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in: Comics, Avengers Vol 1, Alan Edward Kupperberg/Cover Artist,
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Avengers Vol 1 205

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Captain America Vol 4 27 Textless
Captain America		Quote1 Thanks, Wanda. If you hadn't cast that protective hex sphere around us just in time...! Quote2
Wanda Maximoff (Earth-616) from Avengers vs. X-Men Vol 1 0 001
Scarlet Witch		Quote1 Don't mention it captain. I rather enjoy being alive myself! Quote2

Appearing in "Shadow of the Claw!"

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Synopsis for "Shadow of the Claw!"

Iron-Man is recharging the Vision’s solar power cells which were severely depleted during his captivity with the Claw. He remarks to the Scarlet Witch that the process is taking longer than usual, but apart from that, her husband seems fine.

Elsewhere in the mansion, the Wasp recounts her surveillance activities to the rest of the team. She recounts how she thought it was peculiar that the air ducts were sealed tight and that she saw many vials filled with a sparkly mist substance.

The team is surprised when Dr. Liu, the Yellow Claw's assistant, arrives to warn them of his master's plans but is killed by remote control before he can utter more than a set of coordinates in the Australian desert.

The Vision, feigning a need to recuperate from his earlier encounter with the Claw, remains behind as his teammates fly to Australia. After they’ve gone, he sets out alone to the Claw's island base to confront the Claw again. Vision had deduced that the Claw had altered his circuitry so that he could spy on the team. Unfortunately, the Claw is prepared for him and traps him in a paralysis ray.

With the Vision trapped, the Claw gloats about his plan. He intends to unleash a gaseous compound into the Earth’s atmosphere which will render everyone on the planet sterile -- all save himself and his harem of wives within his sealed compound. Thus, the human race from then on will only consist of his offspring.

The Avengers reach the coordinates in Australia, which is a cave. It turns out to be a trap. Three cyborg warriors -- Bludgeoner, Transformer, and Compressor -- appear, trapping them. On a holographic projector, the Yellow Claw gloats to them how he’s outwitted them. A battle ensues while the Claw and a helpless Vision observe.

The battle rages on until suddenly the three cyborgs join “hands” (or what approximates for them) and then explode with ferocious force. Despite the holographic projector being destroyed in the blast, the Claw is confident that no one could have survived.

With the Avengers seemingly killed, the Claw puts his plan into effect. It is revealed that the compound is also an elaborate airship in the shape of a giant claw. With this, the Claw intends to spread the sterilizing gas across the world. But although paralyzed, the Vision isn’t as helpless as he appears. He increases his density to his utmost maximum, and the abrupt additional weight it creates causes the ship to crash into the Pacific. Furious, the Yellow Claw attacks the Vision, knocking him out of the paralysis ray he’d previously trapped him in. They duke it out as the ship crashes into the ocean.

In Australia, the Avengers have survived the explosion thanks to the Scarlet Witch who surrounded them all with a hex bubble at the last second. The team set out into the ocean to search for signs of the Yellow Claw or the Vision. After hours of searching, Iron-Man is just about to tell Wanda that the Vision is likely dead when the synthezoid Avenger arrives. The Vision is in a particularly somber mood and laments that there is no end to the war against the forces of evil.

Notes

  • This would be the last major appearance of the Yellow Claw for nearly three decades. After one more minor appearance in Marvel Fanfare, the character was quietly retired. At one time, the Yellow Claw had been one of the company's premiere supervillains, even starring in his own series during the 1950s (when what is now known as Marvel Comics went by the name Atlas Comics). However, he was a rather blatant "Asian menace" caricature that proved more problematic as time progressed. When the character was finally resurrected in the 21st century, he went by the name "Golden Claw" and was given significantly more depth.
  • This issue contained an egregious editorial gaffe. During the fight sequence with the cyborgs, the final panel of one page shows Iron-Man laying prone on the ground, apparently unconscious. The first panel on the next page shows Iron-Man fighting the cyborgs in a position he could not possibly be in after the last panel. After numerous readers wrote in to point this out, editor Jim Salicrup admitted that the pages had been edited separately in production and that it was a fairly serious continuity error that couldn't be explained away.
  • Another perceived editorial slip-up that prompted several reader letters was the end of the story. When the Avengers set out for Australia, as far as they knew the Vision was staying behind at the mansion and they should have been unaware that the Vision had even been on the Claw's ship. Therefore, there would have been no reason for the Avengers to be searching for him in the ocean at the end of the issue. However, Salicrup managed to explain this by pointing out that when the Claw gloats at the team over a hologram monitor, the Vision is visible in the background and that Cap appears to be pointing at the Vision, meaning they knew where he was.
  • This issue contains an advert for Hostess Cup Cakes featuring Human Torch Vs. Blow Dryer

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