Welcome to your
Brain Teaser for the Week!
Let's say you're the Vision, and you can manipulate your mass (i.e., increase or decrease it). Normally, we might associate mass with size--in other words, if I wanted to give a mound of dirt more mass, I'd add more dirt to it, thereby not only increasing its size but also its weight. And if I wanted to increase the dirt mound's hardness, I'd pack the dirt more tightly and thus increase its density.
Now, you're the Vision, not Giant-Man, so being able to increase your mass doesn't equate with making you larger in any way--you're just becoming heavier. Further, if you wanted to become less vulnerable to attack, you'd also have to increase your density (such as becoming "diamond-hard"). With me so far?
Okay. Have a look at this scene, where Magneto attacks the Avengers by pulling boulders from the ground "like meteors":
Your puzzle to solve:
How does increasing his mass enable the Vision to shield Marvel Girl and/or the Scarlet Witch?
Here are the weird things we have to sift through:
- Despite his claim to the contrary, it looks like the Vision is still in mid-air--either that, or he's lying prone on the ground. In either case, he makes for a nice stationary target for large boulders in motion.
- Wanda is on his back for "cover"--how is Marvel Girl protected?
- For that matter, how is Wanda?
- For that matter, how is the Vision protected simply by becoming heavier? Wouldn't he also want to increase his density in order to avoid being battered?
This is just too weird! What's the explanation??
5 comments:
I think the Vision is lying (laying) on the ground. Ah heck, he's prone, okay. And he answered the question, when he told Wanda "but you will be safe", in other words, Marvel Girl Shmarvel Girl, Wanda's safe. Increasing his mass means he won't be lifted when the boulders are lifted, anything under him stays put.
As for becoming diamond-hard, I think Wanda's climbing up on his back takes care of that. Not only can he feel her lithe supple form on his but the intoxicating scent of "Charlie" in the air is enough to drive anyone wild, including your friendly neighborhood synthezoid.
The Prowler (has no grasp of the elements).
Not having this issue, I'm certainly perplexed.
All points are true. Once again Marvel Logic defies even Earth gravity.
And everyone complains about Cyclop's beam being used as heat in CA&F 173 as being a huge misnomer.
This is far worse. Typically I read the vintage letters pages a few issues later, most folks back then caught far more than we would have time for today.
David, that was a great suggestion about checking the letters page for that story to see if anyone else had brought this up--but unfortunately there was no mention of it. Letters pages around that time were limited to just half a page, with space for maybe 3 or 4 (short) letters; perhaps (assuming anyone wrote in about it) the matter just couldn't be fit in.
This looks to me like one of the occasional WTF moments which the 'Marvel Style' brought about. Looks to me like Steve Englehart writing - the caption box looks like his work - and hmm, maybe Bob Brown art? Steve would have told Bob something like, 'and then Magneto attacks the Avengers with boulders he rips outta the ground with his powers. Then show Vision shielding Wanda and Jean with his super-hard form.' Steve would have meant that Magneto throws the boulders horizontally , but Bob took it and put his own spin on it. Steve got the pages back and thought, 'oh crap how do I dialog this? Screw it, deadline's looming.'
What I want to know is, what saves Panther and Cap (since his shield's out of play) from getting smooshed?
Basically, George, since Iron Man and Thor aren't hindered by excess weight while flying, they're able to respectively fly the Panther and Cap (and the X-Men they're carrying) to their ship safely. I guess flying boulders vs. flying heroes was no contest.
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