Comic Browser:

#35
#36
#37
#38
#39
#40
#41
#42
#43
#44
#45
#46
#47
#48
#49
#50
#51
#52
#53
#54
#55
#56
#57
#58
Selector

Avengers #40

May 2001
Kurt Busiek, Alan Davis

Story Name:

Thoom


Synopsis

Avengers #40 synopsis by Rob Johnson
Rating: 4.5 stars
OK, in Kalkhimithia in Greece the population were turned into Hulks. The Avengers have been trying to contain them in the town. Goliath got them all to merge into 1 giant Hulk, intending to then miniaturise it. But the miniaturising bit didn't work. So now the team have to fight the raging mega-Hulk.

Warbird berates Henry Pym for his stupid plan. Goliath (who's secretly his unreliable counterpart Yellowjacket) tries to defend himself but collapses with a seizure he's been having occasionally lately. SHIELD put through a call to team leader Wasp from Doc Samson. He (and his girlfriend Angela Lipscombe) have Bruce Banner with them who wants to help. This gives Pym another idea and he wants Banner here ASAP. Janet Van Dyne contacts Edwin Jarvis in Avengers Mansion to ask him to get his ward Silverclaw to bring Bruce here in a quinjet (but last issue we were told she couldn't fly 1). However Jarvis tells her that Silverclaw is currently fighting Diablo who destroyed a building across the street, and he fears *she* needs help. Wasp doesn't want to involve SHIELD because they'd just *arrest* Banner. So she contacts Triathlon and Wonder Man who are on the way here by quinjet and tells them to go back to help Silverclaw. And newly-rejoined Quicksilver says he's much faster these days, and can run across the Atlantic quicker than a quinjet to fetch Bruce.

In Manhattan Diablo has 'Claw  trapped in amber(?) while he dowses for something. He repeats (for our benefit) that he thought he'd arranged for all the Avengers to be away while he searched for what he's after, but *she* was no problem anyway. Then his dismissive arrogance gives Lupe the strength to shapeshift from puma to the larger sloth form and break free. The alchemist/sorcerer tosses beans at her which turn into entangling vines, but another shift allows her to slither through them. A powder raises a fierce wind which she rides in a bird form. But as she lands in human (but still silver-fleshed) form another powder turns her to salt!

Now the villain causes the ground to erupt and deliver him an ancient artefact, the tablet of T'hely'eh created by primitive worshippers of the N'Garai which will give him the power to "shatter the barriers 'twixt worlds". But behind him Lupe manages to escape her salt-doom by shifting back to a human girl. Edwin reaches her and tries to stop her from continuing the fight, but she shifts to puma and attacks again saying "Avengers don't quit".

Now we take a short break to look in on Black Knight and Firebird still (since #38) with SHIELD monitoring Bloodwraith trapped in deserted Slorenia. But now SHIELD sensors pick up an even larger radiation source in Siberia. The 2 Avengers figure they'd better investigate.

Back in Greece Thor and Vision hit the huge Hulk with Mjolnir and solar energy blast while Scarlet Witch tries to use her magic to stop the monster approaching a city. But they are only slowing it, so Captain America asks the Thunder God if he can use his hammer to create a dimensional rift large enough to send the beast elsewhere. Then Quicksilver arrives carrying Bruce Banner piggyback with warm clothes and a breathing mask to protect him from the high speeds. Pietro Maximoff then collapses in the arms of his sister Wanda with his boots worn away and bleeding feet.

Banner and Pym exchange ideas and, with the lack of scientific equipment, settle on a plan involving the Witch and the fact that the Kalkhimithians have had Bruce's particular Hulk gamma transformation imposed on them (where usually gamma radiation produces unique results like the Abomination and the Leader).

Back in New York Diablo has sicced a Petrachnus (a giant spider built from stone rubble) on Silverclaw to keep her at bay. But then the ionic Wonder Man slams into the ground near him making him drop the Tablet, and Triathlon hops out of their hovering quinjet. As Simon Williams commends Lupe for keeping the villain occupied for so long, said villain pulls out another vial. But speedy Triathlon relieves him of it and loads of others in his pocket, and grabs him to stop him using potions soaked in his moustache (reading Avengers files pays off). Delroy Garrett is about to KO the bad guy when Silverclaw claims the honour.

For the last time back in Greece the Avengers witness Banner transform into the real Hulk, this time choosing the intelligent 'Professor' version. Iron Man and Warbird airlift him and drop him on the foe. Wanda unleashes a specially-prepared Chaos Magic hex which causes the 2 Hulks to merge. The mega-Hulk transforms into a giant grey Mr Fixit Hulk, and then the savage version whose rage forces the construct to shatter into its plain human components. The wind of Thor's whirling hammer and Wanda's magic slows their fall and the other Avengers catch them all.

Then they get a call from the Mansion to tell them that their problem was all a diversion to keep them away while Diablo located the artefact. But 'Diablo' turns to ash while informing them with a laugh that he was a homunculus sent here to get the artefact to free the real Diablo who is trapped in another dimension.

