The Avengers #77

Name: The Avengers #77
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Jun 1970 · Marvel · 0.15 USD

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“Heroes for Hire!”

★ 1st appearance — Nikki Adams

About this Issue

Avengers #77 marks the first time T'Challa adopts his American civilian alias 'Luke Charles,' a Harlem schoolteacher identity that would define the Black Panther's street-level storytelling across the early Bronze Age and has recently been revived in contemporary Marvel continuity. The issue also delivers the first appearance of Cornelius Van Lunt in his own civilian identity — a real-estate-and-crime tycoon who would later be unmasked as Taurus of the Zodiac Cartel, seeding one of Roy Thomas's most sustained multi-year subplots. Structurally, the 'heroes for hire' premise — Earth's Mightiest forced to moonlight as a demolition crew to pay back rent on their own mansion — was a genuinely novel inversion of superhero power fantasy that anticipated later 'street-level economics' storytelling. The issue also reintegrates Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch into active Avengers membership, stabilizing the Bronze Age lineup that would carry the book into the Kree-Skrull War era.

In "Heroes for Hire!", the Avengers take on a strange new assignment when shady businessman Cornelius Van Lunt hires them as a demolition crew for his latest property. As tensions rise and the Scarlet Witch confronts her unsettling past with Van Lunt, doubts creep in—especially when Black Panther steps away from the throne to teach school. Written by Roy Thomas and illustrated with dynamic precision by John Buscema, with inks by Tom Palmer and colors by Tom Palmer, this 1970 issue captures the team at a crossroads, all under a striking cover by Buscema and Palmer.

writer Roy Thomas · artist John Buscema · inker, colorist Tom Palmer · letterer Sam Rosen · cover John Buscema, Tom Palmer

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $18

CGC 9.8 · 12 in census $883*

CGC 9.6 · 46 in census $298

CGC 9.4 · 49 in census $155

CGC 9.2 · 33 in census $113

CGC 9.0 · 23 in census $87

CGC 8.5 · 22 in census $54

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CGC 8.0 · 20 in census $54

CGC 7.5 · 15 in census $48

CGC 7.0 · 14 in census $48*

CGC 6.5 · 6 in census $44*

CGC 6.0 · 5 in census $35

CGC 5.5 · 4 in census $33*

CGC 5.0 · 6 in census $31*

CGC 4.5 · 2 in census $29*

CGC 4.0 · 3 in census $27*

CGC 3.5 · 1 in census $22*

CGC 3.0 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

This exact issue on ebay

CGC 9.6 $280 1 listing Raw — VF+ $55 1 listing Raw — VG $22.49 1 listing Raw — GD $10.5 1 listing Raw / ungraded $29.95 1 listing

Verified matches for The Avengers #77 · eBay asking prices, seen 22 days ago

More listings for this title

VG $14.99 VF $24.99 VF $30 Avengers #77 John Buscema Art! Marvel Comics 1970 $8 Avengers 77 Marvel Comics 1970 Goliath Vision Black Panther Quicksilver $14 The Avengers #77 (Marvel Comics June 1970) For Hire! Nice Copy! See Pictures $19.99 AVENGERS #77 MARVEL 1970 (THIS BOOK HAS MINOR RESTORATION SEE DESCRIPTION) $20

Related listings we couldn't confirm as this exact issue · 7 total · seen 22 days ago

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History

The story was written by Roy Thomas, penciled by John Buscema, and inked by Tom Palmer under editor Stan Lee, with cover date June 1970 and an on-sale date of April 14, 1970. Thomas was in the middle of an extended run that used the Avengers title as a vehicle for developing the Black Panther's character in the absence of T'Challa's own solo book — a creative choice that later commentators noted reflected Marvel's cautious editorial posture toward giving Black characters headlining series in that era. A production note preserved on the letters page of the issue reveals that Herb Trimpe penciled page 4, making this one of the few Buscema-era issues with a documented uncredited assist.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Cornelius Van Lunt in his civilian identity — later revealed in Avengers #121 to be Taurus, financier and leader of the Zodiac Cartel (his costumed Taurus identity debuted earlier, in Avengers #72).
First appearance of T'Challa's American civilian alias 'Luke Charles,' introduced here as a part-time Harlem schoolteacher; the full name 'Luke Charles' is confirmed in Avengers #79.
First appearance of the Split-Second Squad and their masked leader Kronus (revealed as Van Lunt's assistant Wilkins), minor villains later appearing in Defenders #64.
Written by Roy Thomas; penciled by John Buscema; inked by Tom Palmer; lettered by Sam Rosen; edited by Stan Lee. Letters page confirms Herb Trimpe penciled page 4.
The story's title is 'For Hire: The Avengers!' — the team takes paid demolition work from Van Lunt to raise back-rent owed on Avengers Mansion, a plot that introduced a notable continuity error (earlier issues had established the mansion as Stark family property inherited by Tony, not a rental).
Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch make an in-story appearance on a thinly veiled Tonight Show analog (host named 'Johnny Cason') to announce their return to the Avengers.
The issue has been reprinted in: Essential Avengers Vol. 4 (2004), Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers Vol. 8 (2008), The Avengers Omnibus Vol. 3 (2018), and Avengers Epic Collection Vol. 5: This Beachhead Earth (2020), among other international editions.
Van Lunt's civilian-identity debut here is distinct from his Taurus first appearance — a point that occasionally causes sourcing confusion in collector databases, some of which list #72 and #77 as co-equal 'first appearances' for the same character under different identities.