Defenders 1... Avengers 0!

Looking back on the Avengers/Defenders crossover battles from 1973--a conflict that collectively (and likely for TPB purposes) became better known as the Avengers Defenders War--it almost seems more accurate to label the fights we witnessed in those comics as skirmishes rather than knock-down drag-outs. With the exception of the event's climax, each issue was either devoted to a double-header of meetings between opponents which portioned off their page count, or there were other matters needing issue space to move the overall story along. As an example, the penultimate battle between the Hulk and Thor, as action-packed as it was, only took up seven pages in an issue of nineteen.

And yet, even the first of these skirmishes would have us believe that both teams are out for blood.  That...

But since each of these teams has gone up against the deadliest of enemies without resorting to the use of lethal force--and with each battle only allocated a few pages--how serious are these matches likely to get? Well, you and I may get the impression that all of them boil down to relatively harmless hit-and-run encounters--but on the other hand, would we want to slug it out with someone in the middle of a live volcano?

In an earlier tale, we've already seen how the Avengers were dealt into this plot by writer Steve Englehart--travelling to the Black Knight's castle in England to allay their concerns for his well-being, prompted by repeated attempts to contact him with no response. Their investigation finally leads them to the door of Dr. Strange, and perhaps one of the most curt receptions they've ever been greeted with.

The truly amusing aspect to this scene is that, to Wong, the Avengers are just like any other visitors who should abide a polite "no" in response to a request for an audience.

Thor, as you might expect, has a different interpretation of their treatment.

Once Mantis has summarily dealt with Wong, however, the Avengers are again expelled by the same force that greeted their initial attempt at entry--but not before they're able to gain chilling proof of the Knight's fate.

Regardless of Thor's "declare victory and leave" posture, the Avengers are forced to lick their wounds and deliberate back at their H.Q.--while inside Strange's sanctum, the Defenders, having learned of the existence of the Evil Eye from what they believe has been a desperate message from the Knight, gather as Strange mystically researches the mysterious device of Avalon and determines that its presumed destruction has instead caused it to burst into six parts to avoid further misuse of its power. Under the impression from the Knight that the Eye is the key to restoring his essence to his body, they split into teams to recover the segments.

Meanwhile, Loki, who originally conspired with the dread Dormammu to deceive the Defenders so that Dormammu could gain the Eye for himself, has had second thoughts on their alliance and covertly communicates with Thor and the Avengers in order to convince them to stop the Defenders--but to cover up his involvement with Dormammu, he misrepresents the truth and paints the Defenders as a group whose members seek revenge against the human race. The Avengers fall for it hook, line and sinker, and split into their own teams to head off the Defenders.

That leaves a minimal but respectable nine pages for the cover battle to play out, which series artist Bob Brown makes good use of. Strange that Brown was never assigned to pencil a cover to The Avengers during his tenure on the mag, deferring instead to veteran artist John Romita et al. I always had the impression that Brown's work had pleased both Englehart and Editor Roy Thomas, but apparently not enough to use in selling the book on the rack. Even more curious is Romita's out of the blue "Art Director" credit on this story, which raises an eyebrow.

Yet Brown obviously knows how to keep a story moving--and once the principal characters gather, things progress naturally to the conflict we know is to come. The Surfer's arrival at the French Polynesia island of Rurutu is uneventful (unless you're one of the natives)--while that of the Avengers could have been equally so, thanks to the Vision's instinct to initially attempt a carrot vs. a stick approach with whomever he and the Scarlet Witch confront here. Unfortunately, the Surfer's ability to navigate through the depths of space and, for that matter, stars hasn't taught him to consider the fragile nature of a volcano and its reaction to the use of cosmic power in its boiling crater.

Gosh, Wanda, if you're going to fault logic, you might as well start with your own--using circumstantial evidence and hearsay to draw the wrong conclusion about this entire matter.

In his anguish over Wanda's injury, the Vision has mistakenly concluded that the Surfer intentionally caused a devastating eruption for the sole purpose of ambushing her with an attack--an assumption fueled not only by his feelings for her, but by the picture that Loki has painted of the Defenders as murderous outcasts on a rampage against humanity. For his part, the Surfer is mystified at the Vision's provocation--but his reluctance to engage in full-fledged battle with his foe only gets him so far.

I don't know about that claim of the Vision having an invulnerable body, though it's probably only mentioned to head off any questions about his ability to survive while immersed in lava. After all, you're not really invulnerable if the She-Hulk can shred you like tissue.

Meanwhile, if you ever have the occasion to visit Rurutu, you'll want to avoid dressing in costume if you plan to encounter any natives during a crisis.

Finally, however, the Eye itself settles this contest, inadvertently forcing the Vision to surrender it to the Surfer by making a choice far more important to him.

Considering that we've been told the Eye was geared to split itself as a measure to prevent its use at full power, it seems an oversight of its makers to allow each of those sections to remain operational.  That translates to six separate Eyes which only increase the odds of its power being abused. Talk about your design flaw.

Regardless, with this incident, each combatant can only report to their respective groups the hostile intent of those they face, escalating this conflict for the remaining parties.

It appears the Vision is becoming a regular feature in our segments on

Having seen the Vision rescue Wanda twice while he was supposedly weightless, it's fair to conclude that there was a good chance Wanda would have died before the natives had the chance to offer her as a sacrifice to the volcano god--that is, if Avengers artists stayed consistent with the Vision's specs. (It's always possible that the volcano god really doesn't care if a sacrifice is among the living--I'm not really up on volcano god lore.) For instance, we already know that if the Vision reduces his density to near zero, he can become weightless and fly (to a certain extent--it's really more like drifting); but if for whatever reason he decides to become solid (say, to catch a plummeting girlfriend in the nick of time), he loses his ability to stay aloft, since the extra mass of said girlfriend-in-peril guarantees that he becomes no more able to fly than you or I. It's also a given that the speed at which Wanda was falling in the first instance would have sent them both plunging into the ground like a safe.

But for the sake of argument, let's assume Wanda survived to be rescued a second time (all the while unconscious--the girl sure knows how to miss out on the fun). In the second rescue, the weightless Vision would never have been able to lift her and continue his flight--though given that his body appears to be able to withstand the intense heat of lava, he could have turned solid and lifted Wanda up before the lava reached them, and then simply walked through the flow to the nearest high ground.

On an unrelated note, it was frankly stunning (and certainly out of character) to see the Surfer just soar off and leave the hundreds of innocent Rurutu natives to their fate, virtually washing his hands of his role in causing the entire disaster. But, hey, he got his trinket, right?

NEXT:

Dr. Strange gets word that the Avengers are attacking the Defenders on sight--

but doesn't reach out to them for an explanation.

Is there a spell that restores one's common sense?

The Avengers #116 Script: Steve Englehart Pencils: Bob Brown Inks: Mike Esposito Letterer: John Costanza