Synopsis
Someone not of this dimension possessed Daimon Hellstrom and Dr Strange in an attempt to get the Eye Of Agamotto from Dr Voodoo, the current Sorcerer Supreme. DrV passed it to Luke Cage of the New Avengers in Avengers Mansion, but he got possessed too and went giant-size. The NAv fought him out in Central Park, and Iron Fist got the Eye. DrS and DH got depossessed and DrV turned up. But Luke's possessor jumped to Danny Rand who then disappeared with the amulet. And the sky split open to spew demons.
But we start by looking in on Victoria Hand, Norman Osborn's right-hand woman who (in #1) Commander Steve Rogers persuaded the NAv to accept as their liaison with him. She was as unhappy about it as they were, and now she's sitting in her car taking out her frustration on the innocent vehicle. That's when the sky turns orange and starts raining demons.
However we immediately go somewhere else where Iron Fist finds himself in a white space. Then 2 voices start talking about him. The possessor is explaining to his boss how he brought Danny here with the Eye. The boss just complains that IF still has it and not *him*. The minion points out that the mortal's body should have disintegrated as soon as it arrived. The boss says that the body is obviously protected, and asks *Danny* why he's still alive here. Danny points out that he doesn't know where here is, or who the 2 voices are.
Now at last we get back to the New Avengers. They all expect the 3 magic guys to tell them what's going on and where Danny went to. But they don't recognise the species of demon. (Daimon thinks he does but Stephen Strange tells him he's wrong.) Ms Marvel leads Spider-Man and Thing into attacking them anyway. DrS says he and the other 2 mages must go to DrV's Sanctum Sanctorum to research the problem, and they magically teleport away. Luke tells his wife Jessica Jones to go get their baby Danielle Cage from Avengers Mansion and take her to Jess's mother in New Jersey. Wolverine suggests they need a nanny (and they'll get 1 in #7) as he, Luke and Mockingbird join the fray.
Spidey and Thing exchange banter while they fight, and drag Ms Marvel into it when she admits she's never seen Ghostbusters because she's always busy with stuff like this. Spidey wants Ben Grimm to say "It's clobbering time" but Thing thinks he needs a new catchphrase for the new team. Spidey says he's got to give his fans what they want, which is why he's continuing with the jokes even though he's terrified.
Flying Jessica lands in front of the Mansion to be barred entry by demons She uses her super-strength to battle through them, mentioning that she hasn't done super-stuff for years and she wasn't very good at it when she did (as teenage Jewel in flashbacks in her Alias series and later as Knightress in an fb in Pulse #14). Then a voice asks her if she can fly. It's Hand with a big gun from the boot of her car (that she also brandished in #1). Jess zooms into the air and Victoria blasts the demons. Jess says she needs to get her baby, so Hand tells her to go while she holds the demons off. Jess thanks her (who she'd previously disliked). Luke sees Jess and baby flying away so he can now turn all his attention to beating up demons with MB and Logan.
The 3 mystics arrive at Voodoo's place and Dr Strange starts speed reading his eldritch tomes. Daimon wants to know who's powerful enough to possess him and DrS. Stephen Strange admits he doesn't know the answer. And Jericho Drumm admits to being a complete failure at being Sorcerer Supreme to let all this happen, including letting them take Iron Fist and the spirit of his own brother Daniel (in #1).
Iron Fist is also still trying to figure out who's behind this. The boss voice recognises the emblem of the dragon Shou-Lao on Danny's chest, and it is that protection which has kept him alive here. He offers to let him go if he hands over the Eye. But of course IF figures out that the same protection means that the 'boss' can't just *take* the amulet. So he offers a counter-deal - let him go and he won't get Dr Strange to destroy him. This angers the foe and the very fabric of the white space starts to attack the hero. The 'villain' impugns Stephen Strange's honour and reveals himself as the Ancient One, the man who taught Strange all he knows. And he blames the ex-Sorcerer Supreme for what's happening.
Story 2: Avengers Assemble - the oral history of the Earth's mightiest heroes Chapter 5.
Written by Brian Michael Bendis with spot illoes by Eric Powell, Arthur Adams & Laura Martin and Darick Robertson & Morry Hollowell. and Carlos Pacheco & Jesus Merino & Steve Oliff.
Previous chapters have covered the birth of the Avengers (#1), the resuscitation of Captain America (#4) and Baron Zemo's Masters Of Evil (#6-7). Now we move on to the introduction of Kang The Conqueror in #8.
In the conceit of this 'book' Kang actually contacted the author to add his own comments. But he did it 3 years too early and actually inspired the idea of the book in the 1st place.
Kang explains that as a time-traveller he's created multiple alternate versions of himself. He's seen the creation of the Earth and its final destruction. Along the way he's gathered future technology way beyond the comprehension of current humanity. And he's even been a Pharaoh.
Reed Richards says the Fantastic Four 1st met him in Ancient Egypt when he was Pharaoh Rama-Tut (in FF#19). They used Dr Doom's time machine to go back in time to find a fabled cure for Alicia Masters' blindness. Ben Grimm's girlfriend doesn't know why he concentrated on that. Reed says he blamed himself for the team's origin (FF#1 obviously) which left Ben stuck as Thing, which he couldn't cure. So he sees now that he got obsessed with Alicia's blindness as a substitute. Also, visiting Ancient Egypt would be interesting. Ben comments that it was interesting if you like the smell of camel dung.
Kang says that if any of the FF had produced an autobiography (like this 1) then he would have known about their meeting beforehand and been prepared for them. He knew everything else about their adventures in the current era. He relates how he was born in 3012 in an age of peace and enlightenment. But he was born with the soul of a conqueror and there was nothing left to conquer. So he became a time-traveller and went back in time to become Rama-Tut.
Thing says that Rama's future tech made him a tough foe but they eventually made him flee in his time machine. Kang denies being chased off - he left because he'd finished what he wanted to do. Thing says they found the cure for blindness but couldn't bring it back to their own time. Reed hand-waves that it was because the cure was radioactive.
Kang says he met Dr Doom (in FF Annual #2) and they realised that they were related in some undetermined way. (A footnote says that Doom declined to comment.) But meeting Doom and the FF made Kang realise that Time Of Heroes (as his history books call it) was the time that would give him the most challenge and satisfaction to conquer.
Henry Pym remembers that the US Government itself asked the Avengers to stop Kang when he attacked in #8. And this made the team legitimate. He and Tony Stark think Kang is a big danger because time-travel, especially stealing future weapons and bringing them to the past, can have consequences that Kang himself can't control.
Stark adds that Kang's tech is so superior he can't remember how they defeated him. Rick Jones says *he* was the reason. He and his Teen Brigade flattered the villain's ego to give Wasp time to fly to Avengers Mansion to get a weapon that would work against him. Captain America praises their teamwork. Stark comments that Kang ran away again.
Pym asks rhetorically why Kang doesn't just go back and kill the heroes when they were children, and answers his own question by claiming that the Avengers have had such a big effect on the Earth's history that it would be too dangerous to remove them. Kang's explanation is that he lives to conquer as a warrior and such a tactic would be beneath him. But Stark thinks that eventually frustration at always being defeated might make him do it.
Chapter 6 part 1 in Avengers #4 will take us through the big change in #16.