West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #3
Singleton!
This story continues from Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #2…
The West Coast Avengers battle with the Lethal Legion is now over. The group is now parting company with the Vision and the Scarlet Witch who helped them on this case. Wonder Man thanks the Vision for all his help as the experience made him realize that the android is like a brother time him.[1][2] Simon tries to convince the Vision to come back to Los Angeles with them. However, he and Wanda have plans to start a new life for themselves in New Jersey.[3] When offered a ride home, the couple decline, saying they want to enjoy the mountains and have some time alone. Picking up on the hint, Mockingbird figures they want to talk about starting a family, but wonders how such a think could be possible since the Vision is an artificial man.[4]
Although things were pleasant when they left, things on the flight home gets rocky as Tigra blames herself for screwing up in the battle, allowing Ultron to escape. She blames her ineffectiveness in battle on the ongoing mental struggle between her human and cat personalities.[5] When Iron Man tries to tell her to stop being hard on herself, she dismisses his concerns, thinking he has it easy and can take time off whenever he doesn’t feel like being Iron Man anymore. Iron Man takes offense to this because she doesn’t know that he has had his own personal problems of late.[6] When Mockingbird orders them to simmer down, Tigra decides she has had enough and leaps out of the Quinjet onto the rooftops below. When Hawkeye tries to go back, everyone tells him to leave Tigra alone to blow off some steam and remind him that they have other matters to attend to, such as selecting a sixth and final member of their team.
Meanwhile, Tigra stalks the rooftops and spots some men trying to rob the African-American Museum. Seeing this as an easy way to let off some steam, Tigra attacks them. However, she is ambushed by their employer, Kraven the Hunter, who is pleased to have an opportunity to get a rematch with the cat-woman.[7] However, Kraven isn’t prepared for Tigra’s newfound ferocity and since his ill gotten gains are more important he drugs her in order to cover his escape.
By this time, the Avengers have returned to their Los Angeles compound. Hawkeye then orders the team to take some time off while he and Hank Pym lock Goliath back in his cell.[8] It’s here that Hank proposes to Hawkeye and Iron Man that he stay on at Avengers Compound in a support capacity, much like Jarvis does for the east coast team. While the pair are reluctant to take Hank on, he points out how much of an asset he will be since he’s already well versed on the team’s needs and equipment since he was a founding member of the original Avengers.[9] They eventually relent and accept Hanks wishes and Hawkeye then gets down to trying to fill the vacant position on the team.
Meanwhile, Wonder Man is up in his room on a call with his agent. He has just been booked to appear on popular late night talk show. Simon is really looking forward to it because it will finally give him the opportunity to get national exposure and figures things won’t be the same again after wards.[10] While on the Avengers private beach, Hawkeye and Mockingbird take a romantic stroll. However, the two can’t focus on themselves because Clint can’t get Tigra off his mind and the two decide to go searching for her. Back at the compound, Hank answers the phone when it rings but the caller hangs up as soon as they hear his voice. Hank dismisses it as a bad connection and forgets about it.[11]
At that moment, on the streets of Los Angeles, Tigra is back on her feet and following Kraven’s trail. When a guy driving by cat calls her and compliments the work the Avengers are doing in the city, Tigra allows her feline side to respond. Leaping into the car, she kisses the man and gives him the phone number for Avengers Compound.[12] She then continues following the trail into a nearby park, where Kraven has been waiting with various traps set up to deal with her.[13] As they fight it out, Hawkeye and Mockingbird arrive on the scene, but Tigra tells them to stay back because this is her fight. The battle draws a crowd of people, including a disguised Scourge of the Underworld, who decides to cancel his plans to kill Kraven as it might put the Avengers in harms way.[14] Despite Tigra’s demands they stay out of it, Hawkeye and Mockingbird help take down Kraven, much to her chagrin.[15]
Back at Avengers Compound, Hawkeye calls a meeting to commend Tigra for handling Kraven on her own. Wonder Man notices how she is paying a lot of attention to Hank Pym, and since he too has been attracted to their teammate, decides to take a step back so he doesn’t step on Hank’s toes. Hawkeye then decides to field ideas on how they can finally secure the sixth and final member of their team. Everyone thinks that a press conference would be the best way to alert prospective applicants when suddenly, the Thing shows up. As it turns out, the former member of the Fantastic Four was riding his motorcycle in the area when he suddenly got a flat tire. Deciding that this is fate, Hawkeye tells the Thing that he has an offer he can’t refused.
Recurring Characters
West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Iron Man, Wonder Man, Tigra), Goliath, Kraven the Hunter, Hank Pym, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Scourge of the Underworld, Thing
Continuity Notes
The West Coast Avengers battle with the Lethal Legion was covered in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #1-2 and Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #1-2.
