Your Power Is Mine!

 

Can YOU

Name This Marvel Villain??

Special Agent Fred Duncan, At Your Service

 

Given how prevalent the plotline of anti-mutant sentiment has been in Marvel's line of X-books, and how we've seen increasingly powerful forces engage in operations to target and incapacitate or eliminate mutants, it was no surprise to find even the mutant X-Men questioning Charles Xavier's dream of peaceful co-existence between humans and mutants--at one point, even holding an impassioned meeting with their founder and mentor which called into question their taking on field missions which often only served to put targets on their backs. Such a meeting could only bring to light the injuries and deaths the team has suffered and grieved; and to his dismay and sadness, Xavier also discovers from Rachel Summers, who has arrived from an alternate timeline where mutants have been openly hunted and enslaved, that he and his school and students were early casualties in the outbreak of full-scale war against mutants.

As we've learned from Nightcrawler, and as we've seen for ourselves, there were serious consequences for Storm during the operation against Rogue which was sanctioned by the United States government. Yet in the beginning, before the "X-Men" were formed and Xavier began to see humans becoming aware of and alarmed at the existence of mutants in their midst, he reached out to the office of the F.B.I. charged with investigating the situation and proposed working closely with its agents as a joint task force, comparing notes on the mutant situation as it developed while also making contact with any mutants who appeared in order to ascertain and, if necessary, curtail any threat they might pose.

Thus would begin a long and productive quid pro quo relationship between Xavier and the office of Special Agent Fred Duncan, as Xavier assembled a staff of his own to respond to incidences where it was necessary to learn the abilities and intentions of a new mutant.* Strange that Duncan and Xavier didn't choose to make contact with each other when Magneto had attacked Cape Citadel; instead, Xavier was alerted to the incident by, of all things, a radio bulletin. But the two men were on the same page when it came to the Vanisher.

*Xavier would be more direct with the X-Men themselves as to their ongoing mission: "There are many mutants walking the Earth... and more are born each year! It is our job to protect mankind from those mutants who hate the human race, and wish to destroy it... the evil mutants!" (paraphrased from The X-Men #1)

Duncan's communications with Xavier (and vice versa) take place behind the scenes from this point on (alerting Xavier to the sightings of Ka-Zar, for instance). But when Xavier suddenly dies after a fatal encounter with the "sub-human" named Grotesk, Duncan addresses the X-Men after the funeral regarding their future. (Writer Gary Friedrich has him named "Amos" Duncan, for whatever reason.)

Time passes, and Duncan would appear here and there in other titles such as Ka-Zar, Shanna the She-Devil--as well as X-Men: The Hidden Years, a title which picks up where the cancelled X-Men series left off and of course features a once-more-alive Xavier who had recovered by the end of the original series' last issue. Here, he mostly makes a cameo appearance, but it's a nice nod to the character by writer/artist John Byrne.

Much later, however, when the new X-Men have established themselves, Senator Robert Kelly, who heads an ad hoc Congressional committee on mutant affairs, begins stoking anti-mutant fervor once more--and the team's below-the-radar ties with the U.S. Government now work against them.

The X-Men's plan succeeds (though not without complications)--and if you're wondering why Duncan himself didn't head this off, stay tuned.

---

An interesting companion piece to the relationship between Xavier and Duncan can be found in the 2008 issue X-Men: Odd Men Out, which publishes two previously unreleased stories by former X-Men artist Dave Cockrum two years after his death and adds context to pivotal points in the existence of the team which Duncan and of course Xavier played a role in. The first story, written by Roger Stern, reunites the two old friends after Duncan had retired from the Bureau and began working as a security consultant while also writing a book (hoping to "blow the lid off the government's mishandling of anti-mutant hysteria."

The issue is a pleasant trip down memory lane for the two, as well as an interesting retrospective--while Stern, no stranger to past lore of Marvel's stable of heroes, provides sensible explanations for those instances where Duncan's activities "behind the scenes" could have shed some light on things occurring in the book during the late '60s. For example, Duncan's true reason for instructing the team to split up following Xavier's "death" (a sham which both Duncan and Jean Grey had been made fully aware of by Xavier):

While "Project Wideawake," which involved the Government constructing and deploying a new series of Sentinels as part of an effort to seek out and end the mutant threat, barrels ahead while shutting out Duncan's input entirely.

As for the virus that Carol Danvers deploys to erase the Pentagon database on the X-Men, Duncan is there when Project Wideawake's head, Henry Gyrich, comes looking to roll some heads but is outraged by Duncan's seeming inability to reconstruct the data. And when Gyrich pulls rank, he finds that Duncan has already prepared his response.

