Hulk Smash Continuity, Er, Avengers 4

Discuss chronologies for characters in the main "Marvel Universe"

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Michael
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Hulk Smash Continuity, Er, Avengers 4

Post by Michael »

Hulk Smash Avengers 4 is out. It features a fight between Mr. Fixit and the West Coast Avengers. Fixit is working for Michael Berengetti, so it has to take place after H2 345. For the West Coast Avengers, OTOH, it seems like this story takes place before WCA2 12- Hawkeye's got long sleeves, Mockingbird has pants, Tigra doesn't have a tail, Wonder Man's in his pre-WCA2 12 costume and there are references to Iron Man having recently returned to the Avengers after his bout with alcoholism.
Here's the problem- there's no way H2 345 can take place before WCA2 12. H2 340 is obviously supposed to take place in between UX 224 and 225, while the X-Men are flying to Dallas. (Never mind that Maddie got on the plane in UX 224 and isn't shown on the plane in H2 340- she must be behind the scenes. The real explanation is probably an art error.) WCA2 12-13, on the other hand, take place prior to the crossover between A@ 15 and WCA@ 1. UX 224 and 225 are part of the Fall of the Mutants, while A@ 15 and WCA@ 1 take place circa the Mutant Massacre. There's no way UX 224 can be moved before A@ 15 and WCA@ 1 without screwing up the continuity of half the Marvel Universe.
So what should we do? The other issues of Hulk Smash Avengers have been careful to fit in continuity. So do we declare this issue out of continuity and leave the others in? Or does anyone have a solution to explain how the WCA can appear here?
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Somebody
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Re: Hulk Smash Continuity, Er, Avengers 4

Post by Somebody »

Is there anything that can't be explained away as "art/costume error"? [The Iron Man alcoholism reference... well, in-continuity, it probably would be fairly recent in that it wouldn't have been more than a couple of months earlier in MU time.]
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Re: Hulk Smash Continuity, Er, Avengers 4

Post by Paul Bourcier »

According to the editor's note on page 1 of Hulk Smash Avengers #4, "this story occurs immediately prior to West Coast Avengers #5 & Incredible Hulk (Vol. 1) #347." Okay, that's just plain wrong. WCA2 5 was published in February 1986. H2 347 came out two and a half years later, in September 1988. There's just no way those two comics occur around the same time.

As Michael notes, HSA 4 must occur after Berengetti hires Mr. Fix-It in H2 345. So we can reasonably conclude that Hulk appears in HSA 4 between H2 346 and 347, as intended. The West Coast Avengers must appear in HSA 4 much later than WCA2 5, but how much later?

Iron Man appears in his Silver Centurion armor in HSA 4. That places HSA 4 before the end of Stark Wars (IM 225-230). Iron Man seems to be on fine terms with his teammates in HSA 4, so I'm guessing HSA 4 occurs before they start questioning Stark's actions in IM 226. According to my calculations, IM 226 and H2 347 occur at around the same time. So, how about Hawkeye, Iron Man, Mockingbird, Tigra, and Wonder Man appearing in HSA 4 between WCA 38-FB and IM 226?
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Re: Hulk Smash Continuity, Er, Avengers 4

Post by Michael »

Paul Bourcier wrote: Iron Man appears in his Silver Centurion armor in HSA 4. That places HSA 4 before the end of Stark Wars (IM 225-230). Iron Man seems to be on fine terms with his teammates in HSA 4, so I'm guessing HSA 4 occurs before they start questioning Stark's actions in IM 226. According to my calculations, IM 226 and H2 347 occur at around the same time. So, how about Hawkeye, Iron Man, Mockingbird, Tigra, and Wonder Man appearing in HSA 4 between WCA 38-FB and IM 226?
Currently, we have Nick Fury's appearance in IM 227 placed before his appearances in H2 342 and H2 345. So if we wanted to avoid changing Fury's chronology, we should place this after IM 227 (1-21).
To answer Somebody's question, I can't think of anything that can't be explained away as "art/costume error". So I guess we should assume the artist drew all of the WCA except Tony wrong.
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