Odin and the Aesir arrive in the newly created second Asgard in space, where the ruler of the gods proclaims that they shall prepare for war against the threat of the Serpent. Some of the gods worry that abandoning Earth to the enemy feels like retreat and Thor concurs, vowing to stand by his adopted home. When he challenges Odin, however, the All-Father orders him imprisoned and continues with his plan to purge the Earth to stop the enemy….
The Worthy have been summoned, though: a war hammer falls from the sky and crashes into the Raft, the prison for super-villain situated in the East River. Juggernaut finds the hammer and when he touches it he is possessed by the spirit of Kuurth, Breaker of Stone. As reports come in of similar impact events (their term, not mine) around the world with attendant violence and disaster, Steve Rogers tells the Avengers they are going to divide the world into incident zones and deploy squads of heroes to keep the peace. He gets a call from Reed Richards: Reed and the Future Foundation are investigating an object that crashed to Earth on Yancy Street….
In Brazil, Bruce and Betty Banner are vacationing, hoping to work out some of the kinks in their marriage caused by their alternate identities. When an object crashes to the ground nearby, they transform into Hulk and Red She-Hulk and go to investigate. Hulk touches the massive hammer and becomes Nul, Breaker of Worlds. He manages to gasp out an order to her to run before his personality is completely overwhelmed….
In South Africa, Crusher Creel (the Absorbing Man) and Titania are overseeing illegal diamond mining when another hammer crashes into their midst. Creel is unable to budge the weapon but when Titania tries she is transformed into Skirn, Breaker of Men, and promises Creel that they will head north to find his hammer. Beneath the Pacific Ocean, Nerkkod, Breaker of Oceans—formerly the conqueror Attuma—rises and joins the others in allegiance to the Serpent. This would-be All-Father commands his minions to create as much havoc and destruction that they can, filling Earth with doubt and panic and fear. Skadi (formerly Sin) outfits a brigade of Nazi battle suits and sets out to destroy the world’s capitals, starting with Washington D.C. in a massive blitzkrieg—and the call goes out: "Avengers Assemble!"