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I was reading through Jonathan Hickman's Avengers run for the first time, when I saw the above image of Avengers World.

It's very similar to the Postboot's Legion World. Very similar indeed.



I immediately checked in with Cobalt Kid's security office to see if this was the start of a takeover from an alternative universe/forum.

Secure in the knowledge that I could finish my tea in peace, I began to wonder what, if Avengers World was an alternate to Legion World, the original Avengers series would be like set in the Legion's universe.

[Editor's Note: By tweaking a secret part of their Cobalt Kid statuette's anatomy, Legion Worlders can instantly contact the Security Office. - Adventure 346]

Membership

Spoilers ahead for the issue plot breakdowns...


Wonder Boy:
Plucked from the orbital rubble of a destroyed Earth, Reep Rohgers was revived from a suspended animation chamber, that had enabled him to survive the death of his world. His inspirational values, leadership and commitment would be a driving force for the group. He would also help prepare the group to face the entity that had destroyed his solar system. But not all is as it seems about this galaxy's last survivor.
[Editor's Note: Cap was referred to as Wonder Boy in an early Avengers issue.]


Thunder Lad:
"There came a time when the old gods died! The brave died with the cunning! The noble perished, locked in battle with unleashed evil! It was the last day for them! An ancient era was passing in fiery holocaust."
Ragnarok. But from the last release of indescribable power from that lost age, as it collapsed into singularity, a new universe was born! Although the world of the Old Gods was gone the essence from that old universe formed the foundations of the new. In this new universe, the concept of the old home of the gods, Asgard, became two. One the barren, rocky, world of Qward. The other, became known across the galaxy as Oa.
With the essence of the old gods within them, the new races on these two worlds reached out to shape the universe around them. First with missionaries, then with representatives such as the Manhunters. Others would take a more direct approach, becoming the gods of many other worlds.

One such was Orion Odinson, the wielder of cosmic Astro-Storms. He has been sent to Earth by his stepfather, Izaya Allfather to aid the United Planets against threats only his wisdom has seen as he drank from The Source. For the destruction of the old universe has also followed into the new.


Stark 5:
Also known as Iron Lad to the multitude of United Planet citizens who reap the benefits that his technology provides them. Stark 5 is from the mysterious computerised world of Colu. Reversing millennia of isolationism, they have sent their emissary into the United Planets in a biomechanical containment suit. Stark's computer mind enables him to multitask on a vast scale. He indulges this in experiencing as much of the wider United Planets as he can. Of course, Colu didn't reverse policy on a whim. They saw the horrors that were coming and sent their bioorganic probe, Stark, to ostensibly aid the galaxy, but really for their own survival.


Insect Queen:
In a galaxy where instantaneous omni-communications, being a galactic career celebrity is almost literally a cut throat industry. Lana Van Dyne, like many before her, began taking bigger risks to stay ahead of the pack. Blessed with a rich family, she could afford to fund more exotic, or intensive, investigations. Subsequent investigations never found the real cause of the Hivemind that was unleashed from Korll. When their leader, The Queen Bee, was defeated her now mindless victims were accepted into the galactic economy as cheap labour and consumers. Van Dyne aided in the victory, realising that her next career move, and one to keep her well ahead of the pack, was become a galactic super heroine. Van Dyne's extensive wardrobe is invariably accessorised with several pieces of jewellery. Her secret is that one of them, a ring, is the source of her powers of transformation and insect control.


Giant Boy:
An escapee from The Microverse, Pohl Digby warned the United Planets that the very fabric of their existence was under threat. In the sub atomic worlds, The Atom King sought to use the Crimson Crystal of Ka to unravel the universe at a quantum level. To escape the tyrrany of the Microverse, Digby stole the Palmer Particles that took the Atom King into their kingdom a millennia ago, as a size changing hero for the United Planets. Digby is a protector of various levels of reality that the wider United Planets is completely unaware of. Giant Boy had undergone the beginning of the treatment that changes denizens of the microverse into explorers of the multiverse, known as Mole Men. He worries that the Atom King's instability will begin to affect him too, and that the treatments will turn him into one of the other Mole Men.


