Avengers #503

Title: “Chaos: part four of four”

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Pencillers: David Finch, Oliver Coipel pages 2-4, 8

Inker: Danny Miki

Colors: Frank D’Armata

Editor: Tom Brevoort

A short time ago at Avengers mansion, Hawkeye is shooting target practice while Janet van Dyne and Wanda Maximoff are sunbathing. Jan takes a drink and says that she needed this today. She says that she is so crazy today. Wanda asks her what is going on. Jan says that she will tell Wanda, but that Wanda can’t tell anyone else. Wanda asks if she is okay. Jan says that she just had a scare and that her “monthly friend” came a little late and that she thought she might be… “you know”. Wanda asks Jan if she thought she was pregnant. Jan shushes her. She says that she isn’t, but that she thought she might be. She says that with everything going on in her life that the last thing she, or the world needs, is a little Clint Barton walking around. Jan nervously waves to Clint. Clint waves back non-chalantly. Wanda asks Jan if they are still seeing each other. Jan says that would entail them having an adult conversation about their feelings… which isn’t either of their strong suits. She asks Wanda if she could picture her with a kid. She says that it is as if a kid could grow up normal in this environment. She says that it should be a rule that superheroes shouldn’t be allowed to have kids. She says to Wanda, “And you thought you could have two?” Wanda says, “What?” Jan nervously parrots, “What?” Wanda asks what she meant “two of what”. Jan says that it is nothing. She says that she is just tipsy from the margaritas and the New York sun. Jan says that she has to be and rushes off. Wanda takes off her sunglasses and closes her eyes solemnly.

Avengers mansion is still on fire. Warbird asks Dr. Strange what is happening to them. Strange introduces himself to the Avengers that he has not met. He tells them that he is talking to them from the astral plane. He says that he has taken the liberty of casting a handful of cloaking spells around the entire area. He says that he has done this to keep unwanted eyes and ears from those that would choose to harm momentarily. He says that he fears that they do not have long. He says that they are in immediate danger from a magic force of great power. He says that he is truly sorry that he couldn’t be there before it started, but that a great deal of his studies involves intensive meditations. He says that he was in a place where he could not see what was happening until it was too late. He says that now he has seen that the magics have been molested in an attacked aimed at them. They ask Strange who murdered their teammates. Strange asks them if they have any enemies that have this level of mystic power. Someone who could have orchestrated this level of chaos. Captain America closes his eyes and tears begin to firm.

A short time ago, Wanda walks into Agatha Harkness’s house. Agatha tells Wanda that she gave her a bit of a start. She tells her to come and sit. She says that they haven’t spoken in a long time. With tears in her eyes, Wanda asks Agatha why people think that she once had two children. Agatha spills her tea. Wanda says, “Where are my children?” Agatha asks Wanda to sit down. Wanda shouts, “Tell me where my children are!”

