Avengers #20

Sep 1965

Stan Lee, Don Heck

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Story Name:

Vengeance is ours

Synopsis

Avengers #20 synopsis by Rob Johnson

Rating:

Last issue, a bound Captain America jumped from a building to avoid the Swordsman using him as a hostage. As he expected, the other Avengers now use team-work to save his life. Avengers have Swordsman surrounded, when he is teleported away by the Mandarin.

The bickering between Hawkeye and Quicksilver is especially virulent this issue, with each of them openly claiming he would make a better leader than Cap.

Mandarin enhances Swordsman's sword with button-controlled abilities. He wants Swordsman in Avengers as a sleeper agent, to kill Iron Man when he returns from his leave of absence. Mandarin sends Avengers a hologram message purporting to be from Iron Man, currently fighting Titanium Man in Europe (in Tales of Suspense). 'Iron Man' supports Swordsman's membership, as he previously did for Hawkeye.

The distrustful Avengers keep an eye on their new member, but he still gets a chance to plant a bomb that can destroy Avengers Mansion. But Mandarin can't wait for Iron Man to return. He warns Swordsman that he is going to detonate the bomb now. They can deal with Iron Man when he comes to investigate.

Swordsman finds he doesn't want the defenseless Avengers killed, especially Scarlet Witch. But Cap discovers him trying to disable the bomb, and misunderstands. The other Avengers join in the attack, and Swordsman uses his sword's new abilities to destroy the bomb and escape.

Review / Commentaries

Avengers #20 Review by Rob Johnson (May 16, 2011)

Swordsman will continue as a mixture of villain and hero until his high point (and death) with Mantis in the Celestial Madonna storyline.

Iron Man is fighting Titanium Man in Tales of Suspense #69-71. Mandarin appears to have added 4 buttons to the hilt of Swordsman's sword. We see the effect of 3 of them:- a lightning bolt, flame and a disintegrator ray. There must be 5 buttons because later we will see nerve gas and a force beam. Swordsman will be back before you know it in #29.

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