Wonder Girl
A lineage of champions has protected Earth over the centuries. Whether with blessings of the government of the time or acting against them, Themyscira has held true to the values on which the island paradise was founded. Its strongest heroines have had origins intertwined with mythology and unborn spirits. Hippolyta Thal's spirit was reborn in Amazon society. But the birth and Hyppolyta's fate was intertwined with a plot by the Furies, one of whom , Tisiphone, she transforms into when unable to control her anger.
[Editor's Note: Wonder Girl would later adopt the identity of Miss Fury. While not in the original concept, this provides a nice link to the Atlas heroine of the same name.]


Marvel Boy
Kent Williams III tells the team that he desperately needs his help to save his people from a wave of destruction threatening his world. Wonder Boy recalls his dead Earth; Thunder Lad the reason for his journey to the UP and Stark 5, the knowledge that this may bring to save them from the Prophet's warnings. However, Marvel Boy's plight turns out to be a trap for the LoA. The teen of steel is revealed to be a young entrepreneur ruined by the inventions of Stark 5 and Thunder Lad. Not inherently bad and, seeing the efforts of the LoA to save him and his home, Marvel Boy turns against the villains at the cost of his life. His last act is to save his world from the very real threat that Mask Man intended for it.


[Editor's Note: Marvel Boy predated the first appearance of Captain America. He's the stand in for Superboy in this series.]

Reflex Kid
A former captive of Circe, the freed Biron stepped out in to a world thousands of years after his own origins in Ancient Greece. Many things remain the same, and the former warrior finds new battles to be fought. He was an expert bowman in his time, and uses enchantments learned from Circe on his arrows. His prolonged period under magical control has also left magical residue in Biron resulting in other skills. His costume has a comet emblazoned on the front.
[Editor's Note: The enchanted arrows get away from certain archers pulling arrows from their quivers with gadgets that could never have fitted there.]


Ferro Lad
Colu were not about to allow Stark 5's focus on Universo's technology from the future, prevent them from acquiring other resources from the LoA's adventures. Ferro Lad was only too aware of his masters' requirements, and this meant that his calculations were based primarily on goals that did not endear him to his colleagues. It looked as though he was making amends for this as the Sun Devourer attacked the solar system. His colleagues remember him as someone they were beginning to warm too, and who made the ultimate sacrifice. Ferro Lad made the sacrifice, knowing that the Sun Devourer's success would rob his masters of further technology, and that they would find a replacement for him. Cold and logical to the end.


White Widow
A witting accomplice of The Immortal Man, when he plucked her from the time stream and empowered her, the Widow failed in her mission and was nearly killed by her master. She couldn't bring herself to kill Biron. Princess Gloriana Romanov is aloof and aristocratic, and considers herself to be the last of a royal line. She will find out that she is right. But that it's not the royal line of the universe she is in. The Widow got her name from the premature ageing she seemed to inflict on victims in her first appearance. Her powers allow her to make temporary changes to the physical laws around her.
[Editor's Note: Black Widow's belt buckle resembled an hourglass, and the connection to the Time Trapper was made from there. The slightly arcane looking powers, at least visually, are also in keeping Timely's Golden Age Black Widow.]


The Tornado Twins
Following a universe-threatening battle in an earlier century, Wallace Frank found himself stranded in the future, somehow prevented from returning through the use of his powers. He settled into that future, creating a new life for himself. But the past would not let him live in peace, and he became a pawn in the schemes of Universo: The Time Trapper. His later sacrifice, in this future age, was honoured by his descendants, Don and Dawn Frank,. They had inherited his powers, became the Tornado Twins. Initially secretive in the use of their powers, due to the fate of an earlier age of heroes, including Wallace Frank, the duo approached the LoA after seeing Wallace appear in a plot of the Immortal Man.


Rond J'Onzz
Rond first appeared to the LoA, when he helped defeat Universo, The Time Trapper. It was later revealed that the Trapper was Rond's father. For unknown reasons, Rond has elected to stay in the LoA's time, taking the generic surname J'Onzz. Due to the mysteries of time travel, Rond was key in setting up the LoA, even before the team had first encountered his father. Behind the scenes, he worked primarily with Stark 5, reverse engineering his father's equipment for the UP.

