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The Avengers #154

Dec 1976

Gerry Conway, George Perez

Story Name:

When strikes Attuma?

Synopsis

The Avengers #154 synopsis by Rob Johnson

Rating:

This story follows on from ANNUAL #6.

In Annual #6 Vision left the battle in California to take the Serpent Crown away from Living Laser. Now we see him drop it in the Pacific Ocean. And we find out why he never returned to the fray as an Atlantean sub surfaces and attacks him. When he enters the sub he is rendered unconscious by a sonic weapon. The Atlanteans don't bother to search for the Crown because they have what they came for.

Meanwhile the other Avengers return to New York by quinjet and take Whizzer to hospital. The old man with a heart condition is in critical condition again after he saved them from his son Nuklo in An#6.

Meanwhile (again) in Avengers Mansion we find Scarlet Witch with her arm in a sling (after being shot last issue). A flying craft lands in the garden and Triton of the Inhumans climbs out. he claims that his race is in danger caused by the Fantastic Four, and they need the Avengers' help. He won't say more until the rest of the team is present.

Vision awakes in an Atlantean battlecruiser shackled with an atomo-collar that stops him from using his powers. Lord Arno takes him to Attuma, who is wearing Vision's cloak as a trophy. The villain plans to attack the surface world, and also get revenge on Sub-Mariner for his latest defeat by him on Hydrobase in Super-Villain Team-Up #3. He escaped from captivity there, and now plans to pit the Avengers against Namor. But he has a bigger plan than that which will give him world domination.

Back at the Mansion Scarlet Witch is having trouble contacting her team because the quinjet they are using is a not-quite-ready backup. (The main 1 got blown up in the middle of An#6 with Captain America and Iron Man in it - the other Avengers flew to their aid in this backup.) Triton suggests she sends her brother Quicksilver to find them. Wanda realises that the real Triton would have known that Pietro is now living with the Inhumans with his wife Crystal. So this must be an imposter.

Even with only 1 working arm the Witch can summon up enough of a hex to shatter the Triton disguise and reveal an Atlantean within. Who announces himself as Tyrak the Treacherous, Attuma's master spy. Tyrak and Wanda then fight, but her injury hampers her spell-casting. Jarvis joins in, but of course is easily repulsed. Then the villain subdues the heroine with gas.

But then Beast, Cap and Shellhead burst in, closely followed by Wasp and Yellowjacket. (Wonder Man has stayed at the hospital with Whizzer.) Beast rescues the unconscious Scarlet Witch, while Tyrak reveals that Attuma's scientists have multiplied his strength and speed, enabling him to hold off the other heroes. The gas takes out W&YJ. Tyrak crumples the Golden Avenger's chest power pack. And he brings a wall down on Cap.

Beast is the only 1 left standing. He chooses to go for help. And Tyrak calls in 2 Atlanteans from his aircraft, and they carry off the downed Avengers including Scarlet Witch. He repeats that Attuma intends to send the Avengers against Namor, but adds that the plan includes the destruction of Hydrobase and reviving the Atlanteans from suspended animation.

This story continues in SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #9.

Review / Commentaries

The Avengers #154 Review by Rob Johnson (June 10, 2014)

The Official Index says George Perez had a hand in the plot for this issue. This issue still refers (in several places) to the preceding events in Giant-Size #6, as last issue also called it. But it was actually Annual #6. And no-one says what has been done with Nuklo from that issue, but we'll find out in Marvel Two-In-One #54. Hydrobase was introduced in Sub-Mariner #61, where Dr Hydro turned humans into amphibians. Most Atlanteans died in SM#67 and the survivors went into suspended animation. (Those with Attuma the exile obviously missed all this.) Amphibian scientists on Hydrobase promised to search for a cure in SM#68. Attuma, alongside some other Subby foes, attacked Hydrobase for its advanced science in Super-Villain Team-Up #1-3. The 2 Atlanteans who attack Vision are called Gort and Mako. A Mako is a type of shark, but Gort is the name of the alien robot in 'The day the Earth stood still'. These are throwaway characters. Lord Arno will last through this storyline. But Tyrak will go on to bigger things.

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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Gerry Conway

George Perez

Pablo Marcos

Don Warfield

Jack Kirby (Cover Penciler)
Al Milgrom (Cover Inker)

Additional Credits

Plot: George Perez. Letterer: John Costanza.
Editor: Gerry Conway.

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Avengers

Beast
(Henry Phillip McCoy)

Captain America
(Steven Rogers)

Fantastic Four

Iron Man
(Anthony Stark)

Jarvis
(Edwin Jarvis)

Quicksilver
(Pietro Maximoff)

Scarlet Witch
(Wanda Maximoff)

Sub-Mariner
(Namor McKenzie)

Vision

Wasp
(Janet Van Dyne)

Whizzer
(Bob Frank)

Wonder Man
(Simon Williams)

Yellowjacket
(Hank Pym)

Attuma

Plus: Lord Arno, Tyrak.

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