In a variation of an old theme, the Red Skull would once again try to undermine the Avengers by making life difficult for Steve – asking him through the office of the Defense Secretary for the United States (he was in disguise as Dell Rusk) to do some questionable things, that Steve would obviously refuse – this would put the team’s priority clearance in danger – but the Avengers out maneuver this by getting recognition and authorization to become U.N. sanctioned as a global peace keeping team.
It would also be through the machinations of Dell Rusk that Tony Stark would have to use his influence to become the new Defense Chief – a few weeks after Rusk’s outing as the Red Skull. Also as part of Rusk’s entanglement – Steve would actually have to share the identity of Captain America with John Walker - a more compliant Super Soldier, who would then be asked to join a new team of Invaders. This new team had a more jingoistic tendency – making them more right-wing oriented. Suddenly, the identity seemed to be a sort of franchise – one that the government could award to anyone they please.
The Invaders would be short-lived a team, and Walker would once again realize that he cannot do the identity justice, by following flawed government dictate – dictates, that is, coming from Dell Rusk. It also became a bit of an embarrassment for the New Invaders to think that they were formed by virtue of the Red Skull’s manipulations, hence though they tried going at it alone, it seemed that this incarnation neither had the heart and moral drive that that their WWII predecessors had.
It likewise came as a shock to Washington (by now recovered, it seemed from the Kang War) that a villain like the Skull could get into a very sensitive post. Had it not been fro the Falcon, the Black Panther, Iron Man and Henry Peter Gyrich – whom Rusk tried to use to spill Avengers-related secrets, Rusk would very well have succeeded. A very relieved President J.W. Bush would be conferring with a recovering Steve Rogers (who was a captive of Rusk/Skull) to a) promised that no other such a weapons facility (that caused the release of the red dust) did exist and to ask Cap’s help – if one ever did, to shut such facilities down. In the aftermath of said Skull attempt to subvert the government, Tony Stark would have to apply for Defense Secretary , to protect all Stark technology released.
Despite Rusk’s attempt at undermining Captain America and the Avengers, the team survived – stronger and better than before. Rusk’s forcing them to relinquish their U.S. security clearance, got them to be deputized by the U.N. – to act as their independent peace-keeping force, hence have a more global reach. Henry Peter Gyrich would earn the trust and admiration of the Avengers, and would wholly accept him as their U.N. liaison (he had earlier replaced Duane Freeman – who was just one of millions who died because of the Kang war), and the Avengers would have the support of not just Stark International – though in a more limited basis (since Tony was now the Secretary of Defense) but that of Wakanda as well.
Unfortunately, the Avengers themselves seemed to do what many villains failed to accomplish – seemingly disbanding the trust and cohesiveness of the team. Perhaps it can be similar to the fabled Camelot… having a rot happening from the inside, eventually becoming the cause of such golden age’s ending… but it started with the break-up of what can be considered the big three.
In what seemed to be a move geared towards having all too good intentions, Thor would transport Asgard to the same dimension as Earth – in fact, he would leave Asgard hovering above Earth – this way he could be present for both of his responsibilities – that of being one of Midgard’s champion and ruling Asgard. Naturally, despite all good intents, some conflict would happen – many persecuted families, seeing Thor as a possible protector would start revering him and accepting him as their deity… and they naturally beseeched his protection. Thor would naturally step in and act in behalf of his people – to the detriment of some opposing forces.
Iron Man and Cap would go against Thor’s plan to protect his new worshipers –arguing that Thor was being manipulated into becoming involved in a very old border war. That one side of said border war started becoming religiously connected to Thor, to force the thunder god to step in and act on their behalf – it was during this discussion that Dr. Doom, who likewise had interests with what was happening (Latveria being a close neighbor in the ensuing battles) manipulated a battle, by remotely controlling technology of one tank from the opposing force to fire upon Thor. Naturally, Thor’s fury gets the better of him and he strikes back – leaving Iron Man no choice but to retrieve his Thor-buster armor, in an effort to stop Thor.
