Avengers (vol. 3) #18
The Battle for Imperion City!
The Wrecking Crew have taken over the world of Polemachus and kidnapped the Avengers comrade Photon. While attempting to liberate the planet, Captain America is seemingly captured by the Crew. As it turns out, the Wrecking Crew were able to usurp control of the kingdom from Arkon by the Grand Vizier, the king’s former right hand man. He has contained Photon in an stasis chamber that allows the Wrecking Crew to absorb her power as they need it.[1] The Wrecker gloats to Captain America about how glad they were when the Scarlet Witch accidentally used her hex powers to send them to Polemachus. Shortly after their arrival, they teamed up with the Vizier and took over the kingdom, locking Arkon in the dungeon below after his defeat.
Deciding to make an example of Captain America as a show of their dominance, the Wrecker offers any warrior of Polemachus the chance of slaying the Captain. One warrior gladly offers his sword and leaps down from the stands of the colosseum to run Cap through with his sword.
Meanwhile, Thundra and the other Avengers — Thor, the Scarlet Witch, Firestar, and Wonder Man — lead an army of soldiers still loyal to Arkon up the side of a mountain to the royal palace. They are working with Thundra, Arkon’s current mate, but she is impatient and wants to fight. The Scarlet Witch assures her that this is the best course of action and convinces her to stick with the plan. They are soon joined by the Black Knight — astride a flying lizard — and an army of children in a fleet of imperion ships. Since the Grand Vizier banned all technology, the Black Knight was only able to recruit children to fight in their war because everyone else was too superstitious to use the machines, having been convinced that doing so will negatively affect the energy rings that circle Polemachus and sustain life on the planet. They soon mount a surprise attack on the side of the castle allowing the Avengers, Thundra, and their army to get into the royal palace.
Seeing the heroes arrive, the Wrecker orders the warrior to hurry up and kill Captain America. Suddenly, Cap sinks into the floor leaving behind only his costume, much to the surprise of the Wrecking Crew. As it turns out, “Captain America” was actually the Vision in disguise and the warrior who volunteered to “kill” him was the real Steve Rogers. This deception was orchestrated so that, when the Avengers launched their surprise attack, the Vision could use his phasing powers to access the royal dungeon and free Arkon. Finding the deposed ruler, the Vision is surprised to see that Arkon has accepted defeat, a very uncharacteristic stance for him to take.
Meanwhile, the Scarlet Witch comes upon the small patch of flowers she marveled over during her first visit to Polemachus when she was kidnapped by Arkon.[2] She wonders if sending the Wrecking Crew here was part of a sub-conscious memory from that period of time. That’s when Vision arrives with the recently freed Arkon. The warrior is pleased to see Wanda and this reinvigorates him. However, Thundra soon arrives on the scene and — thinking that Arkon has chosen a new mate — tells him that she will not fight this new union. However, seeing Thundra is still alive gladdens Arkon as she is the only woman he wants to rule by her side. This is a very awkward situation for the Scarlet Witch and her new boyfriend, Wonder Man. However, Wanda assures him that she has no romantic interest in Arkon. Simon Williams is relieved and just hopes that Arkon doesn’t remember that he had roles in the Arkon films that have been made on Earth.[3]
As the battle rages on, the Black Knight’s flying creature is mortally wounded and he ends up pinned under the dying creature. Firestar comes to his rescue and Dane apologizes for accidentally injuring her fiancée, Justice, during their earlier battle with the Wrecking Crew.[4] The pair agree to a truce and rejoin the battle. By this time, the Avengers have retaken the royal castle and captured the Grand Vizier. Arkon then forces him to surrender and pronounce Arkon their true ruler and admit that he lied about technology threatening the energy rings. With the insurrection now over, the Avengers and their allies can now focus on dealing with the Wrecking Crew. They find the four bruisers still hanging out in Arkon’s throne room. There, Thor shatters the stasis chamber with Mjolnir, and while this frees Photon it doesn’t sever her link to the Wrecking Crew thanks to special devices that have been implanted on her.
