Avengers #6

AVENGERS #6 (1964)
by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

The villain origin retrospective has reached the debut of the Masters of Evil, arguably a more important debut than those of its members:
-Radioactive Man from Journey Into Mystery #93
-Melter from Tales Of Suspense #47
-Black Knight from Tales To Astonish #52
But it’s also the introduction of a new nemesis for Captain America: Baron Zemo.

To be fair, this is Zemo’s first FULL appearance. Technically speaking he appeared during a flashback 2 issues before this one, where Captain America told us about his very last WWII adventure. Zemo is not named in the flashback, but we’ll soon see it’s him.

But back to Avengers #6, which starts with Captain America training with the Avengers to test his shield. Which returns to him thanks to Iron Man’s transistors. Wait, what!?

Yep! This will be rather soon retconned into being a new device invented by Stark, only to be soon discarded… and for good reasons.
Admittedly the idea that Cap’s shield returns to him thanks to some dedicated technology makes more sense than the standard explanation… but it opens a can of worms.
First of all, it would mean that Cap’s shield shouldn’t come back to him in stories set in WWII. And then there’s the fact that Cap JUST came back to the present… it’s a little hard to accept the idea that he would change his ways this quickly!

Once Cap returns to lamenting the death of Bucky… which is what he does in like 90% of his scenes in early Silver Age stories… we are quickly introduced to Baron Zemo, hiding in a South American jungle.

I have to say this is a very efficient introduction. What better way to show he’s an irredeemable scumbag thank watching him step over his servants?
Well he IS a Nazi, so there were PLENTY of ways, but the Comics Code provided some limitations.

He is NOT happy to learn that Captain America is still alive.

Baron Zemo’s origin is delightfully absurd. He was SO hated by the general public… “the most hated man in Europe” in fact (quite an accomplishment IN NAZI GERMANY) that he decided to walk around wearing his hood all the time.
Because I guess people will hate “Hitler’s greatest scientist” LESS if they can’t see his face.

Sounds legit.

Zemo’s claim to fame was the invention of Adhesive-X^{(patent pending)}, which thanks to Captain America permanently glued the hood to his face.

That’s a silly concept, yes, but it’s kind of a minor form of body horror: Zemo can still breathe and see with the mask, but to feed himself he has to take nourishment intravenously.

Zemo quickly recruits off-panel the rest of the Masters of Evil. All of them are in only their second appearance!

Zemo was kind enough to provide a much-needed upgrade to Melter, giving him the power to melt ALL metals and not just iron.
He did not provide him a decent costume because Zemo is a dick.

Sooo… big dumb fight.

However Captain America and Giant-Man are stuck to the road by Adhesive-X^{(patent pending)}, so they have to carried around in the most ridiculous way possible.

We have a god fighting a scientist that rides a genetically modified flying horse, while a billionaire weapons manufacturer in a high-tech flying warsuit drives around in a tow truck dragging a genetically modified super-soldier and a giant super-scientist.
Comics, everybody!

Just a reminder, but both Iron Man and Thor can FLY. And I’m preeeetty sure even this early they should be able to carry the other two Avengers.

With the Avengers running away, Zemo meets the other Masters of Evil. And while he might be scientific genius, apparently he never considered the possibility that anyone could find a solution for Adhesive-X^{(patent pending)}.

Your first thought is probably: why can’t the heroes just take off their boots? Well, apparently Adhesive-X^{(overused gag)} also works through their boots. SOMEHOW.

Wasp has probably the best idea of the entire issue: why not call the ONLY super-villain that knows more about glue than Zemo? Conveniently, Paste-Pot Pete was arrested in Strange Tales #110 (his second appearance).

I can’t overstate how great this is. The Masters of Evil are villains from heroes in this team, so any reference to their individual books is to be expected. But to bring up the villain of a different hero?
Paste-Pot Pete doesn’t even show up in costume, he only has a brief cameo, and the Human Torch is nowhere to be seen. It’s little things like these that REALLY sold how interconnected the Marvel Universe was.

Also, laugh all you want at Paste-Pot Pete… he’s earned it… but Zemo worked for YEARS on a solvent without any success, whereas Pete already figured it out before he even knew about Adhesive-X^{(just stop)}.

If you’ve ever read a comic book before, you probably anticipated the key to fighting the Masters of Evil: switching villains.

And so Zemo’s forces are overwhelmed by the Teen Brigade. Wait, WHAT!?

Yeah, uhm, the Teen Brigade has regular appearances in early Avengers stories. And it’s always cringeworthy.
I have a soft spot for Rick Jones… mostly when Peter David writes him… but I could never stomach the Teen Brigade, their involvement always feels forced and we never learn ANYTHING about them!

We’ll soon learn that the Teen Brigade is successful, switching the canister of Adhesive-X^{(it’s not funny)} with its solvent.

Jack Kirby is not at his best yet, and some of the panels are a bit rushed… but some of the scenes are just GORGEOUS.

Unsurprisingly, Black Knight is no match for Thor.

