Batman + S.H.I.E.L.D. = Bruce Wayne: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Bruce Wayne: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1
“Mission: Destroy Hydra”
Writer: Chuck Dixon
Penciler: Cary Nord
Inker: Mark Pennington
Lettering: Richard Starkings and Comicraft
Colorist: Steve Buccellato
Cover: Nord
Editor: James Felder
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras
Published by: Marvel
Released: Feb. 29, 1996

I picked this issue for the second installment of my Amalgam read-through for three reasons: 1) it involves DC's second most-recognizable hero, albeit in a less intuitive combination; 2) the more obvious choice, Dark Claw, was put out by DC, and the rules I made up said I would alternate between the publishers; and 3) two versions of Batman, I get, but two Green Skulls? Because that more traditional Skull guy on the cover clearly isn't the Lex Luthor we met in the pages of Super-Soldier.

Actually...

The credits box describes this as a finale, and an asterisked editor's note without a corresponding asterisk in the text informs us it's continued from Super-Soldier #1 and Tales of War #99, which doesn't actually exist.* And even though Lex Luthor/Green Skull was carted off to jail, or at least a high-security retirement home, at the end of the former, this is indeed the same villain. And he's leading the same Hydra – maybe cross-pollinated with Kobra? – even though all these henchmen are in orange.

Clad in green is his daughter, Selina Luthor, an amalgam of Catwoman and Viper/Madame Hydra.** Their base is under attack by S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Bruce Wayne and his helicarrier. Since her father's obsessive war with Wayne is on the verge of bringing about Hydra's downfall, Selina decides she'll take over, using her whip to send him into retirement by way of the grave.

On page 4, we get out first glimpse of Wayne, whose brazen attack is being questioned by his mentor, Nick Fury. As Bruce terminates the call, Fury fumes and helpfully recounts the title character's origin: his parents were spies, assassinated by agents of the Skull. Rather than traveling the world to become a great detective and bat-themed superhero, this Bruce Wayne followed in their footsteps.

The war became an obsession for him as well, as Fury says, “A man can only kill so long before his soul just up an' dies.” He tosses this bon mot to another veteran: Sgt. Joe Rock.

We get a look at Bruce's supporting cast, including a paralyzed Tony Stark, who supplies much of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s tech; a bat-suited woman named Barbara, who is identified later as Huntress and whose relationship with Bruce is not strictly professional; and Moonwing, a mix of Nightwing and Moon Knight.***

Selina has her own mixed and matched allies, including Deathlok, a cyborg revealed to be a previously believed dead Jason Todd; Baron Zero, who is stuck in a cryogenic suit a la Mr. Freeze and is bald instead of masked, suggesting Baron Strucker rather than Zemo; and Nuke, who takes his name from the Daredevil foe but his mask and super-steroid shtick from Bane.

In addition to fighting each other, both sides have to contend with the fact that the Green Skull activated a potentially planet-killing weapon called the Terra Cannon before checking out.

Moonwing is rescued from Deathlok by the arriving Fury and Rock in a fighter jet, while Bruce learns Nuke is the one who killed his parents and turns his venom pump up to 11. Bruce also decides that maybe when this is all over, he and Barbara should settle down together.

They lead the charge into Hydra's headquarters, where Selina is shooting fleeing Hydra agents because, well, that's about all she has left to amuse herself before she's taken into custody or her dad's weapon destroys at least a portion of the planet. She laughs as she breaks the news to Bruce, then Fury and Rock watch everything go boom.

Watching it all from afar is the not-dead-at-all Green Skull, declaring his enemies have been removed from the board “because this game is mine!”

Now, as longtime comic readers, you and I both know most, if not all, of the characters we met in this issue aren't any deader than the Skull, but man, what a way to end this one-shot! Kudos to Dixon for not trying to cram everything into the issue and going one step further in Amalgam's false world-building, by leaving a cliffhanger that can only be resolved in the next issue we're promised, knowing full well it isn't coming.

I never did get my explanation of the difference between Lex “Green Skull” Luthor in this issue and Super-Soldier. Was his Old Man Luthor face a mask? And if so, why was it green, too?

My own continuity-loving curiosity aside, this is a minor irritation at worst. These issues are supposed to be glimpses into the Amalgam universe, with a wealth of stories implied to have taken place before and, presumably, between. The real-world answer is probably that the creative teams weren't beholden to many rules, nor should they have been. We had 12 (later 24) issues to experience this world, and the fewer obstacles the better.

Bruce Wayne as a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent isn't a combo I would have come up with, but Dixon cements it in just under two pages with Fury's recap of his protege's origin. He hints just enough at the amalgamated world to make it feel three-dimensional without bogging readers down in the details that we might want but certainly don't need.

The creative team on Legends of the Dark Claw has a tall order in convincing me that theirs is the superior Batman amalgam. But he is cooler-looking.

That said, the Best Amalgam title has to go to Baron Zero on the basis of his name alone. The wordplay is enough to make me overlook the fact that he appears to have more in common with Baron Strucker than Zemo, although the amalgams in the issues I've read aren't always limited to just two characters.

Most Confusing Amalgam: And speaking of which, Huntress is an amalgam of Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) and... Huntress? Putting aside the fact that in some continuities that's the codename of Bruce's daughter, where's the Marvel portion of this equation? Maybe it's Fury's paramour Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and Dixon and/or the editors rightly figured Huntressa was a bad idea.

Actually, according to the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe site, this is Barbara Gordon Hardy, aka Black Bat, a mix of Batgirl and Black Cat. The site cites the Amalgam trading cards which I kind of wish I'd gotten instead of that Ultraverse set. Oh, who am I kidding, I want them both! But there's no mention of Hardy or Black Bat in the issue itself.

* - Which is not at all unusual for the Amalgam books and is, in fact, part of their charm.

** - They're the same person, right?

*** And a missed opportunity, inasmuch as the name NightKnight was RIGHT THERE.