Avengers #332
The Many Faces of Doom
The Avengers are throwing a party to celebrate the grand opening of their brand new headquarters.[1] In attendance are Avengers past and present, other heroes such as the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Wolverine, SHIELD Director Nick Fury, the New Warriors, as well as representatives of the United Nations, the sitting and former Presidents of the United States, and even the British Royal Family. Security is tight, with the Avengers butler Jarvis screening all the guests coming in, while the Avengers Crew monitors things from the security control room.
Everything is going smoothly when, suddenly, the intruder alarm goes off. The crew only catches a glimpse of Doctor Doom’s cape and further sweeps finds no trace of an intruder. When they call Jarvis upstairs, he agrees to report this to Captain America when he spots Doctor Doom walking by in the hall. Jarvis follows after the intruder, but he disappears around a corner. Jarvis then goes to Captain America, who is entertaining guests, and discreetly tells him about the situation using a pre-determined code phrase. Cap excuses himself from the party and leaves to check things out. Jarvis is then chit-chats with the newest Avenger, Rage, and is touched that Rage’s grandmother had baked cupcakes for the event and agrees to pass them around to the others.
Meanwhile, Captain America arrives in the control room and does another sweep of the security cameras but finds no trace of Doom, or any evidence on how he got in.[2] Still, he is concerned since Doom is smart enough to circumvent the security so he makes a discreet call to the Vision and Sandman via their Avengers ID cards and has them come downstairs. The three then do a physical sweep of the facility, with Captain America going to check the weapons testing facility while Sandman and Vision check the tunnel to the East River.
Back upstairs, the Black Widow and She-Hulk are surprised when Iron Man shows up at the party, since he was not expected to attend. Before he can be screened in by security, the intruder alarm goes off again. Acting quickly, Iron Man connects with the computer and shuts down the alarm before it can worry the guests. He then checks in with Peggy Carter to ensure that someone is already looking into the alarm before joining the party. Iron Man’s actions raise suspicions with Black Widow and She-Hulk, since he deactivated the security system with ease, something that only Tony Stark could do. They recall how Stark has publicly claimed that someone else is in the armor now and figure he needs to work better on his cover story.[3]
Downstairs, Sandman and the Vision run into Doctor Doom and engage him in battle. However, the Vision suspects that Doom might be employing his Doombots to be in two places at once and goes to the weapons room to tip off Captain America before rejoining the Sandman in battle. Captain America then does a more thorough sweep of the room and spots a second Doctor Doom snooping around. While back in the monitor room, the Avengers Crew are trying to figure out how Doctor Doom could have gotten into their headquarters. The only point of access is an exhaust vent in the tunnel to the East River, however this would be impossible for an ordinary person to squeeze through.
Meanwhile, Black Widow and She-Hulk realize that Iron Man hadn’t been properly screened by security and go to find him just to play it safe. Before they can, the security system is suddenly taken over by Doctor Doom, who had been posing as Iron Man. Now ready to strike, Doom doffs his disguise and takes full control of Avengers Headquarters.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Black Widow, Captain America, Quasar, Sersi, Vision), Doctor Doom, Avengers West Coast (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Scarlet Witch, Tigra, Wasp, Wonder Man), Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), New Warriors (Namorita, Nova, Speedball), Black Knight, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Falcon, Nick Fury, Hercules, Henry Pym, Quicksilver, Rage, Sandman, Spider-Man, Sub-Mariner, Wolverine, Edwin Jarvis, Peggy Carter, John Jameson, Michael O’Brien, Fabian Stankowicz, Raymond Sikorski, Stan Lee
Continuity Notes
The Avengers previously operated out of a mansion owned by the Stark family starting in Avengers #2. Following a siege on this headquarters in Avengers #273-277, it was moved to Hydrobase in the following issue of that series. More recently, Hydrobase was sunk by Doctor Doom in Avengers #311. The brand new Avengers Headquarters was constructed at the original city of Avengers Mansion in Avengers #329. This will remain the status quo until the headquarters is replaced by a duplicate of the original mansion from another reality in Avengers #375.
Here, it is interesting to note that reference to the sinking of Hydrobase has a footnote that misattributes that event to Avengers #308.
At the time of this tale, the general public does not know that Tony Stark and Iron Man are the same person. Not long ago, Stark had learned that his Iron Man technology had been stolen and sold to others and set about bricking all the unauthorized use of his tech. This included shutting down government operatives and foreign agents, and was not well received. Stark was forced to fake Iron Man’s death and then trick the public into thinking he put someone else in the armor. See Iron Man #225-232 and Captain America #340. Tony will drop this pretense among his teammates starting in Avengers West Coast #72.
Topical References
Among the attendees that attend the opening of Avengers Headquarters includes a number of real world political figures including then-President George H.W. Bush, former First Lady Barbara Bush, former President Ronald Reagan, and members of the British Royal Family including Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, and Princess Diana. These appearances should be considered topical for the following reasons:
George H.W. Bush was only President from 1989 to 1993. He subsequently died in 2018.
His wife, Barbara, was First Lady for the same period. She also died in 2018.
Ronald Reagan, the predecessor to Bush, was President from 1981 to 1989 and died in 2004.
Queen Elizabeth has been the Queen of England since 1952. Although she is still alive and continues to hold this role, at the time of this writing (April, 2022) she is in her late 90s and probably won’t be around for much longer.
Prince Charles, the heir apparent of the British throne, his position will likely change when Elizabeth dies. Also, while he’s still alive at 73 (time of this writing) he’s probably not going to be around much longer either.
Lady Diana, on the other hand, is dead. She died in a car accident in 1997.
On the other hand, Stan Lee is also depicted as an attendee at the party. His appearance here would not be considered topical. Marvel creators exist in the Prime Marvel Universe, appearing in the relative prime of their lives and continue to appear in comics even after their death in real life. For example, while Stan died in 2018, his Earth-616 counterpart still appears in stories, as of this writing the most recent example of this was in X-Force (vol. 6) #9.
Also depicted is artist Paul Ryan and his wife Linda. Paul later died in 2008. His appearance here much like Stan Lee’s would not be considered topical for the same reasons, as would that of his wife Linda.
