Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Last issue ended with villain group Death-Throws discussing the murder of 1 of their own, Oddball, by Scourge and deciding to bring the case to Avengers Incorporated.
Now this issue starts with a flashback to Orville Bock contacting the group's leader Ringleader to apologise for missing a meeting because he was being followed by Moon Knight and had to shake him off. He didn't want MK to throw him off another roof (apparently that happened in MK(2021)#1). Then we see a jet-powered ant saying "Justice is served" before boring a hole in the villain's forehead. Cops find the body and add it to the ongoing tally, including the bunch of costumed crooks killed in the Raft prison (in #1). As usual there are no clues, and as usual the detectives intend to give it lowest priority, despite superhero Luke Cage being the current Mayor. They leave the body for the specialist Cape Coroner Dr Henry Bradley ...
... who turns up with an assistant Eric and the Coroner's ambulance. The cop on guard asks what will happen after the autopsy. Bradley says he'll send his results to the Precinct but he guesses it'll be the same as the others - 1 shot to the head but no bullet recovered. He claims to still not know what kind of 'magic' bullet Scourge is using, and his assistant suppresses a laugh. The cop says he meant what will happen to the body, but Bradley replies that villains like this usually don't have any relatives who want to claim them.
Of course the Coroner is really Henry Pym (ex-Ant-Man) and his assistant is the Eric O'Grady LMD (Black Ant). Oddball wakes in their lair to be told that he'd been shot by ant-nanotech from the future which made him seem dead. Henry further explains that the same nanotech won't let Oddball attack him. If he doesn't play ball then it will also wipe out at least 6 months memory and he'll be let loose for the Cops to arrest. Henry's done that twice before and successfully claimed that someone forged the autopsy report that declared the villain dead. But many others have accepted the offer to join his Lethal Legion. After they've succeeded in what he wants them to do they'll be given fresh identities to use as they please. And we see several other minor villains behind him.
Rolling forward a bit to the present we find Ringleader (Charles Last) meeting Wasp, Victor Shade and Edwin Jarvis in the Jarvis Lounge HQ of Avengers Inc. He points out that New York superheroes are currently in the same boat as supervillains in that they're both banned unless officially sanctioned. But he'll claim if necessary to be merely on the way to a costume party.
Meanwhile he comes to the point by accusing Vic Shade of breaking the rules of the criminal jugglers' workers' co-operative. Whirlwind had claimed that the buzz-saws he could project made him a candidate, and asked the Death-Throws to get their legal team to get him out of jail. But then he stiffed them by never paying his membership dues. Shade points out that Dave Cannon's body was killed by Scourge but then *he* somehow woke up in it with no memory. Last doesn't believe that but says if they solve Orville's murder then it'll wipe the slate clean. Janet Van Dyne and Shade have been trying to uncover his past by solving the Scourge murders, among others. They haven't got anywhere so far so she agrees to play along.
Ringleader tells them how ex-Avenger Moon Knight was known to be after Oddball so our duo go see him. They find Marc Spector in his white-suited and masked Mr Knight aspect. He readily admits to throwing Oddball of a roof but denies shooting him. If he wanted him dead he'd have used his crescent knives. Vic suggests he shot him to disguise that it was him, but MK points out that when he kills someone he *wants* people to know who did it. He also admits to having followed the dead villain, but only to scare him away from the night travellers he was sworn to protect. But Jan points out that when he was killed Orville was running at night, which made him 1 of those night travellers. Spector accepts the logic and joins their quest.
The 3 (Spector now in Moon Knight garb) check the murder scene over. MK points out that there's nowhere near enough blood for a head wound. Wasp checks the autopsy report which claims the wound was made by a .22 bullet just like all the other Scourge killings. And she recalls having a similar thought when she examined Whirlwind's body and found no charring round the entry wound and wondered if it was made by something smaller and slower than a bullet, something that wouldn't trigger a security alarm. But at that time WW came back to life as Vic Shade and she forgot about it. Now she thinks about a wasp or flying ant!
This makes her suspicious of the autopsy report so they go to the Coroner's address. Jan has an idea who who the man might be so it's not a complete shock when the door is answered by her dead ex-husband Henry Pym. But she doesn't notice Vic behind her recognising him as well. He invites them in but also speaks into his phone telling his Legion that they are not to harm the 3 Avengers. He apologises for not letting Jan know he was back but he wanted to keep her out of it while *he*s out there. 'He' of course is Ultron.
Now Pym remembers the events of the 2022 Ant-Man mini-series. How early in his AM career he'd been taken to the future and met other Ant-Men to fight a robot who was also somehow him. He lost his memory of the affair but the memory returned after he merged with Ultron (Avengers: Rage Of Ultron GN) when he relived the event from the other perspective. When Ultron was sent back into the timestream at the end of that series Hank was inspired by the heroism of the Ant-Men to break free and he found himself back in the present. But he remembers all the awful things Ultron did while he was part of him. Jan apologises for not realising he'd been trapped in there all that time.
Henry now introduces them to his collection of villains. Wasp only now fully realises that Hank is the new Scourge and he's been faking their deaths to build an army. Vic Shade was an unexpected side-effect but the army is to oppose Ultron who Hank believes has returned with him. He confirms her diagnosis but adds that he didn't involve her or the other Avengers because he wanted to clean up his own mess (he created Ultron after all). And when he was finished he'd disappear into a new life like the rest of his gang.
But Jan is worried about him because she sees signs of his old mental instability. Trying to fix everything himself and taking ethical short cuts to do it. Some of the gang are wondering if the gig is falling apart. They haven't found any evidence that Ultron is really here, and now the Avengers have found them. They and Jan don't know if Pym will use his memory wipe process on the heroes.
Pym insists that he *knows* Ultron is out there. He can feel him. Victor Shade agrees, but then suddenly phases his fist through Hank's chest. As the body falls he says that he now knows that he himself is Ultron.