Membership Changes

#1 Joins: Wonder Girl, Stark 5, Thunder Lad, Giant Boy, Insect Queen
#1 Rejected: Radiation Roy
#1: Joins: Rond J'Onzz (as UP advisor)
#2 Leaves: Wonder Girl
#4 Joins: Wonder Boy
#9 Joins: Marvel Boy (honorary, posthumous)
#11 Leave of Absence: Stark 5
#11 Joins: Ferro Lad
#15 Deceased: Ferro Lad
#16 Leave of Absence: Thunder Lad, Giant Boy, Insect Queen
#16 Joins: Reflex Kid, White Widow, Tornado Twins
#16 Refuses Offer: Lamprey
#20 Joins: Kid Cavalier I (honorary, posthumous)

Very cool, Thoth. Keep it up.

Thanks Fickles. I know what a big Avengers fan you are. So if this passes muster with you, I'm on the right track.

Villain Appearances

The Prophet: #1
The Space Phantoms of Bgtzl: #2
Lamprey: #3, #14 (cameo),#16
Euryale The Gorgon: #4
Atom King: #5
The Mole Men: #5
Legion of Evil I:-
Mask Man: #6, #9, #14, #15, #16
Kid Cavalier I: #6, #19, #20
Element Lad: #6
Tarik The Mute: #6
Circe: The Emerald Enchantress: #7, #9, #14,#15, #16
The Persuader: #7, #9, #14,#15, #16
Universo, The Time Trapper: #8, #11
The Immortal Man: #10
White Widow: #10
Spider Girl: #11, #13
The Explorer: #12
The Crimson Ghost: #12
Zhang Hanscombe, The Starfinger: #13, #14 (cameo),
The Hand: #13, #14 (cameo), #15
The Controller: #14, #15
The Sun Devourer: #14, #15
Warps: #16
The Vision: #17
Half-Lifes: #17
Minotaur: #17
Cult of Rammanu: #17
Red Giant: #18
The Circle: #18
Dominators: #19, #20
Alpha Probes: #19, #20
Londo: #19, #20
Chameleon Chief: #20

#1:

A Prophet forcibly enters United Planets territory telling them of their impending doom from something far greater than himself. Tapping into the fears within all beings, this herald destroys United Planet forces and installations.

When she tries to counter the being, it also triggers the transformation of UP heroine Wonder Girl into the furious Fury.

One faction considers turning to Brande Industries for the use of their operatives. However the committee agree to follow a report by a young man they refer to as Rond.

The UP therefore seeks out to Stark 5. The computer mind of the Coluan recommends the formation of the UP's own super powered group:-

Thunder Lad, the New God sent to protect the UP against fears of Ragnarok;
Giant Boy, the refugee from a totalitarian Microverse
Insect Queen, the career adventuress and possessor of the bio ring.

One candidate is considered too much of a danger to join, and Radiation Roy remains in containment.

The team defeat the Prophet. Wonder Girl, who had accepted partnering the others, is unable to control her transformation into the Fury once more. She only returns to her normal self, following the battle, and has been separated from the team.

[Editors Note: The Avengers form when the heroes intervene in a plot of Loki's to defeat Thor. Loki becomes radioactive in this issue, before being trapped, hence the use of Radiation Roy]

#2:

The group of heroes, considering remaining together as a team, save the UP from the race of a dying universe. The Space Phantoms of Bgtzl wish to switch their ghost like forms for flesh and blood bodies in our universe.

Following a lead about the ghosts and Tartatrus, Wonder Girl learns more of her connection to the Furies makes her own independent investigations.

Some of the Bgtzlians may have survived the death of their universe by projecting themselves into a phantom like buffer zone.

The LoA vow to find a way of finding and freeing the remaining Bgtzlians, particularly including one Mon Rahm, who was key in stopping their own race from replacing those in our universe.

