Synopsis
Avengers, The (1963 series) #26 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
The usual opening scene of the Avengers arguing this time focuses on rivalry between Hawkeye and Quicksilver.
Next we see the aftermath of events in the Sub-Mariner strip in Tales to Astonish #77-78. Janet van Dyne had accompanied Henry Pym on a scientific sub-sea drilling expedition, which had damaged Atlantis. Subby has caused havoc on their ship, but is now swimming towards New York under the control of the Puppet Master. With the vessel's radio wrecked, the Wasp shrinks and flies to New York to alert the Avengers, leaving Giant-Man on the ship.
She is floating full-size on the sea, resting between bouts of flying, when she is captured by the barbarian undersea ruler Attuma. Wasp recognises him from the Giant-Man/Wasp story in Astonish #64, but he doesn't recognise her full-size and not in costume. Attuma is using a tidal-expander to increase the size of tides, until eventually the surface world will be swamped by floods and tidal waves, allowing him to expand his empire.
Attuma has an atmosphere in his submarine, although it is low in oxygen and high in humidity. Next issue we learn it is for the benefit of some of his machines. Wasp needs a helmet to survive for a long time. But she holds her breath and secretly shrinks out of the helmet, and then manages to send a radio message to the Avengers. We won't find out what happened to Jan after that until #28.
Hawkeye is out enjoying himself and has accidentally broken his communicator ring. The rest of the Avengers leave a message for him and fly by jet to the site of Attuma's machine, only to have their jet captured by another of his devices. Captain America and the Scarlet Witch fight Attuma's troops while Quicksilver searches for the controls for the flood-tide machine. But the atmosphere takes its toll, and Cap and Wanda are soon captured, while Attuma himself defeats Pietro.
Attuma rules by reason of prowess, and there is talk among his men that he only beat the Avengers because they couldn't breathe the atmosphere. So he agrees to fight them wearing helmets. They are holding their own until one of Wanda's hexes lets the sea in. Now they only have the limited air in their helmets. (There are no airtanks and hoses attached to these helmets. Presumably they worked by extracting oxygen from the atmosphere.)
Meanwhile Hawkeye returns to Avengers Mansion, but he can't read the message left by the others because he wasn't paying attention earlier when Cap explained the new secure message system. He sits himself in the subliminal recall-inducer, another of Tony Stark's wonder-machines, to dig out the details. But while the machine puts him in a coma, he is being watched by the Beetle.
Characters:
Plus: Giant-Man (
Scott Lang).
Enemies
Additional Enemies: Beetle (Abe Jenkins).