Synopsis
Agamotto has been trying by trickery to get his Eye amulet back from the Sorcerer Supreme (currently Dr Voodoo), but has been opposed by him, Dr Strange, Daimon Hellstrom and the New Avengers. When his ruse was exposed Joshua Drumm challenged him to single combat but is going to bend the rules by sending Wolverine as his champion, but imbued with the knowledge, powers and skills of everyone involved. That's the above named plus Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Mockingbird, Ms Marvel, Spider-Man, Thing and even their liaison with Commander Steve Rogers - Victoria Hand, all gathered in a circle in Avengers Mansion.
Logan enters Agamotto's Light Dimension and the ex-Vishanti fights him the guise of a sequence of his foes and friends:- Madame Hydra (maybe), Sebastian Shaw (probably), Mystique, Daken, Phoenix, Kitty Pryde (I guess) and Hulk. It's mainly a battle of spells but the powered-up claws get a hit in. The Earth mages are backing him with spiritual support from all the heroes, but also they share the effects of the blows he receives.
Victoria Hand slips away to grab her big gun and go see what's happening outside the front door. She finds a crowd gathered outside not very happy and the skies turning orange and starting to split open again.
Wolvie is now seemingly fighting Apocalypse. But then Dr Voodoo sees the spirit of his brother Daniel Drumm, feared dead in the Light Dimension, turn up and possess 1 of the pale demons that inhabit that place. Agamotto has switched to Sabretooth but now the possessed demon joins in the attack against him. The battle is turning against Aggie as he turns into Captain America. He claims that the terms of the challenge have now been broken, but Daniel points out he wasn't around to agree to that. Joshua is fearful for his brother as Capamotto blasts him out of the demon. The foe then becomes Logan's love Mariko Yashida who hits both attackers with a torture spell. DrV grabs the Eye Of Agamotto which is hovering in the air above the circle and he plunges with it into the Light Dimension.
Hellstrom and Strange aren't happy with this development. Hand sees more rents in the sky outside. But Stephen Strange tells everyone to wait to see what happens.
Voodoo appears to be in a more physical form than the others in the LD. He sees Agamotto in his tiger form rending Daniel's spirit-body, and Wolverine seems out of it for now. But Joshua tells the powerful foe that he knows why he needed his Eye. If the Vishanti have cast him out then he has lost most of his power. And now the Eye (is the only thing that?) can defeat him, so he needed it to be safe. DrV attacks him with the Eye and his Staff Of Legba. Agamotto turns into a Cthulhu-like form. And Dr Strange weeps for his friend and his old patron as they both and the Eye are destroyed in the conflagration.
Wolverine is ejected back to Earth and the Mansion to learn that they have won but at a cost. The Eye has gone so Earth no longer has a Sorcerer Supreme. And Daniel possesses Luke Cage and blames everything on Strange (this is getting to be a pattern). He claims that DrS deliberately passed the mantle of SS over to Joshua knowing that it would lead to his death. And he vows revenge on him and the Avengers. Thing grabs Luke to stop the raging attack, but the possessor leaves him. Daimon Hellstrom reminds them that he warned them about this and leaves the building. Only to find himself with Victoria Hand facing the mob. He harangues them with how grateful they should be that the Avengers have once again saved the world from destruction, and they should take inspiration and do something meaningful with their lives - but they probably won't. The crowd part to let him through.
Story 2: Avengers Assemble - the oral history of the Earth's mightiest heroes Chapter 10 (mistakenly called Chapter 12).
Written by Brian Michael Bendis with illustrations by Gil Kane and John Buscema.
Chapter 9 in Avengers #6 described how Henry Pym (as Goliath) and Wasp returned to the team and Hawkeye's girlfriend Black Widow resurfaced in Av#26-30. This Chapter will wander through #38-50. As before it's expressed as interviews with current chars reflecting back on that time.
The issue starts off with praise from everyone for the self-effacing English 'butler' Edwin Jarvis. It mentions his WWII stint in the RAF and his being a champion boxer. But it's summed up by Steve Rogers who says he's as much an Avenger as any of them.
The intro mentions fights with Sub-Mariner (#40), Diablo (#41-42) and Mole Man (also #40 but not a fight). But this whole run covers the 1st Avenging era of Hercules who 'joined' them in #38 until he left in #50. There are mixed reactions to the womanising Olympian who loved to pick a fight with anyone but was a great drinking buddy. He got exiled from Olympus in #38 and returned with the Avengers in #50 to save the Olympians from a dastardly plot.
However the largest section of this Chapter is reserved for Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. They'd only just returned to the team in #36-37 but they'd leave again in #47-49. They thought thought they were settled and safe in the Avengers but then Magneto returned in #47 and he wanted them back in his Brotherhood Of (Evil) Mutants. Tony Stark can see that Maggie was really fighting for mutant rights but was going about it all wrong. Carol Danvers (Ms Marvel who wasn't yet an Avenger at this time) doesn't believe it. If he really believed in equality for mutants he'd have been glad to see them in the Avengers. The current chars also remain confused over whether Magneto actually knew Wanda and Pietro were his children. *They* certainly didn't*.
Magneto persuaded the twins to accompany him to the UN to ask for peace between humans and mutants. But he contrived to get Wanda slightly shot and then protective hothead Pietro reacted as expected and the pair fled with him in #49.
I feel I must throw in some other bits of the run:- Black Widow's husband Red Guardian was introduced in #43-44 (and appeared to die). The good Black Knight was intro'd in #48. And Captain America left the team in #47, which meant that at the end of #50 they were at their lowest ebb with only Goliath, Hawkeye and Wasp active.
The story continues in Avengers #7 with the addition of Black Panther to the ranks and the intro of Ultron and the Vision.