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The Avengers #23

Dec 1965
Stan Lee, Don Heck

The Avengers #23 cover

Story Name:

Once an Avenger...

Synopsis

The Avengers #23 synopsis by Rob Johnson
Rating: 4 stars
Image from The Avengers #23
Last issue Captain America quit the Avengers. This issue sees him get a job as a sparring partner for a boxing champ, holding back so as not to show him up.

Meanwhile Kang the Conqueror has spotted Cap's absence from the future, and plans revenge for his previous defeats in #8 and #11 while the Avengers are at their weakest. (A bit of a hollow victory, as none of the remaining Avengers were involved in the earlier clashes.) He kidnaps Hawkeye, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, by sending a time-ship disguised as a new top floor to Avengers mansion, and takes them to his time.

Wanda frees the Avengers with her hex power, and they fight their way through Kang's complex until he traps Hawkeye and the Witch with energy beams. But Quicksilver is too fast for him.

Kang has conquered the galaxy in his own time. But he has allowed one kingdom to remain free on one planet. All because of his love for Ravonna, the daughter of its ruler. A love that is not reciprocated. But now the situation has come to a head. Ravonna must marry him, or Kang's army will overrun the kingdom.

Meanwhile Cap has heard about the Avengers' disappearance, and quit his sparring job by KOing the champ with one blow. He uses a Recreator, one of the devices Tony Stark provides for the Avengers, to view the past and deduce (how?) that it was Kang who abducted his team mates. Assuming (luckily correctly) that Kang is still monitoring the mansion, Cap shouts a challenge.

Ravonna tries a desperate ploy. She goads Kang into accepting Cap's challenge and bringing him to the future. She also persuades him to let her make things more interesting by sending Cap to join Quicksilver. The two Avengers defeat some of Kang's men, until the Conqueror himself faces them, to impress Ravonna.

Kang subdues his two foes. But Ravonna dares him to fight Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch as well. Kang instead demands that she give him her answer now. Ravonna is about to consent to marriage for the sake of her kingdom, when Hawkeye and Wanda appear, recovered from the energy beams. Cap and Pietro are also awakening. Ravonna delays her decision, and Kang orders his troops to attack.

 

Review / Commentaries

The Avengers #23 Review by (May 25, 2011)
Kang's control room appears to be on Ravonna's planet. Indeed it appears to be in her father's kingdom, in or near the palace! Possibly he has a mobile base. Or maybe this was his initial base, and he has loved Ravonna all through his galactic conquest? Note that later stories establish that Kang was born on Earth. But nothing here claims that Earth is the scene of this story.

Kang is the 3rd and last of the 5 villains who threatened to come after the new Avengers team at then end of #16. His alter-ego Immortus will eventually return in #131, but Executioner never bothers. A caption says the Recreator was used by Iron Man previously, but Stan Lee can't remember when. There is no previous use of it in Avengers or Iron Man tales. The original Official Avengers Index suggests it may be the Time Reversal Ray used by Mr Hyde in Journey into Mystery #105, and maybe Thor confiscated it and gave it to the Avengers. (Or at least maybe that occurrence was what Stan had in mind.) The Index also says there's no later mention of it either, so maybe it gets left in the future.

The Avengers #23 Review by (July 19, 2013)
Today's Fun Fact: This issue was the first Marvel work for the great John Romita, inking the cover and interior art.


> The Avengers comic book info and issue index

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This comic is in the following collection:
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Collecting AVENGERS (1963) #1-30.

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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Don Heck
John Romita
Unknown
Jack Kirby (Cover Penciler)
John Romita (Cover Inker)


Characters

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Avengers
Avengers
Captain America
Captain America
(Steven Rogers)
Hawkeye
Hawkeye
(Clinton Barton)
Quicksilver
Quicksilver
(Pietro Maximoff)
Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch
(Wanda Maximoff)
Kang
Kang
(Nathaniel Richards)
Plus: Ravonna.

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