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 Written by Bob Gansler |
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Written by Bob Gansler |
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1958. Communists, aliens, terrorists. As the nation faced these many dangers, President Eisenhower brought together the greatest heroes of the day as the Avengers. Together, they protect America from the threats of this world and of others.
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| Marvel Boy (Bob Grayson)
An Earthman armed with the skills and science of the Eternals of Uranus. Gorilla-Man (Ken Hale)
3-D Man (Hal & Chuck Chandler)
Venus
Captain America ('Steve Rogers')
Bucky (Jack Monroe)
Cold Warrior (Will Sinkowitz)
Namora (Aquaria Nautica Neptunia)
Nemo
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The Avengers reformed at the request of President
Eisenhower to deal with the Yellow Claw, who had stolen an atomic weapon.
The heroes decided to remain together to defend America.
The Communist super-agent, the Red Skull, tried to create economic chaos in New York City. The Avengers, with the help of the thawed out 1950's Captain America and Bucky, stopped the Skull's crime wave. Meanwhile, out on the Atlantic, Soviet war ships have been mysteriously attacked by a mysterious figure. Namora's search for her cousin the Sub-Mariner led her to one of these attacks. The President called in the Avengers to deal with these attacks. Together with Namora, they set out for the Atlantic to search for Namor. Captain America and Bucky stayed behind at FBI Director Hoover's request. Meanwhile Mary Mitchell (the former Sun Girl) contacted Toro about helping to bring in Namor. The Avcngers found a Namor-lookalike attacking a Soviet spy ship. Toro battled the lookalike and discovered that it really was his old comrade Subbie, who was a clone of Namor. At Toro's suggestion, Subbie took the new name of Nemo. |
After waiting outside of the White House for a while, the Avengers were finally admitted inside to meet with the President as Marvel Boy had requested via Interplanetary Cosmic Radio. He had called in once the Russian freighter/spy ship had been towed into New York harbor. Toro had given his farewells and returned home to Nevada. Once the team entered the Oval Office, they found that their other members - Captain America, Bucky, and Cold Warrior - were already there.
"You Avengers are getting to be regular fixtures here at the White House," Eisenhower declared lightheartedly as Marvel Boy, Gorilla-Man, 3-D Man, Venus, and the Human Robot were followed in by Namora and Nemo.
"We wanted to inform you personally that we resolved the situation out in the Atlantic," Marvel Boy responded. He motioned towards Nemo and Namora.
"I see. You brought in the Sub-Mariner." The President addressed the man that he thought to be the Sub-Mariner. "So, Namor, what do you have to say to explain yourself?"
"This isn’t Namor, Mr. President," Namora explained. "This is his clone. He’s called Nemo."
"Clone? What’s that?"
"A copy of a living organism, Mr. President." Cold Warrior was intrigued to learn more about this clone. His scientific curiosity was definitely piqued.
Eisenhower pondered this revelation for a moment. "Are there more of you copies out there?"
"No," Nemo replied. "I’m the only one."
"So you were the cause of the attacks on the Soviet ships?"
"Yes," Nemo admitted. "I was only trying to help the only place that I could consider as home."
"Home?" Eisenhower was perplexed. "You’ve lived here before?"
"You might remember during the war," 3-D Man intoned, "that Namor was accompanied for a while by a boy called ‘Subbie.’ Well, Subbie grew up." He was still in awe that he was here with Namora and someone who looked just like Namor. Here he was standing side by side with legends. Just fighting beside Captain America was a thrill; if Namora and Nemo joined the team, it would be that much sweeter.
Eisenhower scratched his head. "No, I’m sorry I don’t remember you, son. There were a lot of you mystery-men types flying all over the place with the Liberators during the war. I couldn’t keep track of all of you."
Nemo smiled weakly. "That’s OK. I wasn’t around all that long before Namor cast me out."
"Why?" Eisenhower asked.
"It’s a long story." Nemo did not want to go into the particulars about Atlantean law and clones. Namor had made Subbie’s status abundantly clear. "I’m just sorry for the trouble I caused."
