Synopsis / Summary / Plot
War Of The Realms: Journey Into Mystery #5 Synopsis by
Rob Johnson
This is the last issue of this War Of The Realms tie-in.
Last issue Ares kidnapped baby Laussa Odinsdottir from our heroes aka the Babysitters Club. Now he's driving his Hellwagon through New Washoe City in Nevada being directed by Sindr, daughter of Surtur, via a mystical satnav. She's promised to reunite him with his deceased son Alexander in return for delivering the baby to her. Although at the moment she seems vague on the details.
Just then flying Wonder Man catches up with them and rips the door off the wagon to get Laussa back. Ares exits the wagon violently to leap after him, leaving his vehicle to crash. He brings WM down but pacifist Simon Williams refuses to fight him for the child. Instead he reveals that he doesn't actually *have* the baby wrapped in the blanket he's carrying.
Angry Ares prepares to kill him anyway, but Spider-Man (Miles Morales) webs his axe and throws it away. Spidey has the baby, and taunts the War God by explaining how he was cloaked on WM's back as he agilely dodges his lunges and twists the helmet round on Ares' head. But Ares takes the helmet off and hits Miles on *his* head with it.
But all this was only a delaying tactic until the rest of the team arrive in the Wonder Wagon (WM's RV), and ram the God. That's now 2 vehicles totalled, but Fire Demons erupt from the back of the Hellwagon. Asgardian Balder prepares to fight the inhabitants of Muspelheim, but Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) tells him to take care of fellow god Ares while she and Death Locket and the Asgardian dog Thori handle the demons. This is the best fun Thori's had all trip.
Meanwhile the remaining team-member Sebastian Druid has Laussa, but Ares has *him*. Druid quickly pushes the baby through his magic coat. He hopes (correctly as we see) that she winds up on the beanbag in his apartment in Flagstaff. Now Ares throws *him* away, but Spidey's web saves him. Miles asks Sebastian why he didn't hide Laussa this way before, but Druid tells him it's risky teleporting a living being that way.
Ares has his axe back. Simon asks his fellow ex-Avenger why he's doing this. Ares says he needs to die in battle to get to the Elysian Fields to be reunited with his son. Druid offers confirmation because Alex was in the Secret Warriors with him and he saw him die (SW#22). Balder offers to help Ares along and they have a sword vs axe fight until the Asgardian uses his God Of Light power to end the battle.
Ares is bowed but not beaten. He says the Queen Of Cinders guided him here to fulfil her promise. But then Kushala the Demon Rider (see last issue) appears and says *she* did that. Sindr has been dealing with her own problems on the other side of the Pacific (WOTR: New Agents Of Atlas). Gaea and Skuld the Norn (as seen in #1) helped Kushala to hack the satnav and bring the battle here, because Laussa asked her to.
Kate realises that the little Asgardian goddess has been orchestrating things all along. She guided them to the Skrulls (#2), the Wild West ghosts (#3) and even the convention of evil henchmen (#4). Balder works out that she's been recruiting an army to fight in the War. And true enough those guys all turn up. Demon Rider explains that Laussa's unique heritage means she can influence the hearts of mortals and immortals alike.
Laussa toddles over to Ares and starts to influence *him*. Sebastian reminds him that his son would want him to fight on the side of the angels (except in this War the 'Angels' are on the other side). Even Thori welcomes him with a back-handed compliment. And Ares is in.
Now for the reason they came *here*. Everybody goes the short distance to the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe where Death Locket ditched a SHIELD helicarrier. She gets it airborne and they fly it to Avengers Mountain (the giant body of a dead Celestial in the Arctic) which is the Avengers' HQ. The Skrulls and the ghosts find places to gather, and the henchmen are fixing the Wonder Wagon and making it even better. Our guys join a gathering of heroes.
While Jane Foster, the All-Mother of Asgard, rallies the troops (as seen at the end of WOTR#4) Thor greets Balder, Laussa and Thori. Balder and Thori say they will be going into battle with Thor. Balder leaves it to Hawkeye to decide what the rest of the team will do. He may have recruited them all but as he told her in #3 she's the natural leader. But Kate says Laussa has proved that *she* really runs the gang. She asks the baby if they should join the fight, and Laussa's eyes light up which they take as a yes.