The Long and Winding Road: Cap's Kooky Quartet, part 2

Avengers #22 (1965)

Avengers 22 (November 1965)

“The Road Back!”

Stan Lee –writer, Don Heck – penciller, Wally Wood – inker

Karen: The second part of our Kooky Quartet of Avengers reviews picks up right at the end of last issue. The team has been ordered to dissolve by the city council. Cap wants to go after Power Man to discover how the team was framed. But the three younger Avengers seem to have thrown in the towel. They are prepared to disband. This really riles Cap, who says, “All right then –take off—all of you! I never could stomach a bunch of quitters!” When Wanda tells Cap “A man should be able to accept defeat gracefully,” Cap says disgustedly, “Lady, how did you ever become an Avenger?”

Sharon: The sight of Wanda spouting platitudes and wagging her finger—she seems especially obtuse and clueless here.

Karen: This of course tweaks off Pietro, and there’s a brief skirmish between he and Cap. The artists do a very nice job of demonstrating Quicksilver’s speed here. It really seems possible that he could beat Cap!

Sharon: I always liked Heck’s way of depicting Pietro’s speed (it’s similar to how Kirby usually rendered Pietro’s speed in the earlier X-Men issues).

Karen: It’s funny how a bunch of lines somehow manages to get across the idea of speed so great, the image is blurred. But it works. And this was before all the computer-enhanced gimmickry of today!

Doug: As I said last in last issue’s comments, I get tired of all of the constant in-fighting during this period of Avengers history. Yes, I know what Stan was going for, and even if annoying it is 100x better than some of the storytelling that was going on at the Distinguished Competition. But it just gets stale. I also wonder about another matter we’ve previously discussed: Marvel time vs. real time. Because if this is only the sixth issue in the Kooky Quartet’s history, it’s somewhat likely that they would have been on the job less than a month in the real world! There is an awful lot of bickering, etc. coming from new employees!!

Sharon: It’s in keeping with the Fantastic Four model I mentioned in our last entry. The unceasing bickering here is reminiscent of the early issues of the FF, in which that team was far from solid, what with the Thing and/or the Torch complaining (and deserting the team, or threatening to). Also, here, in #22, we see the seeds planted for a future respect between Hawkeye and Cap, as Hawkeye takes the initiative and steps in to restrain Pietro; and Cap gives thanks where it’s due.

Karen: It may be tiresome to us reading it now, but back in 1965, it was revolutionary. I’m sure many readers found it both shocking and refreshing that not all the team members got along. I know when I’ve read Justice League tales from about the same time, they seemed like the blandest group of heroes ever! If not for their costumes, I would never have been able to tell Flash from Batman or Green Lantern. It may have been a quick way to provide conflict and characterization, but it worked.

Karen: As they all go their separate ways, Cap feels ashamed that the team has fallen apart on his watch. It’s odd to see Cap so insecure and uncertain as he is here.

Doug: Agreed. It had seemed that Stan had gone away from the self-doubting, even self-loathing Steve Rogers and had replaced him with the strong leader we’ve known and loved.

Sharon: It certainly is a different Cap than later on. He’d expressed doubts about his leadership since #16 and what’s more, he didn’t seem that keen on being a full-time Avenger; remember how ecstatic he was a few issues earlier when he thought SHIELD wanted him?

Karen: So I guess we can say that Cap also evolved into the great leader we think of him as today, much as the rest of the quartet evolved too.

Karen: The other three erstwhile Avengers attempt to get jobs – which I thought was a typical Stan Lee ‘real world’ element. While one might expect them to be out stopping crime, the reality is, they’ve gotta eat! They try to get on TV shows (Wanda even tells one producer she can sing!) but it’s no go. The Avengers’ reputation is so tarnished nobody wants them. Enter the Ringmaster. Knowing that the threesome must be desperate, he and his Circus of Crime contact the three and offer them jobs at the circus. Of course, he actually plans to use them to commit robberies.

Sharon: What I don’t understand is: why did Pietro and Wanda stick with Hawkeye (as evidenced by Wanda’s line: “Perhaps Hawkeye will get a lead!”)? There was certainly no love lost between the two men, and Wanda had barely noticed Hawkeye.

Doug: As I was reading this issue, I almost forgot that what I’d come here for was the conclusion of the Power Man/Enchantress saga! This was like getting two stories for the price of one!

Karen: Is it just me, or was the Circus of Crime one of the lamest groups ever? The only early Marvel group that I think was even less interesting was the Enforcers, over in Spider-Man. I also found it odd that no mention was made of Hawkeye’s carnival background, as shown in his origin in Tales of Suspense 57.

