UPDATES
Sometimes I come across new facts, and sometimes
something I’ve written as a current event becomes old news to be replaced by a
new current event. I’ve been stockpiling such facts until they reached critical
mass, and I have now gone back and updated several entries. I’ve also read some
issues outside the normal flow of continuity and written them up so they can be
placed where they belong in the fictional timeline. This means I’ve updated
several entries, but I don’t want you to have to go back again to double-check
old entries to see where I made changes. I’ve assembled the changes below as
well as placed them back in the old entries, so everything I’ve changed is here
as well.
Two of the issues below, Hulk Smash Avengers 1 and The
New Avengers: Illuminati (2007) 1 were recently offered for free on the
Marvel website, which is where I was able to read them for inclusion. The
latter reminded me about the New
Avengers: Illuminati (2006) issue I already had.
(You can download these and other free comics at http://comicstore.marvel.com/ once you
download their reader and start an account. You can read them on your computer
even if you don’t have a tablet. If you like digital comics that are free,
Marvel changes what they offer for free every Tuesday, but this also means that
sometimes comics are removed and replaced with something new, so these
particular two won’t be there forever. Once you’ve ordered it for your account,
though, it’s in your digital collection even if the price later changes.)
http://www.comics.org/,
lately www.steveenglehart.com, and http://www.whiterocketbooks.com/avengers/avengers_chronology_bob_f.pdf,
as well as of course http://www.wikipedia.org/and
Marvel’s own wiki at http://marvel.com/universe/Main_Page.
The old info changeth!
Avengers 9
·
Wonder Man seems to have reconciled with the
Avengers at the end of the 2010 series. He has not shown up in the new 2013
series, so we’ll see if or how he is portrayed there.
Avengers 70
·
This Hyperion thinks he is a Microverse resident
called Zhib-Ran. The real Zhib-Ran will not appear until New Thunderbolts 16 in 2006.
Avengers 85
·
The new Hyperion in Avengers (2013) is yet another alternate version of this Hyperion,
or at least it seems to be.
Avengers 136
·
Although he had contributed to other Marvel
stories before this, this was his first full-length writing credit at Marvel.
He also did the coloring for the original issue.
Avengers 103
·
Starting this month with issue 5, Marvel Triple Action (1972) starts
reprinting older Avengers tales, beginning with a reprint of Avengers 10.
·
With this issue, this series becomes the longest
American Avengers series. The later Avengers West Coast (aka West Coast
Avengers) only lasted 102 issues. Foreign editions reprint tales from
various series and are sometimes weekly, so many of them have lasted longer.
Between Avengers
(1963) 11 and 12
Hulk Smash Avengers 1
By Banner
Betrayed!
July, 2012
Written by Tom
DeFalco and Ron Frenz
Art by Ron Frenz
and Sal Buscema
Lettered by Chris
Eliopoulos
Colored by Nick
Filardi
Edited by Bill Rosemann
and Jake Thomas
After tracking the Hulk in the American Southwest for a
few days, the Avengers try to restrain him long enough for some special Stark
restraints to arrive. Their hope is to convince him to return to the team.
Despite being outnumbered, the Hulk is able to batter his way free and leap
away. Coincidentally, Baron Zemo, Enchantress, and Executioner are magically
observing and also wish to recruit the Hulk. Zemo offers to help the Hulk crush
the Avengers, and they reach an agreement to team up. The Avengers continue
their search alongside the military, and Zemo’s force attacks them. Both teams
split off into individual battles. Captain America is fighting against Zemo’s Killbot,
and Rick Jones and another solider attempt to sneak up on Zemo to take him out
of the fight. The plan fails, and Zemo gets ahold of Rick and threatens to
shoot him in order to torture Captain America by depriving him of another
partner. The Hulk sees this and, because of his friendship with Rick, the Hulk
causes a ground quake that frees Rick. Seeing the tide turning, the villains
retreat. The Hulk claims that he knew all along his new allies would turn on
him, and he bounds away.
Captain America: “Save your breath, Iron Man. If he’s not
going to cooperate, there’s no point in arguing. We’ll have to take him down
like we practiced…”
·
The team of DeFalco and Frenz also worked on the
series A-Next, which showed the
adventures of an Avengers team in the future that featured the superhero
children of many of the Avengers characters.
