Gamma World, Part 1 is the twelfth episode of Season One of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and the overall series, as well as the first part of the double-length episode.
Summary[]
The Leader has placed an expanding dome of pure gamma radiation around the Cube, with anyone caught inside it being mutated into a Gamma Monster. The Avengers, along with the support of S.H.I.E.L.D., enter the Cube in an attempt to the destroy the Gamma Generator.
Synopsis[]
"Stay on him!" ~Iron Man
Hawkeye ambushes Wasp
The arc starts in Manhattan under a full moon. Iron Man, Wasp, Black Panther, and Captain America are in pursiut of Hawkeye on the rooftops with some difficulty, Impressing Wasp and the Captain with Hawkeye's skills. Wasp Follows Hawkeye into an alleyway, but the archer ambushes her, only to find himself surrounded by the Avengers.
Just when the Avengers are about to apprehend Hawkeye a S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft carrying Agent Quartermain arrives on the scene, allowing Hawkeye to escape in the confusion. Iron Man is furious at the fact that Shield allowed a traitor to escape and tells Quartermain to butt out, but the agent explains that Shield requested assistance from the Avengers on a matter of the upmost importance.
"Look, on the Horizon..." ~Captain America
The team approaches The ruins of The Cube
It's sunset now in the Nevada desert as Iron Man and the Avengers (now accompanied by Thor) are escorted by Shield fighter jets towards an unknown location. Iron Man is not to happy about the secrecy and the fact that they are not getting any information from Nick Fury, but Quartermain denies any information regarding Fury... and says that it would be better to show them the problem rather than explain it. It's not too long before they see it.. up ahead was The Cube, or what was left of it after The Breakout, surrounded by a green energy dome. Iron Man examines the dome when they land and confirms the dome is made of pure Gamma Raidiaton.
Dr. Samson introduces The Leader
The team is then greeted by Dr. Samson, who had gone under an dramatic change since his gamma exposure in The Breakout and was dissapointed when he noticed Bruce Banner wasn't with the Avengers. Samson shows the team footage from an attempted incursion into the cube by a team of Shield and Hulkbuster units. The video shows that as soon as the team arrived they were ambushed by an unknown figure, which Samson explains was a gamma villain known as The Abomination. But that wasn't the worst part, right after the attempt the gamma dome energized and the team was caught inside and they were transformed into Gamma Monsters. Samson explained further that the person responsible was another gamma villain known as The Leader and that the dome he created was expanding, if it wasnt stopped it would hit a town or major city in a few hours time.
"Gotcha" ~Hawkeye
Hawkeye attacks Hydra
We cut back to Manhattan where Black Widow makes her way to an abandoned warehouse where she is greeted at the door by a Hydra agent and is allowed entry. On a nearby water tower Hawkeye watches the Widow walk in... a minute later he uses an intrusion arrow to short cirtuit the lock to the door and gassed the Hydra agent on the other side. The warehouse turns out to be a Hydra assembly line for Dreadnaught units and the archer disrupts production, drawing an arrow for the fight to come.
"So... who wants to go in first?" ~Iron Man
Back at The Cube the team discovers a little hitch in their plan to enter the cube... how can they get in without being effected by the Gamma Dome? Dr. Samson answers that by pulling out a set of prototype radiation suits designed to shield the wearer from gamma radiation. The team suits up (except Thor, who's Asgardian nature protects him from Mortal energy) and goes into the dome, followed by Samson, Quartermain, and two Shield agents as backup. The moment they enter they lose communicaitons with the base camp outsidde, a minute later they are ambushed by a trio of shield agents who were caught in the gamma field.
The fight that followed was difficult best, with the Shield weapons proving ineffective against the monsters. Wasp and Samson took on a female agent that had turned into a massive harpy and had carried off one of the Shield agents, while Wasp rescued the agent Samson used his newly enhanced strength to knock the beast down. Thor and Iron man took on an agent who had transformed into a rock beast, it knocked both heroes around before Thor got the upper hand with his hammer and Iron man finished it with an electronic pulse. The last agent, who closely resembled Hulk, was beaten easily by Panther and the Captain. Samson studies the bodies and confirmed that as soon as the infected agents left the gamma dome, then they would revert back into human form. Cap and Wasp comment that Samson should think to joining the Avengers after seeing his fighting skills, but he refuses. While Iron Man decided that their objective would be to destroy the generator creating the dome, Panther points out that if the leader was behind it, then this was no doubt a trap.
