Synopsis / Summary / Plot
The Goddess has made the Sun go nova. It consumes Mercury and Venus then it reaches Paradise Omega, the planet she created on the far side of the Sun from Earth. It engulfs Drax and Thor still fighting in space, along with Firelord also out there. We see it killing Gamora, Maxam and Wolverine on the planet, and Aurora, Iron Man, Quicksilver and Storm in another group. It reaches to the core of the planet where it finds Pip The Troll, Professor X, Silhouette and Thanos outside the Cosmic Egg. Only Goddess herself survives inside the Egg. Meanwhile it also swallows Earth. We see Deathlok, Luke Cage, Silver Sable and the being called Terror. We see it consume the faithful who are awaiting the Rapture and the fearful unbelievers. We see it take a kid reading this very comic open to this page. And all the other Suns in the galaxy flare up too, taking the Shi'ar and the Skrulls (and all the other aliens). Goddess declares this the end of the universe (making the frequent comic mistake of confusing the universe with the Galaxy). And now she intends to take her holy fire down the dimensional corridor to other universes.
But then she opens her eyes and finds that the 4 beings outside the Egg are still alive and well. As are those we saw on the surface and above Planet Omega. And on Earth and the other alien planets. Even the kid reading the previous page has turned to this 1. Thanos admits this isn't *his* doing. But then Adam Warlock's spirit appears to explain what happened. He was inside Goddess' subconscious (as seen in Warlock Chronicles #5 and Warlock & Infinity Watch #22) trying but failing to stop her. And he realised that Thanos' external attack was too late (see last issue). However being part of Goddess meant he too was in contact with the Cosmic Egg so he made it create an illusion of the 'Rapture' a moment before she would trigger the real thing, which tricked her into believing that she had done it. He had to make the whole universe believe it was happening to them in order to convince her.
Goddess still intends to achieve her goal but Thanos points out that, now that they know what she intended, her believers won't lend her their combined will to allow her to override the safeguards built into (the Cosmic Cubes which make up) the Cosmic Egg. But she boasts that she can still use the Cosmic Egg to achieve her ends in gradual stages. So Warlock penetrates the Egg and she finds herself unable to stop him because he is only a soul which the Egg can't effect. Goddess responds by shucking her body and making it a soul-on-soul conflict. They battle within the energy plane of the Egg to which she is linked. That plus the fact that Adam's cool intellect is no match for the fire of her zeal mean that she has him on the ropes ...
... until Thanos and Prof X weigh in with their mental powers. She still manages to hold them off for a while but then another factor determines the outcome. The 3 heroes are all complete souls while she is only a part of Adam that he discarded (after the Infinity Gauntlet event). She pretends to give up but then reoccupies her body. However Thanos is ready and a beam from the Soul Gem he wears on his brow absorbs both her and Adam. Another beam sends Warlock's soul to his own body on Thanos' spaceship. (We'll see what happened to Goddess later.) Thanos realises that must have been a command preset by Adam before he gave the Titan the Gem (see #4).
He also realises that Warlock will use the ship's teleporter to get back here straight away so he doesn't have long to do what he has to. 1st he does what he's promised Adam (because his word is his bond) and gets the Egg to return all the other heroes on or near Omega to Earth. Then he uses a small device to honour another promise. And then he makes a final wish.
Then he pretends to be surprised when Adam teleports in and takes his Soul Gem back. Warlock warns him that he won't allow him to use the Cosmic Egg for himself. But Thanos says that he has told the Egg to self-destruct in 10 minutes, destroying the planet with it. The planet is also swiftly exiting the Solar System. And as a final act Thanos teleports the 2 of them back to his spaceship.
We see Earth's heroes in joyful reunion in Avengers Mansion. Thor makes a quick exit. Mr Fantastic reports to Nick Fury that the crisis is over but they don't know why or how. Pip The Troll is still bound and gagged (after his attempt to take over the Egg in Warlock & Infinity Watch #20). Prof X reports that Thanos was involved in saving the day. Sasquatch complains that his back has been shaved by Black Knight's sword, but Speedball is looking shifty. Wolverine compliments Gamora on her healing factor.
Thanos and Warlock watch the end of Paradise Omega from Thanos' ship. Adam reminds Thanos that he promised Mephisto 1 of the Cosmic Cubes that made up the Cosmic Egg, but the Titan suggests he let him worry about that. Adam thanks him for his aid and for honourably destroying the Egg. Thanos rejects the idea that he is some kind of hero. He did what he did for his own benefit including destroying the Egg so no-one could bother him with it again. He points out that the Egg proved to have its flaws which is why *he* didn't want it. If and when *he* decides to conquer the universe his plan would be foolproof. Thanos teleports Warlock away until then ...
... to reappear among the gathered heroes. Rather than thanking him they blame him for the problem because Goddess was part of him. Gamora leaps to his defence until now-unbound Pip teleports the whole Infinity Watch to Monster Island. Adam blames the heroes' reaction on frustration because all their efforts were irrelevant to the outcome. Moondragon bemoans the fact that she's spent years becoming a better person but Goddess easily turned her back to her old tyrannical self.
Adam reveals what happened to Goddess. He's trapped her in Soul World (inside the Soul Gem) where she meets his other aspect Magus. She discovers that because they are just fragments of Warlock's soul the other (complete soul) inhabitants such as Autolycus can't tell she's there. She and Magus *can* talk to each other but it turns out even they can't touch each other.
Firelord looks in on Titan where Eros appears not to know that all the Titanians were immobilised by Goddess (as seen by Silver Surfer in Warlock & Infinity Watch #19). Dr Strange discovers that the inhabitants of Earth believe the whole Infinity Crusade has been a mass hallucination. Wolverine advises Storm not to feel guilty about falling under Goddess' spell. Daredevil and Spider-Man go out on the streets to deal with the crimes that have restarted now that Goddess isn't making everyone 'good'. And Silver Surfer sees wars restarting too.
On his ship Thanos has a Cosmic Cube/Cosmic Containment Unit (which he presumably extracted from the Egg with his device). Mephisto arrives to collect it and Thanos tells him all the others are gone. He hands it over and the devil immediately tries to use it to kill him. But it doesn't work and the devil accuses the Titan of cheating. Thanos points out that he only promised him a Cosmic Cube, Mephisto never specified that it should be a working 1. The devil should know all about such small minor details. Mephisto leaves in a huff and Thanos resolves to continue relying only on himself.