Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Otto Octavius, the Superior Spider-Man, has elected himself defender of San Francisco. And now Frost Giants have invaded as part of War Of The Realms. Otto has a solution for the citizens of his city, and we see him zap a homeless man with 1 of his mechanical spider-arms. But then we see the Giants complaining that this city has no people for them to eat, and we learn that SSM has used his tech to make the populace temporarily out of phase with reality.
But the effect is untested so he needs to defeat the menace quickly and get them back. He knows he could systematically disable or kill all the Giants in the city. But he also knows that wouldn't solve the problem. He needs to end the whole War, so he retires to his Horizon University lab (where he teaches as Elliot Tolliver since Amazing SM #800) to plan.
Otto learns more about the War which is of course magic-based so he tries to contact Dr Strange who helped him against Master Pandemonium last issue. But he discovers that global communications are down (because of Roxxon's hacking in WOTR#2) so he can't get him or the Avengers. But he *can* pick up the West Coast Avengers reality TV transmission in Los Angeles.
That team (without Hawkeye (Kate Bishop)) are also facing Frost Giants. Kid Omega (Quentin Quire) protects himself, Hawkeye (Clint Barton), Fuse (Johnny Watts) and new member Alloy (his sister Ramone Watts) while America Chavez and Gwenpool take the fight to the enemy. Gwen Poole (who comes from a reality where the Marvel Universe exists in comic books) comments that this is an Event tie-in and they just have to survive it and then go back to their own plotlines.
Fuse, whose body can transform to any substance, borrows some fire from Hawkeye's flame-arrow and sets out to melt some Frosties. But their cold is too much for him. Alloy rushes to his side, but they are both rescued from a giant axe by the webline of our 'hero'.
Quentin scans him mentally and informs the others that this is the Doc Ock Spidey from San Fran. Clint suggest they accept his aid, but arrogant SSM starts to take over as more Giants arrive. He tells Quire to hold them off for a bit with a TK force field while he does something more permanent. And it suddenly gets hot, and the Frost Giants run off because their Fimbulwinter is failing. (The extreme Fimbulwinter is caused by the Casket Of Ancient Winters which WOTR#6 will show that boss Frost Giant Ymir has.)
Octavius explains that he used a satellite to focus the rays of the Sun. Hawkeye remembers that the old villainous Dr Octopus used a network of such satellites to threaten to burn the Earth (Spider-Man: Ends Of The Earth story-arc). Ock says he kept 1 of them, and now they should be glad he did. But he reckons it will burn out in a day. So they have until then to stop the whole invasion. Quire grudgingly admires a fellow egotist's chutzpah.
Gwen objects that this isn't how Crossover Events work. The War can only be stopped in the main series. They can only do their small part and wait for it to be over. The only alternative ending for them is to die to show how high the stakes are, but that only happens to very new characters or failed legacy chars. She has to explain that last bit - legacy characters are new versions of old chars that make the fans long for the originals to come back. Then she looks around at the legacy SSM and the new Fuse and Alloy and thinks they may be doomed. (She should also figure in that the team's book has been cancelled and the WCA are guest-stars in someone else's title. Maybe she thinks Spidey is guesting with *them*.)
The rest of the team are used to Gwen's 'madness', but Otto just refuses to play 2nd fiddle in any circumstance and claims that the War *needs* his genius to end it. He tells America to create a portal to the Asgardian Realms while LA (and SF) are safe. Gwen adds that their supporting chars (her pet land shark and the lady dragon) can watch out for any trouble. She figures Kate Bishop is busy in another tie-in (WOTR: Journey Into Mystery mini-series). Plus sometime flaunting comics conventions works too. But America finds that magic prevents her from teleporting to Asgard.
Ramone suggests America take them to New York where Asgardian refugees have been living (after Asgardia was destroyed in Thor #705). They may be able to help. SSM tells America to make it so ...
... but they wind up in Yancy Street where the Fantastic Four are fighting Frost Giants and Dark Elves, with a promise of a side order of Trolls. Octavius wants to combine brainpower with Reed Richards, but Mr. Fantastic says they must end the local problem 1st. So Otto leads his troops into the fray with the cry "The die is cast".