"Acts of Vengeance" is a comic book crossover storyline running through several titles published by Marvel Comics from December 1989 to February 1990.

Publication history

This company-wide fall crossover was centered on the Avengers and Fantastic Four after three consecutive fall crossovers were built around the X-Men and related mutant teams. Promotional materials teased the idea of a wide array of super-villains facing heroes they had never met, or were not part of the heroes' regular rogues gallery. The core titles of the crossover include Avengers; Avengers Spotlight; Avengers West Coast; Captain America; Iron Man; Quasar; Thor; and Fantastic Four. Major tie-ins included The Amazing Spider-Man among other Spider-Man titles, Uncanny X-Men and the second Damage Control limited series. An epilogue features in Cloak and Dagger; Web of Spider-Man and in an Avengers Annual. A humorous parody with the character the Impossible Man features in the title Silver Surfer. A thematic sequel, Acts of Evil, was published in 2019, the 30th anniversary of Acts of Vengeance.

Plot summary

A mysterious stranger (the Asgardian god Loki in disguise) coerces a group of master supervillains to join forces in a conspiracy to destroy the superhero team the Avengers. Loki does this to strike back at his adopted brother Thor, and due to his bitterness that he inadvertently caused the formation of the Avengers. The supervillain team consists of Doctor Doom, the Kingpin, Magneto, the Mandarin, the Red Skull, and the Wizard. Loki also attempts to recruit Apocalypse, Cobra, and the Mad Thinker, but they all decline. Loki also approaches Namor, but he rejects the offer stating he is not a villain anymore. To assist the master villains, Loki engineers a jailbreak at the Vault. The lesser villains are then directed against heroes (mainly the Avengers and Spider-Man) who have never fought them before, the theory being that the unfamiliarity will act in the villains' favor. While this does result in some unusual battles, the plan falls apart when the master villains fail to cooperate and instead bicker with each other. An example of this is where Magneto, a mutant and a Jewish Holocaust survivor, attacks the Red Skull, whose Nazi beliefs include a prejudice against mutants, and imprisons him in a buried crypt. The supervillain pawns are defeated by the heroes. A frustrated Loki reveals himself and imprisons the Red Skull, the Mandarin and the Wizard. Meanwhile, Doctor Doom is revealed to have been using a Doombot, the Kingpin makes a timely exit and Magneto is not present. The Avengers track the group and defeat the villains, with Thor forcing Loki to flee back to their home of Asgard. Loki commits one last act of villainy and fuses three Sentinels to form the robot Tri-Sentinel, so that it can destroy New York City. The Tri-Sentinel is stopped by Spider-Man, who at the time possessed the powers of Captain Universe.

Cast of characters

Heroes

Prime movers

Villain participants

Other villains that Loki tried to get involved as members of the inner circle of major villains (but who turned him down) are Apocalypse, Cobra, and the Mad Thinker.

Issues and events

The following issues are listed in chronological order: The following issues are approximately in reading order: Note: Iron Man #250 has the "Acts of Vengeance!" logo on its cover, but has nothing to do with the crossover.

Collected editions