#m-11

“APOLLO ROCK - Spacecraft gets rock 'n' roll treatment atop an Apollo 'polarity checker' in nation's largest cleanroom situated at North American Rockwell's Space Division, Downey, CA. Purpose of the rocker is to test the guidance and navigation unit to be aboard NASA's moon-bound Apollo vehicle. Polarity checker includes rocking unit, on which Apollo spacecraft sits, and associated electronic checkout equipment, to measure the response of gyroscopes when the spacecraft turns, rolls, pitches or yaws.”

Date: January 13, 1965

NASA ID: H14-089

NAR neg. no. 20801

Sure thing.

The "Avengers of the 1950s" are an interesting little historical footnote that, until recently, have been hidden behind layers of government-imposed secrecy.

As you say, there have been multiple groups that have, somewhat retroactively, been given that title - but of those, only two are noteworthy enough to cover here.

And what's more noteworthy of both of them that, being born of the Cold War, neither are what we'd call conventional superhero teams in the vein of the All-Winners Squad before them.

(photo of the so-called "Avengers 1959", edited to remove background for confidential reasons. Left to right: Victor Creed, Namora, Dominic Fortune, Dum Dum Dugan, Ulysses Bloodstone, Sergei Kravinoff.)

The so-called "Avengers of 1959" were one of these outfits - less a superhero team and more a covert government operation, a predecessor to the SHIELD Super-Agents more than anything, albeit one whose members had quite the checkered past.

On the orders of President Eisenhower, Nick Fury recruited a crack team for a covert operation against a Red Skull imposter and a band of neo-Nazis. This team consisted of big-game hunter Sergei Kravinoff (who'd later be a persistent thorn in Spider-Man's side), feral mutant Victor Creed (alias Sabretooth, wanted for murder in several jurisdictions), soldier of fortune Dominic Fortune, professional mercenary Ernst Sablinova, alias the Silver Sable, Atlantean princess Namora, and immortal monster hunter Ulysses Bloodstone.

The only unambiguously good egg on this team was Fury's old war buddy Dum Dum Dugan. The rest ranged from morally grey to outright criminal, only held in check by promises of a paycheck and Fury's tight leash.

Unsurprisingly, they disbanded after only two missions - the one against the fake Skull and a second, more consequential operation that saved the life of King T'Chaka of Wakanda, father of the current Black Panther.

The whole group was a powder keg about to explode, and it's a miracle it lasted as long as it did. In contrast, the other group that went by that name at the time...

(Modern-day artist's rendition of the "Agents of Atlas", recreated from newspaper descriptions.)

Shortly before Fury assembled his team, FBI agent James Woo was given special authorization to assemble "Department Zero", a team of operatives tasked with rescuing Eisenhower from the Chinese terrorist Plan Chu, alias the Golden Claw (period documents say "Yellow Claw", but consensus is that this is a racist mistranslation).

Woo recruited a group of operatives to rescue Eisenhower including Robert Grayson, alias Marvel Boy, Ken Hale, the Gorilla-Man, and Venus - reportedly the Roman goddess herself. Namora was asked to join the team but refused, providing the team with the salvaged Human Robot as a replacement.

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Faiza Hussain waves back to the girl with a smile as she comes up to the Braddock Lighthouse. She has both her medical bag with her and the sword Excalibur in its disguise as a backpack.

Dane happily welcomes Faiza at the entrance to the Braddock Lighthouse. 

“Hi. You look…” Dane struggles for a word to describe how captivating she is. It is hard to look away from her as old feelings come rushing back like his heart had been stone again until this moment. He settles for a word that barely scratches the surface of how lovely she is. “Wow. Is that a new hijab?”

Faiza realizes that they haven’t seen each other in person since Dane ghosted her. They’ve started talking again since then, but only as friends. Dane wasn't on the MI13 anymore, meaning they didn’t even see each other as coworkers. She had missed him. 

“I wore it when we played cricket,” she says and resists the urge to tell him he looks healthier than the last time she saw him. Instead, she asks after her newest patient.  

She is somewhat flustered, picking at the sleeve of her floral top. It isn’t every day that she is asked to help Captain Marvel. Faiza may have always preferred the British superheroes, but Captain Marvel was always her favorite of the yanks. She had the action figures and everything

 “She’s not Captain Marvel anymore,” Dane tells her as if she isn’t still Captain Marvel to him, forever and always. “You can just call her Monica. You’re going to love her. And she’s going to love you, of course.”

Read the rest of the issue on AO3!

Lighthouse Siege! Monica is brought to the Braddock Lighthouse for examination, but trouble follows in the form of an attack from Thelius. But where is he leading them?

Main Characters: Monica Rambeau, M-11, Jackie Chopra, Kyle Gibney, Simon Williams, Brian Braddock, Faiza Hussain, Dane Whitman, Thelius, Faerie Queen