Sharon: Ha--maybe that’s what convinced the trio the job offer was legit, since, after all, one of them had experience. And Pietro had expressed a desire to work in a circus in an earlier issue...I can see why our ambitious heroes thought this job opportunity was “too good to be true!” (rolls eyes…)

Doug: Agreed on the Circus of Crime. They are pretty lame. However, and maybe we’ll get to these issues later (although after suffering with the Vision for six weeks, I’m not sure I’m up for our other downtrodden Avenger), the height of Circus glory was definitely the cover of Avengers #60 – the wedding of Hank and Jan! Phenomenal John Buscema cover and interiors. The python was very menacing!

Karen: In any case, when the three young ex-Avengers discover what’s going on, they make quick work of the Ringmaster and his stooges. Again, Quicksilver’s speed seems so much more formidable here than it would in many later stories. His comments about slow-moving “Homo sapiens” also remind the reader that Pietro did spend a good amount of time in the presence of Magneto. Some of that superior attitude seems to have rubbed off. Of course, it got worse as he got older.

Sharon: Why would Pietro assume his foe was a human (Homo sapiens), and not a mutant (Homo superior)? I mean, maybe Cannonball had a big, mutated head underneath his helmet.

Doug: The Homo sapiens comment smacked me right between the eyes. But, upon doing a little research (I used the Avengers DVD-ROM for this review), I found that Pietro had used the term “Homo superior” in describing himself and Wanda during their reflection of their careers on page 10 of Avengers #16.

Karen: his hang-up with this presages some of his later issues, particularly when it comes to his daughter, Luna.

Doug: Is Wanda’s lack of ability to use her hex power when having her eyes shielded just one more confusing aspect of her powers?

Sharon: Seems to me a case of a harried Stan not really understanding the art. He could have easily dialogued something like Wanda was caught by surprise and being choked or the like, starting to black out, etc., before she had a chance to use her power.

Karen: Unfortunately the police side with the Ringmaster, and the ex-Avengers are on the lam again! There’s a fun couple of panels where we see the reaction of the man on the street, including two kids in Marvel t-shirts (one with the Avengers, one with the FF) arguing over the innocence of the team! “Aw, your uncle eats pickles!” shouts one youngster – obviously an insult of high degree.

Doug: Your saying that brings to mind the scene from the film “A Christmas Story” when the kids discuss the “double-dog dare”. Funny, very childlike, stuff!

Karen: In the meantime Cap has tracked down Power Man, and discovers he’s been working with the Enchantress. He manages to tape a confession from the villains, which will undoubtedly clear the Avengers – if he can survive long enough to get it to the authorities!

Doug: Is it just me, or are disguises used in comic books the greatest technology known to man? I mean, how in the world could anyone not have known that the PR guy was someone wearing a costume?? Similarly, going back a couple of weeks in blog-time, we discussed Superman and Cosmic Man switching identities by using rubber masks… Has anyone ever been fooled by a trick-or-treater at your door?

Sharon: The worse part is, Cap has his Cap mask on underneath the rubber mask! This is one of those Silver Age comic book conceits you just have to take with a grain of salt.

Karen: There are some sizzling action scenes, with Cap trying to outmaneuver the super-strong Power Man. At one point he says to Power Man, “Remember – you’re fighting the weakest one! My partners are all younger- and have greater powers!” Again, we see Cap as less than the ever-confident leader he would one day become.

Doug: Cap at his best.

Sharon: To me, this seemed to an instance of Cap using his “leadership” skills and psychology to impart some fear in Power Man; I can’t imagine Cap really thought he was weaker than Hawkeye or Wanda (with her then “small-potatoes” power that seemed useful in making people trip or drapes fall and the like).

Karen: Eventually Cap does get knocked out, but right then, those three younger and greater team-mates of his arrive! They battle Power Man to a standstill, but he gives up when the Enchantress deserts him. The Avengers are exonerated, and it seems like we’re cruising towards a happy ending – but guess again! Cap says he’s had it with the rest of the team. “Now that our names are cleared, I’m kissin’ you off!” the star-spangled hero says, leaving both the Avengers and the reader shocked!

Sharon: Cap seemed reluctant to take on the leader role that was handed to him (in Avengers #16), and as mentioned, he seemed awfully eager to join SHIELD (and become a part-time Avenger) just a couple of issues earlier. Cap at this time was very conflicted--this was underscored in his Suspense tales, which had just reverted to the present day--and frankly, he would remain so until he finally cut the cord and “left” the Avengers—yes, again! --in #47. Some time later (after #47) when he returned to the Avengers, he had matured into the leader and paragon we all think of him as.