Captain America, struggling to stay up against the fury of the battle; using his shield to absorb the energies being unleashed on the sideline, ensured that no other person is hurt – even countermanding an order being given by one army officer who had orders to engage Thor… Steve orders the troops to stay put. Now call it his propensity to lead; maybe by the sound of his voice, his stance or perhaps the mostly U.S. (or allied) troops seeing what his uniform represents - it takes the army a split second to decide – but decide they do… all stand at attention and salute Captain America. They, obviously, will be following him in this matter.
Having done that, Cap joins the battle – both hitting Thor (to get his attention) and reason with him. Thor strikes Cap with his full fury… belatedly realizing what he just did, and snapping out of his rage because of it. Luckily, Cap’s shield takes the brunt of the blow and in the process, gets dented. Thor quickly checks on Steve to see what damage may have happened and apologizes to him. Thor listens to reason and tells his host to return to Asgard… with much to ponder on. Thor then offers to repair Cap’s shield right there and then, but before he leaves, he also effectively informs Captain America that he is resigning from the Avengers.
Thor’s first action, upon his return is to sit at the throne – indeed pondeing what happened as he looks at a picture of him with Iron Man and Cap during friendlier times – a picture he throws away, feeling regret for friendship lost – or at the very least, strained. This does not prevent him, however, from calling both Iron Man and Cap to help him with a latter battle seemingly triggering Ragnarok – a time foretold, when Argard would fall. The three battle bravely, honorably – until the Midgard Serpent appears… and Thor sends back both Steve and Tony to Earth… for from then on, battles alone. That would be the last that both Steve and Tony would see Thor.
Meanwhile… it is somewhere along this timeline that we are made to believe that Wanda Maximoff started plotting against the Avengers, after all – hell hath no fury than a woman scorned – and Wanda felt strongly betrayed by those closest to her. For some reason, she thought that the Avengers – her team mates, as conspirators who manipulated (or helped manipulate) her into forgetting her near idyllic family with the Vision and her twin sons… who through her reality altering powers, she was able to create, and care for – that is, until Mater Pandemonium stepped in and got them back; as it became apparent that for Wanda to create them, she actually tapped into and got Pandemonium’s energies.
Losing her children, her husband (Vision got database-swiped and later on reluctantly rebooted – a consequence of his earlier attempt to control all the computers in the world) and her inner-peace, seemed too much a struggle and her somewhat fragile psychie started to derail. Perhaps her incarceration in the Kang war further weakened her resolve – and her seeming hopelessness affected her some more. She may have been putting up a strong front – feeling that the team was a pillar of strength that she could lean on.
But what if by chance, she would discover that this team she derives strength from had somehow kept a secret from her? Not just any team, but seemingly her family for the past decades? How deep would this hurt be? Adding to this, her well kept Maximoff fury – though others might argue it as the Lehnsherr madness, further abetted by her Gypsy upbringing – this possibly made her passionately blame and hate the Avengers, and secretly plot her vengeance.
One particular person Wanda felt reluctant to go against though (but still needed to manipulate, specially if her plans were to bear fruit) was Steve Rogers… after all, Steve had been around in her early days – he was her mentor, and friend – as he molded her, along with the other kooky quartet members into becoming real heroes. Wanda owed Steve a lot, but for some reason, her need for revenge seemingly outweighed her reverence of Captain America and her friendship with Steve.
Now… allowing for the fact that no one had noticed Wanda’s change in character, her sudden added moodiness or aloofness… not Simon, not Carol, not Steve, not Clint, nor Tony… it seemed apparent that Wanda got no help from the Avengers… and I’d say they deserved what they had coming. I’d still go for possible outside influence… but this is not a What If – and like the Watcher, I am but a helpless spectator wondering the what could have been… or should have been.
To continue… it seems that Wanda made Steve imagine that they were falling for each other – though it may also be argued that the feelings were not entirely faked. Still… Wanda, kept Steve ‘occupied’ while her other machinations were being set in place. Said machinations would eventually lead to the Avengers worst day.
Since Wanda had ‘intimate’ (to this date, I can’t be sure of what happened – if anything happened) contact with Steve, leading up to the day she would have all her plans push through, she definitely had no problem manipulating him; altering his chemistry a bit, distracting him with the affair they were sharing, and in the process – when the time to strike came, Wanda manipulated Steve, and his adrenaline, his war-honed training was seemingly forgotten and Captain America was reduced to a mere dumb-struck witness to everything happening around him that day… a far cry from the usually quick thinking, quick acting, leader of the Avengers in countless crisis.
