Avengers Forever #5: Review

The Agents of Atlas series later revealed that a similar secret group *was* formed in the main timeline in the 50's, with Namora instead of 3-D Man. This group has now been reactivated as Agents of Atlas. It is now claimed that Crusader was actually a replacement Marvel Boy. Agents of Atlas also revealed that Venus wasn't actually the goddess but a naiad impostor, and they have renamed Human Robot as M-11. Kid Cassidy and Reno Jones had their own modern Marvel Western series Gunhawks, in which Kid Cassidy indeed died. Black Rider is a character from 40's/50's Timely/Atlas comics. A Space Phantom first appeared in Avengers #2, where he claimed to be unique. Giant-Size Avengers #4, itself the end of a continuity-fiddling sequence of issues, revealed that the Space Phantom worked for Immortus. Prior to this series there has never been more than one Space Phantom openly seen at once. Even when Thor went to the (supposed) world of the Space Phantom in Thor #281-282 the other inhabitants didn't have his ability, which he said was granted by Immortus. Given that there are multiple Phantoms it is now unclear if all the earlier appearances were the same one.

A note on this issue in #8 says that it is this current Immortus with the Forever Crystal who destroyed timelines in Avengers West Coast #53, 55 and 59. These are presumably some of the actions Kang referred to in #3 as Immortus pruning the tree of alternity. This is not a conventional time-travel paradox, because Kang and Immortus are both time-travellers. Kang didn't have to go back in time to prevent Immortus from doing the actions he had already done. He merely had to keep the Heart of Forever out of Immortus's grasp, so that he would be unable to do the actions. A task he has now failed in. Although the 50's Avengers are here relegated to an alternate timeline, the individual members are considered canonical in the main timeline. Apart from 3-D Man they have their origins in 50's Atlas comics. 3-D Man was retroactively invented in Marvel Premiere #45-47. Gorilla Man appeared in Men's Adventures #26, Human Robot in Menace #11, Marvel Boy had his own 6-issue series (with a name change to Astonishing from #3), and Venus too had her own 19-issue series. They have also appeared in modern Marvel. 3-D Man made several appearances until his power was transferred to Triathlon, who first showed up in Avengers vol 3 #8. Marvel Boy apparently died as The Crusader in Fantastic Four #165, and his quantum bands were later used by Quasar.

I was always unconvinced by the revived Captain America's code against killing. That was the norm for heroes in the 60's and later. But many 40's characters seem to lack this prohibition, even those not directly involved in the war. Similarly Cap's shock at the brutality of war in this series doesn't fit with someone who fought through WWII. This issue reveals one of the purposes of this series. It is to deal with certain continuity issues, especially those surrounding Immortus and Kang. This time it explains how Immortus could destroy alternate realities in Avengers West Coast, when time-travel can only create new ones. This issue also settles the question of whether the 50's Avengers existed in the main timeline. Of course Agents of Atlas later changed the verdict. But that's an ever-present hazard of continuity-fixing. The connection between the 50's Avengers and 3-D Man suggests to me that the 50's Avengers reality split off between 3-D Man's Marvel Premiere run and What If #9. Thus 3-D Man's Premiere adventures belong to both timelines, as do earlier appearances of Jimmy Woo, Yellow Claw and the 50's Avengers members. In the main timeline 3-D Man goes on to stories such as Incredible Hulk #251-252 and the eventual creation of Triathlon. In the alternate timeline 3-D Man's enemy Cold Warrior appears in What If #9, and the Skrull Nixon impersonator carries forward from Premiere to Avengers Forever. FBI agent Jimmy Woo recruited the 50's Avengers in What If #9 to oppose the Yellow Claw. At the end of that issue President Eisenhower disbanded them and covered up their existence. The Watcher wouldn't say whether the issue was set in the main Marvel timeline or an alternate one. Avengers Forever says that the 50's Avengers continued to work for the FBI in secret. But Immortus shows that this timeline is an alternate one anyway.