Avengers, The (1963 series) #397

Jailbait and Hotshot of the Leader’s Riot Squad visit the site of the battle between Thor and Hulk, searching for any sign that the Hulk survived a nuclear bombing. They are apprehended by the Avengers: Black Widow, Vision, Swordsman, and the hanger-on called Masque. There is a scuffle between the two teams, interrupted by a shirtless Thor who announces that Hulk is dead….

The Force Works Hex Ship has been shot down in the Grand Canyon by the army and now the unconscious Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch are surrounded by soldiers as Giant-Man and the mutated Wasp search the area for them in a Quinjet….

On another Quinjet, the Avengers and the captive Riot Squaddies head south toward their next objective. Vision and Thor compare notes on Thor’s regaining of his powers and how the Avengers have come full circle to their original purpose: joining forces to protect the innocent from villains from without instead of their own from within. Meanwhile, Black Widow and Swordsman are questioning the two captives who have informed them where the Gamma bombs are located near US landmarks but will not betray the whereabouts of their leader Omnibus….

Hawkeye returns to consciousness but notes that the soldiers are looking for an excuse to kill him and Wanda so he detonates a gas arrow and, despite a broken arm, scoops up the still-senseless Wanda and carries her off as the soldiers open fire. They fall into an icy river which revives Wanda but Clint slips back into unconsciousness so that Wanda is compelled to rescue him from a waterfall….

The Avengers arrive in Saint Louis, Missouri, site of the famed Gateway Arch and next target of the Leader’s scheme. Hotshot is trapped inside a Humanoid that has detected his gamma nature and the bomb starts to tick down. Vision is able to extract Hotshot from the monster trap while Masque remote controls the Quinjet to carry the bomb beyond the atmosphere where it detonates harmlessly….

At the Grand Canyon, Wanda revives Clint with artificial respiration and the two go on the run through the desert. Nearby, Hank and Jan, the former feeling guilt about what happened to the latter, discover the wreckage of the Hex-Craft….

The Avengers next go to the New Orleans Superdome where a giant tank-bomb terrorizes the assembled crowds of sports fans. The heroes duel with the monster while the stadium is quietly evacuated. Their efforts to stop the tank fail so Thor swings Mjolnir and funnels the force of the explosion straight up into another dimension. The crowd goes wild for the Odinson….

In the Grand Canyon, Wanda and Clint overpower a couple of soldiers and don their gear so they can capture several others. Later, when they are sitting by a campfire watching their prisoners, each one notes how they are more comfortable in a team, even the ultimate loner Hawkeye. Hank and Jan locate them and they are rescued….

Later, they are all at Avengers Mansion speculating on whether someone high in command has been compromised by Omnibus. They only ones who can confirm this are Hotshot and Jailbait but when Natasha and Wanda go to question them, the two have escaped….