A couple of kids are in New York’s Central Park arguing over how often the villains win in comic books. Suddenly, rushing overhead come Spider-Man, Beast and the Scarlet Witch, pursued by a team of bad guys. The villains are the Living Laser, Quasimodo, Maelstrom, and the Super-Adaptoid. Captain America appears and carries the kids to safety, while Iron Man and Vision join in the melee. Cap is startled that the baddies are such a formidable group, and wonders if his planning is at fault. Their weaponry has been upgraded and the Vision detects an energy aura surrounding them. While Iron Man leads the fight against the foe, Cap and the Vision trace the energy signature to an ordinary house nearby. Breaking in, they find an affable young man and try to place him under arrest. The young man who insists on pressing a computer key, earning him a punch from Cap but in Central Park, the bad guys’ high-tech weapons vanish. The Avengers deliver the costumed villains and their unconcerned leader to the police.
Later, waking from a nightmare about his distorted life and unable to get the young man, Michael Korvac, out of his mind, he visits him in prison. Cap wants to know why there is no record of Korvac’s existence anywhere. The smiling fellow reveals that he knows Cap’s history—down to Bucky’s last words—and his feelings of being in a time when he does not belong—and casually implies he himself is from the far future. As the young man taunts the veteran hero, the Guardians of the Galaxy burst in and announce they are here to arrest the 31st century's most wanted entity: Korvac.