Mighty Avengers #10
Time is on No One’s Side
While trying to bring Doctor (Victor Von) Doom to justice, the Sentry (Bob Reynolds) ended up crashing into the dictator’s Time Platform. Violently rocked backwards in time, the Sentry wakes up disorientated in an alleyway somewhere.[1] He asks the first people he runs into where he is and is told that he is in New York City. Flying around the city, the Sentry begins questioning his own reality and wonders if going to Latveria was another delusions.[2]
His anxiety level is dialed up when he sees Thor fly by when he is supposed to be dead,[3] and that his Watchtower is standing by itself, instead of sitting atop Avengers Tower.[4] That’s when the Sentry hears some gunshots and goes to see what the commotion is. He then witnesses a bank robbery being done by his eternal foe, the Void. Even more shockingly, he sees his past self rushing in to stop him. Still not realizing he has been sent back in time, the present day Sentry cowers on a nearby rooftop trying to process everything he is seeing.
Elsewhere in the city, Iron Man (Tony Stark) and Doctor Doom have also ended up in the past. Furious at being attacked in his own home, Doom ambushes Stark from behind.[5] Fending off Doom’s attacks, Tony points out that they are in the past and that they need to get back to the present or else they could cause irreparable harm to the time stream, even potentially jeopardizing their own existence in the present. That’s when Tony asks if Doom is working for “them” but not outwardly accusing him of being in league with the Skrulls.[6] Doom has no idea what he is talking about, reminding Stark that he always works alone. On the matter of getting back in their own time, Doom suggests that they cannibalize components from their armors to escape this era as they did the time they were trapped in the time of Camelot.[7] Tony explains that his armor no longer uses the components they’d need and he is even more reluctant to reveal the new technological advances of his armor, making this a non-starter.[8]
That’s when the Sentry ambushes Doom, who retaliates by using black magic. Iron Man gets between the two of them and convinces Victor to stop fighting because the Sentry isn’t mentally well and his dark magic will further destabilize his mental state. Tony then quickly explains to Bob that they are stuck in the past and calms him down while also making sure that Bob’s presence in this era has gone mostly unseen. Doom is shocked to see such an unstable man on Tony’s team, but this is a moot point to the problem at hand. Tony then asks Doom who in this era might have a time machine to send them back. Victor says it can only be one man, Reed Richards, aka Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four.
They then stake out the Baxter Building in this era, their ticket home is inside Reed’s lab. However, breaking into the building is a huge gamble because they might cause more damage to the timestream trying to gain access to it.[9] Iron Man figures that the best way to get to it is having the Sentry clear the way because everyone will forget that the Sentry ever existed not long after this, thus preserving the timeline.[10]
When the Sentry approaches the Baxter Building, he discovers that the only person present is the Thing (Ben Grimm). He tries to convince Ben to give him access to Reed’s lab but won’t say why. Grimm knows that nobody is allowed in the lab without Richards’ permission and tries to call him to get it. The Sentry then crushes the phone in Ben’s hand and then knocks him out of the building and makes sure he doesn’t land on anyone. He then goes back to Iron Man and Doom so they can get to the time machine and get out of this era. Iron Man orders Doom to set the coordinates to send them back home but warns Victor that he’ll be arresting him as soon as they get back.
Doom does as he is told, but when Iron Man and the Sentry rematerialize in the ruins of Castle Doom, its owner is nowhere to be found. The two then take to the air to try and figure out where the Doctor has gone. That’s when Ms. Marvel races to the scene and orders them to get to safety. Seconds later a massive bomb goes off!
Recurring Characters
Mighty Avengers (Ms. Marvel, iron Man, Sentry), Doctor Doom, Thing, Thor, the Void, Spider-Man
Continuity Notes
The scenes in that take place in the past are depicted to imitate the methods which Marvel produced their comics in the 1970s. This is meant to evoke what publication period this story takes place in (see below). Like comics published in the 1970s, there are a number of plugs for Marvel books that were published around the time this story would have chronologically takes place. Some are overt, others not so much. The details:
The plugs that specifically reference a comic include Marvel Premiere #20, Giant-Size Defenders #3, Supernatrual Thrillers #12, Giant-Size Defenders #4, and Captain America #181. These stories were published in January or February of 1975. Measuring up the publication dates between those issues and this one (published May, 2008), our heroes were sent back roughly 8 years into the past from their present day.
“The Mighty Thor in hand-to-hand combat with the evil Loki!” is reference to Thor #232.
“What’s it like to be a living vampire? Find out in the pages of Fear — ‘cause only Morbius knows!” is a plug for Fear #26.
“Now the battle you’ve been waiting for — Ghost Rider vs. the Hulk” is referring to Ghost Rider (vol. 2) #11.
“The Black Panther meets ‘the God Killer’ — and so do you!” is a plug for Jungle Action (vol. 2) #13
2. The Sentry has had a history of mental health problems as explained in Sentry #1-5, Sentry/the Void, New Avengers #7-10, and Sentry (vol. 2) #1-8. His hold on reality has been shaken after Ultron recently tricked him into thinking that his wife Lindy was dead as seen in Mighty Avengers #4-6.
