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With friends like these
Black Panther is visiting the West Coast Avengers Compound to work with Dr Pym installing some new Wakandan computer equipment. Scarlet Witch bursts in hysterically begging them to help her husband Vision. But Henry Pym has already done all he can and T'Challa doesn't see anything wrong with the synthezoid, so she storms out. Hank explains that when he rebuilt the android after the Government disassembled him the result was the same as he was when T'Challa knew him (back in Av#57-87). But since then he became more human and the person the Wanda Maximoff married. However that person has no chance of returning because Wonder Man refuses to let him have a copy of his brain pattern again. And as the furious Witch leaves she studiedly ignores Simon Williams waiting outside.Wasp is having a training session with some robots when WM switches it off to have a talk with her. Simon admits that he's in love with Wanda. Janet Van Dyne says she's known that for ages. After all Vision had Simon's brain pattern and he loved Wanda so it makes sense. Simon says he couldn't tell Wanda because she was already married to Vision when they met. (Remember that Vizh was created with a stored copy of WM's brain pattern while Simon was thought dead.) And now Wanda hates him but if he restores Vision then she'll go back to *him*. Romantic Jan is sure she can work something out, and she's about to confess that she and her divorced husband Hank are back together when an alarm rings to say someone's stolen a quinjet.Meanwhile new team leader U.S. Agent approaches Tigra's bungalow to have it out with her about her habit of eating live mice. But she rushes out of the door in feral feline form and into the woods. He follows her but knows he's no tracker. However he finds her waiting for him in her furry human form, and she comes on to him which he doesn't know how to handle. But with relief he hears the alarm and they both run to investigate.They see the quinjet taking off and Wasp reports that whoever's in it refuses to answer. They obviously know how to fly the craft so presumably it's Wanda and/or Vision. We see that it's both. The synthezoid persuades the Witch to let the others know what she's doing. She opens comms and tells them that she's going to get Vizh the help they won't give him but she doesn't want them to know where that is. So she switches comms off again and activates the stealth shield so they can't track the quinjet.But they know which way she's headed and Wasp follows a hunch. She, Henry and Simon take another quinjet to Grosvenor Memorial Hospital in Seattle, Washington which is where Prof Phineas Horton is recovering from the events of #44. He built the original WWII android Human Torch which Wanda is still convinced Vision was created from. But when they get there the hospital hasn't seen her. So now they don't know which way to go. Simon is worried for her because she's got no-one now, not even really Vision, and when she was vulnerable like that previously Magneto recruited her for his Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants.The 1st quinjet lands on a helipad at Absolom College, Saunders, Texas. Last issue Wanda received a letter saying they could help Vision. But we know they really want her. Jeremiah Random, Dean Of Robotics, heads a delegation that greets them and takes them inside. When they've gone the helipad hinges open and crushes the quinjet and swallows it, and a student kicks a stray bit of metal in with the rest. But an alarm blinks on ...... and in the (East Coast) Avengers Mansion Captain America and She-Hulk rush to see where on a map a quinjet has been destroyed. They can also tell it was a WCA craft but since Cap declared both teams as parts of a whole (Av#305) then it is also their responsibility so they decide to go and investigate.Random sends Vision off to have some preliminary tests and he takes Wanda to rest while it's done. But the room he ushers her has no furniture and he locks her in. She tries to hex her way out but a piercing sound fells her and muddles her mind. Random appears on a wallscreen to explain that she had been chosen out of all mutants as powerful but not too powerful to be controlled. Homo Sapiens is in the process of being supplanted by Homo Superior (ie mutants). His 'people' have been unsuccessfully trying to incorporate the mutant gene for millennia, and she is their best hope. He orders the assimilation to begin. A black substance oozes into the room and starts to engulf Wanda.And in the WCA Compound another nanny Lauren Timm notices Wanda's twin boys disappear.


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Fragments of a greater darkness
Master Pandemonium has kidnapped Tommy and Billy Maximoff, the infant twin sons of Scarlet Witch and Vision. The Avengers West Coast have followed him and discovered that he has used them to replace his demon arms.He now claims that they are 2 of the 5 missing pieces of his soul. And he uses Tommy Maximoff to fire demonflames at his mother Wanda, which Wonder Man takes the brunt of. He also claims that the boys are now invulnerable, so Iron Man feels safe in hitting him with repulsor beams. But MP is unscathed.Master P explains that he just took the boys, with their powerful heritage, to *replace* the missing bits of himself. And he was right to expect that it multiplied his power. But imagine his surprise when he found that they actually *are* 2 of his missing soul fragments.He does his trick of spewing demons from the hole in his front. The hole which used to be 5-pointed but now only has 2 points left. This confirms that he has added 2 soul pieces to the 1 he retrieved in West Coast Avengers #15.The team respond in their unique ways. U.S. Agent punches demons and hits them with his shield. Wasp blasts 1 with her sting but it just breaks into many smaller versions of itself. Which her partner Dr. Pym shreds with a handy flechette gun he had shrunk about his person. Vision is just letting the horde pass through his intangible body when 1 of them surprisingly twists his head round on his neck, and the synthezoid falls until he can internally repair the damage. Wonder Man attacks Pandy directly but has to face a demonised boy/arm.Back on Earth the newly-revived android Human Torch was left behind to guard the fort. He's scanned the Avengers Compound but all the demons left with MP last issue. As he lands he's sees a strange cat dash past, which he doesn't know is Tigra shrunk by Henry Pym (#49). He returns to Ann Raymond and Agatha Harkness who is still in a trance contacting the away team.Ann wants to know why Master P kidnapped the kids. Jim Hammond repeats the villain's origin he heard from Pym last issue. Movie exec Martin Preston was dying in a car crash when he made a deal with Mephisto. The devil saved his life but replaced his arms with demon versions, and also took his soul and left him with a 5-pointed hole in his stomach, representing the 5 shards his soul had been split into. MP became Master Pandemonium and went looking for the bits of his soul. He found 1 in WCA#15, and now he's back for more.Agatha Harkness now leaves her trance to tell them another piece of the puzzle - the origin of the twins. After Scarlet Witch married Vision and they left the Avengers for a normal life, Wanda desperately wanted children. This would normally be impossible for her android husband to provide. But the Witch used a combination of her mutant hex ability and the magic she learned from Miss Harkness to make her pregnancy possible.But Agatha is convinced that Wanda can't really have created life. The children are a product of Wanda's will - witness the fact that they occasionally vanish when SW is forced by circumstances to stop thinking about them. They can't be real, but Dr Strange declared them normal at their birth (V&SW (1985) #12) so there must be something AH is missing.Torch is (more) worried about the Avengers now that Miss Harkness has taken her eye off them. But Agatha assures him that her cat Ebony is there to watch over them. (Ebony is also the 'tag' AH used to track MP with last issue.)And indeed it is watching as Dr Pym is overwhelmed by demons, Wasp is trying to avoid being swallowed, US Agent is engulfed by a glob, Iron Man is captured by another demon, Scarlet Witch has her hex-wielding hands pinioned and the Tommy arm is eating Wonder Man's face. Master Pandemonium is about to add Wanda's soul to his collection for even more power when Henry Pym makes an observation. The twins were born before Martin Preston met Mephisto so how can they be parts of his soul.We now switch to Mephisto himself who has been following events with interest. He gloats for our benefit that as usual what he told Preston was a lie. The devil himself was destroyed by powerful young Franklin Richards in Fantastic Four #277. When he regenerated it was only with 1/6 of his essence. The rest was divided into 5 hidden parts. Rather than use his own diminished self to search for them he tricked Martin Preston into doing it.Meanwhile Master P is in denial about the twins not being parts of his soul, even when reminded that they were indeed born before his 1st app in WCA#4 (and conceived 9 months before that). (There is a hole in Pym's argument of course, because they don't actually know how long ago Preston's meeting with Mephisto was. But the truth we have been told above means that the conception just has to be later than FF#277.)This is all forgotten about as Human Torch arrives courtesy of Agatha Harkness clutching the last 2 soul fragments MP was searching for. (AH's witchy ability must be so great that she was able to quickly locate what he had spent a long time looking for, and even the reduced Mephisto expected to be difficult to find.) Before giving them to the villain HT extracts a promise that he'll let the Avengers go.Pandy inserts the final 2 pieces in the hole in his stomach. Then of course he says he's not going to honour his promise. But then he notices that the centre of the hole is still there. And he's sucked into it like a black hole. His demons vanish and the Avengers are free. HT says he wasn't expecting that, but Miss Harkness had a contingency plan. Wanda of course wants to know where her kids are.Then Mephisto shows up and says that the souls MP collected have been restored to their rightful place within *him*. But AH's contingency Ebony shows itself and grows to huge size and attacks the devil. Wanda thinks the cat is trying to save her sons, but she worries about it as both combatants are getting heavily damaged in the fight.Agatha contacts Scarlet Witch mentally. She says Ebony can look after himself but Wanda must open her mind so the Avengers can be saved. The Witch and Mephisto cry out at the same time. The devil vanishes and the team find themselves back home. Ebony is once more in his mistress's arms. Wonder Man holds unconscious Wanda.Miss Harkness explains how she saved the day. The twins Mephisto had absorbed were still bound to Wanda by the spell that created them. Agatha erased them from Wanda's memory, and this sent a shock through Mephisto which dispersed him for a little while enabling AH to rescue everyone.This tampering with SW's mind angers WM. But Agatha makes it clear that the Witch unconsciously grabbed 2 of Mephisto's missing bits when she 'created' her children in the womb. Making her forget them was the kindest thing. For now it is best to let her sleep, and they'll tell Vision what has happened when he 'wakes up' from his injury.There is an epilogue where Deviant priest Ghaur tells the Lemurian Llyra it is time for the 7 Brides of Set. This heralds the Atlantis Attacks crossover in this year's Annuals including our An#4. Then next issue will segue from there to the Avengers crossover Acts of Vengeance.


