THE AVATARS
Membership: Ancestor, Butterfly, Deluge, Foundry, Lich, Old Woman, Q’Wake, Sickle, Turmoil, Warfist
Purpose: Minions of the Mandarin
Affiliations: The Mandarin
Enemies: Iron Man, War Machine, Force Works (Century, Spider-Woman, US Agent, Scarlet Witch), Heroes for Hire (Humbug, Misty Knight, Shang-Chi, Tarantula, Colleen Wing)
Base of Operations: Mandarin’s castle, China
First Appearance: (in shadow) Iron Man I#309 (October, 1994); (fully) Force Works#6 (December, 1994)
History: (Iron Man I#309) - The Avatars stood around in the shadows as the Mandarin crafted his plans.
(War Machine#8) - Still in shadow and unnamed, the Avatars and the Mandarin watched the Iron Man/War Machine battle. Q’Wake expressed disbelief at the Mandarin’s defeats at the hands of Iron Man in the past.
(Iron Man I#310) - The Mandarin sent the (still in shadow and unnamed Avatars) to attack Hong Kong.
(Force Works#6, Marvel Comics Presents#169/2, #170/2,#171/2) - Lich, Butterfly, Deluge, Foundry and Q’Wake attacked Hong Kong, and were defeated by Force Works, and retreated. Warfist, Ancestor and Old Woman watched while the Mandarin tortured Iron Man and War Machine, and failed to stop Century’s attack, forcing the Mandarin to intervene, seemingly killing War Machine and Century.
(War Machine#9) - Warfist and Ancestor thrashed the helpless Iron Man until the Mandarin called them off. Force Works interrogated their captive, Lich.
BTS- Lich rejoined the other Avatars with the Mandarin.
(Iron Man I#311) - The Avatars watched as the Mandarin continued to torture Iron Man, and created an enchanted mask to transform a peasant into the newest Avatar, Turmoil. The Mandarin then sent them away, to unmask Iron Man alone.
(Marvel Comics Presents#172/2) - Ancestor, Warfist and Old Woman were standing behind the Mandarin as the Scarlet Witch attacked. Stark is mistakenly depicted in full Iron Man armor and War Machine is shown there as well.
(Force Works#7) - US Agent and Spider-Woman battled the Mandarin’s armies, defeating Old Woman, Sickle, Warfist and Ancestor, who Agent slammed through a wall, apparently killing him. Scarlet Witch caused the Mandarin’s rings to all misfire at once, with the blast killing Warfist. The Mandarin led the Avatars in his attack on Hong Kong.
(War Machine#10) - The Avatars were sent out to find the survivors of the Mandarin’s attack, and prepare them for his coming. And to break stuff. They then stood around in front of the Mandarin as he gave his speech.
(Iron Man I#312) - The Mandarin sent the Avatars (including the supposedly-dead Ancestor and Warfist) back to Hong Kong to capture Iron Man, who allowed himself to be taken, and infected the Mandarin with a techno-organic virus that rapidly aged him, and turned Deluge to dust with a touch, leaving only his mask. As the Mandarin reached out to the Heart of Darkness, it flew away, and the Mandarin and his Avatars disappeared.
(Iron Man III#10 (fb)) - In an erroneous re-telling of the end of Iron Man I#312, a man claiming to be the Mandarin (but possibly Warlord Chu Lo Yan?) claimed that the Heart of Darkness and the Avatars were destroyed.
(Civil War: Battle Damage Report#1) - The Avatars secretly served Mandarin ntil his apparent demise in the explosion of the "Dragon of Heaven". Afterwards they fell into service of Temujin, Mandarin's son.
(Heroes for Hire II#1) - The Avatars returned to fight in the name of the new Mandarin (Temujin) and attacked New York City. They were too much for the police too handle and the Heroes for Hire were called in to deal with. Colleen took out Lich and Sickle. Humbug defeated Ancestor. Shang-Chi knocked out Warfist. Tarantula ferociously attacked the giant Q'Wake and he went down quickly. Foundry underestimated Misty and was knocked out after she blinded him. Heroes for Hire 1! Mandarin's Avatars 0!
(Dark Reign Files) - Quasimodo researched the Avatars for Norman Osborn.