---

In a later series published in 2012-13, The First X-Men by Neal Adams and Christos Gage, where Logan and Sabretooth take it upon themselves to gather a group of young people (not yet denoted as "mutants" by nongovernment personnel) and train them in the use of their powers, Duncan is presented as a counter to the plans of Bolivar Trask, who offers a different, aggressive approach to dealing with those powered individuals who have begun appearing in news accounts. The shocked expressions of both men (the exception being Mr. Hartfield's casual introduction) indicate the arrival of the hideous entrance of Lyle Doorne, aka Virus, whose mobility depends on grafting onto and gradually draining the life of a human host--a mutant who assures them that it can neutralize the threat presented by Logan and Creed and add them to the government's ranks in "controlled" form.

As for Duncan, he continues his own efforts in these early days of his career... encountering Logan and his group as they attempt to recruit the (at this point in time) vagrant Sub-Mariner... butting heads with Trask... and unknowingly crossing paths with Xavier when he was a private in the army while the government had yet to make their investigations into the growing population of mutants public.

Regrettably, Logan's efforts implode, and, demoralized, he washes his hands of the entire debacle and goes his own way--but not before Duncan takes a last stab at bringing him into the fold in a more formal capacity.

* * *

While each of these later series in their own way brings us full circle, Adams' series of course finds a way to blend in new material which serves to start the ball rolling on what would become a distinguished career of public service for Duncan. It's gratifying to see such attention paid to what essentially amounted to a footnote in the history of the X-Men, and fortunately these stories were told at a time before Marvel began to so radically reinvent its print product. As for Agent Duncan making it to the big screen, the closest we come to Duncan appearing in film was with the character's uncredited portrayal by actor Oliver Platt in "X-Men: First Class"--a C.I.A. man in his new role, but an adjustment that we know Fred Duncan would have taken in stride.

Crisis From The Stars!

 

Having remembered writer Mark Waid's Fantastic Four run from the early 2000s, I was not only intrigued at seeing him take up work on the title again fifteen years later, but also surprised to learn that distinguished artist Neal Adams would also be aboard for Waid's four-issue series, which debuted in October of 2020.

I believe the last pages I remember seeing from Adams during his time at Marvel was his War Of The Worlds work from Amazing Adventures #18 in 1973. If I'm not mistaken, Adams' only work depicting the FF (three of them, at any rate) took place in Avengers #93, when a trio of Skrulls took their form to attack the assemblers (with Adams doing a few cutaway panels of the real McCoys in a subsequent issue). Having plied his craft with the Avengers, the X-Men, and the Inhumans, the FF would elude Adams for forty-nine years before finally landing on his drawing board as a full-fledged project--which was bound to make even those like myself, who had all but ceased reading new Marvel work, more than curious about the finished product.

This first installment of Waid's story is geared to build momentum for whatever challenge the FF will face, with much of it featuring the group in action against not one but two more immediate threats, the latter of which will be related to what is to come. The story's overriding theme, "antithesis"--literally, the opposite or contrast of one thing in relation to another--could mean anything at this point; the only thing we know for now, thanks to the cover, is that it will involve the Silver Surfer, who has returned to the service of Galactus. Obviously the Surfer is in bad shape, and the FF don't seem to be responsible for his condition--but we'll have to wait and see what we learn as things take shape.

As for that first threat, a character which fits that bill is surely Annihilus, the fiend from the Negative Zone who has once more broken through to our world with intentions toward conquest and death.

 

War, Interrupted

Gosh, has anyone heard of this little story?

I jest, of course. Even after nearly fifty years, the early 1972 story of the Kree-Skrull War by Roy Thomas, Neal Adams, John Buscema, and Tom Palmer continues to resonate on some level in the minds of comics readers, having reached beyond its initial publication to manifest in a number of subsequent plots in print as well as on the big screen. Often described with words like "saga" and "epic," its popularity is astonishing for a "war" which was confined to two issues and didn't play out in the conventional sense (at least not for the reader--more on that in a moment); yet all things considered, this two-part tale leaves a trail which reaches back to stories which took place over nearly a five-year period.

Briefly, the events break down as follows*:

• July, 1967 - On a remote Pacific island, a Kree Sentry is discovered by two unfortunate explorers and later battles the Fantastic Four, which leads to its (presumed) destruction.
• August, 1967 - The Kree official known as Ronan the Accuser confronts the FF for their presumption and sentences them to "the extreme penalty" (which in late '67 is probably a dramatic way of indicating a death sentence, but who knows with the Kree), yet fails.
• December, 1967 - On ancient Earth, the Sentry discovers and takes a meeting with the Inhumans, where the Kree's role in their creation is revealed to them. (The details of which can be found at the conclusion of the Sentry post.)
• July, 1971 - Ronan returns to Earth to launch "Plan Atavus," designed to devolve all life on Earth to the state it existed 1 million years ago, thus effectively eliminating the potential threat of the human race to the Kree empire. As the plan begins to crumble, the Kree-Skrull War formally breaks out.

