Synopsis / Summary / Plot
War Of The Realms Strikeforce: The Dark Elf Realm #1 Synopsis by
Rob Johnson
New York has fallen to Malekith's forces and the Avengers and others have retreated to Avengers Mountain (a dead Celestial's body in the Arctic).
Asgardian Freyja is talking to Punisher, on a recommendation from Captain America who said he's a man who can make the hard choices and do what it takes to win. A man who can resist the Dark Elf's corruption. Frank Castle says he'll shoot whoever she tells him to, but Malekith is an Asgardian problem and *she* will have to decide what is necessary. She's recruiting a group to destroy Malekith's Black Bifrost that he uses to transport troops between the 10 Realms, and she wants Frank to recommend some others like him. Castle says he can give her names but *she*'ll have to convince them.
He mentions various people for various qualities:- She-Hulk for justice, Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) for vengeance, and Blade for anger. Freyja asks him if he represents punishment. He says no, truth.
Freyja gathers her 4 warriors together. She tells them that they will enter Svartalfheim, the Realm of the Dark Elves to destroy the Black Bifrost. They will have to fight their way through a horde of Dark Elves. They will risk their souls as well as their lives to protect the 10 Realms. Jennifer Walters asks what chance they have of succeeding. Freyja says a warrior's chance. GR asks if the enemy deserve to suffer - she says yes. Blade suggests they're being asked to clean up Freyja's own mess, which she admits. Punisher just wants to know if bullets will kill Dark Elves. Another yes.
Shulk asks for a private confab with the other 3. She asks fellow-Avenger Robbie if it hurts being on fire - he says yes but he's dealing with it. She asks the newer Avenger Blade if she can trust him - he says she isn't a vampire so yes. She asks Punisher why he deserves to play hero - he tells her to MYOB. Then they all 4 say they're in.
But Freyja says she needs proof that they're up to the job. She wants them to fight *her*. And she strikes 1st by plunging them into their worst nightmares. Jennifer Walters faces her cousin the Hulk who claims she considers herself better than him because she never gave in to her dark side. He attacks her and she fights back as She-Hulk, brutally, but is losing. Ghost Rider meets the Johnny Blaze version possessed by Zarathos who claims he's an imposter. Our GR also fights back, but the contest is equal. Blade finds a future version of himself who has accepted his vampire nature and now rules his kind. They too fight.
We don't see Punisher's trial except that he's shot the other 3 dead, and feels bad about it. But now he's waiting for them to realise that their tests aren't real. Which they do, but conquer them anyway. Freyja compliments them on overcoming the fears that the Black Bifrost would have fed off. Then she lets them attack *her*, and they win.
Freyja then takes Frank Castle aside for a private conversation. She asks him how he does what he does and not become what he hates. She says she has premonitions of the future and foresees that in order to succeed she will have to allow herself to be changed. (We see her apparently leading Dark Elf warriors.) Frank tells her how he slaughtered his way into a drug lord's house to rescue a captive little girl. But she was frightened of him and he had to carry her struggling out of the place. But that was a price he accepted for being the fearsome warrior he was.
Hours later the team has reached Black Bifrost over the dead bodies of Dark Elves. But Freyja has just learned that the Asgardian Bifrost has been destroyed, so the plan has changed. They now need to defend *this* Bifrost so that their *own* troops can use it. She wants the others to go fight elsewhere and she will hold the Bridge alone. 3 of them say they want to stay with her, but Punisher tells them Freyja knows what must be done. As more Dark Elves attack.