Karen: What a fun issue! There’s so much going on, and just when you think everything is back to normal –wham! Stan hits you right in face. Although it feels to me like Stan doesn’t really have Cap’s voice yet (“kissin’ you off”?? Really?), that just may be due to the fact that I’ve read so many later Cap and Avengers stories, where Cap is always depicted as a paragon of virtue. Here, he is much more human and in some ways more interesting.

Doug: Karen, you hit the nail on the head in regard to dialogue. I felt at several times in the story that the characters were just using cookie-cutter lines. I also thought that our musings about the nationality of Erik Josten were lost in his speech patterns (one could argue that Wanda and Pietro have lost their “European accents” as well).

Karen: Yes, Josten later makes a comment about ‘Santa Claus’ which seemed very American to me.

Sharon: It’s hard to believe Stan would have problems with the dialogue, since the protagonists were very unalike. But Stan gives Pietro Hawkeye-like dialogue: “I hope—for your sake—that you’re joking, mister!” and the oh-so-proper Wanda even calls Princess Python “Lady.” It’s not in keeping with the notion that Marvel’s strength was in its focus on characters’ individuality (in no small part through the dialogue). But as with the earlier example of the Wanda panel, this is a by-product of having one person—Stan—as the chief scripter (dialoguer) for the majority of the superhero books at the time. While it led to a unified Marvel Universe, it could also give rise to shortcuts and sloppiness, as here.

Karen: Sharon, I think you have got something there. Stan had so many books to write, I suppose he just slipped a bit with this one.

Karen: I also enjoyed all of the little inside comments, such as the page where Stan explains that the original Avengers are busy and can’t get involved. We find out Iron Man is fighting the Android in Tales of Suspense 72, and Thor is in Asgard in Thor 122. But as for Giant-Man’s whereabouts, the footnote says, “Your guess is as good as ours!” And at the conclusion of the story, the caption in the last panel tells us, “Does Cap really mean it? Is this another crucial split-up for the mighty Avengers? Do we have all kinds of dazzling surprises waiting for you next ish? Why not tune in and see for yourselves? This much we can tell you – if it isn’t the zingiest 12 cents worth of the month, we’ll never talk to Irving Forbush again! Face front!” It’s all good, goofy fun, without diminishing the characters or the story one bit.

Doug: Yep – I really miss storytelling like this. It is goofy, but there are pictures that move the eye across and up and down the page, and there are words – and lots of them! The cross-referencing is great fun, too – but no where did the reader feel like he/she was required to buy all of the other books in order to have a handle on what was happening in the Avengers.

Doug: I’d also comment that I love the house ads! Every month from this era was a great month. I wish I’d been around to have that wide-eyed wonder at the spinner racks as each new week brought more four-color wonderment.

Breaking Up is Hard To Do: Cap's Kooky Quartet

Avengers #21 (1965) Introducing Power Man--no, not that Powe Man. 

Avengers #21 (October 1965)

“The Bitter Taste of Defeat”

Stan Lee (writer), Don Heck (penciller), Wally Wood (inker)

Karen: This post kicks off a four-issue review of Avengers, at a most auspicious time for the team. It was 1965; mere months before, The Avengers were inarguably a team of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. But with the departure of Thor, Iron Man, Giant-Man, and the Wasp, we were left with a team of Captain America and … well, a bunch of misfits, if not outright criminals! While Cap stayed on (and where would he go? In those days he was really a man without a home other than the Avengers) to lead this group, the three newest members of the team were hardly respected heroes. The mutant siblings Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch had formerly been members of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, if somewhat reluctantly so. Hawkeye had been mistaken for a bad guy by Iron Man, and then been caught up in the Black Widow’s web of espionage. But the one thing all three had in common was a need to redeem themselves. So with Cap’s guidance, they took up the mantle of the Avengers.

Karen: But it wasn’t easy. The team lacked the sheer raw power of the founding members. They had to make up for that with teamwork. After a very rocky start, they would coalesce into a superb fighting force, even capable of facing Kang (as we’ll soon see)! We’ll be looking at a group of issues that show us how that transition occurred.

Doug: I thought the team’s lack of power was really on display in the scene in the middle of this issue when the subway train was bearing down on the unconscious Quicksilver. In the past, the reader might have envisioned Thor, Iron Man, or even Giant-Man leaping in front of the charging juggernaut and putting a shoulder to it – with this group, that simply wasn’t an option! They had to rely on stealth, brains, and teamwork.

