The heroes (and Dr Doom) who sacrificed themselves to defeat Onslaught in the Onslaught: Marvel Universe 1-shot turned out to have been recreated in a new universe in the 4 Heroes Reborn limited series. And in the HR: The Return mini-series that was revealed to be a pocket universe subconsciously created by Franklin Richards. In that title most of our characters made it back to the 'real' Marvel universe except Thor and Doom. Thor stopped Doom's usual megalomaniacal plan by trapping them both between realities. Also, in O:MU Bruce Banner and Hulk had been separated with Banner going to the new universe and Hulk remaining on Earth-616 in his usual title. Now they are rejoined.
In our 1999 Annual Black Widow tried to gather a new team of Avengers together but failed. Then the Government revoked the Avengers charter because no founding signatories were left in the team, and they gave Avengers Mansion to SHIELD as a base.
Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Fantastic Four have started new series under the Heroes Return banner.
Since the return Captain America found himself inexplicably in Tokyo in the new CA#1, Hulk/Banner had a busy time in his #460-464 reuniting with Betty Ross and Rick Jones while fighting the Maestro (in the Asgardian Destroyer armour) and Armageddon of the Troyjans, Iron Man spent his 1st 3 new issues setting up a new company Stark Solutions and fighting agents of the Mandarin, and Thor Annual 1999 showed what happened to him and Doom. A confused Sub-Mariner crash-landed in Brooklyn and helped Spider-Man defeat the Wrecking Crew in Marvel Team-Up (1997) #6, and then touched base with his Oracle company in Heroes For Hire (1997) #8. And Hawkeye had his 1st run-in with the Thunderbolts (who he will soon be leading) in their #10.
This overlarge issue itself is split into chapters (like the Annuals of yore).
But 1st (as Lurcio the slave would say) the prologue:-
This issue begins with the returned Crystal and Scarlet Witch dining out in a Transian restaurant in Manhattan (Transia being Pietro and Wanda's birthplace) with Quicksilver (their husband and brother respectively) and Luna (C & Q's young daughter). Pietro's been looking after Luna in the series he started while the other 2 were away, and the 4 have already had a reunion in his #4. Quickie is complaining about the bureaucracy involved in getting someone registered as not dead (a problem which the myriad other Marvel resurrectees don't seem to worry about). Suddenly they are attacked by the Flying Trolls of Thryheim (from Tales Of Asgard in Journey Into Mystery #124-125).
At the same time in Albuquerque Firebird (Bonita Juarez) is dragged underground by Silent Trolls (from the Asgardian Isle Of Silence in the original Avengers #1). Black Panther has to fend off the dragon Nidhogg (see Thor #340) in Wakanda. In New York Hawkeye faces Mutaurus (Tales Of Asgard in Thor #143) while Magdalene and Swordsman battle carnivorous plants from Skornheim (JIM#116). Hercules meets another Asgardian dragon Ulfrin (TOA in JIM#101) in Cincinnati. And on UCLA campus Living Lightning (Miguel Santos) electrifies Rock Trolls (who also débuted in Av#1). Las Vegas sees Moondragon mindblasting Gullin the Boar God (another TOA in JIM#103). In Denver Spider-Woman (Julia Carpenter) is at the mercy of the Vanna air-sprites (this time JIM#105's TOA). Sub-Mariner punches out Kai-Ra the Rime Giant (from Thor #447) in the waters of the Scottish Hebrides. San Francisco has She-Hulk dealing with Demon Riders (TOA again, this time in Thor #141). Darkhawk battles some creatures I don't recognise in Queens, and Rage is beset by a horde of Dwarves in the Bronx but aided by Firestar and Justice.
All these ex-Avengers fight mightily until their foes vanish as suddenly as they appeared.
