HAWKEYE & SANDMAN versus DOCTOR OCTOPUS & MADAME MENACE
Even an Octopus Needs Arms (Marvel)
Where: Solo Avengers #17 When: April 1989 Why: Tom DeFalco & Ralph Macchio How: Al Milgrom & Don Heck
The Story So Far...
An anonymous tip to Avengers HQ brings Hawkeye to a late night rendezvous in a Los Angeles waterfront warehouse.
From the shadows of the rafters overhead he spies the trappings of an illegal hi-tech arms deal, but fails to notice the hulking presence lurking up behind him! Lucky for him it's just the one who called it in -- The Sandman!
Unsure of his status as a reserve Avenger, Sandman summoned fellow ex-con Hawkeye in the hopes he could get a helping hand taking down Madame Menace while on mission for Silver Sable. Hawkeye's none too happy to do the job of a mercenary, but with a high-profile buyer entering the picture these Avengers must assemble to thwart the exchange!
Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Sandman 5 (Super-Human)
Intelligence: Doctor Octopus 5 (Professor)
Speed: Hawkeye 3 (Athlete)
Stamina: Sandman 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Sandman 7 (Unlimited)
Fighting: Hawkeye 4 (Trained)
Energy: Hawkeye 4 (Arsenal)
Total: Sandman 26 (Metahuman)
Hawkeye and Sandman might seem like an unlikely team-up, but in 1989 the Spider-Man villain had put petty crime behind him to work as a member of Silver Sable's altruistic mercenary group, The Wild Pack, while also earning reservist status with The Avengers. Quite a turnaround!
William Baker's ability to shift his body from a state of rock-hard compressed sand, to a trail of fine granules, makes him a powerful and versatile ally -- but it's also his past affiliations with the Sinister Six and Frightful Four that gives him unique intelligence insights into the criminal fraternity.
Sandman is certainly no stranger to Doctor Octopus: the "Master Planner" who recruited him into the original lineup of the Sinister Six.
Doc Ock can usually count on outsmarting or manipulating a heavy like Sandman, but the focused power behind his electronic octo-arms, which've been known to smack around the Hulk, won't do him much good punching through fine sand!
The brilliant mind of Otto Octavius is certainly ingenious enough to devise other means of disrupting Sandman's unique physical composition. We saw his arsenal of machines reach an apex in Amazing Spider-Man #600, but that was after a total loss of mobility. Traditionally he seems to travel light, which is one reason he's out shopping for weapons designed by the equally brilliant Madame Menace.
Menace, aka; Sunset Bain, is a genius with special acumen for advanced machine engineering. As founder of Baintronics Incorporated, she was a rival and former flame for Tony Stark, who also used her unique electro-magnet tech and sonic disrupter cannon in pursuit of Machine Man and Jocasta.
Hawkeye might not be able to match today's opponents in invention, but he does have a quiver of trick arrows packed with his own high frequency sonic emitters, and various other useful devices for disrupting the designs of evil-doers.
We haven't profiled Hawkeye as much as we should, but we've seen him draw his bow against the likes of USAgent in Invaders #0, The Destroyer in Thor (Vol.2) #1, Hulk in Avengers (Vol.2) #4, and even Galactus in What If...? #70!
He and Sandman have teamed up prior to today's battle, but it's anyone's guess if they'll be able to stay on the same page long enough to beat a duo as dastardly as Doctor Octopus and Madame Menace! Let's get into it!
The Tape: Sandman & Hawkeye Ranking: Hawkeye (#156)
What Went Down...
Signaled with a single beam of light: a helicopter touches down on the docks to produce a sturdy figure hidden beneath a hat and trench coat.
The mysteryman strides into the waterfront warehouse carrying a briefcase filled with payment for a shipment of Madame Menace's finest state-of-the-art arms -- even though he's secretly packing four deadly hi-tech arms beneath his coat.
Watching from the rafters overhead, Sandman informs Hawkeye that he's only been ordered by Silver Sable to take out the seller -- which lights a fire under the Avenger, who draws his bow and gets to work firing on buyer & seller both!
Henchmen representing both parties point their pistols skyward and send a volley of bullets and energy blasts in the heroes' direction!
Hawkeye quickly drops clear of the fray and lets Sandman harmlessly absorb their blasts. Sandman extends his torso to send himself streaming toward the lower levels like a massive rock-hard piledriver!
The impact of a compressed column of sand making touchdown topples Madame Menace's masked minions with a mighty tremor!
The unexpected appearance of an old ally is enough to raise the ire of Otto Octavius, who rips away his trench coat disguise to reveal the telescopic arms of Doctor Octopus!
Hawkeye rides a zip line straight through a pack of heavily armed mooks, giving them the broadside of the bottom of his boots as he touches down and runs through a brief mental recap of Avengers files on Doc Ock.
The archer tries his luck with a double shot at the buyer, but Doctor Octopus has arms to spare -- catching one arrow with a mechanical claw, while blocking an exploding variety with two of his other arms crossed over.
Meanwhile, Sandman finds himself under assault from high-tech sonic disruptors that fire from a caterpillar cannon tank, and a handgun wielded by its driver.
The blasts punch right through his chest, but Sandman fans his particles even more broadly to wash his attackers away with a tidal wave of sand!
As quickly as he dissipates Sandman pulls his particles back together, forming a tightly compressed, gigantic hammer-fist that smashes through the cannon barrel to sheer its gunhead off and leave twisted metal in its wake!
