Solo Avengers #16
The Sinister Secret of SODAM
Mockingbird had followed after her husband, Hawkeye, when he cancelled a date to come to the aid of his ex-girlfriend, the Black Widow.[1] She discovered that the pair were taking down an secret facility run by Advance Idea Mechanics. Left behind, Bobbi watches as the remaining AIM scientists gather a number of human brains they had been transporting. When the scientists prepare to teleport themselves and their cargo back to headquarters, Mockingbird hops along for the ride. When they appear in AIM’s base, she is instantly discovered and swarmed by operatives.
In another chamber, Hawkeye and Black Widow have been captured by a man who appears to be their former ally, Hank Pym. However, thanks to his sensitive hearing aid, Clint is able to determine that this is not the real Hank, but a Life Model Decoy programmed to be loyal to AIM.[2] When Clint calls the impostor out on this, he admits that it is the truth and reveals to them that the real Hank Pym is their prisoner.
Hank doesn’t know why he is here, explaining that while he was trying to cure his wife, Maria Troyova, of her mutated brain he was suddenly blasted with knock out gas and woke up as a prisoner of AIM.[3] That’s when Maria — now calling herself the Specialized Organism Designed for Aggressive Manuevers, or SODAM for short — appears and reveals that she was always part of AIM’s Project: Brain Drain. She only posed as Hank Pym’s wife so they could exploit his background in biology to make improvements to the project.[4]
By this time, Mockingbird’s fight with the AIM foot soldiers damages some vital equipment that is keeping Hawkeye and Black Widow restrained. The three Avengers then begin fighting their way to freedom. In the ensuing battle, the Hank Pym LMD is knocked directly into one of SODAM’s mind blasts and is destroyed. Seeing the tide of battle turning against her, SODAM decides it is time to retreat and uses her mental powers to set off the base’s self-destruct system then blasts the ceiling to cause falling debris to separate her from her foes. Hawkeye, the Widow, and Hank then flee in the rocket sled with the surviving AIM scientists. Mockingbird is too late to catch a ride with them again. With the place coming down around her ears, Mockingbird’s only hope for escape is by the teleportation platform.
Later, as the police arrive to take the AIM operatives into custody, Hank still can’t stop thinking about SODAM and what she said earlier. The Widow tries to offer comfort by telling him that whoever she was before the moment she joined up with AIM. However, Clint doesn’t it see it that way and feels for Hank and his loss gets him thinking about how much he misses his wife and needs her by his side. He figures that Bobbi doesn’t feel the same way and would probably laugh in his face. Little does he know that Mockingbird is slinking away from the scene deeply upset about not being with her husband either.
Recurring Characters
Hawkeye, Black Widow, Mockingbird, Hank Pym, AIM (SODAM)
Continuity Notes
Hawkeye’s romantic situation is complicated to say the least:
He dated the Black Widow years ago, starting in Tales of Suspense #57. However, she broke up with him in Avengers #76 to focus on her career as a SHIELD agent.
Since then, Clint married Mockingbird in Hawkeye #4. However, their marriage has been in trouble since the events of West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #17-23. Bobbi was kidnapped by the Phantom Rider and when she got free she left him to die. When Clint learned the truth in issue #35, he was upset because she violated the Avengers code on killing instead of supporting his wife when she was sexually assualted. The two split up in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #37, but have been trying to work on their relationship since last issue.
There are conflicting stories about how Clint became deaf and required a hearing aid. In Hawkeye #4, he was shown to have intentionally damaged his hearing to prevent the villain known as Crossfire from using a sonic mind control device on him. However, years later, in Hawkeye (vol. 4) #19, it was stated that Clint was made deaf by the abuse his father heaped on him as a child. As of this writing (March, 2022) no explanation has been provided. I have a theory on this here.
For years, Hank thought his first wife was dead, per Tales to Astonish #44. However, more recently he discovered that she was still alive (more on that in a sec) and that her brain was enlarged to assist foreign powers create super-human operatives of their own. After freeing her from a Hungarian facility, Hank pledged to cry and cure her. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #33-36.
Later, in Iron Man #297, Omega Red claims that SODAM is really Olinka Barankova. However, she refutes this, claiming that AIM’s documents could have been doctored. Her true identity is still up to question as early as her most recent profile (under the name MODAM) in Captain America: America’s Avenger #1.
Seconds!
At her office at the Manhattan Project, a business trade journal, Pamela Douglas is having a hard time keeping her thoughts together. It is almost as though there is a second presence in her mind that is jumping her thoughts and filling her with conflicting emotions. When she knocks a snow globe off her desk, a co-worker named Joey Baker checks in on her. Fighting back angry thoughts about Joey, Pam decides to go home since she and her husband, Tom, have plans for the evening.
However, when she returns home, Pamela is suddenly finds herself violently telling her husband that she hates him before snapping back to normal. However, that night as Tom sleeps, Pam gets up out of bed and shaves all the hair off her head before realizing what she has done and screams.
After seeing her doctor and being prescribed medication, Pamela decides to take a vacation on her own to Indiana to try and get her head on straight. However, as she drives down a lone road she is suddenly attacked by another mental attack and crashes into an anti-abortion billboard. She is taken back to Soho where she has come to believe she is pregnant and worries over the baby. Her husband Tom tries to reassure her that Pam is not pregnant. Suddenly a massive hand comes crashing in through the skylight and tries to grab Pam.
In the next moment, Pam finds herself in the middle of the street with no memory of how she got there or what happened to her husband. That’s when the voice in her head finally begins talking sense. The voice claims to be Heather Douglas, Pam’s cousin. She explains that she was once the superhero known as Moondragon and that she died after her soul was corrupted by an entity called the Dragon of the Moon. Although her body turned to dust, he mind was transmitted into the mind of her only remaining relative.[1] Now she needs to get to the Saturnian moon of Titan where the Eternal world-mind ISAAC is creating a brand new body for her. Pam has no idea how they would even get there, but luckily, Heather was able to telepathically summon a ship to take them into space.
That’s when they are attacked by a man in a military uniform who can project massive hands from a massive ruby medallion he wears around his neck. Heather knows that the man is in a trance and that he is actually being controlled by the soul of her former teammate, Isaac Christians aka the Gargoyle, who had been trapped inside ever since Moondragon murdered him.[2] Heather asks Isaac to forgive her and offers to restore his body along with hers.[3] The Gargoyle forgives Douglas and agrees to accompany them on their mission. Taking the ruby from the soldier the trio board Moondragon’s ship and set a course for Titan.[4]
Recurring Characters
Pamela Douglas, Moondragon, Gargoyle,
Continuity Notes
Moondragon’s corruption at the hands of the Dragon of the Moon was chronicled in Defenders #138-139, 143-144, and 151-152, ending in her death.
Gargoyle’s was ripped from his body in Defenders #152 and stored in a ruby that was collected earlier by the Defenders in issue #147.
Gargoyle will eventually be restored in a new body by Cloud, another former Defender, in Solo Avengers #20.
This story continues in Solo Avengers #18.
Topical References
Pamela recalls an old Monty Python sketch in her opening monologue. This could be considered a topical reference if you want. Up to you. Just this once :P
