Mighty Avengers issue 1 (2007)
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"The Mighty Avengers" is the first issue of Marvel Comics' Mighty Avengers. Published on March 7, 2007, it features the last appearance by Godzilla in Earth-616 for almost two decades, albeit unlicensed.
Plot
In Manhattan, the freshly-formed Mighty Avengers—Ms. Marvel, Iron Man, Wonder Man, the Sentry, Black Widow, Ares, and the Wasp—descend to confront a horde of massive reptilian creatures who have burst out of the ground. Godzilla is among them, albeit lacking dorsal plates.
Four hours prior: Tony Stark, now the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., has designed a new Helicarrier in Iron Man colors. He summons Carol Danvers to lead a new Avengers team, although she questions the need for one given the massive number of superheroes now working for the United States government under the Superhuman Registration Act. He insists, however, that the world still needs a premium team to look out for it, and offers her the unprecedented chance to handpick the roster instead of it assembling by chance. He calls up a holographic display showcasing dozens of possible options.
The present: Ms. Marvel orders her team to minimize property damage, only for Sentry to immediately punch a monster into a skyscraper. Iron Man's databases are unable to identify the monsters, nor are the creatures capable of speech to explain their offensive. In danger of being overwhelmed, he unleashes a full-form repulsor ray to free himself, impressing the Wasp with the new weapon. Wonder Man remarks how much he missed being an Avenger—until a monster backhands him into the air.
Four hours prior: Danvers' first instinct is to form a team comprised of the most powerful heroes available. Stark receives a report of volcanic activity in Oregon, then replies that not every problem can be solved with brute force, especially since Avengers-level villains are seldom intimidated. He extols the virtues of street smarts, scientific knowledge, and team chemistry. He grows sullen, however, when Danvers mentions the teamwork of Spider-Man and Lucas Cage, who both remain in defiance of the Act, and responds that their duties still include arresting them both. When she questions whether hunting down other heroes really constitutes protecting the world, he whispers that if the registered heroes don't, "they" will, and refuses to elaborate.
The present: In the midst of an increasingly chaotic battle, the Mighty Avengers continue trying to determine who they're fighting. Wonder Man suspects Mole Man; Ares prefers to figure it out after they're destroyed all the monsters. Each member of the team performs heroics as Danvers explains their selections to Stark four hours prior. The Wasp, one of the team's founding members, is her first pick, although Stark rejects her suggestions that Wasp also lead the team. Spotting a monster stomping Ares, she flies through one of its ears and out the other, killing it. Danvers' next pick is Wonder Man, who she describes as "the second best Avenger ever", then hastily denies any romantic interest in him. Wonder Man launches himself straight through a monster's chest, then carries two civilians away from taxi thrown by another beast. Stark suggests Sentry, overruling her concerns about his stability due to his sheer power, and she questions which of them is actually leading the team. Spotting Ms. Marvel constricted by a monster's tentacle, he rips it apart to free her, leaving both her and Wasp awed. Stark next encourages a ninja-type member, but shoots down Danvers' suggestions of Daredevil and Shang-Chi in favor of Black Widow, who he himself is blatantly interested in. Leaping over a group of monsters, Black Widow releases a series of explosives that blow up their heads.
With the team still in need of Thor- and Wolverine-type members, Danvers realizes she knows someone who could fill both roles. She's interrupted by news of another volcanic eruption in Iceland before they proceed in uniform to a construction site where Ares, Greek god of war, is gainfully employed. He fumes at them for blowing his cover; Iron Man enrages him further by demanding he comply with the Act. Ms. Marvel tries to separate them, he responds that he intends to raise his son as a mortal on Earth rather then expose him to Zeus's hypocritical rule. When she asks what exactly Zeus did to him, he asks if he seems like the type to share his feelings with a woman, at which point she turns him back over to Iron Man. The Armored Avenger describes the exact group of heroes he'd call upon to take him into custody and offers to match his pay; impressed at his willingness to fight a god, Ares agreed. As they leave, Ms. Marvel asks Ares why he didn't take part in the superhuman Civil War, which he dismisses as a "slap fight". In the present, Ares hacks into monster after monster with axe and sword.
