in his aircraft but is pursued by Thor. Before the Asgardian Avenger is able to stop him, Aries directs the nerve paralyzing force field around the island to begin closing in, attempting to kill everyone in Manhattan. Thor then manages to land on the aircraft and using his enormous power, destroys the plane and shutting down the field. With their leader gone and a counter attack sure to begin any moment, Zodiac’s army surrenders to the Army. Back at Avengers Mansion, the reunited team realizes that their various missions were all related as Cornelius Van Lunt was using his land in order to train the invasion force. When the Avengers thwarted Van Lunt’s plans, Zodiac was forced to move up their time table so they wouldn’t be detected by the Native Americans. Their mission complete, Daredevil says he farewells and takes leave of the Avengers.

Tag: Captain America

The Summons Of Psyklops

Featured Issue: Avengers #88

Plot Summary

Avengers

Villains

Hostage!

Featured Issue: Avengers #82

Plot Summary

Avengers

Villains