BIOGRAPHY - page 2
Thanks to his efforts fighting alongside the Avengers, Wendell was invited to join both the East and West Coast chapters by both Captain America and Hawkeye – though due to Quasar being based in New York, Hawkeye ceded his west coast claim. At first, Quasar was concerned about 
conflicts with his duties as Protector of the Universe, but Captain America assured him there would be a large amount of overlap, and it was a trial membership. Cap then proceeded to put Quasar through a series of tests to assess his abilities. To demonstrate his speed, Quasar flew to the moon and back in 5 minutes. To demonstrate his hard light abilities, he tried to lift Avengers Island. While trying to lift the island, the passing Firelord mistook his actions for an attack and struck, making it an impromptu combat assessment, until Captain America intervened. Upon completion of these tests, Cap proudly issued Quasar with his Avengers membership card. [Avengers Annual #18]
Eager to impress, the inexperienced hero nearly injured She-Hulk severely during his first team training session. Almost immediately after, he faced his first test as an Avenger, as the team came 
under attack by a horde of Lava Men, who were seeking vengeance on the team for recently killing their demonic god. While he fought hard, both Quasar and his fellow Avengers couldn’t stand up to the might of the monsters, at least not until the creatures, freed from their god’s influence, metamorphosed into a new, benign form. [Avengers (1st series) #305-307]
After detecting a strange energy phenomenon in the Everglades, Quasar flew there to investigate, tracing it back to the Man-Thing, guardian of the Nexus of Realities. Hitting it off with the creature’s friend Jennifer Kale, Wendell agreed to try to help the Man-Thing, who had become impregnated with some alien energy. In doing so, Quasar inadvertently released the superhuman, inter-dimensional traveler called Quagmire from within the Man-Thing. Quasar fought and arrested Quagmire after he attacked Kale. Before he departed, though, he made sure to get Jennifer’s phone number. [Marvel Comics Presents (1st series) #29]
Quasar’s history with the Serpent Crown came back to haunt him when Atlantis attacked the surface world. The leaders of the attack, the Deviant Ghaur and his Lemurian ally Lyra, created a new, giant crown and used it to influence the world. As one who had previously worn the crown, Wendell was among several other heroes particularly weakened by its influence and had to sit out the action. While the Avengers averted the invasion, it was part of a larger plan of Ghaur’s to bring Set to Earth.
Ghaur kidnapped seven female heroes to be Set’s brides and used them in a plan to open a portal to Set’s dimension. While the rest of the Avengers dealt with that, Wendell and the Thing, as former wearers of the Serpent Crown, set out with Thor and Doctor Strange to enter Set’s dimension and fight him there. While the quartet successfully fought Set, it was through Thor’s actions that Set’s many heads were scattered, preventing him from entering the world. [Atlantis Attacks Crossover]
Briefly returning to normalcy, Wendell hired a secretary for his security business, Kayla Ballantine, who would go on to have a significant role in his life. Returning to his duties as Protector of the 
Universe, Quasar began systematically assessing every extraterrestrial on Earth, searching for the universal threat of which Eon had warned. Starting in California, he discovered his alien friend from Project PEGASUS, Wundarr the Aquarian, who was teaching his path of pacifism and enlightenment to a small group of people. The pair came under attack from the self-replicating alien villain Quantum and Quasar struggled greatly trying to fight within Aquarian’s power dampening field. Through clever use of his abilities, Wendell managed to shift the alien’s quantum state, making him permanently intangible. [Quasar #4]
Immediately after his fight with Quantum, Wendell returned to Avengers Island to find the rest of the team otherwise occupied elsewhere. Unknown to Quasar, his fellow Avengers were fighting threats organized by Loki as part of his Acts of Vengeance plot. Soon after arriving, the floating 
island base came under attack by a squad of robots, sent by Doctor Doom. As the only Avenger present, Quasar fought valiantly alongside the base’s civilian staff to stave off the assault but ultimately failed. As the island sank, Wendell desperately tried to buy time for the evacuees by building a massive energy structure to prop up the island temporarily. Unfortunately, during the chaos, the robots planted a bomb on the Quinjet fuel storage tanks, further devastating the island in the ensuing explosion. Quasar could only watch helplessly as the island sank beneath the sea. [Avengers (1st series) #311]
Taking a break from salvaging the Avengers’ equipment, Quasar returned to his day job at his security business. While trying to win his firm its first contract, he was called away on urgent Avengers duties. Crusher Creel, the Absorbing Man, had attacked an adamantium foundry before escaping and Wendell was tasked with hunting him down. The fight was a real challenge for the Avenger. Though he easily captured the ex-con after he had absorbed some of Quasar’s energy, which Quasar could easily control, the Avengers soon discovered that the Absorbing Man had learned from his previous mistakes. Absorbing the properties of the alloy he had stolen from the foundry, the Absorbing Man became Adamantium and broke free.