Iron Man receives an emergency alert from Maria Hill, who shows him natural disasters of all kinds happening around the globe. Agreeing with Wonder Man that Mole Man is responsible, he prepares to dive underground and question the supervillain himself. Ms. Marvel countermands him, ordering Wonder Man to go instead, as Iron Man is best-equipped to update them on the worldwide disasters. Hail begins to fall on the city as a particularly large monster grabs and throws Wonder Man; Sentry flies off to catch him. Mole Man promptly emerges, raving at the surface-dwellers to leave his underground kingdom alone. Ms. Marvel responds that they've done nothing to him, but he describes a calamity that left his home destroyed and his children dead.
Iron Man suddenly seizes up, both he and his armor starting to warp. Sentry seizes Mole Man and demands he cease the attack, but he pleads that it isn't coming from him. Iron Man then releases a shockwave knocking both heroes and monsters back. When the smoke clears, standing in his place is a naked, metallic woman resembling the Wasp: the latest model of Ultron.
Appearances
Gallery
Covers
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Standard cover by Frank Cho -
Cover art -
Limited variant cover by Leinil Francis Yu -
Second printing cover by Frank Cho -
Second printing
cover art
Scans
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The Mighty Avengers facing Mole Man's monsters in Manhattan -
Early version of the previous, with Godzilla's dorsal fins still intact
Trivia
- Godzilla is not named in the issue and can only be spotted in one panel. The sole indication of his identity comes from 2009's Marvel Pets Handbook (later incorporated into Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #14 in 2010), which states that Godzilla once resided on Monster Island under the care of the Mole Man.[1][2] Though the handbook entry's author, Madison Carter, intended this as a reference to Mighty Avengers, he could not explicitly canonize the comic's monster as Godzilla for legal reasons.[3] A throwaway line from an earlier Marvel comic that mentioned Godzilla in connection to Monster Island was used as a loophole to include the passage.[4]
- Godzilla next appeared in the Marvel Multiverse through the one-page parody comic "Licensed Contest of Champions" from 2014's Marvel 75th Anniversary Celebration, which featured censored versions of he and several other characters that Marvel no longer held the rights to. On his personal website The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Marvel handbook writer Jeff Christiansen indicated that the comic's events legitimately occurred in their own universe, which he designated Earth-12318.[5]
- Godzilla last appeared in Marvel's main continuity of Earth-616 in The Thing #31 from 1986. Though he was then an unrecognizable mutant, he has somehow returned to a form closer to his original appearance by this issue, albeit lacking his iconic dorsal fins. An early version of the panel published in Marvel Previews #41 showed the fins intact,[6] but they were removed in the final printing, possibly due to legal concerns. His next appearance in the timeline was the 2025 miniseries Godzilla Destroys the Marvel Universe, in which he resembles the Heisei Godzilla.[7]
- Coincidentally, an image of The Thing's eponymous Thing appears in this issue, among the headshots of the 50-State Initiative. He would not meet Godzilla again until 2025's Godzilla vs. Fantastic Four.
- Superheroes Iron Man, Black Widow, and the Wasp were all previously featured in Marvel's Godzilla comic series. The mythological Ares later appeared in IDW's Godzilla: Rage Across Time #2.
- Variant cover illustrator Leinil Francis Yu would go on to create the Godzilla Variant Cover for Exceptional X-Men #1 and assorted covers for both Godzilla vs. Marvel and Godzilla Destroys the Marvel Universe.
- Less than a month after this issue, the comic Irredeemable Ant-Man #7 revealed that Eric O'Grady (Ant-Man) was present for the start of the Mighty Avengers' battle, secretly riding on Ms. Marvel at ant size.
External links
References
This is a list of references for Mighty Avengers issue 1. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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