The Avengers #222

"A Gathering of Evil!"

She-Hulk attempts to fix her pink Cadillac (damaged by Hawkeye’s arrows last issue) but becomes so frustrated she crushes it and throws it in the trash. The Wasp arrives and says what she needs is a “fashion makeover” and the women go inside to try on new clothes.

At his apartment, Hawkeye’s cupboards are bare and his next paycheck for his day job (at Cross-Technological Enterprises) doesn’t come for days. He heads over to the mansion hoping to raid Jarvis’s pantry.

Elsewhere, the villainous Egghead is grousing over the fact that none of his criminal schemes have panned out. Based on a comment by Anna, his flirtatious maid, he concocts a scheme to “buy” the world: he intends to find a formula to provide eternal youth, something that virtually everyone would pay handsomely to attain. Naturally he intends to go about it via criminal means.

Hank Pym has been incarcerated on Rikers’ Island as he awaits trial. His old nemesis Whirlwind confronts him there. The villain taunts him by saying he’s getting out soon and intends to pay a visit to Jan. Hank becomes enraged and attacks him; prison guards haul him away.

Shortly afterwards, an explosion occurs and Whirlwind is freed from imprisonment.

The Avengers gather for their weekly meeting. Hawkeye ridicules the new look Jan has put together for She-Hulk. But instead of taking the bait, She-Hulk surprises the archer by kissing him, then dropping him. The rest of the team are amused.

Egghead addresses his new makeshift team of “associates”: Moonstone, Tiger Shark, Scorpion and Whirlwind. He will be needing them to perform raids for various equipment, and appoints Moonstone as field leader for the team. Egghead wants them all to stay away from any superheroes who might interfere with his work. But Whirlwind has every intention of paying a visit to the Wasp.

After their meeting, the Avengers are dispersing. Jan climbs in the back of her limo, only to find that Whirlwind has subdued her actual driver and impersonated him. She attacks him. The rest of the “new Masters of Evil” arrive to reign in Whirlwind, but so does Hawkeye, Thor and She-Hulk. The Wasp demands that She-Hulk remove the couture outfit she bought for her before engaging in battle and thus Jennifer has to go into battle in her brief. The Avengers take on the Masters and quickly subdue them.