Synopsis / Summary / Plot
As part of their plan against Adam Warlock's rogue good/feminine side Goddess Thanos sent Adam's soul somewhere in Infinity Crusade #5. Now we discover that his destination is inside Goddess' mind. But he has been unexpectedly transformed there and now the left side of his body is like hers. And an old woman greets him and says she's an aspect of Goddess who could be called the Wise Woman. She also tells him that he wasn't truly created by the scientists called the Hive/Enclave because he has had many previous lives.
Adam asks her to explain further but she wonders if he has time if he wants to stop Goddess' scheme which nears completion. She declares that the plan does not meet with *her* approval, but she considers his chance of succeeding is low because he's never previously explored his feminine side. He agrees to go on a mystical journey with her to gain enlightenment.
He enters a portal which is extremely painful and spews him out of a volcano into a paradise akin to Soul World. His dual body is now childlike and he makes friends with a fawn and a rabbit. But he immediately begins to age and as a teen he admires a rose bush but pricks his finger on a thorn. And suddenly his evil/macho side Magus is there pruning all the roses off with a large pair of shears before stalking off. The Wise Woman says that's how he's always treated any feminine tendency.
A drop of blood falls from Adam's finger and starts a chain reaction of explosions from which he's rescued by a mounted knight who turns out to be Magus again. Escaping from his grasp Warlock discovers he's pregnant and immediately gives birth to an ectoplasmic structure which he nurtures until it abandons him. The Wise Woman sees his distress but says that it's a normal part of the cycle of life.
She now says that he must go on but he's faced with a multitude of Goddess images which represent all the life paths available. Eventually he picks 1 at random but they all disappear because the WW says he delayed too long in choosing, as he always has done (in his past lives?). Now all that remains is the inevitable darkness which starts to envelop him. He sees a light and tries to reach towards it but it retreats from him.
However Adam returns to the Wise Woman who says that in all his lives he's favoured his male side over his female aspect. But now since he expelled both sides (at the end of the Infinity Gauntlet event) Goddess has been revelling in her empowerment. But all the previous frustration has driven her mad and now the universe must pay for it. They stand in front of a door which WW claims will show him Goddess' darkest wish. He enters and sees the universe of stars. And all of them go nova leaving Goddess alone with her triumph.
Warlock, still half-female, returns to the Wise Woman who says that then Goddess will realise that there are other realities and she'll move on to destroy them too. The only way for him to stop her is to accept her. The WW then disappears and Adam is returned to full male. But he passes through the doorway again to give Goddess that which she desires.