Avengers #206: Review

Apr 1981

Bill Mantlo, Gene Colan

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Story Name:

Fire in the streets

Review & Comments

Rating:

Avengers #206 Review by Rob Johnson (April 27, 2015)

Gene Colan starts a run as penciller, but David Michelinie has finished his run as writer to be replaced for this issue by Bill Mantlo. Pyron is another 1-shot villain rather similar to Inferno in #192-193. And Iron Man and Wonder Man face him on the cover as they did in #192. The Official Index inserts a lot before next issue. Beast, Captain America, Iron Man and Wasp appear in the battle melee in Dazzler #2. They're the same bunch who dropped in for her #1, and Hawkeye's with them again. Then Cap and IM cameo with Scarlet Witch and Vision in Fantastic Four #220. Then more cameos in Daredevil #163-164 where journalist Ben Urich decides to keep DD's identity secret. Tony Stark parties in #163 before DD fights Hulk. Be/CA/SW/Vi are among those at his bedside as he recovers in #164. Then Cap takes on Batroc and Mr Hyde in his #251-252 and IM's #130-145 includes the next (3-issue) appearance of Hulk, and battles against old foes Titanium Man, Spymaster, Madame Masque (later revealed to be a bioduplicate) and Justin Hammer, and new foe Sunturion. Then the team including Jocasta but not Scarlet Witch show up for Hulk Annual #11. Then it's Cap's turn for a short run on #253-257 in England with some ex-Invaders and then Hulk again. It's cameo time again for CA/IM/Vi in Micronauts #28. Then in Marvel Two-In-One #75 Be/CA/IM/Wa team up with Thing in the Negative Zone against Annihilus, Blastaar and the Super-Adaptoid. And Hawkeye's visiting again, this time for the 2nd published occurrence of the superhero floating poker game.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Avengers #206 Synopsis by Rob Johnson

A professional arsonist is killed when his employer gives him a bomb rigged to explode early. The Human Torch is called in to deal with the ensuing blaze, but it defeats his efforts by sucking his flame from him. There appears to be a face in the fire. Beast sees the TV news report and alerts the other Avengers, because the fire seems to be alive and spreading rapidly. If it reaches an array of liquid natuiral gas storage tanks the resulting explosion could take out most of New Jersey.

The team fly to the site. Iron Man, Vision and Wonder Man get there 1st under their own power when a jet of flame engulfs them. It also sends the following quinjet into a spin. But Torch creates an updraft to cushion their landing. Iron Man's armour and Vision's intangibility have saved them but Wonder Man's clothes are on fire, so the Golden Avenger sends him away to safety. The other 2 dive into the centre of the fire to find its cause.

Beast, Captain America, Jocasta, Scarlet Witch and Wonder Man suit up in asbestos. Wasp has to stay behind because there are no insect-sized suits. They meet ghostly Vision withing the flames, who leads them to Iron Man. IM met the being at the centre of the inferno and was defeated because his armour's cooling system used all its power to encase him in ice.

Vision stays with Shellhead because he can only survive by staying uselessly intangible. The others forge ahead and find a being of fire calling himself Pyron the Thermal Man. He is the arsonist from the beginning of this issue. He has brought the fire to this Liquigas Company site for revenge on the men who hired him to torch a competitor and then betrayed him.

The Avengers attack. Robot Jocasta lashes out with her eye-beams but that breaks her faceplate and she starts to melt. Cap orders Simon Williams to carry her to safety. Wanda's hex creates geysers of water, but Pyron somehow turns them into more flames.

When Wondy gets out with Jocasta and reports what's going on, full-size Wasp secretly dons an asbestos suit and enters the inferno carrying a special foam capsule inside her glove. She passes all the other Avengers and confronts the menace. Then she shrinks inside the suit and uses her bio-sting to burst open the glove containing the capsule. She flies out and quickly throws the capsule into Pyron's face.

The retardant foam turns Pyron back to a man as the unprotected Wasp collapses from the heat. The others take her to safety as the police arrest Pyron, who will implicate his employers.

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