Beast and Wonder Man encounter new security measures at Avengers Mansion, part of the government’s requirements to reinstate the Avengers’ priority clearance. To that end, Gyrich calls a meeting of 22 Avengers and hangers-on to tell them that the NSC has selected a core Avengers team consisting of Iron Man, Vision, Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Beast, Wasp, and the absent Falcon, who has never served as an Avenger. Gyrich explains that the choice of Falcon is dictated by policies governing equal opportunities for minorities. Quicksilver suddenly collapses and Thor secretly changes into Don Blake to examine him. After the Guardians of the Galaxy and other non-core members depart, Scarlet Witch is stricken with the same medical condition as her brother’s, a condition that Blake says is neither dead nor alive. Meanwhile, an old man checks into a Bowery boarding house with living marionettes that resemble Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.
Although not in the new official core team, several recently active members remain temporarily and are considered feature characters. In this issue and the next. Wasp wears the orange costume from issues #170-177. Beast and Wonder Man watch the 1938 film, “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” and the movie poster shown here lists one of the actors as “Kurt Wagner,” an inside joke reference to the X-Men’s swashbuckling Nightcrawler. Gaspar Saladino’s lettering is uncredited.