I particularly like the way Iron Man takes care of Radioactive Man.
Notice the slip-up: his identity is still a secret so he SHOULD say stuff like “a device that Tony Stark” invented, but I guess Stark’s ego doesn’t fit inside the armor.

What I don’t like is Iron Man ALSO defeating Melter on his own! The idea was to switch villains and this kind of defeat the purpose of that plan. But it also diminishes Melter as a threat.

Wait a second… Zemo has hypnotic technology? Why didn’t he use THAT instead of freaking glue!?!?

Also, just like the Mandarin, Zemo soon proceeds to fighting with karate. What is it with 1964 arch-villains and martial arts?

Typically Captain America is one of the few characters that, like Superman, can spout the corniest dialogue without sounding silly. This is a bit much, however.

Cap doesn’t get to defeat Zemo, because his pilot creates the distraction needed for the Nazi’s escape.

The pilot, however, is captured by Giant-Man in what looks like a forgettable scene…

…unless you read Marvels. Yep, THAT is the scene it was referencing!

If you’re worried about the Teen Brigade, Iron Man undoes the hypnosis with his Whirling Palm-Signaller™.
Just kidding. Nobody cared about the Teen Brigade.

Zemo manages to get away, but the Teen Brigade gets the last laugh: they unleashed tear gas on his helicopter.

Baron Zemo will return in the following issue.
Black Knight will return later that year to fight Iron Man, and Melter will return in 1965 in Fantastic Four Annual #3, of all places.
Radioactive Man won’t show up again until 1968, to join a completely different incarnation of the Masters of Evil.

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Bonus: since I reference Marvels, here are the Masters of Evil scenes beautifully painted by Alex Ross.

I’m not a big fan of his Thor, but everything else is top-notch.

As for the shot of Giant-Man, here’s an extract from “Marvels Annotated (2019) that explains why it was chosen.

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Historical significance: 8/10
The Masters of Evil are one of the oldest supervillain teams, although they are beaten by more than 20 years by DC’s Injustice Society. And they are a very recurrent menace for the Avengers, showing up in multiple incarnations that are not always related.
And of course Baron Zemo gave Captain America a new nemesis linked to his WWII days that isn’t Red Skull.

Silver Age-ness: 10/10
On the Marvel scale? It has Iron Man driving a tow truck!!! Why wasn’t THAT on Marvels?

 Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
As delightful as this is, it’s pretty light on substance. Baron Zemo doesn’t come off as particularly bright or menacing, and neither do the Masters of Evil. And the less said about the Teen Brigade the better. Still a blast to read, but very hard to do in this fashion today.

How close is this to the modern character? What modern character?
Heinrich Zemo dies surprisingly soon, at the end of 1965’s Avengers #15. He has many, many, MANY other appearances in continuity inserts. And naturally he’s succeeded by his far more successful, and in my opinion FAR mor interesting, son Helmut.

In 1964, it was still believable to have a WWII Nazi still active without explanation. By the years it became more and more far-fetched, so he was retconned to have used a secret formula to slow his aging. Like about 99% of all WWII characters of Marvel.

The big question is: why create Baron Zemo at all? The Red Skull will be resurrected in 1965 on the pages of Captain America, also by Lee&Kirby, so they must’ve been fond of the character.
Plus since the Red Skull wears a mask, HE could’ve been the victim of the adhesive accident, and it would’ve made more sense to have Cap’s original nemesis be the one who got Bucky killed.
We’ll never know, but it IS pretty weird when you think about it.

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SECOND bonus: did you know Zemo showed up in Nick Fury?

SGT. FURY #8 (1964)
by Stan Lee & Dick Ayers
cover by Jack Kirby

 That’s him on the cover! Hard to recognize without the mask, so at least it did its job.

 

In addition to Zemo, this issue is significant for the first appearance of one of the regular Howling Commandos: the incredibly British Percival Pinkerton.

Many years later, Stan Lee will say that Percival is gay. Either making it up or forgetting he repeatedly described him as being a womanizer throughout the series.

And apparently his umbrella must’ve given him super-strength, judging by the art!

The story is about the Howling Commandos stopping “Dr. Zemo” (not a baron yet? WTF?) from using his Death Ray©.
And indeed the rest of his Silver Age appearances (which admittedly are not many) will make a big deal out of Zemo having a disintegrator ray… so add THAT to the list of things that would’ve been more impressive than Adhesive-X^{(I give up)}.

Most of the story is the usual Howling Commandos madness, mostly involving them killing Nazis by throwing grenades…

…and Fury threatening to blow up a Nazi doctor with dynamite (!!!!) if he doesn’t cure one of his injured men.

The big dumb fight is going to take place at Discount Castle Doom Castle Zemo.

Emphasis on “dumb”.

And here it is: the real face of Baron Zemo!!!

Honestly, the mask was an improvement.

The cover scene eventually makes it into the comic…

…but Zemo is defeated by the natural enemy of the Death Ray: the lariat.

Sounds legit.

True to form, Zemo escapes at the end. There are MANY continuity inserts where he fights Nick Fury again, but this is the only time he shows up in his book.