"I can’t fault you for your patriotism," Eisenhower laughed. "However, this is a cold war that we’re in now. They’ve got the bomb now, too. We can’t afford to spark a war with them. It could mean the end for all of us."
"The Avengers explained to me about the ... atomic bomb." Nemo related. "I hadn’t kept up too well with developments on the surface world. I knew that the Soviets were the enemy, and I was just doing what came naturally."
"Yes, we know how Namor treated his enemies. America felt the brunt of his fury until he came over to our side to help fight against the Nazis." Eisenhower stood up. "I must apologize to the rest of you. This is turning into a discussion between Nemo and me. I have an idea. If you Avengers are agreeable to it, why don’t you induct Namora and Nemo as members? America needs all the heroes it can get."
"That’s a great idea, Mr. President!" 3-D Man declared and jumped to his feet.
Venus thought the proposal was worthy. It would be nice to be able to interact closely with Atlantean who showed the proper respect for an Olympian. The Human Robot said nothing. Gorilla-Man did not have any feelings one way or the other. Marvel Boy, on the other hand, was dubious of it.
"First they give us these ersatz Captain America and Bucky, and now they want us to have these pale imitations of Namor," he thought. Hopefully, they would not take the President up on his offer.
"It's a very gracious offer, Mr. President," Namora replied. "However, I still need to find the real Namor, although I'm glad to have found Nemo here."
"So will you join?" Eisenhower asked. "About what about you, lad?" He looked towards Nemo.
"I'll have to think about it," Nemo replied. "It's a great honor, but I'm afraid that people will equate me with Namor. I know he's down a lot of good, but he's also done a lot of damage on the surface world."
"I can appreciate your position, lad, and your too, Namora." Eisenhower announced. "I don't want you to rush to a decision. How about I schedule a press conference a week from now, and we can announce your decisions then?"
"That would seem to be enough time to make a decision," Namora commented. Nemo nodded his agreement.
"It's settled then." Eisenhower clapped his hands together. "I'll see you all here in a week. My staff will take care of all the details."
"We'll see you then," 3-D Man announced. "He pointed towards the door. All right, team. It's time to 'Go Avengers Go'!"
In the intervening week, the Avengers were busy with all sorts of details. Marvel Boy, with the help of the Human Robot, was busy turning his hangar at Heath Airfield into a base of operations for the Avengers. The mechanical marvel was very effective in finishing the secret underground levels that Marvel Boy had begun when he started his career as a terran superhero.
Hal Chandler had no need to summon the 3-D Man. He was engaged in getting a job as a congressional aide on Capitol Hill. He had studied politics at La Brea University and he hoped to put that knowledge to good use. He spent most of the time since graduation dealing with menaces as the 3-D Man. His parents back in California would not continue to subsidize him indefinitely. He need to pay his own way. A job on the Hill would be his ideal position. In addition, being closely involved in political dealings would allow him to keep an eye out for Skrull activity.
The Cold Warrior spent the week in the laboratory. His mastery of cold allowed him to work very effectively in low-temperature settings. He was working out some principles for a new anti-atomic device. It would take some more work but he thought it showed great promise.
Nemo and Namora had spent the time learning more about each other. Nemo told her of his experiences since being cast out by the Sub-Mariner. Namora, for her part, told him about Atlantean history and culture. He had not learned much while he was a captive of the mad scientist Vyrra.
Gorilla-Man sat and sulked in his quarters inside of the Marvel Boy's hangar. He was not of much use for the delicate work that Human Robot and Marvel Boy were performing, and the downtime gave him the opportunity to mope about his sorry state. Being involved in the Avengers sometimes took his mind off of the fact that he was trapped in a gorilla body.
Venus enjoyed the company of her friend Whitney Hammond. It was obvious that he was falling for her, and Venus knew that it was not the work of her powers. He truly loved her for the person that she was, not because she was the Roman god of love. Venus had to admit that she was beginning to harbor warm feelings for him as well. She knew it was unwise, since she was married to Vulcan, but she could not deny the feelings that welled up within her immortal heart. She knew it was unwise to love a mortal; her father Jupiter's exploits had shown that such behavior typically led to trouble for mortal and immortal alike.
