MASTERS OF EVIL versus AVENGERSA Gathering of Evil! (Marvel)
Where: Avengers #222 When: August 1982
Why: Jim Shooter & Steve Grant How: Greg LaRocque
The Story So Far...
While Wasp and The Avengers welcome their newest recruit to the halls of Avengers Mansion -- one of their old adversaries begins drawing plans for recruitment of his own for a new team of Masters of Evil!
Where: Avengers #222 When: August 1982
Why: Jim Shooter & Steve Grant How: Greg LaRocque
The Story So Far...
While Wasp and The Avengers welcome their newest recruit to the halls of Avengers Mansion -- one of their old adversaries begins drawing plans for recruitment of his own for a new team of Masters of Evil!
Egghead begins his scheme by sending a missile to Atlantis, destroying the prison that holds Todd Arlis aka; Tiger Shark. From there, the first recruit attacks the super-villain prison facility at Ryker's, freeing Whirlwind, Scorpion, and Moonstone.
In exchange for their freedom, the team agrees to serve Egghead in his scheme for power & fortune, but old grudges die hard, and Whirlwind can't help but take a day trip to Avengers Mansion to seek revenge against The Wasp. A decision that forces The Masters of Evil to make their presence known ahead of schedule!
Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Thor 6 (Invincible)Intelligence: Hawkeye 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Moonstone 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Thor 6 (Generator)
Agility: Scorpion 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting: Thor 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Thor 5 (Lasers)
Total: Thor 32 (Super)
The Masters of Evil are: Moonstone, Tiger Shark, Whirlwind, and Scorpion.
This powerhouse foursome is acting under the direction of Egghead, but a lack of cohesion is evident from the very outset. Whirlwind goes rogue looking for payback, but he'll get more than he bargained for once Avengers assemble!
Thor tops several categories of The Tape with godly might, but on average these Masters of Evil outpace at least half of The Avengers here, and there's a pretty compelling case for their path to victory.
Moonstone gained cosmic might from a Kree gravity stone that grants her super-human strength, durability, flight, energy blasts, and various other tricks. She could probably occupy Thor alone, as we saw when she battled the Asgardian-powered Bulldozer and Piledriver during Thunderbolts #1.
Either Tiger Shark or Scorpion could run interference on She-Hulk, with the former's history of battling the Sub-Mariner making the most compelling case. His ability to withstand the ocean depths, and Namor's strongest blows, as in Marvel Team-Up #14, spells an underrated powerhouse of the Marvel Universe.
That would free up Scorpion to try swapping his hatred of Spider-Man for the Wasp. She doesn't have the strength to cause an abrupt upset, but as we've seen before, her speed, agility, and bio-electric stingers can beat big opponents.
Whirlwind might be best suited to blowing Wasp off course, but she's always seemed to have his number. He might have better luck disrupting the flight of Hawkeye's arrows. His armor has gone head-to-head with Iron Man, and his fast twirling could probably deflect most standard trick arrows. Let's find out...
The Tape: Masters of Evil Ranking: Thor (#20)
What Went Down...
When Janet Van Dyne jumps into her town car for home, she finds faithful driver Carrothers replaced by arch-nemesis David Cannon -- aka; Whirlwind!
Like his namesake, Whirlwind whips around to grab hold of his intended target, but he's left holding a designer shall as Wasp activates the Pym Particles in her suit that cause her to shrink to insect size -- and bio-electric blast Cannon in the face!
On his way back to Avengers Mansion -- Hawkeye notices something amiss in the stationary vehicle and slips his bow to the ready.
Before he can finish producing an arrow from his quiver -- the archer is suddenly hit with a powerful beam of energy fired from overhead!
The voice that follows turns its ire not toward the downed Avenger, but rather the helmeted Whirlwind now fleeing from the vehicle. Moonstone lands on the street, joined by her fellow new Masters of Evil -- furious at their teammate for going rogue against The Avengers!
Wasp comes to Hawkeye's aid, buzzing through the air only to be swatted by Tiger Shark!
Recognizing the motley crew of villains and their superior powers, Hawkeye uses Wasp's distraction to quickly fire off a signal flare arrow before being blasted again by Moonstone!
Fortunately for Hawkeye -- the signal reached an Avenger capable of evening the score! His mighty hammer preceding him as it flies through the villainous foursome, scattering them like skittles!
Thor descends from the sky with hammer now in hand -- bringing it slamming into the road with enough force to topple the Masters of Evil again!
The thunderous shockwave is enough to stir a sleeping Avenger, who hears the commotion of Moonstone taking to the skies and firing her beams at Thor.
Scorpion seizes upon the opportunity of a staggered thunder god, charging in to smack Thor violently through the air with a powerful tail swipe!
That's all She-Hulk needs to see to smash through her Avengers Mansion window and race into battle!
Tiger Shark is sent flying back-first into the perimeter wall as She-Hulk reaches the gate, but it's Wasp who meets her on the street to stop the gamma-irradiated Avenger from entering the struggle -- lest she ruin the designer outfit borrowed from Janet Van Dyne's personal wardrobe.
Shulkie scrambles to carefully remove her borrowed garments while Thor swings his hammer to deflect more beams from Moonstone -- and Tiger Shark turns Wasp's abandoned town car into an airborne projectile!
The car finds its target, reduced to twisted metal and broken glass as it collides with Thor in a car-on-man traffic accident!
Wasp unleashes her stinging bio-electric blast while flying around the back of Scorpion's neck, shouting a wellness check to her godly teammate.
