In passing, current Captain Marvel Monica Rambeau saves a family from the father, who is both heavily armed and probably having a psychotic break. Her powers make that pretty easy, and next up? Interrupting the Bears/Saints game at her parents' house, appearing through their TV to check out if they had guests. Monica wanted to talk about the Avengers, specifically their earlier meeting.
The Wasp had nominated Doctor Druid for membership, then resigned as chairwoman and left active duty. Monica nominates Captain America, who declines, since he was busy with his new hotline, but he returns the favor and nominates her. When she wonders if she was ready, Thor steps in, a bit heavy-handedly. She-Hulk accuses Thor of bullying CM, which I don't think was intentional, but maybe? And Monica had another consideration: she was considering starting a small business, partially to get her dad to retire from the fire department. (Her dad did seem to be getting on in years...)
Back at the beach, rather the Avengers' Hydrobase, She-Hulk and Black Knight discuss the leader situation, with Jennifer willing to run rather than let Thor be leader. Their conversation is derailed by Dr. Druid, who projects an illusion of a gorilla-like creature, then laughs his ass off after Jen lands face-first in the sand trying to tackle it. Meanwhile, Captain Marvel visits Moonstone in the prison hospital, after the "Under Siege" storyline: she blames everybody for her situation, from CM to Baron Zemo. With that a waste, Monica then visits the still-comatose Hercules, who doesn't have any advice for her, but seems to mumble something when she leaves. She revisits the oil rig where she had her origin, and wonders if she's ready for the soul-crushing, 24/7 responsibility of leading the Avengers.
Monica catches up with Captain America, who was rescuing some kids from a cavern collapse. While Captain Marvel was able to provide light, she had some limitations there: unlike most flyer characters, she couldn't carry anyone or anything. Getting down on a crumbling ledge to save a scared girl means some actual risk for her, but she doesn't hesitate; and afterwards decides to accept the nomination.
Lastly, a shadowed figure, that superficially resembles Thor, takes Hercules from the hospital...
Monica deserved better than to have her stint leading the team sabotaged by Dr. Druid--that may not be entirely accurate, but how I remember it. I wonder if her powers made her tough to write: she visits multiple locations this issue, which at lightspeed she could've gotten to in less time than it takes to type. (Or did she usually fly that fast? Probably too easy to overshoot...)
And, yet another Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation: Paid circulation, actual number of copies of single issue sold nearest to filing date, 226,700. The press run was almost twice that.
Looking back on that panel of Druid tricking Shulkie with hindsight, and you can see Stern clearly dropping hints & foreshadowing how he tricked his own teammates into letting him on the team & voting him in as chairman & leader of the group. Good example of a throwaway bit actually being more relevant than it 1st appears to be.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think that came up until Walt Simonson's run. And if I remember correctly, it was more that Druid was being manipulated by Nebula than anything malicious on his part. This was a weird time for the team, but it's some good writing from some good writers.
ReplyDelete^Aww, you're right he was, which still didn't make what happened any better.
ReplyDeleteNo one was really all that heartbroken when he was eventually killed off, only to return not that long ago.