Super Sunday Special: The Big Three - History Of a Friendship

The following essay was originally written by me for Assembled! 2, a book by Van Allen Plexico and the rest of the AA Boards published in 2009. I was moderator of the boards back then, and we were all offered the chance to contribute to this and the unfortunately unpublished Assembled! 3. I decided to chronicle the 45+ years of friendship between Cap, Thor and Iron Man, from the early days until the original Civil War. For various reasons, it took a while for the book to be printed, by which time it wasn't completely up to date anymore and some changes were necessary, but the following is the essay as it was originally written. Incidentally, two more contributors - Doug and Karen - have gone on to create the Bronze Age Babies blog. I recommend you check it out. 

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“When I awoke, decades later, the first thing I heard was a deep, jovial howl. Thor’s laughter. And then another voice. Educated. Proper. But hollow – as if it was spoken through a metal pipe… They were the future. The Avengers.” (Captain America @ Avengers V3 #63).

Captain America, Thor and Iron Man, often referred to by readers as “The Big Three”. The history of the group owes a lot to them: they are founders – retroactively in Captain America’s case – have been team leaders and served some of the longest stints of membership, and when you see them interacting with each other, using their real names, asking or giving advice, or discussing private matters that they hide from everybody else, you can almost feel how close they are.

But it was not always this way: like every real relationship, the friendship between Captain America, Thor and Iron-Man has evolved through the years, starting as simple respect between “colleagues” and going through good and bad times, moments of confidence and of betrayal, of support and of hostility. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss how this evolution occurred throughout the 500+ Avengers issues, and to try to understand what makes the Big Three essentially like each other, and where their disagreements stem from.

Avengers: "The Price Of Victory"

Avengers #277 (1987)

By Roger Stern, John Buscema, Tom Palmer

Background: The Masters of Evil have invaded Avengers Mansion, badly beating Hercules and Jarvis. Led by the Wasp and helped by Thor and Doctor Druid, the Avengers are counter-attacking.

So, What Happens? The final battle between the Avengers and the Masters of Evil rages on. Thor faces Goliath in a fight so fierce it completely compromises the structural integrity of the mansion, while a shieldless Captain America squares off against a revived Wrecker, who now has the strength of the entire Wrecking Crew. Meanwhile on the roof Zemo orders Blackout to send the entire building in the Darkforce dimension, but Druid's telepathy gives Blackout enough self-control to resist the Baron's mental commanding, until the effort causes a cerebral haemorrhage that kills him instantly. Inside, with some help from Wasp, Cap holds the Wrecker at bay long enough for Thor to finally defeat Goliath, whose giant body topples on top of the Wrecker, putting him out of commission. Moreover, the damage to the building is enough to make Zemo's ship collapse alongside the rest of the third floor, with Yellowjacket inside. The girl survives, but faced by Captain America and the US Army prefers to surrender. On the roof, Druid recovers and Captain Marvel also arrives, easily destroying Zemo's guns. The Baron is alone and only has Captain America's shield for defence, but Cap shows up and asks to fight him alone, in revenge for everything he's done. The duel isn't just physical, as Cap confutes Zemo's claims about the Baron's father and remembers everything the Zemos have done to him, killing Bucky and injuring Hercules and Jarvis. Eventually, in his blind rage Zemo jumps at Cap, only to hit his shield and fall off the roof, refusing any help. Some time later, the defeated Masters are taken away by the army and the medics. Inside what's left of the mansion, Captain Marvel finds Captain America crying over the destroyed contents of his footlocker, including the torn photo of his long dead mother, the only memento Steve had of her. Now that the battle is won, he suffers the loss of his memories and of the mansion itself, which for a long time had been his home. Sharing his pain, Monica encourages him to salvage the past and build towards the future.

Avengers: "Revenge"

Avengers #276 (1987)

By Roger Stern, John Buscema, Tom Palmer

Background: The Masters of Evil assembled by Baron Zemo have taken over Avengers Mansion, brutally beating Hercules, imprisoning Captain Marvel and capturing Captain America, the Black Knight and Jarvis. With the help of the new Ant-Man, the Wasp is ready for a counter-attack.

