Issue(s): Avengers #78, Avengers #79
Cover Date: Jul-Aug 70
Title: "The Man-Ape always strikes twice!" / "Lo! The Lethal Legion!"
Credits:
Roy Thomas - Writer
Sal Buscema / John Buscema - Penciler
Tom Palmer - Inker

Review/plot:
The Man-Ape, who, according to the title of the issue, always strikes twice, shows up to attack the Avengers. He gives Captain America a good walloping...

...and he gives Hawkeye-Goliath a run for his money...

...before deciding he's outnumbered.

Meanwhile, the Black Panther is visiting Monica Lynne. She's got some complaints, saying that his time as a super-hero is time he's not helping poor people. She even accuses the Avengers of being those "who hold us down -- who'd make slaves of us all over again!".

She takes it back, but it's a strong statement that stays with him after the visit is over. Unfortunately for her, right after he leaves, the Man-Ape shows up and takes her prisoner.

The Black Panther eventually hunts the Man-Ape down, but he gets himself captured. And it turns out that the Man-Ape isn't working alone.

Iron Man and Thor return to the Avengers (Cap is also not a permanent member at this time) in order to help investigate the disappearance of the Black Panther. Meanwhile the Lethal Legion bicker amongst themselves.

The Avengers get separated and defeated by the Lethal Legion in small groups (Thor and Iron Man apparently get sent on a wild goose chase and are not seen again this issue). Their salvation is in the fact that the Grim Reaper discovers that the Vision's brain patterns are based on Wonder Man's, leading him to feel a kinship with Viz and freeing the Vision.

Only the Vision somehow "traded places" with Power Man anyway, so i guess the Reaper's actions didn't actually matter.

This is a good fight issue with nice Buscema/Palmer art...

...but as usual Roy Thomas' dialogue is terrible and haphazard. Imagine giving Quicksilver the line "Only a fool-hardy man rushes headlong into battle... before he knows who his enemies are!".

T'challa has been teaching at an American high school under the guise of Luke Charles. The Vision shows up in a face mask to inform the school that Charles won't be able to attend class today, freaking out the principal.

    

The ending, with the Vision sailing off to contemplate his android existence, is done well.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 4 - first Lethal Legion

Chronological Placement Considerations: Has to fit into Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America's chronologies.

References:

• The Man-Ape first appeared in Avengers #62.
  
• The Black Panther met Monica Lynne in Avengers #73.
  
• The Grim Reaper still thinks that the Avengers killed his brother Wonder Man. The footnote references Avengers #52, the Grim Reaper's first appearance, but Wonder Man's death in Avengers #9 is relevant as well.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Avengers Greatest Battles TPB

The cover showing all the villains clenching their teeth is especially silly.

Roy Thomas later said that #78 contains some Sal Buscema sample pages that pre-dated #69.

The Lethal Legion made a good replacement for the Masters of Evil, distinguished by them being foes of the "new" Avengers instead of the original. I think it's disappointing they were not utilized more.

However, the big problem with the Grim Reaper has always been his lack of actual superheroes. No matter how you stage it, all powers being tied to a handheld scythe just doesn't cut it.

I never liked the portrayal of the Black Panther's involvement with African-Americans. It is an attempt to be relevant, but an indigenous African king has almost no connection with the black experience in America except his skin color. It would be the same as if a character whose concept makes him the Prince of Ruritania spending his time on the plight of hillbillies. T'challa's time as a school teacher in particular makes no sense. The Black Panther is much more interesting when he is dealing with issues as a result of the politics and culture of Wakanda, not America's inner cities. This stuff would be a better fit for the Falcon or a new hero.

I think the problem regarding where Marvel was at the time was that they didn't have any other black heroes; and even then it probably was easier to make a hero from Africa than it would to create one so easily like Falcon or Luke Cage. Thus probably with any African/African-American issues of the time, they probably would turn to the hero who was just around that filled the quota.

Oh and Vision is just scary in that "human mask".

Just the Name "Lethal Legion" Invokes a certain amount of Neck Hair to rise in Fear. This is an Asset that Josh Whedon can parlay into his writing as the cross-over potential with Grim Reaper, Vision and Ultron are numerous. Technology will enhance the Lethal Legions fighting skill capacities to a level that surpasses our own imaginations ability to keep up. Avengers #78/79 have not nearly received the amount of credibility or legs to turn the Lethal Legion into a Household Name!

I feel sorry for the Grim Reaper, he just wants his brother back but the guy is crazy.

I swear, I think half the panels in #79 made it into "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way". Just a great John Buscema/Palmer template of an issue, although the story is a little bland.

I think we can all agree that the Reaper's new costume that debuted here is a VAST improvement over his original.

A couple of those panels (the one where the Reaper looks completely crazed and the one of Vision in his mask) look a lot like Neal Adams work.

"The Lethal Legion made a good replacement for the Masters of Evil, distinguished by them being foes of the "new" Avengers instead of the original. I think it's disappointing they were not utilized more."

Not only that, but they also differed in that every member debuted int he Avengers; with the first version of the MoE, all the characters except Zemo were enemies of the individual members from their various series. (Even Zemo gets "established" the same month in an issue of Sgt. Fury.)

" I never liked the portrayal of the Black Panther's involvement with African-Americans. It is an attempt to be relevant, but an indigenous African king has almost no connection with the black experience in America except his skin color. It would be the same as if a character whose concept makes him the Prince of Ruritania spending his time on the plight of hillbillies. T'challa's time as a school teacher in particular makes no sense. The Black Panther is much more interesting when he is dealing with issues as a result of the politics and culture of Wakanda, not America's inner cities. This stuff would be a better fit for the Falcon or a new hero."

This is why I never liked Reginald Hudlin's take on T'Challa, which had much more to do with American racial issues than the more global politics of the Priest and McGregor versions of the character. (Well, that and Hudlin's work is tremendously unsubtle in its messaging.)

"I feel sorry for the Grim Reaper, he just wants his brother back but the guy is crazy."

Between this issue and his first appearance, it seems as if neither the Avengers nor anyone else bothered to tell him what actually happened to his brother. In issue #52, they seem surprised to learn Simon Williams even had a sibling.