Appearing in "The Carbon Copy Avengers"
Featured Characters:
Antagonists:
- Xartans
- Lord Zano
- "Avengers" (First appearance)
- "Black Knight" (First appearance)
- "She-Hulk" (First appearance)
- "Doctor Druid" (First appearance)
- "Thor" (First appearance)
- N'astirh (First appearance)
- Cameron Hodge
Other Characters:
- Avengers
- Mayor of New York City & unnamed New Yorkers
- Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange) (Illusion or holographic simulation)
- Infectia (Mentioned)
- Pestilence (Plague) (Mentioned)
- Madelyne Pryor (Mentioned)
- Destiny (Irene Adler) (Mentioned)
- Apocalypse (Mentioned)
- Belasco (Mentioned)
- Professor X (Charles Xavier) (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
- Celestial Ship
- Xartan space ship
Synopsis for "The Carbon Copy Avengers"
The Avengers are on the scene of their former headquarters[1] as part of the ceremony donating it to the city as green space. Witnessing the events are members of the alien Xartan race who have come to shake hands with the Avengers on site to get templates of their forms and abilities. Teleported back to their ship above the Earth, the Xartan's transform into carbon copies of the Avengers for their leader Lord Zano. Zano explains to them that they are to go to Earth posing as the Avengers in a revenge plot against Thor for the defeat of the Xartans previous failed attempt at conquering Earth.[2] They are about to attack the Avenger's Hydrobase headquarters when their sensors detect another ship on the Earth.
This ship happens to be the headquarters for X-Factor, hovering over the Atlantic Ocean. Inside the ship Iceman, Cyclops and Marvel Girl watch over the unconscious Beast, who has been that way since his encounter with Infecta. Ship's prognosis is not good: Hank is in rough shape and might die, however he notes that the virus that the Horseman Pestilence infected him with[3] counteracted the effects of Infecta's kiss, and is the only thing that is keeping him alive. Their observations are interrupted by the arrival of who they think is Thor, who bursts through the hull of their ship and plants some kind of device. Scott, Jean and Bobby decide to go and investigate.
Elsewhere in the ship, Boom-Boom is upset because on of her fellow mutants has been using her Cripple Puppies album as a pizza tray and demands answers. Rusty and the others are sullen and tells her the bad news: That the members of X-Factor have been considering sending the children to a private school and that the deadline for the mutants to register under the Mutant Registration Act is just two days away. Undaunted by this, Tabitha suggests that all they need to do is convince X-Factor that sending them to boarding school is a bad idea. Just then they are sealed in the room by Ship, who tells them that X-Factor ordered him to keep them safe while they are investigating the supposed arrival of Thor.
When X-Factor confronts "Thor", they are attacked by the rest of the fake Avengers who intend to use their ship to start their invasion of Earth. X-Factor are confused by this and caught off guard by this seemingly unprovoked attack from the Avengers. Meanwhile, the children watch the battle from a monitor in their room and Artie's power allows him to point out that X-Factor is not fighting the real Avengers. When Ship refuses to let the children out on Cyclops's orders, Boom-Boom decides to be proactive and uses one of her time-bombs to blow the door open so they can go and help their mentors.
As the battle between X-Factor and the "Avengers" rages on, Lord Zano watches from the shadows and notices that the battle progress is not going well because they did not take the time to examine X-Factor before attacking. However, Zano takes on a monstrous form and joins the battle. Meanwhile, the children break their way into the infirmary where they find Hank in a coma and try to convince Ship to let them help. Meanwhile, Zano turns the tide of the battle in the Xartans favor by adapting to be immune to X-Factor's powers. When Ship tells them this, the children point out that the creature adapted to X-Factor's powers but not theirs and they can launch a surprise attack. Ship finally concedes and allows the children to enter the fray.
They join just at the right time, as Cyclops's visor is smashed. When the children attack the "Avengers" by surprise, they manage to knock out "She-Hulk" revealing her to be an alien shape-changer. Realizing that they are not fighting the real Avengers, X-Factor and the children stop pulling their punches and take down all the Xartans, Tabitha landing the K.O. punch to the fake Thor with a powerful time-bomb she attaches to his hammer.
In Boston, deep below the headquarters of the Right, Cameron Hodge uses arcane means to summon the N'astirh, a demon from Limbo and cuts him a deal: In exchange for immortality, he will tell the demon the location of powerful mutants that his organization has been able to track so that N'astirh can use them for his mystical rituals.
Back at X-Factor's headquarters, Ship has put the Xartans in stasis and while Tabitha brags about how she played an important role in defeating them, Scott and Jean watch over their charges and consider that following the second attack on their Ship in so many days it's a bad idea to keep the children isolated from others and that one of Xavier's biggest failings with them was isolating them from children their own age.
See Also
Links and References
References
- ↑ destroyed in Avengers #277
- ↑ Journey Into Mystery #90
- ↑ X-Factor #21