Invasion!

The Avengers have just defeated the re-activated Awesome Android when Namor discovers that his wife Marrina has gone missing. Not far away, the Fixer is escaping the scene in a truck and dumps Marrina onto the road. When Namor spots her from the air he comes to her rescue, but Marrina is more than capable of saving herself. The search for the Sub-Mariner’s bride allows the Fixer to get away to his warehouse lair. There, his security system warns him that someone has infiltrated his lair and he prepares to deal with them lethally.

Back at the scene of the battle, the Avengers are giving a report to local police and also try to figure out why the Fixer was trying to reactivate the Awesome Android to begin with. It’s here that Doctor Druid continues to question Captain Marvel’s effectiveness as leader of the Avengers. That’s when the Black Knight accidentally reactivates the Android while examining it. Luckily, the She-Hulk is able to shut it down by hitting its weak-spot under its right arm-pit. That’s when a local news outlet arrives on the scene and interviews the Sub-Mariner and Marrina. This interview is seen by Dan Smallwood, Marrina’s childhood sweetheart, who is shocked to learn that she is an Avenger.[1]

Back at the Fixer’s hideout, the villain discovers that the intruder is Mentallo, his old partner. Learning how the Fixer broke out of prison, Mentallo came seeking to team-up with him again.[2] However, the Fixer quickly incapacitates Mentallo and, after removing his shielded helmet, tells the intruder to use his telepathy and read his mind. What Mentallo finds in the Fixer’s mind makes him scream.

Meanwhile, the Avengers have transported the Awesome Android to an airfield near Dayton, Ohio so it can be transported back to their headquarters at Hydrobase. As the Avengers figure out their next course of action when, suddenly, Doctor Druid’s picks up Mentallo’s telepathic scream. Captain Marvel quickly takes command, but orders Marrina to return to Hydrobase as she is not an official Avenger.

They follow Mentallo’s distress call in their Quinjet and soon arrive near the Fixer’s hideout. When the Quinjet is blasted by the automated defenses, She-Hulk is forced to make an emergency landing in the warehouse parking lot. Namor, seeking to avenge his wife, rushes in before they can formulate a plan, tripping off the indoor defenses. The Avengers soon find themselves sucked into a wind tunnel and split up when the tunnel forks. On one side as Doctor Druid, the She-Hulk, and Doctor Druid. They manage to avoid getting chopped up when the Black Knight tosses his indestructible Ebony Blade into the wind turbine. In the other tunnel are Captain Marvel and Sub-Mariner. They manage to get free when Namor rips a hole in the tunnel. Marvel tries to teak the lead in energy form, but is still woozy after being exposed to some of the Fixer’s nerve gas earlier that day.

The Avengers quickly find one another and enter the heart of the Fixer’s lair. There, they find Mentallo still shackled to the wall. Barely conscious after being tortured, Mentallo warns the Avengers that the man they think is the Fixer is not who they think he is. All he can tell them is that it is some kind of alien intelligence before he blacks out.

With the “Fixer” nowhere in sight, the Avengers return to their headquarters on Hydrobase to safely store the Awesome Android. While they are working on this, Doctor Druid’s mental powers detects that someone has tampered with a nearby containment tube. The Black Knight confirms this and opens it up and they are surprised to discover the Fixer imprisoned inside. Captain Marvel points out that this was the containment tube previously held the Super-Adaptoid, a powerful android that can copy the shape and powers of anybody. She quickly explains how the Adaptoid was originally built by Advance Idea Mechanics to destroy Captain America. She suspects that the Fixer must have been replaced by the Super-Adaptoid during the siege on Avengers Mansion.[3]

As the Avengers figure out their next move, the Super-Adaptoid arrives at a junk yard in Queens, New York. There he is caught peeking in one of the windows by Machine Man, who wants to know what the intruder wants from him.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Black Knight, She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, Sub-Mariner, Doctor Druid) Marrina, Super-Adaptoid (poses as the Fixer), Awesome Android, Dan Smallwood, Fixer, Mentallo, Machine Man

Continuity Notes

1. Dan Smallwood’s connection to Marrina was detailed in Alpha Flight #1-2, & 4. It looks like the writers were setting up Smallwood reuniting with Marrina. However, this plot thread doesn’t go anywhere as Walt Simonson takes over as writer after the Super-Adaptoid arc and immediately dispatched Marrina from the team. See Avengers #291-293. Anyway, Dan has yet to be seen again as of this writing in September, 2021.

2. Mentallo mentions how he and the Fixer have worked together many times in the past, specifically mentioning how they almost toppled SHIELD “years ago”. The pair first worked together against SHIELD in Strange Tales #141-143. Per the Sliding Timescale that happened about six year prior to this story. The pair had also worked together in Marvel Two-In-One #26-27, Micronauts #24-25, and Marvel Team-Up #118.

3. Captain Marvel goes over some of the Super-Adaptoid’s career highlights:

   • How the creature was first built by AIM to kill Captain America and how it later adapted the powers of many Avengers. This was all detailed in Tales of Suspense #82-84.

   • She states that the Super-Adaptoid was contained at Avengers Mansion following its last defeat. This would have been in Marvel Two-In-One #75.

   • The siege of Avengers Mansion happened in Avengers #273-277.

Topical References

• Dan Smallwood is depicted watching the news on a black-and-white CRT television. This should be considered topical as these types of TVs are now obsolete.