Dr. Bruce Banner AKA The Hulk, is the correct answer. Fixer was number 2. Your thread Dirk!

The Mandarin made his Marvel Universe debut in Tales of Suspense #50, cover date Feb. 1964. The Black Widow made hers two months later in Tales of Suspense #52, Apr. 1964.
(These were right around the time I was born).
So, when did these two old Iron Man foes first meet in a Marvel comic?
I don't have to have the exact issue number, but a description of the story, story arc, circumstances of the meeting, etc. will be more than sufficient.

I don't have a clue. I can guess that it was after Black Widow became an Avenger, and they first met as enemies, but that's about as much as I can guess. And I could be wrong, of course.

Actually, so far you're right.....

They met earlier then that. It's when the Widow took the young Mandarin by the hand and led him to her bedroom and said, "Come, let me make a Mandarin of you".
And the rest is history.

This is in the first post of this thread, no questions about specific issues...

Although I'm not completely sure, I don't recall the Widow meeting the Mandarin as part of Acts of Vengeance, OR when she was on the Avengers in her most recent stint, OR during the Hand of the Mandarin story involving Force Works, which would be three of the more recent Avengers/Mandarin conflicts.

So I'm going to go waaay back and guess that it happened in Avengers Annual #1, when the Mandarin recruited a bunch of villains (the Enchantress and the Executioner, to go with his regular lackey group of Swordsman, Living Laser, Power Man, and Ultimo) to throw against the Avengers. If I recall correctly, the Widow was something of the romantic interest for Hawkeye in those days, so she might have met him then, as Clint was on the team.

But that's just a stab in the dark on this one.

Ok, I've seen the "Specific issue" stipulation violated several times, but if people are going to start complaining about it, then I will withdraw the question.....

For the record, the Mandarin and The Black Widow did first encounter each other during Acts of Vengence, Avengers #313, Jan.1990 to be specific.

New, non-issue specific question....


The original Thunderbolts, as everyone knows, were actually The Master of Evil posing as good guys under new identities. Which two original T'Bolts had two villain identities before they became Thunderbolts?

Okay, this one I know I've got.

Erik Josten (Atlas) operated previously as Power Man and as Goliath; Helmut Zemo (Citizen V) was both the second Baron Zemo as well as Phoenix, the costumed identity he used when he first fought Cap and the Falcon.



And for the record, I certainly didn't consider the Black Widow/Mandarin bit a 'specific issue' violation... even though I didn't rememeber their Acts of Vengeance meeting.

Rock on, Hultquist...hit us with the next question!

Alright, try this one on for size:

At the outset, the second Contest of Champions initially appeared to be sponsored by the Coterie. However, the heroes involved were actually being gathered as part of a sinister plot by leading members of what other two alien races?

I know one was the Brood...was the other the Badoon?

Yes indeed.

I am thoroughly impressed that anyone else even remembers CoC II (and would actually admit to it in public, too).

Time to put on your thinking cap and think up another question, DZ - the floor is yours once again!

Way back during the "Avengers-Defenders War", whose interference caused the Sub-Mariner to lose his piece of the Evil Eye to Captain America?
I hope this isn't too issue-specific...but wasn't every piece of comic trivia revealed in a specific issue anyway?