The Avenging Hour

Watch out! The Living laser is here to tell us how great he is. And when that doesn't work, he decides to help take over a small country. And when that doesn't work, he just sort of escapes, I guess. PLUS...Goliath can change size again...Bill Foster comes back...Black Widow gets mad...and Wasp tries to go shopping.

The Sons of the Serpent inject a little xenophobia into the Marvel Universe and the Avengers don't like it. After the high-powered hate group kidnaps Captain America, Goliath leads the team to his rescue and Black Widow comes along for the ride. We also take a quick look at Amazing Spider-Man Annual #3 when the Avengers give Spidey a tryout.

Goliath wanders off to South America and falls in with a wacko cult that worships a cobalt bomb. Hawkeye has had enough of the whole Communism thing and drops a building on the bad guys in order to snap Black Widow out of her brainwashing. And Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver realize that no one is paying attention to them so they wander back to Europe.

Giant-Man becomes Goliath and the Avengers finally remember to rescue Wasp from some cosmic hoarder named The Collector. Then Black Widow recruits Power Man and Swordsman to seek some old-fashioned Communist revenge. Wasp loses to a bird and a tree while Goliath gets stuck at ten feet tall. Sounds about right...

The Avengers receive a distress call from Wasp who has been captured by Attuma. They nearly drown fighting him and then promptly forget to rescue her anyway. Meanwhile, Hawkeye leaves the door open while he takes a nap and has to face off with The Beetle.

Kang, Kang, KANG. For some reason, Kang transports the team to the future to taunt them, but when his army turns on him he needs their help to survive. Then, back in present time, the Kooky Quartet faces off against Dr. Doom and a plastic dome that makes no sense!

Enchantress turns a random stranger into Power Man, the Avengers get framed as criminals and disband, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver catch a Broadway show, Captain America wanders off into the rain, and the Circus of Crime calls the cops.

Swordsman wants to join the team or maybe he doesn't, a mysterious letter makes the plot overly confusing, Mandarin shows up with his imaginary Iron Man, and Cap tries to kill himself because nobody likes him anymore. Also, Jason & John recap what we know about the team so far...

The new lineup gets a chance to at least show off some teamwork in two horrible issues where they face off against The Minotaur and The Commissar - threats that aren't really threats and are, thankfully, never seen again!

Rick Jones gets kidnapped by the Masters of Evil, Captain America kills Baron Zemo, Thor disappears, the old team quits, and a new team joins. It''s total chaos!

The team battles Count Nefaria in his New Jersey castle, Wasp gets shot but unfortunately survives, and the Watcher drops by to tell us how lucky we are that the alien version of Santa and his elves fled Earth.

The team follows a Spider-Man robot to Mexico, Giant-Man has a hissy fit, Wasp finally does something right, Red Ghost shows up for no reason, and we read a fan letter from George RR Martin.

The Masters of Evil refuse to give up, Wonder Man comes and goes, Immortus sits around his office waiting for Rick Jones, and the Wasp seems less and less relevant with each passing issue.

The first appearance of Kang, the Avengers act all official, Wasp does nothing, the Teen Brigade saves the day, and Stan Lee answers readers' questions about how awesome he is.

The Avengers fight the Lava Men and the Masters of Evil, Rick Jones tries to be Bucky, Iron Man smokes a cigarette, and Giant-Man sits in a giant chair.

The Avengers won't leave Hulk alone, they fight Namor the Sub-Mariner and a stalk of broccoli, Iron Man is defeated by emery dust, Captain America returns, and Rick Jones refuses to leave.

The origin of the Avengers, their first fights with Loki and Space Phantom, and the Hulk comes and goes. Plus, Rick Jones and his Teen Brigade!