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Locate
Continued from DARKHAWK ANNUAL #1.We start with a repeat of the last scene of that issue. Iron Man in New York with Darkhawk in the background contacts the West Coast Avengers with a summary of the events in that Annual. He says Savage Steel has been captured but so has James Rhodes by some bad guys. He wants Scarlet Witch and Spider-Woman (Julia Carpenter) to come to help investigate where the Savage Steel armour came from. And he wants the others to protect Stark Enterprises in Los Angeles.This recap omits 2 salient facts. Rhodey had got a message to Tony Stark saying SE would be attacked. Iron Man had attacked Steel *and* Darkhawk to see if they were using stolen Stark tech. Darkhawk's armour isn't Stark (because it's alien). But the Savage Steel armour was based on Stane 'designs' when Obadiah Stane took over Stark International.After the call is over Wonder Man wonders whether Tony's giving in to the obsession that led to Stark Wars (otherwise known as Armour Wars I). Hawkeye has to agree. But Living Lightning and Spider-Woman weren't around then and they incline to trust their Chairman. Scarlet Witch keeps quiet and U.S. Agent didn't respond to their summons. Simon Williams leaves him a message to join them at SE, and 2 quinjets leave for their respective destinations.US Agent is still on a rooftop in LA where we saw him in the DH Annual. He was watching a drug factory when Lou, his liaison with the Commission on Superhuman Affairs, came to him with a job. The CSA want him to find the stolen Iron Monger armour (that Stane used in IM#200), and do it on the quiet - even the WCA mustn't know. USA isn't happy about his treatment by his previous CSA contact Mike Clemson, but Lou says the Deathweb incident (#84-86) revealed that Clemson was a rogue agent working for someone else.The conversation is interrupted when the drug gang attack. A bullet grazes Lou on the shoulder but USA quickly subdues 6 of the assailants. However a 7th garottes him from behind and 1 of the 6 gets up to hit him. So the Agent flips #7 over his head and the 2 gangers crack heads. Lou agrees a fee for the job with John Walker and USA leaps off leaving him to get the drug gang into custody. (We won't see USA's mission until Iron Man Annual #13.)Darkhawk and Iron Man have flown to Kansas City. DH fends off IM's questions because he doesn't want to admit Chris Powell's only in high-school and he doesn't know where the Darkhawk armour came from. Instead he discusses the interrogation of Arthur Vale, who was wearing the Steel suit. Vale told them that the armour came from Professor Power. (But he only heard this on the grapevine because he himself wasn't part of the Cabal which originally used the suit.)Iron Man tells Darkhawk about the Prof, a right-wing extremist who believed that the only way to achieve World peace was for the US to conquer it, and the only way that would happen was if he took over the US. Various agents of his appeared in issues of Captain America and Defenders culminating in an attempted psionic attack on the USSR in CA#268 & Def#106.In his 1st actual appearance in Marvel Team-Up #117-118 he changed tack and tried to force Prof X to bring his son Matthew out of a coma. But the result was Matthew's mind being totally destroyed. Power had his own mind transferred into Matthew's brain and adopted a battle-suit, and started a personal war against X-characters.In CA#338 'Matthew Power' was beaten to death by the substitute Cap. (It is unclear whether Tony Stark knows that this substitute was John Walker/USA.) Vale told them that Prof Power's mind returned to his own body when his son's body died.Now Power is interrogating Rhodey with the help of 3 bruisers. The victim is refusing to tell them more than that he is James Rhodes and works for Tony Stark. (Surely that info itself is meaningful.) Jim manages to down 2 goons and makes a break for the door but they pile on him.Up above Iron Man is stopping impetuous Darkhawk from rushing in. The quinjet arrives with the 2 female Avengers. DH wonders why IM needs their help. IM tells DH he himself is going solo, the other 2 are to help the newbie.Inside there is an R&D site with a production line just about to produce their 1st Iron Monger knock-offs. Then Darkhawk knocks a hole in the outer wall and enters with Scarlet Witch and Spider-Woman. Robot Mek-Men spring to the defence (they look something like Mandroids). Wanda Maximoff destroys the nearly-completed Iron Mongers with a hex and then joins the other 2 battling the robots. This draws all the other Mek-Men in the place to the fight.That was the plan as Iron Man stealthily enters the other side of the plant. While the battle continues he finds the control room and hacks into the system. He downloads all the information and sends it to the Stark Enterprises mainframe for later analysis. But he has been able to uncover the use of his own technology here (apart from Stane's Iron Monger?). And he's decrypted something else which shocks him. Also he injects a virus into the system which will trash all their data. Then 2 Mek-Men find him but he makes short work of them.Power learns that the Avengers are wrecking his factory. He decides to get revenge by killing Jim Rhodes. He really wants to hurt Captain America, who he blames for his son's death, but Iron Man's friend will have to do. He pulls loose a couple of power cables and prepares to electrocute Rhodey but Iron Man enters in time. Stark overheard his rant and says that the real cause of Matthew Power's death was his dad taking over his body and going on a killing spree. Prof Power isn't ready to accept that analysis.The minions shoot at IM (totally uselessly), and he stamps on the floor knocking them all down. The other 3 arrive to say that their part is done, and Tony checks on Rhodey. Who is conscious enough to make a joke before falling asleep. Then Stark tells the others he discovered that AIM is involved.At Stark Enterprises in California the security chief questions why they need 3 Avengers to help defend the place. Then he gets shot by a ray. And the place is invaded by 3 groups of flying armoured foes, which an editorial comment identifies as the Hunters, Raiders and Seekers.To be concluded in IRON MAN ANNUAL #13.Story 2: A study in scarletPencils Al Bigley. Inks Mike DeCarlo. Letters Susan Crespi. Colours Paty Cockrum.Scarlet Witch is practising control of her hex power in the WCA training room but her thoughts keep making her lose concentration. She was trying to avoid depression brought on by memories of her husband Vision having his mind blanked so he forgot all about their love, and their children turning out to be not real. 1 opponent knocks off the long-haired wig which she wears because her hair hasn't grown back since she shortened it when she was 'evil' in #55-62.But her hex must have been affected by her thoughts because a hole has opened in space and through it she sees the night Vision was taken away (#42). But this time Wanda Maximoff has woken up and foils the kidnapping. The current Wanda realises she's seeing into a parallel timeline.She sees a fast-forward run throught the recent past, but this time with Vision by her side. Her witch mentor Agatha Harkness discovers that the twin boys cease to exist when Wanda isn't thinking about them. Master Pandemonium takes the boys to his demon dimension where he claims that they are 2 missing pieces of his soul. But Agatha finds the real missing pieces and gets the boys back.But that isn't exactly what happened in Wanda's past. In #52 it transpired that the twins were part of Mephisto's soul that he had tricked Pandemonium into searching for. But in this alternate world Miss Harkness stopped Mephisto claiming them, and now Vision and Witch can continue to have them as their kids.Our Wanda remembers that in her reality Agatha removed the memories of the children from her mind to relieve her anguish. But we learn that Miss Harkness later realised this was a mistake and returned those memories.At this point to view into the other world closes. But Wanda realises that the fact that in at least 1 reality she lived her dream is a source of comfort and strength.Story 3: Mile high mayhemPencils John Dennis. Inks Pam Eklund. Letters John Babcock. Colours Paty Cockrum.Julia Carpenter has a 1 hour gap between flights in the airport at her old home town Denver. (It's unclear whether she's flying from or to her current home Los Angeles.) She's arranged to meet a college friend Yvonne to catch up.Yvonne comments that Julia must have been working out and they skirt past her divorce from Larry. Julia says she's thinking of quitting her job, which she can only say is for the United Nations (who the Avengers work for these days). Even though her co-workers are nice she wants spend more time with 8 year old daughter Rachel who Larry has custody of. They swap family photos, and Yvonne is obviously drinking heavily even as she describes her nuclear family and part-time job and her husband's success.A security guard rushes in and they overhear him tell an air traffic controller on his break about an incoming disaster. Julia makes an excuse to nip off and change into her Spider-Woman costume. (She notes that the plane was far enough away to afford this delay.)She rushes out onto the runway and spins a lot of layers of extra strong psychic webbing. This stops the plane which was coming down without wheels and only half its engines, but she still has to leap aside at the last second. The plane catches fire so she pulls a door open and provides a web chute for the passengers to escape. Then leaves hurriedly to avoid questions.Julia returns to her friend claiming the thought of the crashing plane had made her feel sick. She has to hang around in the airport for an extra 2 hours until normal service resumes. Yvonne stays with her and at the last minute admits that she's dying of breast cancer. Julia is left thankful for what she has.Story 4: Ten little villains ...Pencils David Ammerman. Inks Brad Vancata. Letters David Sharpe. Colours Sarra Mossoff.It's raining and the team pass the time listing their 10 worst villains. Hawkeye dismisses Zodiac and Scarlet Witch adds Ultron as being foes of the East Coast team. They should be considering their own villains. Iron Man opines that might make it difficult.Spider-Woman starts off easy with Dr. Demonicus and his Pacific Overlords (The Overlords are definitely theirs alone, Demonicus not so much.) Living Lightning tentatively adds in Hangman's Night Shift - accepted because Hangman is new and the Night Shift have fought them as much as anybody else.Wonder Man proposes his brother Grim Reaper (maybe claiming he's a foe of whichever team Simon's on). Scarlet Witch wonders whether *her* brother Quicksilver counts, but he's dismissed because he was suffering a breakdown at the time and he's now a Reserve member of the team. But Wanda Maximoff *does* claim Immortus who originally involved himself with the original Avengers but recently revealed his scheme revolved around herself.US Agent opts for another shoo-in, Master Pandemonium. Iron Man opts for Quantum and Half-Life. Hawkeye rounds out the list with the Cat-People, Dominus (as much their foe as the X-Men's) and Graviton (just because he was their 1st). Iron Man tries to suggest that the Blank was really their 1st foe, and hasn't been see again.Story 5: My name is legionPencils MC Wyman. Inks Keith Williams. Letters Dave Sharpe. Colours Marie Javins.Living Lightning, openly known as Miguel Santos, attends the Cinco De Mayo celebrations in LA as a guest. He joins a local politician of the stand and his mother Maria and younger brother José are already there. José claims to be here under protest, but he's just as proud as their mother when he rejoins his pals. Miguel signs an autograph for a little girl named Yolanda among others.Then he's accosted by a man named Lou Denham with his 2 hulking bodyguards Paolo and Raoul. Denham says he knew Miguel's father when they were both in the Legion of the Living Lightning. Santos tries to play dumb but Denham is sure he knows what he's talking about. The Legion were true US patriots, even though they did try to hit an American army base with a missile until the Hulk wrecked their plans - and their secret base (Tales to Astonish #97-99). Denham wasn't there at the time. He's been back twice, and the 2nd time somebody had caused another explosion.Denham's now figured out that Miguel got his name and powers from the Legion and their Lightning Machine. He wants Santos to show him how to make more Living Lightnings and then they can continue the task of saving the US from Liberals. Miguel tries to tell him that a fluke accident gave him his power, and it needed the Lightning Machine which is now wrecked. And anyway he's now an Avenger working for change *within* the system.Lou Denham can't afford to accept that his plan can't work so he doesn't believe Miguel. LL beats off an attack by Paolo but Raoul threatens Mrs Santos with a gun. Lou wants to know the secret. Miguel pretends to give in and tosses a St Christopher medal which he says is magic. But when Denham catches it he yelps in pain because Lightning has made it red hot. Shock causes Raoul to drop his guard and Miguel zaps him freeing his mother.He then turns to plasma as the 2 goons shoot at him. Electricity zaps them unconscious. But 1 of the bullets grazed Yolanda. She doesn't blame him but he follows the ambulance to the hospital to make sure she's alright.