For probably the second time in his life (the first being in free fall as he watched Bucky’s attempt at stopping a rocket from reaching its intended destination) – Steve Rogers was frozen, looking on helplessly as things started unraveling for the Avengers. But Wanda did not want Steve hurt – a situation she apparently seemed indifferent to regarding other Avengers that day, resulting in the apparent deaths of Hawkeye, Jack of Hearts, Ant Man and the Vision (the latter at the hands of She Hulk). So Steve was still lucid enough to fight a possibly imaginary – though still deadly (as per what happened to Hawkeye) battle with Kree warriors.
Upon his seeming recovery, with the help of Doctor Strange, it was Steve that had the opportunity to approach a calmly dangerous, (but seemingly unhinged) Wanda in her imaginary home, acting out her blissful family time – and if there were any indication of how torn Wanda was regarding Steve, it was reflected in how her twins regarded Steve as either a trusted companion or a threat. Though the mere fact that he could approach her was testimony enough to how Wanda trusted Steve – and no other.
The crisis would end – but not without help from Stephen Strange, the Avengers were just too exhausted to think straight – maybe still being subtly manipulated by Wanda… or maybe just wanting to end things quickly,… wanting to close the messy affair fast, and as if on cue, Erik Magnus Lehnsherr a.k.a Magento appears and asks for her – insisting that Wanda needed family – her real family, now more than ever.
The Avengers readily give Wanda’s unconscious body to her father and seemingly just go their separate ways – humbled by the thought that they once again failed to help a friend in need. Others feeling betrayed and not too proud of being an Avenger, other still having to consider the repercussions for all that had happened.
A select few would gather a week later, in the mansion’s ruins and decide to disband the team. Cap would be one of these few – though I would imagine his initially going against the idea – but possibly owing to the fact that he was one of those manipulated, it would be understandable that he would want some breathing space away from the team… hence he did not exactly stop the idea of disbanding the Avengers... as proposed by Tony Stark.
Next: A New Team, the Winter Soldier and Civil War
It would also be through the machinations of Dell Rusk that Tony Stark would have to use his influence to become the new Defense Chief – a few weeks after Rusk’s outing as the Red Skull. Also as part of Rusk’s entanglement – Steve would actually have to share the identity of Captain America with John Walker - a more compliant Super Soldier, who would then be asked to join a new team of Invaders. This new team had a more jingoistic tendency – making them more right-wing oriented. Suddenly, the identity seemed to be a sort of franchise – one that the government could award to anyone they please.
The Invaders would be short-lived a team, and Walker would once again realize that he cannot do the identity justice, by following flawed government dictate – dictates, that is, coming from Dell Rusk. It also became a bit of an embarrassment for the New Invaders to think that they were formed by virtue of the Red Skull’s manipulations, hence though they tried going at it alone, it seemed that this incarnation neither had the heart and moral drive that that their WWII predecessors had.
It likewise came as a shock to Washington (by now recovered, it seemed from the Kang War) that a villain like the Skull could get into a very sensitive post. Had it not been fro the Falcon, the Black Panther, Iron Man and Henry Peter Gyrich – whom Rusk tried to use to spill Avengers-related secrets, Rusk would very well have succeeded. A very relieved President J.W. Bush would be conferring with a recovering Steve Rogers (who was a captive of Rusk/Skull) to a) promised that no other such a weapons facility (that caused the release of the red dust) did exist and to ask Cap’s help – if one ever did, to shut such facilities down. In the aftermath of said Skull attempt to subvert the government, Tony Stark would have to apply for Defense Secretary , to protect all Stark technology released.