Wonder Man and Vision are “brothers” because the android’s brain patterns are based on a copy of Wonder Man’s mind. See Avengers #9, 57-58, and 134-135 for all the specifics.
Wonder Man mentions how Wanda and Vision’s home was burned down by bigots. This home was purchased in Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1 and burned down in Avengers #252. The couple will set up their new home in Leona in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #4.
Mockingbird’s guess is correct, as we’ll see in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #3. Wanda eventually uses magic to make herself pregnant and she will give birth to twin sons in issue #12 of that series.
Tigra was turned into a cat-woman back in Giant-Size Creatures #1. Since West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #1, she has been struggling to balance her warring personalities.
At the time of this story, Tony Stark had just gotten over an alcoholic bender that lasted from Iron Man #167 to 182. Jim Rhodes took over as Iron Man in issue #169 through 195 of that series, with Tony returning to the mantle in issue #200. The team became aware of Tony’s replacement in West Coast Avengers #3-4.
Kraven has clashed with Tigra on two different occasions in Marvel Chillers #4 and Marvel Team-Up #67 respectively. In the latter instance he briefly enslaved her before she was rescued by Spider-Man.
Here Goliath mocks both Hank and Clint for being failed predecessors to the Goliath name. Hank operated under the Goliath identity from Avengers #28 until 59 when he reinvented himself as Yellowjacket. Shortly thereafter, Clint took on the identity from Avengers #63 to 98, abandoning it when he found the need to constantly take a growth formula to be unreliable. This footnote also points to Avengers #230, where Hank Pym decided to retire as a costumed super-hero after a fall from grace that started in Avengers #213.
A bunch of things get casually mentioned during this discussion:
That Hank was a founding member of the Avengers in issue #1 of that series.
That he recently helped Jim Rhodes in Iron Man #194. During Rhodey’s stint as Iron Man he started getting headaches due to an improperly calibrated cybernetic uplink. While this was fixed in issue #187 the headaches continued as they were a psychosomatic response to Jim’s guilt over taking over as Iron Man. He ultimately got cured in Iron Man #195.
Iron Man wonders if Hank still holds a grudge over his dating Pym’s ex-wife, Janet Van Dyne, aka the Wasp. Janet divorced Hank after he struck her in Avengers #213. Tony Stark tried dating her in issue #224, until she found out he was also Iron Man and ended the romance because it was inappropriate so soon after her divorce.
Mention is made of Simon’s last talk show appearance. That happened in Avengers #239. A footnote here teases readers by stating that what he means will be revealed next issue. In a nutshell: Before becoming Wonder Man, Simon Williams was caught in an embezzling scandal at his old company, circa Avengers #9. Until Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #2, Simon never really admitted or taken responsibility for the crime and allowed his criminal brother, the Grim Reaper, take the blame until recently.
We’ll find out that this call was coming from Ultron next issue. The homicidal robot is actually trying to reconcile with his father, a plotline that will come to a resolution in issue #7.
The cat-caller mentions a few other heroes that failed to make their mark in Los Angeles in the past. They are:
“The Black Guy” is in reference to Bill Foster who operated out of LA as Black Goliath as seen in Black Goliath #1-5.
He also mentions the ill fated Champions, who fell apart due to in fighting on top of administrative and infrastructure problems due to shoddy contracting. See Champions #1-17 and Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #17-18.
Here, Kraven mentions the source of his power and a footnote reminds readers that this was first detailed in Amazing Spider-Man #15. It also refers them to Marvel Tales #153, a reprint of that same story.
The Scourge of the Underworld has been assassinating super-villains all over the country at the time of this story. As detailed in US Agent #1-4, the Scourge program was founded by the wartime hero known as the Angel to eliminate super-villains.
Here, Mockingbird states that she received jungle combat training from Ka-Zar. She hung out with the Lord of the Savage Land for an extended period of time. See Astonishing Tales #6-20.
Topical References
In this story, Wonder Man’s agent gets him booked to appear on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. This should be considered topical as the show ended its run in 1992 and Carson subsequently died in 2005.
One of the people on street mistakes Tigra for Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Elvira was a character played Cassandra Peterson. At the time this story was published, Elvira was best known for her TV show where she hosted the screening of horror films. This should be considered topical as Elvira/Cassandra Peterson are real world personalities.
Tigra is excited about a press conference the Avengers want to call to try and find a sixth member, hoping they end up on Entertainment Tonight. ET is a celebrity focused news program that has run for over 40 years as of this writing. Its reference here should be considered topical because it too is a real world program.