[Editors Note: The Avengers battle the Space Phantom]

#3:

New alien allies of Earthgov look to mine the planet?s resources. The lethal Lamprey fights against them, but is declared an enemy and comes into conflict with the heroes. Although the alien allies are exposed and are defeated, the heroes and Lamprey do not part on good terms. Lamprey begins to represent a conglomeration of species, who feel that the UP has trampled over their rights and the environments of their worlds, to further their own progress.

[Editor's Note: The Avengers face The Submariner]

#4:

In their explorations, Brande Ind has uncovered the existence of parallel worlds. Investigating the fate of other worlds, following the threats of the Prophet in #1, they use the villain's energies and emerge above a shattered Earth. The dying Space Phantoms in #2, warned of impending doom for all Earths. Yet there is one survivor, who would go on to lead the team as Wonder Boy

Elsewhere, a tormented Wonder Girl battles Euryale, who transforms ships and crews nearing her home on Zwen to stone. The Gorgon can animate the forms but Wonder Girl prevails, without transforming into the monstrous Fury.

Multiverse ending events have now been confirmed from multiple sources such as Wonder Boy, The Space Phantoms, Thunder Lad and The Prophet. Standing in the ruins of a shattered alternate galaxy, the heroes commit to avenging the uncountable deaths that have already occurred: The Legion of Avengers is officially formed.

[Editor's Note: In the Avengers, there was an alien that could transform people to stone, and the gorgon myths were mentioned. It's a good fit to take that for the line of Greek based adventures of Wonder Girl. The team is named in this LoA issue, allowing Wonder Boy to be considered a founding member. In the Avengers, Cap is freed from his imprisonment in a block of ice.]

#5:

The LoA enter the Microverse to aid their member Giant Lad in defeating the Atom King

Atom King's elite agents are those explorers he has sent out in to the microverse, tunnelling into the quantum foam. These beings, changed by their experiences, are called The Mole Men. The Atom King terms those who are not "even worthy of becoming Mole Men" as "germs" and "motes."

In the sub atomic worlds, The Atom King sought to use the Crimson Crystal of Ka to unravel the universe at a quantum level, and reshape it to his will.

Giant Lad returns to our level of reality with the LoA. He has taken with him Palmer particles, allowing him greater control of his size changing, enabling to become miniscule and giant sized. He worries that the Atom King's instability will begin to affect him too.

[Editor's Notes: The Avengers face the Mole Man. The Atom King is a version of Ray Palmer, boosted from our time following a descent into the Microverse. Once again, he has lost sense of his own identity. Krystal Ka was part of that story and the Crimson crystal is based on that. There's also a Crimson crystal involved in Juggernaut's origin, although that wasn't originally part of the thinking here.]

#6:

There are disparate groups within the United Planets. Some want a return to systems where their corruption would flourish further, while others are agitators for reform or anarchy. Seeing the formation of the LoA as a group who will directly counter their plans, some form a group that will commonly be known as The League of Evil.

The mysterious Mask Man, who claims to have fought in an earlier Age of Heroes, leads a group to attack the very heart of UP territory, in Metropolis. A disgruntled Radiation Roy breaks free from what he considered his UP prison to join. The sociopathic Element Lad, destroyer of his own people, enjoys nothing more than melting buildings with his transmutational powers. The ever expanding UP, is considered a threat to some indigenous populations.

On one world, a one eyed, tentacled creature, was able to draw a sword from a stone, in its fight against oppression. It is fooled into joining the LoE by Mask Man, as the dark armoured Kid Cavalier. The core group are ably assisted by Tarik the Mute and his infiltrating androids, who make it seem that the city has turned against the LoA.

[Editor's Note: The Avengers Face Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil. For Kid Cavalier's origins see Camelot 3000 #12]

#7:

With so much of the UP's technology dependant on his innovations, Stark 5's commitment to the LoA is questioned. This would be the first sign of membership changes to come.

