Hello and welcome to another great week right here in Ye Olde School Café! This week, we’ll be continuing our look at Kang the conqueror in Kang: Time and Time Again! Last week, we saw Kang battling it out with Thor, but this week will bring an even bigger adventure, because all the Avengers will be in Kang’s face this time! Kang will meet his match in this week’s edition, so let’s get started!
As our story begins, the Avengers are walking through the hospital heading towards the room of Tony Stark. Tony has been hospitalized after having a heart attack during a fight with Madame Masque and Hydra.They aren’t even there long enough to say much, when Janet (Wasp) finds a doll under the bed. She throws it in the trash, but it grows to human size in no time. The Growing Man has reappeared, and he starts to rampage through the hospital. Thor immediately recognizes him and the fight is on. The Avengers aren’t even making a dent, and things look bad. Suddenly, the stimuloid grabs Tony and tells Kang to transport him away. A blinding light appears, and the stimuloid and the Avengers are spirited away to the throne room of Kang.
The Avengers are, of course, riled up, but Kang makes no excuses for whisking them away and kidnapping their fallen friend. This infuriates the team, and they beat the pulp out of Kang’s guards. As they are about to bring the fight to Kang himself, the voice of the Black Panther startles them. He tells the Avengers to calm down and listen to Kang. They’re not too keen on the idea, but give their friend the benefit of the doubt. Kang then tells them about a visit he had exactly one year ago from a being calling himself The Grandmaster. This enigmatic being told Kang that he’d return in one year and allow Kang to challenge him to a game that resembles chess, but one that uses people as the pieces, and the loser dies, along with the planet. Kang then tells them that he’ll be returning any moment now. They agree to help him stop the Grandmaster, and the next thing you know, the Grandmaster appears!
The cosmic being tells Kang that he’s returned for the game, and Kang tells him that he chooses The Avengers as his champions. They are then sent away to another place, and are quickly confronted by a team calling themselves the Squadron Sinister! The next image we see is Kang smashing a plate of food, because he cannot bear the strain of waiting anymore. He confronts the Grandmaster and is told that the fight has begun. Two of Kang’s lackeys then try to assassinate the Grandmaster, but he already knows, and blasts them into oblivion. The Avengers are slightly startled, and then the Grandmaster teleports them and the Squadron Sinister to different locations to fight until the death.
The first fight is between Captain America and Nighthawk, at the Statue of Liberty. As Cap is trying to get his bearings, he’s punched in the face by Nighthawk. He asks Nighthawk why he’s serving the Grandmaster, but Nighthawk just ignores him and shows him from the window that his jet is carrying the statue off into the night sky. Cap then proceeds to beat the crap out of him, and also outsmarts him at every turn. This pleases Kang, and the other Avengers who are watching on a monitor screen. Next, Iron Man is pit against Dr. Spectrum, at the Taj Mahal. Iron Man seems outmatched at first, but just when it seems Tony is ready to bite the big one, he uses his chest plate to blast Spectrum with ultra-violet rays, which is his weakness.
The third fight has Thor against the powerhouse Hyperion. Hyperion has super strength, invulnerability, and shoots beams from his eyes (yeah, like that dope Superman). Thor immediately tries hurling Mjolnir at him, but it bounces right off of him! The two behemoths then battle, strength versus strength. They seem to be equally matched, but then Thor once again throws Mjolnir at him, not to hit him, but to whirl around him, causing him to be trapped inside a globe made of sand. The last fight shows Giant Man (Clint Barton) against the Whizzer, in front of Big Ben. This fight attracts the Black Knight, as well, and he and Goliath take down the Whizzer. This enrages the Grandmaster, and he decides this is unfair, so he vows to make a new game!
Well, that’s it for this week, but be back here next time as the Avengers will face off with an entirely different group in a battle to the finish. This group will be none other than the WWII era Invaders! See you next week!
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net