Hawkeye calls for a few "pailfulls of yourself" from his powerful ally, but Sandman is sticking strictly to Silver Sable's orders. He's just here for the seller and that means the archer is on his own, desperately leaping clear of Doc Ock's tentacles!
Madame Menace is more willing to get involved, joining her minions to surround Sandman with advanced turning fork guns that send a powerful high pitched frequency resonating through his particles -- and the ears of all who hear it!
A recent bout of hearing loss gives Hawkeye an unexpected edge. He deactivates the hearing aids in his cowl and holds his nerve long enough to draw his bow and shoot the sonic weapons out of enemy hands!
The distraction gives Doc Ock the opening he needs to sneak up on Hawkeye with his long reaching tentacles!
The archer is helpless as he's yanked into the air by the telescopic metal limbs, but this time his cries for assistance won't fall on deaf ears!
Sandman pulls himself together and steps up to repay his Avengers ally for the earlier save. He hoists the tank over his head and dares Doctor Octopus to use his extra arms to play a little catch!
Doc Ock has no choice but to drop the archer and take evasive action, raising himself as the massive machine flies dangerously past to crash through the warehouse wall!
Madame Menace calls the operation untenable and invites Doctor Octopus to reconvene at another time. The buyer agrees, joining her in a hasty exit through the damaged wall -- but Sandman isn't letting them off the hook that easy!
Madame Menace gets airborne with a jet pack and summons some more hi-tech support, this time in the form of a massive flying mechanical hand that smashes through Sandman's body right as he's about to capture her!
Sandman will pull himself back together, but the delay is enough to give Madame Menace free passage to the night sky.
Hawkeye hopes to prevent the same exit for Doctor Octopus, who scrambles to his descending helicopter on extended octo-arms.
With a daring leap from the warehouse roof -- the archer catches the end of one of Doc Ock's arms, but it's a futile effort. Already latched on to the helicopter with two of his arms, the Doctor uses his free tentacle to swat Hawkeye loose.
The blow sends Hawkeye into a plunging freefall, but Sandman has his back once again, launching into a geyser of sand that catches the Avenger and brings him safely back down to the docks.
The Hammer...Sandman and Hawkeye may have managed to drive Madame Menace and Doctor Octopus into a hasty retreat, but both sides got their licks in right to the finish, leaving us with no conclusive winners.
Of course, Sandman lays the blame for failing to complete his mission on Hawkeye, who he insists is also working for Silver Sable. A fun little callback to prior team-ups in Solo Avengers #3, and #6-7, in terms the Avenger strenuously objects to.
Truth be told, it might not have been such a bad idea for Hawkeye to join up with The Wild Pack eventually. He would've lent a little extra star-power to the group when they got their own series in 1992, freshening up his own circumstances after Solo Avengers had become Avengers Spotlight, and run its course with other characters in '91.
Solo Avengers had basically functioned as a Hawkeye version of Marvel Team-Up, but by having two feature stories you also got some other interesting Avengers tangents, starring Black Widow, Falcon, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, and more.
Hawk' has a fun, bantering dynamic with Sandman, whose good-natured belief he shares a bond of brotherhood with his fellow ex-con provides just the right amount of common ground, with odd couple friction.
For Hawkeye, his early days on the wrong side of the law are a long and distant memory, and while he'd probably rather not have Sandman palling around, he just can't turn his back on the Avengers reservist, who could clearly benefit from a little guidance in his venture into heroic redemption. Or at least his intel.
Sandman has a long and tenured heart of gold, but he'll inevitably slip back into causing trouble for Spider-Man and friends on the wrong side of the law.
He and Hawkeye never quite stoke up a lasting relationship, but they did eventually collaborate again when Hawkeye recruited him for a two-issue team-up with his band of former-villains in Thunderbolts #40. Another example of utilizing Sandman for information, and a nice nod to shared history from writer Fabian Nicieza, even if he couldn't make it a permanent fixture.
Longtime readers know these are the interesting little connections I enjoy. Asides that make a series like Solo Avengers a whole lot of fun by taking full advantage of a chance to spotlight an unusual team-up, irregular foes, or in this case: both.
Today's feature fight has been on my desk for a long time, and the convergence of the live-action Disney+ series, Hawkeye, with the theatrical release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, has made it the perfect time to finally take a look!
I've really been wanting to expand the Doc Ock file for quite some time. Although I enjoyed the experimental development of Amazing Spider-Man #600 - what we really need to examine is more of the classics! This was a good start, but hopefully we'll find time to explore Otto Octavius with a bit more focus.
I also wouldn't mind coming back to Madame Menace. She isn't one of the first Marvel Comics combatants you might think of, but she's had some interesting exploits over the years. This is her rankings debut, but if you'd like to find future entries, or more from any characters featured, follow links throughout this post.
Secret Wars on Infinite Earths has featured well over 650 battles and ranked more than 1000 characters! You can discover them all by exploring the Secret Archive for a complete index of featured fights in order of publisher, series, and issue!
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Winners: Inconclusive (Draw)
#156 (--) Hawkeye
#428 (+3) Sandman
#479 (new) Madame Menace
#967 (+5) Doctor Octopus
Weaving through every entry into the Secret Wars on Infinite Earths is the constant thread of the Fight Club Rankings! Nestled at the bottom of every new battle -- live updates tie everything together, but only here can we see the true consequence of another year of wins & losses!
