Synopsis
Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, is swimming joyously in the ocean when a pair of dolphins warn him that something is wrong with his Avengers teammates. He heads to New York Harbor and discovers Avengers Island (actually a floating platform), raised high on a column of hardened lava. As Namor watches, Lava Men detach from the pillar to attack him. He creates a vortex to scatter them but a sphere of hardened lava plunges into the water and sinks; this distracts him and he is overwhelmed by the Lava Men who create a bubble around him and force him into the larger sphere with his fellow Avengers (Captain America, Thor, She-Hulk, Quasar, Gilgamesh, Black Panther), who have been trying to break out. Thor tries to force his way through the opening made to admit Namor but it closes up, trapping his arm until he can break free….
Back at Avengers Island, Jarvis tries to contact departing team members to have them return and rescue the trapped Avengers. A Quinjet containing the West Coast Avengers (Wasp, Wonder Man, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Tigra, Hank Pym) picks up the message and turns back. Meanwhile, Jarvis discovers that the pillar holding up the island is crumbling away, leaving his position precarious….
Inside the sphere, Namor is suffering dehydration while Gilgamesh is in stasis, conserving his energy. Thor grows angry and, with She-Hulk’s help, he bashes a hole in the sphere; as the lava solidifies around him again, he crashes his way to freedom then uses Mjolnir to destroy the sphere, freeing his teammates. They emerge into a strange locale….
Interlude: In Cresskill, New Jersey, Professor Paul Harker descends into his basement to check up on his Inverter….
The Avengers discover they are in an underground cavern. Thor calls up some rain to save Namor’s life; the Atlantean recovers but is delirious and needs to be calmed by Cap. Then Jinku steps forward, introducing himself as the witchdoctor of the Lava Men and announcing they are his prisoners for the destruction of his race. Jinku relates the history of the Lava Men: They were once the underground race called the Gortokians who worshipped the god Cha’sa’dra. Then their god appeared to them, offering them immortality in exchange for their devotion and so they were transformed into lava men, faithful to Cha’sa’dra. Then during the Inferno incident, Cha’sa’dra was leading the invasion of New York City and the Avengers killed him. With his death, the Lava Men lost their immortality and died, crumbling to dust. Jinku and his acolytes were spared because their exposure to magic lent them some durability but the acolytes still hardened into rock. And now Jinku, ignoring Cap’s claims that Cha’sa’dra was only a minor demon, calls on his god’s avenging avatar, a gigantic red demon, to punish the Avengers….