So, What Happens? The Wasp's call for help is answered by Thor, who is once again ready to join the Avengers, and heard by their erstwhile ally Doctor Druid, who owes a lot to the team and decides to go and help. Elsewhere, a furious Captain Marvel finally exits the Darkforce dimension thanks to the unwitting help of the Shroud, whose powers tap the same energy creating a door out. Monica immediately flies to Janet, who's ready to launch an assault and take the Mansion back. Inside, Hyde is still beating poor Jarvis up, but the heroes cause a blackout that allows the Black Knight to finally summon the Ebony Sword. He immediately frees Cap, and together the two start pummelling Hyde, who's then finished by the Wasp and Thor once Captain Marvel digs an entrance tunnel underneath the building and the Darkforce casing. Outside, Druid mentally commands Blackout to lower the barrier and enters the building, while inside Yellowjacket warns Zemo that Thor and Captain Marvel have arrived, convincing him to order a hasty retreat without warning all of his allies. Unprepared, the Masters start falling, as Ant-Man takes down the Fixer while Thor - who's leading the attack together with Captain America - uses Mjolnir to draw the Wrecking Crew's power back through the Wrecker. However, they haven't reckoned with Goliath, who grabs Thor from behind. On the roof, Moonstone panics at the sight of Captain Marvel and tries to fly away, but in her confusion she hits a cliff head on and breaks her neck. Monica tries to help, learning that Blackout is not under her control but Zemo's. Meanwhile, the Baron - who now carries Cap's shield - has reached the roof of the Mansion and shot Doctor Druid from behind. Alone with Blackout, he orders him to send the entire mansion in the Darkforce dimension.

Avengers: "Even A God Can Die!"

Avengers #275 (1987)

By Roger Stern, John Buscema, Tom Palmer

Background: The Masters of Evil (Baron Zemo, Moonstone, Blackout, the Wrecking Crew, Tiger Shark, Yellowjacket, the Fixer, Mister Hyde, Absorbing Man, Titania) have conquered Avengers Mansion, capturing Jarvis, the Black Knight and Captain America. With Namor away for personal reasons, Captain Marvel imprisoned in the dark dimension and Hercules seemingly killed, the Wasp is the last Avenger standing.

So, What Happens? The Masters of Evil keep ransacking Avengers Mansion, but all Zemo is interested in is breaking Captain America's spirit. Seeing that his enemy is still confident that the Wasp will turn things around, Zemo orders the Absorbing Man and Titania to go to the hospital where she's keeping vigil on Hercules to finish her off. Meanwhile, a distraught Jan receives the visit of Scott Lang, who has succeeded Hank Pym as Ant-Man, and tearfully confesses to him that she feels responsible for what has happened. For a moment it looks like Hercules has died because from his injuries, but later the doctors find a weak pulse. Suddenly the Absorbing Man and Titania attack the hospital, a seemingly unstoppable force for Wasp and Ant-Man, but a determined Janet fights like never before, making the most of any advantage, situation and enemy weakness, so incredibly eventually the heroes triumph. Meanwhile, Zemo destroys some old photos and properties of Cap, but when that's not enough to break him, he orders Hyde to kill the prisoners starting from Jarvis, who suffers a brutal beating at the hands of Mister Hyde. What Zemo doesn't know is that the Wasp is ready for a counter-attack, and that Captain Marvel is still alive in the darkforce dimension. 

Avengers: "Divided... We Fall!"

Avengers #274 (1986)

By Roger Stern, John Buscema, Tom Palmer

Background: The current Avengers' roster is Captain America, Wasp, Black Knight, Captain Marvel and Hercules. Namor has recently taken a leave of absence. Wishing to get revenge on Captain America by killing those closest to him, Baron Zemo has assembled a the new Masters of Evil, who have broken in Avengers Mansion and captured Jarvis. The Masters are: Zemo, Moonstone, Goliath, the Wrecking Crew, Tiger Shark, Mister Hyde, Blackout, the Fixer and the new Yellowjacket

So, What Happens? Upset because of his unrequieted love for the Wasp, the Black Knight returns to Avengers Mansion and is attacked by the Masters of Evil, quickly falling in battle against Mister Hyde. Zemo then lures Captain Marvel at the Mansion with a fake summoning, and before Monica can realize it's a trap and escape, Blackout imprisons her in his Dark Force and makes her disappear. The Baron makes sure everything is going according to plan, keeping the Masters in line and using special circuitry hidden in his headband to control Blackout, but unbeknown to him Captain America is visiting the Wasp's New Jersey estate, to report about a recent battle against the Trapster and Whilwind. Steve had already contacted the Mansion and spoken to someone who sounded like the Wasp, but her apparent lack of interest had made him suspicious so he visited her in person. The two heroes realize something is amiss at the Mansion, so a short time later Janet enters the Avengers HQ at wasp size, seeing the Masters trash the place before finding Jarvis, who explains the situation and warns her that a trap has been prepared for Hercules. Minutes later, a heavily drunk and drugged Hercules returns to the Mansion. Steve and Janet manage to stop him from entering and inform him of what's going on, but Herc, who was already unhappy with the Wasp's leadership, is too drunk to listen or wait for any reserve Avenger to arrive and attacks head on, forcing the other two heroes to follow suit. Cap and Janet are quickly captured by the Mansion's own security system, reprogrammed by the Fixer, and the Wasp is the only one who manages to escape before the estate is encased by Blackout's Dark Force. Meanwhile, Hercules defeats Tiger Shark and holds his own against Mister Hyde and the Wrecking Crew, but Goliath turns the tables and the combined villains completely thrash the hero, who's too drunk to fight back. Whilst Zemo enjoys goading and beating a tied up Captain America, Herc's lifeless body is thrown out of the Mansion. 