Wonder Boy is haunted by the dead of his home universe, and feels out of place in the differences this one has. He takes exception to Rond's studies into the suspended animation chamber and technology from his own universe, feeling that whatever caused the destruction there, should not be allowed into this world.
Investigating more of her origins, Wonder Girl encounters Circe, the Emerald Enchantress. The immortal Circe, had spent generations in isolation, improving her scheme of genetically altering sentients, raising or lowering on the evolutionary scale. Her Mediterranean base was populated by the victims of her schemes.

When Thunder Lad goes to formally ask Wonder Girl to join the ranks of the LoA, he comes under Circe's spell. He returns to Metropolis to attack the LoA.

As her minions fail to stop Wonder Girl, Circe is contacted by Mask Man. He tells her where to find assistance. Her first recruit is the super strong, deadly mercenary The Persuader, with his atomic axe. Only an experimental teleportation device of Stark 5's saves the LoA from defeat.

Back at Circe's base, Circle's victims begin to return to normal. One man transforms from a horse into a man known as Biron the Bowman.

[Editor's Note: Baron Zemo teams up with the Enchantress and The Executioner]

#8:

The LoA battle a being from the timestream: Universo, The Time Trapper. Active across multiple time periods. Universo is known to Wonder Girl, from her previous incarnations in ancient Egypt, where he was known as Hath Set. He is also known to the New God Thunder Lad, as the being who tried to see beyond the dawn of time, unleashing terrible destruction.

As the battle rages, the LoA discover that Universo is fleeing into their era as future timelines are being erased. He looks to conquer the last stable time period before the catastrophe to come. The villain is ultimately defeated by Rond, who sabotages his time ship and reveals himself to be The Time Trapper's son. The Trapper escapes, but leaves behind his ship and much of his equipment, including some devices that even did not use against a world he sought to conquer rather than destroy, such as the Absorbatron.

[Editor's Note: The Avengers face Kang]

#9:

Having been thwarted with his first League of Evil, Mask Man returned to his HQ after his escape. It is revealed to be a small base in the swirling mists of another dimension. His scanners pick up Circe and the Persuader, thrown into that dimension by Stark 5's teleporter.

As the three plan another attack on the LoA, it is revealed that Mask Man calls the fifth-dimension home, and that Circe wishes to be known as the Emerald Enchantress, to match the colourful names of her foes.

A new ally assists the LoA in their battle against the Persuader and the Emerald Enchantress. Marvel Boy tells the team that he desperately needs his help to save his people from a wave of destruction threatening his world. Wonder Boy recalls his dead Earth; Thunder Lad the reason for his journey to the UP and Stark 5, the knowledge that this may bring to save them from the Prophet's warnings.

However, Marvel Boy's plight turns out to be a trap for the LoA. The Teen of Steel is revealed to be [b]Kent Williams III[b], a young entrepreneur ruined by the inventions of Stark 5 and Thunder Lad. Not inherently bad and, seeing the efforts of the LoA to save him and his home, Marvel Boy turns against the villains at the cost of his life. His last act is to save his world from the very real threat that Mask Man intended for it.

[Editors Note: The Avengers meet Wonder Man]

#10:

Looking to investigate the claims of Universo, regarding the erasure of time, a UP Time Institute team, containing Rond and Stark 5, but led by Circadia Senius, tries to send a traveller through the time barrier. The experiment goes badly wrong. The now mad explorer, Jaxxon Rugarth, tells them he will save their universe, but only by resetting to the beginning of the chronal circle.

The LoA are sent to various past eras in their battle with Rugarth, now calling himself, The Immortal Man. One era is during a fall of heroes a few decades prior to the LoA. The last heroic spark of this age fights alongside them against Rugarth, including one man with super speed: The Whizzer

The villain also has the power to bring foes across time periods into the present to act as his army. But not all those brought through time are evil, and the LoA are aided by some, including Princess Gloriana Romanov, heir to a Russian throne. Romanov displays some control over the forces of physics. Rugarth is sent back into the circle of time, warning the heroes that they will wish they had not lived to see what is to come.

[Editor's Note: The Avengers face Immortus]

Coming Soon:-
The Sun Devourer
All new-All Different LoA!
The White Widow

#11

Following the acquisition of Universo's technology, Stark 5 is spending more and more time developing it. He interrupts important research to attend a LoA meeting, and he knows he can't keep doing both. Both the UP and his Coluan masters demand results. Assisting Stark V are small globe like devices that brandish various pieces of equipment.

