Written by Stan Lee – Pencils by Jack Kirby – Inks by Paul Reinman – Letters by Sam Rosen

Avengers #2 has the unfortunate luck of coming between two milestone issues. The first issue brings the team together, while the fourth introduces Captain America to the modern Marvel Universe.

This one doesn’t have quite the same historical significance, but it’s a fun adventure in its own right.

The Avengers hold a team meeting, and we get another reminder that the Hulk is a little different from the version of the character we’ve seen elsewhere. He talks more like Ben Grimm than the mindless brute he’ll eventually become, and apparently has three toes. Or four. It really depends on what page you’re looking at.

Their gathering is interrupted by the arrival of the Space Phantom, an alien who has been monitoring the Avengers from space. He’s decided that if he can defeat Earth’s newest superhero team, the planet will be ripe for invasion.

I guess the Fantastic Four are old news to invading aliens.

The Space Phantom has a strange power. He can take the form of anyone he encounters, but when he does, the original person gets sent to Limbo.

He starts by taking the Hulk’s form and picking a fight with the Avengers. Rick Jones appears, and the Space Phantom’s behavior begins to raise suspicions. He’s not quite convincing as the Hulk, making mistakes that give the others reason to question what’s going on.

Kirby gets some great visual material out of the Phantom’s powers. The transformation sequences, with one character taking another’s place as the original disappears, are especially fun. And the alien’s arrival gives Kirby an excuse to draw some outer-space scenes, which are always welcome.

The Space Phantom’s plan is to turn the Avengers against one another. He lets the real Hulk return, hoping the team will destroy itself in the confusion.

The Avengers regroup, but the Phantom keeps changing identities. He takes Giant-Man’s form, then Iron Man’s, creating a series of battles in which the heroes can’t be sure who they’re fighting. The result is a fun back-and-forth as the Avengers try to figure out how to stop an enemy who can become any of them.

Eventually, Thor enters the fight, and the Space Phantom tries to take his form. For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, Thor’s powers make him immune to the Phantom’s ability, and the alien is sent to Limbo instead.

The Hulk is furious that the Avengers were so quick to assume he was responsible for the trouble. He’s never been entirely comfortable with the team, and their willingness to turn on him confirms his suspicion that he doesn’t belong. So he quits.

It’s a fun issue, full of Kirby’s inventive action and a villain whose powers let Lee and Kirby play around with the team’s dynamics. The plot mechanics don’t always hold together, but the central idea works: a team that barely knows one another is especially vulnerable to a threat that makes them question each other.

Unlike the Fantastic Four, who are a family, or the X-Men, who are united by their mutant identity and Xavier’s mission, the Avengers don’t have much holding them together beyond the fact that they’ve agreed to work together. They’re powerful heroes who each have their own lives, loyalties, and reasons for being there. The Hulk’s departure makes that instability clear, but it also gives the book something that makes it work so well. The Avengers aren’t just a group of heroes fighting a common enemy. They’re a group of heroes who have to figure out why they should be a team at all.

Marvel in the 60s – Entry #94