Avengers #311 — Nick Peron

Aug 3

Aug 3 Avengers #311

The Weakest Point

Quasar is heading to Avengers headquarters on Hydrobase. He is surprised that things are so peaceful after everything that has been going on lately.[1] As he arrives at the mansion he admits that he isn’t sure he can fully trust the new Avengers Crew, such as Nuklo who has been hired on as the team gardener.[2] After clearing security, Wendell heads inside and checks in with Peggy Carter. She, M’Daka, and Fabian Stankiewciz are monitoring reports about a rash of super-villain attacks. Peggy notes that many of them are attacking heroes they have never faced before.

Little do they know that they are being observed by the mysterious mastermind behind this conspiracy.[3] He is pleased with how his plot against the Avengers is going. He then heads into a meeting room where the other conspirators in this scheme meet. There he finds Doctor Doom, who is preparing for an attack on Hydrobase. This mastermind has led Doctor Doom and the others believe that he is merely a subordinate and that each of the other conspirators are the leader of this act of vengeance. This manipulation is almost exposed when the Mandarin enters the room and overhears them talking.

Back at Avengers headquarters, Peggy tells Quasar that she has been trying to contact the other Avengers with no success.[4] Suddenly, the entire island begins to shake. Rushing outside to see what’s going on, Quasar and the support crew are shocked to see that robots are smashing through the island from beneath the artificial island. While the crew uses conventional weapons, Fabien Stankiewciz rushes back into the mansion to put on a suit of battle armor of his own design. Destroying these robots seen easier said than done because even with their bodies shattered their severed limbs continue to attack them.

Meanwhile, in deep space, Starfox continues his search for Nebula the woman who alleges to be the granddaughter of his late brother Thanos.[5] Finding Nebula’s ship and jumping one of the guards, Starfox disguises himself and looks for Nebula. He finders her on the bridge where she and her minion, the Rigelian named Gunthar, are going over some ancient tablets they found on Omicron Seti. They are the record that foretell the future of the universe and point to a scientist on Earth who is about to invent a new source of energy.[6]

Back on Hydrobase, the battle rages on and things are not going well for the Avengers Crew. As Quasar saves Fabian from a swarm of robots, he notices a pair has broken off from the main group and were doing something around the Quinjet fuel tanks. With the island taking on water, Quasar then orders Peggy to head back into the mansion and send out a distress signal. Suddenly, the robots stop their attack and depart. With the island rapidly sinking, Quasar orders a full evacuation. As the support crew prep Quinjets, Wendell dives into the water and uses his Quantum Bands to create a massive support to keep Hydrobase afloat.

With the Quinjets ready to take off, Michael O’Brien notices that Peggy is still inside the mansion and tells the others to go while he comes to get her. He finds Carter in the com room and discovers that she refuses to leave until she gets ahold of the Avengers. Michael tricks her into thinking the rest of the Avengers just arrived so he can get her to evacuate. As they race to the Quinjet Peggy realizes the truth. That’s when a bomb planted by Doctor Doom’s robots blows up the fuel tanks. This causes even more damage to Hydrobase and it begins to sink rapidly. Thankfully, Quasar is able to save Michael and Peggy and carries them to a waiting Quinjet piloted by Jarvis.

The sinking of Hydrobase is a huge blow and Quasar cannot believe something like this could happen. He worries that this is not over and could be the beginning of the end of the Avengers.

.. The Avengers involvement in Acts of Vengeance continues in Iron Man #250.

Recurring Characters

Quasar, Avengers Support Crew (Edwin Jarvis, Peggy Carter, Nuklo, Fabian Stankiewciz, M’Daka, Michael O’Brien, Keith Kincaid, Donna Maria Puentes), Loki, Doctor Doom, Mandarin, Starfox, Nebula, Gunthar, Paul Harker

Continuity Notes

A footnote here tells readers that this story takes place after the events of Quasar #4. In that story, Quasar teamed up with Aquarian to battle Quantum.
Quasar isn’t wrong to think this since Nuklo has been a threat in the past as seen in Giant-Size Avengers #1.
It’s Loki guys. He’s not identified until Avengers West Coast #55.
Peggy Carter mentions how the Avengers Crew was hired to help with operations, stating that things were getting to be too much for Jarvis, the Avengers long time butler. This is reference to the fact that Jarv suffered a beating back in Avengers #275. Jarvis is depicted wearing an eyepatch in this story because he suffered damage to his ocular nerve in this attack. He will wear it until his eye is completely healed in Avengers #316.
Stafrox’s hunt for Nebula is a complex one:
- Starfox has been hunting Nebula since she made the claim that she is the granddaughter of Thanos in Avengers #259-261.
- Nebula’s claims that Thanos is her grandfather are questionable at best. Thanos would later attack Nebula for these claims, as seen in Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #38. Silver Surfer Annual #5 a mental probe reveals that her father was apparently a blue skinned alien with a ridged chin like Thanos. In Nova (vol. 2) #2, Nebula has claimed that she is the father of Zorr, an alien that once attacked Xandar. Gamora #1-5 details that Nebula was at one time was adopted by Thanos.
This is Professor Paul Harker’s character and his invention has been built up over the past few issues: Avengers #306, 308-309. His invention will be sought after by Nebula in issues #314-318.

Topical References

The original twin towers of the World Trade Center are depicted as part of the New York City skyline in this story. This should be considered topical as they were destroyed in a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and since replaced with the Freedom Tower.