And Bruce Banner reminds them that he's a wanted man but claims he's working on a way of controlling the Hulk. Wasp says he's proved his worth again today so they'll let him go free, but they'll give him a direct comms channel to the Avengers in case things go wrong.

And wherever they are the mysterious watching father and son duo from the last 2 issues reveal themselves to us as Kang The Conqueror and the Scarlet Centurion.


 

Review / Commentaries


Avengers #40 Review by (July 10, 2020)
This time Richard Starkings is aided in lettering by Saida Temofonte.

Quicksilver's increased speed is due to exposing himself to High Evolutionary's Isotope E in the Heroes For Hire/Quicksilver annual 1998 (part of the Siege Of Wundagore crossover).

In the Destiny War in the Avengers Forever limited series Kang was separated from his destined future as Immortus. Since then Excalibur (2001) #4 revealed that he mas behind the scenes manipulating Captain Britain into leaving Earth for Otherworld to get him out of the way of his upcoming plan.
A flashback in our #45 will show how he chose a perfect mate to give him the perfect son and used time travel to raise him to maturity now, and gave him the title Scarlet Centurion. But #54 will reveal that he chose many brides and had many sons who weren't good enough and were disposed of. This son doesn't know he's #23.

Bloodwraith and Slorenia will be forgotten about after this. But somehow the situation is dealt with and Slorenia is repopulated before the Avengers: Endless Wartime GN.

Bruce Banner gained control the Hulk's personas in Hulk (2000) #13. He's currently wanted for the murder of Betty Ross (but it was the Abomination what done it).
After this he'll go back to his own #24-25 where he gets revenge on Abomination.

Diablo is behind the scenes here trapped in the Abyss dimension since Fantastic Force #18. He escaped in Fantastic Four (1998) #35 but was put back there in #36
We're not told how he finally gets out in time for FF#525-526.

Silverclaw will take part in the Av: Celestial Quest limited series before returning for #43.

The other Avengers, including Black Knight and Firebird will be back for next issue, as will Kang & son.

There's another large gap before that issue wherein some chars will have other adventures:-
Iron Man fights a 1-off underwater monster in his #36.
Captain America helps US Agent and his team from Maximum Security in USA(2001)#2-3 with a cameo from Wasp in #3.
Scarlet Witch, Thor and Vision go off for a while with Silverclaw in Av:CQ.
But it can't take *too* because Thor is back for a flyby cameo in Daredevil (1998) #16.
In Black Panther (1998) #30 Cap and BP reminisce about meeting in 1941.
CA(1998)#40-44 brings an end to Steve Rogers' romance with Connie Ferrari via her brother being a terrorist.
In IM(1998)#37-40 Tony Stark contends with longtime rival Ty Stone, and in #41 decides to give up his business and money.
Cap is there when the current Thunderbolts quit in TB#50.
Cap, IM and Thor have a strange adventure with Henry Peter Gyrich in a tale in the Giant-Size Av (2008) 1-shot.
Cap and IM are among many heroes battling random adversaries in Defenders (2001) #1.
Thor fights Hulk in Hulk Annual 2001.
Stark offers help in Fantastic Four Annual 2001 when the skull of Galactus lands in Central Park.
All the core 11 Avengers except Iron Man are in Infinity Abyss #1 but only briefly.
Cap trains the replacement Thunderbolts, the Redeemers in TB#51-52
Cap cameos in IM#42 and Goliath (the Yellowjacket version) in #43 as Tony hides in a new identity Hogan Potts and tests his new SKIN armour.



> Avengers comic book info and issue index

Elektra

Excelsioring your collection:
DIAMOND SELECT TOYS Marvel Premier Collection: Avengers Endgame Captain America Statue, Multicolor
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Alan Davis
Mark Farmer
Tom Smith
Alan Davis (Cover Penciler)
Mark Farmer (Cover Inker)
Tom Smith (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Richard Starkings.
Editor: Tom Brevoort. Editor-in-chief: Joe Quesada.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Black Knight
Black Knight

(Dane Whitman)
Captain America
Captain America

(Steven Rogers)
Doc Samson
Doc Samson

(Leonard Samson)
Firebird
Firebird

(Bonita Juarez)
Hulk
Hulk

(Robert Bruce Banner)
Iron Man
Iron Man

(Anthony Stark)
Jarvis
Jarvis

(Edwin Jarvis)
Kang
Kang

(Nathaniel Richards)
Quicksilver
Quicksilver

(Pietro Maximoff)
Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch

(Wanda Maximoff)
Thor
Thor

(Odinson)
Wasp
Wasp

(Janet Van Dyne)
Wonder Man
Wonder Man

(Simon Williams)

Plus: Angela Lipscombe, Scarlet Centurion (Marcus Kang), Silverclaw (Maria de Guadalupe Santiago), Triathlon (Delroy Garrett Jr.), Warbird (Carol Danvers).