The Tuska art fill-in issue notwithstanding, this is the first really, really good Roy Thomas Avengers script—and having Big John Buscema on the art for the rest of the issues, of course, makes it stellar.
There’s a lot going on here, starting with an Olympus backstory that’s really just setting us up for #50. It’s a way to keep Hercules offscreen while we get an adventure that almost feels like an X-Men story.
Magneto is still stuck in outer space with Toad, thanks to Stranger.
He’s pretty abusive but Toad just says, basically, “I believe in you, dude! What’s your plan?”
Which just makes Magneto hurt him again. Toad needs to learn about being in abusive relationship.
He’s able to get back to Earth when a scientist shoots magnetic beams into space to try to contact alien life.
But before that, Cap quits. He quits the team and Hawkeye, the recent ex-criminal, reminds him of his oath and duty. Cap is a whiner, saying he wants some “me” time as Steve Rogers.
On the one hand, I get the burden of sacrificing self for service, but there’s really no other point during Cap’s decades-long career that he acts like this. Plus, before he resigns, he boasts about his role in the recent Avengers tales.
Dude. No need to slam the door.
On his return, Magneto tells the story of his bond with the twins…
That kind of trauma goes a long way to explaining why Quicksilver is such a dick so much of the time.
And so he reunites with them.
It turns out, though, that the castle where the scientist lives (the guy who was shooting the magnetic rays that drew Magneto home) is also linked to Black Knight. As a result of the magnetic experiments..
We get the first appearance of the new Black Knight: Hero version. Dane Whitman, nephew of the bad dude, decides to take up the mantle and be a hero.
He gets bonked on the head. He also fights Hawkeye.
Meanwhils, Magneto had captured Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. To his credit, he did not put them in clear tubes.
Meanwhile, back at Avengers Mansion, insecurities abound.
And Hank is starting to have side effects from becoming Goliath. He and Jan go on vacation–and help with a Jarvis subplot–and stop some cheating gamblers
The big conflict is Jan losing her fur.
Lots going on in this story. Let’s get back to the Magneto story, which is the best of the lot. He decides to go to the U.N. and announce his intent to conquer the world.
The Avengers show up. During the big fight scene, Wanda gets shot.
Quicksilver goes nuts.
This explains why, at the end of these issues, Quicksilver decides to run off with Magneto.
And it’s revealed that that was how Magneto planned it…
That’s really the end of the Magneto story, but there’s still one more I haven’t talked about yet. Across these three issues, Hercules goes back to Olympus to find it abandoned.
Turns out, his home is under siege by a new villain, Typhon.
That will be the next story in Avengers.
Such jam-packed issues!