The Avengers Annual #21

History

The 'Citizen Kang' event was masterminded primarily by Mark Gruenwald, then one of Marvel's most encyclopedically-minded writer-editors, and was structured as a four-part crossover running through the 1992 annuals of Captain America (#11), Thor (#17), Fantastic Four (#25), and Avengers (#21), all cover-dated October 1992. Gruenwald scripted the main 'Kang's World' lead story with penciller Herb Trimpe and inkers Charles Barnett and Brad Vancata, while the critical backup 'The Puzzle' — which debuted Victor Timely and gave Terminatrix her name — was written by Peter Sanderson with art by Rich Yanizeski and Fred Fredericks; the cover was by Dan Panosian, who also contributed to interior finishes. The entire Citizen Kang material was later collected in the trade paperback Avengers: Citizen Kang, which also includes contributions from Roy Thomas and other collaborators across the four tie-in annuals.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First full, named team appearance of the Anachronauts (Apocryphus, Deathunt 9000, Raa, Sir Raston, Ssith, Tyndar, Wildrun) — Kang's elite warriors recruited from across history's greatest fighters.
• First appearance of Ravonna Renslayer under the name Terminatrix; the issue reveals her to be the character previously operating under a disguise, and she seizes control of Kang's empire Chronopolis after he falls in battle.
• First appearance of the Victor Timely identity: Kang's alias as a businessman and industrialist who founded the town of Timely, Wisconsin, on January 1, 1901 — a name that also pays homage to Marvel's original corporate identity, Timely Comics (1939–1950).
• The backup story 'The Puzzle' (script: Peter Sanderson; pencils: Rich Yanizeski; inks: Fred Fredericks) establishes that Victor Timely employed Dr. Phineas T. Horton — the creator of the original android Human Torch — providing a retroactive explanation for how a 1930s scientist could have created such advanced synthetic life.
• The lead story 'Kang's World' is Part 4 of 4 of the 'Citizen Kang' crossover, written by Mark Gruenwald with pencils by Herb Trimpe; it picks up directly from Fantastic Four Annual #25 and features a joint Avengers/Fantastic Four lineup facing the Anachronauts in Chronopolis.
• The issue is a multi-story annual (68 pages) also containing: a 'Top Ten Avengers Villains' feature narrated by the Black Knight; a 'Secrets of the Avengers Communicard' piece scripted by Gruenwald with art by Eliot Brown; and 'Boy's Night Out,' a Hercules/Black Knight comedy story scripted by Scott Benson with art by Ron Lim and Dan Panosian.
• The Anachronauts and Terminatrix both returned in Avengers Annual #22, and the Kang/Terminatrix storyline was continued directly in the four-issue limited series Avengers: The Terminatrix Objective (1993).
• Victor Timely was adapted for the MCU, appearing in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) and Loki Season 2 (2023), tracing directly back to his comic debut in this issue.

Cast · 32 characters

Full credits

Key issues in The Avengers Annual

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#10 1st appearance — Rogue

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#10 1st appearance — Rogue

Variants (1)