Iron Man – Some Assembly Required

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 #86

Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciller: Sal Buscema
Inker: Jim Mooney
Letterer: Shelly Leferman

Featured Issue: Avengers #86

Plot Summary

As the Avengers race across the sky, time is running short. With Nighthawk at the controls, the Squadron Supreme’s aircraft hurries towards the launch site or Brain Child One, the solar probe which will soon be responsible for the destruction of the Earth and the extermination of humanity. Little do the Avengers know that their every action is being closely monitored by a mysterious figure.

At the launch site the remaining members of the Squadron Supreme spot the incoming aircraft and wonder what it could possibly be doing at the launch site so close to launch. After landing, the Avengers rush out in an attempt to stop the launch while Nighthawk remains behind to power down the aircraft. Seeing four unknown costumed persons rushing towards them, the Squadron Supreme spring in to action, fulfilling their sworn duty to protect the rocket launch. When Quicksilver attempts to rush past, he is sent reeling in the opposite direction after a collision with Hyperion. Not waiting to see how the rest of the scenario plays out, Dr. Spectrum orders Whizzer to immediately launch Brain-Child One. Although Whizzer completes his mission the rocket is stopped by the incredible powers of Scarlet Witch’s Hex Bolts which cause the engines to misfire. Just as the Squadron Supreme is poised to take the offensive, Nighthawk intervenes.

With the situation diffused, Nighthawk and the Avengers take a minute to explain their apocalyptic experience and the encounter in Avengers Mansion. Again in their discussions the name of Brain-Child comes up and when the Avengers press the question, Dr. Spectrum fills in the heroes. Although Arnold was born a seemingly normal child, at a young age he began to show incredible intelligence, attributed to the radiation exposure both of his parents received. As he aged and his intellect grew he began to experiment on himself in order to further increase is brain power. As a side effect he began to suffer from a severely distended skull, causing others to treat him like a freak. At age 9 he began to work for the military designing missiles. Even this did not satisfy him and he soon moved to an island off the west coast where he could work in peace. The Avengers and Squadron Supreme decide that a visit to Brain-Child’s island is in order question the genius further. Back on Earth, Iron Man, Black Panther, and Thor work ceaselessly in an effort to find their friends and bring them home.

On that same island, named the Dark Tower, Brain-Child watches as the heroes make their way towards his home, his plans for world annihilation thwarted. Upon their arrival, the heroes are greeted by a metallic probe extending from Brain-Child’s complex. Over the probe’s speaker, Brain-Child fully admits that his rocket was designed to cause the end of the world. The probe then attacks the assembled heroes but is quickly destroyed by Dr. Spectrum. With this, the heroes break up into four teams, with one Avenger and one Squadron member on each team, and attempt to penetrate Brain-Child’s defenses. Quicksilver and Whizzer are initially confronted by a storm of rocks which they subdue by using their combined super speed to create a tornado to pull in all the rocks. Having escaped that fate, the speedsters make their way inside only to be trapped by a super adhesive. Scarlet Witch and Nighthawk enter and encounter a monstrous humanoid who quickly defeats Nighthawk and causes Scarlet Witch to forget her entire purpose. Vision and Dr. Spectrum don’t fare much better when they encounter an oversized amoeba. The creature quickly adapts to the powers of both heroes and they are overcome. All that remains is Hyperion and Goliath, who prepare to face off against Brain-Child himself. The pair are unexpectedly attacked by the very objects in the room which Brain-Child is controlling with his immense mind. After Hyperion is disabled and Brain-Child taunts Goliath with brain bolts through the skull, just like an arrow, Goliath uses the materials around him to construct a bow and launches the unconscious Hyperion directly at Brain-Child. The sudden impact and defeat start a chain reaction inside Brain-Child, causing him to physically revert to a normal child. With this, the Dark Tower and all his creations disappear as they were only creations of Brain-Child’s mind.

Their mission accomplished, the Avengers are suddenly pulled away from the island and returned to their own dimension. Their friends are overjoyed to see them and all but Vision retreat for some relaxation and to regale their teammates with the story of their latest adventure. On his way out, Quicksilver ask Vision if everything is alright and Vision admits that he can’t help but wonder if they’ve actually returned to their home dimension or yet another parallel dimension that is all but identical to their own. And, if that is the case, how would they ever really know.

Avengers

Black Panther
Goliath
Iron Man
Quicksilver
Scarlet Witch
Thor
Vision

Villains

Brain-Child

Tag: Iron Man

The Summons Of Psyklops

Featured Issue: Avengers #88

Plot Summary

Avengers

Villains

Brain-Child to the Dark Tower Came…!

Featured Issue: Avengers #86

Plot Summary

Avengers

Villains