Synopsis / Summary / Plot
*We* know that Jack Of Hearts stole the Reality Gem for Tyrant from Thanos' farm. Thanos recruited Silver Surfer to help him get it back, but Tyrant's growing control of the Gem allowed him to send them into alternate realities he created. Surfer found himself once more a servant of Galactus, and once more rebelled. But when they clashed reality shattered again and he ended up facing 4 versions of himself. Meanwhile in another temporary reality Thanos had an altercation with his 'daughter' Nebula and then fell once more under the sway of Mistress Death.
The 4 other Surfers have been drawn from 4 other realities but for some reason they trust each other but don't trust our guy. And their mistrust seems confirmed when he tells them he's looking for his ally the villainous Thanos. They reason that they've been drawn here to stop such an unholy partnership so they attack him. In desperation he fights back and runs rings round them, but all too soon they have him on the ropes.
But then Thanos arrives in this reality in his mobile throne/chair and scatters the other 4 across space. He explains that Death grew tired of him and let him go. He got his chair working better and tracked Surfer across the realities. And now he can track the Reality Gem to wherever it is.
But Tyrant detects their approach and sends JOH to stop them, and we learn that he had captured the hero and bent him to his will. But 1st he donates to him more of his stored power. He doesn't necessarily expect Jack to win, merely to delay them while he gains more control over the Gem.
SS and Thanos enter reality-616 and home in on the location of the Reality Gem. They see JOH racing towards them and Surfer greets his old ally, assuming that they have the same target. Until Jack blasts him. Norrin Radd then deduces that Jack his under someone's control, probably their foe's. JOH and Thanos clash, and the Titan reports that Jack is much more powerful than he was (ie in the Cosmic Powers mini-series where they met before). As they struggle they fall towards a large asteroid and crashland on it, where Thanos reduces his foe to a skeleton.
Then Tyrant makes himself known. The duo both know him (Thanos from CP, Surfer from his own series). They demand the return of the Reality Gem. The bad guy refuses because he's going to use it to rewrite reality to where he is supreme. And so they clash.