—Ivan PetrovitchNothing lasts forever, kid! You'll learn that by the time you're my age! The Black Widow an' Ivan made a good team... once...
Appearing in "The Creature Called... Swarm!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Swarm (Fritz von Meyer) (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Frankie (First appearance)
- Interpol Agent
- Zeus (Mentioned)
- Black Goliath (Bill Foster) (Mentioned)
- X-Men (Mentioned)
- Nick Fury (Referenced)
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth
- North America
- Russia (Referenced)
Items:
Synopsis for "The Creature Called... Swarm!"
Hercules and Iceman are forced to fight against their headquarters' own malfunctioning security system due to the shoddy workmanship of their contractors. Meanwhile Natasha, Laynia, and Johnny are at the docks to see off Ivan, who claims to be returning to Russia only to seek out his son but secretly has an ulterior motive due to a mysterious call he received from Nick Fury. As the ship leaves, another man carrying a briefcase arrives and the docks come under attack by several giant mechanical bees under the command of Swarm, who uses the distraction to corner and kill the man over the briefcase, but is unable to take it because it's been coated in repellent. Swarm flees along with his drones, leaving the Champions to discover the body of the man and find that he was an Interpol agent. They reconvene at their headquarters just as Angel flies in, panicking about an incoming swarm of bees blacking out the sky over the city.
Notes
- Plot by Mantlo and Byrne, script by Mantlo.
- Letters (story pages): Saladino (uncredited) page 1, Watanabe pages 2-17.
- Ivan Petrovitch leaves the team this issue. He has appeared in this volume since Champions #1 and has been a partner with the Black Widow for several years prior.
- This issue contains a letters page, Cables of Champions. Letters are published from Alan Doll, Jne Daley Witten, Rick Hutchins, (Unknown), and Peter Eicher.