Marvel Read-Through: Roster Changes
Lots of changes took place at Marvel in the early 70s, at least that’s what I learned from my most recent readings. The Avengers had major lineup changes, Captain America had his powers changed, and most surprisingly to me, the Fantastic Four’s lineup changed after Sue left Reed. I can tell that the writers and editors were trying new things, now over ten years since the modern Marvel universe debuted. Some of them worked and some didn’t, let’s get into it.
To start off, I returned to the Avengers in the aftermath of the Kree-Skrull War. Hawkeye came back with an amnesiac Hercules as part of a three-issue arc that really became a Hercules-centric story. While not necessarily important except for Hawkeye’s return, I liked the arc and having Hercules back, if only for a brief time, was nice. I really like this character a lot more now that I’ve read some of his earlier appearances with the Avengers and I don’t like that Olympus is blocked off from the real world, forcing Hercules to only show up in rare guest spots. There’s not much to say about these issues other than they are a fun read with fun characters; very standard for the time but enjoyable to read. I have to comment on Hawkeye’s new outfit. It’s ridiculous. It’s great that he’s no longer Goliath and is back to being the team’s archer, but I seriously cannot understand what they were thinking giving him this new costime. And that’s saying a lot considering Hawkeye’s classic costume is pretty ridiculous itself. I was very happy to see it come back only a few issues later, but with the return of the classic Hawkeye look came the Avengers’ first major roster change.
That’s right, Hawkeye quits the team! I knew this was coming going into issue #109 but I didn’t expect it to only be the last panel of the issue. It wasn’t the focus of the story and it happened so abruptly after they save the day from the monthly threat, that I almost didn’t feel like it had any impact at all. Hawkeye’s been with the team since issue #16 and he leaves the team in one quick panel. I did some research and I learned that Hawkeye actually fades into somewhat-obscurity for the next little while which I was sad to learn. I don’t know if the new writer of Avengers, Steve Englehart, didn’t like the character but he became a central part of the Marvel world since joining the team in 1965 that it’s too bad he doesn’t get to star in a different book until the late 70s when he returns to the team and then the 1980s when he leads the West Coast Avengers.
Issue #112 sees Englehart begin to shake up the roster even more with the introduction of Mantis and the return of Swordsman. Of course, they are only teased in a few panels of this issue and the next, joining the team for real in issue #114. I read #112–115 and I enjoyed them. As for #112 and #113 they are once again pretty standard and not entirely important, but also again I enjoyed reading them. Adding newcomer Mantis and reformed villain Swordsman to the team in #114 was interesting and I’m looking forward to seeing where the book goes with these characters, especially after 2020’s big Empyre event that heavily featured Mantis’ son. I didn’t know the backstory of her character while reading that event and I’m looking forward to reading it. Issue #115 contained two stories. For now I only read the A story which set up a new mystery with the disappearance of the Black Knight at the hands of Dr. Strange. I’m aware that he is working with his own team The Defenders at this point in time even though I haven’t read that yet, and this issue was an intriguing set up to the eventual Avengers-Defenders war, but that will have to wait for a bit.
Heading over to Cap’s solo series, I got to read the arc that finally explains how there were Captain America comics through the 1950s despite the revelation way back in Avengers #4 that he had gone missing at the end of the war, and was presumed dead until he was found frozen in ice. Yes, I am finally introduced to the Captain America and Bucky of the 1950s, a major part of the Captain America mythos. While not originally intended to be a totally different person, Atlas Comics published Captain America stories in the 50s that now made no sense since Cap was missing from 1945 until 1964. This is one of the best retcons of all time, it is necessary and doesn’t change anything beloved about the characters. Issues #153–156 explained that Cap and Bucky were entirely new people at that time, sanctioned by the U.S. government to prevent the public from losing morale and hope in their country. Unfortunately, they were missing a vital part of the process that turned Steve Rogers into a super-soldier and they eventually went crazy and had to stop being heroes. But now they’re back and they are racist as hell which doesn’t sit right with Cap’s full-time partner Falcon who has to prove that they are not the real Captain America and Bucky while Steve is on vacation with his girlfriend, Sharon Rogers. Cap’s got more of a fleshed-out cast now and, just as it does with Amazing Spider-Man, the large cast adds a lot to the book. Falcon and Sharon are great and their respective relationships with Steve are also very interesting to read. Apparently, the world has forgotten that Steve is Captain America and the addition of a secret identity as well as Steve inexplicably taking up a job as a cop did not help the book. It became too much of a copy of Amazing Spider-Man with the people in Steve’s life constantly trying to figure out why he disappears as he hides his identity just like Peter Parker. It works for Peter, but here it felt forced and a little dumb. I believe this is also Englehart’s doing and while the stories he writes are good, I’m not a fan of his creative choices so far.
It is easy to forget that Cap in the comics isn’t meant to be as superpowered as he is in the movies. He is supposed to be the peak of human capabilities, not someone with super-strength. Technically, I think at this point in Marvel history they didn’t even consider him to be superpowered. Issue #158 gives Cap super-strength, another interesting move by Englehart, and I’m not sold on the idea but I am interested to see where this takes the character. I know it only lasts for a few years so I’m guessing this wasn’t a particularly successful change to the iconic character.
Last up, I headed over to Marvel’s first family who are… uh… not doing so well as a family to put things lightly. The first issue I read, #130, opens with a reminder that Johnny has left the team and ends with Sue quitting the team while also leaving Reed and taking Franklin with her. It was sad to see Marvel’s central couple split up like that. When I said that the post-Gwen Stacy era touches on heavier topics, I didn’t know marital separation was one of them. Roy Thomas really took this book in a direction I didn’t see coming. The next two issues do see Johnny returning to the team, but he also loses his girlfriend, the Inhuman Crystal, since she has fallen in love with Quicksilver. Lots of relationship drama in this book right now. I prefer Johnny as a bachelor anyway, and I’m curious to see how Quicksilver’s new relationship plays out alongside his sister’s romance with Vision over in Avengers. Our next major roster change comes in the form of the Inhuman Medusa who joins as the FF’s fourth member during Sue’s absence. It’s always cool to see a side character get a bigger spotlight, and having Sue leave Reed is definitely an interesting way to go so I’m excited to see more of this arc and lineup.
Things are changing pretty quickly and drastically in the Marvel universe right now. Everyone always says that comics return to the status quo eventually, and I mostly agree, but this was definitely a more experimental time at Marvel. There’s some good and some bad with the new changes that I read, but as always I’m a fan and I’m on this journey to go through Marvel’s history so I’m looking forward to seeing how these changes affect things.
I’ll be back next time with some new origins, don’t miss it!
Issues Read:
Avengers #98–100, #109, #112–114, A-Story of #115
Captain America #153–156, #158
Fantastic Four #130–132
Favorite issue: Avengers #100 since it brought back so many characters and the focus on Hercules was fun
