Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot

The SHIELD Helicarrier is under attack by rogue Life Model Decoys that are seeking liberation with the help of the Human Torch (Jim Hammond), the wartime hero that was pulled forward in time. As the Mighty Avengers — Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers), the Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), Wonder Man (Simon Williams), the Black Widow (Natasha Romanov), Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew),[1] Ares, and the Sentry (Bob Reynolds) — are busy trying to contain things on the flight deck when suddenly a SHIELD flying car comes crashing in to help. The occupant turns out to be this era’s Captain America (James Barnes).[2] Once the immediate threat is out of the way, he is brought up to speed on the situation and is reminded no harm must come to the Invaders — which also include Captain America (Steve Rogers) and the Sub-Mariner (Namor) — before they are returned to their own time.

Meanwhile, the outlaw New Avengers — Ronin (Clint Barton), Luke Cage, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Wolverine (Logan), Echo (Maya Lopez), Iron Fist (Danny Rand), and Doctor (Stephen) Strange — are trying to get the Invaders back home in their own way. With the aid of the Invaders’ Bucky (James Barnes), Toro (Thomas Raymond) and a time displaced soldier named Paul Anslem are searching the New York sewers. They are looking for the Cosmic Cube, which Doctor Strange believes is the cause of all of this. They must hurry as time is running out before the Invaders’ absence in the past will soon overwrite their timeline.

Bucky is annoyed that Toro ran off earlier and learns that Thomas went to look at his future grave. Bucky reminds Toro that any knowledge of the future could change their future. But, Thomas doesn’t care if it means that he is dead. He points out that the other Invaders were around at the time of his death and all failed to stop him from dying. He figures that if Bucky were still alive, he would have been there to protect him. This gets Bucky thinking about what the Captain America of this era told him — unaware that it was his future self — about how James would sacrifice his life near the end of the war and to not do it.[3]

Eventually, the group finds the Cosmic Cube and see that it is in possession of the demon known as D’Spayre. However, the entity isn’t using the Cube, but feeding off the collective despair from the general population in the aftermath of the superhero civil war and the death of Steve Rogers.[4][5] Before they can act, D’Spayre becomes aware of their presence and begins ensnaring them in the black ichor that has replaced the sewage around them. As it constricts around the heroes, D’Spayre begins bringing up their past pains to feed on their despair. However, as he brings up past agonies, D’Spayre doesn’t realize that there is one person who is immune to his poisoned words. Because Echo is deaf, she is able to slip away and has sneaked onto the pipes overhead and is preparing to act![6]

Back aboard the SHIELD helicarrier, the rogue LMDs have taken the Human Torch to the VR chamber where they are keeping Cap and the Sub-Mariner. In order to restrict their knowledge of the future, Tony Stark (Iron Man) has them in a World War II simulation. When the Torch enters the computer to rescue them, he asks the Life Model Decoys to pull him and his friends out. However, they don’t comply leaving him to wonder why they have abandoned him. Suddenly, the Torch becomes weak and falls to the ground just as he realizes that he has made a terrible mistake. This is because outside, in the real world, the Life Model Decoys have been biting Jim’s android flesh in order to drink his synthetic blood.

Meanwhile, the Mighty Avengers are pinned down outside by LMD cover fire. With time running out, Ms. Marvel decides to split up her team. While Ares, Wonder Man, and the Sentry fight their way to the Invaders, she sends Spider-Woman and the Black Widow to rescue Tony Stark, who is being held prisoner. She also sends the Wasp ahead of the rescue party so Janet can tell Stark what’s been going on. Meanwhile, the present day Captain America slips away with a plan of his own.

Soon, Tony Stark is freed by his comrades, he tells the Wasp how someone has taken over the Life Model Decoys. He then begins re-wiring one of the destroyed decoys to find out who the puppet master is. Tony is horrified by what he discovers.

