This issue is against Plantman, who now has seamonsters working for him.
Or more like pod people, who can shape change to infiltrate SHIELD. Looks like the helicarrier is compromised…AGAIN!
The heroes start this story at Jacosta’s funeral, after Ultron killed her in Marvel Two-in-One #93.
Then, cloned SHIELD agent Jasper Sitwell takes President Ronald Reagan hostage (and this doesn’t keep Reagan from taking regular naps).
Before the big rescue, James Rhodes as Iron Man quits the team. (Al Milgrom drew him with his armored gloves on, but the colorist made the hands black so you wouldn’t mistake him for Tony Stark.)
And then, to make matters worse, they miscolor it as white flesh on the very same page. Get it together guys. I actually think the first instance may have been on purpose–to make sure readers knew it wasn’t Tony–and it was the penciler or inker who screwed up by drawing the gloves on the hands. Then the second typo was the colorist’s fault. But of course the editor bears ultimate responsibility for all of it.
Meanwhile, Thanos’ brother Eros seeks to be an Avenger.
So when the team comes home after the big battle…
…He’s there waiting.
In the battle, Hawkeye gets his leg broken.
It’s cool to see an Avenger get hurt, but after fighting Thanos and Galactus and armies of aliens, it’s weird that it’s Plant Man who actually gets a good hit in.
Anyway, his busted limb makes the space needed to let Eros join. This leads Hawkeye to look for another job.
Back then, they intentionally limited membership to a manageable number—as opposed to now, when there are a dozen teams and every character ever known gets to be on at least one. As a signing bonus, Eros gets his codename: Starfox.
Not sure why he needs one. I mean, the other teammembers had dual identities so they used their codenames either to keep an identity secret or to differentiate from their personal and professional lives, but Eros is just Eros all the time.
But Plantman is still at large–last issue, the team just took out one of his big monsters. So Nick is trying to free the President.
As far as I know, this is the only time Nick Fury used a slingshot.
More big vegetative threats–and Starfox proves himself in battle.
So much crammed into just two issues, but none of it feels rushed. Stern was a master writer.