However, it was when Creel absorbed the power of the Quantum Bands by touching one directly that things escalated. After increasing to gigantic proportions, Creel made a beeline for New York. As every wielder of the Quantum Bands before himself had burned up intensely, Quasar worried for the city’s populace if it the same happened to the Absorbing Man. Faced with no other choice, Quasar was forced to overcharge the giant Creel with energy before he reached the city, causing him to implode over the countryside. The action weighed heavily on Wendell’s mind and he even confessed to Captain America that he was afraid that he had killed Creel. Cap assured him, however, that the Absorbing Man had survived worse. [Quasar #5]
Wendell’s Avengers duties continued to interfere with both his personal life and his role as Protector of the Universe. A mass breakout from the Vault prison had Quasar assigned to rounding up escapees. Though he had no problem recapturing escapee Venom, both Klaw (reconstituted since their last encounter) and the Living Laser and proved more difficult. Quasar 
pursued the Living Laser to the Watcher’s residence on the moon and was so stunned to encounter Uatu that the villain escaped through an interdimensional window. Expelled by Uatu’s from his residence, Quasar then briefly fought the Red Ghost, who had been in the process of trying to burgle the Watcher before Wendell’s presence ruined his stealthy entrance. During the fight, when the Red Ghost tried to make the Quantum Bands intangible, Wendell learned that he always maintained a mental connection to the bands, regardless of the circumstances. [Quasar #6]
Ever since Quasar had brought Eon to Earth, Wendell’s father had been spending time with the entity, due to his scientific curiosity. Despite his best efforts, Wendell couldn’t help but feel doubly jealous, both that his father connected better with Eon than with his own son, and that his new mentor seemed more open with his father.
When the gigantic and powerful alien Terminus emerged from the Atlantic Ocean on a path towards New York, Quasar was outmatched. Recalling an encounter earlier that day with Spider-Man, who had been bonded with the Enigma Force, Quasar reached out for aid from the hero, despite the animosity between the two from their Lightmaster encounter. Together, the pair managed to launch Terminus into space, at which point Quasar quantum jumped part of the alien’s power lance away so he couldn’t return to Earth. Nevertheless, the alien creature managed to return to Earth soon after and threatened St. Louis, though the Avengers managed to defeat it once more. [Quasar #7, Avengers Annual #19, Avengers West Coast Annual #5]
An alien signature detected at Project PEGASUS brought Wendell back to his former workplace and the scene of his biggest personal disgrace. While he was too late to save the fifteen men that had been killed by the robotic alien Technovore that had invaded the base, Quasar did manage to save the new security chief Blue Shield and drive the omnivore deep into the Earth’s molten core. With the crisis over, Quasar couldn’t help notice the Blue Shield’s dejected sense of self and realized it mirrored his own emotions when he had failed at Project PEGASUS during the Serpent Crown incident so long ago. Not wanting the Blue Shield to make the same mistake he did, Wendell urged the hero not to let the incident get to him and make him quit. [Quasar #8]
When Doctor Minerva and Captain Atlas of the Kree Empire came to believe that Quasar’s Quantum Bands might actually be the legendary power-bands of Rinn, they hired Advanced Idea Mechanics to replicate them. Deciding it would be easier simply to steal the originals, AIM assigned M.O.D.O.M., their newly created, female version of M.O.D.O.K., to set a trap and capture Quasar. While he was first caught off guard by the “Mobile Organism’s” mental attacks, 
