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Avengers Annual #1: Review

Sep 2023

Stephanie Phillips, Alberto Foche

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Story Name:

Contest of chaos: finale

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Avengers Annual #1 Review by Rob Johnson (October 6, 2023)

This is the conclusion of the Contest Of Chaos series of Annuals begun in the Scarlet Witch Annual. Like 3 previous Contest Of Champions series (1982, 1999 and 2015) it's just an excuse to pit heroes against each other, but the excuse differs each time.

Captain America (Steve Rogers) is mistakenly depicted on the cover when it should be Cap (Sam Wilson).

Spider-Man lost to Wolverine in his An.
Iron Man lost to Storm in his An (which I have documented).
Human Torch beat Ghost Rider in the Fantastic Four An.
Moon Knight lost to Taegukgi in his An.
Spider-Gwen lost to White Fox in her An.
Venom beat Deadpool in his An.
Cyclops beat Captain Marvel in the X-Men An.

Taegukgi (Tae-Won) is a South Korean hero granted multiple powers by an Asgardian gem (s revealed in Taskmaster (2020) #3).
The heroine White Fox (Ami Han) is also South Korean who is a mythical Kumiho (fox spirit). She initially appeared in a Korean language webcomic series Avengers: Electric Rain (later republished in English as an Infinity Comic). Her 1st app in Marvel's comics was in the 2015 Contest Of Champions.
Both chars are part of the Tiger Division team.

From Our Blog:

Gwen Stacy, beauty queen of Standard High School, was Peter Parker's (alias Spider-Man) first great love.

Gwen Stacy: Classic Beauty

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Avengers Annual #1 Synopsis by Rob Johnson

In this year's Scarlet Witch Annual Agatha Harkness stole the heart of Chthon from where he is imprisoned 'within' Scarlet Witch. The story then sprawled across 7 more Annuals in a Contest Of Chaos as Harkness pitted pairs of heroes against each other in sites of chaos magic around the globe, and each winner became her corrupted minion (and brought her some chaos energy). On the way we learned that she intends to create a new Darkhold book which she will use to protect the world against such magic. But also the 1st contest loser Spider-Man (Peter Parker) joined forces with super-PI Jessica Jones and the sorceress Clea to oppose her. At the end of the X-Men Annual they tracked her to the Bermuda Triangle and decided to call in the Avengers.

The current 7 Avengers arrive over the Triangle all but 1 flying under their own power (Black Panther is carried by Captain America (Sam Wilson) and his artificial wings). (Captain Marvel and Iron Man are losers of 2 of the contests.) They see 4 ships rising out of the ocean around a maelstrom:- a pirate ship, a 2-funnelled steamer and 2 smaller boats. Captain Marvel splits the group into teams of 2 (she goes alone) to search the vessels for Agatha and the missing heroes. IM in his current stealth armour says he can't detect any life-signs but Wanda Maximoff says magic may be masking them.

CM investigates the pirate ship and as she hears that the others have met opposition she is attacked by Storm whose repeated magical blasts drive her off the boat and into the drink. Surfacing she sees CA battling Venom (Dylan Brock) plus IM vs Human Torch in midair. Vision is blasting at Wolverine on 1 boat where SW is magically defending herself against Cyclops' optic blasts. On another ship BP is fighting White Fox while Thor faces Taegukgi. The Avengers try not to harm their opponents too much but the others under the control of Agatha Harkness have no such qualms. Scarlet Witch tries to sense her ex-mentor's presence but can't detect her. However her break in concentration allows Cyke to tag her which sends her crashing to the deck of the pirate ship. He hops over to that vessel and blasts at her again, but Carol Danvers interposes herself and blasts *him* out to sea (which she thinks of as payback for what he did to her when *they* fought in the Contest in the X-Men An).

At that point Clea magically portals in to the pirate ship with Jessica Jones and Spider-Man. CapM tells them that the team is just fighting a holding action until they can figure out how to break Agatha's control. That makes her realise that Harkness is doing the same thing while she finishes the new Darkhold. Wanda comments that she *must* be nearby to be controlling her minions, and she now guesses that she's inside the maelstrom. Danvers tells the newcomers to help the other Avengers while she and the Witch go to confront the other witch down there.

In a revealed ruin at the bottom of the whirlpool Agatha is magically levitating the book and surrounding it with 7 balls of chaos energy. She thinks she only needs a bit more time to complete the spell but she doesn't get it because the 2 superheroines interrupt her. Wanda tries to reason with her friend but Agatha claims that she's taking the burden of dealing with chaos magic off her pupil's shoulders. Wanda says the effort is killing her but Agatha replies that some things are worth dying for. The witch blasts the Witch and CM responds with an attack which SW joins in on. The strain of holding them both off is too much and Darkhold and chaos globes fall to the ground. Danvers grabs the book to keep it out of Harkness' clutches despite both witches screaming at her not to. And there's an enormous explosion of magic.

On the surface the maelstrom starts to collapse taking the boats with it. Iron Man tells the rest of the team to evacuate the opposition. Down below our 2 heroines recover and find Agatha Harness gone but the book left behind. However Carol finds it now inert and she persuades Wanda that her friend isn't here and they have to leave, which they do. Up above Logan shakes off Harkness' control and is disgusted to find himself in purple magic armour. CapA offers him a lift.

They all regroup on a beach. The enthralled chars are all back in control of themselves but don't really remember what happened. Wanda confirms that the new Darkhold is now just an empty book but she is concerned that the energy Agatha gathered to create it must have gone somewhere. They wonder where she is.

We see that she's washed up on another shore and starts desperately looking for the Darkhold. She's greeted by a young boy dressed in purple like her (and in Pilgrim Fathers era clothes). She asks him where his parents are and he tells her he doesn't have any, and calls her by her name. He reveals the *he* is now the Darkhold and manifests his power.

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