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A storm in Subterranea
This is part 5 of 1 of this year's Annuals crossover Subterranean Wars.In Avengers An#20 some of Mole Man's Moloids, Tyrannus' Tyrranoids and Lava Men now ruled by Grotesk fled to the surface to escape an attack by Deviants and their servant Mutates led by the Deviant Brutus. The Avengers followed the Subterraneans back to their leaders who explained the situation. Black Widow and Captain America headed back to the surface to recruit other heroes like the Fantastic Four and the Avengers West Coast, secretly slowly followed by the aged Kala, ex-Queen of the Netherworld. The other Avengers helped fight the Deviants but were captured by them.In Hulk An#17 the Deviants invasion had cut Tyrannus off from his fountain of youth. Morbidly afraid of ageing he persuaded Mole Man to kidnap Betty Banner and Rick Jones to persuade Hulk to retake the fountain for him. Hulk fought the Deviants at the fountain which then got buried under rubble. But Hulk brought a canteen of the water back to Tyrannus. However when he drank it he found Brutus had poisoned it.In Sub-Mariner An#1 the inhabitants of El Dorado used the War as a chance to invade the Moloid homeland, killing the left-behind women and children. Sub-Mariner went to the Avengers for help but they'd already gone to the War. Reservist Stingray helped him stop the genocide.In Iron Man An#12 aged Kala reached the surface and contacted Iron Man for help for her consort Mole-Man. But MM's Outcasts came to bring her back. IM followed them but Kala persuaded them to take her to Netherworld instead. The Netherworld atmosphere restored her youth and the Netherworlders asked her to stay and rule them again. But Kala decided instead to return to her love Mole Man, even though he now spurned her and she would revert to being old.Now in this issue Iron Man brings aged-again Kala to the Avengers West Coast Compound. She asks them to help her consort Mole Man, Tyrannus, Grotesk and 10 missing East Coast Avengers. Kala can't understand why Black Widow and Captain America haven't already got here before her. She summarises the events of AvAn#20, adding that the Deviants attacked to retrieve weapons tech that the Subterraneans had originally got from *them* and improved upon.The AWC use Tony Stark's new Groundhawk tank and Kala guides them through caverns (measureless to man). On the way Hawkeye's hawk-like eyes spot some chips of rock falling from the side of a tunnel. They stop to investigate and find BW and CA attracting their attention from a hole where they were tied up. They were attacked from behind on their way to the surface and dumped here by someone unknown. (We never do find out who.)Kala loses track of where they are and the tank suddenly enters in midair into a huge cavern filled with the 3 Subterranean races. Who attack them when they land until Mole Man calls them off. He now reveals what his spies have learned of Brutus' plans. Combining current Deviant tech with that of the Subterraneans Brutus has constructed the Oscillatron which will shatter Earth's crust to destroy surface civilisation and pave the way for Deviant domination.We meet Grotesk who once had his own dream of wiping out the surface-men whose seismic experiments had killed the rest of *his* underworld race, even if the revenge killed him too. He confirms that he now sees that revenge would be a hollow victory. We also look in on Tyrannus who has had to be restrained. Fear of ageing combined with fear of the poison he drank has turned him into a raving madman. When Moley disparages Kala Iron Man tells him what happened in the Netherworld but it doesn't soften his attitude.The Avengers agree to lead the Subterraneans into battle. Secretly Grotesk and Mole-Man are willing to sacrifice their followers if it means the surface superheroes die too. The Avengers, each in their own way, fight the Mutates that Brutus commits to the war. It turns out that the position the Avengers defend is just the best place for the Oscillatron, and he doesn't care how many Mutates die taking it. His Deviant followers wonder why he hates the Mutates so much. Other Deviants just see them as useful slaves.Brutus brags that he has the other East Coast Avengers entombed and running out of air. Scarlet Witch reasons that Vision must be unconscious else he would be able to phase out of any trap, but maybe not all the others are. Wanda Maximoff remembers that Sersi is a telepath, and she can use her magic to try to contact her. And she succeeds. She persuades Iron Man to abandon the battle and fly her to where she senses the Eternal is. Hawkeye and Living Lightning give them covering fire while the others (including Spider-Woman, U.S. Agent and Wonder Man who I haven't mentioned so far) continue hitting Mutates.The duo find the place covered in huge boulders. Iron Man blasts the rocks away uncovering the globular forcefield enclosing their friends. The Witch's hex turns it to crystal which Hercules, Quasar, Rage, Sandman, Sersi, She-Hulk and Vision easily break out of.Back at the war Brutus has sent in a 2nd wave of Mutates and has placed the Oscillatron where he needed it to be. But then the Avengers reinforcements arrive. A Mutate tries to kill Mole Man with a spear, but Kala takes the blow instead. Sersi probes Brutus' mind and finds a secret. She shouts to his Deviant followers that *he* himself is a Mutate. Brutus tries to deny it but the Deviants realise that is why he hated other Mutates so much. They leave him, ashamed to have followed a Mutate. And the other Mutates rend him to pieces.So the war is over but now Grotesk makes his play. It turns out he was lying about giving up on revenge for his murdered race. He knew what Brutus was doing and his plan all along to use it himself. (He had rendered the Lava Men mute so they couldn't betray him.) He has upped the setting so it won't just mess up the surface world but will rip apart the planet. His own death will be worth the sacrifice.But nothing happens when he switches it on because Living Lightning has drained all it's electricity. And the Avengers hit him with everything they've got.Everyone celebrates except Mole Man who takes Kala back to his palace. Touched by her self-sacrifice he swears to do all in his power to restore her health. And even tells Tyrannus that he has a cure for Brutus' poison. Tyrannus immediately recovers and hatches another plan. Now he knows about the Netherworld's rejuvenating properties he plans to take advantage of that.Story 2: West side storyWriter Roy Thomas, pencils Jeff Moore, inks John Tartaglione, lettering John Costanza, Colors Kevin Tinsley.Newbie Spider-Woman reviews AWC history via a computer video file left by Henry Pym.It covers (with some notable omissions) from Vision proposing a West Coast branch of Avengers run by Hawkeye (Av#243) to our #69 where the UN restricted them to 7 members. They chose Dr Pym, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Tigra, Wasp and Wonder Man. But DP and Wasp immediately announced they intended to leave, and that's when Henry made the recording for their replacements.Spider-Woman muses that during the Pacific Overlords story (#70-74) Tigra quit as well, US Agent was accepted back, and she and Living Lightning joined.Story 3: A Wasp in HollywoodWriter Roy Thomas, pencils Jeff Moore, inks Marc McKenna, lettering John Costanza, Colours Evelyn Stein.Janet Van Dyne is in Hollywood to discuss the film script she's written about her origin as Wasp with Ant-Man and the birth of the Avengers. She's tried to stick to reality but the producer wants loads of changes to spice it up or make the special effects easier.Story 4: Justice, like lightningWriter Roy Thomas, pencils Steve Carr, inks George Wildman, lettering Clem Robbins, Colours Paul Becton.After escaping from captivity by/subservience to Dr Demonicus Living Lightning joined the AWC in #74. Now Miguel Santos flies immediately home to let them know he's OK. He's been away many weeks searching for the base of the Legion of the Living Lightning his father used to belong to (in Tales To Astonish (Hulk) #97-98). Then an accident gave him his electrical powers and he fought the android Human Torch (#63), and then he was held by Demonicus (#70-74).His mother is distraught when she sees him and his younger brother José explains that his sister Lisa was killed in a drive-by shooting by the neighbouring Vietnamese gang the Snakes. Mama blames it on José joining the Jaguars. In his anger Miguel lets some electricity leak out, and has to explain the contents of the previous paragraph. He needs his super-suit to contain his electricity. José thinks that's great, the Avengers will get revenge for Lisa. Miguel says it doesn't work like that, and José runs out to find his gang.Miguel turns into electricity and flies off to see his girlfriend Asuka. She's glad to see him but it turns out since he was gone so long she's hooked up with Song, leader of the Snakes. Santos demands to know who shot his sister, but Song's gang overwhelm him. Song slits open the suit, and the gang and Asuka have to run from the released electricity.The Snakes and Jaguars face off, but recovered Lightning gets between them. Song tries to shoot him but the bullet passes through his electric plasma and wounds Carlos, leader of the Jaguars. A demo of the LL powers quiets most of the gang members down, but Carlos shoots Song dead. And Asuka blames Miguel.More electric arcs frightens the gangers off. But José stays with Miguel and Asuka stays with the body of her lover. Lightning had called the cops before he came here, and explained he was an Avenger. But they arrest José and take Song's body away. Miguel assures José it'll be OK. But he doesn't really think it'll be OK for anybody.The team members don't make many apps before they reconvene for #76. Spider-Woman has her solo story 2 here. Iron Man solos in a tale in Marvel Comics Presents #82. Scarlet Witch shares an Infinity Gauntlet epilogue with Dr Strange as he helps Adam Warlock tame the Gauntlet in DrS, Sorceror Supreme #36. And Wonder Man gets caught up with Dr Pym and She-Hulk in the shenanigans in the lead tale in Impossible Man Summer Vacation Spectacular #2.Who's in the East Coast Avengers these day?This crossover occurs with lots of other stuff between Av#340 & #341, immediately following the Infinity Gauntlet mini-series.The team leading up to Av#329 was Captain America, Sersi, She-Hulk, Thor and Vision with Quasar a trainee (and various reservists).In #329 the team had the same UN restructure as the AWC did in #69. They promoted Quasar and added Black Widow to make 7 main members. Black Knight, Captain Marvel, Falcon, Hercules and Spider-Man (previously a member in #316-318) were made the official reservists with Rage and Sandman on probationary status.Thor left after #331 because Eric Masterson became the new Thor. Hercules was promoted to his place.Rage and Sandman are in most issues. But Sandman quit in anger in Amazing SM #348, so maybe he's here in these Annuals to clear the air.Spider-Man doesn't appear much after #333.Black Knight, Captain Marvel and Falcon wander in and out but aren't in this Annuals crossover.Sandman really has gone now and he'll join Silver Sable's Wild Pack.She-Hulk effectively leaves after this. She'll do some of her own stuff and the  answer the call for Operation: Galactic Storm but then won't be back.Quasar will appear as an Avenger in his own comics and issues of Captain America and Thor but after O:GS he'll quit too.Black Widow and Vision have a solo adventure each before joining Cap and Rage for Av#341-342 vs Sons of the Serpent. But they'll discover Rage is underage and he'll leave to join the New Warriors.Cap meets the new Eric Masterson Thor with Hercules in Thor #436, and makes him and the Inhuman Crystal Avengers in Av#343. Black Widow and Vision are there too, along with Black Knight. Sersi is with the other Eternals in the Eternals: Herod Factor 1-shot, but she rejoins the Avengers for #344. These 8 then form the regular team (until Cap quits after O:GC).