That night, the LoA's laboratories are infiltrated by someone looking to steal Universo's equipment. The team become locked in a battle with Sussa Pakkar, the Spider Girl. She steals a stone-like cannister and a small cone like device from the lab. The battle also activates a device that alerts Universo, The Time Trapper to the location of his lost equipment.

We learn more of Princess Gloriana Romanov's world, where The Great Game between Great Britain and Russia had resulted in her family being kept in power. They are about to learn how she fell in with The Immortal Man. However, The Time Trapper tries to capture her, having viewed the scene through his Time Scope.

Universo sets the LoA against temporal short-lived duplicates of various foes, including what they think is the real Spider Girl, as a diversion. The Time Trapper wants Romanov for the information she holds on The Immortal Man. It is revealed that Universo and The Immortal Man are opponents in a vast temporal war. Universo also fears the imminent collapse of the time stream, which is why he fled to this era.

To allow Stark 5 to focus solely on Universo's technology, he takes a leave of absence. Colu allow a second member of their race to join the LoA, in a similar, if updated, biomechanical suit: Ferro Lad

[Editor's Note: This issue featured Kang (from the 30th century) trying to destroy the Avengers through the use of a Spider Man robot. Iron Man was also on a leave of absence while Tony Stark was considered to be dead.]

#12

A giant being appears from another universe, to conduct experiments on humanity in what it considers to be a time of crisis. The Explorer is revealed to be one of the Atom King's Mole Men, drastically changed during it's time spent in other realities. He tells the LoA about the nature of the realities he has visited down to the quantum scale and why people can still travel to the same infinitesimally small worlds time and again, despite their movement. The Explorer views the Earth and its inhabitants as purely research subjects, in the way countless Earth-based explorers have travelled and intruded on other worlds and dimensions.

He focuses on apparatus that could bring a survivor of the Bgtzl Buffer Zone (Last seen in #2) back to Earth. The Explorer seeks to learn the secrets of surviving the death of a universe from one of the space phantoms.

The phantom that escapes is The Crimson Ghost. The villain wreaks havoc, before Mon Rahm, a Bgtzilian survivor, also trapped in the buffer zone, instructs the LoA on how to return him.

Giant Boy sees a lot of himself in The Explorer. It is revealed that he was due to start the programme that would have led him to become a Mole Man, back in the Microverse. He worries that this is what he'll become, and that it was this that made him a recruit for that programme.
Insect Queen feels a great deal of sympathy for Giant Boy, and despite being an item with Thunder Lad, has been spending a lot of time with him.

[Editors Notes: This issue contained a battle against the Mole Man and his partner, The Red Ghost.]

#13

Spider Girl delivers the stolen Universo equipment to Zhang Hanscombe, The Starfinger

Technological advances from Stark, Thunder Lad and now Universo have not only bolstered the United Planets fleets. They are making their way into intelligence and law enforcement circles. In response, organised crime looks to find ways of retaining their effectiveness.
Starfinger uses the cone device brought to him by Spider Girl to trap various UP figures in suspended animation in an elaborate blackmail scheme.

Behind the mask of their foe, the LoA eventually find a youth, Gabrio Santos, who has clearly been brainwashed. Just one of the many minions under Starfinger's remote control.

Starfinger's operation is partially successful, and he and his second in command, The Hand, are never confronted by the Heroes. The Hand wears an energy sheath around his hand and head, through which dark energy can be seen crackling.

On the barren wastes of a white, rocky moon (late revealed to be Qward's], Mask Man encounters a shadowy figure, convincing it of the necessity of the destruction of The Earth, and the oncoming end of the age.

[Editors Notes: The Avengers fought a pre-powered Count Nefaria, who is part of the criminal Maggia organisation. They would later fight The Mandarin in #19 & #20.]

#14

A manned Brande Inc. Vulcan station, situated within the orbit of Mercury, detects a new presence there. One that bursts with light, destroying the facility.

