West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #23
Lost in Space-Time Conclusion: Showtime!
Time Has Split in Seven…
In Egypt, in the year 2940 BC, the Avengers — Hawkeye, Iron Man, Tigra, and Wonder Man — are stranded in the distant past after failing to get the aid to repair their time machine. This is because…
.. The Fantastic Four have left this era to their own time, seven years from the present, after recovering a potential cure for blindness.
.. The time traveler Rama-Tut had fled this era after being defeated by the Fantastic Four and is now encountering Doctor Doom in the time stream.
.. Doctor Strange, who also traveled to this era, had returned to his own time, one year from the present.
In 1876, Mockingbird continues her manhunt for the Phantom Rider after freed herself from a love potion forced upon her by the Phantom Rider.
In the timeless void between life and death, Khonshu — the Egyptian god of the moon — watches all of this transpires.
While in the present, Hank Pym and his allies Moon Knight and La Espirita seek out the aid of the present-day Fantastic Four to help rescue their time lost friends…[1]
New York City, the Present Day
Hank Pym, Moon Knight, and La Espirita have come to the Four Freedoms Plaza to get the aid of the Fantastic Four and rescue their time lost friends. Unfortunately, prior to their arrival, the FF’s time machine was destroyed by an alien invader calling himself Dominus. Despite this set back, Hank believes that he can repair the time machine with his technological know-how. While he and Mister Fantastic work together on repairing the Time-Platform, La Espirita catches up with the Thing who had just recently returned to the Fantastic Four, although he is not overly happy about it.[2] Hank also tells Reed that he has found a new outlook on life and has decided to become a scientific adventurer and shows off his latest invention the artificially intelligent ship called Rover.[3][4] Reed’s son Franklin has taken an immediate liking to the machine. Also present is the Invisible Woman, who finds Moon Knight’s air of mystery disturbing.
Egypt, 2940 BC
While Rama-Tut has fled this era, his loyal army is still around and attack the time lost Avengers. During the battle, Wonder Man once again tries to pick a fight with Iron Man, prompting Tigra to break the pair up before they come to blows. When the battle is over, the team heads back to the Temple of Khonshu to figure out their next plan.
There, the head priest thanks the Avengers for helping liberate them from the tyranny of Rama-Tut. Hawkeye doesn’t understand how they did so since as far as they can tell they didn’t really do much to change the situation. The priest explains that their intervention in events helped win the war. Their earlier battle with Rama-Tut’s robots gave Doctor Strange time to send out his astral form before being sealed in a stasis pod. Strange’s spirit then used his magic to change Ben Grimm back into the Thing, allowing him to break free from his bonds and rescue the rest of the Fantastic Four, who were able to defeat Rama-Tut.
It’s then that Hawkeye realizes that they can’t always be there to defend the Priests of Khonshu and decides to pass the time by carving some weapons for them. This is all said in front of the statue of Khonshu and it is intently listening.
New York, the Present
Watching Reed Richards and Hank Pym work gets Moon Knight thinking about how the world of superheroes are so far removed from his old life as Marc Spector, mercenary. He remembers how, when on a mission in Egypt, he was betrayed and left for dead. Found by the Priests of Khonshu, they brought him to a statue of Khonshu where he was resurrected by the god of the moon. He then vowed to become Khonshu’s avenging fist and became Moon Knight.[5] He originally fought crime while utilizing three different civilian identities: on top of Marc Spector, he also posed as wealthy playboy Steve Grant, and taxi driver Jake Lockley. However, juggling these three identities caused him to go mad and he ultimately gave up being Moon Knight for a time.[6] However, he was brought back into the fold by the Priests of Khonshu who told him becoming Moon Knight was his destiny and was given new weapons to aid in his war against crime.[7] Looking at these ancient weapons now, Moon Knight believes that his world has very little to do with the high-tech world of the Fantastic Four and Avengers.
New Mexico, 1876 AD
Mockingbird has gone off on her own to confront the Phantom Rider alone. She has chased him up to the mountain top where, years earlier, the meteor that gave him his powers fell to Earth. Here she demands vengeance for the Phantom Rider enslaving her with a love potion.
Using his illusions, the Phantom Rider appears in the sky above her claiming that the ancient spirits spoke to him and told him that she was a goddess and he became obsessed with making her his woman. Not falling for the Rider’s tricks, she attacks him and chastises him for going after a married woman who had no interest in him and taking away her autonomy.
In the ensuing battle, the Phantom Rider is knocked over the edge of the cliff. Due to the raging storm above them, the disgraced hero is beginning to lose his grip and pleads with Mockingbird to pull him up. However, she only stands and takes joy in watching him lose his hold and falls to his death.[8] Moments later, the storm clears and the sun begins to shine.
The Present
While hooking up a heavy machine to help with the repairs with the Time-Platform repairs, the Thing catches up with La Espirita and tells her how he came to return to the Fantastic Four. With the repairs finally finished, Reed insists on the Fantastic Four going into the past, but Hank insists that this is an Avengers matter and is sent back in time with La Espirita and and Moon Knight.
Egypt, 2940 BC
Hawkeye has just finished making new weapons for the Priests of Khonshu, which include throwing crescents and darts as well as a boomerang. That’s when Hank, Moon Knight, and La Espirita materialize in front of them. While everyone is celebrating this happy reunion, Moon Knight notices that the priests are the same men who convinced him to resume his costumed identity. They explain that Khonshu’s influence allowed all of these events to happen, pointing out that he is the god of vengeance, essentially an avenger himself.
Hawkeye is less interested in unraveling these mysteries and instead looks forward to being reunited with his wife, Mockingbird, who is still stranded in the days of the American Frontier.
