Avengers #182

Issue Details

Synopsis

"Honor Thy Father" The bodies of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch lay inert and lifeless in the Avengers Mansion infirmary. Doctor Blake has determined that while they are not fully alive they are not truly dead either. He says it is as if their souls have been stolen. Elsewhere, despite having access to high-tech scanners once more (thanks to the newly reinstalled security privileges), the Avengers can find no cause for the twins’ current state. Jocasta pipes in that her own cybernetic senses have detected an energy signature leading from the mansion, across the city to the Bowery neighborhood. Agent Gyrich is taken aback to realize that Jocasta is a sentient being and not some pre-programmed robot. He insists that if she is “alive”, she must have security clearance to reside at the mansion. Jocasta rattles him with some self-deprecating humor, however. She asks him if the U.S. government insists on having security clearance for “mere machines.” Her question leaves Gyrich confused and he retreats. The Avengers prepare to follow the trail, but the new security procedures they’ve agreed to dictate that one team member remains behind on monitor duty at all times. Hawkeye balks at missing out at his last official mission as an Avenger. Wonder Man volunteers to remain behind, and so the rest of the team head for the Bowery. At that very moment in a seedy Bowery flophouse, a strange scene unfolds. Wanda and Pietro’s life force has been transferred to two marionette figurines kept in enchanted cages. A white-bearded man, Django Maximoff, insists that they are his own long-lost children, Ana and Mateo. The siblings deny this, though, stating that their parents were the WWII-era heroes the Whizzer and Miss America. Django, however, recounts a very different version of their childhood: how he raised them as members of a Roma gypsy tribe and how they used their powers (which Django believed stemmed from his magical runestone) for the good of the caravan. Prejudice against gypsies and fear of the siblings’ “witchcraft abilities” prompted superstitious villagers to assault them. Django’s wife was killed and he believed his children were dead as well until he read newspaper reports of the Avengers and became convinced that they were his children. But as his tale ends, he senses the approach of the Avengers. The Avengers arrive in their sky-sled and Django uses a magical runestone to animate mannequins in a nearby warehouse to attack them. They destroy them easily enough. But when they enter Django’s rented room, he creates a powerful illusion to transform the room into a vast, outer space void. And in this fantasy world, he conjures three adversaries -- Toad, Princess Python, and Nighthawk -- to combat the team. The Avengers spring into action but nothing they do seems to affect their foes. Suddenly, from below, a wino bangs on the ceiling, telling them to “keep it down up there!” They realize it is all merely an illusion. By focusing their mental energy, they see through the illusion. Django grabs the cages and the runestone and bolts out the door. But he is stopped in his tracks by a seething-mad Vision gliding up out of the ground before him. Django is too frightened to react, but Wanda tells her husband that Django’s power stems from his runestone. By focusing his solar energy through his forehead jewel, Vision incinerates the runestone, breaking the enchantment holding the twins. As the marionettes collapse, Django breaks down in sobs. Later, in the mansion, Wanda and Pietro are back to normal. They’ve taken pity on Django however, realizing how wounded and lonely he really is. Also, Wanda explains that some of the things Django said have raised questions in the twins’ minds. Wanda asks permission for a leave of absence to accompany Django back to his homeland, Transia. With the excitement over, the heroes can finally relax...for now.