Comments: Created by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, and Dave Taylor.
Speculation on the return of Ancestor and Warfist: Given that the Avatars were empowered by enchanted masks, it may be new incarnations of Warfist and Ancestor appearing in Iron Man I#312. That or they weren’t really dead. The same could be the reason behind their recent return in Heroes for Hire II#1.
Warfist's name was originally reported as "Warcry" in the Iron Man/Force Works Collector's Preview.
The Marvel Comics Presents issues re-told the same events from the point of view of certain characters. The Avatars’ retreat was shown only in MCP#170.
Sure, the Avatars didn’t do much beyond serve as henchmen for the good guys to beat on, but the Mandarin deserves his own team of henchmen, and they deserved better than an off-panel death.
They received an entry in the Civil War: Battle Damage Report#1.
Clarifications: The Avatars should not be confused with:
Butterfly should not be confused with:
Deluge should not be confused with:
Foundry has no connection to:
Q'Wake should not be confused wiith:
Sickle should not be confused with:
Ancestor: Able to draw on the strength
of his ancestors to increase his own size and strength to
superhuman levels. He was seemingly killed by US Agent, yet
returned again for the finale. He returned yet again in Heroes for Hire and was defeated by Humbug.
--Force Works#6 (Force Works#6, War Machine#9, Marvel Comics Presents#172/2, Force Works#7, Iron Man I#312, Heroes for Hire II#1
Butterfly: Seemingly the leader of the
group, Butterfly could fly, and project a ‘curse
shadow’, causing extreme and violent bad luck to befall any
caught under it, such as making guns explode or US Agent’s
photon-shield misfire.
--Iron Man I#309 (in shadow), War
Machine#8 (in shadow), Iron Man I#310 (in shadow), Force Works#6 (seen) (Iron Man I#309, War Machine#8, Iron Man I#310, Force Works#6, Marvel Comics Presents#170/2, 171/2, Iron Man I#311, Force
Works#7, War Machine#10, Iron Man I#312 Deluge: Possessed a liquid-body and
control over water, and possibly other liquids. Sort of a
bargain-basement Chinese Hydro-Man, and the group’s other
arrogant blowhard. Accidentally killed by the Mandarin.
--Iron Man I#309 (in shadow), War Machine#8 (in shadow), Iron Man I#310
(in shadow), Force Works#6, (Iron Man I#309, War Machine#8, Iron Man I#310, Force Works#6, Marvel Comics Presents#170/2,
171/2, Iron Man I#311, Force Works#7, War Machine#10, Iron Man
I#312 Foundry: Able to fire a flame-blast from
his eyes, and to morph his hands into weapons such as hammers.
Foundry’s size would suggest a possible enhanced strength-level. He returned in Heroes for Hire and was defeated by Misty Knight.
--Iron Man I#309-310 (in shadow), Force Works
#6, (Iron Man I#309-310, Force Works#6, Marvel Comics Presents#170/2, #171/2, Iron Man I#311, Force Works#7, War Machine#10, Iron Man
I#312, Heroes for Hire II#1 Lich: A former diplomatic assistant (and
thus one of the only Avatars to speak English), transformed into
a skeletal monster, who used his claws, and strength on a level
to snap Spider-Woman’s webs and grapple with her. Lich
enjoyed his work, taking pleasure in the killing of innocents.
Force Works captured him, briefly, but he joined the Avatars
behind-the-scenes. He returned in Heroes for Hire and lost together with Sickle against Colleen Wing.
--War Machine#8 (in shadow), Force Works#6 (War Machine#8, Force Works#6, Marvel Comics Presents#169/2, 170/2, 171/2, War Machine#9,
Iron Man I#311-312, Heroes for Hire II#1 Old Woman: An ‘elemental
sculptress’, channelling her power through her staff, could
re-shape the ground (and presumably anything else) into other
forms as she desired.
--Force Works#6 (Force Works#6, War Machine#9, Iron
Man I#311, Marvel Comics Presents#172/2, Force Works#7, War
Machine#10 (in shadow) Q’Wake: Huge monstrous Avatar, with
apparent superhuman strength, and a seismic shock power.
