Appearing in ""This Power Unleashed!""
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Major Gordon Carlson (First appearance)
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Thor (Odinson) (Mentioned)
- Donald Blake (Mentioned)
- U.S. Army (Mentioned)
- Dr. Yen ⏵ (First appearance)
- Hu Chen (First appearance)
- Numerous unnamed Circus visitors
- S.H.I.E.L.D. (Behind the scenes)
- Santa Claus (Mentioned)
- Methuselah (Mentioned)
- Baron Zemo (Mentioned)
- Tony Stark (Mentioned)
- Mandarin (Mentioned)
- Lemuel Gulliver (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
- Humans
- Sparrows
- Asps (Mentioned)
- Lilliputians (Mentioned)
Locations:
- Earth
- North America
- United States
- New York
- New York City
- Unnamed Circus
- Black Widow's Mansion
- New York
- United States
- Asia
- North America
- Asgard (Mentioned)
- Heavens (Invoked)
Items:
- Hawkeye's Suit, Bow and Trick Arrows
- Captain America's Uniform and Shield
- Goliath's Suit
- Black Widow's Gauntlets
- Swordsman's Sword
- Wasp's Suit and Bio-Synthetic Wings
- Thermo-reviver discs
- Communi-crystal
- Ultra-wave electro-bolt
Vehicles:
- Avengers car
Synopsis for ""This Power Unleashed!""
The story is continued from the last issue.
The Avengers are unable to revive the fallen Goliath. The Wasp calls the team's usual doctor, Dr. Donald Blake, but his answering service says he's out of town. Instead, Cap calls upon an army doctor whom he worked alongside during the war, Major Carlson.
Meanwhile, the Black Widow has been brainwashed to once again be loyal to her communist masters. She is sent back to the States to destroy the Avengers.
After examining Pym, Carlson informs the team that Goliath will recover but that he must never attempt to shrink any further than his present, ten-foot height. Frustrated and feeling like a freak, Goliath storms out in anger.
The Black Widow enlists the aid of the Swordsman and Power Man to defeat the Avengers. While back at Avengers Mansion, Cap informs Hawkeye that the Black Widow has been seen by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents alive and in the States. Hawkeye is elated, but Cap warns him that she has been brainwashed to be loyal to the Soviets; the archer doesn't care. He rushes off to find her. Concerned, Cap asks the Wasp to tail Hawkeye secretly.
Hawkeye returns to the mansion that Natasha previously inhabited. He finds her there along with the Swordsman and Power Man. The two villains knock Hawkeye out. The Wasp (who flew off after Hawkeye so fast that she neglected to arm herself with a stinger), who's been watching the proceedings, flies away to alert the rest of the Avengers. Unfortunately, she is waylaid by a sparrow and then has a crash landing that renders her unconscious as well.
The Swordsman infiltrates Avengers Mansion (apparently they haven't updated any of their security measures since he was briefly a member.) He captures Captain America and takes him back to the Widow's lair. However Cap activates a "communi-crystal" that alerts Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch to his predicament. As they track Cap's signal, the Wasp recovers and returns to the mansion to summon aid from Goliath.
Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are subdued, but Goliath and the Wasp arrive on the scene soon afterwards and turn the tide. The three villains flee the scene. Hawkeye has a chance to prevent their escape by shooting an arrow after them, but doesn't. He can't bring himself to harm Natasha. As the Avengers depart, Cap offhandedly states that things are "back to normal." For Goliath however, stuck at ten feet tall, he can no longer lead a normal life.
Notes
- Captain America, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, Wasp, and Goliath were all seen last issue battling the Collector and Beetle.
- When attempting to seek medical aid for Goliath, the Avengers first try to contact Donald Blake but are told he was out of town. At this point in time, the Avengers were not aware that Donald Blake was the civilian guise for fellow Avengers, Thor. The footnote by Stan Lee mentions that Thor is busy in Thor #128. In that issue, Thor is in Asgard recovering from his battle against Hercules until he is well enough to battle the Greek God again and ends up caught up in a plot by Pluto to make Hercules the ruler of Hades.
- Apart from appearing in a flashback in Avengers #16, the Black Widow was last seen in Tales of Suspense #64, where she and Hawkeye battled Iron Man. They were defeated and the Black Widow was taken back behind the Iron Curtain.
- The Swordsman was last seen in Avengers #20 where he was recruited by the Mandarin to infiltrate and destroy the Avengers. This plot, of course, failed.
- Power Man was last seen in Avengers #22 when he was used by the Enchantress in a plot to defeat and discredit the Avengers. This plot was foiled, of course.
- The Swordsman mentions that the Mandarin added extra functions to his sword. This was done in Avengers #20.
- Captain America is next seen in Tales of Suspense #77.
- Black Widow, Power Man, Swordsman, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Wasp, and Goliath are all next seen in Avengers #30.
- Black Widow's costume is colored green in the cover. This mistake was corrected when the cover was reprinted for Marvel Triple Action Vol 1 23.
- The Black Widow brings together the Swordsman and Power Man. The latter two villains would be an unofficial team, often teaming up throughout the rest of the Silver Age.
- The introduction of Major Carlson is a curious dead end. The character is never seen again. In his retrospective column on the history of the series, Brian Cronin hypothesized that Major Carlson was originally supposed to be Donald Blake, but that would have contradicted Thor's own series, so Blake was redrawn to be Major Carlson.
- References: Thor #129 and Avengers #20