·
Letterer Chris Eliopoulos designed the in-house
font for the Marvel comics computer lettering software. He won Best Letterer
Eagle and Harvey Awards in 2007 and 2008 respectively. He was also artist on
the Franklin Richards: Son of a Genius
series of comic books for Marvel.
·
Rosemann and Thomas were also editing the Avengers Academy series when this issue
was released.
·
An opening note places this adventure between
issues 7 and 14. I chose this spot since Wasp is using the Wasp sting established
in issue 9, issue 10 “never happened,” Iron Man is missing in action during issue
11, and Wasp is in the hospital between issues 13 and 14. The team starts issue
12 off without anything pressing happening.
·
Iron Man has his Mark II armor on the cover, but
the interior has him using his Mark III armor, which is appropriate for this
time period.
·
Rick is still suffering feelings of abandonment
in this issue, both from being rejected as Captain America’s partner and then
left behind by the Hulk.
Between Avengers
97 and 98
The New Avengers: Illuminati (2006) 1;
pages 1-10
May, 2006
Written by Brian
Michael Bendis
Art by Alex Maleev
Lettered by Chris
Eliopoulos
Colored by Dave
Stewart
Edited by Tom
Brevoort, Andy Schmidt, Molly Lazer, and Aubrey Sitterson
Within the week after the Kree-Skrull War, Iron Man calls
a meeting of some of the more well-known superhumans on Earth, including Black
Panther, Doctor Strange, Professor X, Mister Fantastic, Black Bolt, and Namor.
Iron Man posits his concerns about how the heroes had not addressed the
presence of the Kree and Skrull on Earth with a bit more seriousness, and he
proposes that they join forces to create a more cohesive defensive unit in case
of what he feels are certain future attacks from space. The others, especially
Namor, voice their reservations about the idea, each with their own ideas of
why it would not work. Mister Fantastic instead suggests that the individuals
assembled here meet on occasion to share information, as this might have helped
in the Kree-Skrull situation. Stipulating that no one else is to know about the
meetings, most of them agree. Black Panther is the only one to dissent,
thinking that secret meetings in which heroes presume to dictate the fate of
Earth is not something he can support, and he fears what will happen when there
is a disagreement about how to handle a situation. After he leaves the meeting,
the rest do form a tentative alliance and agree to meet in the future.
Iron Man: “If the Earth is attacked again…when the Earth
is attacked again…we’re the ones who will defend it. There is no one else. No
army is ready.”
Namor: “You think you can put these people up as role
models and delegates for the entire planet Earth? That is completely deluded.”
Black Panther: “What happens when you disagree? When one
of these Earth-changing moments finds you all at odds with each other, here in
a secret meeting? What happens then? Walk away now.”
·
Brian Michael Bendis was the regular writer on
the flagship Avengers title New Avengers
when this was published in 2006. He was one of the main architects of the
Avengers line from 2005 until 2013 and continues to write the current Age of
Ultron Avengers event. He or a series he wrote won several Eisner Awards
between 1999 to 2003.
·
Alex Maleev is a Bulgarian artist who frequently
collaborates with Bendis. Their Daredevil
work received an Eisner Award in 2003 for Best Continuing Series.
·
Eliopoulos is credited as “VC’s Chris Eliopoulos.”
This stands for Virtual Calligraphy, a lettering studio that Eliopoulos
started.
·
Dave Stewart has won the Best Colorist Eisner
Award multiple times, winning seven of the nine annual awards presented between
2003 and 2011.
·
Tom Brevoort started as Avengers editor with the
1998 Avengers series. He is currently
Senior Vice President of publishing at Marvel, but he is still editor on the
current 2013 Avengers series. He won
the Eisner Award for best editor in 1997, before his Avengers tenure.
·
Since this takes place in the days following the
Kree-Skrull War, Iron Man took time out from searching for Hawkeye to set up
this meeting.
·
Teaming up more Mutants with non-Mutant heroes
is brought up here, but rejected, as they feel all heroes would be grouped with
Mutants and then not trusted by the public. Captain America recently formed a
“Unity group” of Avengers in Uncanny
Avengers that does combine mutants visibly into an Avengers team, hoping for
the opposite, that instead it will improve the image of Mutants by association
with the Avengers.
