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The Avengers #289

Mar 1988

Ralph Macchio, Tom Palmer

Story Name:

The Cube Root

Synopsis

The Avengers #289 synopsis by T Vernon

Rating:

The Super-Adaptoid (in a body which combines features of his two victims, the Fixer and Mentallo) leads his team Heavy Metal (Machine Man, Sentry 459, TESS-One) in an assault on Avengers Hydrobase, destroying the place with their specific weaponry. Alarms alert She-Hulk, Sub-Mariner, and Marrina, the only ones present. She-Hulk attacks the Sentry which turns out to be more powerful than she had anticipated and she takes a beating….

Super-Adaptoid locates the Awesome Android and, using the Fixer’s technical expertise, revives and reprograms the monster to serve the Super-Adaptoid, sending it out to join the battle against the good guys….

Namor and Marrina assault TESS-One and they take a beating. Machine Man reveals his true colors: he was playing along with SA to see what villainy he was planning; now he knows and he turns against his ally….

Elsewhere on the island in his private lab, scientist Walt Newell sees the trouble and changes into Stingray, joining the battle. Unfortunately, the first “bad guy” he sees is Machine Man and the two get into a tussle….

Super-Adaptoid reaches his objective, hacking the Avengers’ computer. He discovers the location of the Cosmic Cube and sets up a hyperspace transmitter. Captain Marvel returns and tries to sneak up on him but SA also has the psychic powers of Mentallo and zaps her first, knocking her out in an intermediate state between energy and matter—and her particles begin to drift apart. Machine Man and Stingray, having sorted out their quarrel, attack Super-Adaptoid together…and Stingray is zapped out of the air while SA, knowing all along that MM was only pretending to be his ally, absorbs his powers too….

The Avengers continue their battle against the robots of Heavy Metal. Marrina rips the head off of the Sentry. Namor drops the Awesome Android into the sea and tears its head off, causing it to fill with water and sink. She-Hulk maneuvers TESS-One into stepping off the floating island and it too sinks to the bottom. Then they see a massive light from the lab….

Super-Adaptoid has summoned the Cosmic Cube and it transforms into its sentient form, Kubik. SA asks Kubik to grants his desire to create progeny; Kubik declines the request so SA reveals his real plan: absorbing Kubik’s powers and gaining mastery over all reality, possible because he was created by A.I.M. using a sliver of the Cosmic Cube. SA orders Kubik to return to its own realm while he exults in his victory….

Review / Commentaries

The Avengers #289 Review by T Vernon (April 12, 2024)

Comments: Part four of five parts. The Cosmic Cube was created in TALES OF SUSPENSE #79; herein it becomes Kubik.

Review: Marrina is finally fed up with the Avengers and Subby-Hubby wanting to protect her so she bashes TESS-One. Hooray for her. And that’s just one highlight of this exciting battle-filled issue with a shocking ending: the bad guy is now a Cosmic Cube! Oh and we have Stingray for a guest star! And a pretty useless guest star he turns out to be. But then Captain Marvel doesn’t come off too well either, sneaking up on a telepath and being zapped for it. Marrina is really the big star of the issue when you think about it: she’s the one with the Girl Power message. But the next issue looks even dicier for the heroes!

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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Ralph Macchio

Tom Palmer

Paul Becton

John Buscema (Cover Penciler)
Tom Palmer (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)

Additional Credits

Layouts: John Buscema. Letterer: Bill Oakley.
Editor: Mark Gruenwald. Editor-in-chief: Tom DeFalco.

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Avengers

Captain Marvel
(Monica Rambeau)

Machine Man
(Aaron Stack)

She-Hulk
(Jennifer Walters)

Sub-Mariner
(Namor McKenzie)

Super-Adaptoid
(Super Adaptoid)

Plus: Awesome Android (Awsome Andy), Kubik (Cosmic Cube), Marrina (Marrina Smallwood McKenzie), Sentry 459, Stingray (Walter Newell), TESS-One.

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