Marvel 1975.04 - Avengers #134

Avengers #134

Title: The times that bind!

Writer: Steve Englehart

Artist: Sal Buscema

Avengers: Iron Man, Thor, Vision, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch

Villain: Mad Thinker (flashback), Quasimodo (flashback), Ultron (flashback), Supreme Intelligence (flashback), Star-Stalker (flashback)

Regulars: Mantis, Moondragon, Agatha Harkness, Jarvis

Guests: Immortus (flashback), Libra, Swordsman (ghost), Human Torch (flashback), Fantastic Four (flashback), Lockjaw (flashback)

First of all I need to apologise for the cover. It has absolutely nothing to do with the story. Instead, the comic continues with the multiple storylines that began last issue.

Moondragon arrives at the Avengers Mansion. The Scarlet Witch interrupts her training to speak to her. Moondragon says that they should look for the Avengers in Saigon, but the Scarlet Witch angrily says that they're not her friends, so Moondragon should go to Saigon alone. Moondragon thinks something is wrong with Wanda, so she attempts to read her mind. Wanda attacks her with witchcraft, knocking her unconscious. She returns to her room with Agatha Harkness to continue her training.

The Vision travels forwards in time from 1939 to 1949 to see the next stage in the Human Torch's life. His flame was extinguished by Russian agents, and he was buried in the Nevada desert. He lay conscious but helpless until December 1953, when the area was used for an atomic bomb test. This freed him, but the atomic radiation had a lasting effect on his body. He was no longer able to control his body. In 1955 he flew into the desert and his body went supernova, shutting his body off. When the Vision sees this happen, he remembers it.

The Vision travels further forward to 1966. He sees the events of Fantastic Four Annual #4. The Mad Thinker found and revived the Human Torch's body to use him against the Fantastic Four. When he refused to fight, the Thinker disabled him again. A few years later the robot called Ultron found the Torch's body. To be continued next issue.

Mantis and the remaining Avengers travel forward 500 years to see that the Kree have developed into a technologically advanced race. They're still just as brutal as they were last issue, but there's a pacifist movement. This part of Kree history was already related in Avengers #124, but now we're given more details. The pacifists feel themselves drawn to an abandoned building. In the cellar they find the Cotati. They were destroyed by the Kree 500 years ago, but it's not so easy to kill a plant. The seeds fell into the ground, and they grew again. They remained hidden, and as a result they've lost their ability to walk. They communicate by telepathy.

A few years later the pacifists are exiled to a prison planet, separating them from the Cotati. The planet is attacked by the Star-Stalker, last seen in the aforementioned Avengers #124. The pacifists find a way to defeat him. The pacifists warn the Supreme Intelligence, but he doesn't take their warning seriously. However, he accepts their request that they should be allowed to fly in groups of two to planets in every corner of the universe, to await the return of the Star-Stalker. When they leave on their trip they take Cotati with them. On Earth a Kree couple land in Vietnam. They plant the Cotati in a garden and found a temple. Mantis recognises the garden as the place where the Swordsman was buried..

Before the story can continue, Mantis and the Avengers are yanked into the present day. The ghostly form of the Swordsman has pulled them back to Saigon.