Avengers #10

Featuring: Avengers
Release: September 8, 1964
Cover: November 1964
12 cents
Story superbly written by: Stan Lee
Art adorably drawn by: Don Heck
Inked by darlin’ Dick Ayers
Lettered by stalwart Sam Rosen
20 pages

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The issue’s title is “The Avengers Break Up”. Yet, at no point in the issue do the Avengers appear to break up. Instead, characters go to great lengths repeatedly to explain the title via the dialogue. “Now that Thor’s over there and Iron Man’s across the room, it’s basically like they’ve broken up.”

The Heck/Ayers art looks much as it did last issue, which I see as a negative. I’ll give them credit for a couple nice panels. A trippy one of Immortus and an easy-on-the-eyes Enchantress.

We get a weirdly sexist moment in an era filled with weirdly sexist moments. I don’t know if I’m ready to claim it’s the worst, but it’s up there. Iron Man recommends giving Rick Jones a uniform and making him an official Avenger. “…why don’t we make his membership in the Avengers official, as the Wasp’s is…”

What? She helped found the team. She named the team. She is a superhero with super powers. She flies and shrinks and stings people. She could probably even grow if Hank would share the technology with her. How does she get compared to a teenager with no powers?

Recall Rick recently visited New Mexico to check on Dr. Banner. He seems to have since returned to New York. But Banner really could use his help much more than the Avengers could.

Captain America claims the decision rests with him, and not the team, and they all agree. Captain America remains distraught over Bucky’s death and think teenage sidekicks may be a bad idea. That’s a good instinct, Cap. Go with it.

Weirdly, later in the issue when Captain America attacks the rest of the Avengers without good reason, he’ll claim it was they who wanted to keep Rick off the team.

Immortus is described as the master of time, the ruler of Limbo, where things never change. We’ve seen a lot of Limbo references at this point. It’s not clear if they all refer to the same place, but until there is further evidence, I will assume they all refer to Immortus’ dimension:

• Where the Watcher sent the Red Ghost, Fantastic Four #13. Watcher notes he would be trapped there for eternity save that the Watcher was merciful.
• Where the Space Phantom sends those whose form he imitates, Avengers #2.
• Where the Asiki Tribe believe those who die at night remain trapped, according to Wasp’s tale, Tales to Astonish #53.
• Where Executioner sent Jane Foster with his battle axe, Journey Into Mystery #103. Limbo is described as “the half-world between here and there”.
• Where Loki sent Jane Foster, Journey Into Mystery #108.
• Where Dormammu sent servants who failed him, Strange Tales #126.

It’s a popular place to imprison people. In particular, it’s a popular place to imprison Jane Foster.

Immortus wishes to join with the Masters of Evil. They are an exclusive club, just like Magneto’s Evil Mutants, and so won’t let anybody ally with them until they’ve proven themself by destroying an Avenger; a test none of them can pass, yet that somehow is a membership requirement.

Immortus was able to just transport himself from Limbo to the headquarters of the Masters of Evil, so could presumably just head straight to Avengers Headquarters… but he decides on a more convoluted plan, that begins with an ad in the newspaper.

Rick Jones reads an ad promising super powers and immediately runs to the address. But, unfortunately, predictably…

Immortus imprisons Rick in the Tower of London in 1760. He then tells Captain America the other Avengers are responsible for Rick’s capture. Captain America (sensibly) claims not to believe him, but then (nonsensically) attacks the other Avengers over what they did to Rick.

I pay a lot of heed to the amount of time Stan’s narration boxes tell me has past. It seems like a good way to know if one scene is minutes or days or weeks later, to know what else from other titles may have occurred in the middle. Perhaps Stan isn’t always careful with these boxes, though. Captain America is seen in Avengers HQ reading a note, and then seen crashing through a window into Immortus’ hideout. The narration reads, “Seconds later…” I’m pretty sure it takes a lot of seconds to leave one place and arrive at another, unless Immortus’ hideout was right next door.

Immortus’ deal includes the ability to draw warriors from different times to do his bidding. This gives us all the legendary match-ups we demanded:

• Executioner vs. Paul Bunyan;
• Giant-Man vs. Goliath;
• Iron Man vs. Merlin;
• Thor vs. Hercules;
• And, the most demanded match of all, Rick Jones vs. Atilla the Hun.

We will soon learn that Hercules and Thor actually fought before, in the ancient past. We’ve met Merlin (or people claiming to be Merlin) several times at this point. It was already hard to reconcile all the appearances as being the same man, and this appearance of Merlin doesn’t make it any easier. Recall we reviewed the history of Merlin so far in Black Knight #1.

OK, so given what we just read, in what sense did the Avengers break up?

The closest we get is Captain America attacking the Avengers for betraying Rick Jones. But it’s a brief fight and nobody claims the Avengers have broken up. The first person to mention breaking up is Iron Man, referring to how Immortus had them fight his warriors as individuals. “You thought by breaking up the Avengers… making us fight singly instead of as a team…” But that’s not the same as saying the Avengers break up… also it’s not clear how Immortus made them fight singly. His warriors appeared one at a time. It’s not obvious why the Avengers took them on singly; it seemed to be their own choice.

