Avengers #501

Title: “Chaos; part two of four”

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Penciller: David Finch 

Inker: Danny Miki

Colors: Frank D’Armata

Editor: Tom Brevoort

The President’s new Chief of Staff replays Tony’s comments from the UN. Tony says that he doesn’t need this replayed. The Chief of Staff says that is too bad because he is pretty sure that it will be replayed over and over again for the rest of their lives. Tony says that he would just like to tell the President what happened. The Chief of Staff goes on, but Tony interrupts and says that it wasn’t what it looked like. The Chief of Staff asks Tony if he really has to ask him for his letter of resignation. Tony asks if he is going to get to speak to the President himself. The Chief of Staff says that he doesn’t see that happening. Tony says that he has to go and that there is an emergency at Avengers mansion.

Iron Man flies toward Avengers mansion.

Captain Britain hits She-Hulk with her sword as She-Hulk slams the truck down on Captain America. Cap blocks the truck with his shield, but he is still pinned to the ground. Special agent Maher radios in for a Hulkbuster unit. She-Hulk palms Captain Britain’s head and tosses her aside. She-Hulk charges toward some parked cars. Hawkeye asks Jen if she can hear him. She-Hulk presses a car over her head and throws it at a military vehicle. Iron Man flies overhead as she does so. She-Hulk smashes into the military vehicle. Iron Man swoops in and knocks She-Hulk out with a punch. He says that he took no pride in that. Hawkeye tells Iron Man that Cap is pinned under the truck. Iron Man asks what is happening here. Hawkeye tells him to get Cap out. Iron Man lifts the truck into the air and says that it takes two seconds for the armor to magnetize. Iron Man helps Cap. Cap asks Tony if She-Hulk is down. Iron Man says that she is and asks if Jen did all this. Cap says no, but that he doesn’t know. Hawkeye says that Captain Britain is out as well. Falcon walks over with the Wasp in his hands. He says that he shouldn’t have moved her, but that he was afraid that someone would step on her. Cap says to take her to the hospital. Falcon says that he is on the way, but that he just wanted to make sure that there wasn’t anything they could do for her there. Suddenly, a gigantic Yellowjacket stands above them all. He looks down into the blaze and sees the severed Ultron heads. He looks again and sees Falcon holding Wasp in his hands. He bends over and asks if that is Jan. Falcon says that he was about to take her to the emergency room, but Yellowjacket cups Falcon in his hands and picks him up. He starts walking and says that they will be there in a second.

At Beth-Israel hospital, Falcon braces Cap as the doctor pops his shoulder back into place. Steve says that really hurt. The doctor says that he is sorry, but that there is no nice way to pull a shoulder out of its socket and that there is no nice way to put it back in. The doctor tells him to take it easy for the next couple weeks. Cap says that he doesn’t see that happening. The doctor says that he has some of Cap’s teammates to attend to and excuses himself. Steve asks Falcon how the others are.

Elsewhere in Beth-Israel, Captain Britain lies in critical condition.

She-Hulk floats inside a containment tube in SHIELD custody pending an investigation.

Scott Lang lies in a SHIELD morgue.

Vision is lying in a box that is to be shipped to Stark Enterprises pending clearance and authorization.

Hank sits next to the hospital bed with a tiny Jan lying on it. He talks to her and tries to bring her around. He says that it is so hard for the doctors to work on her at that size. He says that what bothers him is that in the past when she was hurt that she would revert to full size. He says that the fact that she hasn’t scares him. He says that he has them pulling her medical files off his server. He says that hopefully they will find something, but that they really need her to wake up. He says that no one is more surprised to find him this upset about her than he is. He says that the only thing she was worse at than being a wife was being an ex-wife. He says that she has been bending over backward to make his life miserable, but that he doesn’t care about any of that now. He asks her to open her eyes. He tells her that what he has learned today is that no matter what he does that he will always be remembered for creating Ultron. He asks what he has done to this team. He says that this isn’t the life he wants. He says that this isn’t how he wanted them to wind up.

