Avengers #258: Review

Aug 1985

Roger Stern, Tom Palmer

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Story Name:

Pyrrhic Victory

Review & Comments

Rating:

Avengers #258 Review by T Vernon (June 30, 2023)

Comments: Part four of eight parts. Title: A Pyrrhic victory is one that leaves the victor devastated or destroyed as well. The Savage Land will be recreated by the High Evolutionary in UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #12. Story follows AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #270. Hercules and Firelord were allies in THOR #225-228.

Review: Hmmm. Firelord looks in much better condition on the cover than he does in the story; we should all have the option to look our best in low times. So in this issue, we have the Avengers cleaning up details from the plotline of the previous two issues. And then for some arcane reason we see them cleaning up details from Spider-Man’s previous two issues. And just when we’re wondering if they are going to be dealing with Millie the Model’s previous two issues, we suddenly get to the good stuff. Captain Marvel, trapped in an untenable situation, plays mental chess with space mercenary Nebula, hoping to find whether the Skrulls can help her go home while convincing Nebula she is seriously considering joining the bad guys. And Nebula is also a sharp cookie, making for an exciting issue. Plus, the “Captain Marvel in space” subplot now becomes the main storyline for the next several issues as the comic goes sci-fi.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Avengers #258 Synopsis by T Vernon

The Avengers, stranded in the now ice-covered land of Pangea, are walking home, with Hercules carrying the Quinjet, when they are spotted by Ka-Zar aboard a rescue copter. The copter lands and Ka-Zar distributes arctic wear to Captain America, Wasp, Black Knight and Starfox, Hercules declining. Ka-Zar tells them the Savage Land has been totally destroyed, Terminus having wrecked the volcanoes that kept the climate tropical and now the Antarctic has reclaimed the land. They take him to see the mortal remains of Terminus. On their way home in a US Navy jet, Cap mourns the loss of life, feeling like a failure but the others remind him that war always has casualties and they have stopped a monster that had terrorized multiple worlds and thus avenged their people….

Arriving at the Mansion, the Avengers discover workmen taking down the walls and Raymond Sikorsky of the National Security Council interrogating Jarvis. Sikorsky explains that they are there to recover the circuitry the Vision used in his attempt to take over NORAD’s computers. Starfox reveals that he dismantled the alien tech, which Sikorsky sees as destroying evidence. Hercules frames the act as keeping alien tech out of the wrong hands. A nervous Sikorsky tells the Avengers their priority clearance has been suspended and there are some on the Council who want the Avengers disbanded. Cap is outraged as it meant they could not get full info on Terminus which could have saved lives. And then they are interrupted by signal from the police, warning them that Firelord is on a rampage. The Avengers arrive at a devastated area in the South Bronx to find Spider-Man (in the black costume) beating Firelord insensible. Spidey takes off, leaving the former herald to the Avengers who stand amazed that Spider-Man could have defeated him….

Firelord awakens at the Mansion, destroying the equipment Black Knight is using to examine him, wanting to get back at Spider-Man. Hercules punches him out, making him calm down so Herc can explain that he must behave himself. Cap and Wasp settle matters with Sikorsky with Cap reminding himself Wasp is in command of the team so he goes home to catch up on his artist job—but he wonders what happened to Captain Marvel…

…who is a prisoner aboard Sanctuary II in a remote galaxy where she must feign interest in joining Nebula’s band of mercenaries if she wants to go home. As a test, Nebula wants CM to scout out a Skrull base in her energy form—but Nebula doesn’t trust CM, hoping she will be killed by the Skrulls. CM flashes over to the Skrull base and finds it surrounded by an armada and an energy web, one she tries to pass but can’t so she blows up one of the generators which cancels the web. (Back at Sanctuary II, Nebula orders her crew to fire an anti-matter torpedo at the Skrull base.) Captain Marvel then takes out the entire ship-to-ship communications network and shows herself to the commanders, demanding the use of their most powerful transmitters to send a message to Earth, blasting any Skrull who objects. Nebula intercepts this message and smiles as the torpedo obliterates the Skrull base—and presumably Captain Marvel….

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