Jack Kirby – Page 3 – Some Assembly Required

X-Men #9

Writer: Stan Lee
Penciller: Jack Kirby
Inker: Chic Stone
Letterer: Sam Rosen

Plot Summary

A beautiful day at sea is suddenly interrupted when an iceberg emerges from a fog bank. As the ocean liner barrels towards it, unable to maneuver out of the way, the crew braces themselves for the worst. Then by some miracle, the iceberg is destroyed, saving the ship, and all who sail aboard her. Of course, in reality it is no miracle, but the actions of an American teenager, Scott Summers, also known as Cyclops of The X-Men.

Unfortunately for Scott, the tremendous effort of destroying the iceberg with his optic blasts has overwhelmed him, and he is quickly rushed off, to be cared for by his fellow X-Men teammates. While the mutant heroes are caring for their acting leader, Professor X contacts the team telepathically. The Professor informs his students that he is currently deep underground, on the trail of Lucifer, the man who is responsible for the injury which left The Professor paralyzed. Xavier warns the teens that if something should happen to him, they must continue his work, and prevent Lucifer from causing any harm to the world. At this, The Professor is caught in an artificial dust devil, sent by Lucifer, who has been watching The Professor’s progress. The dust devil takes Xavier to Lucifer, where it solidifies and traps The Professor. In spite of his imprisonment, Xavier attacks, shooting at Lucifer, only to be warned that if any harm should come to Lucifer, the entire world would be in peril.

Nearby and above ground, The Avengers arrive in a small European town. The team has been following strange impulses being emitted by Thor’s hammer Mjolnir. The impulses indicate a great evil and have lead The Avengers to this town, little knowing that Lucifer lies beneath their feet. As they begin to determine their next course of action, an American tourist drives nearby. Knowing that the situation is likely to soon degrade, The Avengers encourage the lost tourist to quickly depart the area. The confused motorist eventually makes his departure, only to run smack into the X-Men. Relaying a description the bizarre people he just encountered (The Avengers), The X-Men take it on themselves to investigate the tourist’s claims.

Returning underground, Lucifer shows Xavier the inner workings of a massive nuclear weapon that Lucifer has in his possession. Judging correctly, Xavier is horrified to learn that Lucifer has connected the trigger for the bomb directly to his own heartbeat. If anything were to happen to Lucifer, then the bomb would detonate with enough force to destroy an entire continent. Additionally, knowing that Xavier’s lauded X-Men must be nearby, Lucifer sends a blast of ionic energy to eliminate the unsuspecting teens.

In his mental illusory state, Xavier is able to warn The X-Men in time, and they just barely avoid Lucifer’s attack. The team then suits up and begins to investigate the surrounding area in earnest, this time finding The Avengers. Although The Avengers initially offer to help The X-Men, Xavier warns the team to prevent The Avengers from reaching Lucifer, as any injury they may cause could be disastrous for the world. The situation escalates quickly and The X-Men soon find themselves fighting The Avengers.

While Lucifer is distracted watching the two teams of superheroes battle, Xavier uses his incredible telepathic abilities to incapacitate Lucifer, without damaging his heart. With the immediate threat neutralized, Xavier is able to contact Thor, the Avengers’ chairperson for the week, and explain to him the situation. With this knowledge, Thor convinces his fellow Avengers to end their assault and the team leaves The X-Men to complete their mission.

Once the team has joined their mentor, The X-Men quickly act to disable the bomb’s fuse. As The Professor locates their target, Lucifer’s heart begins to flutter, indicating that the bomb could go off any second. With only moments to spare, Cyclops is able to destroy the fuse, and thus save the world from total destruction. With the threat removed, Xavier wakes up Lucifer and allows him to go on his way, reminding his students that they have vowed to never harm a human being.

Avengers

Ant-Man
Captain America
Iron Man
Thor
Wasp

Plot Summary

As The Avengers make their way to Avengers Mansion, the team is greeted by a crowd of adoring fans. Regrettably, The Avengers have little time for the adoring masses, as they have been summoned urgently by the Pentagon. After making their way inside, our heroes make contact with an Army general who informs them that a UFO has landed in northern Virginia. After systematically destroying all of the tanks that arrived on the scene, a man emerges from the vessel, introduces himself as Kang, and demands to speak with world leaders. Upon seeing the footage of the encounter, The Avengers rush to the airport and are whisked away to Virginia.

On arrival, The Avengers find Kang relaxing, waiting for the world leaders to come and treat with him. When it is clear however, that The Avengers are here for a different purpose, Kang quickly demonstrates his superior technology, hoisting most of the team with an anti-grav ray and sending Mjolnir hurtling through subspace. Just as The Avengers begin to recover from their initial encounter with Kang, the Under Secretary of Defense arrives on the scene and begins questioning Kang. Although reluctant at first, Kang eventually tells the assembled persons that he is from the year 3000 and has travelled into the past and future before arriving where he is now. He also reveals that he was once known as Pharaoh Rama-Tut, who battled the Fantastic Four (Fantastic Four #19) and who met Doctor Doom (Fantastic Four Annual #2).

Unfortunately, Giant Man quickly bores of Kang’s tale, and attacks him, only to be immediately rebuffed. The rest of The Avengers join in the battle, but are once again bested by Kang’s advanced technology. This time The Avengers are taken prisoner inside Kang’s ship and held in place by a paralysis ray. The ray causes Thor to transform back into Donald Blake and begins to interfere with Iron Man’s life saving chest piece. Kang then delivers an ultimatum to world leaders, requiring their submission within twenty-four hours!

Although most of her team members have been captured, Wasp managed to avoid imprisonment and works with Rick Jones to plan a rescue of the captured Avengers. While Wasp travels to Giant Man’s lab to obtain a ray gun of their own, Rick and his Teen Brigade rush past the military cordon towards Kang. Once they arrive at his side, the Teen Brigade pledge to serve Kang and are immediately welcomed aboard Kang’s ship. A few moments later the Teen Brigade busies themselves with trying to locate The Avengers. Shortly thereafter Kang tasks several of his new servants with bringing him a canister of pure energy force. The wily teens intentionally drop the canister, causing a distraction and buying their compatriots time to finally located The Avengers.

With the team finally free, Wasp arrives just in time so that Giant Man can use the gun to spray Kang with an acid based solvent, rotting his armor and all the technology contained on his person. Undeterred, Kang summons a neutrino missile to finish off his foes, only to have it deflected by Iron Man. Giant Man makes quick work of Kang’s remaining weapons with his gun, and the team rapidly surrounds Kang. In a last ditch effort, Kang’s mask emits a massive concentration of deadly radiation. Unbeknownst to Kang, Thor’s hammer Mjolnir is capable of absorbing the radiation and fires it back at Kang. Though he is from the future and immune to most radiation, this concentrated blast is more than even he can handle and Kang is forced to retreat before he is killed. Boarding his ship, Kang disappears into time.

Tag: Jack Kirby

Enter, The Avengers

Plot Summary

Avengers

Kang The Conqueror

Plot Summary

Avengers

Villains