1865: after the Civil War, Confederate Major Aloysius Thorndrake led a party in pursuit of a traitor to their cause. When the fugitive eerily vanished while crossing an open plane, Thorndrake and his men followed—and entered the Abyss….
Ant-Man, sucked into a vortex on Mars, is falling through the universe—and worrying that this will get him kicked out of the Avengers….
On Mars, the giant armored figure Archon demands to know what Steve Rogers and the Beast have done with the Serpent Crown but no one knows what is going on. The Nova Corps Worldmind in Nova’s helmet offers to explain the situation but they are interrupted by a call for help. Valkyrie is radioing that she is under attack by Nova (controlled by the Serpent Crown) and his minions. Black Widow, and Moon Knight fell quickly and she needs aid urgently. Moments later, the enslaved cosmic hero overcomes his former compatriot and leaves her unconscious in a heap. When he learns that some of his men are suffocating because of damage to their oxygen feeds, Nova uses the power of the Crown to provide an atmosphere for Mars. Steve contacts War Machine and tells him to meet them at Valkyrie’s last coordinates; the armored hero responds with the news that Ant-Man is missing….
Meanwhile, Ant-Man has emerged from the other end of the vortex at the Shadow Council citadel in Texas, but because of his small size, his arrival goes undetected. There, Nick Fury has delivered the Serpent Crown he recovered from the Secret Avengers to the Director, Aloysius Thorndrake, warning him of the device’s unpredictable nature. Thorndrake decides that the situation on Mars has become too unstable and orders the 9th Legion called out for a suicide mission….
Back on Mars, Archon explains that Nova’s mining project will awaken the Darkest Child, who will awaken his brothers, and they will free their Nameless Father from his prison. The Archons were created by the Watchers billions of years ago for this purpose, to guard against the return of the Abyss. A millennium ago, the inhabitants of Mars who had been touched by the Abyss created the three Serpent Crowns to channel the power of the Dark Children. The Archons stopped them from destroying Mars but the planet was rendered desolate and all the Archons save the present one were killed. And now the power of the Serpent Crown has taken hold of Nova. Archon launches itself at Nova—and is hurled through the sky in flames, to crash into ruins. Because of Nova’s powers, Archon cannot defeat him….
For the special marvelite in you