"Hail Hydra..." ~Madame Hydra
Madame Hydra inspects the Hulk blood
We return to New York, Black Widow presents a sample of The Hulk's blood to Madame Hydra, but before her payment is given an explosion rocks the warehouse. The culprit is Hawkeye as he reeks havoc on the Hydra troops. after knocking out the soldiers Hawkeye is hit from behind by Black Widow.
"Welcome to The Cube" ~Vector
Back at the base camp a shield agent notifies the Helicarrier that communications with the Avengers have been blocked by an unknown signal. Meanwhile, inside the cube, the team is ambushed by an unknown enemy. That enemy turns out to be the U-foes, equipped with Gamma Enhancers to increase their powers. X-ray attacks Quartermain and Iron Man, their suits proving ineffective against his energy attacks. Vapor attacks Captain America by phasing into his suit and suffocating him. Wasp tries to interfere but is pushed aside by Vector while Ironclad attacks Thor. Despite their best efforts the U-foes were defeated... a little too easily. Vector simply laughs, saying that they didn't need to "beat" the Avengers to win.
Zzzax attacks the agents
As if on cue Zzzax jumps out and attacks the agents and Wasp, ripping their suits apart. Thor intervenes, but too little too late. The Avengers
could only stand there and watch as Wasp goes under a painful transformation into a wasp-like creature... the Gamma Wasp.
"Wasp... put the good doctor out of his misery." ~ The Leader'
The Leader watches the fight
The Leader watches the fight from the control room of the gamma prison, commenting that he had been studying Dr. Samson for so long that the doctors current efforts were useless against him. using the crown he orders Gamma Wasp to kill Samson, which she attempts, only to be intercepted by Thor who tries to snap her out of her trance. These efforts were pointless as Wasp continues to pound on Thor with her gamma stingers. The rest of the villains regenerate and attack the weakened Avengers, outnumbering them 9 to 4. Noticing this Iron Man orders everyone to run for the generator, but Panther ignores the group and takes off in another direction.
"...I'm taking you to the Avengers" ~Hawkeye
"... so shoot, shoot you Hydra scum!"
Back in New York, Hawkeye has been beaten by the Black Widow. She tries to finish him off, but hesitates, giving
the archer an opportunity to counterattack. After a few tense minutes of fighting on top of the crates, Hawkeye disarms and defeats the Widow. Widow doesn't seemed bothered by her defeat, reminding Hawkeye that Shield branded him as a traitor. But Hawkeye has other plans, to give the Widow directly to the Avengers.
"Find me the Leader, and I will end this!" ~Thor
The Wreckers are "Gamma-ed Up"
Back at the Cube things are taking a turn for the worst. Iron Man and Captain America are cornered by the villains, providing Thor and Dr. Samson with a chance to make a run for the generator. Unfortunately, when they get there their path is blocked by the Wrecking Crew, who have transformed from the Gamma Boosters. Once they attack Samson's suit is destroyed, but his previous exposure to at the breakout has left him unchanged. The Wreckers over whelm them, but during the scuffle Panther sneaks in and destroys the generator.
We cut to Hawkeye aboard his Sky Cycle, with Black Widow in tow on route to the Avengers.
"And now... we begin"
Back at the Cube the gamma villains are taken into custody and those caught in the gamma dome are being treated for their side effects. The battle is over and the Leader is defeated... or was he? Just outside Las Vegas, Leader observes the city, accompanied by Absorbing Man and Abomination. The Leader presses a button and a Gamma Dome appears over the city.
Cast[]
- Jeffrey Combs - The Leader
- Robin Atkin Downes - Abomination and Baron Zemo
- Rick D. Wasserman - Absorbing Man and Thor
- Fred Tatasciore - The Hulk
- Chris Cox - Hawkeye
- Colleen O'Shaughnessey - The Wasp
- James C. Mathis III - Black Panther and Bulldozer
- Eric Loomis - Iron Man
- Brian Bloom - Captain America
- Troy Baker - Clay Quartermain
- Frank Welker - Zzzax
- Cam Clarke - Vector and Doc Samson
- Grey Delisle - Vapor
- Kyle Hebert - X-Ray
- Michael Dorn - Ironclad
- Vanessa Marshall - Black Widow and Madame Hydra
Trivia[]
- If the Hulkbuster soldiers got caught in the Gamma Dome's expansion, then there's supposed to be more Gamma Monsters than just a few of them.
- Wasp should have been mutated even with the suit, because her wings were not encased in her containment suit.
- "Gamma World" was the name of a post apocalyptic role-playing game released in the 1980's by TSR, the same company that also released the Marvel Super Heroes game.