Appearing in "Siege by Stealth and Storm!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- ⏴ Graviton (Frank Hall) ⏵ (Fuses with Research City and is thrown in the Atlantic Ocean)
Other Characters:
- Judy
- Raquel
- Joe
- U.S. Air Force
- Numerous unnamed New Yorkers
- ⏴ Daredevil (Matt Murdock) ⏵
- NYPD (Mentioned)
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker) (Referenced)
- Defenders (Referenced)
- Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange) (Referenced)
- United Nations (Mentioned)
- God (Yahweh) (Invoked)
Races and Species:
- Humans
- Synthezoids
- Mutants
- Asgardians
- Pigs (Mentioned)
- Gods (Mentioned)
Locations:
- Earth
- North America
- Canada
- Rocky Mountains
- Canadian Rockies
- Research City (Destruction; fuses with Graviton and is thrown in the Atlantic Ocean)
- Canadian Rockies
- Rocky Mountains
- United States of America
- Canada
- Atlantic Ocean
- North America
Items:
- Iron Man Armor Model 4
- Captain America's Uniform and Shield
- Bio-Synthetic Wings
- Yellowjacket's Suit
- Daredevil's Suit
- Panther Habit
- Mjolnir
Vehicles:
- Avengers' Sky-Sled (Behind the scenes)
Synopsis for "Siege by Stealth and Storm!"
Continued from last issue...
With the Avengers defeated by his hand, Graviton vows to try and take over the world. When he notices that Raquel, a woman at Research City trying to gain his favor, has injured Judy he strikes out at her. When the other scientists attempt to rebel, Graviton easily lifts them into the air. He is about to drop them to their deaths when Judy awakens and begs him to let them go safely.
Graviton then transports the floating Research City high over New York City, where the Air Force attempts to blow the island out of the sky, but to no avail. With other heroes that reside in the city either ineffectual or out of town, the villain demands that the United Nations turn over the world to him, or he will destroy a major city each hour, starting with New York. Jarvis fears the worst for the Avengers and is shocked when Thor and the Black Panther arrive to lend their aid at stopping Graviton. As the pair flies off to face Graviton, Jarvis wonders if there is anything he can do to help.
Graviton has the captured Avengers pinned to a wall and is using his powers to keep them in place. Thor arrives and attacks Graviton head-on, but the villain's power appears more than capable of keeping the Thunder God at bay. Fortunately, this is just a distraction, as the Black Panther has come in from the rear with a device that frees the other Avengers. He frees Iron Man first and sends the Golden Avenger to aid in fighting Graviton while he frees the other Avengers. Despite their effort, Graviton manages to keep them all from attacking by trapping them in a dome of gravity.
When Graviton attempts to boast of his victory to Judy, he finds that she is missing. Following a trail of her jewelry to the edge of Research City, Graviton assumes that she has committed suicide and becomes furious. When attempting to kill the Avengers, he loses control of his powers and turns himself into a living black hole. Freeing themselves, the Avengers escape just as the entire Research City collapses into a ball of super-dense matter.
Before this ball can strike Manhattan, it's caught by Wonder Man, Thor, Iron Man and the Vision who then toss it out into the ocean. Believing that Judy had died in the battle, the Avengers return to the Mansion to find Judy alive and well. Jarvis explains that while the Avengers were occupied, he borrowed a Sky-Sled and used it to rescue the girl while Graviton was preoccupied.
Notes
- Letters (story pages): Saladino (uncredited) page 1, Wohl pages 2-17.
- Avengers' "Sky-Sleds" are mentioned in this story, but not shown.
- It is interesting that Graviton would choose to destroy New York first, as he demonstrates that he is seeking the authority of the United Nations to "give" him the planet, as they are headquartered in New York.
- This issue contains a letters page, "Avengers Assemble". Letters are published from Joe Sweeney, Jeff Martin, Ed Via and Sam Hays.