Captain Britain (1st series) #7

Issue Date: 
November 1976
Story Title: 
<BR> Wind of Death! (1st story)
Staff: 


First story:
Chris Claremont (author), Herb Trimpe & Fred Kida (artists) I. Watanabe (letterer), G. Roussos (colorist), Larry Lieber (editor)

Brief Description: 

First story: Stalling for time, Captain Britain asks Hurricane about his motivations and Hurricane relates his origin: how he worked on an expensive experiment at a weather research station and was the laughing stock of his colleagues. When his projects was cancelled, he flew his experimental craft straight into a hurricane, where he was changed and imbued with the hurricane’s power. After that, he swore revenge on humanity. As Hurricane starts the Concorde’s motor, Captain Britain changes to Brian and manages to slip out of his chain. He surprises Hurricane and manages to separate him from his backpack, resulting in the villain’s powers going wild and burning out, leaving him defeated.

Full Summary: 

First story:

The situation is grim. Chained to the air intake of a Concorde, Captain Britain faces death, while the villainous Hurricane gloats. Once he pushes the throttles to full power, Captain Britain will be sucked into the air intakes and die a horrible death. Stalling for time, the hero commends the villain’s genius and asks why he is using it criminally. Apparently happy to be able to tell the tale, Hurricane shouts that he does it for the simplest of reasons: vengeance against those who laughed at him.

(flashback to two years ago):

Hurricane was still Albert Potter, meteorologist at a London weather research station and the laughing-stock of his colleagues, who mocked his expensive and fruitless attempts at taming the weather. Eventually, the director cancelled the project, just when Potter had secretly completed his experimental weather control craft. Taking an enormous risk, Potter secretly activated the craft, flying into the air and right into the giant Hurricane Linda. The craft withstood the winds until it was repeatedly hit by lightning. In an instant, the craft was transformed into a piece of junk and, by all logic, Potter should have been killed by the four thousand meter fall into the ocean. However, by some inexplicable quirk of nature, he survived and changed – survived to be rescued by a ship two days later, with the growing conviction that the craft had failed due to sabotage. Since then, his intention has been to make all of humanity pay and bring the world to its knees.

(the present)

Hurricane starts the Concorde’s motor and the wind force inexorably starts to draw Captain Britain in. He snaps his arm forward and manages to break one chain. He holds on and changes to Brian Braddock. As Brian has a slimmer, less muscular frame, he manages to slip out of the chains and swing out of the jet intake. Back on the ground, he changes back into Captain Britain, catapults onto the jet and, with the help of is quarterstaff, pulls Hurricane up out of the cockpit to brutally throw him to the ground a moment later.

The surprised villain responds with some windblasts. Cap walks towards Hurricane but finally sinks to the ground in exhaustion, seemingly pummeled into unconsciousness. As Hurricane triumphantly stands above him, Captain Britain jumps up and uses his quarterstaff to separate him from his backpack. A moment later, Hurricane’s power goes wild and, deprived of the cooling system in his backpack, Hurricane burns himself out. Airport Security comes to tidy things up ad Captain Britain muses sadly at the brilliance of Albert Potter and how he threw it all away.

Characters Involved: 

First story:

Brian Braddock / Captain Britain

Hurricane
Aiport security personnel
in Hurricane’s tale

Albert Potter / Hurricane

Potter’s colleagues
Sailors

Story Notes: 

This story was published by Marvel UK.
The 2nd story in this issue is a b&w reprint of the first half of Fantastic Four (1st series) #113, the 3rd story reprints the first half of Strange Tales #162.
First story:

At the time of the issue’s publication, Hurricane Linda was quite fictional. However, a hurricane was awarded that name in September 1997, though it was a Pacific tempest, hitting the southern coast of Baja California.

Issue Information: 
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