Despite Rusk’s attempt at undermining Captain America and the Avengers, the team survived – stronger and better than before. Rusk’s forcing them to relinquish their U.S. security clearance, got them to be deputized by the U.N. – to act as their independent peace-keeping force, hence have a more global reach. Henry Peter Gyrich would earn the trust and admiration of the Avengers, and would wholly accept him as their U.N. liaison (he had earlier replaced Duane Freeman – who was just one of millions who died because of the Kang war), and the Avengers would have the support of not just Stark International – though in a more limited basis (since Tony was now the Secretary of Defense) but that of Wakanda as well.
Unfortunately, the Avengers themselves seemed to do what many villains failed to accomplish – seemingly disbanding the trust and cohesiveness of the team. Perhaps it can be similar to the fabled Camelot… having a rot happening from the inside, eventually becoming the cause of such golden age’s ending… but it started with the break-up of what can be considered the big three.
In what seemed to be a move geared towards having all too good intentions, Thor would transport Asgard to the same dimension as Earth – in fact, he would leave Asgard hovering above Earth – this way he could be present for both of his responsibilities – that of being one of Midgard’s champion and ruling Asgard. Naturally, despite all good intents, some conflict would happen – many persecuted families, seeing Thor as a possible protector would start revering him and accepting him as their deity… and they naturally beseeched his protection. Thor would naturally step in and act in behalf of his people – to the detriment of some opposing forces.
Iron Man and Cap would go against Thor’s plan to protect his new worshipers –arguing that Thor was being manipulated into becoming involved in a very old border war. That one side of said border war started becoming religiously connected to Thor, to force the thunder god to step in and act on their behalf – it was during this discussion that Dr. Doom, who likewise had interests with what was happening (Latveria being a close neighbor in the ensuing battles) manipulated a battle, by remotely controlling technology of one tank from the opposing force to fire upon Thor. Naturally, Thor’s fury gets the better of him and he strikes back – leaving Iron Man no choice but to retrieve his Thor-buster armor, in an effort to stop Thor.
Captain America, struggling to stay up against the fury of the battle; using his shield to absorb the energies being unleashed on the sideline, ensured that no other person is hurt – even countermanding an order being given by one army officer who had orders to engage Thor… Steve orders the troops to stay put. Now call it his propensity to lead; maybe by the sound of his voice, his stance or perhaps the mostly U.S. (or allied) troops seeing what his uniform represents - it takes the army a split second to decide – but decide they do… all stand at attention and salute Captain America. They, obviously, will be following him in this matter.
Having done that, Cap joins the battle – both hitting Thor (to get his attention) and reason with him. Thor strikes Cap with his full fury… belatedly realizing what he just did, and snapping out of his rage because of it. Luckily, Cap’s shield takes the brunt of the blow and in the process, gets dented. Thor quickly checks on Steve to see what damage may have happened and apologizes to him. Thor listens to reason and tells his host to return to Asgard… with much to ponder on. Thor then offers to repair Cap’s shield right there and then, but before he leaves, he also effectively informs Captain America that he is resigning from the Avengers.
Thor’s first action, upon his return is to sit at the throne – indeed pondeing what happened as he looks at a picture of him with Iron Man and Cap during friendlier times – a picture he throws away, feeling regret for friendship lost – or at the very least, strained. This does not prevent him, however, from calling both Iron Man and Cap to help him with a latter battle seemingly triggering Ragnarok – a time foretold, when Argard would fall. The three battle bravely, honorably – until the Midgard Serpent appears… and Thor sends back both Steve and Tony to Earth… for from then on, battles alone. That would be the last that both Steve and Tony would see Thor.
Meanwhile… it is somewhere along this timeline that we are made to believe that Wanda Maximoff started plotting against the Avengers, after all – hell hath no fury than a woman scorned – and Wanda felt strongly betrayed by those closest to her. For some reason, she thought that the Avengers – her team mates, as conspirators who manipulated (or helped manipulate) her into forgetting her near idyllic family with the Vision and her twin sons… who through her reality altering powers, she was able to create, and care for – that is, until Mater Pandemonium stepped in and got them back; as it became apparent that for Wanda to create them, she actually tapped into and got Pandemonium’s energies.
Losing her children, her husband (Vision got database-swiped and later on reluctantly rebooted – a consequence of his earlier attempt to control all the computers in the world) and her inner-peace, seemed too much a struggle and her somewhat fragile psychie started to derail. Perhaps her incarceration in the Kang war further weakened her resolve – and her seeming hopelessness affected her some more. She may have been putting up a strong front – feeling that the team was a pillar of strength that she could lean on.