Relatively unharmed; Thor shrugs off the wreck and returns his ire to the direction of the villains, but Tiger Shark insists The Masters of Evil should fear nothing from the thunder god's strength.
The sub-aquatic scourge insists a coordinated effort can reduce the lone powerhouse to hamburger meat, but his focus fails to take into account She-Hulk -- who catches Tiger Shark by surprise with a knockdown blow from behind!
Hawkeye rejoins the group, firing an exploding arrow at the twirling tornado of Whirlwind -- knocking the swirling villain out of orbit as The Avengers square off with the newly outnumbered Masters of Evil!
Moonstone calls for evasive actions, but is cut-off as Wasp buzzes around the floating villain and blasts her with a bio-electric sting!
She-Hulk is ready to wallop Moonstone as she drops out of the air -- and is sent careening into a flat-footed Scorpion!
Thor makes sure Scorpion and Moonstone aren't getting up as The Avengers celebrate the victory with their newest recruit, and an armored NYPD truck arrives to cart the villains off.
The Hammer...
A triumphant team effort is capped off by She-Hulk as she proves the value of having extra muscle -- even on a team that boasts the Asgardian might of Thor, God of Thunder!
The Hammer...A triumphant team effort is capped off by She-Hulk as she proves the value of having extra muscle -- even on a team that boasts the Asgardian might of Thor, God of Thunder!
The Avengers all had their parts to play, but it's obviously an action-packed welcome to the team for She-Hulk in particular, who was their newest recruit as of a roster drive in Avengers #221. You probably know it: the red cover with white grid of prospective new members.
She-Hulk is a Wasp find -- the only one to accept admission from a meeting to bring another woman into the Avengers fold that also included: Invisible Girl, Black Widow, Spider-Woman, and Dazzler. All candidates who find their ways to other versions of the Avengers (assuming you include Dazzler with A-Force).
Hawkeye rejoined at the invitation of Captain America & Iron Man as well, and the skirmish outside Avengers Mansion in #222 serves as a chance to smooth things over with She-Hulk, whose pink Cadillac he fried with an electric impulse arrow after she cut off his cab in traffic, in the previous issue.
Hawkeye is obviously at home with the Avengers after a couple of decades of association, and despite the initial friction, it turns out She-Hulk is a perfect fit too.
Typically the less volatile counterpart to Hulk, she thrives in the social dynamic of the Avengers, pairing instantly well with fashion-conscious Wasp as a character in need of a more permanent costume.
That may be a precarious premise for pairing a couple of female characters, but you know I enjoy Wasp the fashionista and the modern sensibility of She-Hulk matches it well. A case where the conceited push to balance the Avengers line-up with additional femininity pays off a treat, benefitting from She-Hulk's tenure as a solo hero, and perhaps the keen intuition of plotter & then-Editor in Chief, Jim Shooter.
Hawkeye is obviously at home with the Avengers after a couple of decades of association, and despite the initial friction, it turns out She-Hulk is a perfect fit too.
Typically the less volatile counterpart to Hulk, she thrives in the social dynamic of the Avengers, pairing instantly well with fashion-conscious Wasp as a character in need of a more permanent costume.
That may be a precarious premise for pairing a couple of female characters, but you know I enjoy Wasp the fashionista and the modern sensibility of She-Hulk matches it well. A case where the conceited push to balance the Avengers line-up with additional femininity pays off a treat, benefitting from She-Hulk's tenure as a solo hero, and perhaps the keen intuition of plotter & then-Editor in Chief, Jim Shooter.
As a piece of Avengers history this is all very interesting, but the thing that made the cover -- and really gets me jazzed -- is the oddball grouping of villains who formed this short-lived new Masters of Evil.
Long time readers will know I have a particular taste for good quality second-tier villains, and this one-time gathering brings Scorpion into the super-villain big leagues, seeing him bat at Thor in a brief detour away from his usual sparring with arch-nemesis Spider-Man.
Scorpion'll be back menacing the web-slinger in his next printed appearance, but in a couple of decades he'll team with Moonstone again, under the guise of Venom, as members of the Thunderbolts and Dark Avengers [see; Thunderbolts #111, Nova #3, and Incredible Hercules #128]. An interesting relationship branch for a couple of characters who don't otherwise have much to do with each other.
Moonstone and Tiger Shark stick around with Egghead in the short term, joining the next Masters of Evil line-up in Avengers #228. That one continues the brief advancement a spider-villain as well, but those are details for another day.
Tiger Shark is another bad guy I get a kick out of seeing, especially when he's out of the water away from his usual issues with Sub-Mariner. What can I say? This is the fun of long-running superhero comic books!
If you agree that this is fun -- you can find more from your favourite heroes and villains by following links throughout this post, or by diving into the Secret Archive for a complete index of featured fights in order of publisher, series, and issue!
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Winners: She-Hulk, Wasp, Thor, and Hawkeye
#17 (+3) Thor
#39 (+14) Wasp
#87 (+69) She-Hulk
#88 (+70) Hawkeye
#413 (-61) Moonstone
#434 (--) Scorpion
#980 (-193) Whirlwind
#981 (-294) Tiger Shark
#17 (+3) Thor
#39 (+14) Wasp
#87 (+69) She-Hulk
#88 (+70) Hawkeye
#413 (-61) Moonstone
#434 (--) Scorpion
#980 (-193) Whirlwind
#981 (-294) Tiger Shark
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