Quasar soon overcame them and a defeated her. After dropping M.O.D.O.M. off at the Vault, Wendell returned to his civilian life, which was looking up. Not only had his security firm managed to finally win its first big project but Wendell also recruited his first designer, his old SHIELD academy colleague, Kenjiro Tanaka. What’s more, it had become apparent that both Wendell and Kayla shared an attraction to each other, though their respective shyness kept them from admitting it to the other. [Quasar #9]
Undeterred by AIM’s failure, Doctor Minerva and Captain Atlas continued their pursuit of the Quantum Bands. After the failure of their next hire, the alien called Half-Life, the two Kree agents infiltrated Wendell’s home while he was sleeping, using a synaptic disruptor to prevent him from waking while they kidnapped him. Returning to their ship, Atlas set course for home via hyperdrive while Minerva attempted to remove his bands. When it became clear that the bands were bonded to his arm, Minerva resolved simply to sever his forearms above the bands and then and remove the organic material. Fortunately for him, Eon managed to contact the unconscious Quasar telepathically and wake his Protector before Minerva could do any harm. After a brief scuffle, Quasar managed to subdue the pair, who revealed they were working to save their species from genetic decline. Ultimately, Wendell decided to take mercy on the pair and let them return to their homeworld, though not without warning them what would happen if he ever caught them in the vicinity of Earth again. Though he had emerged from it none the worse, the experience of having Eon save him added to Wendell’s growing sense of inadequacy and Eon’s seeming distance didn’t help. [Quasar #10]
Quasar continued his investigation on all potential extraterrestrial threats on Earth. During one such assessment, he had his first encounter with the Eternal called Makkari. However, his attempts to get the speedster to slow down caused the Eternal injury and Quasar soon dropped him off at the West Coast Avengers compound for recovery. Returning to Eon for his next assignment, Quasar became aware of a surge of the Phoenix Force and went to investigate. The surge of the Phoenix Force had actually been caused by Modred the Mystic, who at that moment had taken control of the mind of the current Phoenix host, Rachel Summers, all in a bid to allow him reenter the world from his mystic exile. The combined power of Modred and the mind-controlled Phoenix seemed to overpower Quasar but, luckily for the Avenger, Rachel’s teammates, the British super-team Excalibur, arrived in search of her. With the aid of Excalibur, Modred was re-exiled and his control over Phoenix lifted. Unfortunately, having to rely on Excalibur only added to Wendell’s developing self-worth issues. [Quasar #11]
Things soon came to a head with his father and Eon. After returning home from a disastrous mission to deport the criminal Blood Brothers to Mars, one where he was badly beaten by the 
aliens, Wendell discovered his father and Eon once more conversing in Eon’s secret pocket dimension. In a heated exchange, Wendell told his father to stop getting between he and his boss, and the pair parted in bad terms. Angry and frustrated with himself, Wendell decided it was time to up his game as Protector of the Universe and become proactive about protecting Eon from the universal threat. Flying into orbit, Quasar created an energy lattice around the planet that would detect any alien incursion into Earth, as well as identify exotic energy signatures on the Earth.
