Synopsis / Summary / Plot
War Of The Realms Strikeforce: The Land Of The Giants #1 Synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Spider-Man (Peter Parker) is sitting atop Avengers Mountain remembering Malekith's forces invading New York. Now the heroes and surviving inhabitants have been transported here (by Dr Strange's spell in War Of the Realms #2) leaving the Valkyries to die in defence of the city. Captain America follows him up there on a Valkyrie's flying horse. Some of *them* have survived and have come to offer their services. Cap also has Thor's old axe Jarnbjorn. Spidey begs a ride down on the horse just for the thrill of it.
Cap adds SM to the team he has assembled:- Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Wolverine. They are going to Jotunheim to rescue Thor from the Frost Giants (Malekith took him there in WOTR#1). He takes them to the Asgardian armoury to choose weapons. Danny Rand picks the Twin Swords Of Sprague feared by all in Jotunheim. Luke takes the Hammer Of Rok which cracks giants like eggs. Logan just sticks with his claws. Cap gives Spidey a shield, and Wolvie gives him what he calls a magic helm.
CA calls out to Daredevil in Asgard. Now that he has the powers of Heimdall (bestowed him in WOTR#3) he can hear everything everywhere. And he has control of the rebuilt Rainbow Bridge Bifrost which he uses to send the warriors and their flying steeds to Jotunheim, the Land Of Giants.
Cap brought Wolverine along to track Thor but he turns out to be redundant. They just follow a river of blood. Suddenly a giant arrow pierces Cage's horse and he falls off. Spidey's horse rears and throws him but a swift swing on a web line gets him back in the saddle. Logan drives his horse down to the Frost Giant archers but his steed too is killed. But then he, Cap and Luke get revenge with adamantium claws, hurled axe and mighty hammer. Spider-Man defends his horse with his shield and then swings down to smash it into the Giant's nose. The Frost Giants *do* recognise the Asgardian weapons of Iron Fist and Luke Cage, and back off in fear. Peter interrupts Logan's slashing to ask what's magic about his helmet. Wolvie says as far as he knows nothing, he just picked the most ridiculous 1 he could see.
Eventually the Giants are all dead, but so are all the horses except Peter's. She lowers her forelegs and bows to her fallen comrades. The humans wonder if they should bow too. Logan tells them they should and they follow his example. Peter asks if they are going to leave the dead horses here, and his horse answers "No". She tells him that all horses can talk but Peter is the only human who can converse with them. She thinks it's his magic helmet. She tells him she is Queen Arctorius. She assures him they entered the battle willingly and died like warriors.
Their conversation is interrupted when they all hear Thor screaming in rage. The Queen tells Peter the humans should continue their quest. She will stay to speak the last words for her companions.
The 5 find the Thunder God with a broken hammer and his prosthetic metal arm missing. He stands atop a hill of dead Giants demanding more to kill. Wolverine recognises a berserker rage. Thor gets his wish and the team get ready to stand at his side. Arctorius joins them to carry Spider-Man into battle once more. There are lots of little action scenes, including Cage doing the fastball special with Wolverine.
But in the end there are no more Frost Giants to kill, and Thor's rage subsides. But Arctorius is dying too. Logan hands Peter the helmet, and the horse Queen asks him to take her home and bury her in the air where she belongs. They do, and they bury her in the snow atop Avengers Mountain with the helmet as a grave marker. And the humans bow to her.