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Avengers #41: Review

Jun 2001
Kurt Busiek, Alan Davis

Story Name:

The high ground

Review & Comments

Rating:
4.5 stars

Avengers #41 Review by (August 28, 2020)
Albert Deschesne is back lettering with Richard Starkings.

This is the start of Kang Dynasty storyline which will run to #54. And amazingly with no direct tie-ins anywhere else.

Back when she became Ms Marvel Carol Danvers inherited a small amount of Mar-Vell's cosmic awareness in the form of limited and uncontrollable precognition. She lost it when Rogue stole her mind in Avengers Annual #10, and didn't have it when she became Binary. But it seems possible it's returned with her original Ms Marvel powers now her Binary powers have faded.

Wonder Man does leave the team here. He'll cameo in #44 on Kang's viewscreen.
Scarlet Witch will return to the team from her vacation in #43.

Tony Stark has been wearing his old 70's armour since his latest armour became sentient and went rogue. Then halfway through Iron Man (1998) #41 he switched to an even older armour, the 1 with the points above the eyes. At the end of that issue he quit Stark Solutions and gave away his fortune. In IM#42-43 we saw him working under an assumed name Hogan Potts and developing his new SKIN armour. But it's still buggy so we see here that he's still continuing to use the old IM armour in the Avengers (and hasn't told them about Hogan Potts).

The Scarlet Centurion that Iron Man (and maybe Goliath and Wasp) remember was an early identity of Kang who messed with an alternate version of the Avengers in Annual #2. But the Iron Man involved there was from the alternate timeline. The mainline Avengers crossed over to that timeline but Wasp stayed behind to control the time-travel device (Dr Doom's time platform) so she never met SC. Our Goliath *did* go and meet him, but at the end the issue our team's memories were wiped. So there should be no record of that Centurion in the Avengers memories or files.

Kang lounging on a floating bean bag looks very much like an homage to his 1st app as Kang in #8 of the original series where he reclined on a similar-shaped forcefield.

The sword-shaped Damocles spaceship hanging over Earth obviously refers back to the myth of the Sword Of Damocles, actually the Sword of Dionysius, a king not the Greek god. Dionysius offered to let Damocles take his place for a day, but that included sitting under a sword suspended by a thread which Dionysius used to remind himself to always be aware of danger.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Avengers #41 Synopsis by Rob Johnson
Kang The Conqueror and his son the Scarlet Centurion view the Earth from the high ground of a huge sword-shaped (and presumably undetectable) spaceship currently pointing its tip at the US. This is Damocles Base from the 40th Century. And from here they will conquer the world.

In Avengers Mansion Henry Pym is overseeing Warbird testing her strength. He reports that she's punching some Battroids with 44 tons. Then she deliberately flies into some corusci-bars to painfully absorb some energy. And when she returns to the robots she demolishes them with a 92 ton impact. As she heads for a shower she possibly gets a flash of her long-gone precognitive powers as a sense of approaching doom. And Goliath cramps up, muttering that the 'other 1' should be suffering this, not him. (He's the Yellowjacket version of Hank Pym who's replaced the Goliath version.)

In Arizona's Superstition Mountains near Phoenix Simon Williams and Wanda Maximoff are horse-riding. Simon uses the opportunity to break the news to Wanda that he's returning to Los Angeles to raise funds for his 2nd Chances Foundation. Scarlet Witch is disappointed but wants to remain with the Avengers as deputy chairperson (Captain America and Wasp are co-chairs). They agree to part, and Wanda is unsure that their very physical relationship will survive being long-distance.

Back at the Mansion Wasp and Tony Stark are studying the virtual globe which is currently displaying the location of Avengers (such as Scarlet Witch and Wonder Man). Jack Of Hearts is still in the Savage Land getting more info on the High Evolutionary. Living Lightning, Photon and Quasar are still in the asteroid base. Black Widow is tracking down Tempest of the Exemplars. But Janet Van Dyne is more interested in quizzing Tony about what's happening in his personal life - he's donated his personal fortune to the Maria Stark Foundation (which bankrolls the team) and has dropped out of public sight. Tony assures her that Iron Man will still answer calls to action, and changes the subject to Black Knight and Firebird who've left their Slorenia post to investigate trouble in Siberia. Cap, Quicksilver and Thor have gone to help them and SHIELD.

The Avengers arrive in Khystym in Siberia in a SHIELD aircraft. They contact a local Russian who tell them the Winter Guard have gone in to investigate some radiation surges, but they lost contact hours ago. And then something happens and the line goes dead. Cap leads the team into action.

Back at the Mansion (again) Triathlon tells Edwin Jarvis he's been trying to investigate the disappearance of old hero 3-D Man and its possible connection the Triune Understanding who gave Delroy Garrett powers similar to Hal Chandler's. But he's getting the bureaucratic runaround. He hesitates to ask the team for help because the only member he was really friendly with, She-Hulk, has left and he still feels an outsider. Warbird overhears him, but then an alarm goes off.

The 6-person team including Vision show up at the UN HQ. Iron Man has traded in his recent old armour for an even older version, the 1 with the faceplate with points above the eye-holes. And the villain is Scarlet Centurion on a hover-platform, who announces himself as envoy for his master. Iron Man recognises the name and suit from a very old adventure, but this is not the same guy. They tell him to stand down but he attacks them with a staff that fires blasts and can also be used just to hit people. He also grabs Shellhead and starts to drain power from his (less-sophisticated) armour. His armour is shielded against Vision's phasing.

He's in general beating them hands-down when Warbird lays hands on his staff and starts to absorb power out of it. But the foe is struck by her beauty, strength and willpower, and he effectively asks her out on a date when the fighting is done. And Carol Danvers is struck by his familiar voice. Triathlon seizes the opportunity to grab him from behind and obscure his vision. Centurion electrifies his armour but Delroy hangs on. Goliath, Iron Man and Vision slam the villain to the ground and WB takes his staff.

But then a voice calls a halt to the proceedings. The Avengers look up and see Kang reclining on a floating bean-bag. He says his son wasn't supposed to start a fight. But on the other hand his envoy wasn't greeted with respect, so they must be taught a lesson. He contacts Damocles Base and tells them to fire. And a ray from space cuts the UN Building in half and reduces it to rubble. But then Kang reveals that he has saved all the lives inside with forcefield bubbles.

And then he tells the assembled diplomats that Earth is doomed, and only *he* can save it.



Alan Davis
Mark Farmer
Tom Smith
Alan Davis (Cover Penciler)
Mark Farmer (Cover Inker)
Tom Smith (Cover Colorist)
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

(Steve Rogers)
Iron Man
Iron Man

(Tony Stark)
Jarvis
Jarvis

(Edwin Jarvis)
Kang
Kang

(Kang the Conqueror)
Quicksilver
Quicksilver

(Pietro Maximoff)
Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch

(Wanda Maximoff)
Thor
Thor

(Odinson)
Wasp
Wasp

(Janet Van Dyne)

Plus: Firebird, Scarlet Centurion (Marcus Kang), Triathlon (Delroy Garrett Jr.), Warbird (Carol Danvers).

> Avengers: Book info and issue index

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