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History

Proactive Heroes[]

Reviewed as a failed project, the West Coast branch of the Avengers was proposed to be deactivated with its members being folded back into the East Coast branch as reservists. Long-time West Coast Avenger Tony Stark, the invincible Iron Man, unexpectedly cast a decisive vote for dismantling the West Coast Avengers, alleging the group could not continue without their allies' support. In protest, the former West Coast Avengers resigned from duty.[1] With Iron Man's funding and guiding, they formed a totally independent team, Force Works.[2] Iron Man was joined by former West Coast Avengers Scarlet Witch, who was appointed as the group's leader, Spider-Woman, Wonder Man and the U.S. Agent. The team was based in a highly sophisticated, adaptable building in Ventura known as the Works, run by the P.L.A.T.O. artificial intelligence.[2] Moreover, a special 'hex mainframe' computer worked with the Scarlet Witch's power to predict events that the team could act on, proactively determining where they were most needed rather than reacting to an alarm.[3]

While visiting the ruins of the Avengers Compound, where they met the Avengers Black Widow and the Vision, Force Works were attacked by Kree soldiers from the Starstealth, who specifically wished to annihilate Wonder Man and the Vision for their role in the obliteration of the Kree Empire. This incident was proven to be very tragic as Force Works' first crisis. Bombarded with an ionic cannon and becoming a living bomb, Wonder Man sacrificed himself to protect the planet and thwart the Kree. Simultenously, the Scarlet Witch unwittingly conjured the alien warrior Century to help in the fight. As the group was told about Wonder Man's fate by a Rigellian Recorder, they were subsequently kidnapped by the evil Scatter, a threat Century had told them about and that was involved in Wonder Man's demise. Iron Man then lamented Force Works' disastrous start.[2] With Century's assistance, he rescued his teammates from an alien dimension, but learned about an incoming Scatter invasion to Earth.[4] Warping their decaying world to Earth, the Scatter started their conquer, but Force Works managed to save the world by diverting the invasion.[3]

Following their first accidental adventure, Force Works officially became a team, counting with technical manager Fisher Todd and public relations Amanda Chaney as their support staff. They were caught by surprise by a political crisis in the Baltic nation of Slorenia, which faced an ethnic civil war. Their predictive apparatus had been tampered with by the Recorder, who sabotaged their effectiveness as a team. The mythic warrior of the ethnic minority Dudak named Ember and the government sponsored Slorene Black Brigade attacked Force Works in different occasions as they arrived. Working with the Slorene government, Force Works tracked down Ember, but he was slain in a confrontation with Black Brigade. Iron Man called the mission off, stating the problem was already solved, much to the Scarlet Witch's dismay.[5]

Iron Man and his former associate and now rival War Machine were kidnapped by the Mandarin, with the Avatars ravaging the Stark Enterprises' building in Hong Kong in the process. As Force Works battled the Avatars in Hong Kong, Century managed to find Iron Man and War Machine in the Mandarin's castle in China. However, the Mandarin easily overpowered them.[6] Fending the Avatars off, Force Works moved to the Mandarin[7] to save a tortured Stark.[8] While the Mandarin led an attack against technology to Hong Kong, Century and War Machine planned for a counter attack with Chu Lo Yan, joining the rest of Force Works.[9] The group opposed Chu Lo Yan for his authoritarian ideals, going against the Mandarin by themselves.[10] Iron Man managed to stop the dark attack in Hong Kong, preparing to a final strike against his enemy. With Force Works intercepted by the Avatars, Iron Man pretended to surrender, actually tricking the Mandarin by infecting him with an accelerated aging agent. Earth's technology was then saved from the Mandarin's feudal ideals.[11]

Enjoying peace, Force Works celebrated Christmas alongside some Avengers, an opportunity Stark used to apologize for his past condescending behavior. Moreover, the former chairman of the West Coast Avengers Hawkeye secretly overwatched Force Works' operations, being spotted by Spider-Woman's daughter Rachel.[12] The group then travelled to Australia to assess instances of ethereal monsters and people apparently trapped in their sleep. Assisted by the spiritual hero Dreamguard, the team investigated the mystery, linking it to the alien apparatus known as the Orphan, which had been corrupted by robbers. In the end, Force Works and Dreamguard defeated the criminals, ending the nightmarish assaults.[13]

Uncanny Avengers Vol 3 3 Marvel '92 Variant Textless

In Slorenia, the Dudak were brutalized by the government, an agenda enforced by Black Brigade and genetically enhanced soldiers, the Targoth. The Scarlet Witch anonymously had Force Works help the oppressed Dudak while Stark publicly offered support to the government as a ruse for their investigation. Spider-Woman learned the government had been manipulated by the ancient Slorene warrior Volkvhy, while Force Works were joined by Ember. Meanwhile, during the mission, Century was attacked by a corrupted Recorder and destroyed it in retaliation. As Iron Man defeated Black Brigade, Ember eliminated his historical enemy Volkvhy, starting a new totalitarian rule. Force Works stopped Ember as well, liberating Slorenia of generations of ethnic enslaving.[14]

The Crossing[]

