Avengers West Coast #75
Hostages to Fortune
Sword-and-Sorcery Land is a brand new theme park that is about to open in Orange County, California. As the name implies, it is a fantasy themed amusement park based on the popular Arkon films.[1] Before the park opens to the public, the Avengers West Coast and the Fantastic Four have been allowed to visit the fully automated park. The two teams bring Spider-Woman’s daughter, Rachel Carptenter as well as the Franklin Richards, son of Reed and Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four. Because Spider-Woman, aka Julia Carpenter, has a secret identity she is posing as a friend of the family something that she doesn’t like doing but must out of necessity.
Everyone is enjoying the time to relax and the two children are having the time of their lives. As the two hero teams socialize, the Living Lightning really hits it off with the Human Torch, pretty ironic since Miguel started his career fighting Johnny’s predecessor.[2] Seeing Rachel and Franklin play kind of hurst the Scarlet Witch as it reminds her of the loss of her own children.[3] While enjoying the rides, Franklin learns that Rachel’s parents are divorced and that she spends most of her time with her father. Rachel doesn’t like the fact that she doesn’t get to see her mother as often as she’d like. Franklin is surprised Rachel’s mother isn’t there, but Rachel explains her mother arranged for her to come out to the park with the Avengers because she was busy. She also had Rachel promise to keep it a secret from his father and she notes that she hates secrets.[4] Incidentally, Spider-Woman is discussing this very issue with the Invisible Woman, admitting that she hates having to lie to keep her double identity a secret. The Invisible Woman isn’t sure what she would do if she was in Spider-Woman’s shoes but believes being honest with her daughter is the best thing to do.[5]
When Franklin and Rachel hop onto a rollercoaster the cars are suddenly covered slides over the cars as the ride begins picking up speed.[6] Within moments the ride is going out of control, alarming both the Avengers and Fantastic Four who frantically try to stop the ride before the children are hurt. When they finally manage to stop the ride and pry open the cover they are shocked to discover that Rachel and Franklin are now missing. Moments later, the power to the park goes out, plunging it into darkness. The only option to find the missing children is to reactivate the ride and so both teams pile into the vehicle. US Agent is instructed to stay behind to operate the machine and see what happens. With that, the Living Lightning uses his powers to reactivate the ride with Iron Man and the Torch providing additional thrust to get them going at top speed. Sure enough, the cover comes up again and when the ride finally comes to a stop again, US Agent finds that the rollercoaster cars are all empty.
Mister Fantastic, the Thing, Spider-Woman, Hawkeye, and the Living Lightning find themselves transported to another time and place and are greeted by Thundra. The Thing then informs the Avengers that they are in an alternate future ruled by the United Sisterhood Republic, a female dominated society where Thundra is their leader.[7] Thundra explains that her people are currently at war with Arkon and the people of Polemachus. She now has Franklin Richards as a hostage in order to ensure that the captured heroes will help her in this war. She then offers the Thing the opportunity to become her consort, but Ben turns her down once again.[8]
As it turns out the other heroes — Iron Man, Wonder Man, the Scarlet Witch, Invisible Woman, and Human Torch — were intercepted in transit and are now a prisoner of Arkon. Arkon also has Rachel Carpenter as his prisoner. Leaving the girl in the care of a warrior named Shigaru, she helplessly watches as Arkon’s scientists brainwash the heroes into being his slaves so he can use them in his war against Thundra. With the brainwashing complete, Arkon mobilizes his armies and they are all teleported to Thundra’s reality. There, Thundra and her armies are waiting for the coming battle. Soon the war begins and the heroes forced to serve Thundra finds themselves fighting their comrades that have been enslaved by Arkon.[9]
In the middle of all of this conflict, Franklin manages to break free from his cell and is accidentally teleported onto the battlefield along with reinforcements for Thundra’s army. Also in the thick of it is Rachel Carpenter who manages to break free from Shigaru’s grasp and flees. The two children end up meeting in the middle of the battle field and they are saved when Shigaru sacrifices his life to shield them from a missile. That’s when Spider-Woman notices that the children are caught in the middle of the fight and rushes to their aid, using her psi-webs to shield them the best she can. When the Invisible Woman arrives on the scene and tries to attack Spider-Woman, Franklin pleads with his mother to snap out of it. Unable to harm her only son, Sue Richards breaks free from Arkon’s control. She then wraps them all up in an invisible force field just in time to shield them from another missile. Miraculously, the vibrations caused by the missile’s impact with the invisible force field reverberates in such a way that it reverses the effects of Arkon’s brainwashing.
With all the heroes back to normal they are about to act when Arkon and Thundra finally cross paths. As the two fight it out, Mister Fantastic orders everyone not to interfere since both armies have stopped fighting to watch their leaders battle it out. Reed is onto something as both Arkon and Thundra suddenly realize that they are very much alike and are attracted to one another. Deciding to form a union, Arkon uses his mystical thunderbolts to teleport himself and his new bride away so they can consummate their union in private. With that, both armies are whisked back to their proper realities and the heroes are returned to present day Earth. After their ordeal, Spider-Woman decides that she is not going to keep her double-identity a secret from her daughter any longer. Unmasking for her daughter, Julia is surprised when Rachel explains that she figured out her mother’s double life a long time ago and was just waiting for her to tell the truth. The two are happy to no longer have this secret between them.