Q’Wake was an arrogant blowhard compared with the mostly
untalkative Avatars. Seemingly grown a few feet he returned in Heroes for hire and was defeated by Tarantula (Maria Vasquez).
--Iron Man I#309 (in shadow), War Machine
#8 (in shadow), Force Works#6 (Iron Man I#309, War Machine#8, Force Works#6, Marvel Comics Presents#169/2,
170/2, 171/2, Iron Man I#311, Force Works#7, War Machine#10,
Iron Man I#312, Heroes for Hire II#1 Sickle Represented field workers of
China, and had superhuman strength and a scythe. He returned in Heroes for Hire and lost with Lich against Colleen Wing.
--Force Works#7 (Force Works#7, War Machine#10, Iron Man I#312, Heroes for Hire II#1 Turmoil: A peasant servant of the
Mandarin, transformed into the "living incarnation of the
storm." Turmoil then disappeared between pages (by the next
panel, even), never to be seen again.
--Iron Man I#311 Warfist: Superhuman strength and martial
arts skills. Wielded a spiked club. He was accidentally killed by
the Mandarin, only to return again for the finale. He returned in Heroes for hire yet again and was defeated by Shang-Chi.
--Iron Man I#309 (in shadow), Force Works#6 (Iron Man I#309, Force Works#6, War Machine#9, Iron Man I#311, Force Works#7, Marvel Comics Presents#172/2, Iron Man I#312, Heroes for Hire II#1 images: (without ads) Appearances: Last updated: 08/02/02 Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know. All characters mentioned or pictured are
™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights
Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real
thing!
Force Works#6, p2-3 (main image, Butterfly, Foundry, Lich & Q'Wake)
Force Works#7, p21, pan2 (Avatars back in Hong Kong)
War Machine#10, p8, pan2 (Avatar faces)
War Machine#10, p8, pan3 (Deluge, Sickle and Butterfly)
Force Works#7, p10, pan5 (Ancestor)
Force Works#6, p2 (Butterfly)
Force Works#6, p12, pan3 (Deluge)
Force Works#7, p8, pan2 (Old Woman)
Force Works#7, p9, pan2 (Sickle)
Iron Man I#311, p6, pan2 (Turmoil)
War Machine#9, p4, pan1 (Warfist)
Iron Man I#309 (October, 1994) - Len Kaminski (writer), Tom Morgan (artist), Nel Yomtov (editor)
War Machine#8 (November, 1994) - Scott Benson & Len Kaminski (writers), Gabriel Gecko (pencils), Pam Eklund (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Iron Man I#310 (November, 1994) - Len Kaminski (writer), Tom Morgan (artist), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Force Works#6 (December, 1994) - Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Dave Taylor (pencils), Rey Garcia (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Marvel Comics Presents#169-170 (December, 1994) - Dan Abnett (writer), Lawrence Brown (#169) & Rey Garcia (#170) (artist), Richard Ashford (editor)
Marvel Comics Presents#171 (early Janaury, 1995) - Dan Abnett (writer), Brian Williamson (pencils), Michael Worley (inks), Richard Ashford (editor)
War Machine#9 (December, 1994) - Scott Benson & Len Kaminski (writers), Geoff Senior (pencils), Pam Eklund (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Iron Man I#311 (December, 1994) - Len Kaminski (writer), Tom Morgan (artist), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Marvel Comics Presents#172 (late January, 1995) - Dan Abnett (writer), John Czop (pencils), Scott Elmer (inks), Richard Ashford (editor)
Force Works#7 (January, 1995) - Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning (writers), Dave Taylor (pencils), Rey Garcia (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
War Machine#10 (January, 1995) - Scott Benson & Len Kaminski (writers), Geoff Senior (pencils), Pam Eklund (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Iron Man I#312 (January, 1995) - Len Kaminski (writer), Tom Morgan (pencils), Bob Wiacek & Sam DeLaRosa (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Iron Man III#10 (November, 1998) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Sean Chen (pencils), Larry Stucker & Eric Cannon (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Heroes for Hire II#1 (October, 2006) - Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti (writers), Billy Tucci (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Civil War: Battle Damage Report#1 (2007)
Dark Reign Files (February, 2009) - Michael Hoskin & various others (writer), Jeff Youngquist (editor)
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com
