The quinjet lands at
Garrett Castle, ancestral home of the British Avenger
Black Knight. It turns out that the team tried to contact
Dane Whitman between
#110 and
Daredevil #99 when the reduced ranks were seeking help against
Magneto. They hadn't been worried then because he was often away on his own adventures. But it concerns them that he hasn't got back to them since.
The Avengers find an invisible barrier around the castle, which resists
Thor's hammer, Swordsman's sword-blasts and Vision's intangibility.
Scarlet Witch's hex has a little temporary effect, which suggests the barrier is magical.
Mantis uses her empathic power to discover that the barrier was erected by
Dr Strange (in
Defenders #4).
Black Panther recalls that Strange and Knight helped the Avengers in
#61. But they don't know whether this act was friendly, nor how to get past the barrier.
Suddenly they are attacked by
Troglodytes who burst from concealed tunnels in the ground. Black Panther, Mantis, Scarlet Witch and Swordsman are taken by surprise and knocked out.
Captain America,
Iron Man and Thor are subdued by gas.
The gas saps all their wills, and they are taken bound before the Troglodyte king
Skol. He says he saw costumed surface-dwellers take Black Knight away and create the invisible barrier. He thinks the Avengers are the same people and wants them to take the barrier down.
It seems that several hundred years ago the King's knights oppressed his people, and the ancestors of this lot found refuge underground. They've been living her ever since, scavenging for food. One of their best sources was Garrett castle, but now they can't get in because the magic barrier extends underground as well as over.
Thor tries to explain that they didn't create the wall and can't destroy it. But Skol doesn't believe them, and has them all thrown still bound into a pit where they are menaced by a giant albino scorpion.
But they are now out of reach of the will-sapping gas. Thor breaks free, Vision ghosts through his bonds and Mantis flexes out of hers. The 2 males injure the beast, but it thrashes about and picks up still-bound
Wanda in a huge claw. But Mantis kills it with one perfectly-placed blow.
The Troglodytes above douse the light-giving torches. The
Trogs are used to the dark, but all the Avengers bar Panther can't see. Panther's training (and mystic herbs) allow him to see in the dark. He gets Thor to untie him and the others. He leads his fellow-Avengers to form a defensive wall in front of a tunnel where he expects their foes to emerge. Then he himself heads up the tunnel.
In the narrow confines Panther is able to take the Troglodytes on 1-at-a-time. When he defeats Skol the king surrenders.
Later the Avengers tell the authorities about the underground people. They are given medical attention and brought out to new life on the surface. The team leave, intent on discovering what Dr Strange and his friends have done with their ally Black Knight.
The last section of this issue is given its own title:-
Prologue: Alliance most foul. It's a lead-in to the
Avengers/Defenders War.
Blinded
Loki falls off a cliff at the end of
Thor #207. Just before he hits the ground he is teleported away by
Dormammu to his
Dark Dimension. After some mutual posturing, Dormammu explains how Dr Strange made him vow in
Strange Tales #127 never to invade Earth's dimension. But he has discovered the
Evil Eye which will allow him to bring Earth's dimension into his own, allowing him to conquer it without breaking his word.
Loki counters that the Evil Eye was destroyed in
Fantastic Four #54. But Dormammu says that it was merely shattered into 6 pieces. Dormammu isn't allowed to go to Earth to find them, and Loki is now blind. But between them they can trick Dr Strange and his
Defenders into collecting the components for them.
This Prologue leads to Chapter 1 in
DEFENDERS (1972) #8
Give that special marvelite a timely gift