Editor: Stan Lee
Scripter: Roy Thomas
Artist: Werner Roth
Inker: John Tartaglione
Letterer: Sam Rosen
Skating Instructor: Irving Forbush
Originally Published February 1967
While skating a frozen pond, the X-Men awaken the Super-Adaptoid, an Avengers foe who has recently moved into a subterranean apartment beneath Westchester.
Adaptoid's power is that he has the powers of several Avengers. He's huge like Goliath (there was an Avenger named Goliath?) can fly like the Wasp, has arrows like Hawkeye and throws his shield like Captain America. Wait, two of those aren't powers, they're just weapons that he copied outright! Anyone can do that. Boo this man!
After a light tussle with Iceman, he follows the X-Men home because he plans on making them into his Junior Adaptoids, mindless automatons who can also copy the weaponry of other heroes, and thus in so doing, rule the world.
It turns out that the Adaptoid can only Adaptoidize willing participants, which is very courteous on his part. He finds a willing convert in the Mimic, who has quit or been fired from the X-Men for starting yet another round of in-fighting.
Mimic teaming with another bad guy who has the same exact power as him does make sense in a "why bother" kind of way. In the end, however, Mimic decides he doesn't want to be a mindless follower of the Adaptoid, so he breaks off the process. Tricking Super-Adaptoid into attempting to copy his Mimic powers somehow causes both of them to lose their powers, thus bringing the entire saga of the Mimic to an exhausting, sudden, inexplicable but merciful end, where we all learned a valuable lesson.
Honestly bud, if it only a heartless killing machine to get you to recognize the value of other people, you are probably terrible.
Further Thoughts:
Thus ends, I hope, the X-Men's brief attempt at collaboration with an arrogant d-bag who literally hates all of them.
Look, guys, I try to keep a brave face on this thing but sometimes it's exhausting. The Mimic made for a fun story the first time around but quickly wore out his welcome once he became a series regular. Seeing him use the same powers we already associate with the original team members, while also being an obnoxious jerk, was not compelling.
Now, the story of what's behind that door. That's compelling. It could be anything! Even Lucifer! Oh God I hope it's not Lucifer. But wouldn't it be amazing if Professor X had managed to catch up to Lucifer, grab him by the scruff of his neckbeard, brought him back to the X-Mansion, and locked him in his dungeon for several months with no hope of escape?
Dark. And the worst part is, you know he would do it, too.
I don't know if you're being serious or not, but yes there was an Avenger named Goliath. I'm pretty sure it was a name Hank Pym took when he got tired of Giant Man or maybe when he got stuck at 10 feet tall for a while. Definitely after Ant-Man but before Yellowjacket.
ReplyDeleteAfter he became Yellowjacket, and ho-boy was THAT a story, Hawkeye decided he was pathetic as an Archer and nabbed the mid-drift baring costume and the name Goliath. And ho-boy was THAT a story too.