Disillusioned by war, Red Raven returned to Sky-Island, where he discovered that the Bird-People planned to conquer human civilization. Red Raven foiled their plot by using gas to place the tribe, including himself, in suspended animation, and sank their domed island to the bottom of the ocean, setting a timer to return them to the surface and reawaken them after several years. When the island eventually resurfaced near the end of the suspended-animation cycle, the superhero Angel of the X-Men stumbled upon the island. Angel and Red Raven clashed when the latter was startled by the former. Angel believed it would be more humane to revive the Bird-People, but Red Raven disagreed. He again sank the island to protect the secret of the Bird-People, continuing the suspended animation process, and set Angel adrift on a raft.