Appearing in "And the Rocket's Red Glare!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Dire Wraiths
- Rocketeers (First appearance) (Other Rocketeers in recap)
- Dr. Woodrow Cather ⏵ (First appearance)
- General William Bridges ⏵ (First appearance) (Impersonating the real General William Bridges)
Other Characters:
- Beyonder (Referenced)
- National Security Council (Mentioned)
- Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff)
- Lockjaw
- Bova (Mentioned)
- U.S. Army
Races and Species:
- Humans
- Titanians
- Synthezoids
- Birds
- Dire Wraiths (Main story and recap)
- Kree (Mentioned)
- Skrulls (Mentioned)
- Inhuman Dogs
Locations:
- Milky Way (Main story and recap)
- Solar System (Main story and recap)
- Earth (Main story and recap)
- North America (Main story and recap)
- United States (Main story and recap)
- Florida
- The Cape
- Merritt Island
- Banana River
- Key Biscayne (Mentioned)
- The Cape
- Washington, D.C. (Mentioned)
- California
- West Virginia (Only in recap)
- Clairton (Only in recap)
- Florida
- United States (Main story and recap)
- Europe
- North America (Main story and recap)
- Earth (Main story and recap)
- Solar System (Main story and recap)
- Dark Nebula (Mentioned) (Only as part of the "Mists of the Dark Nebula")
Items:
- Captain Marvel's Suit
- Captain America's Shield
- Bio-Synthetic Wings
- Avengers Identicard
- Rocket-Suit
- Mini-missiles
- Mists of the Dark Nebula (First appearance)
Vehicles:
- Janet Van Dyne's yacht (First appearance)
- S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier (Only in recap)
- Space Shuttle
- Ion-Drive Rocket (First appearance)
Events:
- Secret Wars (Referenced)
Synopsis for "And the Rocket's Red Glare!"
The Avengers have gathered aboard a large yacht (owned by the Wasp) that is cruising along Banana River to the east of the Kennedy Space Center. After a fast recon of the base by Captain Marvel finds nothing suspicious, the Vision reminds the team that they will be meeting with General Bridges at the Cape to discuss a number of supposed accidents that Washington suspects might be sabotage caused by alien creatures called Dire Wraiths. When the review is interrupted by a sudden explosion at the nearby test-pad five, the Avengers spring into action. While three of them act to prevent a toppling booster rocket from causing catastrophic damage, the other three confront and subdue the four Rocketeers responsible for the attack. However, someone watching from afar then intervenes, causing the area to be enveloped by the Mists of the Dark Nebula. The strange fog disables all of the Avengers but not the captives, enabling them to escape. Once they've flown out of sight, the fog quickly dissipates and the Avengers concentrate on helping the injured.
At the same time, Clint Barton and Bobbi Morse arrive at Los Angeles International Airport. After collecting their luggage, they seek out Bill Foster who doesn't initially recognize them out of costume. Once they identify themselves, he takes their bags and welcomes them to L.A.
Later, at the Cape, the Avengers are in the Office of Military Security with General Bridges when Dr. Woodrow Cather arrives. The general introduces Cather as the base's highest ranking civilian scientist and the Vision briefs them about the threat posed by the aliens called Dire Wraiths, including the fact that those Dire Wraiths who used advanced technology were apparently recently exterminated by the dominant Wraith species who use dark sorcery and who had almost destroyed the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier less than a week before. The Vision also mentions that a previous group of Rocketeers were secretly science Wraiths. When Cather demands that the guard on his prototype ion-drive rocket be doubled, Bridges counters that he thinks the space shuttle should get priority attention instead and states that he intends to call out a full battalion to help the Avengers guard it. At this point, the Vision intercedes, smashing the top of the general's desk with his fist as he declares that the Avengers will be the only additional force on alert and will handle everything beyond the Cape's normal security procedures.
Hours later, at dawn in Transia, Quicksilver and Lockjaw arrive to pay Bova a visit. They are stunned when they come across the smoldering remains of her cabin.
In a secluded Florida hideaway, the four Rocketeers are told by their leader that they were saved from the Avengers by the Dark Nebula mist and that he wasn't the one who sent it. They all realize that this means that they have been noticed by the Sisterhood who the leader says was toying with them in order to flush him out. With the Avengers around, overt sabotage as the Rocketeers is no longer possible so the leader provides them with jamming devices that will enable them to get past the detection equipment that the Avengers will be setting up.
The next morning, with the Avengers on guard around the base, the foursome attempt to pass through the checkpoints while dressed as technicians. Although their cloaking devices work on human eyes, the Vision's wider range of vison enables him to spot them and sound an alarm. Hearing the alarm, the four realize they've been spotted and race towards the ship that is now their only hope. However, the Avengers quickly respond and get in their way. Elsewhere, Cather deceives the soldiers sent to escort him to safety and cuts the experimental ion-drive rocket off from ground control. With the capture of his fellows providing a diversion, as he had planned, Cather rides the elevator up to the rocket's command module, unaware that the Wasp is secretly following closely behind him.
Back on the ground, the battle ends when the Scarlet Witch casts a hex that forces the four aliens into their true forms and prevents them from changing shape. Moments later, the so-called "ion-drive" rocket takes off and within moments is far out of range. As Captain Marvel flies after it in her light-form, the captured Dire Wraiths declare that they have been abandoned, betrayed and doomed. When Captain America demands to know what they mean about being doomed, one of them reveals that the red glow from the ship indicates that the star-drive that they fabricated using human technology and secretly installed is unstable and could go off at any time like a massive anti-matter bomb. As the Scarlet Witch wonders where the Wasp is, the winged Avenger in unconscious within the command module and unaware of the horrible destructive force that is building beneath her.
Solicit Synopsis
Notes
- At the time this story was written, both Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch had been mutants since their first appearance but decades later it was revealed that the twins were not actually mutants after all.[1]