Chapter 1 And there came a day
There's a meeting at Avengers Mansion which SHIELD has returned to the Maria Stark Foundation. Edwin Jarvis serves tea to Cap, Giant-Man, Iron Man and Wasp as they discuss the spate of attacks. Noticeably all the attackers were Asgardian, and then an exhausted Thor comes crashing through a window to tell them the world is in dire peril. The 5 of them renew their vow to help each other as Avengers, and they send out the call ...
Chapter 2 Avengers assemble
Hawkeye slides down to the Mansion gates on an arrow-line, and meets Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver getting out of a taxi. Jarvis welcomes them in to find that they are the last arrivals. Even Crystal got there before them. All the ex-Avengers who were attacked are there. Firestar and Justice aren't Avengers but they accompanied Rage. Other Avengers Beast, Binary (ex-Ms Marvel), Black Knight, Black Widow, Demolition Man, Falcon, Photon, Quasar, Sandman, Sersi, Spider-Man, Starfox, Stingray, Tigra, U.S. Agent and Vision have rallied to the call. Honorary Avenger Rick Jones is in his floating 'wheel chair' (he was injured in Hulk #456 by the Bannerless Hulk under the control of Apocalypse as 1 of his 4 Horsemen).
Some chars have sent their apologies. James Rhodes is no longer War Machine (in the Tales Of The Marvel Universe 1-shot he sacrificed the Warwear armour to keep Tony Stark's Iron Man Technology from Fujikawa Inc who had taken over Stark Enterprises). Jim Hammond, the WWII android Human Torch, is busy running Oracle Inc and the new Heroes For Hire. Deathcry went back to the Shi'ar in #399.
Black Widow considers herself responsible for the demise of the team. Various members comment of D-Man's smell (he's living with the homeless residents of the underground Zero-Town). Justice and Firestar think they shouldn't be here because they've never been Avengers.
The founding members aren't with the group. They are speaking to the Fantastic Four because 3 of them (not their Human Torch) *have* been Avengers, but they can't make it. Angry Hulk contacts *them* to say he was attacked by Trolls but he doesn't want to have anything to do with their problems. Iron Man surveys the screenful of other missing members and declares them dead (original Captain Marvel, Dr Druid, Gilgamesh, Hellcat, Jocasta, Marrina, Mockingbird, original Swordsman (Jacques Duquesne), Thunderstrike, Yellowjacket (Rita DeMara)), in another time (original Guardians Of The Galaxy, Two-Gun Kid), or uncontactible (Mantis, Masque, Moon Knight). So they go to join the others.
Chapter 3 A common threat
Temporary chairman Cap gives a stirring speech, but then he intends to hand over to Thor who knows more about what's happening. Hawkeye whispers to Scarlet Witch that *they* should be on the podium with the founders - they've been Avengers almost as long and they've both been team leaders (of the West Coast Avengers and Force Works). Spider-Man interrupts to say that he'll have to leave them to it because it seems like he's handling 5 different problems at once (a joking reference to his 5 regular titles Amazing, Sensational, Spectacular and plain SM plus Marvel Team-Up). Cap excuses him to go deal with his legal troubles (the recently-returned Norman Osborn has Spidey accused of murder since SM#88). The alternate-timeline Swordsman (Philip Javert) accuses him of cowardice, and ex-Spidey villain Sandman leaps to his defence.
Thor explains how in Heroes Reborn: The Return #4 he fought Dr Doom to stop him from using Franklin Richards to gain control over the Heroes Reborn pocket universe. He used Mjolnir to trap them both between universes. He doesn't remember what happened next but he awoke in a devastated, empty Asgard with a broken Rainbow Bridge. Indeed all the other Asgardian Realms were empty too. And on the shores of the Sea Of Eternal Night the huge Twilight Sword was missing. But he did find a fragment of Bifrost, and touching it transported him to Chicago in Midgard.