Earth begins to cool, as a dark shape is detected near the sun. Although the shape is growing, there is a disproportionally larger impact on the solar energy reaching the planets. The shape is acting as a lens for some other force.

Thunder Lad and Ferro Lad are dispatched to investigate, as Brande Inc. operatives are on a mission in the Anti-Verse (Editor: See the Battlin' Brande Brigade in their own mag!). Insect Queen accompanies them, also acting as a news link to the UP. On Earth, the remaining members begin to mobilise for both survival and, if necessary, an evacuation of the solar system.

Elsewhere, Mask Man explains to Emerald Enchantress and The Persuader that they will inherit what remains of the dead planets. Mask Man revels in the destruction to come, boasting to the pair of his part in causing it.

The villain reveals a greater level of power than he has previously shown his comrades. He shows them survival domes, not created from science, but through his manipulation of realities. As his partners wanted thriving planets, and not cold ruins to rule over they are horrified. Mask Man turns on them, when he discovers they are plotting an escape.

Ferro Lad is attacked by the Sun Devourer, which senses his arrival, as Thunder Lad battles through to an artefact beyond it. Ferro Lad warns the Earth that they need to evacuate, as he sends as much information as he can to his masters on Colu.

On Earth, an escaping Persuader (carrying an unconscious Circe) encounters Wonder Boy. Wonder Boy defeats the villain, and enters the warp through which the villain arrived.

A wounded and sizzled Ferro Lad returns to Earth to warn of the immense power of the Sun Devourer. Stark 5 has been working on a solution, looking at the arsenal available to the UP. He concludes that to stand any chance of success, The LoA will require additional help to combat it. We see files on several villains such as The Hand, Starfinger, Lamprey, The Emerald Enchantress and The Persuader.

On the artefact near the sun, Thunder Lad sees familiar constructions. He encounters the being behind it, The Controller. The villain threatens the end of life in our solar system, and then the galaxy beyond.

#15

The Controller claims the destruction of this part of the galaxy is necessary. It will present a barren, lifeless zone, which will act as a buffer to an inevitable cataclysm. To enact it's plans it has unleashed The Sun Devourer. From the energy it devours, it will reach out forming a deadly web across the galaxy, destroying all life.

The Controller battles the awesome Astro-storms of Thunder Lad.

Ferro Lad recruits The Persuader as Insect Queen looks to recruit Starfinger's stand in. Instead she foils the recapture of the false Starfinger's equipment by The Hand, who agrees to join her. He knows that he will perish if the solar system dies, and also that his boss' empire would also cease to exists. Giant Boy encounters Wonder Girl, currently in control of her other self.

The three villains: The Hand, Emerald Enchantress and The Persuader stand to one side, a foreshadowing of a later connection, as plans are made.

In another dimension, Wonder Boy approaches the crooked domain of Mask Man, and is haunted by other realities.

Ferro Lad, Wonder Girl, The Persuader, The Hand and Giant Boy look to combat the Sun Devourer directly. Circe and Stark 5 remain to coordinate the evacuation. Ferro Lad's simulations show them a glimpse of the dead solar system, and wider galaxy, should they fail.

He battles The Controller to the seeming death, and reveals the villain to be an agent of Qward. The villain looked on the destruction of the galaxy as a way of preventing Ragnarok. Thunder Lad sees the death of the sun as the oncoming on the fimbulwinter, itself a step in the inevitable path towards to Ragnarok. The Controller has been tricked into starting it, should the LoA fail in their task.

Thunder Lad realises that he is not only fighting against a prophecy, but has direct opponents in the Oa/Qward war of aeons. It is now a war between gods.

Insect Queen is injured by The Controller, trying to end the conflict by defeating the Sun Devourer's master. She is saved only by Thunder Lad's technology, and gets a glimpse of a visage beyond Thunder Lad's apparently handsome human form.

