In my ongoing effort to delay returning to my Clones in the MC2 series, I am currently procrastinating by focusing my attention on the home of the MC2’s own Avengers team. I thought I might channel this hyper focused tangent into a little post looking at the history of the Avengers Headquarters with particular focus on Avengers Mansion.
What is later known as Avengers Mansion made it’s
first appearance way back in 1963’s Avengers #2 where we see the
interior, referred to simply as ‘the library of Anthony Stark’, with the exterior of Stark’s
Mansion first glimpsed in Fantastic Four #26 when the Hulk
emerges from the sewers nearby.
The Avengers’ stalwart butler Edwin Jarvis
made his first appearance in Tales of Suspense #59 before making his debut
in the Avengers title itself with Avengers #16. The building is
first identified as ‘Avengers Headquarters’ and ‘Avenger Mansion’
in Avengers #38 and aside from some pedantic variations (such as Avengers
#51, Avengers #53, and Avengers #60) is referred to as the ‘Avengers
Mansion’ from Avengers #61 onward. There is a two-page cutaway look
at Avengers Mansion in Avengers Annual (vol. 1) #1 (or Avengers
King-Size Special #1 if you prefer).
During the iconic ‘Avengers Under Siege’ storyline,
the Avengers Mansion is destroyed, leaving team demoralised and with no
base of operations (Avengers #270-#277). After temporarily using an
office suite in Four Freedoms Plaza the Avengers move their
headquarters to the artificial floating island Hydrobase while plans for
renovation of Avengers Mansion began (Avengers #278). The
rebuilt Mansion itself would be moved to Hydrobase in Avengers
#288 and the island was dubbed ‘Avengers Island’ in Avengers #301,
though the whole island was soon after sunk during an assault orchestrated by Doctor
Doom (Avengers #311).
Without a base of operations once again, the Avengers temporarily utilize the remaining Sub-Basements beneath the grounds of 890 Fifth Avenue, the location having been recently converted into ‘Avengers Park’ (Avengers #300, Avengers #312).
Eventually, construction would begin on a brand new ‘Avengers
Headquarters’ with the help of architect Eric
Masterson (Avengers #314 - #328, Avengers Annual #19, Thor
#423, Thor #434). Construction on Avengers Headquarters was completed
in Avengers #329 before an official opening was held in Avengers #332.
This version of the Avengers Headquarters is wrecked by the Avengers
team member and Eternal
Sersi during in Avengers #373, when she was driven mad by the effects
of ‘Mahd Wy’ry’ or ‘Eternal Madness’ and the manipulations of the
evil alternate-reality version of Dane Whitman known as Proctor.
%20-%20219.jpg)
With the Avengers Headquarters ruined, the alternate reality Watcher known as Ute uses his dying moments to supposedly restore the Avengers Mansion in its place (Avengers #375). However, the team quickly noticed things were not as they seemed (Avengers #378) and soon Black Widow discovers something hidden behind a wall deep in the Sub-Basements, identified as a ‘chronal displacement field’ by Dr Henry Pym aka Giant-Man, which explodes when the Vision attempts to phase through the wall, revealing a strange door (Avengers #382). After further attempts to investigate this strange trans-temporal door (Avengers #385, Avengers: The Crossing), the Avengers make use of the strange door to time travel to the past and recruit the younger ‘Teen’ Tony Stark from Earth-96020, who was not yet corrupted by ‘Kang’ (in actuality a disguised Immortus) (Avengers: Timeslide). Following this time travel adventure, the mystery door disappears and is never satisfactorily elaborated upon (Iron Man #325).
%20-%20277.jpg)
Soon after this point, the events of Onslaught occur,
and at its conclusion the Avengers,
the Fantastic
Four, Doctor Bruce
Banner and even Doctor
Doom apparently perished saving the world from the psychic entity
known as Onslaught,
a massively powerful psionic manifestation of the combined consciousnesses
of Professor
Charles Xavier and Magneto (Onslaught:
Marvel Universe One-Shot). Consequently, this replacement Avengers
Mansion was the final headquarters prior to events branching into the MC2.
Oh, and don’t worry! The Avengers are okay thanks to Franklin
Richards using his amazing abilities to create a pocket dimension to
save his parents and all the other heroes. The reborn heroes would awaken in
this pocket dimension to live out new lives, unaware of their pasts. Long
story short, the heroes were all eventually returned to the Main Marvel
Universe and things went back to some semblance of normality (Heroes Reborn:
The Return #1 - #4). The Fantastic
Four and Avengers reformed in their respective third volumes and
that leads nicely into the MC2 portion of this post.
