Avengers West Coast #81

Sep 18

Sep 18 Avengers West Coast #81

Operation: Galactic Storm Part 9 - They Also Serve…

This story continues from Captain America #399…

The Avengers have found themselves in the middle of a galactic war between the Kree and the Shi’ar. While two delegations have gone off into space a team of Avengers reservists have been gathered to defend the Earth. The US Agent is not happy about it, since his position on a delegation team was bumped in favor of Hawkeye. He takes this out on the She-Hulk when she comes to get replacements for guard duty. Luckily, Hank Pym and the Wasp are able to get between the two before they can come to blows. With the fight avoided, US Agent and Mockingbird are sent to relieve Falcon at his post.[1]

The group is at Project PEGASUS to guard a number of aliens that the Avengers have captured recently including Warstar of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard, and the Kree operative Captain Atlas and Doctor Minerva.[2] After they relieve the Falcon, Mockingbird checks to make sure the prisoners are still secure in their stasis chambers. When she returns to her post, US Agent reveals to her that he was the one who voted for her during the West Coast Avengers latest roster shuffle.[3] However, the Agent admits that it wasn’t because of her ability, but because he found her attractive. This doesn’t go well and Bobbi socks the Agent right in the mouth.

That’s when the pair are ambushed by a Imperial Guardsman named Nightside who has come to rescue her captive comrade. Plunging the room in absolute darkness, Nightside sneaks behind the two Avengers and knocks them out with her concussion blaster. With the guards dealt with, Nightside has her diminutive teammate Scintilla free Warstar and the capture Shi’ar soldiers and use her size-changing ray to restore them to their proper size.

It’s about this time that She-Hulk comes by, looking to make peace with US Agent. She catches the Imperial Guard in the act and calls for the other Avengers. Although She-Hulk is knocked out by Warstar, the other Avengers heard her battle cry and come running. While the Avengers are occupied, it appears that Doctor Minerva got out as well and frees Captain Atlas from his cell. While the Avengers are busy with the Shi’ar, the pair make their escape outside where Doctor Minerva finds a Shi’ar cruiser that they can use to get them off the planet.

It’s about this time that the Avengers have finished defeating the Imperial Guard and notices that Captain Atlas and Doctor Minerva have also managed to escape during the fight. Mockingbird is ordered to stay behind while the rest of the group go looking for the two fugitives. Bobbi reluctantly agrees since she realizes that she doesn’t have the raw power needed to fight these alien invaders. Looking around the holding cell, she is surprised to see that someone is still there.

Meanwhile, the other Avengers arrive just as Doctor Minerva fires up the Shi’ar ship. US Agent leaps onto the craft to try and stop it from taking off. This proves not to be the best idea and the Agent can’t hold onto the ship as he begins speeding toward escape velocity. Luckily, Spider-Woman is able to use her psi-webs to break his fall, making it easy for She-Hulk to catch him without injury.

Once leaving Earth orbit, Doctor Minerva pilots the craft to a Shi’ar star cruiser. Inside, they are surrounded by Shi’ar soldiers and Starbolt and Neutron of the Imperial Guard. That’s when “Doctor Minerva” reveals that “she” is actually the Hobgoblin, the Imperial Guard’s resident shape-shifter. This was all a ruse to free Captain Atlas so they can take the Nega-Bands that the Kree stole from the tomb of Captain Marvel.[4]

Back on Earth, the Avengers return to Project PEGASUS where Mockingbird shows them that Doctor Minerva didn’t actually escape. She explains that she and Captain Atlas were broken out of their cells by the Imperial Guard. That’s when Hobgoblin knocked her out and took her place. At the Avengers behest, Minerva reaches out to Captain Atlas via the mental connection they have established with one another. When she confirms that he is aboard a Shi’ar star cruiser that is heading for the warp gate, She-Hulk contacts Quasar and tells him to try and stop the Shi’ar from leaving their star system.

Quasar is already waiting at the warp gate with the synthetic human known as Her. The pair try to intercept the Shi’ar ship, but Starbolt and Neutron emerge from it and attack. While Quasar and Her have their hands full, the Shi’ar ship manages to slip through the warp gate unopposed.

... This story continues in Quasar #33.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Hank Pym, Wasp, Falcon, She-Hulk, Mockingbird, Quasar, Gilgamesh, US Agent, Spider-Woman), Doctor Minerva, Captain Atlas, Imperial Guard (Hobgoblin, Nightside, Neutron, Scintilla, Starbolt, Warstar), Her

Continuity Notes

There is a lot of miscellaneous continuity mentioned here and there in this story. Let’s break it down:
- The Avengers sent two delegations — one to the Kree, the other to the Shi’ar — to convince both sides to stop using a warp gate near Earth as it is destabilizing the sun. US Agent was supposed to be part of this envoy, but Hawkeye made a bit stink about it and got to go instead. See Avengers #345.
- The Wasp refers to Hank Pym as her ex-husband. The pair were married back in Avengers #60. However, things ended in divorce when Hank struck her in issue #213 of that series.
- Gilgamesh states here that he wasn’t an active Avenger for very long. He joined up in Avengers #300 but had to leave the team 10 issues later.
Warstar was captured by the Avengers last issue while Doctor Minerva and Captain Atlas were both caught in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #7.
It’s here that Gilgamesh states that he was blind at one point. This was the case when we saw him in Thor #289, but that’s the only time he was ever depicted as blind. How he ended up like that to begin with and how he healed his vision is never really explained.
Captain Atlas stole Mar-Vell’s Nega-Bands back in Quasar #32/Wonder Man (vol. 2) #7.