West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #21
Lost in Space-Time Part 5: Time for Every Purpose in Heaven!
Time Has Split in Five…
In 2940 BC, the Avengers have come back in time in a broken time machine to enlist the aid of Rama-Tut to get back to their own era. Upon their arrival, they are ambushed by the time-traveler who knocks them out with his ultra diode ray…
In 1776 AD, Carlotta Valdez has died and is being buried…
In 1847 AD, in Mexico 12-year-old girl named Isabel Ramirez is approaching the local church…
In 1876 AD, the Phantom Rider and Mockingbird — who has been enthralled by a love potion — fight crime together…
… And in the present, Hank Pym has been convinced by La Espirita that his life still has value and now he is hard at work on a brand new invention.[1]
Egypt, 2940 BC
Incapacitated by Rama-Tut’s ultra diode ray, the Avengers are now helpless as their bodies begin to shut down.[2][3] Gloating over his victory, Rama-Tut then brags about his past, explaining how he was a bored time traveler from the year 3000 that came to ancient Egypt to seek adventure and conquest.[4] After finished telling his story, he tells his men take the Avengers to the Temple of Khonshu to be disposed of. There, they are handed over to the priests who still tend over the temple. There their bodies are laid out in front of a statue of the moon god. Barely clinging to life, Hawkeye calls out to his missing wife, Bobbi Barton — aka Mockingbird.
The Arizona/New Mexico border, 1876 AD
The Phantom Rider and Mockingbird have just taken down a gang of outlaws. Suddenly, Bobbi feels a weird chill, as though someone she loved just died. When the Rider tries to comfort her she recoils and tells him not to touch her. Confused by this experience, Mockingbird tells the Phantom Rider that she needs some time by herself and that she’ll catch up with him later.
As she rides away, she is spotted by Two-Gun Kid and Rawhide Kid who have been trying to track down the Phantom Rider ever since he kidnapped Bobbi. The Rawhide Kid is certain he can find her as there is no trail to follow her. Two-Gun Kid can’t wait to finally rescue Bobbi for his friend Hawkeye, who is bound to return from the distant past as soon as he gets his time machine working properly.[5]
California, 1776 AD
The funeral for Carlotta Valdez is now over and her body has been committed to the ground. After the funeral service, the priest tells her friends that Carlotta’s personal possessions will be returned to her family in Mexico. This also includes the family Bible, which also contains her personal diary as well as the note written by Hawkeye months earlier asking for help from the future.
Ciudad Corazon, Mexico, 1847 AD
Isabel Ramirez arrives at the local mission so she can prey to God for guidance since times have been hard since the war with the United States has not been going well for her people. The mean spirited priest allows her to do so, making a point to brag about how he has possession of her family’s Bible and how it is the property of the church.
Angered by the priest’s arrogance, Isabel looks through the Bible after he leaves her to pray and finds Hawkeye’s message. Suddenly, she feels that great sweeping sensation as she briefly becomes attuned to the universe. Seeing this as a sign from God, she recognizes that the strange message from the past is important and steals the Bible. She knows where to hide it where the church won’t find it and pledges her life to studying the book and ensuring the message is delivered.
Somewhere… Someplace Else…
Hawkeye awakens and finds himself in a strange void. Before him is the image of Khonshu, the Egyptian god of the moon. Khonshu asks Hawkeye to help deliver his chosen people from the tyranny of Rama-Tut, offering to restore his health and bring him back to life. Hawkeye refuses to do anything without striking a deal with the god. He convinces Khonshu to revive his friends as well and to also send a message to the future to tip off their friends. Impressed by Clint’s audacity and shrewdness, Khonshu agrees to these terms.
New Mexico, 1876 AD
Mockingbird wonders why she is feeling so strange and wonders if it has something to do with the strange arrowhead she found in Phantom Rider’s cave. That’s when the Two-Gun Kid confronts her dressed in a make-shift Hawkeye costume. While he defends her attacks, he tries to get her to remember who she really is.
Eventually, Bobbi is forced to remember her past, breaking the spell the love potion held over her. Furious that she was manipulated by the Phantom Rider, Bobbi asks Two-Gun and Rawhide to help her track him down so she can get her revenge.
Egypt, 2940 BC
Hawkeye and the others wake up to find they are all alive and well. Iron Man, Tigra, and Wonder Man aren’t sure how they survived. However, when the priests return they explain that they were all brought back from the brink by Khonshu. Clint, who knows this to be true, thanks the statue of the moon god for his help and tells his friends that he will explain everything later. As they leave, the eye of Khonush twinkles in the din….
