> Avengers Masterworks Volume 2
 
 

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From the Mouths of the Marvels:

"If I can just keep a tight rein on him, Hawkeye will be an Avenger to be proud of! He's a born fighter!”

-- Captain America, page 5

Cap in action, showing the newbies how it's done!

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Avengers #17
June 1965 • 20 pages

Script: Stan Lee • Letters: Sam Rosen
Pencils: Don Heck • Inks: Dick Ayers

Lineup: Captain America • Hawkeye • Quicksilver • Scarlet Witch

Title: “Four Against the Minotaur!”

Villains: Mole Man, Minotaur, Subterraneans

Guest Appearance: Rick Jones

Cameo: Hulk, the Leader

Innovations: Avengers "Play Room"

Letters Page: Page One • Page Two

House Ad: Page One

Synopsis: As Captain America introduces his new charges to life as an Avenger, each member begins thinking of their own ideas: Quicksilver wonders when he will get to be leader, and Hawkeye thinks it foolish to be taking orders from "an old war relic" like Cap. In order to whip the new team into shape for their first mission- to find the Hulk- they head into the Avengers "play room" for some battle-testing. While Hawkeye and Quicksilver test their powers against Tony Stark's practice machines, a giant robot comes into the room. Captain America wastes no time savaging the mighty metal construct with his shield, and the rest of the team joins in to demolish the thing; it's last words tell the team they will "find the Hulk in the desert."

The Mole Man watches in on his closed-circuit TV, cackling in glee that his robot monster delivered the message that will lure them into a trap in the desert. The Avengers fly out to the desert to look for the Hulk, landing near where they last battled the Lava Men (see AVENGERS #5.) Little do they know, the Hulk is indeed very near them, in pitched battle against the Leader (see TTA #69.) But the Mole Man's trap is at the ready, and he opens the trap door beneath them and they fall down a seemingly bottomless pit. Hawkeye shoots an arrow from which they hold onto a rope, then let themselves down easily onto the ground. Quicksilver scouts ahead and finds a terrible monster- the Minotaur!

The mythological beast attacks, but the Avengers fight back! They fight bravely, but they are trapped behind a cave-in. Quicksilver starts to move the rocks aside, but then he is set upon by Subterraneans, who trap him and take him to the Mole Man. As the Mole Man commiserates over the speedster's fate, the rest of the team tries to figure out how to get past the Minotaur. Hawkeye fires a flare arrow towards his eyes that blinds him, and Cap throws his shield at a rock formation behind him, causing a landslide to fall over him. Then Cap suckers the beast into trying to impale him with his horns, but he ducks and the Minotaur gets his horns stuck in the rock. They use Wanda's hex powers to help move the rocks aside and they set out in search of Quicksilver.

The Mole Man is about to put him to death when the team arrives. Hawkeye frees him while the Scarlet Witch destroys the Mole Man's weapons. The villain manages to trap them in an escape elevator which sends them back to the surface, allowing him to escape. The team heads back to New York, without the Hulk, but with a better knowledge that they can take on their enemies and win.

-- synopsis by Gormuu

-- panel images and letters pages provided by Avengers Assemble

Issues Reprinted
Avengers #11-20

Click on cover image to learn more about each issue.

 
AVG #11 AVG #12 AVG #13 AVG #14 AVG #15
AVG #16 AVG #17 AVG #18 AVG #19 AVG #20

 

All cover images are courtesy of the Silver Age Marvel Comics Cover Gallery.

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