But what if by chance, she would discover that this team she derives strength from had somehow kept a secret from her? Not just any team, but seemingly her family for the past decades? How deep would this hurt be? Adding to this, her well kept Maximoff fury – though others might argue it as the Lehnsherr madness, further abetted by her Gypsy upbringing – this possibly made her passionately blame and hate the Avengers, and secretly plot her vengeance.
One particular person Wanda felt reluctant to go against though (but still needed to manipulate, specially if her plans were to bear fruit) was Steve Rogers… after all, Steve had been around in her early days – he was her mentor, and friend – as he molded her, along with the other kooky quartet members into becoming real heroes. Wanda owed Steve a lot, but for some reason, her need for revenge seemingly outweighed her reverence of Captain America and her friendship with Steve.
Now… allowing for the fact that no one had noticed Wanda’s change in character, her sudden added moodiness or aloofness… not Simon, not Carol, not Steve, not Clint, nor Tony… it seemed apparent that Wanda got no help from the Avengers… and I’d say they deserved what they had coming. I’d still go for possible outside influence… but this is not a What If – and like the Watcher, I am but a helpless spectator wondering the what could have been… or should have been.
To continue… it seems that Wanda made Steve imagine that they were falling for each other – though it may also be argued that the feelings were not entirely faked. Still… Wanda, kept Steve ‘occupied’ while her other machinations were being set in place. Said machinations would eventually lead to the Avengers worst day.
Since Wanda had ‘intimate’ (to this date, I can’t be sure of what happened – if anything happened) contact with Steve, leading up to the day she would have all her plans push through, she definitely had no problem manipulating him; altering his chemistry a bit, distracting him with the affair they were sharing, and in the process – when the time to strike came, Wanda manipulated Steve, and his adrenaline, his war-honed training was seemingly forgotten and Captain America was reduced to a mere dumb-struck witness to everything happening around him that day… a far cry from the usually quick thinking, quick acting, leader of the Avengers in countless crisis.
For probably the second time in his life (the first being in free fall as he watched Bucky’s attempt at stopping a rocket from reaching its intended destination) – Steve Rogers was frozen, looking on helplessly as things started unraveling for the Avengers. But Wanda did not want Steve hurt – a situation she apparently seemed indifferent to regarding other Avengers that day, resulting in the apparent deaths of Hawkeye, Jack of Hearts, Ant Man and the Vision (the latter at the hands of She Hulk). So Steve was still lucid enough to fight a possibly imaginary – though still deadly (as per what happened to Hawkeye) battle with Kree warriors.
Upon his seeming recovery, with the help of Doctor Strange, it was Steve that had the opportunity to approach a calmly dangerous, (but seemingly unhinged) Wanda in her imaginary home, acting out her blissful family time – and if there were any indication of how torn Wanda was regarding Steve, it was reflected in how her twins regarded Steve as either a trusted companion or a threat. Though the mere fact that he could approach her was testimony enough to how Wanda trusted Steve – and no other.
The crisis would end – but not without help from Stephen Strange, the Avengers were just too exhausted to think straight – maybe still being subtly manipulated by Wanda… or maybe just wanting to end things quickly,… wanting to close the messy affair fast, and as if on cue, Erik Magnus Lehnsherr a.k.a Magento appears and asks for her – insisting that Wanda needed family – her real family, now more than ever.
The Avengers readily give Wanda’s unconscious body to her father and seemingly just go their separate ways – humbled by the thought that they once again failed to help a friend in need. Others feeling betrayed and not too proud of being an Avenger, other still having to consider the repercussions for all that had happened.
A select few would gather a week later, in the mansion’s ruins and decide to disband the team. Cap would be one of these few – though I would imagine his initially going against the idea – but possibly owing to the fact that he was one of those manipulated, it would be understandable that he would want some breathing space away from the team… hence he did not exactly stop the idea of disbanding the Avengers... as proposed by Tony Stark.
Next: A New Team, the Winter Soldier and Civil War
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