Hercules answers Iron Man’s summons to come to New York, accompanied by his fellow Champions, Black Widow and Iceman. Iron Man unexpectedly attacks the trio, hoping to secretly warn them about Typhon’s trap. The course of battle forces Iron Man to change his strategy and drag his fight with the Champions to Avengers Mansion. There, Iron Man defeats Hercules before falling unconscious. Just when Typhon is about to claim victory, Black Widow and Iceman surprise him. Beast frees himself from Typhon’s bonds and joins the two Champions in fighting Typhon. Iron Man and Hercules awaken, and with the odds now stacked against him, Typhon is summoned back to Hades by Pluto.
After making a deal with Pluto to deliver his enemy Hercules in return for freedom from Hades, Typhon raids Avengers Mansion, but when he discovers Hercules is not there, he threatens to kill Beast and coerces Iron Man into luring the Lion of Olympus into a trap (p).
The Beast is the first of Ultron’s four coma victims from issue #161 to recover, which Black Widow attributes to his recuperative powers; Beast refers to his ability to recover quickly as his “mutant metabolism” in Av #180, ’79.
