Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Last issue Superior Spider-Man (Otto Octavius) gained reluctant recruits in the form of the West Coast Avengers (Alloy, America Chavez, Fuse, Gwenpool, Hawkeye (Clint Barton) and Kid Omega - but not Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) who's in the War Of The Realms: Journey Into Mystery mini-series) and they successfully (but temporarily) protected San Francisco and Los Angeles from Frost Giants. But Otto isn't satisfied, he wants to stop the whole WOTR. America Chavez couldn't create a portal to any Asgardian Realm so instead she took them to New York where they hooked up with the Fantastic Four.
Superior (he won't mind me calling him that) thinks Reed Richards should join him in striking at the source of the invasion. Mr. Fantastic says that the Avengers have groups doing that, their own job is just to defend NY (or in fact just Yancy Street). Octavius can't accept that. He quickly zaps most of the Frost Giants and Dark Elves and they disappear. He explains that he has put them out of phase with reality but it won't last long. But now he and Richards can plan.
Reed reminds his team how Dr Octopus helped them when Sue's 2nd pregnancy threatened to kill her and the baby. (In FF#267 - they saved Sue but the baby died.) So they owe him a chance. MrF explains about the damaged Bifrost bridge which the Avengers used to send their teams to the Asgardian Realms (see the 3 WOTR Strikeforce 1-shots), but it's out of commission now. However he shows Otto a recording of Bifrost's energy signature.
With this SSM knows he can take the WCA to the heart of the conflict where he can win the battle. (Gwenpool makes 1 of her usual comics-literate comments about accepting one's place as a bit-player in a crossover event. As usual the others ignore it.) He creates a copy of the Bifrost energy and America uses it to create a portal. And they leave the FF to the defence of New York.
Our lot end up in the swamps of Svartalfheim, home of the Dark Elves, fighting giant snakes and lizards. America says magic is affecting her aim, but she tries again and this time links them up with Captain America's team in Jotunheim, home of the Frost Giants. He, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Spider-Man (Peter Parker) and Wolverine are battling through FG's (strewn about them unconscious) looking for Thor (see WOTR SF: Land Of The Giants).
Otto demands a conference with Steve Rogers, but everyone's too busy catching up with old comrades. Steve asks Clint who his team is, and Hawkeye is astonished Cap hasn't heard about the new WCA (especially as Steve phoned Kate about it in their #5). Quentin Quire thought Wolverine was dead. Spidey tells Superior Spidey about their quest to rescue Thor, but Octavius thinks that's a waste of time and they should be destroying Malekith's Black Bifrost (which Mr Fantastic mentioned). (No-one tells him that Freyja's team is on that.) (Gwen Poole comments that you have to have multiple quests to give everybody something to do, but this is obviously an Asgard-based event so Thor will probably be the key.)
SM puts it a different way. He tells SSM that he's been in a lot of these big events and they win through as a grand team by everyone playing their part. Sometimes that part is fighting the big bad, but sometimes it's handling a detail. (During the conversation Otto paraphrases Spidey's personal dictum as "With superiority comes responsibility".) Predictably Octavius dismisses this and says he and his allies will *make* the Avengers see reason. But his 'allies' vote to return to defending LA.
Gwenpool wades in again. She takes SupSM aside and says that everyone's the hero in their own story, but this applies to the background characters too. If you save just 1 person then you become the hero in that person's story too. America Chavez opens a portal back to Earth, and Otto reluctantly follows them.
In Ventura, California a family drive through the blizzard caused by the Frost Giants. A Giant stops their car with his club and threatens to eat them. But our guys arrive. America KO's him and Superior Spidey webs him up. Otto helps the family out of their wrecked car. Then he leads the WCA against other approaching FG's.