Arizona, 1876
Following the death of the Phantom Rider, the Comanche tribe that chose Slade to be their champion are interning his body to a cave. Mockingbird finds this all tasteless given the crimes that Lincoln committed but keeps this to herself. The chief of the Comanches tells Mockingbird that one day the Phantom Rider will return and this makes her wonder what connection the Phantom Rider may have to his modern day counterpart who is part of the Rangers superhero team.[9]
Moments later, the Avengers arrive, having been brought to the scene by Two-Gun Kid and Rawhide Kid. Bobbi is happy to finally be reunited with her husband and they kiss. However, when asked what happened to the Phantom Rider, Mockingbird lies and says his death was an accident, keeping the fact that she allowed him to die a secret.[10] Before we return they return to the present, Hawkeye offers the Two-Gun Kid a chance to return with them. Although the Kid hopes to one day see the future again, he feels that now is not the time.[11] Soon, the Avengers depart for the present, however Hawkeye tells the team that they won’t have much time to rest as they will be going after the alien responsible for sending them back in time to begin with: Dominus!
Recurring Characters
West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Iron Man, Hank Pym, Wonder Man, Tigra, Moon Knight), La Espirita, Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl/Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Franklin Richards, Doctor Strange, Wong, Two-Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid, Phantom Rider
Continuity Notes
Lots going on here all at once. Here’s what has been going down:
The Avengers were sent back in time by Dominus in a broken time machine that could only go backwards in time in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #17.
They first ended up in 1876 and decided to go back further to enlist the aid of Rama-Tut in ancient Egypt. However, as they were leaving Mockingbird was kidnapped by the Phantom Rider who forced a love potion on her. See issues #19 and 20.
The West Coast Avengers ended up in ancient Egypt to try and enlist the aid of Rama-Tut but ended up agreeing to help Khonshu liberate his people from his tyranny in exchange for sending a message to the future to get help. See issues #20-22.
Also in the time period were the Fantastic Four, who traveled back in time in Fantastic Four #19 looking for a cure for blindness. The narrative states that the Fantastic Four were from 10 years in the past of the present day of this story. This is not accurate per the Sliding Timescale, which places the events of FF #19 as happening 7 years in the past.
After his defeat, Rama-Tut fled into the time-stream where he encountered Doctor Doom, as seen in Fantastic Four Annual #2.
Doctor Strange also came back to this era seeking a soul fragment belonging to his friend Victoria Bentley. This was chronicled in Doctor Strange (vol. 2) #53. The narrative states that this happened two years prior to the present day of this story, which is also wrong per the STS, which places it as happening about a year before hand.
The Thing’s situation is pretty complicated here:
In Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #1-12, Ben discovered that he could change between his human and Thing forms on Battleworld. He decided to remain on the alien world to enjoy this ability. He lived there from Thing #11-22. He had to sacrifice this power to return home.
It wasn’t a great homecoming as he discovered that the Human Torch was apparently dating Ben’s long time girlfriend Alicia Masters in Fantastic Four #277. He rage quit the FF in Thing #23 after he learned that Reed knew about Ben’s ability to change form and that it didn’t require him being on Battleworld. What nobody knows is that “Alicia” is actually a Skrull spy who took her place in Fantastic Four #265. The truth won’t be discovered until issue #358 this series.
During his hiatus from the Fantastic Four, Hawkeye courted him to join the West Coast Avengers from issues #4-9. However, he quit in the next issue after his body began mutating in Thing #36.
Ben hide out with the Mole Man who cured him, but was ultimately convinced to rejoin the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four #296. He wasn’t happy about it though because he still hadn’t gotten over Johnny relationship with “Alicia”.
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.
Hank explains that he was inspired to create Rover from Korr, a flying ant that was loyal to Hank early on in his career. Korr was one of Ant-Man’s earliest pet ants. It sacrificed itself to save Hank’s life in Tales to Astonish #47.
Moon Knight’s origins were originally told in Moon Knight #1.
Marc Spector’s mental decline and decision to abandon his different alter-egos happened in Moon Knight #37-38. While this story suggests that Spector created these identities after becoming Moon Knight, in reality Marc suffers from dissociative identity disorder and these personalities existed as far back as his childhood as detailed in Moon Knight (vol. 5) #3 and (vol. 9) #9-10.
Marc was convinced to become Moon Knight again and got his new weapons in Moon Knight (vol. 2) #1-6.
While this story dances around what exactly the Phantom Rider did to Mockingbird behind the scenes, it is later revealed that he technically raped her while she was under the effects of the love potion that he forced her to drink. Although his physical body dies here, the Phantom Rider’s spirit will come back to haunt Mockingbird in the present. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #31-32, 34-35, and 41 as well as Hawkeye & Mockingbird #1-5 and Mockingbird #7-8. Guy can’t take no for an answer.
The modern day Phantom Rider is the Hamilton Slade, Carter’s descendant, as per Ghost Rider (vol. 2) #56. It’s later revealed in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #31 that Hamilton is possessed by the spirit of Lincoln Slade.
Bobbi’s lie here will have far reaching consequences later. She keeps the truth a secret until West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #35. When Hawkeye learns the truth, he is upset with her because Avengers don’t kill. This causes enough of a strain on their marriage that ultimately leads to its end in New Avengers: The Reunion #1-4.
Two-Gun Kid spent a period of time in the present day after first meeting Hawkeye starting in Avengers #147. He was returned to his own time in issue #175. Two-Gun does eventually return to the present, after being plucked out of time by the Time Variance Authority. See She-Hulk (vol. 2) #5. He will ultimately be returned to the past in his old age, as seen in the Marvels Project #1.
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.
