The Avengers (1963) #265: "Eve of Destruction"

We've had a look at the Invaders, Fantastic Four and quite a bit of Defenders of late so let's look in some more on some of Namor's early days with the Avengers.

The Secret Wars II crossover event in the 80s sucked huge quantities of ass so I was reluctant to even get this books, but ever the completist...

The Beyonder is one of those annoying characters that could reshape reality with a blink yet never chooses to. All he does is threaten to do it, repeatedly.

The action gets underway immediately as the Avengers are caught in a sudden twister. We are told that The Beyonder trapped the team in it in Secret Wars II #8 to keep them occupied as he abducted Captain America. He could have teleported them to the other side of the globe but he chose strong winds instead.

Each member takes his or her turn to attempt to break the tornado's hold.

Ultimately, Hercules stops it by...Clapping his hands together. Apparently the concussive force does the trick. Sure, okay. #ComicBookScience

When thoughts turn to rescuing Captain America, and Namor instinctively takes charge, he and Hercules have words again, as they have since Namor has joined the team.

That's the Monica Rambeau Captain Marvel there, the only one we ever needed. She takes control of the situation and orders Namor to recover the crashed Avengers aircraft from a nearby pond. The Black Knight, who never seems capable of minding his own business, suggests that Hercules should lend a hand.

Ha ha ha ha! What a strange insult...

Naturally, the team manages to track down where the Beyonder is holding Captain America captive. He could have taken him to Jupiter but instead he shelters in a cave near Denver.

As the two are chatting, Namor shows up.

Ah, but the Beyonder isn't as stupid as the complete misuse of his powers would lead you to believe! He knows Namor is faking all this and when he catches the other Avengers attempting to free Cap, he loses his mind! And even though he could obliterate them with a thought, or fire them into space, he...throws rocks at them.

Well, that's dumb, but at least it brings up this tender moment.

The Beyonder does defeat them in short order though and the story continues in Secret Wars II #9, which I'm not getting any time soon.

Writer Roger Stern did the best that could be done with the situation he was handled. A lot of this issue felt like filler to get us through SWII so that we could get back to our regularly-scheduled programming. The interaction between characters made the book enjoyable enough though.