Scourge of the Avon Ladies!

Prison seemed to work wonders for the Swordsman, who appeared to think things over after his team-ups with Power Man and Batroc's Brigade and arrive at the decision that working with partners wasn't working out for him. So what a pleasure it was to see him return, if briefly, to his confident and arrogant self, and go after the Avengers with no backup--taking on the whole team in order to abduct Goliath, not only getting away with such a bold act but pretty much making fools of the Assemblers in the process. Nice going, Swordsman. Those guys would be lucky to have you.

That encounter, however, led to his eventual defeat, and presumably a "Welcome Back" banner hanging above his just-as-he-left-it prison cell. And by the time he's released, it seems he's mulled things over a bit and concluded that maybe there's safety in numbers, after all. Because in his next criminal endeavor, look at the assemblage of villains he throws in with this time:

Good grief--it's a virtual Masters of Evil here. The Swordsman has joined the ranks of the Lethal Legion--and the team is conducting separate strikes against the Avengers in order to capture its members in accordance with the Grim Reaper's crazed plan for revenge. Though helping to keep his evil cohorts in line is the Reaper's promise to grant the richest reward to the, er, Legionnaire who captures the most Avengers--and for the Swordsman, money speaks with a very convincing voice, indeed.

To that end, Power Man and the Swordsman--once more, partners in crime--are dispatched to the water main beneath Avengers Mansion, where Goliath and the Scarlet Witch are headed thanks to leaked information of the Reaper's plans. But their foes have prepared a little surprise for them, one that will make these Avengers less capable of resisting their attack.

"A light--at the end of the tunnel!" Cute.

With the Scarlet Witch and Goliath pretty much out of commission with their sight impaired, the odds are in favor of their opponents coming out on top in this skirmish. But the Swordsman has had sufficient enough exposure to the Avengers to realize that Wanda can tip the odds back in her favor without warning:

When you think about it, the Scarlet Witch--who used to invoke her power by simple gesturing--could have possibly hexed the eyesight of their foes, thereby evening the odds. As it is, the flailing Goliath is going to make it possible for the Swordsman to end this fight much sooner than anyone was expecting.

When the Avengers finally confront the Legion in force, the Swordsman shatters his blade against the Vision's diamond-hard form, and joins the rest of his comrades in defeat. But once he serves more prison time (where by now his fellow inmates are probably mocking him with tossed confetti to mark his return), he'll forge ahead to take his first steps toward rejoining the ranks of the Avengers.

NEXT:

Swordsman Week wraps up, when the Avengers assemble--all of them!

But does that include the man who left their ranks in disgrace?

PLUS:

One heck of a list of supplemental reading!