Captain America and Bucky passed the time with rigorous workouts. After the conversation with Hoover, they had re-dedicated themselves to improving their skills. They did not want to give the FBI Director any reason for forcing them to adopt the new identities of "Ultra-American and Jacky". They needed to be as good as the original. After the days of training with FBI agents, they showed improvement in their fighting skills, but Cap still was having trouble mastering the intricacies of shield-work.
After a week had passed, the Avengers gathered again at the Oval Office. The Avengers were anxious, for various reasons, as to what Namora's and Nemo's answers would be. However, they all agreed to let the aquatic adventurers announce their decisions to the public without any prior disclosure.
When the scheduled time arrived, Eisenhower led the Avengers to the Rose Garden, where a podium had been set up and the press corps was eagerly waiting. The reporters were surprised to see all of the heroes accompanying the President. They had been told that the address was going to be addressing a powerful topic, but they had no idea that it was going to involve superhumans.
Eisenhower approached the podium. He tapped a few of the bank of microphones arrayed before him. "My fellow Americans," he began. "I'd like to welcome you to this very special press conference. Behind me are assembled a number of the greatest heroes of this nation of ours. These heroes are the Avengers, and they're the first super-team since the legendary All-Winners Squad."
The President turned and pointed to the Avengers one by one. "This is Marvel Boy, 3-D Man, Gorilla-Man, Human Robot, Venus, Captain America, Bucky, and Cold Warrior. Some of them you've heard of before, but you'll be hearing a lot more regarding all of them in the future."
An overeager reporter blurted out, "Are those the original Cap and Bucky?" but the question was ignored. Cap bristled at the comment.
"The first five I introduced," Eisenhower continued, "gathered together earlier this year to rescue me from the clutches of the Yellow Claw."
The press began to murmur among themselves. They were astonished to learn that the President had been kidnapped and no word of it had leaked out to them.
"Despite their invaluable service to the nation," Eisenhower explained. "I asked them to disband because I felt the nation would not be accepting of them. However, new dire threats have risen that menace this great country of ours. I asked them to come together to defeat another scheme of the Yellow Claw, and they have decided to remain together to fight for the cause of justice.
"You might have seen them operating in the last few weeks and wondered what was going on. Let me officially announce that the Avengers have been designated special federal law enforcement officers, and my office will be giving them as much assistance as we can to help them in their crusade."
Eisenhower paused momentarily, and some of the overeager reporters were ready with a barrage of questions. However, Eisenhower continued before any of them could get their voice to the forefront.
"You're probably wondering about the other two heroes that are up here with me. The sea beauty is of course Namora. The young man with her may look like Namor, but he's really the Sub-Mariner's … little brother, Nemo. They recently assisted the Avengers on a mission, and I've asked them to join the group. They're here to give their answer to me and to the American people." He looked back at them. "Namora?" The President stepped back and ushered Namora to the podium.
"Thank you, Mr. President," Namora began. "My … cousin Nemo and I are grateful for the invitation that has been extended to us. I know that Namor told glowingly about his time with the Invaders, the Liberators, and the All-Winners Squad, and we'd be honored to be associated with all the other brave heroes up here."
3-D Man could sense that there was a "however" coming and was not happy to hear it; Marvel Boy had the same sense but the opposite feeling.
"However," Namora stated. "Nemo and I will have to decline membership at this time. Our foremost priorities are to protect the seas for our nation of Atlantis, and to find our missing family member, Namor. We are willing to serve in a reserve capacity. If the Avengers are in desperate need of our powers, we'll be glad to fight by their side. Thank you." She stepped away from the podium.
Eisenhower returned to the podium. "I'm sure that you all have plenty of questions. We'll be able to spend a few minutes answering them -either by me or by the individual Avengers."