The defeat of the Controller, does not prevent the continued activity of the Sun Devourer. It has begun reaching out to neighbouring solar systems. Evacuations from the UP continue. The heroes and villains each try and fail to counter it in turn. The Persuader's axe damages the creature, but it surrounds him. The Hand's devastating energy attack, causes the creature to retreat from his touch, but he can only cover a small area. The fury of Wonder Girl and strength of a protectively suited Giant Boy cannot push such a now massive entity back. Before he is flung back, Ferro Lad detects a central nexus controlling the devourer.
Collating this with Stark 5, a plan is hatched. Universo's Absorbatron bomb (from #8) will be used. Wonder Girl takes the bomb. Ferro Lad uses his technology to make her go into a rampage and takes the bomb from her. His biomechanical containment suit protects him to the heart of the Devourer, where he detonates the device, ending the threat and saving the galaxy.

An injured and weary LoA stand in tribute around the memorial for their fallen comrade. Behind them on this asteroid graveyard are the names of older, fallen heroes whose graves have not always been maintained. The group honour the sacrifice of Ferro Lad, and it is revealed that the villains have earned pardons or rewards for their services and are now free.

[Editor's Notes: This Avengers issue had them battle in Arctic wastes. The cold seemed a fitting place to have the end of the sun story and provide a stepping stone on the Ragnarok plot. The Wasp was injured in this story, and Insect Queen is likewise hurt here. Although she's not the only one.]

#16

Despite pressure from the United Planets to remain together, the LoA consider disbanding.

Stark 5 has been tasked with Universo's technology and can only attend the meeting remotely, following the death of his successor Ferro Lad.

Thunder Lad announces his departure to check his Qwardian foes, before they plan another method of bringing Ragnarok to the galaxy. Insect Queen, to the silent but obvious disappointment of Giant Boy, is set to depart with him. She is still recovering from her injuries and wants to be with her partner. It is not lost on her that finding out the secrets of an Oan/Qwardian conflict would be massive for her career too.

There is tension between Thunder Lad, Stark and the UP about the use of Universo's weapons, and Thunder Lad makes sure to place The Controller's headquarters beyond their reach, much to their anger.

Wonder Boy is still missing in Mask Man's dimension and he battles the villain in his warped reality of nightmares, where the galaxy has fallen. Mask Man reveals himself to be a fifth dimensional being, bent on reshaping reality to his whims. His villainy has descended into insanity.

As Insect Queen and Giant Boy say their goodbyes, the lights dim in the LoA HQ. A smoke attack announces the arrival of Reflex Lad, looking to join the team. He is Biron, [last seen in #7] one of Circe's captives who is now trying to make his way in a time that is not his own. He is aware that Circe is still active, and that she is not the only threat to the UP. His quiver contains an assortment of enchanted arrows, able to perform a variety of functions. In making his entrance, Biron has disabled Stark 5's HQ monitoring system J.A.R.V.I.S. (Joint Automated Remote Vehicular Integrated System), alerting the Coluan.

When Stark 5 contacts HQ, Giant Boy and Insect Queen ask him to help locate other prospective members for the team. One possible candidate is in the same building as Stark 5.

Princess Gloriana Romanov deigns to join the team, as The White Widow. Her tutelage to The Immortal Man has provided her with limited control over physical laws.

But Lamprey rejects their offer through a brief skirmish. The news of this and the failed accord between the UP and Lamprey's supporters comes to the attention of two siblings.

Inheritors of the last heroic age (see #10), the grandchildren of The Whizzer present themselves to the team, as the Tornado Twins. The Tornado Twins had seen the footage of their relative, The Whizzer, when the LoA battled The Immortal Man.

At that moment, the LoA are attacked by Mask Man's Warps, twisted heroic versions of nearly worlds. Wonder Boy's battle with the villain has spilled back onto the LoA's Earth.

The villain is tricked into saying his true name, discovered by Wonder Boy, unravelling his own 5th dimensional reality.

Insect Queen and Giant Boy depart with fond farewells to their friends.

The All-new Legion of Avengers is introduced to the Omi-Press: Wonder Boy, Reflex Kid, White Widow and The Tornado Twins!

[Editor's Notes: A brief end to the Masters of Evil was followed by a changing of the guard, with the debut of Cap's Kooky Quartet]