Avengers Masterworks Vol. 1
Contains The Avengers issues 1-10
Loki tricks Hulk into breaking a railroad track
He did this goad Dr. Donald Blake to change into Thor so Loki may exact revenge on him
Rick Jones and his Teen Brigade send a radio transmission out to the Fantastic Four about the Hulk which is intercepted by Loki and sent to Thor
Unbeknownst to Loki the transmission is also caught by Ant-Man and Wasp, and Iron Man
Thor chases an illusion of Hulk and deduces it must be Loki. He goes to the Isle of Silence where Loki is imprisoned and confronts him and after defeating a troll, prepares to take Loki to the other 3 who answered Rick’s transmission
Meanwhile, on Earth, the other 3 attempted to confront and reason with Hulk
Thor arrives with Loki and tells them everything was orchestrated by Loki
Loki is defeated by being trapped in a lead-lined tank
The 5 heroes including Hulk agree to work together and concur on the name ‘The Avengers’ which is Wasp’s idea
The Space Phantom arrives on Earth disguised as a meteor and intent on getting rid of the Avengers so his species may invade
He has the ability to displace anyone to Limbo (world between shadow and substance) as he takes their physical forms and replaces them
He uses his abilities on the Avengers to get them to turn on each other
Space Phantom’s powers backfire when he tries them on Thor and is sent to Limbo as his abilities only work on humans
After the Space Phantom debacle, Hulk leaves after realizing how much the other Avengers don’t trust him
The Avengers look for the Hulk for fear he may cause destruction
They find him and a fight ensues for Hulk just wants to be left alone
Namor observes the Hulk and decides to use his isolation to his advantage as he knows what the Hulk thinks of humans and Namor hates the surface world
They battle the Avengers then Hulk is forced to abandon Namor as he reverts to Bruce Banner
Namor, outnumbered, is forced back into the Gulf Stream
Namor swims to the North Sea where he finds a group of natives worshipping someone encased in ice
He gets angry and scares them off because they;re worshipping someone who’s not even alive instead of someone who truly deserves to be feared like him. Namor throws the body into the sea
The Avengers find the body after the the ice around it melts and realize it is Captain America
The Avengers test Captain America;s skills to prove he’s the real Mccoy and are convinced
Steve Rogers (Captain America) recalls his story of how Bucky died from an explosion on Heimrich Zemo’s drone plane while Cap fell into the Labrador Sea
Being in frozen suspended animation stopped Steve from aging
Cap mistakes Rick Jones for Bucky
An alien named Medusa (the very same from the Greek myths) is forced by Namor to turn the Avengers into stone with a gun and in return Namor would free his ship from the ocean bed
The Avengers take Medusa’s ship out and defeat Namor
The Lava Men raise a giant boulder from underground which causes earthquakes in the southeast U.S.
The Avengers use Hulk’s unwitting help to destroy the boulder
In present day, Zemo bides his time in South America surrounded by native slaves and trying to devise a way to remove the mask stuck to his face by Adhesive X
Certain individuals begin spreading Adhesive X. These individuals are foes of the Avengers and include Black Knight (Giant-Man), The Melter (Iron Man), and Radioactive Man (Thor)
Cap suspects it is Heinrich Zemo. Zemo’s group are called The Masters of Evil
The Avengers put a stop to their nefarious plans as Zemo flees and his cronies are apprehended
While Iron Man is suspended for failing to answer an emergency Avengers call, Odin banishes Skurge the Executioner and Enchantress to Earth for attacking Thor
Odin does not know it is Loki’s machinations that Enchantress and Skurge were banished to Earth to get after Thor after also suggesting they attack him
They join forces with Zemo
They bewitch Thor’s mind to make him think the Avengers are his enemies
Together with Iron Man, the Avengers defeat them as Thor sends them away from Earth in a space vortex
The Avengers meet Kang the Conqueror
He is 1040 years from the future (3000) and traveled back in time to Ancient Egyptian times where he became Pharaoh Rama-Tut
After attempting to return to 3000 he overshot by 1000 years to 4000 where he saw humanity had destroyed itself with advanced technology
He resolves to become the ruler of the 20th century and of humanity to prevent that future
Kang is defeated and forced back to his time
Zemo, Skurge, and Enchantress return to Earth and recruit Simon Williams who a grudge against Tony Stark for putting him out of business
He is taken to South America where Zemo infuses him with ionic energy and makes him superpowered
Zemo dubs him Wonder Man
He battles the Avengers then turns on Zemo when he tries to kill the Avengers and fights Executioner and Enchantress
As Wonder Man needs an antidote every week to stay alive, Zemo denies it to him and dies in Iron Man’s arms as the others honor him
A being named Immortus arrives from Limbo and challenges the Avengers by pitting them against mythological figures such as Goliath (the Bible), Merlin, and Hercules (not 616 Hercules)
After they are beaten, Immortus takes Captain America to the Middle Ages where he’ll only return him to the present on condition he rescues Rick Jones which he does while Immortus stays there
Defeated, Zemo and the Asgaradians concede and Enchantress uses a spell to make everything as it was before they met Immortus