Simon denies it. Warbird says that Wanda is a good person. Falcon says that she doesn’t have that in her blood. Fury says that actually she does. He reminds everyone that Wanda is Magneto’s daughter and that before she was an Avenger that she was a mutant terrorist. He says that she was in the premiere Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Spider-Man says that she married a robot. Everyone looks at him. He says that he meant no offense, but that the Vision is a robot. He says that if he were dating a robot that they would all be talking about him behind his back. Falcon tells Spider-Man that Vision wasn’t a robot and that he was as real as any of them. Spider-Man says that Vision told him that he was a robot. Falcon corrects him, “android”. Spider-Man says that he likes Vision, but that he was just saying. Falcon asks what he is even doing there. Spider-Man quietly says that he was helping with the aliens a second ago. Jocasta says that she doesn’t understand and asks why they think she would do that. Falcon says that Wanda’s life had a lot of misfortune, but nothing that would suggest she was capable of this. Firestar says that even includes if you count what happened with her children… which was sad. Dr. Strange says that he delivered those children and asks if something happened to them. Beast says that it turns out that Wanda conjured them into existence. He says that they weren’t actually real. He says that she created them with her hex power. She willed them into existence. He says that he was told that she just wanted them really badly. Beast says that she tricked herself into giving birth to them, but that they didn’t really exist. Simon says that Agatha Harkness figured out what her children really were. Warbird says that she erased them and took care of it. Strange asks why they didn’t come to him when this happened. Reed asks Strange what he is thinking. Strange says to hear him out and that they don’t have much time. He says that there has been an uneasy structure to Wanda’s power. He says that she was born with her powers over magic, and that she didn’t earn them through spirituality. He says that she was given them without understanding of their consequence. Falcon says that maybe the rules don’t apply for her. Crystal asks if Wanda has had problems controlling her powers in the past. Captain America says, “yes”. Warbird says that if it is “chaos magic” that it can be reversed. She asks Strange to bring Scott and Clint back to life. Strange says that he is sorry that he didn’t make himself clear. He says that magic isn’t an illusion. He says that it isn’t a trick and that their friends are really dead. Strange says that he tried to take Wanda on as a student years ago, but her obligations to her family distracted her. He says that he is unsure of the level of her power, but that her hexes always seemed much too limited to create what has gone on there. Warbird says that not long ago that she tapped into a power source that she called “chaos magic”. She says that she can control the probabilities of reality. Strange asks what she is talking about. Warbird says that Wanda did not do this. Falcon asks where she is then. He says that she is the only one not there. Fury says that Thor isn’t. Firestar asks if they didn’t fight Loki once and that maybe it was him. Warbird repeats that Wanda didn’t do this and that she is offended. Hellcat says that she didn’t know Wanda was Magneto’s daughter. She asks if they are really saying that she killed her own husband. Iron Man says that they are wrong. He says that Wanda was with him at the UN and that she couldn’t be the one who did this. Strange says that she may not even be aware that she is doing it. Stark tells Strange that he has a tremendous amount of respect, but that he needs more than Strange’s theory to accuse a teammate of terrorism. Strange says, “My theory… listen to me. This chaos magic- the source of her new ‘reality-altering powers…’ I am the master of the mystic arts… and I am telling you… there’s no such thing as chaos magic. Please forget that we are talking about a friend. And listen to me tell you the story of an orphaned mutant with a sordid violent past… with power she did not earn nor can she control… powers she never fully understood. Can you understand the delicate mindset of a woman, a person, who has control over reality? In means reality controls her. Imagination becomes the enemy. Structure disappears. Reality, eventually, as she knows it, starts to slip away. Elude her. Blur. Drama, conflict, tragedy. They become excuses to change the world to fit the image that she has for it. Anything she doesn’t like, she can change. No matter how slight. People. Places. Things. Everything is hers to change. But every time she does that, every time she gives in to her desires, no matter how noble they may be… a little more of her slips away. She loses herself. Her reason. But she struggles quietly every day to keep it in check… to keep it all together. For a person of strong mind and body, for a person of pure spirit… the task of coping with these powers would be all-consuming. But here’s a woman for whom, by the very nature of her upbringing and chosen occupation… every day is stressful, chaotic… and after a life lived with lost love, violence, and drama, what does she do? She says to herself: ‘I deserve happiness. I want to bring something into this world that is good. That I can love.’ And she gives birth to children… even though she can’t. She played mommy to make herself feel like someone she thinks is normal. And that ends tragically as well? If I told you a story like this, you’d say to yourself, this sounds like a person who has lost control of themselves on a deep psychological level. You’d say this sounds like a disturbed person. Now does anything I have described not sound like Wanda Maximoff?” Beast says that Wanda doesn’t remember what happened to her children. He says that Agatha Harkness took care of that. Simon says that maybe she remembered. Beast says that if that is true then why would she be attacking them. Strange says that he doesn’t know. Simon says that Strange is wrong. Strange says that he truly hopes so, but that he isn’t. Iron Man says that there is only one way to find out. He asks Strange if there is anything he can do to help them find her. Strange says that her magic creates a map, and that he can point them right to her, but that he warns them that if it is true then there is no way they can be prepared for what they will see when they find her.