Karen: Issue 21 opens up with a squabble between Hawkeye and Captain America. This wasn’t uncommon back then; Hawkeye was young and cocky and took every opportunity he got to try to put Cap down. In return, Cap is more than willing to put Clint in his place. As a long-time Avengers fan, I can say that seeing the character growth of Hawkeye as it played out over the years, as well as the development of his friendship with Cap, was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the title. At the stage we’re discussing here, Hawkeye is all bluster. He wants to lead the team, be the hero – he’s full of himself, and yet there’s also the sense that he feels inadequate, particularly when compared to the living legend of World War 2. In this issue he does not have literally a single non-insulting comment to Cap! Cracks about his age, his abilities, his leadership skills – I don’t know how Cap restrained himself from beating the living daylights out of Hawkeye!

Sharon: So Stan, who was writing this banter, would have been roughly the same age as old man “Methuselah” Cap here—early forties.

Doug: Having read these issues several times, I do think that Stan’s insistence on highlighting the tension between these characters could become grating on the nerves at times. Even though, as you said, most of Hawkeye’s shtick was all bluster, it is hard to believe that nary a civil word seemed to ever have been spoken! You know, I was thinking about who might have played Hawkeye on the big screen, and the very first actor who came to mind was the dashing young Harrison Ford as playing Han Solo in Star Wars: A New Hope way back in 1977! He was good looking, brash, sarcastic – just generally obnoxious!

Karen: While Hawkeye makes no bones about wanting to lead the team, Quicksilver says nothing, but Wanda suggests her brother would make a good leader. Always sticking together, those two. And her thoughts indicate some romantic interest in Cap –“His touch! So strong, and yet, so gentle!” – but he is seemingly oblivious. I wonder if Stan ever thought to put those two together?

Sharon: Oh, absolutely! I have no doubt that a Cap-Wanda romance was the original plan. I believe Stan wanted to replicate his successful Fantastic Four formula with the Avengers, so in Avengers #16 he installed a quartet of characters who didn’t exist outside the Avengers comic (at the time, Cap’s feature in Suspense was set in World War II). Notice, too, that that Cap hanger-on Rick Jones (a mainstay in the Avengers comic since issue #1) was gone with issue #17, so Stan was obviously aiming to move Cap in a new direction. So…now you had a pair of siblings, Pietro and Wanda (à la Johnny And Sue); a quarrelsome, irreverent loudmouth, Hawkeye (à la Ben); and with Cap-Wanda-Hawkeye, an incipient love triangle (not exactly the same, but potentially similar enough to what had gone on with Reed-Sue-Namor). But then with Tales of Suspense #72 (contemporaneous with Avengers #22), Cap’s Suspense adventures suddenly shifted back to the present (due to fans’ demands?) and any Cap-Wanda involvement just petered out. And Sharon Carter’s introduction a few months later in Suspense was the nail on the coffin, at least back then; not to mention the Black Widow’s appearance a few months later (in Avengers #29). With both Cap and Hawkeye otherwise occupied, Wanda was no longer needed as the romantic prize of the Avengers.

Karen: Not only would it have been a triangle, with both Cap and Hawkeye romantically interested in Wanda, but it could almost be a square(!), since Pietro was extremely watchful and protective of his sister. I could see him causing all sorts of trouble for Wanda’s paramours.

Sharon: I mentioned Reed-Sue-Namor as a possible early prototype, but I wonder-- had it been allowed to develop--if the Cap-Wanda-Hawkeye angle would have morphed into something closer to the (then-contemporary) Tony Stark-Pepper Potts-Happy Hogan soap opera…you know, rough-at-the-edges “ordinary joe” wants beautiful girl who wants handsome leader-type who doesn’t dare return her affections for reasons of his own.

Doug: I have to ask you two ladies (and perhaps you’ve voiced your opinions before…): Wanda with black hair or red? I must say that the black hair seems to date her in the 1960’s, as I believe by the time we get to the Englehart era, she is a redhead. But Karen, you are right – Wanda and Pietro seemed inseparable in these days – outcasts together, even though they were full-fledged Avengers.

