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Secret Avengers #23

Mar 2012
Rick Remender, Gabriel Hardman

Story Name:

The Descendants Part 2: A Victory for the Little Guy


Synopsis

Secret Avengers #23 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 3.5 stars

Ant-Man (Eric O’Grady) has hitched a ride on the pants leg of Ideal of the Adaptoids, stealthily accompanying them into the underground home of the Descendants known as the Core. The Adaptoids are greeted by Lady Deathstrike and Skullbuster before they turn the captive Yalda and her son over to Father who welcomes them home….

At the Secret Avengers’ miniature Lighthouse space station, Hank Pym and Beast debate their relative superiority over one another as well as Beast warning Hank not to create another AI for any purpose. Hawkeye is concerned about not hearing from Ant-Man….

Captain America talks to Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch, about Hank McCoy’s opinion that the miniature version of Captain Britain is based on Jim’s design. At a Veteran’s hospital they meet with Flash Thompson, currently Agent Venom, about joining the mission….

At the Core, Father explains to Nalda that she is a High-Breed of the Descendants, an advanced race of robots which he plans will achieve a universal consciousness and invites her to join the group in their fight against humans. She refuses and Father sees she is beyond reclaiming so he orders her killed. Ant-Man rises to full height and fights the Adaptoids; his helmet is smashed and Yalda is killed in the fight before he seizes the boy Parvez and leaps from a window, able to miniaturize one more time and land safely in a sewer with the boy….

Cap and Jim accompany Flash to the Lighthouse where Hawkeye refuses to have the symbiote on his team no matter how much they claim it is under control. Clint assembles the team and orders Cap and Flash off the station….

The team (Hawkeye, Black Widow, Captain Britain, Valkyrie, Human Torch, Beast) traces Ant-Man’s signal to the middle of the desert where they are teleported to the Core where they are set upon by hostile robots, Hawkeye and Beast facing Deathlok versions of Wasp and Miss America. The Adaptoids catch up with Ant-Man who fights to protect the boy and he is killed by his foes, his last thoughts that he died saving an innocent child….


 

Review / Commentaries


Secret Avengers #23 Review by (December 7, 2020)

Review: An advance in terms of plot: we learn that the Descendants are an advanced type of robot but no word on why many of them look familiar. More to come. Meanwhile, Venom is invited to join the team but…Venom? Really? An interesting choice though he doesn’t make it in quite yet because Hawkeye is sane; maybe next time. A cool highlight that didn’t make it into the synopsis comes when Clint and Beast are plummeting into the Core; Hank seizes the opportunity to lecture Clint on his abrasive leadership style. And the bitter climax sees Eric O’Grady, the irredeemable Ant-Man, killed in the line of duty, hoping his final act would constitute a kind of redemption. A surprisingly poignant end for a character who wasn’t around very long and wasn’t intended to be likable.

Comments: Part two of four parts. First appearance of Deathlok Miss America. And yes, Ant-Man Eric O’Grady is dead.




> Secret Avengers comic book info and issue index

Elektra

Excelsioring your collection:
Diamond Select Toys Marvel Gallery: Beast PVC Figure, Multicolor
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Gabriel Hardman
Gabriel Hardman
Elizabeth Breitweiser
Arthur Adams (Cover Penciler)
Arthur Adams (Cover Inker)
Peter Steigerwald (Cover Colorist)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Ant-Man
Ant-Man

(Eric O'Grady)
Beast
Beast

(Henry Phillip McCoy)
Black Widow
Black Widow

(Natasha Romanoff)
Captain America
Captain America

(Steven Rogers)
Hawkeye
Hawkeye

(Clinton Barton)
Human Torch
Human Torch

(Jim Hammond)
Valkyrie
Valkyrie

(Brunnhilda)

Plus: Descendants, Father (Descendants), Lady Deathstrike, Skullbuster, Venom (Flash Thompson).