Avengers #36: Review

Jan 1967

Roy Thomas, Don Heck

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Story Name:

The Ultroids Attack

Review & Comments

Rating:

Avengers #36 Review by Rob Johnson (June 23, 2011)

After Thor #134 Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch had another cameo in X-Men #27, where Prof X tried to recruit them to help against a rising menace he had detected that will turn out to be the Factor Three organisation. I believe this is the first time Wanda and Pietro's homeland is named as Transia. The online Marvel Database claims it was identified as such in Thor #133, leading in to his adventure with the High Evolutionary. But I find no actual naming in that saga. Here it is mistakenly declared to be the village where they were born, rather than the country.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Avengers #36 Synopsis by Rob Johnson

Captain America is disturbed by the sudden arrival of (someone who claims to be) Scarlet Witch. She explains how a flying saucer appeared in her Balkan village. She and her brother Quicksilver went to investigate. Pietro became trapped inside, and Wanda's hex couldn't affect the ship. She tried to contact the Avengers but got no answer (because they were in Costa Verde last issue). So she used her Avengers Priority to fly here as quickly as possible.

Cap sends out the call for the other Avengers. Hawkeye turns up with Black Widow, and proposes her for membership. Goliath and Wasp join them, and Goliath objects. We are now treated to the return of the Avengers' quarreling, not seen since #26. Hank objects to the Avengers being turned into a 'rest home for reformed super-villains', which understandably nettles Hawkeye who retorts that it was guys like him who kept the Avengers going after the originals (including Giant-Man and Wasp) quit in #16. They shelve the question of Widow's application for now and take two aero-cars to Transia. But Natasha accompanies them without any further argument.

As they approach the village Scarlet Witch senses a force field surrounding it. The Avengers can't break through, but Witch remebers a cave that will take them under the village. The cave leads them to an advanced underground complex containing a sentient computer, the burgomeister of the village plugged in, and stasis tubes containing both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch!

The Witch who accompanied them drops her disguise. (Cap had already suspected she was a fake because of her newly-acquired ability to sense the force field, and the way she led them straight to the computer.) She turns out to be an android extension (who next issue will be named Ultrana) of the computer, which is Ixar from Sirius. Ixar is here to press-gang super-beings into its centuries-long interstellar war.

Ixar sends a load of androids called Ultroids to subdue the Avengers. They capture Goliath, Hawkeye and Wasp, but Cap and Black Widow evade them. However they too are KO'd trying to free Wanda and Pietro. Ixar intends to siphon the Avengers' powers into the Ultroids.

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