Captain America’s Shield. Thor’s Mjolnir. Dave’s Giant Doorknob. The objects that the Avengers deploy to defeat the bad guys. 

Fans of the Avengers have seen this many times over, in comic after comic, movie after movie. 

Except Dave’s Giant Doorknob. That was only used once, in a distant time, the early 1980s, in Avengers No. 239, when Earth’s Mightiest Superheroes, or at least one active member and several reservists, were guests on Late Night with David Letterman. 

The occasion, in comic book land: Aspiring actor and reserve Avenger Wonder Man is booked for Dave’s show. This could be the break he’s been looking for! 

The catch is he has to bring along “other Avengers with Me! My agent really put me in a tight spot on this one,” he tells Vision in a phone call from Hollywood to Avengers Mansion. 

The occasion, in real life: Assistant Editors’ Month, complete with the following on the cover: “Warning: Surgeons Have Generally Determined That Assistant Editors’ Month Is Dangerous to Your Health.” Dave is on the cover, too, along with Beast, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Wonder Man and Black Panther, in what looks like the NBC Studio 6A at Rockefeller Center. 

Assistant Editors’ Month, when the not-quite-stars get to shine when other folks take time off. Sounds like one of those episodes of Late Night when Larry “Bud” Melman and Paul Shaffer run the show while Dave was building models on vacation somewhere. 

The plot? It’s fun. Because most active member Avengers are off saving the planet, Vision gets a hold of some reservists, plus Hawkeye, who has just married Mockingbird and is suffering from hearing loss from an earlier battle. (It all ties in to what’s to come.)

Avengers Assemble! — in the chairs to Dave’s right for the show. Wonder Man’s career is set to take off. Beast wears his best Aloha shirt and some striking white pants. They all look great. 

But they did not count on disgruntled former Bronx resident and inventor Fabian Stankowicz, an Avengers antagonist, seeing Dave’s television promo for the episode and vowing revenge on the Avengers, who “made me look like a chump” in previous issues. (Nos. 217 and 221 for those keeping score.)

Stankowicz booby traps the Late Night studio with all manner of deadly gizmos targeting the Avengers. Then, as the heroes ward off laser beams and spiky steamrollers, he sits next to Dave for his moment in the sun.

Paul, realizing the audience thinks it’s a bit, strikes up the World’s Most Dangerous Band, looking to avert panic. 

Dave wonders where security is. Stankowicz gloats. The Avengers are on their heels. 

Then Dave pulls out the Giant Doorknob. Good triumphs over bad. 

If all this sounds silly, it is. More please. 

Yes, real life celebrities are no strangers to comic book and superhero stories, and Marvel gets in some good cheekiness in its narratives, especially when Taika Waititi is writing or directing. 

But Avengers No. 239, “Late Night of the Super-Stars,” is unique. It matches the tone of those early Late Night episodes, where Dave’s command of the absurd existed alongside a slight hint of anarchy.

The Giant Doorknob, no longer just an updated novelty gift, had its moment. 

I find myself wanting an adventure in the multiverse with Stupid Pet Tricks and the Whoopee Coffin.

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