Random Back Issues #95 - Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes II #3

Hank, the last time you didn't hold anything back, you built an android with your memory engrams and it went genocidal.

We looked at the issue after this 2.5 years ago, so let's see how we got to the point of Hank Pym having nightmares about crunching Adaptoids between his giant teeth like mints!

Nick Fury's sent the Avengers - Black Panther, Hawkeye, Wasp, newbie Vision, and leader Giant-Man - to an island that serves as base where AIM may be trying to make an army of Adaptoids. Still blaming Fury for the Black Widow breaking up with him and joining SHIELD, Hawkeye's giving Fury static about why he doesn't just use SHIELD agents. Apparently Fury was ordered to leave this to the superhumans, which Pym leverages to make Fury release Vision from custody, since the authorities have no proof Viz is the original Adaptoid in disguise.

For his part, Vision is grateful the team stuck up for him, and determined to keep them from failing. Hank's, on the other hand, feeling jittery, a feeling that gets worse when they find the Adaptoid replication plant leveled and the machines carving a path through the island, including at least one innocent village. A half-dozen knockoff Adaptoids notice the Quinjet and attack. Despite Vision's best efforts, they wreck an engine. The team bails out, except Hawkeye, who is determined to land the thing. Clint, it's fine, they'll just send the bill to Stark.

But he manages, in the Launchpad McQuack sense, and now he's in the main AIM base, joined by the Panther and Vision. The beekeepers aren't causing much trouble, but Hawkeye's not sure they're actually accomplishing anything beating up a bunch of libertarian nerds

(Hank notes at one point AIM loves to claim persecution when they're listed as outlaws, but they don't care who their experiments hurt. All for me, none for you types. I'm more used to AIM just openly admitting they do criminal stuff in the name of science and not caring, but maybe that mindset came in when MODOK took over.) 

Fortunately, the king and the tin can made a plan. T'Challa hacks into AIM communications and the base layout, using panicked AIM chatter to track the Adapotid, while Vision seeks out the main reactor and overloads it.

Back in the jungle, the swarm of Adaptoids are two miles from another village and closing fast. Pym sends Wasp to help the others and orders the villagers to leave. Then he gets ready to fight the entire army himself. Probably not a good sign he's having to work himself up by repeating that they aren't human, so he doesn't have to hold back. 

Casey also uses the first page of the issue to establish a subplot where certain Wakandan elements contract the Death Tiger to kill T'Challa, allegedly because he's not being a good king, hanging out with Avengers and being a schoolteacher, but probably really just to grab power. That won't come to a head for a few issues yet.

{2nd longbox, 26th comic. Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes II #3, by Joe Casey (writer), Will Rosado (penciler), Tom Palmer (inker), Wil Quintana (colorist), Comicraft (letterers)]