We're not privy to whatever other engagements take place between the Skrulls and the Kree from this point, prior to the Avengers' later involvement.

• September, 1971 - The Super-Skrull arrives to coordinate with other Skrulls already on the planet to capture Captain Marvel as well as eliminate the Inhumans to prevent their Kree creators from recruiting them for war efforts. Meanwhile, the Kree Supreme Intelligence, forcefully deposed by Ronan, begins to influence minds on Earth (including the Skrulls) to draw the Avengers into the conflict, events which initially lead to the team's disbandment.
• November, 1971 - The original Avengers convene to investigate what the hell is going on, leading to a conflict at an upstate farm where the Super-Skrull captures Captain Marvel, along with the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.
• January, 1972 - While attempting to learn more of the Skrulls' activities on Earth, the Avengers are urged by Triton and Black Bolt to accompany them to the Great Refuge, where Maximus is collaborating with the Kree to conscript Inhumans as soldiers in the war. At the battle's conclusion, a Kree soldier (under the influence of the Intelligence) captures Rick Jones.

*Various other storylines from issues of both Fantastic Four and Captain Marvel have been omitted from this rundown.

At that point, the Avengers are poised to intervene in this conflict--for the sake of their captured comrades, and for the Earth.

This Madman... This Power!

One of the more interesting crossover stories which occurred in early 1972 worked out either according to plan, or with a good deal of reshuffling behind the scenes--it's hard to say. My own guess is that it may have been the latter, though I'll gladly defer to the more learned among you who are better able to connect the dots.

The stories, each handled by writer Roy Thomas and artist Neal Adams, take place within these two titles:

...beginning in March, 1971, where Black Bolt of the Inhumans departs for San Francisco to investigate options for finding a place for his people among the human race. (Vague words taken from the beginning of the story--but rather than referring to an actual homestead of some sort, they're likely simply a metaphor for acceptance.) With his departure, we learn of the disposition of his mad brother, Maximus, presumably following his capture after an attempt to dethrone Black Bolt by instigating a war (the Jack Kirby story which launched the Amazing Adventures title)--yet the method of Maximus' incarceration raises concern with Karnak and Gorgon, who fear Black Bolt may have overstepped his bounds.

Granted, it's an odd shift in characterization for both men, since they've unquestioningly supported the will of Black Bolt in the past; there's also the fact that after all of Maximus' crimes, Black Bolt has never demonstrated undue harshness in how his brother was dealt with, much less thoughts of homicide.

Which makes their next decision all the more unexpected, and reckless.

To learn what this scene signifies, we must look in on Black Bolt, who arrives at his destination only to be drawn into a local conflict involving a boy named Joey, conscripted by his uncle into engaging in petty crime. But once Black Bolt handily deals with the situation, the power of Maximus strikes, effectively neutralizing whatever threat his brother might have posed to him; but while Maximus has cause to no longer fear the wrath of Black Bolt, he's still put the pieces in place to bring about the very war between human and Inhuman that had previously been averted.

And so while the power of Maximus has been unleashed in the past, this is the first instance that the royal family (including, possibly, Maximus himself) see it being harnessed--which now raises the threat of Maximus from that of being merely a dangerous, scheming madman. (Imagine such a man now having the power to affect the minds of others, an irony which Maximus himself will later note.) We can jokingly say that, due to their rash actions ("Surely, it cannot hurt to pry open this prison"--good grief, talk about telegraphing a scene), Gorgon and Karnak perhaps deserve what's coming to them--but can we say the same for the human race?

"This Beachhead Earth!"

For a fleeting moment in time in late 1971, Marvel readers looked forward to their favorite comics being published with a larger page count each month, coinciding with a price increase of 10¢--which meant that all Marvel stories from that point on would no longer be limited to 20 pages, but would extend to 34-36 pages, with all books being bound on the spine rather than stapled. That change in course, as we know, vanished faster than you can say "after further consideration"... but for those few weeks, we were treated to a collection of titles which made anticipation of the following months' books practically register on the Richter scale for some of us, a spike in interest that the first Silver Surfer series would surely have coveted.

Having already covered the pertinent issues for Fantastic Four, Mighty Thor, and Invincible Iron Man, we turn now to the expanded Avengers story for that month, which moves the team closer to direct involvement in the Kree-Skrull War when they come into conflict with Skrull agents (including the Super-Skrull) who have plans not only for two Avengers (Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch) but also for Captain Marvel. The Skrulls have already taken measures to gain their objectives by setting a trap for Mar-vell as well as disbanding the current active roster of the Avengers; but unknown even to the Skrulls, their actions have drawn the attention of four of the original Avengers, who have gathered at their headquarters to investigate.