Sharon: To me, comic book redheads are “tomato heads” Jean Grey, Mary Jane Watson and Medusa; and also orangey “pumpkin heads” like Crystal and Jimmy Olsen. Now, in terms of Wanda’s hair color, here’s the chronology: in her first Marvel appearances as an X-Men antagonist, her hair was consistently red-brown or, as Marvel often categorized that color, “auburn.” In X-Men #11, when Wanda and Pietro finally left the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, her hair was still auburn. But that same month, when she appeared in Avengers #16, all of a sudden her hair was black (or what passes for black in comics--meaning gray or blue colored hair with a lot of black shading). In fact, in #16 she was even specifically referred to (in a caption) as a “black-haired beauty.” Her hair remained black throughout her entire first tenure with the Avenger, through issue #53.

Sharon: Then, a couple of years later when she returned in Avengers #75, all of a sudden her hair was—you guessed it-- auburn again! Why the switch? Well, shortly after #75, I recall a reader wrote in and complained that then-inker “Tom Palmer had “inked Wanda’s hair the wrong color”; that it was supposed to be black, not auburn. After politely correcting the letter-writer regarding the difference between an inker and a colorist (though coincidentally Palmer just happened to have colored the issues circa #75 too), Marvel responded that Roy had recently discovered the early X-Men issues in which Wanda’s hair was auburn and he preferred the auburn to the black; so it’s been auburn more or less ever since (though at times it has been miscolored black, such as in Avengers #105-106). As for me, I prefer the black hair; I think it’s more harmonious with the fuchsia of her usual attire (for the same reason I like the standard color schemes of Sif and Star Sapphire; black and fuchsia is a color combo that appeals to me).

Karen: When I first saw Wanda, her hair was auburn, so I suppose it’s how I generally think of her. But I agree with Sharon, the black hair is more striking! I wouldn’t mind seeing her return to that color.

Sharon: And just to throw some more Lady Clairol into the mix: wasn’t Wanda’s hair a Jean Grey red color for a while in the 1990s? Not Wanda’s best look, in my opinion.

Karen: Beyond all the internal bickering, there’s actually a plot to this issue! One of Baron Zemo’s mercenaries discovers his hidden lab, where Wonder Man was created. With the help of the Enchantress (who has ditched the Executioner), small time crook Erik Josten becomes Power Man! The two of them then conspire to make it appears as if the Avengers are causing all sorts of problems in the city, thereby turning the citizens and mayor against them, even calling for their disbanding!

Doug: I don’t recall seeing this before – am I correct that Erik Josten is not an American? He remarked that he was wanted by Interpol for smuggling in Europe, and shortly after said something about “a foolish American science fiction movie”.

Sharon: I guess that’s why Stan gave him a name like Erik Josten –and not something All-American like, say, “Simon Williams.”

Karen: With the Germanic name, and having worked for Zemo, I’m getting a definite neo-nazi vibe, although that doesn’t come into play in the story. But heck, the Nazis were always the best villains. So easy to hate.

Karen: Doug, I know you mentioned before that you thought Wonder Man’s original outfit was pretty bad, but what about Power Man’s? Not only does it have the unappealing brown and red color scheme, but the guy has puffy sleeves! Puffy sleeves on a bruiser…I don’t get it. They look like they’d be more at home on Barbara Eden from “I Dream of Jeannie”!!

Doug: Barbara looked infinitely better in her outfit than Erik Josten could ever hope to look in his…

Sharon: Well, the costume was “created” by the Enchantress…perhaps puffy sleeves were all the rage in Asgard at the time…

Karen: Overall I thought the art in this issue was pretty good. But I have to admit, I’m more excited about the upcoming Heck-Romita team than I am Heck-Wood. Another costume comment: why is Quicksilver wearing winged booties???

Sharon: A holdover from Pietro’s X-Men look (designed by Kirby); a nod to Hermes/Mercury’s winged feet—or the Flash’s boots! It wasn’t until Avengers #36 that both Pietro and Wanda’s costumes were streamlined by Heck; Pietro lost the winged booties and Wanda lost the clunky headpiece (and the huge sash/belt she sometimes wore that—when miscolored pink instead of fuchsia--gave her costume the look of a two-piece bathing suit…as on the cover of Avengers #21!). And years later, in #75, the siblings’ costumes were tweaked again, by John Buscema.

Karen: I kind of liked Wanda’s ringed boots here. The boots she later wore were rather bland.

Sharon: I agree; when Buscema redid her costume in #75, he dispensed with the unique boots and the opera-length gloves and her attire became much more superhero-generic. Buscema also discarded the straps from the top part of her costume, but I guess she had enough to hold it up anyway (like Rita Hayworth in Gilda wearing that strapless gown…)

Doug: I just didn’t think Wood did much to enhance Heck’s stiff pencils. I’ve seen Wood’s pencils, and he was very good. We’ve all remarked that Heck became stiffer and stiffer as his work moved into the ‘70’s – at times I can see the foundation of that transition.

