Tarot (2020 series) #4

Reality has broken down and the Avengers and the Defenders find their identities bizarrely scrambled, making them Doc Surf, Major Gamma, The Hulkoid, Scarlet Strange, Sturm Meister, Reaper, Eiserne Jungfrau, Imperius Hex, Gadget, and Captain Cosmos. They are fighting for their lives against the Unbelievables, a band of cartoon-based superheroes introduced last issue. Major Gamma (an amalgam of Captain America and Hulk) warns against killing their foes—but then he is overwhelmed by the enemy and transforms into Hulk, at the same time appearing in the World War 2 cemetery and fighting living statues, as seen in the opening of issue #1, witnessed by the other Invaders, and returning to normal back in the present. Stone letters fall from the sky spelling out, “I’m bored! Too much talking, I want more fighting!”

Then they are confronted by Black Panther leading a team to prevent the scrambled heroes from invading Wakanda. Major Gamma insists they are innocent but Panther merely points him back to show him the scrambled heroes are coming from a Nazi-controlled USA. Major Gamma is able for a second to pierce the veil but then the team is attacked by the Unbelievables with a number of familiar allies. Doc Surf (a hippie version of Doctor Strange) learns that it’s all in the mixed-up Tarot deck which in in the hands of couple of children. Then the Nameless One appears to fight them but Doc also sees that he is the distraction; instead, Doc dispatches Gadget (Winter Soldier and Thor?) to get the cards from the kids. So, Gadget visits the other reality and trades the kids his tablet with hologram capabilities for the deck of “old cards.” Once the cards are pulled through to this reality, everything goes back to normal, the Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Vision) and the Defenders (Doctor Strange, Hulk, Sub-Mariner, Valkyrie, Silver Surfer) are themselves again at Avengers Mansion; Diablo was pulled through with them but he is nowhere to be seen….

Epilogue: In WW2 France, the Invaders (Captain America, Sub-Mariner, Human Torch) come upon a camp of American soldiers. The GIs report that there has been no action, save the capture of a Nazi deserter named Okkulte who sounds crazy, muttering about magic. The heroes join the soldiers for some relaxation: “A day without fighting is cause for celebration.”