And so, with the return of the Vision, the door is opened (with a THOOOM, at that) to a power-packed issue by Roy Thomas, Neal Adams, and Tom Palmer which will make inroads toward drawing the Earth into an interstellar conflict that will see two star-spanning empires at each others' throats, while also eventually forcing Rick Jones to play a pivotal role in their fate.

(Say, Mr. Adams--did you not get that memo on Iron Man's boot jets?)

You Never Know When You'll Face... The Mandroids!

At whatever time you were a Marvel reader during the industry's Bronze Age and beyond, you probably at one time or another tripped over one of the many appearances of the Mandroids, agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. who donned titanium weapon-suits in order to battle super-powered foes that conventional forces presumably couldn't handle. Designed by Tony Stark, who trained the men to deal with even the Avengers, they were sent into action as part of a task force put together by H. Warren Craddock, who headed the government's Alien Activities Commission which had been formed to uncover possible alien threats such as the recent Kree incursion. Their mission: to enforce a court order which authorized Craddock to bring in the Avengers for questioning.

Given that Craddock had a valid court order to compel the Avengers' cooperation (rather than meting out a "death sentence" as dramatically depicted on the issue's cover), it's not clear why Captain America, of all people, didn't advise the team to simply comply, instead of escalating the situation by joining with them to take on the Mandroids. Half the blame is Craddock's, certainly, since the man and his aides could have just walked up to the front door and made their intentions known to Jarvis, rather than making such a show of it with tanks and a loudspeaker as if he were approaching fugitives--but Cap? Not only refusing a lawfully executed government order, but hurling his shield into the fray? If you were watching the scene play out on the tube, you might have found yourself wondering what information the Avengers could be hiding, and why.

Of course, having been witness to Craddock's tenacity in pursuing his McCarthy-style investigation, it's difficult to sympathize with the man, whatever his mandate--which helps to sway the reader, at least, to sympathize with the Avengers, rather than the heavily-armed Mandroids who are actually doing pretty well against them so far. Though it's fair to wonder if Stark advised them that, to deal with Iron Man, all you have to do is to send him tumbling onto his backside, which his armor isn't strong enough to protect him against.

The Inhuman called Triton has definitely picked a tense day to approach the Avengers in order to ask for their help. Luckily for him, Iron Man--who can barely find the strength to function after simply falling down--knows enough about the Mandroids to incapacitate them, or, rather, the men inside the suits. But wouldn't you know that SHIELD has a back-up plan even for that.

The Mandroids' debut nevertheless comes to an unceremonious end almost immediately afterward, as Iron Man again makes use of his knowledge of the suits to disable them.

Regrettably, Craddock wasn't the only government operative* to make use of the Mandroids against the Avengers, when, in a later story, the State Department issues orders to prevent the team from going after Stark.  It's also apparent that, in the interim, the Mandroid production line has been busy.

*Craddock, as we'd see during the closing scenes of the Kree-Skrull War, was later revealed to be a Skrull.

On another occasion, our heroes were forced to face the Mandroids when Thunderstrike and Spider-Man board the SHIELD helicarrier to confront the agency about their apprehension of the members of Code: Blue.

What's odd about the Mandroids, however, is that they seem to be for sale available to just about anyone who wants to acquire them--and that includes criminals like Justin Hammer (for all the good they do him against War Machine):

... and Moses Magnum, who uses them in an operation to seize control of Japan.

Magnum also had the clout to obtain a cadre of Mark II Mandroids, who turned out to be little more than tinker toys against the rage of Colossus.

The incredible Hulk has also faced a model of Mandroid, this one donned by Col. Glenn Talbot as part of his angry vendetta against the man-monster:

During the Armor Wars, however, Iron Man had cause to take on the Mandroids for a different reason--as part of his mission to keep his technology from falling into the hands of enemies like Justin Hammer. (Gee, we've already seen how well that worked out.) To accomplish the goal while avoiding an actual attack on SHIELD, Stark dupes Nick Fury into virtually dropping the Mandroids into his lap by convincing him that Iron Man has gone rogue and offering his help to track down his former bodyguard.

And though he crosses a line that forces him to deceive a longtime ally, the plan succeeds.

For future writers, the lure of using the Mandroids in their stories would mainly take the form of designing different prototypes and models of the Mandroid armor, which at times tended to make one forget that they were indeed man-operated and instead resembled hulking robots of some kind. But this creation of Roy Thomas and Neal Adams nevertheless went on to enjoy many appearances in a number of Marvel titles through the years--and, needless to say, remained popular with those SHIELD agents who hoped to one day make the grade as a Mandroid.