Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Last issue some of the Olympian gods returned from their 'death' in the Avengers: No Road Home mini. They are now based in a space-going city New Olympus which can also slip in and out of this dimension. And they've gone on a rampage.
Nova asked the Guardians Of The Galaxy for help while they were on R&R on Halfworld after the events of the previous series, but only Moondragon, Phyla-Vell, Rocket Raccoon and Star-Lord agreed to go with him. And they were joined by Marvel Boy.
They sneaked into the city intending to destroy the dimension-rotor (that enables the dimension-hopping) with a singularity bomb created by MB. But it all went wrong and Hephaestus' robots stole the bomb from Rocket on their starship the Bowie.
I didn't notice that Zeus blasted a big hole through Nova at the end of last issue, and now he's curled up in the foetal position with only the Nova Force keeping him alive. He and Phyla-Vell had been fighting Zeus, Apollo and a 3rd who Marvel Fandom Wiki now identify as Hera (rather than Persephone last issue). Now Captain Marvel faces them alone.
Inside New Olympus Star-Lord is shot in the leg by an arrow from Artemis, but he uses his Element Gun to encase her in diamond, depleting its charge. (Rocket's in contact with him and wants to know why he hasn't done that before to make them rich!) He then limps to the dimension-rotor room where he finds Hephaestus with the bomb and a horde of his automatons.
At the end of last issue Marvel Boy and Moondragon discovered Hercules a prisoner in the city. Noh-Varr carefully frees him from his restraints. Then the 3 run into Herc's sister Athena whose wisdom he hopes will make her amenable to reason. But she reminds him she's also the Goddess of War, and there's a big cosmic war approaching (probably the upcoming Empyre event). However she does offer them some 'wisdom' in the shape of 3 Tarot cards: the Fool, the Lovers and Death. (All the characters have the heads of owls, her symbol, even Death's beak-headed skeleton.) She says the Fool-Saint will be lost but will return transformed (I think that refers to Star-Lord later this issue), and the Lovers will be united (Heather Douglas and Phyla-Vell on the next page?), but nothing can stop the reckoning.
So it turns out that while all this has been going on Moondragon has been mentally aiding her lover Captain Marvel, augmenting her strength, reflexes and perception. She/they is holding her own against the 3 gods. She's just smashed Apollo's lyre, which reduces him to a whining 'child'. Zeus orders a retreat to the city to deal with the other invaders, leaving CM with the choice of following them to Moondragon or helping Nova. She confers mentally with Heather who tells her to do what's right ... and she flies off with Nova.
Hephaestus wants Peter Quill to tell him how the singularity bomb operates. He shows Star-Lord that his automatons actually have living beings inside (with eyes and mouth sewn shut) and threatens to turn *him* into 1 such who will then automatically give up the secret. So Peter pretends to submit, but when the god draws close he rips the arrow out of his leg and stabs Hephaestus through the throat, killing him.
With the god gone Quill's comms come back to life. He tells his allies that he's going to set a timer to activate the rotor to take the city away and the bomb to go off at the same time. Rocket should get the Bowie ready for takeoff and everyone else should run there. Hercules uses a Hulk-style handclap to blow automatons over, and he makes it to the ship with Marvel Boy and Moondragon ...
... and the ship starts to take off. It's Peter remote-controlling it from his helmet (see last issue). He's staying because the bomb timer failed and he has to trigger it manually. But he says he has a plan to survive which involves Zeus who's just arrived. (And like last issue he has a flash of memory of the Master Of The Sun which *this* version of Star-Lord shouldn't have.)
The Bowie gets far enough away. The city explodes and disappears. And the Guardians, especially Rocket, mourn the loss of their friend.