3. At the time of this story (in the present day at least), Thor had died during the most recent Ragnarok cycle in Thor (vol. 2) #80-85. He will return to life not long after this in Thor (vol. 3) #1.
4. Avengers Tower, also known as Stark Tower, was build and opened in New Avengers #3 and became headquarters to the team (and later the Mighty Avengers). It was built in the same space as the Sentry’s Watchtower, however nobody noticed until New Avengers #10. This is because, at the time, the Sentry had made everyone forget his existence in order to keep his dark half, the Void, under control. See Sentry #1-5 & Sentry/The Void #1 on why this is so important.
5. Iron Man and his team went to arrest Doctor Doom after he seemingly unleashed a “Venom Bomb” on New York City in Mighty Avengers #6-8. Last issue, we learned that some kind of malfunction happened that made the bomb get dropped by mistake.
6. Tony became aware of the fact that the Skrulls were planning something on Earth in Mighty Avengers #6. He (and us readers) will soon learn that this is ahead of a planned invasion of Earth that will primarily be told in Secret Invasion #1-8. This is the real Doctor Doom, not a Skrull impostor, FYI.
7. Iron Man and Doctor Doom once found themselves stranded in the time of Camelot. The pair managed to escape that time by using components from their armor to make a functional time machine to return home. See Iron Man #149-150.
8. At the time of Tony’s trip to Camelot he was wearing his fourth generation Iron Man armor that was first built in Iron Man #85 and was used until Iron Man #200. There have been 25 new iterations of his armor since then. He refers to Extremis here, which was a bio-tech that made the Iron Man armor an extension of his own body, see Iron Man (vol. 4) #1-6.
9. When talking about how Reed got access to Doom’s time machine, Iron Man notes that it had to do with “that thing with the pirates”. He is referring to the iconic Fantastic Four #5, in which Doom sent the FF into the past to steal a mystical jewel that was in the possession of Blackbeard the pirate. As explained in Fantastic Four Annual #11, after that incident Reed Richards was able to replicate Doom’s Time Platform and had a functional version kept at the Baxter Building.
10. As revealed in New Avengers #10, all memory of the Sentry was erased thanks in part to the machinations of Mastermind and the Sentry’s foe the General. Iron Man clarifies here that Mastermind did this before his death. At the time of this story, Mastermind is deceased in the present day after succumbing to the Legacy Virus in Uncanny X-Men Annual #17. Mastermind will later be resurrected and seen alive again in Empyre: X-Men #2.
Topical References
The portions of this story that take place in the past depict New York City as it would have looked in the 1970s. All of these references should be considered topical as the characters were intended to have been sent back to an earlier period of the Modern Age, not the 1970s. The creative choice to depict this story like it is happening in the 70s is to give the readers a point of reference of what publication period this trip through time takes place as opposed to the actual year at the time. Some out and out topical references include:
A bystander wearing a Sex Pistols t-shirt. The Pistols were a UK punk band who were primarily active between the years 1975-1978. Although they are regarded as an iconic group of the genre, they only ever released one official album before the clashing personalities of the band members and a duplicit manager caused the entire thing to fall apart within a few years. While there have been a number of a reunion shows, the group has not gotten back together in a substantial way since their break-up. Since the depiction of the Pistols t-shirt is meant to invoke a specific era, its depiction here should be considered topical.
We also see the original twin towers of the World Trade Center as part of the New York City skyline in this story. These buildings were destroyed in a terror attack on September 11, 2001 and subsequently replaced with One World Trade Center (aka the Freedom Tower) in the years since. The depiction of it here should also be considered topical as the Sliding Timescale has pushed the modern age forward in time enough that it will not begin until after the destruction of the original towers.
Iron Man states that Times Square looks like what it did before “the mayor took a Brillo pad to it!” He is referring to the period between the 1960s and the mid-90s when Times Square was ground zero for the state of New York City as a whole and was filled with adult entertainment. The area was revitalized and revamped into a tourist destination starting in the 1990s thanks to initiatives by then mayor Rudy Giuliani. This should be considered topical because, just like the twin towers, the Modern Age would have been push forward where it doesn’t begin until after this revitalization happened. Also the Brillo pad reference is topical as this is a brand name of scouring pads.
The Thing is depicted using a Motorola DynaTAC cell phone one of the earliest portable cell phones. It was sold between 1983 and 1994. This is further proof that this story’s anachronistic portrayal is topical since cell phones like that wouldn’t have been available in the era that the comics in this period would have evoked. However, the Sliding Timescale has moved the Modern Age forward where stories going back to this time period could be written with cellphones as existing during that time. That said, the type of cell phone should be considered topical as this model is obsolete.
Doctor Doom makes a reference to how a change in the timeline could cause a future where apes rule the planet. This makes Iron Man wonder if he’s seen the movie Planet of the Apes. This was a French science fiction novel published in 1963 by author Pierre Boulle. It was first adapted to film in 1968. The story is about a team of astronauts who crash land on a world where intelligent apes ruled the world. The end of the story reveals that the astronauts were actually on Earth many centuries in the future from the world they left after humanity was wiped out and the apes succeeded them as the dominant species on Earth. This would be considered a topical reference however, since the film rights to the Planet of the Apes franchise and Marvel Comics are now owned by Disney, this would instead be an instance of brand synergy now.
