Late
one night, Daredevil detects Nighthawk and, remembering their previous
encounter, tries to capture him but the two are teleported to limbo-like world
in space. The Grandmaster is playing a game against the Prime Mover, a sentient
computer programmed never to lose, the stakes of which are the fate of Earth. The
Grandmaster’s team is the Defenders plus Daredevil (to make a team of six) and
they will be paired off to face Prime Mover’s team in combat to the death. And
so…
Valkyrie
and Nighthawk find themselves on a dismal world full of stone obelisks and
purple mists. Nighthawk is attacked by a man-bat hybrid demon and once he
catches on that it moves by echolocation, he is able to divert it into a fatal
collision with a stone structure. Val faces Takkor, a four-armed skeletal demon
astride his own dark horse. When she realizes that the horse is the dominant
person, she is able to skewer it on her sword. Round one goes to the
Grandmaster….
The
Sub-Mariner and Daredevil appear on a volcanic world to face their foes. DD is
attacked by an amorphous creature called Dumog which seizes him with its
tentacles and hurls him into an exploding crater where he burns alive. Namor
faces Teju, a lizard man, who, surprisingly, beats Namor to death with its
tail. Round two goes to the Prime Mover….
Doctor Strange and Hulk find themselves in a semi-medieval world where Hulk faces Grott
the Man-Slayer, a yellow dwarf with powers of telekinesis who tosses him around
like a feather. Strange faces Korvac, a futuristic cyborg whose brain is wired
directly to his weapons pedestal, making him able to fight at the speed of
thought. Strange reacts by punching Korvac in the face, knocking him to the
ground, breaking his machine parts. Meanwhile, Hulk, buried alive under tons of
debris, reaches out a hand and flicks Grott into a hard wall. Round three and
the match go to Grandmaster….
The
Prime Mover takes off in a huff, and Grandmaster informs the Defenders (and DD,
resurrected along with Namor) that he will be making Earth into a training
ground for warriors and that they will become part of his stable of gladiators.
The non-team attacks their foe who can just brush them off. DD challenges
Grandmaster to a simple contest, double or nothing. DD takes a plastic disc,
marks an X on one side and leaves the choice to Grandmaster who calls “tails.”
It comes up heads and, in good grace, Grandmaster accepts his defeat and sends
the heroes home. Dr. Strange questions DD’s judgment in risking Earth on the
toss of a coin; DD, with his sensitive fingers, knew he could flip the disc to
come up however he chose but he doesn’t tell the Defenders that and so he takes
his leave….
“The
World Destroyers!”
Writer/artist:
Bill Everett.
Synopsis:
Story reprinted from SUB-MARINER (1954 series) #38.
Betty Dean suggests to Namor the Sub-Mariner that if he is going to war against the
surface world, he should start with the Fatalists, a small band of fanatics
that has developed a death ray and has been trying to sell it to a wealthy
nation—but all of the nations on Earth, including the Communist ones, are
horrified by the device and refuse to consider it. Namor’s reaction is delight
that maybe the surface people will destroy each other, leaving Atlantis alone.
The Fatalists hunt down Namor and shoot him with their death ray and toss his
body in the ocean. They have kidnapped the son of a Latin American leader to
force his father’s country into purchasing the death ray; when the old man
refuses, they seek to execute the boy but Namor arrives, having been revived by
the water, snatching the ray gun away and shooting the Fatalists with it. The
Fatalists turn out to be aliens from Pluto and the ray sends them home. Namor
takes the stockpile of weapons for his own use but discovers the guns won’t
work for him.
“The
House of Shadows!”
Reprinted
from STRANGE TALES #120.