Ex-
Avenger (since
#109)
Hawkeye stops a jewel robbery, and the police tell him that the Avengers have been kidnapped by
Kang the Conqueror. He rushes over to
Avengers Mansion and is astonished to see a star hanging over it.
Jarvis tells him what happened in
Av#129. Particularly that Kang declared that the star signified that 1 of the females in the Mansion (
Agatha Harkness,
Mantis or
Scarlet Witch) would be the
Celestial Madonna who would give birth to the
One. Kang intends to marry the Madonna and rule the universe though their son.
When Kang teleported the Avengers away he left
Swordsman behind. Jarvis says Swordsman is acting strange now that Mantis has dumped him. The man himself then walks in with a supposed ally
Rama-Tut. Hawkeye doesn't buy this because Rama-Tut is supposed to be a younger version of Kang. But he decides to go along with it for now so as not to rock Swordsman's precarious sanity, and because this Rama-Tut is a much older man than he should be. Hawkeye bolsters Swordsman's confidence by reminding him of the great team they made in the carnival where Swordsman taught him to use a bow.
Meanwhile Kang has left the pyramid of Rama-Tut in his time-sphere. He has the 3 women imprisoned in tubes, and paralysed
Iron Man,
Thor and
Vision inside his
Macrobots as power sources. (Apparently Vision is also frozen in the same way he was in
#118 and
#122.) He intends to start World War III by having the Macrobots assassinate the US Secretary of State and the leaders of the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China followed by a neutron bomb.
Then Kang will rule the devastated Earth until 1 of the 3 women is revealed as the Celestial Madonna. Mantis and
Wanda both think it must be Wanda. Neither think it could be elderly Agatha Harkness. Agatha doesn't think anything because Kang sent her to sleep in
Av#129. But before that Miss Harkness had also ruled herself out.
The invisible time-sphere lands outside the UN Building and the Macrobot containing Vision goes in after the Secretary of State. But the disguised Rama-Tut teleports himself and the 2 Avengers there, where he knew Kang would strike. But the Macrobot easily defends itself against trick arrows and a sword with gimmicks.
Rama-Tut hangs back, and we are party to his memories. He remembers being a Pharoah until he was defeated by the
Fantastic Four (in
FF#19 reprinted in this issue). But he also remembers becoming Kang, and living an empty life while his love
Ravonna languished in suspended animation. And now we find out who this man is, as his memory has him retiring from conquest, taking the name Rama-Tut again and returning to rule his people wisely and justly. And he burned his bridges by destroying his time-sphere.
Now his mind returns to the present, and he informs Hawkeye that the robot is powered by Vision within.
Clint Barton remembers that Vision is solar-powered through the jewel in his forehead, so he uses a specific arrow to cover the Macrobot's head with black paint. Then they just have to make it fight blind until its power runs down.
Then angry Kang leaves for his next target, Rama-Tut opens the downed robot (he knows how because he built the Macrobot as Kang) to let the weakened but no longer paralysed Vision out, and then he prepares to teleport them after Kang.
Old Rama-Tut again remembers his 2nd reign in Egypt. After many peaceful years he recalled all the time he had wasted as Kang in warfare. And the most useless quest was his seeking the Celestial Madonna. So he decided to return to the 20th century to stop himself. But without the time-sphere he had to find some other way of doing that.
Using a mixture of future science and magic the Pharoah arranged for himself to be put into suspended animation and entombed in a sarcophagus in the pyramid he had built in his earlier reign. He arranged for the beam of light to be reflected onto the sarcophagus when Swordsman broke into the pyramid as Rama-Tut remembered from
Av#129. This triggered the opening of the coffin and his awakening. Then he stopped Swordsman killing Kang (because it was his earlier self), and set about helping the Avengers frustrate Kang's plan.
Suspecting the free Avengers somehow learned of his plan, Kang has gone to Peking instead of Moscow 1st. But Rama-Tut still brings the Avengers there to face the 2nd Macrobot, this 1 with Iron Man inside. Vision still hasn't regained much solar power and leans on the disguised Pharoah as Hawkeye and Swordsman attack. But their efforts are again useless, and a blackout arrow of course doesn't affect Iron Man's power.
Meanwhile Mantis and Wanda are bickering in their tubes over who's 'man' Vision is. But now the android has regained enough power to enter the fray. He tries to reach an intangible hand through the Macrobot to short out Iron Man's armour, not realising this would kill
Tony Stark. Luckily Iron Man is protected by a force field. Vision then tries a more successful tack. His cloak is made of the same material as his body, and is equally under his mental control. So he takes it off, makes it intangible, stuffs it into the Macrobot's body and wills it solid again. The Macrobot explodes and Iron Man is free - but his armour needs a recharge.
Angry Kang abandons the idea of proceeding to Moscow, and instead makes the time-sphere visible and sends the Thor Macrobot against the Avengers. It easily dispenses with Hawkeye, Swordsman and Vision, and grabs Iron Man who just hangs limply. The robot pours power into
Shellhead to kill him. But this is Tony's cunning plan, as Thor's power recharges his batteries. And the
Golden Avenger blasts free.
Meanwhile Vision uses his solar ray to smash the tubes holding the 3 women. He stays to look after the unconscious Agatha Harkness as Mantis and Scarlet Witch join the fray. Boiling over with anger and frustration, Wanda taps the inner power that Miss Harkness had shown her last night (
Av#128) and calls up molten lava to surround the Macrobot.
Not to be outdone, Mantis gets the robot's neck in the grip of her legs and pounds its head with karate chops. The rest of the Avengers fire away at it, but Scarlet Witch seems to be hanging back. But she is actually casting a hex which brings a meteor plummeting down from space to hit the Macrobot square on.
The robot is finally down, and the Avengers' disguised companion can free Thor. Mantis complains to Wanda that she was still on top of the Macrobit when the meteor hit. It's almost as if the Witch wanted to kill
her too.
Kang confronts the man who has orchestrated his defeat, who reminds him of something he said in
Av#129 - that the warrior in Kang longed for an opponent who was his equal. The Conqueror blasts away the man's disguise and is shocked to see himself as an old Rama-Tut. And Rama-Tut remembers this moment from Kang's perspective.
The 2 start to fight, and time ruptures. Images of past Rama-Tut/Kang appearances (including
Scarlet Centurion from
Av Annual #2) are succeeded by those of Mantis' future (including little skulls in the pupils of Swordsman's shocked eyes). And Kang now cries that Mantis is the Celestial Madonna.
The 2 Kang's cease fighting. Rama-Tut explains that he had to stop Kang gaining control of the Madonna, for the sake of the universe. Kang can't believe the future him could think this way, but Tut says time will tell. Current Kang now turns a gun on Mantis. If he can't have her, no-one will. But Mantis calmly responds that
if she is destined to be the Madonna then Kang can't kill her else Tut's campaign would be futile.
There is a pregnant pause. Kang prepares to fire. Swordsman leaps forward and pushes mantis out of the way. Rama Tut hurls himself at his younger self. The gun goes off and its blast hits Swordsman.
Tut pummels Kang, cursing himself because he held back hoping that this time Kang would choose not to shoot. Their straining hands knock a control lever and the time-sphere vanishes with them inside.
As Swordsman lies dying, weeping Mantis finally professes that she
does love him, and that she done him wrong. His last words are that he didn't deserve her or Avengers membership. He was a weak man who didn't count. And Iron Man gives him his epitaph "Every Avenger counts".
The Celestial Madonna saga continues in
AVENGERS #130.