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When Titans Trash (Part 4 of The Terminus Factor)
Story continued from THOR ANNUAL #15.
At the compound of the West Coast Avengers, Hank Pym revives the original Human Torch (deactivated by the Scarlet Witch in AVENGERS WEST COAST #57). As they bring him up to date on what he’s missed, Quicksilver rushes in with a summons from Hercules who needs their help battling the Termini in San Francisco. The team arrives to discover Termini battling his "father" the original Terminus, threatening to devastate the city. Hank produces two miniature lenses and enlarges them with Pym Particles; Avengers carry them near the faces of the monster and when activated distort their vision so that the two giants each see an illusion of their opponent and wander off in opposite directions out of the city. Termini catches on to the deception first and attacks the heroes. A major offensive ensues but the Avengers are unable to find a way to harm their foe. When the illusion wears off Terminus, the two continue their battle, creating massive Earth tremors. Terminus seizes its "son" and shrinks it—then swallows it. The two explode—and reform into a 300-foot four-armed giant (Stage 5) which begins to move across the country….
Epilogue: Captain America in New York is contacted by Iron Man and assembles the Avengers to head west to meet the monster in the middle of the United States….
Story continues in AVENGERS ANNUAL #19.


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Gather now ye seven brides
What's happened in this crossover event since Avengers Annual #18?New Mutants An#5 - Ghaur sent Deviants to steal the Horn of Doom from Namorita in Atlantis. The New Mutants got blamed and had to fight her and an Atlantean mutant group SURF. Then they all teamed up to stop Ghaur using the Horn to send a sea monster to attack Atlantis. But Atlantis was destroyed and the Atlanteans dispersed.X-Factor An#4 - Ghaur kidnapped Marvel Girl to be a Bride of Set but Beast rescued her. They fell into the hands of Attuma in Atlantis, but Attuma's daughter Andromeda rescued Beast. Then they 2 rescued MG but then Ghaur took her again, and Andromeda as another Bride.Web of Spider-Man An#5 - Spidey and the Fantastic 5 stopped Attuma and his Atlanteans and another sea-monster called Megasaur attacking New York. Ghaur took Invisible Woman as a Bride. Llyra's Lemurians destroyed Atlantis as a sacrifice to Set. On hearing the news Attuma and his troops surrendered.Now read on ...Ghaur has gathered the 7 Brides of Set. Besides the 3 mentioned above he has presumably caused 3 others that he previously marked as Brides to come to him (She-Hulk from Amazing SM An#23, Dagger from Spectacular SM An#9 and Scarlet Witch from Av An #18). Also off-screen he must have picked up Storm (who he *didn't* mark as a Bride in Uncanny X-Men An#13). They are all now in a trance.Ghaur is unhappy because the Atlantean race was supposed to have been wiped out as a blood sacrifice to Set, but it didn't happen. (The Lemurians did bomb Atlantis in WOSM An#5 but the humans didn't kill the invading Atlanteans there (or in Av An#18). However he still has hopes for the 7 Brides. Until he discovers that Dagger is flawed - she's blind (since The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger #1).Captain America hosts a group of Avengers (the WWII android Human Torch, Iron Man, Quasar, Thor, Vision, Wasp and Wonder Man - others are dealing with leftover Atlantean invaders and Serpent-Men from earlier episodes in the crossover) on Avengers Island to discuss the situation, especially the disappearance of Scarlet Witch and She-Hulk from their ranks. Beast has joined them to tell them about Marvel Girl and the involvement of Ghaur. Cap has called in Sersi for her Eternal's knowledge of the Deviants and their priest-lord.Thing arrives to tell them about the abduction of Sue Richards and the attempted blood sacrifice of Atlanteans to raise Set (presumably info from Attuma). Thor knows of Set, the creator of the Serpent-People and the Serpent Crown. He leaves to take the fight to godly-level (in Thor An#14, and he'll take Quasar and Thing with him because their previous exposure to the Serpent Crown should make them somewhat immune to Set).Later Andromeda and She-Hulk are on a mission for Ghaur. They know they should be fighting him not aiding him, but they are compelled to obey. They approach the Altar of Neptune's Wrath where legend (and the Saga of the Serpent Crown backup in Spectacular SM An#9) says the sea-god smote Atlantean Set-worshippers who almost succeeded in bringing the serpent-demon to Earth. Apparently a piece of Set's life-force is there, guarded by yet another sea-monster which attacks them when they find what they came for.Meanwhile Jean Grey brings a Lemurian artefact to donate to the Museum of Cultural Antiquities in Chicago. This gets her access to the collection of such objects. Then her Invisible Woman companion KO's the curator with a forcefield ball, and the pair slip out invisibly with a Lens of Power Ghaur sent them for.Back off the New England coast She-Hulk's fight with the giant squid/kraken has reached the surface and the Avengers (including Beast and Sersi but not Torch) come to investigate. Iron Man joins in the battle but Shulk hits *him*. Wonder Man joins in too. Sersi can't transmute something that big. But Vision is able to ghost his way into the body and give the monster a heart-attack.All this has allowed Andromeda to sneak off with the Set-fragment and take it to Ghaur, who resigns himself to having lost 1 of the Brides. Iron Man has knocked She-Hulk out but now she awakes and struggles to break free of those holding her. Sersi suggest they let Jennifer Walters go and she'll telepathically track her to Ghaur's lair. So they do.Ghaur has been forcing Dagger to concentrate her light daggers into an extremely thin beam and aim them where he wants, which is difficult since she's blind. Invisible Woman and Marvel Girl arrive with the Lens. We don't see Shulk get back but the Avengers, who Sersi has temporarily turned into water-breathers, break into the Deviants' undersea fortress. Ghaur gets the news as he has Dagger sending her light beam through the Lens of Power into the fragment of Set.Ghaur sends Storm to delay the team, which confuses them because the X-Men are supposed to be dead (but secretly relocated to the Australian outback since Uncanny XM #229). She meets Cap and Wasp. Ororo's resistance to Ghaur's control makes her restrain her power, and as Cap distracts her Wasp zaps her unconscious with her sting.Wonder Man gets to the room  where Set is being raised, just as Dagger sags from exhaustion. And he smashes the Lens. Apparently Set was on the brink of materialising so Ghaur sends Andromeda, Invisible Woman, Marvel Girl and She-Hulk to keep WM busy while he gets Scarlet Witch to provide enough magical energy to complete the job. The glowing Set-fragment expands hugely. But Beast leaps in. He's stolen an iron gauntlet off a guard and now plunges it into the fragment expecting iron to disrupt the magic. There's an explosion but the rest of the Avengers arrive to see 7-serpent-headed Set here on Earth.Story 2:- Rate the hunksScript Mark Gruenwald, pencils Amanda Connor, inks Chris Ivy, letters Rick Parker, colours Chris Ivy, editor Howard Mackie.She-Hulk and Wasp get together to rate the desirability of Avengers males. They cover Thor, Iron Man, Cap, Quicksilver, Hawkeye, Hercules, Black Knight, Falcon, Wonder Man, Starfox, Sub-Mariner, Dr Druid, Mr Fantastic, Gilgamesh, US Agent and Quasar. (That's basically the order they joined the team(s).)Story 3:- The last good soldierScript Mark Gruenwald, pencils Mike Manley, inks Mike Manley, letters Rick Parker, colours T Fine, editor Howard Mackie.Dr Pym flies a quinjet to a Pacific island and U.S. Agent parachutes down to it. Someone shoots laser-beams at him but his shield protects him. Unfortunately it can't protect his 'chute so he has to use the shield to absorb the impact as he crashes into the trees.Heading to where the laser fire came from USA finds an armoured man or robot.  What follows is a long fight, probably extended by John Walker continually thinking about irrelevancies like Gilligan's Island, the Rolling Stones and the names of Indian warriors. Eventually he triumphs and confirms that there *is* a man inside the suit.When Henry Pym picks them up he recognises the suit as worn by the High Evolutionary's army in the Evolutionary War crossover in last year's Annuals. He guesses this guy never heard that the War was over.(This story may be meant to explain why US Agent doesn't appear with the rest of the Avengers West Coast in Av An1#8 and FF An#22. But then Dr Pym's here as well so that can't be right. His chronology places it between those 2 issues.)Story 4:- So what are you going to do after you conquer the world?Script Fabian Nicieza, pencils Gavin Curtis, inks Chris Ivy, letters Rick Parker, colours Chris Ivy, editor Howard Mackie.A detachment of Atlantean troops from the invasion of the Panama Canal (Iron Man An#10) got lost when their air/sea-craft was damaged and have been wandering in the Baja California Peninsula for 2 days. Firebird finds them and easily dispels their attacks, then uses her powers to cause them various problems. Eventually they give in.Bonita Juarez asks them what Atlanteans would do with this barren desert even if they did conquer it. She leads them to the Pacific shore, and somehow reunites them with and repairs their craft. They leave and decide to sit the rest of the war out.