The Thing, meanwhile, is kind of hurt that the only reason why Thundra was ever interested in him was only for his strength and nothing else. He decides to take it out by throwing a stone trash can at a statue of Arkon on the fairground before offering to buy the kids a slushie.
Recurring Characters
Avengers West Coast (Iron Man, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, US Agent, Living Lightning, Spider-Woman), Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Arkon, Thundra, Franklin Richards, Rachel Carpenter
Continuity Notes
In the Marvel Universe, films based on the real life Arkon are all the rage. In fact, Wonder Man starred in the fourth installment of the franchise as seen in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #6.
When Miguel was first transformed into the Living Lightning in Avengers West Coast #63 he fought the original Human Torch, aka Jim Hammond. Hammond was an android that was built way back in 1939 as seen in Marvel Comics #1. In the present day, Johnny Storm gained his powers alongside the rest of the Fantastic Four during a space flight that was bombarded with cosmic rays. Johnny gained flame powers on par with the original Torch, as seen in Fantastic Four #1. Issue #126 of that series explains that he named himself the Human Torch to honor the original who was MIA around the time Johnny first got his powers.
The Scarlet Witch used her hex powers to make herself pregnant in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #3 and gave birth in the 12th issue of that series. However, it was later revealed that these children were not real, just figments of Wanda’s imagination and had to be destroyed in order to stop Master Pandemonium from reforming Mephisto’s soul as seen in Avengers West Coast #51-52. The two will be reincarnated as real live boys and be reunited with their mother many years later as seen in Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #6.
Spider-Woman’s marital and custody situation with her ex-husband and daughter was first explored in Iron Man #214. Their relationship is strained mostly due to the fact that Julia has to keep her identity as Spider-Woman a secret. Due to her working for the Commission on Superhuman Affairs, Julia has often been called away and unable to explain herself leaving her ex, Larry Carpenter, to believe that she’s flaking out on her daughter.
Here, Spider-Woman refers to her daughter Rachel as being 7 years old. Per the Sliding Timescale this would put her as being born during “Year One” of the Marvel Universe. This would make her a year older than Franklin who was born in Fantastic Four Annual #6, which takes place in “Year Two” of the Modern Age.
Here, Johnny Storm tells Miguel that Arkon is a real guy and that the Fantastic Four have fought with him a few times. Indeed Arkon is real, he is an other dimensional being that the FF fought on a few occasions as seen in Fantastic Four #160-163, Uncanny X-Men Annual #5.
The Thing is not quite correct as the situation is quite complicated:
Thundra originally haled from a Reality-715 a possible future where barbarian women dominated the planet. It eventually went to war with the male dominated Reality-74101. In the end the two realities ended up merging together to form Reality-74102 a future where both genders live in coexistence. The world presented here is neither but a divergent version of Reality-715 that did not become merged with another reality. It has been designated Reality-8009. All of these reality numbers were designated in Offiical Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Realities 2005 #1.
Thundra originally ventured from her reality to the Prime Marvel Universe (Earth-616) to defeat its most powerful mortal male circa Fantastic Four #129. She decided that this was the Thing and the two clashed a number of times until Thundra became an ally of the FF. This led to the conflict that saw her native reality merged with Reality-74101, as seen in Fantastic Four #151-153.
Thundra returned to Earth-616 instead of staying on the newly formed Reality-74102, but she eventually longed to return home. Eventually getting ahold of one of Roxxon’s Nth Projectors she opened a portal to Earth-8009 in Marvel Two-In-One #67 and ruled there ever since.
Thundra eventually became attracted to the Thing but he never reciprocated because of his love for Alicia Masters. When it appeared that Alicia had married the Human Torch in Fantastic Four #300, Thundra came to Ben in issue #303 of that series and offered him the chance to become her king. He refused. Also, FYI, Johnny didn’t marry the real Alicia but a Skrull impostor as we’ll learn in Fantastic Four #357, it was a whole thing.
When encountering the Scarlet Witch, Arkon mentions how he once loved her. He is referring to the events of Avengers #75-76.
Topical References
The opening narration to this story mentions a number of amusement parks that were open in California around the time this story was published:
Disneyland, which opened its doors in 1955. Since Marvel is now owned by Disney, this wouldn’t be considered a topical reference due to brand synergy.
Knott’s Berry Farm: Actually pre-dated Disneyland as a tourist trap that sold produce in the 1920s. However it didn’t become a proper amusement park until 1968. While this park is still in operation today, it’s referencing here should be considered topical as it is a real world buisness.
Magic Mountain: One of many theme parks owned by Six Flags. It first opened in 1971. It’s reference her should also be considered topical.
While everyone is relaxing at the amusement park, the Thing suggests that US Agent take of his mask saying that nobody would recognize him from Adam West. Adam West was an actor best known for his portrayal of DC Comics’ Batman in the 1960s television adaptation of the character. For the longest time, West was synonymous with the Batman character. That said, this reference should be considered topical since many others have since taken on the role not to mention the fact that West died in 2017.
After trashing a statue of Arkon, the Thing offers to buy the kids some Slurpees. This should be considered topical as it is a real world beverage.