A babble of noise came from the press corps as they all tried to get their question heard. One voice suddenly could be heard above the din.
"How long can America survive with its leader and heroes slain?"
"Excuse me?" Eisenhower said in surprise. The reporters looked amongst themselves to find out who asked such a preposterous question.
"How long can America survive with its leader and heroes slain?" the voice, tinged with a Chinese accent, boomed over the relative silence. Everyone looked to see a man in a brown trenchcoat, a brown cape draped over his shoulders, and a brown fedora obscuring his features standing outside of the gate surrounding the White House.
"Cripes! It’s the Man with No Face!" Bucky exclaimed
"Could you give us a little more information about this guy, like maybe his name?" Gorilla-Man said derisively.
"No, that’s his name - the Man With No Face! Tell him I ain't joking, Cap," Bucky said pleadingly.
"That's his name. He's a Commie Chinese terrorist," Cap scowled.
{The Man With No Face fought against Cap and Bucky during the 1950's revival of Captain America}
Cap gripped the straps of his shield tighter. "Who’s going to do it? You, Mr. No-Face?" he shouted back.
"Yeah, you and whose army?" Bucky sniped.
"The hordes of China. The Faceless Horde." With a dramatic wave of his hand, he indicated a masked multitude of brown-clothed men rushing at the gates. They formed human pyramids to scale over the gates. At the sight of onrushing mass of terrorists, the head secret service agent angrily barked into his walkie-talkie, "Deploy Air Force One!"
Split-seconds after the command was given, a cadre of armored soldiers emerged from the White House and went headfirst into the wave of masked men. The contingent of Air Force One operatives were decked in the best power armor that the US military could buy. The metallic suits shone with the silvery-white hue, and they covered every square inch of the soldiers. The full headpieces had a sort of bird-like shape to them.
As the Avengers gathered around the President to shield him, Gorilla-Man was the first to voice the question that was on all of the heroes’ minds. "Who are those armored guys?"
"They’re Air Force One," Eisenhower explained as they hustled him back into the White House. "They’re a special branch of the Secret Service formed during the Truman administration." Noting the style of the armor, the President noted, "Looks like that’s the new Iron Eagle model. I hope they’re up to the task."
{Air Force One troopers were introduced in Jess Nevins' All-Winners Squad #6}
"Don’t worry, Mr. President," Marvel Boy replied. "Now that you’re relatively safe, the Avengers will give them a hand."
While the Avengers had escorted the President inside the doors of the White House, the Air Force One Iron Eagles were valiantly struggling to keep the Faceless Horde from reaching the panic-stricken press corps. Although their armor gave them more than enough protection to handle any normal human opponent, the odds were overwhelmingly not on favor of the Americans. For every Hordesman that they knocked down, another ten seemed to spring up in his place.
"Avengers! We need help and pronto," the commanding Iron Eagle shouted through his armor’s microphone, but the Avengers were already among the embattled troopers.
Nemo had launched himself into the air with his mutant ankle wings and landed in the midst of the Horde. He threw indiscriminate punches with his hybrid strength and flattened every Hordesman with whom he connected.
Namora was right behind her cousin, her sea-born muscles carrying quickly across the lawn into the melee. She fought with much more skill than her fellow Atlantean, and she was downing Hordesmen at a prodigious rate.
The Human Robot drifted into the midst of the battle, all but oblivious to the blows that the unarmed Hordesmen rained upon him. He began striking out with mechanical efficiency with his metallic fists.
The 3-D Man was having a ball ducking and weaving amongst all of the combatants. His triple-powered reflexes allowed to keep clear of all of the swinging arms and legs while he landed precision punches that struck with the strength of three men.
Venus and the Cold Warrior had actually gone back to protect the President. The goddess of love just could not stand the utter barbarity of the scene outside. The Cold Warrior, for his part, knew that he was not the strongest ally when it came to battle, especially in a big fight. He used his cold-manipulating powers to freeze up every window and doorway in the White House with a few feet in thickness of ice. He smiled underneath his featureless mask. "If any of those Chinamen get by the Avengers or Air Force One, they won’t be getting in here without an icepick."
