Avengers #334
The Collection Obsession Part 1: First Encounter
An alien craft has crash landed on the Blue Area of the Moon, prompting the Inhuman Royal Family to dispatch Quicksilver, Karnak, Timberius and an Alpha Primitive out to investigate. Although Timberius grates on the others, Quicksilver and his comrades push forward to get a close look at the crash site once they deem it safe to do so.[1] They determine it to be a ship of unknown make, and Quicksilver decides to alert the Avengers just in case the craft poses a threat to planet Earth. Moments later, the four men are trapped in an energy shield by the ship’s occupants. These aliens are blue skinned creatures who call themselves the Bretheren. Their leader, Than Ector, announces that they have come to spill native blood.
On Earth, Captain America, Rage, and Hercules are working in the rec-room of Avengers Headquarters. Sersi soon joins them after coming back from a shopping trip when they are contacted by Peggy Carter and informed of the situation on the moon. Moments later, Crystal of the Inhumans arrives in the middle of the room, teleported there by the Inhuman’s trusty teleporting dog, Lockjaw. While Lockjaw rests from a straining trip, Crystal updates the Avengers on what’s going on. She explains that they have lost contact with Quicksilver and the others and have not been able to penetrate the dome erected over the crash site. Worse, the Watcher has taken a personal interest in what happened, signaling that whatever it is, it’s big. Captain America agrees to help and tells Crystal to rest in their headquarters while they prepare to make the trip to the moon.[2]
Soon, a team consisting of Captain America, the Black Widow, Vision, Hercules, Quasar, Sersi and Rage travel with Crystal to the moon in a modified Avengers Quinjet. Crystal finds a kinship with the Vision, who has also recently saw a tragic turn with his own marriage.[3] When the Avengers arrive at the crash site, they are greeted by Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon, and Triton of the Inhuman Royal Family. Their efforts to break through the barrier fail, prompting the Vision to devise a way for Quasar to use his Quantum Bands to destabilize it.
On the other side, Thane Ector and his followers Fool and Sybyl Dorn have defeated Quicksilver and Karnak in combat. Quicksilver refuses to divulge information about Earth, even with the threat of torture. By this time, Fool has determined that the most likely to talk would be Timberius. As Quasar begins working on the barrier, Thane Ector tortures Timberus and he reveals that the planet the moon orbits is Earth. The Bretheren are pleased to hear this as they wish to test their might against a world that had successfully defeated Galactus in the past.[4] The Bretheren also become aware that the barrier around their ship is about to fail. When Thane Ector decides to kill whoever is on the other side, Quicksilver tries to attack him directly. Ector easily overpowers the speedster and when his loyal Alpha Primitive assistant comes to Pietro’s aid, the creature has his neck snapped by Thane Ector.
As the Avengers and Inhumans breach the barrier and clash with the Bretheren, Thane Ector wants to join the fight. However, his brother Fool insists that this is not the battle for their leader and insists that they got to Earth and begin their conquest of the planet. By the time the Avengers and their allies fight through the Bretheren forces, Thane Ector and his closest minions have fled to Earth. After checking on Quicksilver, the group is then visited by the Watcher. While Uatu is sworn not to interfere with events, he warns the Avengers that the Bretheren are a deadly threat.[5]
In order to figure out what they are up against, the Avengers investigate the ship that brough the Brethren to the moon. Inside, they find a number of alien cities that have been shrunk in size and contained in miniature sized eco-systems. Upon closer examination, Quasar notes that some of them have been ravaged by war. In another chamber, they discover the Elder of the Universe known as the Collector, who the Brethren have put in stasis. This would have required great power indeed, and Captain America dreads what the Brethren might do to the planet Earth.
What follows is a log by the Watcher, detailing the known history of the Brethren. Their origins unknown, the race had ravaged the universe for over 200,000 years, conquering every world in their path. They disappeared five thousand years ago under unknown circumstances. Now that they have returned, the universe is in deadly peril once more.[6]
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Black Widow, Captain America, Hercules, Quasar, Rage, Sersi, Vision), Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Crystal, Gorgon, Karnak, Triton, Timberius, Lockjaw), Quicksilver, Brethren (Thane Ector, Sybyl Dorn, Fool), Peggy Carter, Watcher, Collector
Continuity Notes
Timberius and others refer to Quicksilver as a mutant. This is actually not the case. Years later, it is learned that Quicksilver was actually experimented upon by the High Evolutionary as a child. In order to cover up his work, he made it so Quicksilver would register as a mutant during any future genetic tests. See Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5.
Here, Quasar asks Crystal why she didn’t go to the Fantastic Four. This is a pretty complicated situation. The details:
Crystal states here that she didn’t want to bother Johnny Storm or his family. This is because Crystal and Johnny dated for a while from Fantastic Four #65 through 105. The Earth’s pollution forced her to end the relationship and return to the Inhumans city of Attilan.
Not long after this, Crystal met and fell in love with Quicksilver in Fantastic Four #131. The pair got married in issue #150 of that series. Later, Crystla’s marriage to Quicksilver would become strained when she got into an affair with Norm Webster in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #6-12.
Crystal had two tenures with the Fantastic Four. The first while she was dating Johnny while his sister Sue gave birth and was caring for her son Franklin from Fantastic Four #81 to 105. The second time was when Sue and her husband Reed took a leave of absence. Crystal’s second time on the team was from Fantastic Four #305 through Annual #21.
This was particularly dramatic for Crystal and Johnny due to Crystal’s aforementioned infidelity as well as the fact that at the time Johnny was now married to a woman claiming to be Alicia Masterson since Fantastic Four #300. This woman turned out to actually be a Skrull spy named Lyja, as revealed in Fantastic Four #358.
Here, it is stated that the reason why Crystal sought out the Avengers help since Quicksilver’s sister Scarlet Witch is a member of the team. At the time of this story, she was a regular member of the west coast branch of the team starting in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #37.
The Vision is married to the Scarlet Witch, the pair tied the knot in Giant-Size Avengers #4. More recently, the Vision was disassembled by a group calling itself Vigilance. Although he was rebuilt, all emotions and those connections to his memories were purged from his systems, leaving him a cold and unfeeling synthezoid, as seen in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #43-45. Estranged from his wife, the Vision soon left the West Coast Avengers to join the east coast team in Avengers West Coast #53.
Galactus has made multiple attempts to consume the planet Earth and had been repelled each time. The earliest recorded instance was during the Renaissance, when inventor Leonardo Da Vinci and the Brotherhood of Shield repelled the planet devourer, as revealed in S.H.I.E.L.D. #1. In modern times, Galactus had been defeated on Earth on a few occasions thanks to the Fantastic Four as seen in Fantastic Four #48-50, 74-77, and 243-244.
The Watcher’s oath of non-interference is uttered here. The Watchers took this pledge after sharing atomic secrets to an alien race that then used that technology to wipe themselves out in nuclear war. See Tales of Suspense #53 and Original Sin #0.
Avengers #339 reveals that the Brethren were created out of bacteria as part of a Celestial experiment that was soon abandoned. They disappeared when the Collector captured them and made the Brethren part of his collection. It’s also revealed that their release was intentional as the Collector wanted revenge on the Avengers for constantly interfering in his schemes.
