Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Last issue ended with Wonder Man part of the expeditionary force sent after Thanos, Adam Warlock and the Infinity Watch. And at the end of Infinity War #3 they arrived at the interdimensional energy relay planet and attacked the 'enemy'.
This issue starts with Wonder Man fighting Warlock, which puts him in several IW#4 scenes all but 1 of which he's absent from there. Adam tries to convince Simon Williams that he's fighting the the wrong people but that only increases Wondy's confused state. Warlock's accusation of arrogant violence dents his confidence and his powers fail. Polaris tries to help him but gets blasted by the Soul Gem for her pains. WM gets back up but his mixed emotions let him get knocked down again, and AW goes off to confront Storm while Thor and Thanos slug it out.
Simon now adds to his emotional mix guilt at not stopping Warlock before he might kill someone. He sees Scarlet Witch with other mystics keeping open the magic portal which brought them here. And the thought of Warlock harming his ex-love Wanda Maximoff reignites his anger and his powers and he flies after Adam, passing over Gamora who's just been taken down by Wolverine and others to reach the place where Drax The Destroyer, Thanos and Warlock are surrounded by lots of heroes.
But just then Galactus' large spherical spaceship comes in from another dimension and the combatants are all placed in stasis and beamed up into the ship ...
... so there's time to look in on Simon's friends on Earth. His current girlfriend Alex Flores is working on a screenplay when her neighbour Argus LaVecchio rings insistently on her bell. He wants actor Simon to appear in his film and gets angry because things don't go the way he wants. Now his eyes go fiery red and he says he's been feeling strange since Simon's ionic energy flared up in front of they 2 and some others (in #11). Alex says her daughter Jamie's been saying something similar. Argus says he can see Jamie, but Alex points out that's a wall. Then Jamie walks out from behind it.
As seen in IW#4 Galactus does a cerebral scan of the in-stasis heroes to find out what they know about what's going on. As with some others Simon Williams gets memory flashbacks. He took the blame for his brother Eric's embezzlement from the family firm (as explained in West Coast Avengers (1985) #2). Baron Zemo broke him out of jail and turned him into Wonder Man where he 'died' a hero (Avengers #9). Eric became Grim Reaper and had his brother reanimated by voodoo (Av#151). But later it turned out he'd actually been in a coma turning into ionic energy. However now he comes to the conclusion that Simon Williams actually *did* die and he's just energy with Simon's memories.
He continues this stance when he and the others are woken from stasis. Hercules and Thor try to talk him out of it until Human Torch and Thing join them to tell them that it turns out Thanos & Co aren't the bad guys but the Magus is. But Galactus wants Thor to return to the 'real' universe to find out what's happening there.
Simon drags Wanda away from the other mystics and asks her if he's human. He points out that she used to love the android Vision, and then she turned to *him*. Was it because he's just an artificial being too? Then he realises that he's shouting and shaking her roughly, and he backs off in dismay. Then concerned Wanda asks him what's wrong.
Back in the Flores house Alex, Jamie and Argus compare notes. Alex wishes she could contact Ginger Beach and her repulsive brother Spider to see if they've been affected too. She's disconcerted when Jamie reveals she's got Spider's number. But then they all get distracted by a 2nd Earth that appears in the sky (see IW#4 again).
Meanwhile a lot's happened off-panel on the relay planet (in IW#4). The heroes had to fight their evil Dopplegangers until they disappeared, and then Magus teleported in and kidnapped Adam Warlock. (It doesn't mention that Warlock had the reconstituted Infinity Gauntlet.) Things look bad but Simon is still obsessing about his own problem. Thanos shows them on a viewscreen 2 Earths and 2 Moons and tells them that Magus has duplicated reality and is merging them. When it's done the whole Galaxy will be in the Magus' power.