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 ...