Captain Marvel is still in Miami (where we last saw him in Sub-Mariner #30) but he's wandering around furtively, dressed in a trenchcoat. Suddenly, the Vision, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch approach him and he blurts in alarm, "It can't be you--not here--not now!!" The Avengers ask Captain Marvel to come with them for his own good, but as you may recall, Mar-Vell hasn't actually met the Avengers before, only Rick Jones is familiar with them, so Marv reacts badly, wondering how they know who he is. Throwing off his trenchcoat, he pummels Quicksilver (for once, Pietro is not the most quick-tempered person in the fight). As he tangles with the Vision, Mar-Vell fires a photonic Uni-Beam from his right Nega-Band which is a big 'what?' moment as up until now, the Nega-Bands haven't had a blaster built into them. Anyway, the inexplicable Uni-Beam immobilizes the Vision and Mar-Vell tries to fly away, only to encounter Rick Jones at the top of a building and Rick stuns Mar-Vell with a blaster. Rick and Mar-Vell aren't bonded? What's going on? (great opening, I must say)
Rick regrets his actions instantly. "Okay, Avengers--I did your dirty work for you." Quicksilver insists Rick should be "proud" as they load Mar-vell into their Quinjet. The Scarlet Witch takes a moment to appreciate how Mar-Vell "is an alien--marooned here from a distant star--while Pietro and I are mutants--no more at home on Earth than he! We are all strangers--in a strange land." (Roy Thomas was hep to Heinlein, whose Stranger in a Strange Land was a big deal to contemporary youth culture). The Avengers bring Captain Marvel to a hospital at Cape Kennedy where a Dr. Donaldson asks them to place "the alien" into a decontamination chair. As the Avengers watch the process anxiously, Rick remembers how it all began.
Our flashback takes us to a club in Bleecker Street where Rick was booked by his manager, Mordecai P. Boggs (who was not Rick's manager the last time we saw him, but had been trying to hire him, so evidently it finally happened). In the middle of his set, Rick suddenly felt a headache and had to get off stage. Stepping into an alleyway, he and Mar-Vell conversed mentally as Mar-Vell shows Rick an image of the Fantastic Four's Mister Fantastic inside the Negative Zone, battling Annihilus (a scene from Fantastic Four #109). We now learn Mar-Vell had been off to the side watching the entire clash and saw Mister Fantastic's escape from the Negative Zone; Marv wants Rick to help him find the same exit which Mister Fantastic used. Rick heads to the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building home and strikes his Nega-Bands together, unleashing Captain Marvel. Rick tells Mar-Vell to hurry, as he thinks he's being watched. Mar-Vell claims that's impossible as the 'aura of negativism' is concealing him. This is the first time it's been brought up in the context of the Negative Zone - for those keeping track, the 'aura of negativism' is the invisibility screen which the Kree used - Ronan the Accuser and the Helion starship could both become invisible.
Mar-Vell reaches the 35th floor of the Baxter Building: "Here comes the pay-off! Hmmm--perhaps I'd best get this over with quickly. Every day, I talk more and more like a bona fide Earthman!" The Fantastic Four aren't home, so Captain Marvel breaks into their home. At Avengers Mansion, most of the team is out investigating the Hulk, so only the Vision, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are present to learn of the break-in. Getting into their Quinjet they head to the Baxter Building while Mar-Vell opens the building's portal to the Negative Zone. It works and Rick leaps out just as the Avengers arrive, but Rick was right about being watched: Annihilus was right behind Rick and he crosses into the Baxter Building! The Scarlet Witch didn't know who Mar-Vell was but after hearing Annihilus rant about conquering the Earth she deadpans: "Suddenly, it's very easy to tell hero from villain in this melee." While the Vision holds Annihilus back, Rick reopens the portal to force Annihilus through. Annihilus thinks he can simply grab the Vision, but of course had no idea Vizh could make himself intangible; it's a sweet moment, as we readers are familiar with Vision's powers and can enjoy Annihilus quick defeat. Rick closes the portal.
However, Captain Marvel exited during the clash and stole the Avengers' Quinjet. Quicksilver notices a geiger counter in the Baxter Building is going wild; apparently Mar-Vell is carrying a dangerous level of radioactivity which he absorbed while in the Negative Zone. Rick tells the Avengers that previously Mar-Vell couldn't remain outside of the Negative Zone for more than 3 hours, so they surmise they have perhaps 3 hours to catch Mar-Vell before something tragic occurs. It seems when Rick entered the Baxter Building, he and Mar-Vell lost their Nega-Bands, which is why Marv needed the Quinjet. Mar-Vell flies the craft to Florida and picks up an old Uni-Beam he hid there (explaining its sudden reappearance in the opening sequence). The flashback ends as the decontamination chair drains off Mar-Vell's radiation, with Vision donating energy from his solar jewel to help power Dr. Donaldson's machine.
Meanwhile, in the Kree Galaxy, the Supreme Intelligence is confronted by Ronan the Accuser, who has escaped the confinement which the Supreme Intelligence inflicted on him. Ronan has killed the Supreme Intelligence's guards and declares he's now the ruler of the Kree Empire and will have revenge on Mar-Vell for besting him before. To do so, he turns back to Sentry#459, who has been immobile at the Cape ever since Captain Marvel #2. Ronan fires a beam of energy all the way from the Kree Galaxy to Earth (he used express postage) and revives the Sentry, ordering it to kill Captain Marvel. The Sentry bursts into the hospital while Mar-Vell is still unconscious; to be continued!
Thoughts: For a Kree-Skrull War, not a lot of Skrulls yet, huh? Well, just wait. It's a very subtle opening, but then, Roy Thomas had no idea he was penning one of the most famous Avengers stories of all time when he wrote it. Primarily, I think he just wanted to get back to Captain Marvel and used the opportunity to free Rick from his bond to the hero so that if Mar-Vell's series didn't return, Rick would still be a viable character.
There are quite a few great dialogue exchanges and it uses continuity pretty well, as Mar-Vell getting Rick out of the Negative Zone through the Baxter Building is a solution I'm sure every reader of Captain Marvel was suggesting at the time.
Next: The Kree-Skrull War continues in Avengers #90!
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