The Wrecking Crew, meanwhile, keep on drawing more and more energy from her to boost her strength. Monica then realizes that the only way to defeat their foes is by giving them too much energy. Sure enough, she she does so the power causes the energy siphon to short out and the surge of energy knocks the Wrecking Crew out. In the aftermath of the battle, Arkon thanks the Avengers for helping liberate his kingdom. While they part as friends, the Black Knight figures that it’ll only take the energy rings around Polemachus burning out again before Arkon tries to threaten Earth once more.[5]
Back on Earth, the other Avengers have just returned to the mansion after their battle with the Doomsday Man. Giant-Man is telling the others that he is working on a way to free Kerwin Korman from his prison when the team that went to Polemachus return.[6] Everyone compares notes and Firestar is happy to see Justice, even though he managed to break his leg on top of the concussion that sidelined him on their mission. With the team back together, the Black Knight, Photon, and Warbird decide to depart, but Carol insists that she will get herself back on the Avengers roster as that’s where she belongs.[7]
A few hours later, Hank Pym is back working in his lab at Nugent Technologies when suddenly an army of robots come crashing through the floor and walls and take him out with an encephalo-ray in order to kidnap him.[8]
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonder Man, Justice, Firestar), Photon, Black Knight., Warbird, Thundra, Arkon, Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, Bulldozer), Greybeard, Ultron, Edwin Jarvis
Continuity Notes
At the time of this story, the Wrecking Crew were stripped of the Asgardian magic that gave them their power, as seen in Journey into Mystery #505. In Avengers (vol. 3) #16, the Doomsday Man made it so they could regain their super-human powers by absorbing energy sources, hence why they have taken Photon prisoner.
Wanda was kidnapped by Arkon during his first foray to Earth and was rescued by her teammates in the Avengers. See Avengers #75-76.
When he was an actor, Simon scored the role as the villain in the fourth Arkon film. When Arkon learned about this, he came to Earth spoiling for a fight. Simon convinced him to stand down by offering to talk to producers in Hollywood to make sure no further Arkon films were made. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #6-7 and 11.
During the battle against the Wrecking Crew in Avengers (vol. 3) #16, Justice got in the way of the Black Knight’s fight with Piledriver and the Knight accidentally struck him in the head with the flat of his sword, giving Vance a concussion. It wasn’t really the Knight’s fault really, but whatever….
The energy rings around Polemachus are notoriously bad for not working properly and this usual led to Arkon trying to destroy the Earth in order to power them back up. Usually, the likes of the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and the X-Men have prevented him from doing so by helping repair the damaged rings as seen in Avengers #75-76, Fantastic Four #160-163, X-Men Annual #3, and Avengers #358-359. Dane’s assessment would turn out to be wrong (at least as of this writing in May of 2022), as Arkon’s next big appearance will be in Weirdworld #1 where he finds himself lost in the titular realm and had been trying to find his way home, which now exists under Weirdworld.
Doomsday Man was responsible for this whole series of events needing to kidnap Carol Danvers, thinking she held the key to freeing him from his Doomsday Man shell after he was fused to the robot in Ms. Marvel #4, as explained over the last two issues. Despite Hank’s promise to try and find a way to free Korwin, he ends up back in the hands of AIM and used to attack Carol again in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #11-12.
Carol, as Warbird, was invited onto the new team of Avengers in Avengers (vol. 3) #4. However, it soon became apparent that she had a drinking problem. When confronted about it in issue #7, Carol denied having an addiction and quit. She won’t get help until issue #25 when it is revealed that she has entered Alcoholics Anonymous.
It’s Ultron guys, it’s always Ultron. See Avengers (vol. 3) #0 and 19-22.
Topical References
Justice is depicted as having a plaster cast to treat his broken leg. This should be considered a topical reference as there are now better alternatives such as orthopedic boots now exist.