Tensions in the ranks of Force Works escalated since Iron Man frequently made decisions without the Scarlet Witch's consent or knowledge; as the nominal leader, she was constantly countermanded. In the Vault super-criminal prison, the Starstealth incited a rebellion supported by the defective Recorder, who had seized control of the prison. Force Works intervened alongside the Avengers, in an uneasy team-up to track fugitives down. The Avengers wanted the Kree Starstealth extradited by Skrull emissaries, while Force Works wished for them to stand trial on Earth.[15] In the end, the Scarlet Witch managed to utterly obliterate the Recorder as Force Works and the Avengers recaptured the Starstealth. The interlopers were ultimately extradited in an amicable agreement between Force Works and the Avengers.[16]

After U.S. Agent found the Works raided and his teammates locked up, he was attacked by the slaves of Broker, Century's former "owner". With P.L.A.T.O.'s and Century's assistance, U.S. Agent tricked and defeated Broker in a fake trading deal. Century then took a leave of absence to return the slaves to their home worlds while keeping Broker in check. During their mission against Broker, Force Works learned about a secret area in the Works that counted with technology from Timely that was not related to Stark.[17][18]

After Iron Man, Scarlet Witch and U.S. Agent reunited with the Avengers for a brief commemoration,[19] Force Works suddenly counted with the mysterious Moonraker among their ranks as if he had been a member for a long time and had engaged in a relationship with Spider-Woman. He raised suspicions as Rachel could not recognize him as her mother's lover.[20] Meanwhile, Iron Man forced the ruthless Cybermancer onto the team to replace Century. In a tyrannic display, he tasked the team of brutally capturing Hawkeye, who he blamed for the murders of Yellowjacket and Marilla in the Avengers Mansion. Considering Iron Man's facetious attitude, the Scarlet Witch decided to run Force Works outside his influence.[21]

Without Iron Man, Force Works investigated the mysterious disappearance of Vietnam alongside Fisher Todd, under Moonraker's guidance since he was the only one who remembered the missing country.[21] Meanwhile, alongside War Machine and the Avengers, Force Works realized Iron Man could represent a threat as his activities were linked to Kang the Conqueror. In Vietnam, after fighting Kang's Anachronaut Apocryphus, Moonraker claimed to Force Works to actually be Libra, who had been introduced to Force Works as a plan of the Priests of Pama to stop Kang.[22]

Iron Man directly attacked the Avengers under Kang's and Mantis' influence.[23] In the Works, Amanda Chaney was murdered by him after she had learned that the technology from Timely in the secret sub-basement room were chronograph weapons programmed to bombard the planet and that Cybermancer was an imposter and a doppelgänger of Suzi Endo. Iron Man and Cybermancer turned their attention to Rachel, but were surprised by War Machine and an unexpectedly returned Century.[24] Iron Man ran away from War Machine after a destructive battle, leaving his evil A.I. V.I.R.G.I.L. and Cybermancer to prevent Force Works from stopping him. Force Works and War Machine managed to defeat the villains and incapacitate any bombardments.[25]

Joining the Avengers, Force Works battled Kang's forces in the Avengers Mansion. Falling into the interdimensional portal, they traveled to an alternate past and recruited a teenage version of Iron Man to combat the corrupted Stark in the present.[26] In a war against Kang, Mantis and the Anachronauts, Iron Man regained his senses and sacrificed himself to stop the villains.[27] The young Iron Man joined the Avengers instead.[28] Years later, the Avengers would learn that these events were actually machinations elaborated by Immortus.[29]

Following Tony Stark's end, Force Works and the real Suzi Endo confronted the origins of her duplicate Cybermancer, a time-traveler from possible future where technology was all-present. Their base was invaded by Ultron and Simon Williams, versions of Ultron and Wonder Man from Cybermancer's reality who wished to retrieve her.[30] The Scarlet Witch offered to help them instead. However, as one of Kang's time-gates threatened the fabric of space-time, the transdimensional invaders were unexpectedly terminated, but so did the threat. Facing trauma from encountering Wonder Man, the team thought on their lost teammates and chose to disband.[31]

Robot Revolution[]

Many years later, Force Works was reinstated during the robot revolution as a taskforce designed to subdue rebel artificial intelligences. The team was operated by Maria Hill, with War Machine serving as field leader. His teammates included Gauntlet, Mockingbird, Quake, U.S. Agent and Solo, but the former left the team after a mission resulted in Gauntlet's hospitalization.

When the team was deployed in Lingares to investigate a mysterious nuclear explosion,[32] Force Works crossed paths with an army of Deathloks as well as the giant robot Ultimo.[33] They were assisted by M.O.D.O.K. in killing Ultimo, unbeknownst that he had created the Deathloks in the first place to stop Ultimo. M.O.D.O.K. usurped Ultimo's beheaded body, and rechristened himself UltiM.O.D.O.K., but he was ultimately defeated as well. Despite the success in stopping the Deathloks and Ultimo, Maria Hill fired all the team save for U.S.Agent for both their course of action and their refusal to retrieve M.O.D.O.K.'s files on how to create Deathloks. However, U.S.Agent was only spared because he handed Maria Hill over a blank thumb drive, claiming it contained the files in order to stall Hill until a scrub team sent to Lingares destroyed all traces of the Deathlok operation, including the files.[34]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Hex-Mainframe Computer, PLATO

Transportation

Notes

Trivia

  • The group was adapted into the supporting cast of the 1994–1996 Iron Man animated series. For the series, Hawkeye appeared in place of U.S. Agent (though he did appear in the 8 issue adaptation of the cartoon). Shortly after the characters were written out of the series, Force Works was cancelled at issue #22 (April 1996).

See Also

Links and References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_Works

References

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