Captain America says that they are under attack. Hawkeye says that he had gathered. Cap says that he is asking who they are under attack by. Hawkeye says that they know who. He says that he thinks that this is just a bad day that isn’t over yet. Tony says, “A bad day?” Hawkeye says that he doesn’t mean to brag, but that they are extraordinary individuals. He says that they have extraordinarily good days and extraordinarily bad days. Falcon says that it was lot more than that. Hawkeye says that they really had it coming. He says that they are all about the short term. He says that it is whatever is in front of them at that moment and then they are on to the next thing. He says that they thought Jack of Hearts was dead and that they left him up in space because they had to deal with Namor or something. Hawkeye says that then Vision shows up and launches an Ultron attack. Tony and Falcon agree that it is more than that. They say that Ultron could have implanted something in Vision to make him follow a command to do what he did when they hit code white. He says that it is kind of a genius move and that it worked. Hawkeye says that it is a pretty good guess. Hawkeye says that Ultron has done worse to them. He says that since he is artificial intelligence that they don’t know how he sustains life. Stark says that Hawkeye doesn’t, but that he does. Hawkeye says that Ultron could be alive inside Stark’s armor for all he knows. Stark asks what about the She-Hulk. Falcon says that they keep putting Hulks on their team and get all shocked when it doesn’t work out. Hawkeye says that he isn’t happy about it, but that with the way they live that they were bound to have a day like this happen to them. Stark says that there is more. He starts to tell them about when he was addressing the UN when Yellowjacket storms out. He asks Stark if he told them what he did. Tony tells Pym to calm down. Cap asks what he did. Yellowjacket says that Stark was drunk and got up in front of the UN. He says that he threatened to kill the Latverian ambassador in front of the gathered world leaders. Stark says that he wasn’t drunk. Yellowjacket says that he was there. Tony says that he hadn’t had anything to drink. He says that he felt drunk, but that he wasn’t in control. He says that is why he thinks that this is some kind of attack. He says that it is all happening at the same time. Stark says that first it is the mansion, Scott, Vision, and then he is asked to step down as the Secretary of Defense. Cap asks when that happened. Tony says that it was the same time that all of this was happening. Yellowjacket asks if he is really going to use this nightmare to whitewash what he did. Stark says that he is just saying that they are connected. Hank says that he created Ultron, but that he takes responsibility for it. Stark says that it is fine that he doesn’t believe him. Hank says that he doesn’t. He says that he was there. Stark asks if they all don’t believe him. There is a moment of silence, but then Cap says that he believes Tony. Falcon says that he does too. Clint says that his father was an alcoholic and that it is hard for him to hear what Tony is saying without hearing the crap his father used to say. Clint says that Tony is kind of wobbly now and that he thought it was just the drama of the day. Tony says that is just great. Hawkeye says that he isn’t judging, but that they have to deal with it together. Stark says that he is so happy that he spent over half his personal fortune supporting the Avengers so that the support could come back to him like this. Stark walks away. Clint tells Cap that he didn’t mean that Tony should leave. Tony says that his heart is filled with their respect and understanding. Cap calls out to Tony, but Stark flies off. Falcon asks if he should go after him. Cap says that he will get it together in a minute. Falcon says that is good since he can’t fly that fast anyway. Hawkeye says that he didn’t mean Tony should bail. He says that he asked him a question and that he answered it. Falcon asks what Clint thought he would do. Cap says that he believes him. Hank says that is Steve. He says that Cap didn’t see what he saw. He says that he hasn’t seen the news. Hawkeye asks if it was that bad. Hank says that it was all over the news and asks if he can see it from here. He says that the UN is having an emergency meeting right now, and that one can imagine what they are talking about. Falcon asks if they are going to bail on them. Everyone’s beeper goes off. Falcon says that something is happening at the mansion. He takes off and says that he will meet them there. Hawkeye says that he is not in the mood for this. Hank says that he is staying with Jan. Cap tells him to do what he thinks he must.

The quinjet lands in the park across the street from Avengers mansion. Hawkeye asks Cap if he saw what he saw. Cap says that he saw it. Hawkeye asks if cap is ready for this. Standing outside the mansion’s gates stand Sersi, Human Torch, Spider-Woman, Living Lightning, Thing, Warbird, Reed and Susan Richards, Hercules, Crytal, Hellcat, Quasar, Moon Knight, Namor, Photon, Firestar, Rick Jones, Justice, Night Thrasher, D-Man, Stingray, Black Panther, Jocasta, Firebird, Black Knight, Darkhawk, Falcon, Daredevil, Mantis, Triathlon, Silverclaw, Tigra, Wonder Man, and Spider-Man.

Avengers Files rating: 7 out of 10

Review and pictures by The Leader

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