·
Despite his objections here, Black Panther will
finally join the Illuminati Avengers group in the New Avengers 2013 series.
·
Once this group has formed, Professor X’s first
order of business is Krakoa, a South Pacific island that developed its own mind
after nuclear testing took place there. It seems Professor X got no help from
this group, as he ended up having to send three different teams of his X-men to
the island to either investigate it or subsequently rescue captured X-Men from
it.
Between Avengers
136 and 101
The New Avengers: Illuminati (2007) 1
February, 2007
Written by Brian
Michael Bendis and Brian Reed
Art by Jim Cheung
and Mark Morales
Lettered by Cory
Petit
Colored by Justin
Ponsor
Edited by Tom
Brevoort, Molly Lazer, and Aubrey Sitterson
While the Skrull Emperor is berating his troops for
allowing themselves to be defeated by Rick Jones, the newly formed Illuminati
team appears on the royal flagship. They ask the Emperor to give up his plans
for invading Earth and threaten to escalate their attacks on him if he refuses.
When he is not impressed, Black Bolt lets loose a powerful sonic attack that
destroys the flagship and part of the city below. The Illuminati try to escape
the planet, but their craft is destroyed, and they are captured. Skrull
scientists study the genetic codes and technology of the team. Skrulls
masquerading as the main Avengers team show up to stage a rescue of Tony Stark,
but Stark doesn’t buy the ruse for a moment. Even without his armor, he takes
advantage of the opening of his cell, overpowers the Skrull imposters, and
escapes. He frees his companions in turn, and they commandeer a Skrull craft
and escape. Dorrek VII is shown to be pleased with the information that was
gathered from the captives before they got away.
Namor: “Rejoice. That was perfectly executed.”
Mister Fantastic: “We did what we had to do…we don’t have
to enjoy it.”
Namor: “Why not? They already tried to kill us and take
our planet. And they were planning to try it again. We did not start this.
Well, I’ll enjoy it enough for all of us, then.”
·
Artist Jim Cheung contributed to several other
Avengers series, including New Avengers
(2005) and Young Avengers (2005).
·
Mark Morales, Cheung, Petit, and Ponsor all
worked on the Avengers: The Children’s
Crusade series as well.
·
Letterer Cory Petit is also the regular letterer
for both the Avengers (2010) and Avengers (2013) series. He is credited
as working in the Virtual Calligraphy studio.
·
I chose this spot to put this story because
after the events of 101, the team goes into the Incredible Hulk series and the
subsequent Avengers issues follow in
short order. They are free enough to go to a chess match at the beginning of
101, so I doubt they had much pressing Avengers business. The Illuminati could
have rushed off after their original meeting, but I think it’s more likely Iron
Man would stay to find Hawkeye rather than jet off to another galaxy.
·
The Skrulls in the issue are speaking the
Sfdsdgf dialect of Skrull. Rather than a reference to something previously
established, it looks like four letters next to each other on the QWERTY keyboard
were used to make this name, so it may have just been a place holder that was
never filled in with a real term. (Credit to http://www.jakehateseverything.com/2006_12_01_archive.html
for noticing that.)
·
Emperor Dorrek VII mentions prophecies
concerning the destruction of the Skrull Throneworld and Earth’s destiny as a
new home for the Skrulls. The former will come true and had already happened
for the readers in 1983 when Galactus destroyed Throneworld. The latter is the
impetus for the Secret Invasion event where the Skrulls try to claim Earth
completely, but it was still over a year in the future for the readers.
·
Despite the huge amount of destruction caused to
the flagship, Dorrek VII survives.
·
The Skrulls mention a group of priests from the
Vovco Islands that are en route to study Doctor Strange’s magical nature. Since
they mention a geographic feature and not the name of a planet, this implies
these islands are on the Throneworld.
·
The Skrulls that impersonate the Avengers also
impersonate Wasp, even though she was not an active member of the team at the
time.
·
Doctor Strange and Professor X team up to create
a convincing illusion of Galactus that frightens the Skrull armada and allows
the Illuminati to escape. They had no way of knowing the real Galactus would in
future actually arrive and consume the same planet.
·
The data gathering on Earths’ heroes shown here
finally enables the Skrulls to create a large number of Super-Skrulls and
improve their mimicry abilities.
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