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Avengers Solo (2011 series) #4

Mar 2012
on-sale: Jan 25, 2012
Jen Van Meter | Roger Robinson

Avengers Solo (2011 series) #4 cover

Story Name:

Pathfinder (part 4)

Synopsis

Avengers Solo (2011 series) #4 synopsis by Rob Johnson
Rating: 4 stars
Hawkeye is trying to help 4 people who are being hunted by a corporation because they were test subjects in a suspicious drug study which has given them superpowers. They have a 'superhero' armour which they take turns in using as Trace. Last issue Trace (currently the medic Emi) allowed herself to be captured in order to find the gang's base.

Hawkeye is now following the gang's van on his sky-cycle. Inside the van Emi is resisting having her helmet removed which would reveal she's not the man they think she is. But she also finds they have another prisoner in the van, Dr Forrest who started the study and was believed dead. Hawkeye lands in front of the van to get it to stop but the driver, bandage-faced Angela Golden, just drive through him. So his next ploy is to shoot 3 explosive arrows which blow the back door off. Leaving his ride on auto he leaps into the van and helps the 2 prisoners escape, banking on Emi's armour (and his own costume) to protect them all. It works and the van speeds off with Hawkeye's tracker arrow attached. Clint Barton wonders if Golden's happy with the outcome.

Hawkeye's cycle takes them to a woodland cabin owned by himself and his ex-wife Mockingbird. (He makes an awkward phone call to Bobbi Morse who then assumes he's there with his latest 'friend' Spider-Woman). Emi calls the others and they show up. Alicia suspects that Forrest is a plant and Barton agrees it's likely but they agree to pump him for info after doctor Emi's checked him over. But Jake doesn't want to come in the cabin. Alicia demands to know what Forrest did to test subjects like them, and he tells them the story.

Dr Forrest's original study was on a calcium nutrition drug for pre-natal women. But then his funding was taken over by PBI, represented by Angela Golden and Dr Karl Malus, who took control of the project off him with a 'consultation' fee to keep him quiet. But he investigated what they were doing and overheard Golden selling investors on the prospect of 'super-soldier gestational formulae' and telling them that the original super-soldier Captain America was involved. He thought it was just a scam until test subjects started getting sick, and some dying. But then he realised that the drugs which were supposed to induce powers in their children were instead empowering the women. The 1st to show this 'success' was a metabolic inhibitor which allowed subjects to go without food or sleep for long periods. For various reasons (which are a weak part of his tale) he kept quiet and even told the Medical Board that the sickness/deaths were due to contaminated drugs, but agreed that the study should be shut down. Golden and Malus discovered his investigation notes at his home. Golden saw the enhanced women as an even better business opportunity, but Malus wanted out. They burnt his house down and Golden kidnapped him. (And we see that Trapster from #1-3 was involved much earlier.) His story ends with him being beaten up in the van because he tried to escape, and Golden worried about Hawkeye talking to their agents Chance and Trapster in prison.

The good guys are still suspicious but Emi says he does have signs of being beaten up. Forrest admits that Golden's plan *was* for him to lead the villains here, but *he* wants to tell them where their base is. Mel and Clint discuss how much of Forrest's story they believe, but they both *do* want to get to the villains' base. She admits to his guess that she was given the metabolic slowdown formula. They go out to see her 'boyfriend' Jake and Clint also guesses that he got the combustion version. He's deduced that Jake is actually Nita Young who's been framed for Forrest's 'death' and burning his house down. Jake admits that he'd been taking the hormone replacement drug (to 'become' a male) before he became a subject for the study, and he never told the clinic. He tells them that Mel's ability and Jake's 'secret' are going to be vital components of his plan.

We skip all the planning and go to the baddies' base, a 'boat' on the Hudson River. Hawkeye and Trace (Jake in the suit this time) are watching it from the Palisades. Hawk fires a cable arrow to the boat and the duo prepare for a stealthy slide down. But then Iron Man lands beside them wanting to know what Clint is doing, and Jake's suspicions flare up.


Characters
Good (or All)
HAWKEYE
IRONMAN

Enemies
Golddigger (Angela Golden).
Flashbacks
Karl Malus.

Story #2

The sounds of violence

Writer: Jim McCann. Penciler/Inker: Clayton Henry. Colorist: Chris Sotomayor. Letterer: Dave Sharpe.

Synopsis

By Rob Johnson
Rating: 4 stars
Avengers Academy headmaster Giant-Man and 2 students Finesse and Striker were investigating activity at Henry Pym's old lab in Death Valley. They discovered androids of the original West Coast Avengers members Hawkeye, Iron Man, Mockingbird, Tigra and Wonder Man who activated and fought them. The heroes had taken down IM, MB and WM when robot Alkhema suddenly appeared and blasted GM from behind.

Finesse explains to Striker that Alky is a robot constructed by Ultron based on Mockingbird's brain patterns to be his bride. Striker is just glad she's got nothing to do with chemistry which he's bad at, but robots he can handle. Finesse knocks Hawkeye down with a thrown baton and dodges Alkhema's blast while Striker zaps Tigra with electricity. F leaps to kick A, who misses again while S electropunches H who won't stay down, and then has to zap MB who's woken up since last issue. Meanwhile F wonders why no alarm is going off and no guards are coming to investigate. She's beginning to think someone wants them to keep fighting. Then she gets S to electropunch A's elbow joint which enables her to break the forearm off. But it doesn't stop the villain.


Characters
Good (or All)
FINESSE
GIANTMANHP
STRIKER

Enemies
Alkhema.



> Avengers Solo (2011 series) comic book info and issue index


Avengers Solo (2011 series) #4 cover

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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Roger Robinson
Roger Robinson
Fabio d'Auria
John Tyler Christopher (Cover Penciler)
John Tyler Christopher (Cover Inker)
John Tyler Christopher (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Clayton Cowles.
Editor: Thomas Brennan. Editor-in-chief: Axel Alonso.



Review / Commentaries

Avengers Solo (2011 series) #4 Review by (May 17, 2025)
Karl Malus started his career of giving villains superpowers in Spider-Woman (original series) #30. He joined Power Broker Inc in Thing #35, working for Power Broker (Curtiss Jackson).
He's only here in flashback. His last app before that was in Thunderbolts #44 where he ratted on Nefaria's Maggia to get a reduced sentence. His next app will be will be in Captain America #615.1 where Steve Rogers takes the role back, and then in the Superior Carnage mini-series the Frightful Four will give him the Carnage symbiote.

This issue, and this series, doesn't make it clear that when PBI took over the drug study they changed from giving calcium to pregnant women to giving their super-soldier drug for babies to women in general on the grounds that they might have children later. A few chars in this series have correctly called this a non-optimal business model, even the idea of having to wait for babies to grow up to reap the benefits.

Alkhema says she rebuilt herself after the Avengers destroyed her in the Avengers: The Ultron Imperative GN, and then she recreated the android West Coast Avengers.

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