Back inside the simulation, the Torch weakly convinces Steve and Namor that they are trapped inside a simulation. He also explains how he was tricked into believing the Life Model Decoys were enslaved and needed liberation and tells them to trust Tony Stark moving forward.[7] In the real world, one of the Life Model Decoys pulls back from his grisley meal and proclaims that he tastes life for the first time. As it turns out, the LMDs have all been compromised by Ultron![8]

Meanwhile, the present day Captain America has gotten into the sensory depravation tanks that help make the VR simulation feel as real as possible. While freeing Steve and Namor from the tank, the water rushes out and washes the Ultron possessed LMDs away, freeing the Torch from the simulation. He next frees Steve who, upon weaking up in the present, sees that the sleave of his rescuer has been torn. This reveals James’ mechanical arm, making Steve assume that he is another robot impostor and attacks his former sidekick.[9]

Recurring Characters

Mighty Avengers (Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, the Wasp, Wonder Man, Black Widow, Ares, the Sentry), New Avengers (Ronin, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Echo, Iron Fist, Doctor Strange), Captain America (Barnes), Invaders (Captain America (Rogers), Bucky, Human Torch, Toro, Sub-Mariner), Paul Anslem, D’Spayre, Ultron, SHIELD

Continuity Notes

1. The woman who appears to be Spider-Woman here is actually a Skrull spy named Veranke, as revealed in Secret Invasion #3. Per New Avengers #42, she took the place of the real Jessica Drew circa Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1. This is ahead of a planned Skrull invasion of Earth that primarily takes place in Secret Invasion #1-8.

2. Ares wonders if the person driving the SHIELD flying car is Nick Fury. At the time of this story, Fury had gone AWOL after it was revealed that he staged an illegal coup in of Latveria. See Secret War #1-5.

3. The status of the Invaders around Toro’s death is somewhat complicated, allow me to break everything down so we’re all on the same page:

   • First of all, Toro lives until the early Modern Age, and dies in a battle with the Sub-Mariner after being brainwashed by the Mad Thinker, as seen in Sub-Mariner #14. He will remain deceased until the end of this series.

   • For the longest time, everyone believed that Bucky had died in 1945 trying to disarm an drone carrying a bomb, as told in Avengers #4. In reality, he survived and was recovered by the Russians who brainwashed him into an assassin called the Winter Soldier as revealed in Captain America (vol. 5) #11. His mind was restored in issue #14 of that series and he has since taken up the mantle of Captain America starting in Captain America (vol. 5) #33-34.

   • Toro says that Captain America (Steve Rogers, the original) wasn’t around to save him. Indeed, Steve Rogers was alive after being frozen in suspended animation until he was rescued by the Avengers in Avengers #4. Probably the reason why Cap wasn’t around at the time was because he was busy faking his death…. About that….

   • See, at the time, Captain America’s true identity was a secret until he revealed it to the public in Tales of Suspense #95. When this made him a constant target of Hydra, he faked his own death in Captain America #111, leaving the public to believe that Steve Rogers was actually a disguise. Cap kept his identity more or less a secret from the general public for years until he publicly revealed it for good in Captain America (vol. 4) #3.

   • Toro states that the Human Torch was alive and couldn’t save him at the time either, which is technically true, but incredibly complicated to explain. See, the Human Torch was deactivated in Fantastic Four Annual #5 and left for dead. Shortly thereafter, the time traveler known as Immortus came to the modern era and creates a chronal duplicate of the Torch, as revealed in Avengers Forever #8. What does that mean? Well…..

   • One Torch was stolen by the Mad Thinker, who then held a funeral in his plot to brainwash Toro in the aforementioned Sub-Mariner #22. This “corpse” was later reactivated years later in Avengers West Coast #50.

   • The chronal duplicate was later swiped by Ultron, who recycled his body to create the android known as the Vision in Avengers #57. However, the Vision wouldn’t know his origins because his memories of being the Torch were erased and wouldn’t learn the truth until Avengers #134.

4. At the time of this story, the government had passed the Super Human Registration Act (SHRA), which required all superhumans to register with the government. This divided the superhero community in half with Iron Man supporting pro-registration and the other with Captain America against registration, as seen in Civil War #1-7. Cap ultimately saw that the public didn’t support his side and surrendered. He was later seemingly assassinated in Captain America (vol. 5) #25. What nobody knows yet is that Cap was actually hit with a chronal bullet and is now living his life in a constant loop. He will be trapped in this purgatory until Captain America: Reborn #1-6.

