The Bizarre Return of Avengers Mansion, Explained

Today, we see how Avengers Mansion went from being destroyed to being magically returned.

This is “Never Gonna Be the Same Again,” a feature where I look at how bold, seemingly “permanent” changes were ultimately reversed. This is not a criticism, mind you, as obviously things are always going to eventually return to “normal.” That’s just how superhero comic books work. It’s just fun to see how some of these rather major changes are reversed. This is differentiated from “Abandoned Love,” which is when a new writer comes in and drops the plot of the previous writer. Here, we’re talking about the writer who came up with the idea of being the same one who resolved the change. This is also differentiated from “Death is Not the End,” which is about how “dead” characters came back to life, since this is about stuff other than death.

An interesting thing about the Avengers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that they used the headquarters that Brian Michael Bendis introduced for the New Avengerswhich was Avengers Tower, so fans of the MCU do not even know that they were “missing out” on a major part of the Marvel comic book universe, the Avengers’ legendary Avengers Mansion.

However, for a number of years, the AVENGERS were missing out on the mansion, as well. So let’s take a look at how Avengers Mansion was destroyed, replaced on a floating base, destroyed again, replaced by a sort of complex monstrosity, destroyed and ultimately returned to its original glory.

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AVENGERS MANSION WAS DESTROYED WHILE “UNDER SIEGE” BY THE MASTERS OF EVIL

One of the all-time greatest Avengers storylines was “Under Siege,” where Baron Zemo meticulously planned an assault on the Avengers while putting together the largest Masters of Evil to date (at the time), filled with numerous major powerhouses. After studying his foes for months, his plan finally sprung into action in Avengers # 273 (by Roger Stern, John Buscema and Tom Palmer) when the Masters of Evil stormed the gates of Avengers Mansion while only Jarvis was home …

In the next issue, Black Knight returns home unaware that he’s surrounded by villains, and when he is attacked, you can see that they do not care about smashing walls while doing so …

The Masters of Evil then began to trash the mansion while looking for stuff to loot …

There’s a great moment in Avengers # 276 where Thunderball notes that it is surprising just how modest the Avengers live. There really is not a whole lot of anything TO loot …

Finally, after a few issues, the Avengers begin to mount a return attack, and as we see in Avengers # 277, such an attack involves more of the mansion being destroyed in the battle …

Wasp and the now-freed Black Knight note the destroyed elevators and stairwells …

During a fight with the Wrecker, Captain America (who had also been taken captive like Black Knight and brutalized by the Masters of Evil, so he is very unsteady during this fight) is shocked when the Wrecker takes down the whole second floor of the mansion …

And then later, Goliath takes down the whole THIRD floor of the mansion …

Finally, after the Avengers have defeated the villains, Captain America takes a moment to let it sink in just how much they lost in the destruction, as the Masters of Evil tried to psychologically torment him by destroying his possessions in front of him, including the only photograph he had of his mother …

(Do not worry, though, Zemo later magically restored the items that he destroyed as a sort of present for Cap)

THE AVENGERS MOVED TO HYDROBASE … UNTIL IT SUNK

With the mansion destroyed, the Avengers then moved to Hydrobase, which was floating off the shore of the United States in international waters (previously, when the government had disallowed the Avengers permission to launch Quinjets in New York City, the Avengers had taken up an offer to move their jets to Hydrobase) as their new headquarters …

In Avengers # 288 (by Ralph Macchio, Buscema and Palmer), the Avengers actually literally moved the Avengers Mansion itself to Hydrobase …

That turned out to be a bad idea.

In Avengers # 311 (by John Byrne, Paul Ryan and Tom Palmer), Doctor Doom sent a group of robot sentries to sink Hydrobase …

Quasar luckily used his quantum bands to create a sort of prop to keep the island afloat, even as the mansion begins to fill with water …

But then a bomb left in the ammo dump exploded …

The island sank and Jarvis, the Avengers’ trusted butler, notes that he thinks it was a bad idea to ever leave New York City …

Either way, the Avengers needed a new headquarters …

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THE AVENGERS REBUILT A NEW HEADQUARTERS

After the Avengers brought their mansion to Hydrobase, the site of the old mansion had become an Avengers Park (anyone know what issue that happened in?). Well, the sub-basement aspect of the headquarters still existed under the park, so in Avengers # 312, the team took up that sub-basement setup as their new temporary headquarters …

They decided to then rebuild their home on top of the sub-basement, and that took a long time to finish and when it was done, it was a huge complex, sort of like the Hall of Justice …

That served as their headquarters for the next couple of years.

THE AVENGERS MAGICALLY LOST THEIR HEADQUARTERS AND THEN MAGICALLY REGAINED THEIR MANSION

The Avengers then ran up against a group of inter-dimensional villains known as the Gatherers, who were powered by an alternate reality Watcher. The leader of the group, Proctor, was obsessed with the Avengers’ Eternal member, Sersi. Slowly but surely, Proctor messed with Sersi’s mind until, in Avengers # 373 (by Bob Harras, Steve Epting and Tom Palmer), she destroyed the Avengers headquarters while being controlled by Proctor …

She then also destroyed the Brooklyn Bridge!

In the following issue, Proctor began his final gambit on the Avengers, as he used the power of the Watcher to start transforming parts of New York City to match Proctor’s original reality …

In the end, the Avengers defeated Proctor and freed the Watcher, who was able to die in peace. Before he died, he restored everything that was destroyed by Proctor, although instead of restoring the headquarters, he instead turned it back into the classic Avengers Mansion, using the Mansion from another reality …