As he learned of the attacks by Asgardian beings Thor deduced that other fragments of the Bridge had landed in the other Realms allowing their inhabitants to reach Earth. But if whoever caused this has the Sword then they can destroy or remake the universe. He explains that the Twilight Sword was forged by Surtur in the heart of the Burning Galaxy (beginning in Thor #337). After Surtur was defeated it was placed in the Sea Of EN (Thor #425) where Surtur and Ymir were trapped fighting over it.
The Thunder God also believes the 5 Norn Stones (see lots of Thor issues starting with JIM#116) have been stolen too, and he can sense them scattered in 5 areas of Midgard. So they need to split into 5 teams to retrieve the stones. Justice interrupts to say it's probably a trap, and then realises everybody else already figured that out. But they're going anyway.
5 quinjets fly away from the Mansion. Rick Jones is left behind with Jarvis, and they feed Black Knight's winged horse Aragorn. Moon Knight has been listening in, but he's no longer a team player. But someone else is observing the proceedings with evil intent.
Chapter 4 To fight the foes
Cap's team (Crystal, Demolition Man, Hercules, Quasar, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch) head to Tintagel in Cornwall. A sudden cyclone throws their quinjet around. Steve Rogers sends Quasar outside, using his power to support Crystal in midair as she uses *her* elemental powers to try to quell the storm. Meanwhile Black Panther reports that *his* team has found some opposition, but that Thor says that the other 4 Norn Stones have now moved to Tintagel too.
Crystal's efforts aren't working so Wanda Maximoff leans out of the jet held by Hercules and adds her hex/magic power to the mix. And the cyclone twists away. She tells the others she felt a personality in the wind, and she *commanded* it to go away. (It will be suggested that the personality was that of the villainess who we'll meet at the end of the issue.)
With the air clear they see that the giant Twilight Sword is buried nearly to the hilt in the ruins of Tintagel Castle. They land. Hercules complains about D-Man's smell but Cap tells him to leave his friend alone. Steve asks about Zero-Town. Dennis Dunphy says they're OK but they need all the water they've got for drinking and there's none left for washing.
Suddenly they are greeted by Mordred, bastard son of King Arthur. And equally-suddenly at his finger-snap the ground exudes earthen tentacles which pull Scarlet Witch down. He thanks the team for bringing then what they wanted. And the ground creates genuine rock Trolls to battle them. The others keep them busy while Pietro Maximoff rushes over to punch Mordred. The villain falls among the near-mindless Trolls and so banishes them before they turn on *him*. Quicksilver then threatens Mordred and demands to know where his sister is.
But Mordred suggests they ask his mistress. And a figure manifests who bookworm Quasar recognises from the Avengers files as Morgan Le Fay (see #240-241), Mordred's aunt. It's less obvious how he knows she's wearing the Norn Stones as a necklace. But she provides the usual villain explanation of her plot.
Black Widow's team (Firestar, Justice, Magdalene, Rage, Sandman, Sersi and Swordsman) are fighting the Midgard Serpent in the South Pacific. Wasp's team (Black Knight, Giant-Man, Photon, She-Hulk, Starfox, Stingray and Sub-Mariner) battle Frost Giants in the Arctic. Iron Man leads Darkhawk, Firebird, Living Lightning, Machine Man, Spider-Woman, Tigra and US Agent against the Celtic evil gods the Fomor in Equatorial Africa. And Panther's group (Beast, Falcon, Hawkeye, Moondragon, Thor and Vision) are in Central America facing reanimated Conquistador skeletons. (I don't see Binary anywhere.)
But all of this, and Mordred's Trolls, were a distraction. Morgan's Celtic heritage is similar enough to the Asgardian Dark Elves for her to use the Norn Stones, but not to control the Twilight Sword. For that she needed the Scarlet Witch. The plan was to weaken the Avengers by splitting them up, and then whichever team included Wanda would be the main target. Now that she has her Morgan can use the Witch's reality-warping power to link her Celtic magic with the Asgardian Sword.
Morgan grasps the hilt and draws the sword. Wanda screams and Pietro rushes to her side. But Le Fay brandishes the sword and everything goes white ...