(This story is really to showcase Firebird's extended powers that she figured out in Avengers Spotlight #24. There she also learned that her powers weren't a gift from God but the result of a botched experiment by an alien student. This caused her to decide to ditch the super-id La Espirita and go back to Firebird. Since then she attended the big Avengers meeting in Av#305.)Story 5:- The saga of the Serpent Crown chapter 12:- Crisis managementScript Peter Sanderson, pencils Mark Bagley, inks Keith Williams, letters Jade Moede, colours Marc Siry, editor Mark Gruenwald.What has the Watcher covered since Av An#18?Mainly a reprise of Sub-Mariner #8-13. Namor took the Helmet of Power to Atlantis (after a fight with Thing). Then he went away for while and came back to discover that the HoP had shed its covering to reveal the Serpent Crown inside. (This was the 1st published app of the Crown, invented here by Roy Thomas and Marie Severin.) It had taken control of Subby's love Dorma and the rest of the Atlanteans and they were going to sacrifice him to Set. Namor escaped with the Crown and even tried wearing it, but resisted its control.Lemurian Karthon the Quester tried to take it from him, but they were both captured by pirate Captain Barracuda. They helped each other escape but Namor was hit by a canon shell (not actually what happened in the original) - so Karthon took Subby and Crown to Lemuria.Naga had ruled Lemuria for a long time, kept alive but aged by the remnant of the Serpent Crown's power within him. It now restored his power (but not his youth) and set him on the usual path to conquest. He made Namor think he killed Dorma, killed Karthon's fellow Questers (who had sought the Crown for him) and made SM fight in an arena. But it was when Naga revealed that it wasn't Dorma who died but Karthon's sister that Karthon finally rebelled and beheaded his monarch.Karthon and Namor allowed Naga and the Crown to be swallowed by an earthquake, and Karthon became ruler of Lemuria. This retelling has Llyra retconned as the high priestess of Set, planning to replace Karthon, which she would later, and Ghaur watching from afar and noting her as a potential ally.Then in Captain America #180-182 Atlantean Warlord Krang found the Crown but it told him to take it to Madame Hydra, who changed her id to Viper and took over the Serpent Squad. They kidnapped Roxxon boss Hugh Jones and put the Crown on *him*. Their plan was to use Roxxon's facilties to raise sunken Lemuria. But Cap, then as Nomad, foiled the scheme and the Crown was lost again.Next the Watcher related a lead-up to the story in Av#141-144,147-149. Hugh Jones still retained his link to Set and contacted the Squadron Supreme's alternate timeline where their Serpent Crown had been adopted by a business cartel who had taken control of President Nelson Rockefeller and thereby the USA. Watcher reveals the members of the cartel who turn out to be analogues of criminal businessmen in the main Marvel timeline. They took out the mystics Arcanna and Professor Imam (both of whom we didn't meet until much later), and when the other Squadron members (who we had met before) investigated they took control of *them*.Then in the Avengers issues our team discovered the inter-timeline shenanigans and fought the Squadron. Vision grabbed the Crown off Rockefeller's head and gave it to his wife Scarlet Witch. But it began to affect *her* ...... and now in *this* instalment we see Wanda resist the Crown. But Watcher concentrates on scenes we didn't see. Nighthawk and Power Princess of the Squadron had resisted the Crown too and have infiltrated the cartel. They rescue Arcanna, who in turn frees Imam from the dimension he was exiled to. Between them they cast a spell which frees the US from Set's control. Just as Beast thinks he persuades the Squadron by disguising himself as their President in Av#148.The Avengers take the Crown back to *their* Earth. But the Squadron start their plan to take over the US *themselves* for its own good (as seen in the Squadron Supreme series).


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If volcanic winter comes
This issue is 1 story split into chapters with different art teams.Chapter 1: The gatheringPencils Kris Renkewitz, inks Don Hudson and John Lowe, colours John Kalisz, letters Clem RobinsThe West Coast Avengers have received a tipoff that Ultron and Alkhema have been seen in San Francisco near Coit Tower. Clint Barton is there as Hawkeye not Goliath for this mission. And they don't know that his wife Mockingbird is really a Skrull replacement (because that wasn't decided until Secret Invasion was written decades later).Gary Wilton decides to get away from potential trouble but drops his pencil clip down an open man-hole. He goes down into the storm drain to retrieve it and spots the robotic villains. They are arguing - Ultron wants to destroy all of humanity in 1 fell swoop, Alkhema prepares to take her time and do it a few million at a time. Ultron detects the eavesdropper and pulls Gary out into the open, but he's confused by a strange aura emanating from the youth.There's no time to investigate this because Hawkeye and Mockingbird choose this moment to drop in. As Mocky notifies the rest of the team Ultron easily stuns the duo with a blast. Mockingbird's Avengers communicard falls to the ground and Gary nicks it.Scarlet Witch, Spider-Woman, U.S. Agent and War Machine get there before Ultron can do anything else. War Machine (who still getting annoyed by being called Iron Man) fails to defeat Ultron, and Alkhema (who's still getting annoyed by being called War Toy) downs US Agent with his own shield. Scarlet Witch tries to bring the ceiling down on them with a hex but Ultron fuses the fragments back together again.Then he uses a mesmeric ray to bend the Avengers to his will. Alkhema suggests he now use them in his plan, and he agrees. He tells the team that he's going to send them to Alaska, Mexico and Washington (the state) to plant devices that will cause volcanic eruptions and a volcanic winter that will make the Earth uninhabitable.Ultron then turns to Gary Wilton who wasn't hypnotised. But as he makes to kill him the aura erupts again more strongly, and the youth painfully transforms into a beast called the Raptor - a human body with a bird's head, wings and feet and clawed hands plus a long not bird-like tail. This being strongly dislikes the confined space and flies away, dodging blasts from the robots.Out in the open air Mockingbird's card comes alive with a communication from Iron Man hoping Bobbi Barton at least will talk to him because most of the other Avengers aren't happy with him at the moment (because Tony Stark had pretended to be dead for a while (IM#284-289)). He's surprised to see the bird face in the screen, and even more when Raptor tells him about Ultron's plot. But he doesn't trust the informant completely so he remotely destroys the card.Then Stark contacts some WCA Reservist backup:- Living Lightning in college and Tigra recently returned from Australia he sends to Mexico. Wasp and Doctor Pym will go to Alaska. IM himself (or at least the armour controlled by telepresence because Tony is still paralysed) will investigate what's actually going on in SanFran and then go to Washington.And angry Raptor swears revenge on Ultron.Chapter 2: Let us preyPencils David Ross, inks Tim Dzon, colours John Kalisz, letters Steve DutroThis chapter tells the origin of Raptor whose creation is credited to David Ross, Roy & Dann Thomas.His parents Gary & Maxine Wilton were told their unborn baby had a problem that meant he would probably be deformed. They decided not to terminate the pregnancy - and as chemical research scientists they devised a drug that might save him and tested it on Maxine. But Gary died in a car crash, and Gary Jr was born not deformed but weak and anaemic. Maxine brought him up to avoid risk. She remarried to Roger Morely who was domineering and tried to make Gary less of a wimp, but the boy just got more timid.1 day in his college years Gary stumbled across a street gang executing an enemy. They chased him as a witness and something made him flee into a building and up to the roof where they cornered him. But as they shot at him and he fell off the roof he was already transforming for the 1st time into Raptor. Who flew back up to the roof and made short work of the gangers.Afterwards Raptor flew to the ground and fell asleep in a park. Gary Wilton awoke confused in tattered clothing, not remembering what had happened.Chapter 3: Northern explosionPencils Scott Kolins, inks Tim Dzon and Maria Beccari, colours Maria Parwulski, letters Clem RobinsHawkeye and Scarlet Witch have flown to Alaska, and Hawkeye has grown Goliath-sized to carry Ultron's activator to its destination and ram its pointed end into the earth. But Dr Pym and Wasp arrive (in Pym's Rover?) to stop them. At 1st Henry Pym tries to reach the heroes within the hypnotised opponents, describing how setting off enough volcanoes could produce an ice age so severe it could wipe out all life. But Hawkeye attacks him and the Witch sends a hex bolt at the Wasp.Pym leads Clint Barton away from the device and then lets him catch him. But its only to get close enough to throw Pym-particles which shrink Hawkeye to ant-size. Clint triggers his Pym-particle growth serum to get bigger again, but not has tall as before. The particle exchange is repeated a few times, and each time Barton's height diminishes. But all this is a strain on Hank, and eventually Hawkeye manages to punch him unconscious.Meanwhile Wasp stopped dodging Wanda's hexes and turned back to fire her stings. Sting met hex bolt and the resulting explosion sent both of them reeling. But the hex also makes Jan Van Dyne grow to normal size where she's an easier target. The next hex makes Wasp's stings backfire taking herself out of the fight.The 2 hypnotised Avengers now wait for Ultron to trigger his activator when the volcanic eruption will kill all 4 of them.Chapter 4: Mexican bake-offPencils Larry Alexander, inks Mike Barreiro, colours Maria Parwulski, letters Clem RobinsIn a volcanic region of Mexico Mockingbird and War Machine arrive to plant *their* device. Living Lightning gets there in time to attack his armoured foe, but WM's Stark-tech armour is proof against LL's electric blasts. And his plasma cannon disrupts Miguel Santos' plasma body.Meanwhile Tigra leaps from the quinjet(?) to take on Mockingbird. Greer is hampered by not wanting to hurt Bobbi, but MB is quite willing to send a telescoping battlestave into Tigra's midriff.Lightning has recovered enough to survive Jim Rhodes' other attacks, and Tigra has done likewise to now have Mocky in a strangle hold. But WM takes time out to shoot her in the back. And then threatens to kill her unless Miguel surrenders. Fearing Ultron's control will make him do it Lightning powers down and Bobbi Barton bops him with her battlestaff. For extra security Rhodes plants a power drainer on him.Chapter 5: Fuss and feathersPencils John Czop, inks Maria Beccari, colours Rob Tokar, letters Clem RobinsIron Man is now in Washington State. And Raptor has joined him to be in on the kill. Tony Stark, from his hospital bed, reminds the bird-man that he wants to stop the Avengers without killing them. But Raptor has no such qualms, and strikes at Shellhead to get him out of the way. IM uses repulsor rays to hold Raptor off while he explains that he checked out Raptor's claim, and found Ultron's abandoned