Synopsis
Avengers (2023 series) #23 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
We're in the middle of a long storyline which involves a contest between Kang The Conqueror and a char who calls himself Myrddin to reach the Missing Moment (1 second of time that no time traveller can enter). To try to get the Avengers onside he warned them about upcoming Tribulation Events, some of which have since happened.
The Avengers (minus Black Panther) have come to the Grandmaster's space casino, the Speculatorium, where an old data archive of Kang's about the Missing Moment is going up for auction. They can't afford to bid for it so they've come to steal it. But they find that it's already been stolen by Black Cat who's working with Kang and someone who looks like her father (who's dead). But neither side knows they're pawns in a game played by Grandmaster and Myrddin.
Now Kang (with the box containing the maguffin) and Cat are being chased through the casino by Scarlet Witch, Storm and Vision (the other Avengers are in the vault where the archive was supposed to be). Felicia Hardy's voiceover explains how she got involved in this - Kang had come to recruit her in her New York 'hideout' because she's the best thief in all time, and flattery will get her everytime. As they run Kang explains (for our benefit) that his timetravel and teleportation won't work in the casino. Cat explains back that getting the Avengers to chase them is part of her plan. And to make sure they're trackable she transforms their casino clothes into their super-costumes. And eventually the 3 Avengers corner them.
Felicia remembers how Kang took her back 66 million years to see flying dinosaurs and the approaching super-asteroid. He questions why they should stage their robbery at the same time the Avengers stage theirs. BC says it would be too easy otherwise and she thinks he thinks the same way. It will be fun to taunt the team, especially Iron Man for her. Kang says he'll have to arrange some muscle of their own.
Now Ms Hardy suggests he call in his own giant meteor as the 3 heroes confront them. Scarlet Witch suggests both sides work together, but Kang says he tried that but it didn't work. And he 'warns' her about 'incoming' as the large Gatecrasher, leader of the Technet, drops in to punch Wanda Maximoff in the face.
Another flashback shows Kang and BC recruiting Gatecrasher in an alien bar, with her small lizard companion Yap draped round her neck. They persuade her that the gig is easy money because the heroic Avengers won't kill her team.
Now GC calls in more of the Technet. Bodybag leaps on Storm and coats her with neural toxin saliva. Vision is attacked by Ferro² (with 4 sword-bearing arms) and Thug while Cat and Kang escape. But then Captain America (Sam Wilson), Captain Marvel and Iron Man join the fray, as do more Technet. Tony Stark relays info on their opponents from his database. Cap dodges the tentacles of Waxworks (which would otherwise have made his body go floppy) while throwing his shield at him. The big baby called Joyboy gives Tony his deepest wish, which embarrassingly is to be turned into Captain America (of the Steve Rogers variety). Scarlet Witch has recovered and is very angry. Gatecrasher tells Scatterbrain to take her out. SB tries to give Wanda's brain a neural shock but it backfires on her. Vision's solar blast defeats Ferro² and Thug. Captain Stark KO's baby Joyboy and Captain Marvel rescues Storm from Bodybag's 'stomach'. So Gatecrasher gets Yap to teleport the Technet to safety.
The Avengers now realise that Black Cat and Kang have got away with the data archive. We see them nearly at an exit door of the casino. Kang starts to gloat but Felicia warns him not to jinx it by causing her bad-luck power to affect him. And our team appear between them and safety. Iron Man asks Felicia how she could work for Kang? Cat replies that she recently made a deal with a devil (Belasco in the Mary Jane & Black Cat mini-series during the Dark Web event). But she claims that she not doing it for money, but for something else Kang could offer her. Meanwhile Kang meekly hands over the box he's carrying - which turns out to be empty.
We now get the last flashback to 20 years ago where Felicia has gotten Kang to take her to meet the young version of her dead father, Walter Hardy (who's busy emptying a bag of money into a fountain). Without revealing her identity she and Kang invite him to join their heist.
And now that Walter Hardy has the real data archive in his pocket and is outside waiting to be picked up. Which means it's time for Kang's army to warp in. And Grandmaster realises that his game is spinning out of control. Myrddin says he warned him not to underestimate the Conqueror.
EnemiesPlus: Gatecrasher, Myrddin, Technet, Walter Hardy.