The energy net was quickly effective, leading him to locate the Eternal Makkari, who had raced away from the Avengers Compound after recovering. After getting to know each other and looking for a distraction, Quasar was happy to help the Eternal rescue his teacher, who had been captured by the Deviants, the millennia-old foes of the Eternals. Learning he was being held prisoner in the Deviants’ undersea city Lemuria, Quasar and Makkari journeyed there but strangely found the city seemingly deserted. With Makkari racing off to search the city at super-speed, Quasar decided to do his own investigating and happened upon an arena in which the entire city’s population was watching a gladiator-style fighting match. Seeing one contestant, Tutinax, beating his helpless opponent, Quasar attempted to intervene, only to be drawn into the arena and end up fighting Tutinax himself. During his battle with the brute, something strange happened. Tutinax suddenly started to appear as Wendell’s father and, unable to fight his dad, 
Wendell was beaten badly. Fortunately, Quasar was rescued by Makkari, who had found his mentor in a prison cell. As the trio returned together to the surface world via a bubble created by Quasar’s Quantum Bands, on the other side of the world Wendell’s father suffered a heart attack in his office and died. [Quasar #12]
Unaware of his father’s demise, Quasar was called to assist the Avengers with an undersea mission to retrieve a stolen British nuclear submarine. The mission brought them into conflict with Russian super soldiers and Atlantean warriors. During the various battles, Quasar grew tired of holding back and cut loose with his powers, easily taking down his opponents. [Avengers (1st series) #319-324]
Following the debrief from their mission, Wendell decided to use his role with the Avengers to the advantage of his personal life for once and pitched bringing his firm on board as security consultants to the team. Captain America accepted the offer and, during Wendell’s first consultation in which he had to maintain his secret identity in front of his staff, he unknowingly helped shut down secret surveillance devices installed within the Avengers’ headquarters. [Avengers (1st series) #325]
Wendell took some time out to visit the gravesite of Captain Marvel, his predecessor to the Protector role, on Titan. Upon returning to Earth, his energy net around the planet detected a possible extraterrestrial threat entering the Earth’s atmosphere. Investigating the craft, Quasar discovered that it housed the members of the Squadron Supreme, who had somehow crossed over to this dimension. After an obligatory super-hero misunderstanding fight, where Quasar had to call Makkari in for aid, Wendell agreed to take the group back to PEGASUS to help find them a way home.
Less than a day after arriving, the Squadron Supreme, save Hyperion, were mentally dominated by the villainous Over-Mind and abducted in his space ship. The Over-Mind, who had clashed with the Squadron before in their home dimension, intended to use the group as his pawns against his ancient enemy, the Stranger. Together with Makkari and Hyperion, Quasar tracked the group to the Stranger’s Labworld and clashed with a number of his experiments and prisoners before encountering the Over-Mind himself. With the Squadron as his hostages, Over-Mind demanded Quasar fetch the Stranger, who was currently off world, and bring him back.
Unfortunately for Wendell, the Stranger was currently investigating the mysterious deaths of numerous Watchers and had no interest in returning to face the Over-Mind. Deciding he had to help the Stranger solve this mystery, Quasar went directly to the nearest Watchers he could find, only to end up in a fight with one of them. Never facing such a powerful entity before, Quasar barely held his ground until the Stranger came to his aid. When the Watcher suddenly committed suicide, the other Watcher explained he was part of a new movement of Watchers who had come to believe that the very act of observation was to interfere and thus they had to will themselves to death in order to cease interference.
The mystery solved, Quasar and the Stranger immediately returned to the Stranger’s world and were ambushed by the Over-Mind. With the two cosmic entities locked in mental combat, Quasar used his quick wits to free the Squadron by convincing the Over-Mind that he needed to dedicate all his mental energies against the Stranger. Meanwhile, a group of Watchers had come seeking the Stranger’s aid in investigating the deaths of their people, which distracted Over-Mind long enough for the Stranger to take him down. When both the Watchers and the Stranger dismissed Quasar’s insights on their dilemma, the Avenger grew frustrated and unleashed an epic display of power, channeling the energy of a star into himself, all in an attempt merely to gain their notice.
Finally getting the group’s attention, Wendell made an impassioned speech, reasoning that absolute non-interference was impossible, for even the suicide of their entire species would have ramifications. More importantly, whoever eventually received the accumulation of their 
observations would be so grateful for their work that they would certainly forgive the Watchers’ “tiny lapses.” Wendell’s reasoning worked better than he expected and even the deceased Watchers were convinced to return to life. Realizing that he might have just been responsible for saving the lives of a billion Watchers helped reinvigorate Wendell’s sense of self-worth.
Meanwhile back in his personal life, Wendell’s new hire Miss Stockley used her boss’ absence as an opportunity to nose around his office while he was away. However, hers was not idle curiosity, as she seemed aware of both the location of the portal to Eon’s pocket dimension and the name of the cosmic entity within. Still, she seemed unprepared when one of Eon’s tendrils grabbed her and pulled her in. [Quasar #13-16]