Today, we look at how Jacques Duquesne, the Swordsman, somehow had MULTIPLE variants introduced of him during the 1990s!
In every installment of Abandoned Love we will be examining comic book stories, plots and ideas that were abandoned by a later writer without actively contradicting an earlier story (so the more passive definition of retcons as being anything that is retroactively added to continuity, even if there is no specific conflict with a past story). Feel free to e-mail me at brianc@cbr.com if you have any suggestions for future editions of this feature.
My recent series of articles looking at the hilariously convoluted story of the biggest loser Avenger, Swordsman, now brings us to how he was given TWO comebacks during the 1990s...well, two versions of the Swordsman, at least! First, let's do a quick recap. Recently, I discussed how Swordsman went from being a longtime enemy of the Avengers who just happened to worm his way on to the team at one point to actually being a legit member of the team. He then died saving his teammate and lover, Mantis, from being killed. He was resurrected, of sorts, by having his dead body possessed by the mind of a member of the Cotati, a peace-loving plant species that married Mantis and impregnated her with the "Celestial Messiah," the perfect combination between human and plant. However, having merged with a human, the Cotati version of Swordsman was corrupted by the loserdom of he original Swordsman and recently almost killed all humans on Earth as part of a misguided scheme (manipulating his son into doing his dirty work using his Celestial Messiah powers).
In the 1990s, the Avengers faced off against a group known as the Gatherers, who were alternate reality versions of the Avengers led by a mysterious villain known as Proctor (who ultimately was revealed to be an alternate reality version of the Avengers then-field leader, Black Knight). One of the members of the Gatherers was a variant of Swordsman, who hated the Avengers for their betrayal of him in his world. Eventually, he learned that the Avengers were the good guys and he switched sides and became an Avenger ally throughout the rest of the 1990s.
THE AVENGERS FALL TO ONSLAUGHT
During the Onslaught crossover, the Avengers and the Fantastic Four (but not Swordsman, so let's assume that he was busy somewhere else and didn't try to skip this fight because it seemed like a suicide mission) joined the X-Men in the final battle against Onslaught in Onslaught: Marvel Universe #1 (by Scott Lobdell, Mark Waid, Adam Kubert, Joe Bennett, Dan Green, Art Thibert, Tim Townsend and Jesse Delperdang). The heroes eventually cracked the psychic armor of the villain, and they discovered that if humans entered the psychic energy, they could absorb some of his power (mutants couldn't do it because he would just take over their bodies as a host, which is what he was planning to do with the kidnapped X-Man. Scarlet Witch being able to go in due to her hex protecting her from Onslaught), so the heroes all sacrificed themselves to suck away his power, even though it seemingly killed them doing so.
Once he was "anchored" by the mostly non-mutant heroes, the mutants then destroyed the energy, but, again, in the process it seemed like the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Crystal, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Namor, Doctor Doom, Giant-Man, Wasp and Falcon were all killed. In reality, Franklin Richards subconsciously tapped into his great cosmic powers and transformed the heroes from the energy form they were turned into while fighting Onslaught into humans again on an alternate Earth.
This was part of a publishing plan where Marvel gave these titles to Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld to do what they wanted with them in a new continuity called "Heroes Reborn."
THE AVENGERS ARE REBORN...WITH A NEW SWORSDMAN
In Avengers #1 (by Liefeld, co-writer Jim Valentino, co-penciler Chap Yaep and inkers Jon Sibal and Marlo Alquiza), we meet the new team of superheroes that S.H.I.E.L.D. has put together, led by a newly removed from suspended animation Captain America. Loki, not knowing how he came to this new world, investigates this new team of Avengers and we first meet a new version of Swordsman...
Those panels are close to the most character development Swordsman receives in the series. I mean, it's fair enough when the other characters are so much cooler, but still.
The Avengers are called into action for the first time...
We see that he and Hawkeye have a friendly rivalry with each other...
In the end, they convince Thor, who they discover here ALSO suspended in animation in ice, to join the Avengers and the issue ends with the new team solidified...
The Hawkeye/Swordsman rivalry was shown in the second issue, as well...
We never actually learn his name in the series. He obviously doesn't look like Jacques Duquesne, of course, but variants are like that.
SWORDSMAN DOESN'T SUCEED MUCH MORE IN THIS NEW REALITY THAN IN THE ORIGINAL ONE
Sadly, this universe's Swordsman wasn't exactly a standout any more than "our" reality's Sworsdman. In the second issue, he ignores Captain America's orders and promptly gets taken out by a newly introduced Kang...
In the next issue, he's even kicking himself for his mistake...
In Avengers #4 (with Jeph Loeb now co-writing the book with Liefeld and Ian Churchill doing some pages before becoming the main artist soon), Swordsman is sparring with Captain America and basically tells him that he knows Cap thinks poorly of him (Cap tries to hide the fact that it is pretty clear that he doesn't really think about him at all)...
They are then attacked by the Hulk and the Jade Giant brutalizes Swordsman...
Thor shows up and has a big fight with the Hulk that apparently leaves Cap, Swordsman and Hawkeye covered in rubble from the brawl...
We see this in Avengers #6, as Swordsman and Cap are dug out of the rubble and taken to the hospital...
In Avengers #7 (by Liefeld, Loeb, Churchill and Lary Stucker), Cap feels bad about Swordsman being in such bad shape...
The series was then taken from Liefeld's studio and given to Lee, who had to bring in other writers for the newly added books, with Walter Simonson taking over the Avengers and in Avengers #9 (by Simonson, Michael Ryan, Saleem Crawford and Sal Regla), Swordsman disappears from his hospital bed...
It is not picked up on again during the original Heroes Reborn stories, as the character of Swordsman is just abandoned, really. Amusingly, since no one was really paying THAT much attention, Swordsman continues to be a background character in other books, like Captain America #12 (by James Robinson, Joe Bennett, Ed Benes and many, many inkers)...
Then, in the miniseries, Heroes Return (by Peter David, Salvador Larroca and Scott Hanna), Swordsman is just not mentioned while the heroes all decide to return to their original Earth once they find out that they don't actually belong to this world...
Swordsman doesn't even get a nod. Rough for him.
Interestingly, after he was left behind, Swordsman actually became a much more prominent character in the now otherwise hero-less world, as Marvel did a few follow-ups on this "Counter-Earth" over the years. CBR's own Andrew Herbison explained what happened next in a CBR feature early this year.
If anyone has a suggestion for a future edition of Abandoned Love, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!