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Avengers #312

Dec 1989
John Byrne, Paul Ryan

Story Name:

Has the Whole World Gone Mad?!?


Synopsis

Avengers #312 synopsis by T Vernon
Rating: 4 stars
After the destruction of Avengers Hydrobase, the teammates (Wasp, Falcon, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Hank Pym) have set up quarters in a subbasement of Avengers Park. They witness the wave of madness sweeping the continental United States and no one can discern a cause…

…nor are they aware that they are being watched via magical means by the secret villain behind the Acts of Vengeance [it’s Loki. It’s always Loki]. In the guise of a servant, he visits the gathering of supervillains who are the pawns in his massive scheme (Doctor Doom, Magneto, Red Skull, Mandarin, Kingpin, Wizard) to bring them up to date but he finds them bickering among themselves. Loki calms them down but Red Skull demands an apology from the Wizard for insulting the Master Race; Magneto compounds the insult. Loki calms them down then returns to his secret lair to continue his scheme….

Professor Harker, dreaming of the glories his new compressor will bring him, enters his shabby apartment to find Nebula waiting for him….

A helicopter lands in Central Park and Pyro, Blob, and Avalanche emerge, current members of the Freedom Force. They walk to Avengers Park, bullying everyone they meet on the way and wait. The Avengers are aware of them so Vision ascends through the ground to ask them their business. This leads to Vision being punched by Blob so the others race to the surface and the battle is joined, leading to a lot of wrecked statues. The mutants prove to be a formidable group but eventually, Pyro’s flame thrower is shorted out, Pym Particles are used to shrink Blob so that he falls through the Earth, but Avalanche is able to distort the Vision’s android body. The Avengers overcome the bad guys, who call the police and, being government agents, try to have the Avengers arrested. But Captain America arrives to point out that an upheaval at the top means the Freedom Force’s validity is in question so the three bad guys are on their own. The crowd starts fighting over whether superheroes are good guys or bad guys. The distraction gives Avalanche the opportunity to rip up the sidewalk so he and Pyro can escape in their copter. Wanda wants to shoot them down with her hex power but Cap warns her about civilian casualties. Then Vision, whole and well again, distracts her while the others wonder what is behind all of the recent craziness and Loki watches and laughs….


 

Review / Commentaries


Avengers #312 Review by (September 28, 2024)
Comments: Issue bannered for the ACTS OF VENGEANCE event. Freedom Force was introduced in UNCANNY X-MEN #199 as a government-sponsored team of mutant operatives; the team was disbanded in X-FACTOR ANNUAL #6. Blob’s next appearance is PUNISHER (1987) #29 in a brief bit; his next full appearance is in INCREDIBLE HULK #369 where it is explained that Mystique rescued him from his little predicament; the other two guys have the same subsequent appearances. Review: An ad hoc Avengers team faces three random X-Men baddies, which is the point of the ACTS OF VENGEANCE event. And the baddies are surprisingly potent for some super-battle excitement. The issue is mainly of note for seeing the supervillains bickering among themselves with the biggest conflict being Magneto versus Red Skull. Seriously, Loki? Putting a Holocaust survivor and a literal Nazi on the same team? This continues in CAPTAIN AMERICA #367 where Mags has the Skull locked in an underground cell to slowly starve to death. Couldn’t have happened to a more appropriate bad guy. Too bad he’s rescued in CAP #370.



> Avengers comic book info and issue index

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Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Paul Ryan
Tom Palmer
Christie Scheele
Paul Ryan (Cover Penciler)
Tom Palmer (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Bill Oakley.
Editor: Howard Mackie. Editor-in-chief: Tom DeFalco.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Avalanche
Avalanche

(Dominikos Ioannis Petrakis)
Blob
Blob

(Fred Dukes)
Captain America
Captain America

(Steven Rogers)
Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom

(Victor Von Doom)
Falcon
Falcon

(Sam Wilson)
Kingpin
Kingpin

(Wilson Fisk)
Loki
Loki

(Loki Laufeyson)
Pyro
Pyro

(St. John Allerdyce)
Red Skull
Red Skull

(Johann Shmidt)
Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch

(Wanda Maximoff)
Wasp
Wasp

(Janet Van Dyne)

Plus: Freedom Force.