LIVING BOMBS
Membership:
none named (approximately seven members were observed)
Purpose: Destruction of the Vision (and other androids, synthozoids, etc.)
Affiliations: none
Enemies: Avengers (Black Panther, Captain America, Iron Man (Stark), Scarlet Witch, Thor, Vision)
Base of Operations: Manhattan, New York
First Appearance: Avengers I#113 (July, 1973)
History:
(Avengers#113 (fb) - BTS) - When the Vision first appeared
publicly, a group of people were strongly opposed to his
existence. This group spanned both sexes and ethnicity, but they
had a problem with the Vision because he was not human. They felt
that if he would be accepted, then there would be more androids,
etc., until all humanity would become second class citizens under
a super-race of robots.
(Avengers#113) - When the romance between the Vision and the Scarlet Witch went public, the group felt that the time to strike was now. In their eyes he was "pushing his way into society" by dating a human ("sure, she's a mutant, but she's still a person"), and if the two ever married it would forever legitimize the fights of an android (a non-human) into their society. Willing to sacrifice themselves to accomplish the death of their target (they patterned themselves after Hitler's generals, or after the Kamikazes), they donned their weapons and christened themselves the Living Bombs.
After the Avengers took out a group of neo-Nazis, one of the Living Bombs ran up to the Vision and gleefully activated her explosive to kill the plastic scum. The woman was killed, and the Vision, caught unprepared for the assault, was seriously injured. The Avengers took the Vision to Stark International, where the combined skills of T'Challa (Black Panther), Tony Stark (Iron Man), and Donald Blake (Thor) went to work on him. The other Avengers stood guard, fighting off a number of attempts by the Living Bombs to finish the job they had started. The three Avengers working on the Vision were forced to tag-team the operation in order to help fight off their attackers, who continued to sacrifice their lives in an effort to take out the Avengers and clear a path to their intended target. Finally, Thor created a mighty whirlwind that lifted the Living Bombs high into the air, away from the building, where the Living Bombs chose to end the conflict with the credo: "Death before Dishonor."
Even after the danger was passed, the Scarlet Witch was infuriated over the prejudice and violence she had witnessed, and vowed that if it had to be just she and the Vision against the world, then so be it: "But, look out, world!"
COMMENTS: Created by Steve Englehart and Bob Brown.
For a detailed discussion of the Living Bombs,
check out this article by Ian Watson:
http://www.comicboards.com/avengers/view.php?trd=010116190513
It was in this issue that Iron Man and Thor revealed to each other that they knew their secret identities.
CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to:
Appearances:
Avengers I#113 (July, 1973) - Steve Englehart (writer), Bob Brown (pencils), Frank Bolle (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Last updated: 10/27/12.
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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