lab beneath Coit Tower. Now he's heading to Mount St Helen to confirm the rest of the story.Spider-Woman and US Agent attack some vulcanologists to get them out of the way while they plant the 3rd activator. Iron Man arrives and blasts Spi before fighting USA. But the Agent fights back ruthlessly and Tony worries that John Walker might destroy the remote-controlled armour and kill him with neural feedback. Spider-Woman is confused to be attacked by Raptor, allowing him to take her into the air. This momentarily distracts Stark, giving Agent the upper hand. The ferocious attack, damaging Walker's fists as much as it does the armour, disorients Tony. He fires his boot jets to take them both into the air too, but instead they slam into a rock face and USA is knocked out.Battered Iron Man staggers towards the fatal device. Overhead Raptor struggles to hold on to Spi as she keeps punching him. But he eventually drops her and she lands on IM just as he reaches his goal, and fir some reason Raptor has transformed back to Gary Wilton and fallen beside her. They are now unconscious, and Tony gets the feedback he feared.Chapter 6: More and less than humanPencils Vince Russell, inks Fred Fredericks, colours Rob Tokar, letters Clem RobinsUltron and Alkhema have relocated to Oregon, and now he sends out the signal to trigger his 3 volcanic activators. But nothing happens because the Washington 1 has malfunctioned (because people fell on it) and presumably they're programmed to only go off together. Ultron sets off for Washington State to fix things, and Alkhema follows him with the prospect of killing some humans.They arrive to find that the other hypnotised WCA'ers have inexplicably brought their captive Avengers here. Alkhema shoots down an interfering police helicopter, then suggests that Ultron mesmerise the captive Avengers (and Gary) as extra forces against any more intrusions. He does that, including to Iron Man who 'awakes' as Tony Stark recovers from the feedback.But of course Stark isn't affected by the mesmeric ray in his remote hospital bed. Shellhead wages a futile battle against the adamantium robot. But his blows do rock the foe and he notices that this causes a reaction in the hypnotised heroes. Then Ultron has him on the ropes and is about to deliver the coup de grace when the other Avengers spring to the rescue. (Except Dr Pym who goes to free the captive vulcanologists.)But their blows and weapons fail against Ultron's forcefield and he starts to hypnotise them again. Gary Wilton remembers bits of what happened as in a dream, but the sight of Ultron triggers his transformation to Raptor again. However he too can't break through the force shield. However (again) the interruption has freed the Avengers to attack again. But it is a blast from another direction which knocks Ultron off his feet and destroys the volcano trigger ...... as Alkhema tips her hand. She lets her creator/'lover' know that she was the WCA's anonymous tip-off. Not for the sake of humanity - as she mentioned at the beginning she doesn't want humanity killed off to make way for Ultron's dream of a robotic world, but only because she wants to keep them around for sport.Wanda Maximoff rallies the team to take down Ultron before dealing with Alkhema. The female robot flies off in the process chased by Raptor. But he gets too close to her exhaust flame and falls back to Earth, returning to Gary Wilton who slips away when he gets his breath back. Back at Mount St Helen IM and WM have encased Ultron temporarily in metal until they can return him to his adamantium straight-jacket (which he escaped from in #89).


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[Assistant]
Avengers world
This issue begins with a voiceover on top of 4 panels containing:- Some AIM agents. A pair of bloody hands. A stone block with round protrusions. What looks like a mechanoid version of an AIM agent. The captions basically say that the Avengers promised to protect the world.Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner attend the 1st Avengers liaison meeting (in the new working arrangement between the Avengers and SHIELD set up in Point One) with Maria Hill on the SHIELD Helicarrier. Steve has brought Bruce along because he's familiar with working with Hill (in the current Hulk series). They discuss threats on the incident board.There's activity in the Origin Bomb site in Regina, Canada (see Av#10). (But this won't figure in the rest of this issue.)There's a lot of extreme weather and seismic events on the US East Coast, which doesn't look natural. Captain Marvel, Hyperion and Thor are already there to assist. Captain America details Dr Banner to assemble a SHIELD scientific team to track the source of the problem.Madripoor has descended into chaos and mob rule. Black Widow, Falcon and Wolverine are there. They decide the situation is beyond control and start thinking about who they can save. Shang-Chi is supposed to be with them, but he has slipped away on his own business.Another group of Avengers have been sent to Velletri in Italy where the population has disappeared. Hawkeye, Nightmask, Spider-Woman and Starbrand discover the stone block from page 1. Starbrand touches it, triggering black tendrils and a burst of light which cuts off communication with SHIELD.Meanwhile Banner's team have traced the origin of the East Coast disturbances to AIM Island, which is getting bigger and changing in other ways. Cap sends Cannonball, Smasher and Sunspot to investigate.In Madripoor Shang-Chi infiltrates a Hand temple and witnesses Gorgon (with the bloody hands from page 1) performing a mystical rite to wake the Beast. There is a legend that the city was built on the back of a very large dragon. Which turns out to be true as the animal raises itself from within the ground.SHIELD reestablish contact with the team in Velletri, who have been transported to an underground city of the dead, where Starbrand hears voices in his head.The trio at AIM Island discover a large techno-city/fortress, and are confronted by the mechanoid being from page 1 who blasts them from the sky.The issue ends with the same voiceover as page 1, over 4 new panels:- Cap, Banner and Hill. The Madripoor dragon. The Velletri city of the dead. The mechanoid figure. It is that figure who speaks the voiceover, adding that he will take the world from the Avengers.


[User]
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Provide a full summary of the comic book.

[Assistant]
A contest of champions
Krona from the DC Universe has been wandering through universes seeking the Answer to the Question, and when he doesn't find it he destroys that universe. (Someone should have avoided all this trouble by telling him it was 42.) Last issue he met Marvel's Grandmaster. Then GM and DC's Metron set the Avengers and JLA against each other to gather 12 items of power, 6 from each of their universes. Each side is trying to avoid the destruction of their own universe. JLA won the 1st round by taking Marvel's Ultimate Nullifier. Then they clashed on DC soil.But we begin this issue with a flashback to learn what Grandmaster and Krona talked about. Krona says he is a scientist who sent a time-probe back to the Big Bang of his universe and saw a huge hand cradling the nascent universe. When he tried to probe further he unleashed a destructive force. His people feared what would happen if he succeeded and so banished him as disembodied energy. (I can't resist another Hitch-hikers Guide bit:- Some scientists believe that if the Answer is ever found the universe will disappear to be replaced by 1 even stranger. Other scientists believe this has already happened.)But Krona managed to travel between universes and continue his investigations. However it seems his people were right because it always resulted in the destruction of the universe. En Dwi Gast has temporarily stopped Krona in the Earth-616 universe and now he tries a further ploy by mentioning he knows a being who came through the Big Bang of this universe and knows what came before. Krona demands to be told who this person is, but Grandmaster as usual proposes a game. (Last issue ended with Metron telling GM that Krona is unlikely to go quietly away if he loses. But Gast said the game was merely a delaying tactic while he got on with his real plan.)We next get a shot of Kismet, DC's female equivalent to Eternity. And we enter the DC universe to find the Avengers (Captain America, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Thor, Vision) fighting the JLA (Aquaman, Batman, Flash (Wally West), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), Martian Manhunter, Plastic Man, Superman and Wonder Woman) in Metropolis. Hawkeye tries a boomerang arrow on Flash (but he's used to such tricks from Captain Boomerang). Batman and Cap test each other with feints and light blows and decide that if they fought for real the contest would be long and difficult to predict the outcome. They agree instead to find out what's really going on. Scarlet Witch is having difficulty using Chaos Magic but then she accesses this world's more powerful equivalent and emits a blast which knocks all the combatants for 6. And she can now sense where all the 12 items of power are. (Grandmaster mentally gave the JLA that information last issue.) Before the others can start fighting again Wanda Maximoff whisks her team away to collect the artefacts.Aquaman says that Batman's missing and they haven't seen Atom for a while (we know where he is from last issue). Superman wants to split the team to find them but J'onn J'onzz reminds him that the artefacts are of prime importance. He mentally contacts some non-current JLA members to guard the ones in the DC universe. And Flash uses his vibrational attunement power to send the team here over to Earth-616. He stays behind again because he discovered last issue that the Marvel Universe has no Speed Force so he's powerless there. But before they go GL asks him to protect the Power Battery (1 of the 12 items) in his apartment.The JLA materialise in open countryside where Metropolis isn't. In Avengers Mansion Triathlon, Wasp and Yellowjacket detect their arrival with Tony Stark's tech developed last issue. They alert Hercules, Jack Of Hearts, Photon (Monica Rambeau), She-Hulk, Warbird and Wonder Man scattered around the globe ready to move in when the tracking system reports the JLA's destination. There are 5 artefacts left on Earth (after the Nullifier). Not wishing to spread their forces too thinly Manhunter splits the JLA into 3 teams to go after 3 of them:- Green Lantern and Superman, Aquaman and Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter and Plastic Man. Triathlon stays on monitor duty in the Mansion and Wasp and YJ head out into the field.Meanwhile back on DC Earth Flash has zoomed to Kyle Rayner's Manhattan apartment. But Hawkeye and Iron Man have got there before him via the Scarlet Witch express. The Mother Box that Metron gave IM last issue detects his approach and the Golden Avenger is able knock him down. Clint Barton grabs the Power Lantern and they're whisked away before Flash can recover. They end up in the Himalayas but without the artefact. And we see Grandmaster with both it and the Ultimate Nullifier declaring the score is 1-1 now. (The JLA haven't mentioned that the item they won has disappeared. We last saw Superman taking it to the Watchtower.)Next we get 3 conflicts run in parallel, but I'll separate them out.GL and Superman have gone to Santo Rico where they see a ruined and graffiti-covered statue of a large costumed man and small winged woman facing a single adversary. (We know the statue is of Giant-Man and Wasp vs El Toro in Tales To Astonish #54.) Supes takes it as evidence of the poor opinion the populace have of their 'heroes'. Then Warbird and Wonder Man turn up. GL and WM are evenly matched but Superman defeats Warbird and then takes out Wondy himself. The DC heroes locate the Orb Of Ra (which is actually an artefact from *their* world).Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are visiting the Central City Flash Museum. Among the exhibits they see Starro (who the Avengers fought last issue), and Pietro Maximoff reads about the Speed Force which powers several Flashes. The speedster wonders if he can tap into it. Then Black Canary, Blue Beetle and Hawkman (Carter Hall) interrupt their sightseeing. Hawk ensnares the Witch in a weighted net, but QS KOs him and Beetle. But then he falls to Canary's sonic scream. When he recovers he finds the 3 foes vanquished by a Chaos blast from his sister. And they acquire the Wand Of Watoomb (a Marvel artefact on DC Earth).Wonder Woman has taken Aquaman to Asgard by the same technique she gets to DC's Olympus. They are met by Hercules and She-Hulk. Herc has asked the Asgardians to let them have honourable single combat. But Diana attacks him with ferocity because (in the mythological Greece of both worlds) Herc 'despoiled' her mother Hippolyta, although the demi-god doesn't see it that way. They fight while She-Hulk beats on Aquaman. However he slips out of her grasp and dives into a pool where he finds the Eternity Book (another DC item on Marvel Earth).Krona and Grandmaster now have 5 of the 12 artefacts between them, with the JLA winning 3-2. Krona is getting impatient, but GM wonders what the 2 players who abandoned their fellows are up to ...... Batman has taken Captain America to the Batcave where Steve Rogers sees Robin's costume and deduces that Batman lost a young partner as he lost Bucky Barnes. Batman consults Oracle (Barbara Gordon) via computer screen. She's got no info on Grandmaster (obviously) but she's got Zatanna in the Watchtower dealing with Scarlet Witch's Chaos Magic, and she's coordinating the search for the artefacts.Cap tells them about GM's penchant for game-playing, so he must have an opponent. Steve has also told them about Metron contacting the Avengers, but Batman doesn't think *he*'s a game-player. (Metron himself is watching Galactus consume another world.) Cap and Bats agree that they must keep the game going while they continue their investigations. Cap triggers a contingency he prepared earlier, summoning Thing with a dimension-hopping time-bike equipped to track Metron's energy-signature. Ben Grimm makes a joke about Batman's giant penny trophy before returning home (seemingly via Dr Doom's time platform). And then the duo are off on a Metron hunt.Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch have joined Hawkeye and Iron Man freezing on top of a Himalayan mountain. Wanda Maximoff is under magic attack (by Zatanna or the Lords Of Chaos?) but she's managing to keep the whereabouts of Thor and Vision secret. Zatanna has been joined in the Watchtower by Captain Atom, Firestorm, Green Arrow, Red Tornado and Steel (John Henry Irons). Steel has created a battery pack for Flash to store Speed Force energy for use on Marvel Earth. On that Earth Aquaman, Green Lantern, Superman and Wonder Woman are wondering why the artefacts have been moved between Earths. Then Zatanna detects SW moving her 4 from the mountain.But Firestorm and Red Tornado don't follow *her*. Instead they go to intercept Thor and Vision in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island (where the Justice League had their 1st HQ). (Presumably Wanda's protection slipped when she teleported the others.) Tornado's dual nature as an android containing an elemental being enables him to hold of both the Marvel heroes until Firestorm surrounds Thor with an atomic containment field and makes off with the Bell, Wheel and Jar (which count as 1 item - but at least they're a DC artefact on DC Earth). Meanwhile in Wakanda giant-size Yellowjacket and insect-size Wasp are defeated by Martian Manhunter with a little help from Plastic Man. But it is Black Panther who slips in and claims the prize, the Medusa Mask (another DC item on Marvel Earth). The score is now 4-3 to the JLA. (And there's only 1 DC artefact left to Marvel's 4.)In Smallville Hawkeye and Iron Man are now facing Captain Atom and Green Arrow. But IM clobbers them both. Clint just wraps CAtom up with the lead-foil containment arrow he once used on Radioactive Man, and he's unhappy about not being given a chance  to match arrow skills with his DC counterpart. IM's just glad to take the Casket Of Ancient Winters (Marvel item on DC world). Wanda has taken Pietro and Vision to Wonder Woman's Paradise Island, and she's severely weakened by all she's done. While Vizh withstands the assault of Steel, Quicksilver races away with the Evil Eye (ditto) but Flash outruns him and takes it. Meanwhile in the Blue Area Of The Moon Green Lantern has Photon trapped in a force field while Quasar does the same to Wonder Woman. But Diana breaks free. However Iron Man makes a surprise arrival by Boom Tube from the other universe and temporarily stuns the DCers. Photon grabs the Spear Of Destiny (DC artefact on Marvel Earth). It's now 5-all and only Marvel's Cosmic Cube and Infinity Gems remain in play.Batman and Cap have tracked Metron's energy through 1 of Krona's destroyed universes to Grandmaster's incredible homebase. Atom is glad to see them and explains how he hitched a ride on Metron's Mobius Chair last issue. He takes them to a control room which is automatically recording the events of the game. They currently see Aquaman and Superman discussing the Avengers. Arthur Curry opines that this Earth's heroes are mostly less powerful than DC's and they have more going against them, so he understands why haven't succeeded as well. Superman just thinks they haven't tried hard enough.Ray Palmer quickly rewinds to the part he wants to show them which is more of the meeting between Grandmaster and Krona. They have obviously already agreed to the scavenger hunt for the 12 artefacts between Avengers and JLA. Krona confirms the stakes. If Grandmaster's side wins Krona will leave the Avengers' universe alone, but if *his* side wins then GM will take him to Galactus who Krona will interrogate even if it destroys said universe. But then K throws in a curveball. He insists that the Avengers fight for *him*, and GM takes the JLA. En Dwi Gast reluctantly agrees. Ie the DC universe was never at risk and the Avengers are fighting to possibly doom their own!Next stop is Apokolips. It seems that Scarlet Witch has taken Iron Man and Vision back to Earth-616, but Hawkeye, Quicksilver and Thor have fought their way through Parademons to get to Darkseid. However Firestorm, Flash and Steel have done the same. And Darkseid has the Infinity Gems in the Infinity Gauntlet (that's another Marvel item in DC-land). But he can't make it do anything, and DeSaad confirms that it only works in its own universe. So Darkseid tosses it away for the heroes to squabble over. Quicksilver and Flash race each other for it, and also race against Darkseid's Omega Beam which will destroy it. Flash succeeds in getting it. The score is now 6-5 to the JLA ...... and all the heroes from both teams, including their extras, find themselves in Marvel's Savage Land where the final artefact the Cosmic Cube hangs between them (at least this 1's on home turf). A somewhat recovered Scarlet Witch yells for somebody to get it. Hawkeye fires a grab arrow which Green Arrow's shaft knocks aside, and then it's a melee centring around Superman vs Thor, including some grudge match repeats like Green Lantern/Photon and Hercules/Wonder Woman. But everyone stops when Supes holds back Mjolnir and KO's Thor. Then Hercules, Iron Man, She-Hulk, Vision and Wonder man pile on Superman until he too is down.Smaller battles continue. Photon has used her power to absorb most of the Green Lantern energy from his Power Ring and is using it against his friends. With the last dregs of that energy Kyle Rayner makes a grab for the Cube but Warbird beats him to it. Then it's Flash. But his Speed Force battery is also running out so Quicksilver is able to get revenge for losing the Evil Eye.GM and Krona appear floating overhead with the other 11 artefacts arranged between them. GM declares the game a draw. But then Captain America's shield knocks the Cosmic Cube out of Pietro's grasp and into the hands of Batman. Hawkeye knocks an arrow to turn the tables again and GA aims to stop him. But Cap orders his side to stand down. Bruce Wayne tries to use the Cube to solve everything, but the Grandmaster whisks it away to add to his side of the board declaring that now he has won 7-5. He asks Krona to abide by the agreed rules and leave this universe.But of course Krona will do no such thing. He blasts his opponent and then uses eye-beams to dig the information he wants out of his mind - the identity of Galactus. With this he is able to bring Big G here before him. Batman and Cap tell their teams to combine forces, including still-weakened Superman and Thor. Everyone piles on Krona as he beats up Galactus who refuses to tell him what he wants to know. But battered Grandmaster reaches for the 12 items of power, which was the true aim of the game all along. And then everything swirls down a cosmic plughole.


