Avengers, The #10

Issue Details

Synopsis

THE AVENGERS BREAK UP! Immortus appears before the Masters of Evil, wanting to ally himself with them. At first, Zemo is distrusting and offended that Immortus thinks himself superior to them. Zemo sends Executioner to battle Immortus, but Immortus sends Paul Bunyan in his stead to fight. After a quick skirmish, They agree to unite on one condition: to destroy the Avengers. He places a newspaper ad offering superpowers to civilians. Seeking membership in the Avengers, Rick Jones falls for the trap. Captain America finds the ad and goes to the location.  Immortus tells Captain America that one of the other Avengers sent Rick here. Cap goes back to HQ to find the traitor and takes them all back to Immortus. Immortus pits each Avenger to a character picked out of time that is similar to them. Giant-Man is first, and his opponent is the biblical Goliath. At first, Goliath easily outmatches Giant-Man in terms of strength, but Giant-Man uses intelligence. He shrinks to the size of an ant, and using himself as the ball, hits Goliath in the forehead, defeating him much as David did before. Iron Man is next. He fights the Wizard Merlin. Merlin traps Iron Man in a cage of tempered steel, leading Iron Man to remark that if he wins the battle, he'll never complain about enemies such as the Mandarin or Hawkeye, ever again.   Iron Man easily breaks free, and dodges Merlin's thunderbolts. He uses a device that produces flashing lights and irritating sounds, which disorients the much older Merlin, causing him to faint. Immortus sends out Hercules[2] to battle the Mighty Thor. Surprisingly, the fight is evenly-matched, until Hercules breaks the standstill, grappling with Thor. Thor tries to imbalance Hercules, who falls out a window. Thor catches him, and Hercules yields to the Thunder God.   Immortus, not wanting to take any more chances, grabs Captain America and sends him back into time to save Rick. The other Avengers are attacked by the Masters of Evil while they are weakened. Iron Man is attacked by Executioner, Giant-Man is shrunk down to normal size and left in a confused state by the Enchantress, and Thor gets shot by a gun which turns flesh into stone.   As the battle ensues, the Wasp aids Giant-Man by trying to confuse Enchantress. Iron Man trades blows with Executioner, and Thor starts getting turned into solid stone, helpless. With Iron Man's repulsors destroyed, Giant-Man normal-sized, Wasp unable to confuse Enchantress, and Thor helpless, Baron Zemo gloats and prolongs his final shot to Thor, wanting to savor the moment. A familiar voice protests, and a spinning shield destroys Zemo's gun. Captain America aids fellow Avenger Iron Man against Executioner. As Executioner is downed by Cap's shield, Wasp distracts Enchantress enough that her spell wears off, returning Giant-Man to his giant size. Thor yells, "Avengers Assemble!" after breaking free of his rock imprisonment, and at the last instant, Enchantress sends herself, Zemo and Executioner back in time, to a time before they met Immortus.