It almost feels like Stan was committed to the title and was going to work it into the story somehow. He seemed to recognize he hadn’t quite gotten there with Iron Man’s spiel, so he then turns to the fact that Immortus has captured Captain America. Having one of your members captured is also not the same as the team breaking up, and yet Giant-Man remarks… “We’ve really been broken up now!” Executioner seems to agree: “Immortus has taken Captain America away… the braggart from the past did break them up as he vowed to do!” (Also weird that Executioner describes Immortus as from the past, when we learned he was from Limbo, which has no time.)

The most notable moment in the issue is this. Thor shouts a phrase, the type of battle cry we’ve seen a lot of. But this one is somehow special: “Avengers Assemble!”

The ending is weird. Enchantress helps the Masters of Evil escape by retreating into the past. Why? Why not just retreat normally? She somehow rewound time so that the Avengers’ battle with Immortus never happened, and only the Masters of Evil remember it. Zemo describes it as her taking them back in time, but it seems more like rewinding time. In this new timeline, the Masters of Evil refuse Immortus’ call and Immortus presumably gives up trying and moves on to other pursuits.

I am actually a huge fan of Immortus. He is a favorite Avengers’ villain, but it’s not clear why from reading this issue. He has some character traits down, the enigmatic presence, the sense that he doesn’t sully his hands with physical combat, that he is above such things. However, his motives here are utterly unclear. He wants to destroy the Avengers and conquer the 20th century. I have no idea what he needed the Masters of Evil for, or why his elaborate trap was necessary. I don’t really even know why he didn’t just leave Captain America and Rick Jones trapped in time.

What we know is he somehow controls time. We have seen plenty of time-traveling/manipulating villains at this point: Dr. Doom, Zarrko, Time-Master, Rama-Tut, Kang. Kang and Rama-Tut turned out to be the same person at different stages of his life, a descendent of Dr. Doom, with some hints he may in fact be Dr. Doom. Perhaps Immortus will also have some connection to them.

As of this issue, we can add Enchantress to the list of villains with power over time. Thor and Odin of course have also demonstrated various time-manipulating powers. So plenty of people out there mucking with time.

I had also been underwhelmed by Dr. Doom’s first appearance. But he has already come into his own as a character. We’ll have to wait a bit longer for later writers to do great things with Immortus.

Hey, a Captain America pin-up!

Hey, a letter from future Marvel artist Gene Day, who will draw acclaimed runs on Master of Kung Fu and Star Wars, and unfortunately died far too young at the age of 31. He was 13 when he wrote this letter.

Dear Stan,

I just got your wonderful issue of MARVEL TALES ANNUAL– it was terrific! Old green skin is by far the best villain along with Doc Ock, Doc Doom, the Owl, Dr. Zemo and Sub-Mariner. I think that the AVENGERS is by far your best book. Issues #1, 6 and 7 take the cake. I might as well get started on my compliments and knocks. Jack is by far the best-looking person in the Marvel bullpen. No offense Stan, but you’re rather nice too. The Hulk and Thor have the best origin. AVENGERS #7 was great, but not as good as #6. DAREDEVIL #3 was the best so far and I’m sure your Owl will return. The STRANGE TALES series is alright but instead of the Thing and Human Torch, you should have Captain America as the star. TALES TO ASTONISH #59 was wonderful. Thank you for starring the Hulk from now on. THOR #107: The Grey Gargoyle is really a fine character! FF #30: Wow! This story really gave me goosebumps! IRON MAN #57: Hawkeye is terrific. SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL: I really enjoyed reading “How Stan and Steve Create Spider-Man.” Around my school Marvels are top choice!

Gene Day

Rating: ★★☆☆☆, 31/100
Significance: ★★★★☆

The scans are taken from a reprint in Avengers Classic #10 (2008).

You can find this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers vol. 1 or Avengers Epic Collection vol.1: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Or on Kindle.

Characters:

• Thor
• Giant-Man
• Captain America
• Iron Man
• Wasp
• Rick Jones
• Zemo
• Enchantress
• Executioner
• Immortus
• Paul Bunyan
• Attila the Hun
• Goliath
• Merlin
• Hercules

Minor characters:

• Bill (of the Teen Brigade)

Story notes:

• Issue opens with training session: everybody vs. Cap. Cap is defeated in 47 seconds.
• Thor is current chair; position rotates regularly.
• Iron Man wants to give Rick official Avengers status like Wasp.
• Zemo refers to team with Enchantress and Executioner as the Masters of Evil.
• Reference to last issue and Wonder Man.
• Enchantress receives mental probe from another time.
• Immortus intends to claim our century.
• Immortus is above physical conflict.
• Immortus sends warriors from different ages to do his bidding.
• Rick Jones vs. Atilla the Hun… the battle you’ve been waiting for
• Rick Jones imprisoned in Tower of London in year 1760.
• Executioner’s gloves made of meteorite metal.
• Zemo’s liquid ore.
• First use of phrase: “Avengers assemble”
• Masters of Evil escape into past.

Previous	#275	Next
Tales of Suspense #60, Story B	Reading order	Journey Into Mystery #110
Avengers #9	Avengers	Avengers #11