The Avenging Hour

Fill-in issue alert! First the team battles some burning man named Pyron who threatens to blow up New Jersey. Then they kill the Shadow Lord by punching a city and must fend off the Berserker who has all the charm of a manhole cover. It isn't pretty.

The Yellow Claw tries to take over the world by having a bunch of kids, but the Avengers murder him before this dazzling plan can take effect.

Iron Man is apparently hypnotized into helping Ultron kidnap Scarlet Witch, but leaves behind way too many clues. Then Beast and Wonder Man play around with some things they find in the sewer. It all seems like a bad dream.

In a special double-sized issue, Ms. Marvel has a baby, the baby grows to adulthood, and Ms. Marvel goes off to Limbo to be his lover. Yeah, it's as creepy as it sounds. Jarvis gets his own showcase in a back-up story. And the team collectively scratches its head as robots start stealing special resins needed to shape Adamantium. I wonder why they would do that?

Oh no! A giant robot is rampaging through New York! Oh no! Ms. Marvel is pregnant! Oh no! Beast and Wonder Man had a horrible date night and then got drunk and wandered around! If you think that sounds thrilling, have we got an episode for you...

We get to see what the Avengers do on a day off, which somehow involves Vision freaking out and breaking stuff. Then, a mental patient enlists Wasp's help...leading to the team discovering a training facility for bad guys...leading to their first run-in with The Taskmaster!

The team heads to Pittsburgh to help Iron Man and Wonder Man fend off Inferno, a steelworker encased in molten metal kept alive by a chip of Uru metal and a desire for revenge. It's not nearly as thrilling as it sounds.

It's a two-issue fight with the Grey Gargoyle! Action! Conflict! A weird Senate hearing that puts Gyrich in his place! Yes, all the things you've come to love about the Avengers...

The Avengers "save" a Soviet nuclear power plant form the Elements of Doom, fight a World War 2 behemoth named Arsenal which is led by a computerized version of Tony Stark's mom, and then Hawkeye gets a job like the rest of us poor schlubs.

Happy New Year! Settle in and listen to this really long tale of how a crazy sorcerer, an elder demon god, a cow lady, a pink-armored scientist, and a band of gypsies all came together to raise Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. It'll warm your heart for the freezing hellscape of 2017...

Our Xtra special Xmas episode features a way too long battle with the Absorbing Man that shows us the origin of his costume, features Falcon being a jerk, and allows the Avengers to once again let the bad guy successfully escape. A job well done!

Gyrich returns to upgrade the security system and impose a government-mandated seven-member lineup, leaving Hawkeye, Wonder Man, and a bunch of other useful people out in the cold. Then the team gets a real test as they battle through some dime store mannequins to fight a gypsy pirate and some illusions inside an outer space hotel room and why am I still typing this?...

FILL-IN! FILL-IN! FILL-IN! There's a guy named Stinger whose weapon is a stinger! There's a guy named Bloodhawk who looks like a bird! The team fights a moving mountain named The Monolith! It's all silly and pointless as we wait for the new creative team to come on board...

Wasp is possessed by the evil Doctor Spectrum's power prism after Hank tries to give it to her as a birthday gift. Many walls are smashed. Then Beast tries to pick up some women, gets caught in a thunderstorm, and falls victim to some idiot calling himself the Manipulator. Can you say fill-in issue? I knew you could...

It's the end of the Korvac Saga and...spoiler alert...EVERYBODY DIES!

Hawkeye's back! That's good, because the other Avengers keep disappearing. But it's bad, because he causes them to lose their government privileges. Meanwhile, we learn that Carina is the Collector's daughter. And the team almost learns about Korvac, but he incinerates the Collector instead. OH NO!

Finally, the end of the Korvac Saga...oh, who are we kidding? THIS EPISODE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE KORVAC SAGA! Instead, we're given yet another interlude with Jocasta and Ultron and a convent full of robot nuns and even Ms. Marvel. Someday we can dream of a real storyline...

The Korvac Saga continues...very very slowly. Henry Peter Gyrich tells the team that their security sucks. Starhawk and Korvac battle across multiple planes of existence while standing in his den. And then we get a fill-in issue about a guy who wants the Avengers to kill him, but makes it really complicated.

First, let's talk about an Avengers Annual that the Avengers barely appeared in where Adam Warlock and Captain Marvel fought Thanos until he went away. We'll stick to outer space to have our team meet the original Guardians of the Galaxy while back on Earth, the Wasp hosts a fashion show interrupted by the Porcupine with an appearance by Korvac...

Two words: Count Nefaria!

Guess what? Hank Pym is CRAZY! But you know who's crazier? Ultron. Yeah...he thinks he deserves a bride and he's going to steal the Wasp's personality to make one. Or maybe he'll just escape. No harm, no foul. Let's not even mention that weird issue with Typhon, okay?

Meet Graviton, a guy who looks like Dracula with all the personality of an angry sock. He's quite powerful and quite boring. But he does manage to get half the team to leave out of frustration. The few that remain are forced to face the wacky weirdness of the Grim Reaper!

Let's wrap up that Doctor Doom-Namor-Attuma storyline and move on to something more important...fighting a stone statue! Plus, we try out a new format just to see how it feels to have some fun again...

Attuma attacks (for some reason)! The team gets caught up in some shenanigans with Namor, and Dr. Doom...and some other less important people. But worst of all, Vision loses his cape!

We've got a lot of loose ends here: Wanda can fly. Living Laser has the Serpent Crown. Whizzer has returned. Wonder Man is suddenly a good guy. Nuklo is involved as a prisoner of some rogue Army element. None of this is ever fully explained.