Gorilla-Man was getting annoyed with the kicks and punches that the Hordesman were exacting upon him. "Take all your kung fu ju-jitsu stuff back to China. This is an All-American brawl." He lifted one Hordesman off of the ground and the held him by the legs. The beast-man began swinging the helpless Hordesman around like a club and lashing out at his comrades.
Captain America and Bucky waded their way through the battle, helping some of the beleaguered Air Force One troopers. Cap was impressed by how well these normal, albeit armored, fought in the face of the daunting odds.
"You fellows do America proud," Cap announced as he clobbered a Hordesman with his shield. He was unwilling to toss his shield in the midst of all the chaos. If he threw it, he felt he would never be able to figure out all the angles in order to get it back to him.
"Get your stinking yellow paws offa me," Bucky exclaimed as he fought like a hellcat trying not to get swarmed over. Cap helped out Bucky by grabbing a few Hordesman by the collar and tossing them off of his partner.
"Thanks Cap," Bucky said appreciatively. He let loose a quick elbow that shattered the jaw of a Hordesman that was trying to attack him from behind. "What say we go for the brains behind this operation?"
"Sounds good to me, partner," Cap responded as the drove through a wall of Hordesmen shield first. "Looks like the rest of our gang is turning the tide against these Commies!"
Marvel Boy was blazing away with his light jewel. The brilliant glare from his wristband was blinding Hordesmen left and right. He had initially feared that the Hordesmen’s masks would offer them protection from his intense light beam, but his fears were unfounded. He thought about issuing some tactical orders, but the utter chaos of the scene would have made his strategies unproductive. The best that the Avengers could do, he figured, was to just duke it out until there were no more Hordesmen left now that the reporters were relatively safe on the other side of the iced-over White House. He noticed with some annoyance that Cap and Bucky were making their way to the fence where the Man With No Face had last been seen.
Cap and Bucky reached the gate, and the Man With No Face was still there overseeing the battle.
"So we meet again, Captain America and Bucky," the Man sneered. "I had heard that you two had disappeared for a while." He paused. "It made my efforts on behalf of Red China all that more easy."
"You’re nothing but a two-bit Commie crumb!" Bucky taunted.
The Man drew out his hand-axe. "Do you wish to come over to this side of the gate and say that again, you capitalist swine?"
"And how!" Bucky exclaimed. "Gimme a boost, Cap. I’m gonna knock this Commie back to Peking!"
Cap thought for a moment. Bucky had only recently fully-recovered from his injuries battling the Red Skull. The lad had been impatient since then, even more so after Hoover kept them from participating in the North Atlantic mission. {Referring to the last three issues of Avengers: 1958} He knew that the Man was not that powerful of a fighter. "Go get ‘em, tiger," Cap urged. He cupped his hands below him. Bucky took a running start and put his boot into Cap’s hands. Cap lifted up as Bucky jumped and the kid was sent flying over the locked gate. Cap turned to return to the battle with the Hordesmen.
Now that the Hordesmen’s numbers had been whittled down, the Air Force One troopers were able to collect themselves and form a fighting formation. Marvel Boy noted the discipline that the troopers exhibited. If only he could get the Avengers to operate with that kind of efficiency. The Iron Eagles arrayed themselves into two groups, one on either side of the White House to keep the Horde from getting around to the press corps.
"Avengers! Front and center!" Marvel Boy barked. He was not going to let his team be shown up by these soldiers. Each of the Avengers, except Cap, battled their way to his side near the iced-up doorway through which they had taken the President. Gorilla-Man tossed his human club back into the mass of fallen Hordesmen; his living weapon had long ago lost consciousness.
"All right then," Marvel Boy announced. "Air Force One will keep them from going off to the sides. Let’s plow through the rest of them."
"No argument there, boss!" 3-D Man said enthusiastically. He was the first to re-engage the Hordesman and did so with energetic abandon. His triple-powered endurance was keeping him from the exhaustion that would have overcome a normal man.