Sharon: I love Heck’s work here; as has often been stated, his work is very much in the Caniff tradition: lean, angular. Like Caniff, Heck manages to convey characters’ expression with an economy of line. I’ve read that Heck said he had a hard time adjusting to the “Marvel Method: (no full scripts for the artists) but you could have fooled me--his storytelling here is superb…there’s never an ambiguous panel, the story moves! And as a bonus, Wally Wood gives Heck’s pencils an unaccustomed lushness and depth. The characters all have more dimension, more heft than is commonly found in Heck’s renderings. Wanda looks very much like a 1950s version of Elizabeth Taylor—very velvety. One of my favorite Wanda pics of all time is the first panel of page 11. The Enchantress also looks especially beautiful, but in a different way. Heck and Wood…a most felicitous pairing of talents!

Doug: As long as we’re on the subject of costumes, a couple of comments – one, how the heck does (and more so – why the heck does - ) Pietro get the front of his hair to look like horns? When I was a kid, I just couldn’t figure out what was going on there, and to be honest, I still can’t.

Sharon: The wayward tufts of hair were meant to convey “windswept” hair—you know, running so fast his hair would not stay in place and would go “backwards” (away from his face). Again, you have to remember it was the fanciful Kirby who created Pietro’s (improbable) visuals.

Doug: Two, no one has drawn Cap’s costume better than John Cassaday. He really accentuated the chain mail around Cap’s chest and shoulders. As a child, I always thought Cap looked like he was molting! But in a few panels of his fight with Power Man we see what must be chain mail on the back of Cap’s head! Strange – don’t know if that was Heck or Wood doing that.

Sharon: Most likely Heck, as it’s present on his Cap here and there during that time, with other inkers.

Doug: We’ve talked about Wanda in the past – hex power, magic, chaos magic, etc. Here it didn’t seem that she was able to alter probability, but instead had the power to “cause a calamity” as she does when she topples the brick building. I don’t understand why there was such an evolution (read: indecision) of her powers over the years.

Sharon: Wanda’s original powers were thought to cause calamities, as you state, Doug; that’s very clear from her first appearance (X-Men #4), in which Pietro warns her not to gesture because doing so “always causes a disaster to happen!” Her so-called hex power seemed to make people trip over themselves, or caused levers to jam, or ceilings to crumble and fall, etc…she seemed to provoke “accidents.” Then soon after she joined the Avengers, a reader wrote in and theorized that, based on such examples, her power caused changes in molecular structures, which could result in pipes rusting and bursting, or a person’s nervous system having “crossed wires”, etc. (Avengers #23 letter column). The bottom line is that her hex caused some sort of entropy in the target. This made a lot of sense to me.

Sharon: Then another reader wrote in and hypothesized that, because her power usually manifested itself in “accidents” for the target, Wanda could influence probability and that she was a sort of “probability nexus” (Avengers #29 letter column). Yes, this was posited waaaay back in the mid-1960s and I believe someone at Marvel must have been paying attention, as years later, lo and behold—Wanda could all of a sudden “officially” alter probability. I will say I prefer these sorts of powers for her; I always detested her learning magic. As I’ve said many times, in my view Wanda was never meant to be a Zatanna or Enchantress or Dr. Strange. Her original power was unique.

Karen: It’s interesting to see the evolution of explanations for Wanda’s power. I’m sure that when Stan first devised it, it was little more than a ‘jinx’ ability – how it worked was left unsaid!

Karen: At the end of this issue, with the city demanding that the team disband, Cap feels terrible. “When I took command, the Avengers were at the height of their power, their prestige, their fame! And now- look what I’ve done!” Hawkeye responds, “Still tryin’ to hog all the credit, huh? Well, it won’t work! We’re all to blame! Maybe we just weren’t cut out to be - Avengers!” Dramatic, no?

Doug: Dramatic – yes! And maybe one of the reasons they weren’t cut out is that none of them remarked, not once, that their powers were not up to par when battling Power Man. The Enchantress, in each case, claimed to have depowered the Avengers. I would have thought that Quicksilver more than any of the others would have noticed. Too, I thought that Amora channeled Loki in many ways with her broad display of powers.

Sharon: Dramatic--yes! I think this would have been an exciting book to read back then. I know this ending would have had me counting the days until the next issue.