Avengers, The #152

Issue Details

Synopsis

"Nightmare in New Orleans!" During a press conference revealing the latest line-up of the Avengers, the group is shocked when a delivered crate suddenly bursts open revealing Wonder Man, long thought dead. After accusing the Vision of stealing his mind, Wonder Man suddenly passes out. The Avengers rush him inside to examine his body and find out how he managed to cheat death. As Jarvis asks the press to leave for the day, Yellowjacket examines Wonder Man's body and finds that Wonder Man is somehow still alive, despite knowing for a fact that when he last saw him he was assuredly dead. With Wonder Man in a coma muttering the same phrase over and over, the entire group -- especially the Vision, whose brain patterns are fashioned after Wonder Man's, consider the situation. Upset by the whole thing, especially since the group had nothing to do with Wonder Man's current condition, the Scarlet Witch decides to investigate things further. Scaring off a crowd of gawkers from the Avengers Mansion property, she examines the debris of the crate that Wonder Man's body was delivered in. Using her hex powers to examine some dirt clumps she learns that the package had come from New Orleans. Taking Wanda's lead, the Avengers take Wonder Man's body with them aboard a Quinjet and fly to New Orleans. There Wanda uses her hex powers to try and track down the men who were responsible in the resurrection ceremony that rose Wonder Man from the dead as a zombie. Walking around New Orlean's French Quarter, the Scarlet Witch tracks down one of the men responsible and the man gives the Avengers chase. Tripped up by the Wasp and Yellowjacket the man is frightened by Scarlet Witch into revealing the location of Le Morte Bayou (The dead bayou) where the ceremony that resurrected Wonder Man took place. Trying to locate the bayou in question the group is shocked when Wonder Man seemingly stirs to life and answers the call of the "master" who summoned him. Letting Wonder Man go free, the group follows him to see where he goes. They are taken to a voodoo ritual being held by a voodoo priest called Black Talon who also uses his powers to raise an army of zombies from the Earth. As the Avengers battle off zombies and voodoo practitioners alike, Black Talon summons the voodoo god Damballah to increase his magical might. He then gets into a battle with the Scarlet Witch. Although the Black Talon has the upper hand, the Scarlet Witch's mutant nature saves the day as she fights off Damballah and knocks out Black Talon by pitching a number of logs at him. With Black Talon's defeat, his minions flee into the bayou in fear. With the battle over the group learns that Wonder Man wasn't resurrected by Black Talon at all but brought to him already in a state of living. They decide to return back to New York, except the Scarlet Witch, whose battle against Black Talon and the turmoil caused by Wonder Man's return from the grave has led her to leave the group to go and explore the mystical nature of her mutant powers.