West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #24
Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted!
Believing that he has destroyed the West Coast Avengers, the alien invader known as Dominus reveals his master plan to Sunstroke, his loyal minion.[1] It starts with a tour of the massive computer complex that will allow Dominus will use to conquer the world. He tells Sunstroke that he comes from a race of aliens that have been conquering planets across the universe by installing a device that enslaves entire populations.[2] Originally, the Arcane sent an operative named Lucifer to pave the way for invasion. However, he ran afoul of Professor X, the mutant telepath who later formed the X-Men. The self-same mutants later banished Lucifer to another dimension.[3] Lucifer made attempts to come back from his prison but this led to conflicts with both Iron Man as well as Captain America and the Falcon.[4]
Put in charge of the invasion, Dominus decided to set up shop in the American Southwest because it was far away from the X-Men, and most other hero teams that set up shop in the area had since disbanded.[5] That was until the West Coast Avengers were formed and he decided to actively eliminate them as a threat.[6] That’s when the proximity alarm goes off, alerting Dominus to the fact that the Avengers are back and are outside his hideout.
The group are searching the cave where they previously encountered Dominus and his minions. As they make their way in the gloom, Iron Man is glad that Hank Pym has rejoined the team, Moon Knight tries to make sense to his centuries long connection to the team, La Espirita offers a prayer, Wonder Man is itching to get this over with since he needs to help promote his new movie, while Mockingbird struggles with lying to her husband about the Phantom Rider’s death.[7]
The group are then confronted by Sunstroke who has come with an army of clones of his minions: Cactus, Gila, and Butte. Despite the overwhelming odds, the Avengers hold their own against this endless horde. During the fight, Hawkeye notices how intense his wife is being on the battle field and suspects there might be something wrong. Moon Knight finds himself enjoying fighting alongside the Avengers and thinks its time for a change.[8] Sunstroke tries to pit his sun powers to those of La Espirita, but she is too powerful and he escapes. The Avengers give chase into the main computer complex. There they are confronted by Dominus, who reveals that he’s not a physical being but the massive computer all around them. He then uses a beam to try and drive everyone mad. However, this appears to have no effect on Moon Knight. Try as he might, Dominus cannot drive Moon Knight mad, and ends up short circuiting himself trying to do so. The reason this didn’t work was because Moon Knight suffers from dissociative personality disorder and he had more than on personality that needed to be subverted.
As the Avengers flee the crumbling base, they witness as Dominus tries to escape in his ship. Iron Man, Wonder Man, and La Espirita follow after the ship into the upper atmosphere. There, Bonita surprises everyone by being able to survive out of Earth’s atmosphere. However, they are forced to break off their pursuit when Wonder Man’s jetpack conks out and he begins to fall back to Earth. On the ground, Wonder Man is furious that Iron Man let Dominus get away, pointing out that he is virtually indestructible and could have probably survived the fall.[9] Hawkeye breaks things up, pointing out that they won despite Dominus getting away. Besides, he tells them that they have to celebrate the addition of Moon Knight onto the team.
When they return to Avengers Compound, Wonder Man finds Menachem Heitz, the producer on his current film. He has been frantically trying to find Simon for some time now because they have a movie to promote. However, Menachem tells Simon that he needs to get rid of his new costume for the one he is most familiar for.[10] When Iron Man and Hawkeye defend Simon’s choice in wardrobe, he shocks them by saying Heitz is right and tells them to butt out of his acting career. As everyone goes to celebrate their victory, Wonder Man wonders if maybe it is time to leave the Avengers behind.
Recurring Characters
West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Iron Man, Hank Pym, Wonder Man, Tigra, Moon Knight), La Espirita, Dominus, Sunstroke, Gilla, Brute, Cactus
Continuity Notes
Dominus had sent the Avengers back in time in a broken time-machine that could only go backward in time. Little does he know that the Avengers managed to get a message to the present and had been rescued. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #17-23.
Here, Dominus states that the true identity of his race is a secret and that they call themselves the Arcane. However, the race has been named in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #5. In that issue’s alien appendix, this race was identified as the Quist.
Lucifer ran afoul of the Professor X in X-Men #20-21. Its stated here that Lucifer was the reason why Xavier formed the X-Men. It revealed that Lucifer was the reason Xavier was confined to a wheelchair and that their conflict was the reason Chuck formed the X-Men. That’s not the only reason, he also formed the X-Men to combat evil mutants and was inspired to do so after a life-and-death telepathic battle with the Shadow King, as seen in X-Men #117.
Lucifer later battled Iron Man in Iron Man #20 and Cap and the Falcon in Captain America #177-178. Steve Rogers is out of costume as this was a period where he quit being Captain America that lasted from Captain America #176-183.
Teams that were in the region were the Defenders (who operated out of New Mexico from Defenders #128 through 152) and the Rangers who first appeared in Incredible Hulk #265 and other than briefly being reunited in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #8, had disbanded after their formation.
The Vision decided that a west coast branch to the Avengers in Avengers #243. the team was fully organized in West Coast Avengers #1, obviously.
Lots of stuff going on here. The details:
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. He was encouraged by La Espirita to find a new purpose in life. He decided to become a scientific adventurer in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #21.
Last issue, Moon Knight learned that his ancient weapons (given to him by the Priests of Khonshu in Moon Knight (vol. 2) #1) were created by Hawkeye.
Wonder Man scored the role of the villain in the film Arkon IV in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #6.
While the Avengers were lost in time, Mockingbird was kidnapped by the Phantom Rider in issue #18. Forced to drink a love potion in the following issue, the Phantom had his way with Bobbi until she broke free of his spell in issue #21. Seeking revenge, Mockingbird let the Phantom Rider fall to his death in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #23. She keeps this a secret from Hawkeye until issue #35. While this story minces words (thanks Comics Code!) on what exactly happened, Hawkeye & Mockingbird #1 reveals that she was technically raped by the Phantom Rider.
Here, Moon Knight recounts how he recently lost his mind and how this drove away the woman he loves. This story references Hulk! #13, which is not accurate. Spector actually lost his mind in Moon Knight #37-38. He also mentions how his long time girlfriend Marlene Alraune left him. This story cites Moon Knight (vol. 2) #4, however she actually left him in issue #1 of that series. He learned that Marlene returned to her ex-husband in issue #4. This story presents Marc’s mental health struggles as though they were new. However, he has suffered with them for years dating back to his childhood as seen in Moon Knight (vol. 9) #9-10.
Although we don’t see Dominus again (as of this writing in May, 2022) his base is seen again. It becomes the massive robot Dominex and attempts to destroy the Earth in Avengers (vol. 3) #12.
Wonder Man had just changed his costume in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #12. I agree that this one looks stupid.
Topical References
This story is stated as taking place in the year 1987 and references to the Avengers recent trip through time measures the distance between eras based on this. The date in question should be considered topical as the Sliding Timescale pushes the Modern Age forward.
Here, Moon Knight refers to his disability as schizophrenia. However, this is not the correct diagnosis. More accurately, he suffers from Dissociative Personality Disorder. The incorrect usage here can be chalked up to what was known and understood about mental health back when this story was published in 1987.