5. Spider-Man recounts how he once fought D’Spayre alongside the Man-Thing. This was back in Marvel Team-Up #68.

6. We get a nice Jim Kruger continuity dump from D’Spayre here lets break this down by character:

   • D’Spayre: Doctor Strange mentions how the demon is the offspring of another Fear Lord, the Dweller in Darkness. This was revealed in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #33.

   • Doctor Strange:

     • D’Spayre mentions how Stephen regrets his lost medical abilities. This is in reference to how he was a brilliant surgeon who severely injured his hands in a car accident forcing him out of the medical practice as seen in Strange Tales #115.

     • He also mentions how Strange recently ended his relationship with Clea. Clea was a resident of the Dark Dimension whom Strange first encountered in Strange Tales #126. The two have had an on-again-off-again relationship over the years. Their relationship became difficult when Clea became ruler of the Dark Dimension in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #48. Her frequent absences led to the end of their romance, as told in New Avengers: Illuminati (vol. 2) #4.

   • Iron Fist is taunted with the death of his parents, which led to Danny undergoing the rite to become the current Iron Fist.

     • Wendell and Helen Rand were taking their son to K’un-Lun during its once-a-decade appearance on Earth. When their plane crashed, Wendell died immediately, while Helen was ripped apart by wolves just short of the gates to the fabled city. See Marvel Premiere #15.

     • In reality, Wendell managed to survive over the years due to K’un-Lun’s magic and was trapped on the mountains for decades until his body was usurped by an android known as “The One”. Danny would later kill his father while destroying the android. See Iron Fist: The Living Weapon #9-11.

   • Ronin

     • D’Spayer mocks Clint for his various identities over the years. Hawkeye the archer, his most consistent identity, that he first used in Tales of Suspense #57, the size changing Goliath which he first used in Avengers #63, and most recently Ronin an identity he took on in New Avengers #27.

     • Also mentioned is the death of his wife at the hands of Mephisto. He is referring to Bobbi Morse (aka Mockingbird), whom Clint married in Hawkeye #4. She was seemingly killed by Mephisto in Avengers West Coast #100. In reality, this was a Skrull impostor that took Bobbi’s place as part of the previously mentioned Skrull Invasion. The swap happened in Avengers West Coast #91, as revealed in New Avengers: The Reunion #3.

   • Spider-Man

     • D’Spayer mentions the death of Peter’s Uncle Ben, the catalyst that made him become a hero in the first place in Amazing Fantasy #15. D’Spayre makes mention of all the people who died on his watch as Spider-Man. There are a lot of characters who fit this bill, but the most important one was the death of his girlfriend Gwen Stacy in Amazing Spider-Man #121.

     • D’Spayre also chides Peter about how he would give up half his soul to saved a loved one, but for selfish reasons. This is a reference to how his Aunt May was recently shot by an assassin targeting him in Amazing Spider-Man #538. Peter and his then wife Mary Jane then made a deal with the demon Mephisto to save her life. As payment, Mephisto altered the timeline so the two never got married (their marriage occurred in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21) as seen in the infamous Amazing Spider-Man #545. However, nobody remembers this because of the alterations to the timeline.

7. Here, the Human Torch states that the Life Model Decoys were based off the designs of his creator Phineas Horton. Horton created the Human Torch in Marvel Comics #1 and he is considered the first android. However, despite the Torch’s presumptions the Life Model Decoys are not based on Horton’s designs but the work of legendary inventor Leonardo Da Vinci, as revealed in S.H.I.E.L.D. (vol. 2) #2 and Secret Warriors #38. I think it is safe to say that the Torch is merely assuming that the LMDs are based off his designs since they are pretty similar.

8. Ultron’s code has been hiding in SHIELD’s computers since Mighty Avengers #6.

9. The explosion that seemingly killed Bucky in Avengers #4 left its mark by way of severing his left arm at the shoulder. When the Russians transformed him into the Winter Soldier, they outfitted James with a bionic arm, as explained in Captain America (vol. 5) #11.

Topical References

• The present day is referenced as occurring in the year 2009 in this story. This, and the number of years between the end of World War II and the Modern Age should be considered topical as they are relevant to the date of publication. This is because the Marvel Universe operates on a Sliding Timescale that constantly bumps the present forward in time. As a result the gulf of time between the War and the Modern Age will continue to expand over time.