Avengers: "Rites Of Conquest!"

Avengers #273 (1986)

By Roger Stern, John Buscema, Tom Palmer

Background: The current roster of the Avengers is Wasp (team leader), Captain America, Black Knight, Hercules, Captain Marvel. Namor has recently left for personal reasons.

So, What Happens? At a bar, Hercules is having a good time showing off and chatting, but he doesn't know that his drinking buddy is the Wrecker, who takes advantage of Herc's short temper to learn of Namor's absence and play up the hero's dislike for the Wasp's leadership. After nearly causing an accident, Hercules goes back to drinking, while the Wrecker reports to his boss Baron Zemo, who has assembled an army of villains and is getting ready to strike the Avengers. However, keeping his underlings in line isn't easy for the Baron, with the Wrecker and others complaining for the lack of action while Moonstone, confident of the crucial importance of her role, starts threatening to wrestle the leadership of the group from him. Moonstone's role is to control Blackout, a near catatonic man capable of tapping into an extradimensional dark force, perfect for neutralizing Captain Marvel whom Zemo considers the most dangerous Avenger. A quick demonstration shows that Blackout can indeed do the trick, but also that he's under Moonstone's complete control, and therefore a further potential threat to Zemo. In order to make Moonstone think twice about betraying him. Zemo arranges a little brawl between Piledriver and Mister Hyde, only to calm the latter down with a powerful sedative and make it look like he's completely obedient to him. Unaware of the sedative, Moonstone is impressed and wonders if the Baron has some secret power. Meanwhile, the Black Knight accompanies the Wasp to an evening gala, but the presence of the Paladin ruins his evening as he's jelous of his flirting with Janet. Thanks to the Fixer, Zemo watches everything through the local cameras and notices the Knight's reaction, planning to use it to his own advantage. Ready for his plan to start, Zemo summons his Master of Evil: Moonstone, Mister Hide, the Wrecking Crew, Blackout, Tiger Shark, the Absorbing Man, Titania, Yellowjacket, Goliath and the Fixer. With a powerful speech, the Baron rallies them against the Avengers, promising to defeat and humiliate them. He also proves his leadership to Moonstone, taking control of Blackout away from her thanks to the circuitry inside his new headband modified by the Fixer. When all the Masters accept to follow him, Zemo orders them to attack Avengers Mansion overnight, quickly battling past the building's defences and capturing Jarvis, who is covering for Hercules on monitor duty, like Zemo had planned. With the local traffic diverted and no witnesses around, within minutes the Masters take control of the Mansion and get ready for phase two of their plan.

Super Sunday Special: The Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes - Breakout

Avengers - Earth's Mightiest Heroes Episode 01... di jamal_yusufi

Background: The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is an animated series spanning two seasons and 57 episodes (including five introduction episodes, each formed by four micro-episodes) written by Chris Yost and Joshua Fine. Despite using material from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, such as black Nick Fury, Jarvis as an AI or Hawkeye and Black Widow as two special agents of SHIELD, the series is not set in that continuity, instead being mostly based on the classic comics by Lee and Kirby. Most Avengers are introduced gradually over the course of the seasons and wear their classic costumes.

So, What Happens? Don't ask me, watch the episode embedded up here :) "Breakout - Part 1" is the first full episode, or episode 6 after the introductory micro-episodes.

Avengers: "The Mighty Avengers Meet The Masters of Evil"

Avengers #6 (1964)

By Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Chic Stone

Background: The current roster of the Avengers is Thor, Iron Man, Giant Man, Wasp and Captain America, who has just joined the team.

