Avengers #209 — Nick Peron

Aug 4

Aug 4 Avengers #209

The Resurrection Stone

Nevada: April 6

An alien ship crash lands in the middle of the desert. As the passenger tries to crawl to safety, he is killed by a Skrull named Jaddak. The killer then finds a device aboard the wreckage and teleports away.

New York City: April 10

The Beast has reconnected with his old girlfriend Vera Cantor and their romance picks right back up where it left off. Hank brings Vera to Avengers Mansion to introduce her to his teammates. The couple explain how they used to date back when Hank was a member of the X-Men. However, they drifted apart over the years and the last time they saw each other was when Vera asked the Beast to help her with her then boyfriend, Calvin Rankin, aka the Mimic, which led to a battle with the Hulk. Losing touch again, the two recently reconnected after Hank ran into her during one of his usual bar hopping escapades.[1]

When Jarvis comes into the room to offer everyone some tea, takes a drink and suddenly falls to the floor, dead. As it turns out this is not Jarvis at all, but Jaddak in disguise. He reveals himself and avoids a pounding by saying that Vera can be brought back to life with the Resurrection Stone, a powerful artifact that Jaddak wishes to obtain for himself. He explains that the Stone comes from a distant planet that mastered both science and technology centuries ago. One of that world’s greatest wizard scientists, a man named Tus’au created the Resurrection Stone which could — as the name implies — bring the dead back to life. The power of the Stone was coveted by all who knew of it and Tus’au’s world was razed to the ground to try and obtain it. The Stone ended up being lost until it was rediscovered by a scholar named Krru, the alien who Jaddak killed in Nevada. Unfortunately, Jaddak was too late to stop Krru from splitting the Resurrection Stone in two and sending each piece into a different point in Earth’s past. Seeking to reclaim the Resurrection Stone, Jaddak had Vera poisoned in order to force the Avengers to recover the stone for him. Seeing no other choice, the Beast agrees to help Jaddak in order to save Vera’s life.

Accompanying Hank on this mission are Wonder Man, the Vision, and the Scarlet Witch. They go to Mister Fantastic, leader of the Fantastic Four, in order to gain access to Doctor Doom’s time machine so they can go into the past and recover the fragments of the Resurrection Stone.[2]

England: September 16, 1348

The Avengers find themselves transported to England which is in the middle of the black plague which decimated the human population. Here they learn of a young boy named Devlunn who the locals claim can bring the dead back to life. An elderly woman then brings them to a nearby castle which Devlunn has been using his power. They confirm that the boy has gotten this power from a fragment of the Resurrection Stone. However, they also discover that the boy has been driven mad by its power and now considers himself a god. Devlunn is also not going to give up the fragment so willingly. He uses the power of the stone to bring a number of plague dead back to life and the Avengers are horrified to discover that while these beings are coming back from the dead, they are basically zombies without souls.

While the other Avengers deal with Devlunn’s army of the undead, the Beast manages to wrest the Resurrection Stone fragment from the boy’s grasp. Once doing so, Devlunn pleads with the Beast to give it back as the heroes are teleported away to their next destination.

Germany: April 13, 1945

The Avengers appear before American troops who have just rounded up a group of Nazis. The heroes are mistaken for members of the Invaders and asked for help with something bizarre that is going on. The Avengers figure this is a lead to the second half of the Resurrection Stone and agree to help.

They are taken to the recently liberated Dachau concentration camp where they are shocked by a truly horrific sight. One of the camp survivors, a man named Sol Rosenblatt, got ahold of the second half of the Resurrection Stone and has used it to bring his dead family back to life. However, this half of the Stone only brings back their souls, leaving them as prisoners in the withered husks of their bodies. The souls cry out for Sol to let them return to their eternal rest but the grief stricken Holocaust survivor can’t let go of his family. It takes the Beast’s handle on Yiddish and soft spoken compassion that convinces Sol to let his family return to death and relinquish control of the second half of the Resurrection Stone

Present Day

Returning to their own era, the Avengers take a modified Quinjet into orbit to meet up with Jaddak’s ship. The Skrull orders the Beast to board the ship alone and hand over the Resurrection Stone. Hank board the Skrull ship but thinks of the insanity the two fragments of the Resurrection Stone had caused and realizes that it is too powerful for anyone to possess. Instead of handing if over to Jaddak, the Beast crushes the two fragments to dust. That’s when the other Avengers force their way onboard and defeat Jaddak so they can recover Vera’s body, which has been kept preserved in a stasis cylinder.

They bring Vera’s body back to Earth where it is examined by Mister Fantastic. He tells them that a spark of life still exists within Vera’s body and that it might be possible to bring her back from the brink of death, but more tests need to be done. Overwhelmed with emotion, Hank goes up to the roof of the Baxter Building to have some time alone, but is relieved that there is some hope that Vera will live again.[3]

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonder Man, Beast), Jaddak, Vera Cantor, Mister Fantastic, Nazis

Continuity Notes

Hank and Vera started dating back in X-Men #19. This romance carried on until issue #47 of that series. Vera re-entered Hank’s life to get help for Mimic who was dying of radiation poisoning that he was suffering as his powers uncontrollably tried to mimic the Hulk’s abilities. This was chronicled in Amazing Adventures (vol. 2) #13-16 and Incredible Hulk #161. Although Rankin is stated to have died here, he actually survived when Wolverine passed by the area, allowing Calvin to mimic Logan’s healing factor, as will be revealed in Marvel Comics Presents #54-61.
This is not Doctor Doom’s time machine itself but a replica of it created by Reed Richards. As detailed in Fantastic Four Annual #11, Reed confiscated the device after the Fantastic Four’s first encounter with Doctor Doom back in Fantastic Four #5. The Annual explains that Reed was forced to give the original back to Doom for diplomatic reasons but not before he was able to learn how to replicate it.
Vera’s fate will not be resolved until Defenders #105 when the Beast enlists the aid of Doctor Strange, Son of Satan, and Mister Fantastic to restore her back to full life.