Marvel 1975.08 - Avengers #138

Avengers #138

Title: Stranger in a Strange Man

Writer: Steve Englehart

Artist: George Tuska

Avengers: Thor, Iron Man, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Moondragon, Beast

Inactive Avengers: Vision, Scarlet Witch

Villain: The Toad

Flashbacks: The Stranger, Magneto, Quicksilver, Captain America

The Avengers emerge from Yankee Stadium, where they were attacked by the Stranger last issue. The Wasp is being treated by doctors. She's in a very bad way. The press and a few members of the public want to see the new Avengers, Moondragon and the Beast. Evidently they don't recognise the Beast, because he looked different when he was a member of the X-Men.

Back at Avengers Mansion the Avengers are subjected to a mind blast. The Stranger is probing their minds for information about the Scarlet Witch. Fortunately for her, they don't know where she is. They decide to lure the Stranger to the wrong place. Thor and Moondragon fly to an island off the Florida coast. The Stranger threatens them. He doesn't seem as strong as he was before. After a brief fight they realise that it's just an illusion, the real Stranger isn't there.

The remaining Avengers (Iron Man, Yellowjacket and Beast) detect a signal from one hundred miles above the island. They fly into space with their quinjet and discover a  hidden space ship. They enter the ship, narrowly avoiding laser beams set up as traps. The Beast is pursued by the Stranger through the corridors. When he's out of sight he puts on a disguise as Edward G. Robinson. The Stranger is distracted and changes form into the Toad. Do you remember him? He was one of the original members of Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, first seen in X-Men #4. In X-Men #18 Magneto and the Toad were captured by the Stranger and taken as prisoners to his planet. They escaped and returned to Earth, the Toad serving Magneto faithfully until finally turning against him in Avengers #53.

The Toad must be more intelligent than we thought. "I used the resources of Arkon's world to construct a ship, as I had seen Magneto do, and flew away, across distance and dimensions, returning to the prison planet of the Stranger". Wow. That makes him a Mensa level genius in my eyes. He stole equipment from the Stranger's planet and returned to Earth to ask the Scarlet Witch to marry him, but when he found out she'd already married the Vision he decided to cause her and her fellow Avengers pain. To do this he disguised himself as the Stranger.

Now that the Toad's been unmasked, the Avengers don't even bother fighting him. He throws a temper tantrumbecause they won't take him seriously. This is a hilarious way for a life-and-death battle to end.

The comic ends with a brief update of the Scarlet Witch's honeymoon. At least the Vision has put his clothes back on.