Synopsis / Summary / Plot
We see various superfolk being turned into emitters of whirlpools of darkness:- Villain Blackout. Heroine Dusk. Shroud, currently claiming the title Moon Knight and fighting Hunter's Moon. Heroine Darkstar. Nuhuman Nightfall, previously only seen in New Warriors (2014) #7-8. Hero Cloak, in front of his horrified partner Dagger. Villain Dr Dark, witnessed in the FCBD prologue. Mutant vigilante Norio. Heroine Silhouette. Their and others' darkness covers the world and blots out the Sun in Sundeath.
At the end of their #13 the Avengers noticed this from their orbiting Impossible City. Now Iron Man and Scarlet Witch are in New York. Wanda Maximoff on the ground reports to Tony Stark in the air that she's with Blackout. IM is receiving similar reports from all over the world. SW recognises the names as Darkforce users and theorises that they've become Portals from the Darkforce Dimension and now that dimensions dark energy is flooding the world. Tony asks her if she can close them with her magic but she sarcastically tells him no.
Hunter's Moon and Tigra witnessed Shroud's transformation at the end of Vengeance Of The Moon Knight #5, and they now note that the Moon is also hidden by the dark cloud. And vampires attack them.
We see vamp attacks all over the globe. Nothing can withstand them. But some civilians risk crossing a border into Latveria, and the pursuing undead get burned to a crisp when they try to follow. Dr Doom notes that his border defence works, and welcomes new citizens.
In Brooklyn Spider-Man (Miles Morales) uses the Venom Saber he can generate from his bio-electricity to kill a vamp. He wonders what Blade would do but the man himself pops up to answer the question. Or rather to tell Spidey he has a plan and he's part of it.
All the Avengers except Iron Man are now fighting the undead on Earth. Thor wants to know where they've come from. Captain Marvel hopes Black Panther has an answer but he doesn't. Vision says Dracula is missing (but we've seen him apparently against these vampires in the FCBD issue). Captain America (Sam Wilson) thinks this isn't Drac's vampire nation. Then they get a call from Blade in a truck saying he's on the run but he has some information they need. He asks to be teleported up to the Impossible City. Iron Man's there and gets the City to bring the team home followed by the truck.
But when the truck arrives Blade isn't in it. Instead there's a group of super-vampires called the Bloodcoven led by Bloodstorm One (a clone of Dracula previously seen in Nightstalkers #16-18). He tells Megrim to maintain psychic static, sends Damascene after Thor and sics the Cruel and Unusual pair on Scarlet Witch. He keeps Smoke Eater with himself to face an attack by BP and Cap. The minion sniffs ghost smoke and grows multiple eyes, arms and legs in defence.
Unusual severely affects the Witch. Bloodstorm throws Panther at Sam Wilson. Damascene's sharp-bladed fingers cut the Thunder God, and a detached and thrown 1 pierces Vision's chest. Iron Man tries to help but Cruel's tanglewire gets painfully inside his armour. Megrim gives Carol Danvers a severe migraine. Smoke Eater attacks her and explains that Cruel eats pain, Unusual eats magic, Megrim eats thoughts replacing them with agony, while she eats spirits.
Bloodstorm has concentrated his attention on Cap who will be prized by their master because when they make *him* a vampire America will be disheartened. Panther interrupts and BS hurls Cap away. Thor is still being slashed by Damascene while Wanda is being trapped in a force globe by Unusual. Megrim and Smoke Eater have defeated CM while Cruel's tanglewire is corrupting IM's AI, and also Vision's body. Damascene sends a spike through Thor's brain, but says it won't kill him.
Bloodstorm declares victory but T'Challa calls on the City's AI to dimension shift. However Cruel has compromised that too. But it can still teleport some Avengers away, beginning with CA on BP's order. CA, CM, IM and Vizh get away. Angry BS apparently rips Panther's heart out. Thor is in whatever state he's in, and SW is completely and helplessly englobed.
Someone approaches Dr Strange's Bleecker St sanctum. Inside he and Clea are trying to assemble the Montesi Formula (that will kill all vampires) from fragments in various tomes. Their visitor enters and it's Blade who reminds them that the whole thing is in the Darkhold but Wanda has 'eaten' it. (They obviously don't know about that book being reborn as a boy at the end of the Contest Of Chaos event across last year's Annuals.) He tells them about a worldwide vampire cult called the Structure (from Moon Knight (2021) #16-18). MK killed their leader but now a new leader has revitalised them. They used antedeluvian Atlantean magic to detonate the Darkforce users and had vamps ready everywhere to strike. And now they've sent the Bloodcoven, vampires fed on superhuman blood, to take out the Avengers.
Stephen Strange says it's even more important they assemble the Formula. Blade reminds him that it will kill all vampires, including friendlies like himself. Strange replies that he'll do that and bear the guilt. Blade says he knew Wanda Maximoff didn't have it in her to do it, but he wasn't sure about Stephen. (He should have been because DrS did it once before in his (1974)#62.) Strange asks if the new leader is Dracula. Blade tells him he's wrong, and lets him know that *he* is the boss vamp as he stabs him through the heart.