So, What Happens? After his last mission with the Avengers, Captain America tests the new transistors Iron Man has built inside his shield, allowing it to always fly back to Cap's hands. Despite a bunch of fan letters from all over the world rejoicing his recent return among the living, Cap can't forget what happened to Bucky and vows to get revenge against the man who killed him. The villain in question is Baron Zemo, who has spent the last several decades in the South American jungle waiting for the creation of a solvent capable of removing the Adhesive X gluing his mask to his face. Reading that Captain America is alive, the Baron angrily remembers how it was the hero who made Adhesive X fall on his face and decides to form a group of villains to defeat the Avengers. He quickly enlists the Black Knight, the Melter and the Radioactive Men, who spray Adhesive X all over the city. The Avengers arrive and a battle begins, but soon Cap and Giant-Man get stuck to the road and the heroes need to fall back and regroup to find a way to free them. After a few failed attempts, the Wasp remembers about Paste-Pot Pete, an adhesive expert and former foe of the Human Torch, who indeed does have a super-dissolver that frees the two Avengers. With the help of the Teen Brigade, the Avengers replace the Adhesive with the dissolver, freeing the entire city, and have a rematch against the Masters, this time switching foes to take them by surprise. The Black Knight, Radioactive Man and Melter are quickly captured, leaving only Zemo for Captain America. Cap is a fury and Zemo is about to be defeated when one of his soldiers fires his gun and grazes the Avenger. Zemo looks about to escape with a can of super-dissolver, but Cap had replaced it with tear gas, so that the Baron loses control of his heli-overcraft and can be arrested by the police.

Avengers: "Even An Android Can Cry"

Avengers #58 (1968)

By Roy Thomas, John Buscema, George Klein

Background: Despite being largely unaware of his own history, Vision has rebelled against Ultron and sided with the Avengers. The current Avengers roster is Black Panther, Wasp, Goliath and Hawkeye.

So, What Happens? Captain America, Thor and Iron Man briefly return to the Avengers to discuss what to do with the Vision, who wishes to join the team. Cap stages a short fight so that Vision can prove his powers, and the synthozoid is so impressive that it takes Thor to bring him down. Despite his obvious usefulness, the Avengers are wary because too much is not known about the origin of the Vision, whose only memories are of having been created by Ultron to destroy the Avengers. Hank Pym has identified the Vision as a sun-powered synthozoid, something he himself had been working on, but now realizes he doesn't remember what happened to his own experiment. The Avengers go to Hank's house and lab, where his once-destroyed machines have somehow been rebuilt some time ago. Using his electronic memory bank, Hank finally remembers creating the Ultron prototype, who referred to him as father and attacked immediately, eventually hypnotising Hank into forgetting everything and moving to Avengers Mansion. Iron Man notices that the memory tape with the brain patterns of their erstwhile foe Wonder Man is missing, and the team realize Ultron must have used them as template for the Vision. Returning to the mansion, the Avengers welcome Vision into their ranks, explaining they don't consider him anything less than a man. Touched, the Vision walks out of the room to hide the tears in his eyes.

Avengers: "Behold... the Vision!"

Avengers #57 (1968)

By Roy Thomas, John Buscema, George Klein

Background: The current Avengers roster is Black Panther, Wasp, Goliath, Hawkeye.

So, What Happens? During a rainy night, a mysterious, red-skinned character enters Janet van Dyne's apartment and terrifies her. Describing him as an unearthly, inhuman Vision. Janet manages to shrink down and escape, but the intruder is capable of walking through walls and of shooting heat rays from his eyes. Wasp is in trouble, but the intruder suddenly collapses in pain, and moments later Hank Pym is there too. They decide to take him to Avengers Mansion, where they are eventually joined by Hawkeye and Black Panther. By studying their mystery man, Hank determines him to be an artificial human, or a synthozoid, something he himself had been unsuccessfully working on. The creature awakens and names himself the Vision after Wasp's remark when she first saw him. He says his mission is to destroy the Avengers and attacks, revealing the power to alter his own density from intangible to hard as a diamond. Eventually however he calms down, realizing he doesn't know why he was sent to kill the Avengers, nor how he came to be. Feeling he and the Avengers should be allies, he remembers being created by the robot called Ultron-5 and offers to take the team to him. Despite some uncertainty, the Avengers agree to follow the Vision, unaware that Ultron had both caused him to collapse at the Wasp's and programmed him to lead the Avengers to his lair, where he could destroy them himself. Upon entering Ultron's secret base, Hank is captured and the rest of the team falls into a trap. Vision phases through the walls and meets Ultron, revealing he really wants to help the Avengers and challenging his creator, who admits the Vision's power may be greater than his own but refuses to explain why the synthozoid possesses human memories, thoughts and emotions. Eventually, Ultron is tricked into jumping against the wall and explodes. With his destruction the traps stop and the Avengers reunite, unaware that Ultron's head has survived. The Vision rues the missed chance to learn the full story behind his creation.