Avengers #5

Featuring: Avengers
Release: March 3, 1964
Cover: May 1964
12 cents
An epic tale told with high drama and heroic dignity by: Stan Lee
Illustrated with deep sincerity and dazzling beauty by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: Paul Reinman
Lettered by: S. Rosen
23 pages

Rick Jones gets his name on the cover and on the opening page alongside the book’s actual stars. He i fact is given billing over Giant-Man and Wasp in both places. His placement suggests he comes with Captain America, as though they are partners.

This tale is getting closer to what I feel like a traditional Avengers tale should be. There should be some menace to the world, a threat so great that no single hero can stand against it. Mostly so far, they’ve just fought Hulk over and over again. And he just wants to be left alone.

In this issue, the Lava Men invade Earth. When last we met them, they were referred to as Lava People; not sure how the unneeded gendering crept in.

Almost what I’m looking for. Only two problems. The first is that the Lava Men/People invaded before and Thor stopped them all by himself. So it’s not clear they’re an Avengers-worthy threat. The second is that in addition to fighting the Lava Men, the Avengers also all attack Hulk again. They really should just give the guy a break. This is now their fifth battle with the Hulk, and they all end in a stalemate.

We pick up right at the end of Fantastic Four #26 as the Avengers look over the damage to Stark’s mansion caused by the Hulk. Notice the tight cross-title continuity. The team then agrees to return to their personal affairs for a time.

But what does that mean for Captain America? He’s been back in the present for a few days. He offers to use this time to give Rick some acrobatic training. But surely he has more important things to do. Since his return, he’s been embroiled in constant superhero battles. He has had no time to do any shopping. Where is he sleeping? He’d gotten a hotel room in Avengers #4. It’s possible Stark would let him stay in the mansion. I suppose Stark could also have lent him some money. No matter what, he must have some settling in to do after almost 20 years trapped in a block of ice. But no, training Rick is his priority.

Last issue, I asked why Rick went to that island with the Avengers and the Medusa alien. That at least made some sense as he had just helped save the Avengers from the alien. And him sticking around to help track down the Hulk made perfect sense; he’s Hulk’s partner. But now Captain America takes him to the meeting to discuss the mysterious sounds coming from beneath the surface which are causing disasters. Why?

In fact, why is Rick still in New York a week after the battle with Hulk? He lives in New Mexico. Shouldn’t he go home to New Mexico? As I was reminded in the comments, Rick is an orphan, but presumably he has some legal guardian or residence. (We did meet his Aunt Polly.) Now, it turns out the current crisis will take the Avengers back to New Mexico and again into conflict with Hulk. But Cap didn’t know that when he invited Rick to the meeting. They take Rick on the mission to New Mexico. I’ll accept that as sensible if the goal is to finally take him home.

There’s a stray piece of narration in this issue that causes a lot of heartache. The Official Marvel Index to the Avengers chooses to utterly disregard this line of narration. The line begins, “A few days later…”

The chronology given in the Index interprets that to be referring to a few months, not days. I have a problem with that. It says what it says, for better or for worse. I’m willing to stretch “a few days” to be as long as colloquial English interpretation allows. Maybe six days? At some point, “few” becomes “several”. Once you hit 14 days, we start talking about weeks instead. Let’s assume that 5 or 6 days pass from the opening scene until the next one.

In that time, Iron Man perhaps has his second encounter with Black Widow.

Giant-Man and Wasp have some battles with the Magician and Spider-Man which may fit here. Wasp foils a jewelry heist. There’s some difficulty with placing those stories as Wasp has a new hairdo in them not evident in this issue.

Thor possibly battles Enchantress, Executioner, Skagg and Surtur. (It’s also possible, even likely, that Thor’s battles took place well in the past, before Avengers #3, and that this week was uneventful for him.)

For our reading order, I took the solo adventures published around the time of this issue that could plausibly have taken place in that gap, and we read them in the lead-up to this issue. We’ll then go back and fill in the rest of the February stories we skipped to see what other heroes were up to around this time, including a new addition to our colorful cast, a certain man without fear.

