Issue 9

Publication Date: December 1997

Overview:

Roster

Life Lessons

As Songbird and Mach-1 depart they are side-tracked by Black Widow. She tells that them that she has begun digging into their pasts and has found several things that would indicate their previous criminal activities. She also adds that she has nothing concrete yet, but begins to tell them a tale of another group of villains-turned-heroes.

Captain America holds a press conference to introduce the Avengers' newest members: Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Hawkeye. As some of the crowd brazenly question Hawkeye's honor, Quicksilver's temper gets the better of him as he begins to harass the bystanders. The Avengers are run back indoors as the crowd pelts them with trash. Captain America tries to calm their nerves as a dejected Rick Jones leaves.

Radioactive Man, seeing the newscast of the event, realizes that he could easily defeat the Avengers once Captain America is delt with. He begins to formulate a plan.

While Pietro and Clint stew over J. Jonah Jameson's editorial about them, the mayor asks an irritated Captain America to have the new team lay low for a while. He then gets a phone call that sends him off quickly. He arrives at a seemingly abandoned warehouse, but is then quickly attacked and subdued by several unseen assailants.

Radioactive Man makes a call to the remaining Avengers telling them of Captain America's capture, showing Cap's shield as proof. He requests an audience with the original Avengers and abrubtly ends his call.

After listening to a recording of Cap's earlier phone conversation, Hawkeye leads Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch to the warehouse only to encounter the same sentry robots that captured Captain America previously. As they take the battle to the street, Radioactive Man heads to the fray to end a potentially public event. Just as he leaves, however, Captain America frees himself.

The Avengers finish off the last of the robots as Radioactive Man greets them. Captain America surprises him and draws his fire as Hawkeye a hypersonic arrow to confuse him. Quicksilver races around him to further disorient the villain and Scarlet Witch blasts a hex bolt at him. Although at first her blast does not seem to affect him, Radioactive Man soon collapses.

As the police escort the villain away, the gathering crowds seem more receptive to the new Avengers, even though several of their comments still show a great deal of skepticism. Hawkeye seems more dejected than the others, but Cap asures him that as long as he did his best, the reward will be his own personal satisfaction.

Black Widow finishes her tale with the moral: "They proved themselves and they proved it's possible to change." She suggests that they take down their leader before she does. She warns that if they continue to follow his lead, she will bring justice to all of the Thunderbolts.

Back in Four Freedoms Plaza, Citizen V and Techno manage to break into the Avengers' files. Techno is somewhat disappointed in the lack of information in the files themselves, but Citizen V reminds him that the files are not nearly as important as the trust they represent. His plan is ready and he says they will impliment it in days and take over the world.

Characterizations

This seems vaguely familiar...

Hawkeye and the Black Widow both started their careers as criminals, mainly trying to sabotage Stark Industries. Hawkeye sought to redeem himself by becoming an Avenger and he officially joined the team in Avengers #16. This story takes place immediately after that issue.

The "advertisement" on page 12 is a parody. Throughout most of Marvel and DC's titles in the 1970s ran a series of ads promoting Hostess fruit pies and snack cakes. They generally pit a well-known hero (Batman, Spider-Man, etc.) against an unknown, mediocre villain. The villain always lost by being distracted or coerced with the snacks. Although the ads ran for some time, many people found the debasement of the popular characters irritating and the advertisements eventually ceased.

Timing. There has apparently been a long lapse of time since the Thunderbolts last met Black Widow, judging from the length of her hair. But it is implied that this issue takes place before the Thunderbolts' appearance in Heroes Reborn: The Return #2.

Next issue... Heroes Return