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Strange adventures
This issue begins with the Source Wall that surrounds the DC Universe, and a new addition to the dead gods, etc imprisoned on it is Marvel's Dr Doom in giant-size. The JLA just managed to stop him penetrating the Wall to learn the secret of the Source beyond.But various things tell us that this is the pre-Crisis Justice League rather then the post-Crisis version of the previous 2 issues:- Batman's yellow chest emblem. Elongated Man instead of Plastic Man. Green Lantern is Hal Jordan. Green Arrow, Superman and Wonder Woman are less distinguishable. Black Canary is in her old outfit with fishnets. But the surprise is that her beau is Marvel's Hawkeye who has transferred from his Earth to be with her, and it was a trickshot from him that had defeated Doom.. Jealous Oliver Queen complains to Ralph Dibny, but partway through his rant against Hawkeye something happens ...... and he finds himself talking about perennial thorn-in-the-side Hawkman, who isn't even there. Hawkeye has been replaced by Flash (the pre-Crisis Barry Allen), and Canary is snuggling up to GA who now is credited with the saving shot. (And in pre-Crisis chronology it was Dinah who had moved over from the JSA's Earth-Two and partnered up with Ollie.) No-one but Arrow realises something changed, and they decide to go tell their friends the Avengers about Doom.And we see Marvel's Eternity and DC's Kismet locked in an embrace.And on Marvel Earth the Avengers have just defeated DC's Brainiac. We see his Skull spaceship. The Avengers (Ant-Man, Beast, Captain America, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Thor, Vision and Wasp) are on Hydrobase when the JLA arrive. They have a (apparently continuing) friendly argument over which Earth is Earth-One and which Earth-Two. Married couple Hank and Jan Pym are apparently good friends with Ralph Dibny and his wife Sue. But Hawkeye's there too and it doesn't take long for him to start feuding with Green Arrow as Canary tries to keep the peace. We see a picture in Avengers Mansion of the JLA appearing in a cloud of smoke to the Avengers. (This homage to JLA#21 suggests that it's the JLA who are from Earth-Two.) Wonder Woman comments to Cap that their crossovers have been going on since the days of the JSA and the Invaders. But Cap and Superman feel something's wrong. Then Steve Rogers experiences a dislocation ...... and the 2 teams are having 1 of their annual get-togethers but it's in the JLA's satellite and it's a luau. The crowd is much bigger. Wasp's in a different costume (when isn't she?). Green Arrow and Hawkeye are now having a friendly contest to see who can shoot something out of Elongated Man's mouth while Sue Dibny, Black Canary, Black Panther, Hawkman and Iron Man (in his Silver Centurion armour) look on. Red Tornado is looking at pictures of Vision and Wanda's kids. Quicksilver is chatting to Flash. Zatanna (in her JLA#161-187 costume) chats with Batman and Yellowjacket and Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) with Blue Beetle while Hercules chats up Hawkgirl and Green Lantern (Guy Gardner) gets nowhere with Moondragon. Aquaman, Beast, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and She-Hulk are watching Wonder Man arm-wrestle Wonder Woman. And Snapper Carr and Rick Jones help Edwin Jarvis with the burgers. Thor goes over to Superman who is standing on 1 side wondering who the Avengers *are*, but then another change ...... replaces Thor with Martian Manhunter, and there's a new cast and it's gathered in Avengers Mansion again. Black Knight, Black Widow, Dr Druid, Falcon, Gilgamesh, Hawkeye, Hellcat, Henry Pym, Hercules, Mockingbird, Ms Marvel (early costume), Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, Sub-Mariner, Vision, Wasp and Wonder Man mix with Aquaman (in his camouflage suit), Atom, Booster Gold, Captain Marvel (Billy Batson), Dr Fate, Dr Light (the heroine), Elongated Man, Fire, Flash (Barry Allen), Green Arrow, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Gypsy, Ice, Rocket Red, Vibe, Vixen and Wonder Woman. But the party is interrupted when Captain America starts shouting that world keeps changing (and Supes is glad that it's not just *him* that's experiencing this). Even as he speaks Flash and GL turn into the Wally West and Kyle Rayner versions that Cap recognises from the last 2 issues. But that's only very temporary.Janet van Dyne tries to calm him down, saying that they've known these guys for years. She reminds him of past team-ups:- Against Amazo and Ultron-4. When Grim Reaper and the Key got the Serpent Crown and captured Mantis and Zatanna to gain some Celestial Power. When Kang and the Lord Of Time made the teams fight each other on a quest for the Chronal Egg. Cap admits he does remember them fighting on *some* quest. Batman and Iron Man are checking that none of their enemies are behind whatever's going on. Cap suddenly accuses Superman of causing it all, and Supes responds angrily. They clash violently, and the world shatters ...... and Vision awakes in a snow-bound and ruined Metropolis. He finds the long-haired, bearded Aquaman from the previous issues who blames him for the devastation and attacks - until he is shocked to realise he has 2 real hands (the Aquaman of current DC continuity in those issues had a prosthetic left hand). They both vaguely remember the previous events. They're attacked by DC villains Bloodsport, Killer Croc, Mammoth, Poison Ivy, Shrapnel, Silver Banshee, Silver Swan and Sonar. The heroes aren't doing too well until they are joined by Captain America, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Iron Man, Thor and Wonder Woman. The villains talk about a master who is trapped but will escape, and Thor's hammer Mjolnir can sense where the master's power emanates from.By contrast Marvel New York is beset by fire and earthquakes. Batman, Flash (Barry Allen), Goliath, Martian Manhunter, Scarlet Witch, Superman and Wasp are trying to deal with the situation (despite J'onn J'onzz's aversion to fire). They discover that many of the civilians they aid are actually from DC-Earth. Then a snowstorm begins which terrifies the people because as they expect it heralds the arrival of 'ghosts' pleading for help. Manhunter reads the minds of the ghosts but before he can explain there's an 'explosion'. And then the snow ends and many people have disappeared to be replaced by new ones from DC-Earth who are at least glad to be out of its *permanent* snowstorm. But J'onn J'onzz has gone too.In Metropolis Thor has quietened the storm. As they approach a black tornado of energy Vision senses people disappearing around them, and everyone feels the temperature rising. There's an energy surge and many people appear, and with them is Martian Manhunter. He communicates back to the heroes he left in New York and explains that the energy storms are causing the random swaps between worlds. And they're getting more frequent and more violent.In New York they see buildings appearing and vanishing. They find a copy of DC's Daily Planet newspaper which shows Clark Kent interviewing Spider-Man. Then the 2 sets of heroes see each other through an energy barrier with the face of Krona. Hal Jordan is surprised that his old enemy Krona is alive (he wasn't present for the previous 2 issues). Steve Rogers sees this as another reason to believe that the DC side is to blame for everything and he and Superman restart an argument from #1 that the DC heroes allow the people to treat them like gods while the Marvel Heroes have allowed their world to become dark. Wasp and Wonder Woman calm them down and the 2 heroes remember a synopsis of the plot of #1-2.Then the storms and quakes resume as energy-Krona shoots into the sky. Superman follows saying he thinks he knows what's going on. Cap sends IM to keep any eye on what happens. They see that the effect is spreading all over the world(s). And then from space they see what their minds interpret as Krona's giant hands squashing the 2 Earths together. Tony Stark communicates with those below that the Earths are being merged, but it is also tearing each of them apart.The villain's face is still hovering in the sky over the assembled heroes. Scarlet Witch tries to stop the process with her hex power. Green Lantern joins  in with the force of his Power Ring. But they haven't the willpower to be successful. The other heroes lend their wills to the effort. And everything goes white ...The Avengers find themselves back on their own Earth where Edwin Jarvis has been defending the Mansion against looters and donating their stored food to soup kitchens. Stark's emergency generators are functioning so they go down to the basement where as they expect the JLA teleport in from their satellite. They get reports from other heroes on both worlds and learn that time is still askew. (Eg Hawkeye is wearing his costume from Av#98-109 when he reports in with Justice, Tigra and US Agent. And Hawkman/Hawkgirl don't belong with Firestorm/Dr Light.) (Iron Man also comments that Wonder Woman has gone through changes, which may be an in-joke because to my untutored eye she seems to be 1 of the few constants in the (old) DC Universe.) Deepspace scans show that the whole universe is being affected.They now remember the end of #2 where Grandmaster used the 12 assembled items of power from both Earths to defeat Krona, and so he must be responsible for what's happening. They concoct a plan to track him down, but DC's Phantom Stranger pops up to give them a shortcut. He magically creates a doorway and staircase which take them to a Ditko/Starlin realm of shifting realities and eventually to another doorway. Inside they find the giant body of En Dwi Gast dying from the injuries Krona inflicted last issue.He explains that he used the artefacts to connect the 2 universes and trap Krona between them at the juncture point that is the Earths. He gambled that Krona wouldn't destroy the universes because it would kill *him*. But unfortunately the merging is itself destroying the universes. However Krona stole knowledge of surviving the Big Bang from Galactus (last issue). Now the villain is accelerating the merging because he wants to cause another Big Bang and finally learn the secrets he has been searching for. GM is too weak to do anything so it's up to the heroes to defeat Krona and restore their universes to their proper states.But the heroes have a question. They know that the universe they've been experiencing isn't right but they are unsure what the 'proper' universes are like (the current squads seem to be a mixture of chars from earlier times, eg Hal Jordan's Green Lantern and Hank Pym as Goliath). So Gast shows them a montage of stuff from those universes, which include some of the tribulations their characters will face. These include Thor replaced by Thunderstrike, Cap's Super Soldier serum failing, peace-loving Wonder Woman turned armed warrior, Martian Manhunter betrayed by his own race, the Pyms' divorce with Yellowjacket's disgrace, Aquaman losing his hand, Scarlet Witch losing her children and the love of her husband Vision, Flash (Barry Allen) dying during Crisis, the death of Jason Todd, Bane breaking Batman's back, the death of Superman, various Tony Stark traumas, and Hal Jordan turning into the villain Parallax and then Spectre.And then Grandmaster dies leaving the heroes to decide whether to fight to get *those* futures back. Of course they decide to do it for the sake of everyone else in the world(s) (and the universes).And Metron watches from his Mobius Chair.