Earth's Mightiest Annotations
by Sean McQuaid

AVENGERS (volume 3) # 18
July, 1999
"The Battle for Imperion City!"
By Jerry Ordway
with Al Vey (inker pp. 1-15), George Perez (inker p. 22), Tom Smith
(colors), Richard Starkings & Comicraft (letters), Tom Brevoort (editor) &
Bob Harras (editor-in-chief).

Avengers Assembled:
Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Vision [II], Firestar &
Justice (as active members); Giant-Man & Wasp (as reserve member); Black
Knight [III] & Photon (as inactive members); and Wonder Man & Carol Danvers
(as former members).

Other Characters:
The Wrecking Crew (Bulldozer [II], Piledriver [II], Thunderball & Wrecker),
The Grand Vizier of Polemachus, the citizens of Polemachus, Thundra, Arkon,
Edwin Jarvis and the robotic minions of Ultron.


EXTERIOR COVER
This Jerry Ordway cover depicts the Avengers (Vision, Firestar, Black
Knight, Wonder Man, Scarlet Witch & Thor) battling to rescue the captive
Photon, Captain America and Arkon from the Wrecking Crew (only three of
whom are seen on the cover: Wrecker, Bulldozer & Thunderball).

As of this issue, the faces in the cover corner box (currently Thor,
Scarlet Witch, Vision, Justice & Firestar) are enlarged and grouped more
closely together, a layout more in keeping with classic Avengers cover
corner boxes of old. It's a small change, but a big improvement. The faces
have more depth, impact and visual unity this way.


PAGES TWO & THREE (double-page spread)
Panels 6-11 reveal the events that happened between the conclusion of
Avengers [v3] # 16 and Avengers [v3] # 18.


PAGE NINE
Exactly how Vision's disguise worked is unclear, unless he reconfigured his
holographic projector to disguise only his physical appearance and not his
costuming (since his costume, borrowed from Captain America, was visible);
but if he can do that, one wonders why he didn't simply disguise himself as
Captain America without using Cap's costume, or disguise himself as someone
else altogether. In the past, Vision has only used his internal holographic
projector to disguise himself as Victor Shade, his human alter ego.


PAGE ELEVEN
Vision and Simon are both understandably somewhat uncomfortable with the
roamntic spark between Arkon and Wanda since Simon is Wanda's current lover
and Vision was Wanda's husband for years until their relatively recent
estrangement. All three men have loved Wanda at one time or another, and
Simon & Vision still love her.


PAGE TWELVE
Though he has renounced his relationship with Wanda since he believes she
will be happier and healthier without him, the Vision is still very much in
love with her. Note his unhappy sidelong glances at the exchange between
Wanda and her current lover, Simon, regarding Arkon's former romance with
Wanda.


PAGE TWENTY-ONE
Carol Danvers became Ms. Marvel in Ms. Marvel # 1, but she has not used
that costumed identity since Avengers Annual # 10, when she was depowered
and stripped of her memories by Rogue. Carol gained new powers and became
Binary in Uncanny X-Men # 164. More recently, she adopted her latest
identity as Warbird in Avengers [v3] # 4. Monica Rambeau became Marvel
continuity's second Captain Marvel in Amazing Spider-Man Annual # 16, but
changed her alias to Photon in Avengers Unplugged # 5. Apart from their
similar original aliases and their Avengers membership, Carol and Monica
are unconnected. Carol derived her powers and her original costumed
identity from her late friend Mar-Vell, Marvel's first Captain Marvel;
Monica Rambeau, on the other hand, never knew Mar-Vell but unwittingly
inherited his title, and after learning about his life strove to be worthy
of his legend. She conceded the Captain Marvel title to Mar-Vell's son
Genis (who is growing into an adventurer in his own right) out of respect
for the original Captain Marvel's legacy.

The Black Knight has a history of bad luck with women, including ill-fated
romantic attachments to several teammates: he was consumed by unrequited
feelings for the Wasp during much of his first active membership stint (she
liked him only as a friend), he shared a mutual attraction with petty
criminal Yellowjacket [II] (later an honorary Avenger), he had a crush on
married teammate Crystal that led to a brief affair, and he had a
passionate but largely one-sided romance with Sersi, who became strongly
attracted to Dane during his involvement with Crystal, creating an odd love
triangle. Small wonder Photon feels inclined to rein him in before he gets
any ideas regarding Firestar. Photon and the Black Knight were teammates on
the same active roster for a period spanning Avengers [v1] # 255-294.


PAGE TWENTY-TWO
Hank Pym (Giant-Man) went on reserve status to work full-time at Nugent
Technologies in Avengers [v3] # 4. The mastermind behind Nugent was
revealed to be Pym's rogue creation Ultron in Avengers [v3] # 15.