Apparently, Banner has been missing for many months. Also, he apparently still has a job. I think I want his job.

We are slowly getting more clarity on Hulk’s new status quo. As we have been seeing, the changes are no longer caused by Banner’s machine. He and Hulk switch back and forth seemingly at random. Hulk is definitely a separate personality, one Banner describes as wanting to fight and lash out at the world. Banner is not in control of his Hulk persona. He explicitly compares himself to Dr. Jekyll.

The motivation for this latest invasion concerns the “living stone” which threatens their realm. The Lava People think they can save themselves by letting it destroy the surface world instead. We see some internal politics at play. Molto, the Lava Man who Thor once met, urges negotiation and understanding with the surface. The Witch Doctor urges war and annihilation of their enemies. The king seems easily persuadable and wavers.

Probably the most significant moment in the issue comes from Captain America. We saw last issue he’s now pretty adept at throwing his shield. But now, for the first time ever, he gets to use it more than once. He throws it in such a way that it ricochets and comes back to him. He’s been practicing.

The dumbest moment of the issue is Thor’s battle with the Lava Witch Doctor. The Witch Doctor has basically won the fight because his magic rod transforms Thor into Dr. Blake. However, the transformation freaked the Witch Doctor out so much that he just runs away. This is exactly how Thor’s battle with Merlin ended. Thor transformed into Don Blake and Merlin was so awed by the magic involved with Thor turning human that he surrendered. It was a dumb plot point the first time and it’s weird that they used it twice.

The most infamous moment of the issue is all the kids lining up to touch Thor’s hammer.

And there they all go just ganging up on poor Hulk again.

Then comes an unfortunate decision from the point of view of those of us concerned with chronology. The issue ends with an unrelated plot point. The Teen Brigade sends the Avengers a message about an emergency. Therefore, Avengers #6 will pick up right where this issue leaves off. But Avengers #6 is published 2 months after this issue while the Avengers all have monthly solo adventures in the meantime. This issue picked up right where their fight with Hulk left off and the previous issue picked up soon after their fight with Hulk and Namor. If it bleeds into the next issue… that’s 6 months of Avengers comics that doesn’t leave a lot of room for the solo adventures that are taking place. We’ll discuss this in more detail later.

Rating: ★★★☆☆, 52/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆

I read this story in Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers vol. 1. The scans are mostly from a reprint in Avengers Classic #5 (2007), but for variety I threw in a couple from the reprint in Avengers Annual 4 (1971). I leave it to you to suss out which are which.

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You can also find the story in Avengers Epic Collection vol.1: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Or on Kindle.

Characters:

• Giant-Man/Ant-Man/Henry “Hank” Pym
• Wasp/Jan van Dyne
• Iron Man/Tony Stark
• Captain America
• Rick Jones
• Thor/Dr. Don Blake
• Jane Foster
• Hulk/Dr. Bruce Banner
• Betty Ross
• General Thunderbolt Ross
• Lava witch doctor
• Lava king
• Molto

Story notes:

• Story begins minutes after the end of Fantastic Four #26.
• Iron Man confused when Hank and Jan seem to vanish.
• Dr. Blake works in “the heart of the city”.
• Captain America promised to teach Rick acrobatic moves.
• Ant-Man and Wasp doing research in ant hill.
• Wasp has old hairdo for entirety of issue.
• Cap gives demonstration for Teen Brigade.
• Captain America brings Rick to an Avengers meeting.
• Mountain surfaces in military installation.
• Ross notes Banner has been missing for months.
• Hulk’s origin retold.
• Hulk’s strength is virtually limitless; leg muscles are so powerful that he can leap vast distances, as though flying.
• Banner notes his personality changes as the Hulk; Hulk wants to fight and lash out at the world.
• Banner notes he never knows when the next change will be.
• Living rock/stone was menacing Lava People, so they send it to the surface.
• We learn the Lava Man who fought Thor is named Molto.
• Living stone emitted strange noises.
• Condition Red emergency from Teen Brigade.

#186 story in reading order
Next: Daredevil #1
Previous: Tales to Astonish #57, Story B