The MC2’s present day Headquarters first
appeared in What If #105 when civilian Peter
Parker visits hoping to recruit help. We get a much better look in the Avengers
own MC2 series starting with A-Next #1. The Maria Stark
Foundation runs tours with all gift kiosk proceeds going to charity. The
property grounds still maintain a defensive grid with metallic restraining
tentacles seen when Rock
Trolls sent by Loki
target Kevin
Masterson. When Loki’s magical energy bolt is detected
by monitors built into the Avengers Compound defences, they
bring online a ‘long
dormant program’. The program sends out an emergency call to assemble
to over a dozen locations, but which is only received by two former Avengers; Jubilee and Jolt who would
be joined by Stinger, Speedball and J2, while the program itself activates
Mainframe.
%20001-003.jpg)
%20001-004.jpg)
%20001-005.jpg)
%20001-006.jpg)
%20001-007.jpg)
%20001-020.jpg)
%20001-021.jpg)
%20001-022.jpg)
It is worth noting it is referred to as ‘Avengers Mansion’
in What #105, though usually referred to as ‘Avengers Headquarters’
or ‘Avengers Compound’ (A-Next #1- #3). Characters such as Cassie Lang aka Stinger
and even the narration calls the location ‘Mansion’ (A-Next #4, A-Next
#8, Avengers Next #1) but it does not appear to be in common use by this
point in time. I believe ‘Mansion’ is a colloquial and traditional term,
while the building acts as the team’s ‘Headquarters’ and the grounds in
their entirety are the ‘Compound.’ As Chief of Staff, Jarvis’
hires Scott
Lang as a technical advisor responsible for upgrading and maintaining
the team’s hardware (A-Next #3). The training room is located two floors
below the ground level (A-Next #6) and the building has at least seven Sub-Basements
(A-Next #6). The Avengers stylised ‘A’ logo is rendered on
the roof (A-Next #7).
%20002-002.jpg)
%20003-005.jpg)
%20003-008.jpg)
%20004-001.jpg)
%20001-003.jpg)
%20001-015.jpg)
%20006-003.jpg)
%20006-009.jpg)
%20007-004.jpg)
We know from Avengers Next #1 that there is a
library, gym, and med lab as well as an armoury which is frequently updated by Tony
Stark in areas restricted from the general public, in addition to many more
areas. The Headquarters’ arsenal includes at least some of Tony
Stark’s old Iron Man armours, the scythe once used by the villain Grim
Reaper (Avengers Next #5). Some members of the Avengers take
up residence within the Avengers Headquarters, such as Shannon
Carter
aka American
Dream (American Dream #1)
%20001-004.jpg)
%20005-006.jpg)
This version of the Avengers Headquarters has
strong visual similarities to the build designed by Eric Masterson,
which raises some questions. Based on what we know of the shared history of the
MC2 and Main Marvel Universe, the Avengers Headquarters
designed by Masterson was destroyed and replace by a nearly exact
duplicate from an alternate universe by Ute the
Watcher. While this is most likely a case of artistic licence favouring
Masterson’s design, I do have a theory to explain this. Given the
interior of MC2 Avengers Headquarters retains many of the Mansion-style
fittings and fixtures of old, it’s possible this is (at least in part) the
‘restored’ Mansion with various modifications and additions (such as a
reinforced exterior modelled upon or inspired by Eric’s existing designs)
made through the intervening years between what we know of the original Avengers
team and the rise of the new Avengers in the present. This is partly
supported by the mishmash of elements seen throughout, including the (at least)
seven Sub-Basement levels.
Speaking of the Sub-Basements, there’s another (or
possibly the same) mystery door behind which lies a cryogenic chamber
containing the unconscious Wanda
Maximoff aka The
Scarlet Witch, who had been holding closed the mysterious portal to
another universe following the original Avengers last mission which left
many of them dead (A-Next #6- #9). I find the notion of their being a
different doorway in the basement too similar to be merely a coincidence,
though we never learn exactly where this interdimensional aperture originated,
nor how the original Avengers first learned of the threat posed by the
alternate reality on the other side. Just something to think about if you like
to draw crazy patterns like I most certainly do.
%20007-002.jpg)
%20006-012.jpg)
%20007-017.jpg)
%20007-018.jpg)
%20007-021.jpg)
%20008-010.jpg)
%20008-013.jpg)
%20008-014.jpg)
%20008-017.jpg)
%20008-021.jpg)
%20008-022.jpg)
%20009-001.jpg)
%20009-002.jpg)
%20009-009.jpg)
%20009-021.jpg)
%20009-022.jpg)
That is about it for this post; the current Avengers
Headquarters fortunately has not been destroyed in the MC2. Let us
hope it stays that way.
Until I stop using these posts to dig deep into Marvel Lore,
I remain
frogoat
