| Silver Surfer |  It is made of solidified air molecules... Hardened to an unbelievable degree!  |
| Thor | My uru hammer barely chips the surface! |
| Iron Man | Magnetic repulsor rays have no effect! |
| Captain America | The edge of my super-hard shield doesn't even dent it! |
| Tigra | If you guys think I'm going to break my pretty claws trying to scratch my way in... go fish! |
Appearing in "All the Ways of Power!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- ⏴ Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd) ⏵ (Main story and recap)
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Enrico and his mother (First appearance)
- Amber (First appearance)
- Michelle (First appearance)
- Rodney (Mentioned)
- Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze) (Referenced)
- Alan (First appearance)
- Edwin Jarvis (Referenced)
- Myron Marks (First appearance)
- Gene Krupa (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
- Jim Chapin (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
- Galactus (Galan) (Only in recap)
- Shalla-Bal (Only in recap)
- Fantastic Four (Only in recap)
- Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) (Only in recap)
- Thing (Ben Grimm) (Only in recap)
- Human Torch (Johnny Storm) (Only in recap)
- Invisible Girl (Sue Storm) (Only in recap)
- Ann Nocenti
- Mr. Carosella
- Odin (Invoked)
- Roy Rogers (Mentioned) (Topical Reference)
- Trigger (Mentioned)
- Heimdall (Invoked)
- Surtur (Invoked)
Races and Species:
- Humans (Main story and recap)
- Cows (Invoked)
- Cats (Mentioned)
- Rats (Invoked)
- Mice (Mentioned)
- Zenn-Lavians (Main story and recap)
- Taa-ans (Only in recap)
- Asgardians
- Fish (Mentioned)
- Birds (Mentioned)
Locations:
- Earth
- North America
- United States
- New York
- New York City
- Manhattan
- Madison Avenue
- Irving Trust Company
- Upper East Side
- Lenox Hill
- A trendy bar
- Midtown
- Union Square (Mentioned)
- Wall Street (Referenced)
- Madison Avenue
- Hudson River
- Manhattan
- New York City
- New Jersey
- Netcong (Unnamed)
- Molecule Man's Citadel (First appearance)
- Netcong (Unnamed)
- New York
- United States
- North America
- Zenn-La (Mentioned)
Items:
- Avengers Priority Card
- Molecule Man's Wand
- Fantastic Four Uniforms (Only in recap)
- Iron Man Armor Model 4 (Destruction)
- Mjolnir (Destruction)
- Captain America's Uniform
- Captain America's Shield (Destruction)
- Power Cosmic (Main story and recap)
Vehicles:
- Silver Surfer's Surfboard (Main story and recap) (Destroyed)
Synopsis for "All the Ways of Power!"
Tigra causes a stir at a bank when she opens an account and deposits her stipend check. Another customer gets a little too friendly with her and she lashes out at him. Later, she has to concede her appearance provokes the wrong type of attention, so she spends some money on a new wardrobe. But even as she does so, she mulls over the fact that she hasn’t really pulled her weight as an Avenger.
Meanwhile, the Silver Surfer happens upon the Molecule Man's discarded wand, but proves invulnerable to its power of possessing the bodies of those who touch it. He discards it and is about to leave, but the Molecule Man manages to recreate his physical body.
The curious Surfer engages the Molecule Man in conversation. Molecule Man tells the Surfer his story and in turn the Surfer relates his own origin. As he’s speaking, Molecule Man realizes he doesn’t really need the wand to manifest his molecular control abilities. (He creates an ostentatious helmet for himself and embeds the wand within it.) Moreover, the Surfer’s story has inspired the deranged villain with a new plan: he will mimic Galactus by EATING the Earth, something he can theoretically accomplish with his powers. The Surfer threatens to oppose him but Molecule Man easily imprisons him and saunters away.
The Surfer wills his surfboard to fly to the Baxter Building in hopes of eliciting help from the Fantastic Four. They are away on a mission however, but Iron Man retrieves the board and takes it back to Avengers Mansion. The team realize it’s a distress call from the Surfer but are unsure how to respond, until Tigra (attempting to crack a joke) jumps on top of the board and it suddenly transports her to the Surfer’s location. Thor, Iron-Man, and Captain America follow her.
After the Surfer explains the situation, the Molecule Man isn’t too hard to find as the villain has erected a huge dome over the New Jersey countryside which now contains his newly constructed palatial headquarters. As the team heads off to confront him, Tigra hitches a lift on the Surfer’s board. The Surfer remarks how Tigra seems to hide her genuine intelligence with flippant humor.
The shield over NJ repels the individual heroes attempts to breach it. But Thor, Iron-Man, and the Surfer concentrate their collective blasting power on one tiny area. They rupture the force field just enough that Cap is able to smash a hole in it with his shield. Tigra, eager to prove her worth, leaps through the hole to scout around. Unfortunately, she’s captured pretty quickly by the Molecule Man.
The rest of the team finally pierce the barrier and confront the Molecule Man. But the diminutive villain shows off his power by disintegrating the Surfer’s board, Iron-Man’s armor, Thor’s hammer and even Cap’s shield! With their devices and weapons neutralized, Molecule Man takes them by surprise and defeats them all, save for Cap. He snatches away the villains’ wand, believing that will render him powerless. He’s in for a surprise though as he’s knocked unconscious.
Afterwards, Molecule Man places the defeated Tony Stark, Don Blake, Cap and Surfer in a giant “crushing boot”. He makes Tigra an offer, become his “friend” or join her teammates in death. Terrified, Tigra sides with him and begs him to spare her life. He does, but activates the boot, seemingly crushing the rest of the team to death.
Notes
- When Tigra reacts to another bank customer pawing her, a security guard says she's only asking for it because of the way she looks. Later, she concedes the point and thinks she IS asking for it, even if her thick coat of fur covers her semi-nakedness. That's not an attitude that would fly today. The customer's uninvited fondling would be considered abusive behavior.
- The Molecule Man was originally a foe of the Fantastic Four. He didn't have innate superpowers, but instead had a molecule-controlling wand. In an early adventure, his physical body was disintegrated, but he was able to infuse his life essence into his molecule-controlling wand, which would possess whoever happened to touch it. He could then be defeated whenever the possessed person was physically separated from the wand. This issue finally does away with that gimmick by having the Molecule Man reassemble his original body and realizing he doesn't actually need the wand to manifest his abilities.
- The Molecule Man destroys Thor's hammer, the Surfer's surfboard, Iron-Man's armor, and Cap's shield. Afterwards, he remarks that the shield had the strangest molecular configuration he'd ever encountered.
- This issue contains letters page 'Avengers Assemble' with letters pertaining to Avengers #211
- A secretary at the advertising agency is named Ann Nocenti (who is a Marvel editor).
- Molecule Man last appeared in Micronauts #23 and will appear next in Avengers #216.
- Wasp is still on leave of absence following Yellowjacket's dismissal from Avengers. Despite neither she nor Yellowjacket appearing in this story, both their faces will continue to appear in the corner box this issue and the next.
- 1st 60 cent issue
Trivia
- In keeping with the Molecule Man's somewhat nerdy personality, the boot he uses to crush the Avengers is more than a little reminiscent of the iconic foot from the opening credits of the cult television show "Monty Python's Flying Circus."