Synopsis
Avengers: No road home #4 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
Previously:- Nyx has brought darkness to the universe. Voyager has assembled 7 'Avengers' to oppose her. Nyx sent her children to retrieve 2 of the 3 Night Shards that Zeus stole from her. Voyager sent her team to Nightmare's Realm and Omnipotence City to stop them.
This issue follows the action in both places and shows us the origin of Nyx and her brood.
Nyx was born in the darkness of the very early universe. But gradually the purity of that state was ruined by the growth of stars and galaxies. Then came Zeus and the rest of his Olympian tribe, and Nyx was sidelined, an outsider. She envied the gods their children and produced her firstborn Hypnos, God of Sleep. He too couldn't fit into the society of the Gods. Instead he used an army of sleepers to guard the night.
And he is using such an army now to invade the Realm of Nightmare and batter at the gates of his fortress.
In Earth's past humans used fire to dispel the terrors of the night. And they told tales of the heroic Gods to bolster their confidence. The creatures of night were depicted as evil. And Nyx gave birth to the twins Apate (Deceit) and Dolos (Trickery) as weapons of war in the conflict between the dark and the light.
That pair are in the Library of Omnipotence City, the meeting place of Godly Pantheons, where it has been revealed that 1 Night Shard is guarded by the Lord High Librarian. Dolos has spread his fog of confusion and Apate's dagger has made Hercules think his companions are his enemies.
In #1 Nyx killed all the Gods in Olympus. Apate's influence has made Hercules blame the Avengers for this because he could have saved them if he wasn't on Earth being a hero. Herc's fists are now hammering Vision, whose synthezoid system was already degrading before this adventure.
Scarlet Witch was blinded by Nyx in #1 and now Spectrum is equally blinded by the fog. Spectrum in her energy form flies around trying to find the Librarian but Dolos blows more mist into her eyes so she sees multiple Herc's attacking her.
Last issue we learned that Wanda Maximoff hadn't been completely blinded, rather she could only see the Night Shard they were looking for and she'd located it hidden behind the Librarian's long beard. But Apate and Dolos had been hiding nearby and so they know the location too. They have the Librarian at knifepoint. But the Witch now realises she can see the twins too and she smashes them with a hex blast.
Dolos' fall removes his illusion of multiple Hercs. Monica Rambeau strobes her emitted light to break the real Hercules out of his 'insanity' ...
... but the tables are turned again by the arrival of Nyx with her 4th child, the serpentine Oizys (Despair/Misery), with captive Voyager in his coils.
In the past war broke out between the Olympians and Nyx & her 3 (so far) children. The ever-squabbling Gods united to defeat the forces of Night. At the end Zeus ripped out Nyx' soul and broke it into 3 Night Shards:- The Night That Was, the Night That Is and the Night That May Yet Be. Nyx and her kids were thrown down into the darkness and her name was forbidden to be spoken. Zeus stated that "As long as the Sun shines upon the Earth, for you there shall be no road home". (So that's the justification for the title of this epic.)
In the despair of her captivity Nyx birthed Oizys. Then (in the No Surrender arc of Avengers) Grandmaster and Challenger took Earth away from its Sun, and Zeus' spell was broken. Nyx and her children were free to take revenge on Zeus and his clan. And Nyx now plans to return the universe to the original dark emptiness. But for that she needs he Soul (Shards) back.
Now Nyx plunges her hand through the Librarian's body and pulls out the Night That Was.
In Nightmare's Realm Hypnos hears of his mother's success and reports that he will soon have the Night That May Yet Be. His minions break through the wall of Nightmare's fortress. But he is faced by Nightmare himself with Hawkeye and Rocket Raccoon. And Hulk riding Nightmare's horse Dreamstalker and claiming to be the new lord of the night.