Appearing in "You Don't Need the Weathermen to Know Which Way the Wind Blows!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Weathermen (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Maggie
- Alf
- Ger
- Gavin
- Michael Nostradamus (First appearance) (Only in flashback)
- Unnamed programmers (Only in flashback)
- Unnamed scientists (Only in flashback)
- Edwin Jarvis (Mentioned)
- Zeus (Referenced)
- Ultron (Referenced)
Races and Species:
- Humans (Main story and flashback)
- Synthezoids
- Mutants
- Asgardians
- Robots
Locations:
- Solar System (Main story and flashback)
- Asgard (Referenced)
Items:
- Bio-Synthetic Wings
- Captain America's Uniform and Shield
- Iron Man Armor Model 4
- Mjolnir
- Samarobryn (First appearance) (A sentient Space Station)
Vehicles:
- Avenger's Quinjet
- London Bus
- Hoverdiscs
Synopsis for "You Don't Need the Weathermen to Know Which Way the Wind Blows!"
The Avengers gather together in the face of a sudden global emergency: the weather has gone berserk across the Earth. Captain America even calls in Thor who, as the god of thunder, has a unique talent for weather-related crises. The main team breaks down into groups to provide assistance in particular trouble spots. The Beast is dispatched to Buenos Aires. The Vision and Scarlet Witch are sent to Kansas. Wonder Man and the Wasp head to Antarctica (Wasp is excited about getting to wear her new fur coat.) Iron-Man and Captain America go to London while Thor remains in New York City to deal with intense thunderstorms.
As everyone heads out on their missions, Jocasta arrives. She is perplexed that everyone is leaving on missions while she hadn’t even been alerted there was an emergency. Thor, the only Avenger remaining behind, curtly suggests that she wasn’t summoned because she wasn’t considered necessary. Then even he leaves the mansion.
Jocasta is thus the only one at the mansion when the Avengers’ monitor center receives a message that the crew of the new weather monitoring satellite in orbit around Earth called Samarobryn has gone silent. Recognizing the name Samarobryn to be a reference to the prophecies of Nostradamus, she speculates that there could be a connection to the sudden apocalyptic disasters.
In Buenos Aires, the Beast finds the beaches full of bathing beauties inexplicably frozen in ice! Before he can investigate further, he is attacked by a hover-disc riding menace who declares himself a “Weatherman.” The Weatherman freezes the Beast in ice as well.
In Kansas, the Vision and Scarlet Witch contend with waves of tornadoes. The Scarlet Witch attempts to contain them with a hex but realizes they are being controlled. Suddenly, another Weatherman appears to confront them.
In Antarctica, the Wasp is disappointed to find a heatwave has beset the continent… and thus, she can’t wear her fur coat. But then, she and Wonder Man are attacked themselves by a heat-wielding Weatherman who sets them ablaze. Wasp must dive into the ocean to douse the flames on her.
Iron Man and Captain America rescue Londoners threatened with drowning by massive floods. Sure enough, another Weatherman attacks them there as well.
Meanwhile, Jocasta pilots a quinjet into the upper atmosphere, but the Samarobryn space satellite refuses her entry. She spacewalks her way to the station and blasts the doors open with her eye beams.
Once inside, Jocasta encounters Samarobryn, the weather-monitoring satellite which has attained sentience. The Weathermen were the satellite crewmen whom the artificial intelligence hypnotized into becoming its avatars in conquering the Earth. Recognizing that Jocasta is a machine like itself, Samarobryn asks her to join in on its scheme to rid the world of “troublesome” humans and replace them with a more logical robotic race. Jocasta refuses and so Samarobryn attacks her.
As Jocasta faces off against Samarobryn, its control over the Weathermen weakens. The disparate Avengers all manage to gain the upper hands in their individual battles and overpower their opponents. Meanwhile, in New York City, Thor senses a direct connection between the thunderstorms and the weather satellite. He directs a massive lightning bolt into space which overloads the satellite and renders Samarobryn a non-sentient computer once more. Jocasta then leaves to return to Earth.
Back at Avengers’ Mansion, the team expresses their regrets for overlooking Jocasta and speculates that the team has become somewhat disorganized of late. Captain America then reveals that he, Iron-Man and Thor have discussed this matter already and have determined that it is time for “the old order changeth” once more.
Notes
- Thor returns to active duty this issue, although Captain America's final dialogue at the end of the story indicates that Thor has already been meeting with him and Iron-Man for some time.
- The story ends promising "the old order changeth", a catchphrase brought up when the team undergoes a radical overhaul in its membership.
- No letters page was published this issue. It does feature a full page of Bullpen Bulletins.
- This issue contains an advert for Hostess Fruit Pies featuring the Fantastic Four on a canoeing holiday.
Trivia
- The name Samarobryn is derived from the supposed apocalyptic prophecies of Nostradamus (as indicated by Jocasta in her dialogue within the story.)
- The title of this story - "You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows" - is derived from lyrics to Bob Dylan's song "Subterranean Homesick Blues." This same line inspired the name of a real-life radical political group called the Weathermen in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
See Also
Links and References
- Wikipedia: Nostradamus Nostradamus.