Mantis Fact — November 3, 2026

Today's Fact

A glowing star over the mansion turned Earth's Mightiest Heroes into suspects in a cosmic wedding announcement.

KANG KIDNAPPED THE AVENGERS TO FIND HIS BRIDE — AND LEFT THE SWORDSMAN BEHIND AS TOO WEAK TO STEAL!

The Featured Fact

In Avengers Vol. 1 #129 (1974), a strange star blazed over Avengers Mansion, and Kang the Conqueror arrived knowing exactly what it meant: one of the women in the building was the Celestial Madonna, fated to wed the most powerful man on Earth and bear a child who would rule the heavens. Kang intended to be that groom, so he simply collected the candidates — Mantis, the Scarlet Witch and Agatha Harkness all went into stasis tubes.

The conquest plan running underneath the courtship was pure Kang. He paralysed Thor, Iron Man and the Vision and sealed them inside his giant Macrobots as living power sources, aiming the machines at the world's superpowers to ignite a third world war he could rule over. The one Avenger he refused to take was the Swordsman, dismissed on the spot as a blundering weakling with no use at all.

The discarded weakling became the rescue. Guided by Agatha Harkness, the Swordsman freed the team with help from Rama-Tut — Kang's own earlier self, returned to stop him — and the Madonna was revealed to be Mantis. Kang, denied the wedding, tried to kill her instead; the Swordsman threw himself in front of the blast and died in her arms in Giant-Size Avengers Vol. 1 #2 (1974), proving the conqueror's judgement wrong at the highest possible price.

Why It's Obscure

Kang brought robots, a prophecy and a marriage proposal. The man he insulted brought the cavalry and paid for the whole saga.

The star

Three brides, one tube each — Kang's own records could not narrow the Madonna down, so Mantis, the Scarlet Witch and Agatha Harkness were all kidnapped for testing.

Macrobots

Heroes as batteries — Thor, Iron Man and Vision spent the story paralysed inside Kang's war machines, powering the very attacks meant to start his war.

Rama-Tut

Fighting himself, again — The pharaoh who freed the Avengers was Kang at an earlier point in his own life, come back specifically to ruin Kang's wedding day.

The insult

Too weak to kidnap — Being left behind saved the Swordsman, freed the team, and set up his death shielding Mantis — the saga's whole hinge is Kang's snobbery.

Gallery

Mantis in her classic green costume, her slender antennae plainly visible in the first panel, and Kang looming over the Avengers he came to rob.

Mantis in classic comic panels surrounded by cosmic faces — **The Madonna, mid-revelation**Classic panels of Mantis in her green-and-yellow costume, antennae showing, as the Celestial Madonna mystery closes around her.

Kang the Conqueror looming over the Avengers comic art — **The groom arrives**Kang towers over the assembled Avengers — the same team he would shortly sort into brides, batteries and one man not worth taking.

Sources

Every fact on this page was checked against at least two independent sources before publication.

Bullpen Bulletins

Avengers #129 synopsis and review — White Rocket BooksIssue-by-issue synopsis: Kang's Madonna hunt, the three candidates, the Macrobots powered by captive Avengers, and the Swordsman's fatal save in Giant-Size Avengers #2.
Kang: How the MCU Villain REALLY Met His First Variants in Comics — CBRCBR's account of Avengers #129: Kang capturing the Avengers over the Celestial Madonna and Rama-Tut's intervention against his later self.
Avengers, The #129 review — Marvel Heroes LibrarySynopsis confirming the star's meaning, the three female captives in stasis, and the male Avengers used as power sources for the Macrobots.