Home › The Avengers › #86

Cover: John Buscema & Jim Mooney

The Avengers #86

Name: The Avengers #86
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Mar 1971 · Marvel · 0.15 USD

☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join free

“Brain-Child to the Dark Tower Came...!”

★ 1st appearance — Brain-Child

About this Issue

Avengers #86 concludes the two-part story that gave Marvel — and the medium — the Squadron Supreme, a team of deliberate Justice League analogues inhabiting their own alternate Earth (Earth-712), which writer Roy Thomas engineered as a way to stage an Avengers-vs.-Justice League clash without an official DC/Marvel crossover. The issue also introduces Brain-Child (Arnold Sutton), a radiation-mutated child genius whose story taps into early Bronze Age anxieties about science and social ostracism. Equally notable is the closing sequence in which the Vision meditates on the philosophical paradox of parallel universes — an unusually introspective beat for 1971 superhero comics that foreshadowed the multiverse-heavy storytelling Marvel would lean into for decades. The two-issue arc planted the seed for the Squadron Supreme's celebrated 1985 Mark Gruenwald limited series, one of the earliest superhero deconstruction stories.

In "Brain-Child to the Dark Tower Came...!", the Avengers face a cosmic threat when the Squadron Supreme's experimental "Brain-Child One" rocket veers off course into space, prompting a high-stakes mission to prevent disaster. With former Squadron member Nightwing lending a hand, the team races against time in a story written by Roy Thomas and Len Wein, illustrated by Sal Buscema with inks by Jim Mooney, and lettered by Shelly Leferman. The cover, penciled by John Buscema and inked by Jim Mooney, captures the urgency of the moment.

writer Roy Thomas · writer Len Wein · artist Sal Buscema · inker Jim Mooney · letterer Shelly Leferman · cover John Buscema, Jim Mooney

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $22

CGC 9.8 · 14 in census $899

CGC 9.6 · 34 in census $243

CGC 9.4 · 35 in census $168

CGC 9.2 · 29 in census $112

CGC 9.0 · 29 in census $107

CGC 8.5 · 31 in census $94

Show all 22 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 22 in census $56

CGC 7.5 · 8 in census $56*

CGC 7.0 · 8 in census $48

CGC 6.5 · 9 in census $45*

CGC 6.0 · 8 in census $37

CGC 5.5 · 3 in census $34*

CGC 5.0 · 8 in census $32*

CGC 4.5 · 2 in census $32

CGC 4.0 none in existence

CGC 3.5 · 1 in census $23*

CGC 3.0 none in existence

CGC 2.5 none in existence

CGC 2.0 none in existence

CGC 1.5 none in existence

CGC 1.0 none in existence

CGC 0.5 · 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 9.8 $2,420 1 listing CGC 9.4 $245 1 listing Raw — NM $125 1 listing Raw — VF/NM $49 1 listing

Raw — VF ▾ $39–$69.99 2 listings

VF $39 VF $69.99

Raw — VERY FINE $49.99 1 listing Raw — F/VF $29 1 listing Raw — FN+ $36.96 1 listing Raw — FN $28.85 1 listing Raw — VG+ $21 1 listing Raw — VG $30 1 listing

Raw / ungraded ▾ $34.95–$116 7 listings

Raw / ungraded $34.95 Raw / ungraded $36 Raw / ungraded $36 Raw / ungraded $39 Raw / ungraded $49.95 Raw / ungraded $62.52 Raw / ungraded $115.99

Verified matches for The Avengers #86 · eBay asking prices, seen 22 days ago

More listings for this title

VG $15 FN $17 FN $17.99 FINE $20.99 FN $21.59 VF $23.8 VERY FINE $50 VF+ $60

Related listings we couldn't confirm as this exact issue · 15 total · seen 22 days ago

Read it digitally

Marvel Unlimited Marvel’s subscription reader ▸ Amazon Kindle Buy the digital edition ▸

Opens a search on each platform — digital availability varies by title.

Sell my copy

Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.

We Buy Collections ▸

Fast, fair offers · we handle grading & shipping

History

Writer Roy Thomas plotted the two-part arc (Avengers #85–86) alongside an uncredited Len Wein, a collaboration Thomas later acknowledged in his introduction to Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers Vol. 9. The interior art for #86 was pencilled by Sal Buscema and inked by Jim Mooney, while the cover was drawn by John Buscema — marking his final issue as the title's regular cover artist. Thomas modelled the Squadron Supreme's core members directly on DC's Justice League, a deliberate homage made possible because an official intercompany crossover was not then feasible; the resemblance was close enough that Marvel's own production department mistakenly labelled the team the Squadron Sinister on the cover of the companion issue #85. The story's title, 'Brain-Child to the Dark Tower Came…!', riffs on Robert Browning's 1855 poem 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,' itself derived from a line in Shakespeare's King Lear.

Trivia · 7 facts

First full appearance and origin of Brain-Child (Arnold Sutton, Earth-712), a radiation-born child prodigy who schemes to destroy his own world; he was referenced behind the scenes in the preceding issue, Avengers #85.
Second team appearance of the Squadron Supreme (Earth-712), whose debut was in Avengers #85 (February 1971); the team is composed of Justice League analogues — Hyperion (Superman), Nighthawk (Batman), Doctor Spectrum (Green Lantern), and the Whizzer (Flash), among others.
Creative team: Writer Roy Thomas (with Len Wein as uncredited co-plotter, confirmed by Thomas in Marvel Masterworks: The Avengers Vol. 9 introduction); pencils by Sal Buscema; inks by Jim Mooney; cover by John Buscema; editor Stan Lee.
Issue #86 is cited as John Buscema's last issue as cover artist on the Avengers title.
The issue's story title, 'Brain-Child to the Dark Tower Came…!', is an adaptation of Robert Browning's 1855 poem 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came.'
The closing pages feature Vision contemplating the philosophical paradox of parallel universes — an early and explicit Marvel meditation on multiverse identity.
The issue has been reprinted multiple times, including in the Squadron Supreme Classic Omnibus (Marvel, 2016), The Avengers Omnibus Vol. 3 (2018), Avengers Epic Collection #5: This Beachhead Earth (2020), Squadron Supreme: Marvel Tales #1 (June 2021), and Squadron Supreme vs. Avengers (2021).