Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Last issue the new nasty version of the Olympian Gods returned to get revenge on Star-Lord/Peter Quill, but the Guardians Of The Galaxy reunited to oppose them. Quill, Moondragon, Nova and Phyla-Vell chose a deserted planet Daedalus-5 as the battleground. The alternate Guardians Drax, Gamora and the Prince Of Power joined them there. But in an opening salvo Zeus blasted the spaceship Bowie out of the sky, with Groot, Hercules, Marvel Boy and Rocket Raccoon aboard.
Now battle commences. As Star-Lord faces Zeus, Gamora clashes with Artemis, Hera socks Drax, Nova fires at Apollo and Hermes evades Captain Marvel after decking Moondragon. (I don't know where Hephaestus and the Prince are at this point.) Quill takes revenge for his ship by using his enhanced Element Gun to take 1 of the god-father's eyes out. Zeus boasts that he destroyed the Bowie even though his son Hercules was aboard. But he comments that SL doesn't seem bothered about the deaths of his friends. Peter just comments that he knows what a pocket battlefield is ...
... and aboard what was the Bowie Marvel Boy has saved himself, Herc and Rocket by enclosing them in the 8-foot cube that is that programmable micro-reality. But unfortunately pilot Groot was out of reach. Noh-Varr also says that in this micro-reality he can make the laws of physics do whatever he wants. So the Lion Of Olympus gets him the fire him like a speeding bullet at his father. As the other 2 exit the pocket battlefield Rocket picks up the smoking head of Groot and tells MB he has a plan.
Moondragon is now battling Hermes while Phyla-Vell takes on Hephaestus. Rocket mentally distracts Heather Douglas to ask her to psychically check Groot's lifesigns, which turn out to be weak and fading. But this enables Hermes to enter MD's mind. Then Rocket locates the Prince Of Power who apparently was knocked down in the 1st few seconds of the conflict. The POP claims to be ready to re-enter the fray but the Raccoon stops him by saying he knows his secret - the muscles that he's always boasting about are a side-effect of the purple Infinity Stone known as the Power Stone that Prince Otherone of Noblor swallowed (so that's where that Stone went after the Infinity Wars). He gives the Prince Groot's head and gets him to channel the Power into the wood. And a giant Groot grows up crackling with purple electricity.
Now we get a glimpse of Athena somewhere watching all the chars in individual screens and making Tarot-like statements:- The Fool-Saint (Star-Lord) has returned (in #10 from Morinus) transformed (into the Master Of The Sun). Now the Lovers (Heather Douglas and Phyla-Vell) must re-unite to unlock the union of opposites (the 2 versions of Moondragon in #5).
Meanwhile speedy Hermes is dodging Captain Marvel's sword but at the same time the God Of Boundaries has broken through to Moondragon's mind where the Messenger God Of Language sports a fork-tongued reptilian head as he drips venom into her psyche. Phyla calls to the Heather who came with her from their alternate universe. But the Heather from *this* universe says she doesn't love *her*, which Phyla can't deny. But she claims that she's willing to try to love the new combination, and Heather lets her in to her mindscape.
Phyla says she wants to see their dark side, the Dragon Of The Moon that corrupted Heather-616. Moondragon lets it free in the mindscape and suddenly Hermes is afraid. The Dragon seizes on that doubt and the Greek God finds himself trapped running in a circle. We pan back and see he's running around a letter O. Moondragon mentally informs the God Of Language that he's trapped in the mind of a being beyond language, and we pan further back to see the O is in the word Groot, which itself is part of the statement "I am Groot". And in the outside world Hermes is mindlessly drooling, Groot is his "I am Groot" self once more and the lovers embrace, entwined by the Dragon (and Heather's costume has changed from green to red).
Meanwhile Zeus is beating on his son Hercules, whose response is to say he will not break. Athena watches from above as all the other Guardians rally to support him and we see that *all* the other Olympians have fallen. Marvel Boy has crafted a black hole bullet for his gauntlet blaster. Now he intends to combine that power with the Master Of The Sun and the Dragon Of The Moon. Zeus prepares to resist their attack, but Athena chooses that moment to make her move. She restrains him and says that the Age Of War that they were suited to has gone, replaced by the Age Of Peace heralded by the Kree/Skrull Alliance (after the Empyre event). She lets the bullet strike and they are taken away (and presumably the other Gods with them).
Peter Quill says he's sent them to a reality with no suns (and therefore no life?). Hercules says his sister will be a capable jailer. Cynical Rocket opines that they'll be back as soon as the current peace collapses, so Gamora says they'd better make it last. And then Super-Skrull arrives, backed by a fleet of starships which he says had been ready to take over if they failed to defeat the Gods. Now instead the fleet can be sent against the King In Black's symbiote dragons, but news from Earth is that Knull's reign may soon be over.
But now he brings the Galactic Council's latest decision. The GOTG can't be allowed to continue operating as a gang of mercenaries. With the galactic economy in trouble (after the Empyre and King In Black events) they can't afford to fund a new Nova Corps. But they *can* afford to fund the Guardians.
3 months later the team are operating from the Coucil's Proscenium space station. We see the team with new matching uniforms. All current members appear to be involved except for the Prince Of Power, plus Super-Skrull (or at least *a* Super-Skrull) and someone with Quantum Bands - presumably Quasar but *maybe* the POP.