Avengers, The (1963 series) #371

In Lemuria, captive Avengers Black Knight and Giant-Man have been brainwashed by brain mines to fight in the arena. Their opponents are Karkas and Ransak of the Delta Force. And their captor, Karygmax, sits in the stands, enjoying the spectacle. The two Avengers use teamwork to overpower their foes and the crowd calls for death. Black Knight leaps into the stands, snatches a sword and returns to the arena to execute the defeated heroes….

At the altar, the newly resurrected Lord Ghaur presides over the unholy pentagram formed by young Varua and Avengers Captain America, Crystal, Sersi and Hercules. Kro commands Dragona and Tzabaoth to attack Ghaur but one of Ghaur’s powers is the ability to manipulate the genetic code of Deviants so he overcomes them easily. Kro surrenders….

In the arena, Enigmo and Toro Rojo enter to engage Giant-Man and Black Knight to save their comrades Karkas and Ransak. BK slashes Enigmo into smaller versions of himself and Toro gores Hank who collapses and returns to his normal height and the brain mine falls off. Toro attacks BK but at the worst moment he returns to his Tupac Amaru identity, an autistic boy. Dane is about to slaughter the kid when an energy surge from Sersi knocks his brain mine off. The four heroes head for the temple….

The ceremony creates a new Uni-Mind, which merges with Ghaur. The heroes from the arena arrive to confront the villain. Ghaur demonstrates powers from each of the captives in the uni-mind, Sersi’s cosmic power, Varua’s teleportation, Crystal’s elemental powers, Hercules’ strength, Cap’s agility (plus shield), easily baffling the heroes. Black Knight rides atop Dragona and slices through Ghaur’s expanded brain, allowing Sersi to emerge. Sersi’s and Dane’s Gann Josin constituted a Uni-Mind in itself, rendering Ghaur’s attempt faulty. The other heroes emerge and Ghaur, now ruler of Lemuria once again, orders the interlopers to leave…

…so they leave. Kro and Delta Force depart in their plane while the Avengers take off in their Quinjet. Dane wants to settle the Gann Josin problem between them….

And two bad guys, Lord T and Lord K have driven a wedge into the ranks of the Deviants and T is planning to cause more trouble….