New York City, the Present
Moon Knight is on patrol when he catches some art thieves trying to haul away their ill gotten gains. Using his Egyptian themed weapons to subdue the crooks, Moon Knight quickly wraps things up. That’s when he gets a sudden message from Khonshu, the entity that gave him his powers. Contacting his friend Frenchie, Moon Knight tellsh im to prepare the Moon-Coptor for a trip to California.
California, the Present
After working around the clock, Hank Pym has completed his latest invention a robotic ship called Rover. Inspired by La Espirita’s exploration of his past innovations he has given the ship an artificial intelligence. This him however, he has made sure Rover won’t become self-aware and evolve into a threat, like his earlier creation, Ultron.[6] Hank then shows off his other innovation using his Pym Particles. Able to use them to grow objects independently, Hank has created a number of scientific devices and weapons which he can store in his pockets by shrinking them down to ant size until he needs them. All of this inspiration has convinced Hank to become a scientific adventurer instead of trying to become a super-hero again.[7]
He thanks Bonita for all her work, and she says that she was happy to help out of Christian fellowship. Having grown attracted to her, Hank wonders if his lack of faith and her devotion to religion would clash with a romance. Smiling, Bonita tells Hank that she’s not a nun then hugs and kisses him.
Arizona, the Present
Dominus is certain that he has defeated the Avengers once and for all by sending them into the past. However, he wonders if there might not be something he has overlooked….
Recurring Characters
West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Iron Man, Hank Pym, Wonder Man, Tigra), Moon Knight, La Espirita, Two-Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid, Phantom Rider, Rama-Tut, Dominus, Khonshu, Frenchie
Continuity Notes
Lots going on here all at once:
The Avengers were send back in time by Dominus in a time machine that could only travel backward in time in issue #17.
The group ended up in 1876 in issue 18. Mockingbird was kidnapped by the Phantom Rider when trying to go further back in time.
Issue #19, they encountered Bonita Valdez, Hawkeye gave her a message to carry to the future because she is somehow connected to La Espirita, something they learned in issue #10.
Bonita was shot and killed last issue, while at the same time the Avengers went further back to ancient Egypt trying to get the help of Rama-Tut.
Hank Pym suffered a series of set back and losses, including a divorce, getting kicked out of the Avengers, being framed, retiring from heroics, losing his “son” Ultron, and being dumped by Tigra, Hank Pym was about ready to end it all in issue #17. See also Avengers #213, 217, 227-230, and West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #7 and 16.
Wonder Man begins to panic over the idea of dying again. Simon briefly experienced oblivion from Avengers #9 to 151 when he was in a death-like trance as his body transformed into a being of pure ionic energy, as explained in issue #165.
Tigra laments over dying as well, saying she just found peace between her two souls. Greer Grant was merged with the spirit of the Tigra, champion of the Cat People in Giant-Size Creatures #1. However, the process was incomplete and over time, her two souls began to conflict with each other starting in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #1. This imbalance was corrected in issue #15.
Rama-Tut recounts his origins as they happened back in Fantastic Four #19. However, it’s later revealed that Rama-Tut doesn’t come from the future of Earth-616, but of a parallel universe that didn’t experience the Dark Ages and thus was far more technologically advanced, as revealed in Fantastic Four #272-273. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Realities 2005 #1 classifies this as Reality-6311.
Here, Two-Gun Kid mentions the time he spent in the present day. After helping the Avengers defeat Kang in Avengers #142-143, he convinced Hawkeye to bring him to the future. There, the Kid lived from Avengers #147 through 175, and returned home because he felt out of his depth and was homesick for his own era.
As seen in Avengers #58, Hank Pym created Ultron. However, the robot became self-aware and began evolving into a homicidal killing machine.
Hank rhymes off his failed superhero identities he has had over the year: Ant-Man (Tales to Astonish #35), Giant-Man (Tales to Astonish #49), Goliath (Avengers #28) and Yellowjacket (Avengers #59). Now calling himself simply “Doctor Pym” here, Hank eventually goes back to being a super-hero proper in Avengers #366 when he takes on the role of Giant-Man again.
Topical References
This story fames the present day as taking place in the year 1987 and all measurement of time between the different eras are calculated with that in mind. That said, the year of the present day should be considered topical due to the Sliding Timescale, which pushes the Modern Age forward in time. For example, the Modern Age has been pushed forward so that it no longer takes place in the late 20th Century, only beginning after the start of the 21st Century.
