Issue(s): Avengers #7
Published Date: Aug 64
Title: "Their darkest hour!"
Credits:
Stan Lee / Macon Blair - Writer
Jack Kirby / Michael Avon Oeming - Penciler
Chic Stone / Michael Avon Oeming - Inker

Review/plot:
Iron Man is suspended from the Avengers for a week because he recently ignored an Avengers summons. The sentence is issued by Thor and you get the sense that he is sort of "playing Odin" as directly after this we see Odin issue a sentence banishing the Executioner and the Enchantress to Earth for recently attacking Thor.

    

Neither sentence makes much sense. Why de-power the Avengers unnecessarily? Make Iron Man pull some extra monitor duty or something. And why, oh, why, would you send a pair of super-powered criminals to stomp around amongst the mortals?

The Asgardian criminals figure they need a mortal ally to help them navigate the human world, so they contact Baron Zemo. They figure they'll help Zemo get rid of Thor's human allies so that they can get their vengeance on Thor.

The Enchantress casts a spell on Thor that makes him think the other Avengers are evil.

He stomps Giant-Man and then Iron Man breaks the spell by reflecting the sun off his armor into Thor's eyes. Thor then zaps Zemo, Enchantress and the Executioner into another dimension.

In the reprint, a back-up story by Macon Blair and Michael Oeming depicts the three criminals in the dimension Thor put them in. They fight a giant jelly fish...

...but the focus of the story is on the interactions between these egotistical and dangerous characters, and it is pretty damn good.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - Enchantress and the Executioner join the Masters of Evil, although they don't call themselves that this issue.

Chronological Placement Considerations: Takes place after Tales of Suspense #56. A newspaper headline in this issue informs the public that Zemo has fled the country, information that will be relevant to the Radioactive Man in Untold Tales of Spider-Man #16.

References:

• Iron Man ignored an Avengers summons in Tales Of Suspense #56 (referred to here as Iron Man #56).
  
• The Enchantress and the Executioner attacked Thor in Journey Into Mystery #103.
  
• Captain America is moping about the death of Bucky, as depicted in Avengers #4, when Rick Jones shows up wearing Bucky's old costume, resulting in more angst.

Cross-over: N/A

Continuity Implant? P - the back-up in the reprint is a new story that takes place directly after this issue.

Reprinted In: Avengers Classic #7