AVENGERS ANNUAL #15/WEST COAST AVENGERS ANNUAL #1 (1986)

A “big” story across two annuals. It starts with the two teams playing baseball.

Tigra tries to bring in the East Coast/West Coast beef.

Superheroes playing sports always fun.

I mean, it’s fun until Mystique’s Freedom Force shows up to arrest them for crimes against the U.S.

The story never really gets better than the initial baseball game.

The teams can’t defeat Freedom Force (which is just dumb), and The Avengers are taken to a secret prison with Guardsman-armored guards.

Henry Peter Gyrich turns out to the be the source of the problem, having testified against The Avengers.

I don’t like how over-simplified this is, and how easy it is for the US Government to be manipulated by Gryich into going against someone like Captain America.

Thor, Beast, Black Widow, and other former Avengers who were not captured join together and save their teammates. Quicksilver ends up being a part of the villainy too, but it’s a weird character arc that never really matters after this so I’m not getting into it.

There’s a bunch of Avengers’ history reviewed, scenes with the new babies (Crystal/Quicksilver and Vision/Scarlet Witch), etc., but the concept is so contrived that it’s hard to stay with it. Also, The Zodiac Gang (as robots) makes an appearance.

And a big joke at the end.

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