"I’ll meet you in the middle," Cap’s voice could be heard over the din. He blocked a flurry of blows with his shield and returned them, with Super Solider interest, in kind.
Nemo, Namora, Gorilla-Man and the Human Robot were simply too much for the maniacal Hordesmen to handle. Their prodigious strength brought down multiple opponents at a time.
Marvel Boy stayed near the podium, blinding any Hordesmen that happened to get by and then dispatching them with his Uranian-enhanced strength. A few Hordesmen tried to circle around the White House, but they were taken care of by the Air Force One contingents.
Finally, the White House lawn was silent, albeit littered, with the crumpled bodies of the Faceless Horde. Bucky was dragging the body of the Man With No Face across the lawn. The kid was waving the Man’s hand-axe. "I got me a trophy, Cap!"
Cap looked over at his partner. There was not a scratch on him. Apparently the kid had an easy time with the Chinese assassin. "Good stuff, partner!"
Marvel Boy walked over to the Air Force One troopers. He approached the soldier with the Roman numeral ‘I’ painted on his armor, the one Marvel Boy had recognized as the leader. He offered his hand. "Your men did well out there, soldier."
"As did yours, Marvel Boy," the Air Force One leader replied as he shook the hero’s hand.
A few hour later, after the Cold Warrior’s ice barrier had melted and Air Force One was rounding up the Faceless Horde for transportation to a holding facility, the core team of the Avengers were on their way back to their new base at Heath Airfield in the Silver Bullet. Nemo and Namora had said their farewells and swam off into the Atlantic
"The Man With No Face must have gotten a leak that all of us heroes were going to be there, but there was nothing special about those Faceless Horde jokers," 3-D Man noted. "They were just plain Chinese spies disguised in masks."
"What were you expecting?" Gorilla-Man said jokingly. "Every one of them to be identical or a robot or made of putty?"
"I don’t know," 3-D Man responded. "It just seemed sort of pointless to come at us with all that manpower. There was no plan, they just wanted to overwhelm us."
"That’s what the Commies want to do." Cap’s voice was full of disdain. "They want to overrun us. The Chinese figure they got numbers on their side, like they did in Korea."
"I think the Man With No Face was trying to make a public relations event for the power of Communism," Marvel Boy called back from the pilot’s seat. "Now that we’ve gone public, I think we can expect more threats to come out of the woodwork, Communist threats from both China and the Soviets."
"Let ‘em come," Bucky said enthusiastically. "We’ll clobber them all!"
Back at the White House, the President was receiving a report from one of top-level officials of the Central Intelligence agency.
"Mr. President," the CIA man explained. "The rescue effort for Agent Fury on Moreau Island has failed. We'll just have to write him off."
Eisenhower had researched the details about Moreau Island since Fury’s disappearance had first been reported. {Way back in Avengers: 1958 #1} His instincts told them that something menacing was going on there. Plus, he felt that he owed Fury a debt for all the missions that the man had led the Howlers for him. "Fury's too good of a man to lose. Let me talk to the Avengers," Eisenhower replied firmly.
I don't have the actual story in which the Man With No Face fought against the 1950's Captain America and Bucky, so I might be taking some liberties with his character. I do know that he was a Communist Chinese agent, as revealed in the return of the 1950's Cap in Captain America #155. Other than that, all I know is that he carried a hand-axe. The Faceless Horde is my own creation.
COVER CREDITS: Manipulated from Avengers #16 with faces added from What If #9, Marvel Premiere #36, and Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #14.
NEXT ISSUE:From Russia With Love
Nick Fury, ace CIA agent, is missing and President Eisenhower wants him found. The Avengers intend on finding him. However, they didn’t expect on facing the Red Star Brigade!
Comments, criticisms, and concerns for FLASHBACKWORDS accepted at rgansler@facstaff.wisc.edu
The Avengers 1958 web page is at http://www.cae.wisc.edu/~gansler/avengers58/av58.htm
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