An Avenger Betrays Earth’s Mightiest Heroes

Avengers #19 reveals a traitor within the ranks of Earth’s mightiest heroes.

The re-formed team — Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, She-Hulk, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Ghost Rider — have struggled to keep peace between aggressive factions: Russia’s Winter Guard, Namor’s Defenders of the Deep, Dracula’s vampiric hordes and the U.S. government-sponsored Squadron Supreme. Now the Avengers must contend with Dark Elf King Malekith, who has decimated nine of the Ten Realms before bringing the War of the Realms to Midgard.

Doctor Strange managed to evacuate most of Manhattan to Avengers Mountain, the Avengers’ newest headquarters made from the body of the first Celestial to visit Earth.

Within the Wundagore Zoo in Transit, Kenneth Hale, a.k.a. Gorilla-Man — one of the Agents of Atlas turned Agent of Wakanda, a support crew for the Avengers — meets with Ursa Major, a member of the Winter Guard transformed into an anthropomorphic bear. Hiding in plain sight as zoo animals, the recruited agents discuss Black Panther’s undercover operation after dispatching Dracula to rot in Chernobyl.

Hale is picked up by Ka-Zar and excitedly rushes off to save the world despite Ursa Major’s calling him “the Avengers’ trained monkey.”

At Avengers Mountain, where Hale serves as head of security, Black Panther tasks the Gorilla-Man with an important mission. The mountain houses the Celestial’s staff, with roots reaching all the way to the core of the Earth. Hale reports Tony Stark says if they can channel that energy through the mountain’s flesh tech — without blowing themselves to hell — “the possibilities are damn near limitless.”

Because Stark is occupied with a project of his own, Panther tasks Hale with keeping the mountain secure. “Thousands of evacuees are depending on you,” Panther says. When Hale says he’s ready for anything, Panther says ominously, “Be ready for war. Because it’s coming.”

Elsewhere, Captain America leads the Jotunheim strike force — Spider-Man, Wolverine, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist — to rescue Thor from the land of the Frost Giants, while Frigga, Punisher, She-Hulk, Blade, and Ghost Rider embark on a mission to infiltrate Svartalfheim, home of the Dark Elves, to reach the Black Bifrost. Roz Solomon and Agent Man-Wolf seek out the Roxxon Energy Corporation operatives who have hacked the Avengers’ global networks, and Captain Marvel is leading a team of War Avengers against the Dark Elf army.

As Avengers Mountain comes under siege by Dark Elves and Frost Giants, Hale laments his lack of bravery and his insecurity born of standing amongst such impressive figures.

Black Panther needs the power of the Celestial unleashed to prevent the fall of Avengers Mountain, now hosting much of the population of New York. “The mountain cannot fall, Mr. Hale,” Panther says. “If it does, the Earth will follow.”

As Hale charges the weapon, Malekith uses the Bifrost to teleport enemy forces into the base. As Hale fends off the Dark Elves, he flies into a rage when one of the foot soldiers calls him a “guard dog.”

“Poorly kept secret about me. I’m cursed. And I don’t like it all that much,” Hale thinks.

“There’ve been plenty of days I’ve wanted nothing more than to die. Any which way I possibly could. Just as long as I’d be rid of the Gorilla-Man once and for all. Today ain’t one’a them days.”

Unleashing his feral side, Hale tears into the Dark Elves.

“Kill the Gorilla-Man and you live forever. That’s the way the legend goes. But over the years I’ve sorta added a second verse to it. Piss off the Gorilla-Man… and you die screaming. Maybe it ain’t as catchy as ‘Avengers assemble.’ But it gets the damn job done. And so do I.”

Hale’s mission proves successful.

Atop the mountain, Black Panther and Asgardian Hel-Hound Thori do battle against the monsters as the Celestial’s power levels rise. The Celestial frees his power.

Hale admits to his death wish, telling himself, “That shoulda been it. I shoulda died saving Avengers mountain. Saving the whole flaming world. But ain’t it just my luck… I’m still alive.”

Laying near-dead from a blast of energy, Hale is revived by Ka-Zar. A barely conscious Hale reports Roxxon is hiding in Antarctica. Later, in the infirmary, a shaken Hale recuperates next to Odin.

“I know that look. Even on a primate,” Odin says. “A god spoke to you.”

“The Celestial. The mountain itself,” Hale replies. “And it did more than just speak to me. It showed me…”

Odin stops him. “Whatever it showed you was for you alone. Word of advice from All-Father Odin… when gods talk to you, it’s for a reason. You’d best figure out what that is.”

Later, in the bowels of the base, Hale says his brain is exploding with the sights he was exposed to. “With the words… of God.”

Hale doesn’t understand them all, but he knows things have changed. “I don’t think I can…”

A voice from an unseen figure stirs Hale further. “You don’t what? Think you can go through with our arrangement? Let me remind you of exactly how many choices you’ve got in this situation.”

“Not a damn one. That bed is good and damn made, and you know it. Best just get to lying in it, Gorilla-Man. Hell, more than that… I wanna hear you say it.”

To himself, Hale laments his situation. “Kill the Gorilla-Man, live forever. I used to think the day I decided to chase that legend was the dumbest thing I’d ever done. But I underestimated my own stupidity.”

“I serve Dracula,” a reluctant Hale says. “I serve the Legion of the Unliving. I… am a loyal subject of the Kingdom of the Damned.”

The shadows reveal the imprisoned Sarge the Hellhound, who chuckles, “Heh. Damn right you are.”

“Worst was the day I decided to finally get rid of the curse once and for all,” Hale thinks. “The day I betrayed the Avengers.”