Avengers Annual #15
Betrayal!
The East and West Coast Avengers have met at a Kansas City baseball stadium for the first annual baseball game between the two teams. On the eastern team there is Captain America, the Wasp, Black Knight, Hercules, and Captain Marvel, while the west coast team is represented by Hawkeye, Iron Man, Mockingbird, Wonder Man and Tigra. Acting as umpire for the game is retired Avenger, Hank Pym.[1] Hawkeye starts taking things too seriously when the east coast team takes the lead, leaving him to wonder if the umpire is biased. The private game is an interesting one as the players are all allowed to use their super-human abilities, leading to some conflicts about how these might impact the official rules of baseball.
However, the good natured game is interrupted by the Freedom Force, who have arrived with warrants for the arrest of both teams of Avengers. As the Freedom Force comprises of former members of Mystique’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the Avengers are quick to question their authority in this matter.[2] The Wasp is particularly disturbed to see that Spider-Woman is a member of the team, particularly since she fought alongside the Avengers in the Secret Wars.[3] While everyone has mixed feelings on the situation, it is left up to the two team leaders — the Wasp and Hawkeye — to make the final decision. Unfortunately, the two are divided over what to do with Janet refusing to surrender and Clint wanting to comply.
Hercules eventually loses his patience and tosses a pitchers cart at Freedom Force. The projectile is quickly destroyed by Avalanche. With diplomacy a failure, a battle between the two teams of Avengers and Freedom Force breaks out. Although the Avengers have the superior numbers, they aren’t prepared for the Freedom Force’s unique powers. Captain Marvel is the first to go down when Spiral uses one of her spells to negate Monica’s powers. Captain America is knocked out next when Mystique uses her shapeshifting powers to disguise herself as the Wasp to get close enough to take him out with her stun blaster. The Black Knight finds himself snared in Spider-Woman’s psi-webs allowing her to knock him out with a single punch. Hercules is the next to go down when his fist gets stuck in the Blob’s ample gut, allowing the obese mutant to knock him out with a single head butt. Tigra and Mockinbird are then buried under rubble by Avalanche, while Hawkeye is out drawn by Destiny thanks to her pre-cognitive abilities. While Iron Man manages to cut off Pyro’s fuel supply, he too is incapacitated by Spiral. Soon the only Avengers left standing are the Wasp, Wonder Man, Hank Pym, and a powerless Captain Marvel. With the odds totally against them, they still decide to fight but they too are defeated by the combined efforts of Freedom Force.
In the confusion, Captain America has managed to slip away to use a pay phone to call his connections within the government to find out if the Freedom Force’s warrants are valid. When he learns that they have been approved by the President himself, Captain America surrenders without further incident, but vows that someone is going to pay for this.
The two teams of Avengers are then taken to the Rocky Mountains, the site of the brand new Vault prison. This facility has been created to contain arrested super-villains and the captured Avengers have effectively become the first inmates. Each member of the team is placed in a special cell made specifically to counteract the powers of the occupant.
The team is soon brought to trail where they are to be judged by a tribunal consisting of members from the government’s security community: Henry Gyrich and Raymond Sikorski, the team’s former and current NSA liaisons, as well as Valerie Cooper, the handler for Freedom Force.[4] Captain America insists on knowing what charges they are being brought up on and Gyrich takes great pleasure in accusing the team of committing treason. The former member of the Avengers has provided the government with proof that the Vision briefly took over the world’s computers, and also leveled accusations that the Avengers orchestrated an attack by the Grey Gargoyle so they would be portrayed in a better light the last time they were under government scrutiny.[5] Captain America is furious that their civil rights are being denied and that they are behind being presumed guilty. However, despite his impassioned speech, Gyrich has them locked back up in the Vault until the trail.
Meanwhile, the capture of the Avengers has not been sitting well with Spider-Woman and she decides to try and break them out of the Vault. Despite her attempts at steath, the novice heroine is discovered by the Guardsmen and she only has enough time to trash one of the machines before being forced to flee. This causes the food slot to the Wasp’s cell door to open allowing her to shrink to insect size and escape. She then begins freeing the other Avengers, setting off the alarms. However, when the Guardsmen try to contain the Avengers, Iron Man is able to exploit a failsafe in their armor allowing the team to escape the facility.[6] Watching the Avengers flee from the shadows, Spider-Woman is pleased to see them go and wonders if she would ever have what it takes to become an Avenger herself.[7]
Regrouping in a nearby cave, the two teams of Avengers all agree to find out who is framing them and clear their names.
… This story is continued in West Coast Avengers Annual #1.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Wasp, Black Knight, Hercules, Captain Marvel), Avengers West Coast (Iron Man, Hawkeye, Wonder Man, Tigra, Mocking Bird), Freedom Force (Mystique, Blob, Pyro, Avalanche, Destiny, Spiral, Spider-Woman), Henry Pym, Edwin Jarvis, Guardsmen, Henry Gyrich, Raymond Sikorski, Val Cooper
Continuity Notes
There are multiple mentions about how Hank retired from costumed crime fighting and his recent divorce from the Wasp. Janet Van Dyne divorced Hank circa Avengers #213 after he struck her. After a series of misfortunes, Hank ultimately retired in Avengers #230.
Freedom Force was formed in Uncanny X-Men #199 when Mystique used her government connections to grand the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants amnesty from the upcoming Mutant Registration Program.
Spider-Woman helped the Avengers in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #7-12. She was first seen working with Freedom Force in Uncanny X-Men #206 but her motivations for joining were not clearly explained. Avengers West Coast #84-86 and Spider-Woman (vol. 2) #2 go into greater detail, revealing that Julia was pressed into working for the government.
Gyrich was the Avengers government liaison from Avengers #168 until he was reassigned to Project: Wideawake in New Mutants #1. Sikorski took over as the Avengers handler in Avengers #235.
Lots of conspiracies abound here:
The traitor to the Avengers is revealed to be Quicksilver in West Coast Avengers Annual #1.
The Vision did indeed try to take over the world’s computer in a misguided attempt to force humanity to give up war and form a utopia. See Avengers #252-254.
During Gyrich’s reign as Avengers liaison, he forced the team to adhere to a stringent set of conditions to maintain their government security clearance. Notably, he forced the team to pair down to six active members in Avengers #181. This didn’t sit well so much because of the reduction in the team, but Gyrich’s imposed requirements for membership. Eventually, the Avengers — following their battle with the Grey Gargoyle, which was not a fix — pleaded a case to have their autonomy restored in Avengers #190-191.
These failsafe systems were inadvertedly built into the Guardsman armor from the original designs that were created by Tony Stark circa Iron Man #43.
Spider-Woman will eventually join the West Coast Avengers following the events of Avengers West Coast #70-75.
Topical References
The Kansas City baseball stadium the Avengers are playing at is referred to as Royals Stadium. This should be considered a topical reference as it was renamed to Kauffman Stadium in 1993.
