Synopsis / Summary / Plot
The previously page ignores Infinity and shows scenes from early issues of this title and New Avengers. We see Tony Stark and Steve Rogers discussing making the Avengers bigger in #1. And we see Mr Fantastic telling the rest of the Illuminati the basic problem behind the incursions of parallel Earths in NAv#2. Then in NAv#3 Captain America refuses to go along with the extreme measures the other Illuminati propose, and Dr Strange makes him forget about the problem and the Illuminati's involvement. (Technically the NAv scenes happen before the proposal to expand the Avengers.)
The issue proper opens in the future - it's 3030 and Stark Experimental is a subsidiary of Richards Industries, housed within the Baxter Buildings. An armoured person variously referred to as Stark and Rhodey is about to use a time-travel device, aided by an old man named Xhang who says he's seen the last moments of several Iron Men.
Armed guards try to break in to stop them, but it takes Franklin Richards to get through the door. Rhodey says something cryptic about "They threw it backwards". After mentioning the rules against this sort of thing, Franklin reluctantly lets the future Iron Man go, saying "You only have this one shot".
At Avengers Tower in the present they're having a barbecue on the roof to celebrate the successful end of the Infinity event, with Thor managing the grill. But Captain Universe (as usual) asks for pie so Hulk brings in the pies, which all seem to contain beer. Meanwhile some characters are having a competition hitting golf balls off the edge of the roof, which somehow also involves Hawkeye's arrows and Starbrand's blasts.
Captain America and Iron Man are missing the party because they're inside discussing team structure again. Cap is going to drop Wolverine because he's in too many teams (at last somebody's noticed!). He's not happy with Spider-Man (without knowing it's Dr Octopus' mind inside the body). Of the 4 new members they inducted for Infinity, he wants to keep Nightmask and Starbrand, but maybe not Abyss and Ex Nihilo. Stark suggests ignoring the original rigid team design with 24 slots (not all filled) and think instead of a larger more fluid organisation with a central hub and whoever they want added on.
Steve doesn't understand why Tony thinks they need to be even bigger. They won through Infinity and whatever else was thrown at them. Why is Stark so pessimistic? He says it's because he can foresee what's coming.
Just then the future Iron Man arrives to spoil the party. Rhodey looks around and thinks it might be the wrong date or even the wrong timeline. But the armour's JARVIS AI confirms the timeline, and when the current Iron Man says its December 2013 relieved Rhodey says "There's still time".
Rhodey tells the Avengers that a rogue planet is heading towards Earth and will hit it in less than a month's time. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner check the prediction and agree with it. Hawkeye thinks that the planet heading straight for Earth suggests somebody aimed it. Banner says that would mean somebody aimed it very accurately a long time ago. But Stark suggests it may not have been fired from the past. And Rhodey sort-of says he's right. (So that's what was meant by "They threw it backwards".)
Over the coming weeks the Avengers build a device in the garden on Mars. Rhodey has provided a lot of advanced tech, and an AI which self-replicates to get the job done on time. But, on Tony's advice, to disguise the presence of intelligent AI they are sending out drone Iron Man suits. And Stark is beginning to think that Rhodey himself is an AI.
Soon the machine is ready. Manifold teleports it with the Iron Men, Captain America, Captain Marvel and Starbrand into orbit round Mars. Hulk leaps into space and gives the machine a massive shove towards the rogue planet. As they approach, Starbrand blasts a hole for the machine to embed securely in.
When the 2 planet's meet we discover that the machine has made the rogue planet out of phase so that it can occupy the same space as Earth. Hyperion and Thor have been waiting in space. Hyperion pushes the rogue planet accurately into position. And Thor hits something with his hammer that ties the 2 planets together.
Later, back on top of Avengers Tower, a 'reversion wave' is about to take Rhodey back to the future. Tony puts forward his latest theory, that Rhodey isn't an AI. No AI would break the rules that he assumes will exist in the future to risk damaging space-time by doing what he did. The future Iron Man, who's kept armour and helmet on all this time, agrees. Removing the helmet to reveal a woman, who tells him she's his granddaughter.
She gives Tony a data stick and tells him that she has changed history, but not in the way he thinks. Originally the Avengers destroyed the rogue planet. But this way it provides a large supply of energy and resources. That's what Tony will tell the world.
But Rhodey built something extra into the device (which presumably the data stick will explain). The merged planet is really a new weapon, better than the anti-matter bombs or the Sol's Hammer Dyson sphere that the Illuminati have been building in NAv to counter the insurgent Earths.
Before the reversion wave takes her Rhodey also warns him that the Illuminati and the alternate Earths problem will soon be out in the open. And every hand will be against Tony.