Wanda brings out her two boys’ favorite dinner. Simon, Vision, and Agatha Harkness also sit at the table. Wanda asks her sons if they played nice today. They argue a bit and Wanda asks what she is going to do with them as she rubs one of their heads. Captain America stands in the doorway. He says, “Wanda? Wanda… please let me help you.” Wanda’s eyes open wide. One son says, “Then go away!” The other says, “I told you we should have punished them all!” The first son says to stop it. The second says, “They are going to break us up again!” The first one says that he is not. He says that he cares about mommy and that he is one of the good guys. The second boy disagrees. Steve takes off his mask. He tells Wanda that none of this is real. He says that these aren’t her children. He tells her that she doesn’t have children, and that none of it is real. The first son says, “Don’t do this! You don’t know.” The second says, “See?” The first son asks why he is saying this. Steve tells Wanda that they aren’t talking. He says that she is the one talking and that it is her voice that he hears. He says that he wants to help her. The second son tells Cap to shut up and to stop telling him what to do. The first says that he loves mommy, but the second son says “no” again. Steve says that they have grown very close lately. He is about to say that he wants to help her, but Wanda’s eyes glow. The second son says to look. Captain America turns and sees the Red Skull standing with a group of Nazi soldiers. The soldiers open fire. Cap blocks the bullets, but is blown out of the room for the fire. Her children beg Wanda not to let them take them away again. Wanda says that no one will take them away from her again.

Captain America sits on the steps above the other Avengers. Wanda floats above them all. Warbird is ticked. She shouts at Wanda that she killed her own husband. That she killed Scott Lang and Hawkeye and that Janet is in a coma. Wanda just tells them to stay away from her children. Warbird flies at Wanda and says that she has destroyed the Avengers. Before Warbird can reach her, Rogue punches Warbird. Wanda says that they can’t have her children. Her eyes glow and chaos breaks out. The Hulk appears and starts attacking. Spider-Man seems to be fighting some clones. Red Skull fights Captain America. Wolverine attacks Beast. Ultron attacks Jocasta. Tigra leaps at Stingray. Power surges from Wanda as her two sons watch from below. A tear comes out of Wanda’s eye as Dr. Strange calls her. He fires some magic at her and says that she will stop this now. He says that she is hurting her friends and herself. He says that it will stop now. Wanda calmly says, “No.” Strange fights back and she shouts, “You can’t take my children away from me again!” Wanda creates Dormammu who strikes at Strange. Strange blocks it. Strange recites an incantation and says, “The Eye of Agamotto will show you the truth!” He says that she will stop this madness and that the magics are not hers to abuse. Wanda drops out of the sky. Captain America catches her. Strange says that he is sorry, but that there was no other way. Warbird asks if she is breathing. Strange says that she is alive, but that she is gone. He says that her mind was delicate to begin with. Captain America holds her and says, “Wanda?”

In a dark house, one of the SHIELD agents asks Fury what they are looking for. Fury says that they will know when they find it. Fury uses a flashlight and finds Agatha Harkness. Her face is rotted away. The agent asks how long she has been rotting there. Fury says that it has been a long time.

Falcon asks Strange if he can wake her up. Strange say that she isn’t sleeping. Captain America asks how they can help her. A voice says that they can give her to him. Everyone turns and sees Magneto hovering in the air. He says to give him his daughter. He comes down and holds his daughter. He says that Xavier was right and that it was her. He looks at her and says that he has failed her. He floats off with her. Captain America asks Magneto where he is taking her, but Magneto just keeps going without responding. The Avengers hug and say their goodbyes and walk their separate ways.

Avengers Files rating: 9.5 out of 10

Review and picture by The Leader

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