As the Avengers take the Zodiac bosses into custody, Zodiac’s Libra shocks everyone by claiming he is Mantis’ father. Mantis angrily denies it and the Avengers are skeptical, but they take Libra back to Avengers Mansion, where he relates his and Mantis’ origins. Calling it all lies, an enraged Mantis attacks Libra and single-handedly fights off the Avengers trying to restrain her, until Libra himself subdues her using his martial skills. Meanwhile, the Swordsman, horrified by learning of the crimes his old employer Monsieur Khruul committed against Mantis and her family, flies off to Vietnam on a mission of vengeance despite his wounded condition. The weakened Swordsman is outnumbered and quickly captured by Khruul’s men, then tortured for information by Khruul, who learns how his niece survived to become Mantis. Wanting vengeance for the Priests of Pama’s role in saving Libra and Mantis, Khruul leads his men to the Pama temple, where they slaughter the Priests.The other Avengers, Mantis and Libra arrive in time to capture Khruul’s men, but Khruul himself is murdered by the alien Star-Stalker.
German mercenary Gustav Brandt fights alongside French forces in Vietnam, where he marries Lua after a two-monthcourtship. Her racially prejudiced brother, Saigon crime lord Monsieur Khruul, tries to kill the newlyweds, who flee. The couple moves from village to village for nearly ten months until their daughter’s birth prompts them to settle down. Khruul and his men find them, setting the family’s home ablaze. Lua dies and Gustav is blinded, but he escapes with his infant daughter. They find sanctuary at the jungle temple of the Priests of Pama, who offer to teach Brandt skills to compensate for his blindness. Disapproving of Brandt’s military background, the pacifistic Priests insist they will raise his daughter, training her in their ways, and will seek to change Brandt’s ways as well. During the years that follow, Brandt is allowedno contact with his daughter, later known as Mantis. Brandt learns to overcome his blindness, while Mantis learns martial arts from the Priests, who seem to worship her as a paragon of perfection. Indifferent to his daughter after so many years of separation, Brandt eventually leaves the temple to become the criminal Libra.
Star-Stalker’s real name is revealed in OHMU #8, ’09.
