Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Captain Marvel has been taken over by something called the Dark Tide and sprouted spikes. Now she's attacking Iron Man and Thor, and there are other spikey bodies lying around in what seems like a damaged New York. There's also an unexplained voiceover saying that the heroes must be ready for what is to come later. Carol Danvers punches the Thunder God into the sky and shrugs off a blast from the Golden Avenger. Tony Stark tries to talk her down but she says she's saving him because he'll be useful for Queen Arrok after the Bowmaster warps him. Thor returns to the fight.
But we turn our attention to Captain America, Blade and Spider-Woman infiltrating what the voiceover tells us is an Obliterator-Class Sinnarian warship. They've teleported in (which Blade is not happy about) using Celestial technology. They take out some alien humanoid Sinnarians, some with beak-like masks covering their eyes, some not. Blade also can't remember how the battle started. The voiceover doesn't like that, and suddenly Eric Brooks has forgotten what he was concerned about. They break in to Queen Arrok VII's control room where they have to deal with more of both types of alien. The voiceover says Arrok has also been transformed by the Dark Tide and now she's the embodiment of evil.
Cap tells her to leave Earth which she says she's quite willing to do once she gets her Scalpel back. He accuses her of wanting to use it to create wormholes to spread the Dark Tide to other parts of the universe. She replies that ruling the universe was her father's idea, and he used the Bow Of Gabriel that Grandmaster gave him to build an empire. The voiceover tells us that her father died and the empire crumbled and the Bow was lost. But Arrok's scientists created a lesser Bow with which she intends to regain the empire. However she needs the Scalpel to reach the furthest points of said empire.
Cap points out that her single ship contains only a small number of Sinnarians, so she's not in a strong position. She explains that her people don't like to spend a long time in a confined space so she prefers to bring reinforcements when she needs them. The voiceover tells us that she has many wormholes back to Sinnaria which only require a Singularity Sphere to open here. And she tosses such a Sphere into the air, opening a portal through which more beaky aliens rush until the hole snaps shut. The voiceover expects Cap to deal with it, adding that Captain America was always his favourite.
Back in NY Marvel and Thor are still duking it out. But then a different kind of alien with a bow appears. The voiceover reminds us that Gabriel, the Air Walker, was a Herald Of Galactus, and it seems that he used his Bow to make planets ready for consumption by his master. But this lesser Bow Of Attican can only transform small areas for a limited time, in this case turning NY citizens into spiky monsters to attack Iron Man.
Up in the sky a small spacecraft approaches Arrok's Obliterator, piloted by Black Panther. Spider-Man thinks he's driving it too but T'Challa has deactivated the co-pilot's controls. The larger ship is firing at them but BP trusts the shields to hold out until they get there.
Inside the trio as still fighting Arrok and her minions when 1 minion shouts that an unauthorised ship has entered the fighter bay ... and it's the Scalpel. Panther contacts Steve Rogers to tell him his group have 2 minutes to get out. They run, and the Queen figures out what's happening and desperately sends engineers to the Scalpel. Our 5 meet up at the teleport point.
On the ground IM attacks the Bowmaster and breaks his Bow. Thor is still fighting Carol but trying not to hurt his friend. Dark CM has no such compunctions. Then the Obliterator blows up. And the 5 who ported out can join the ground battle. Blade slices the Bowman's antennae off and Spider-Woman's bio-electric blast fries his brain. Thor finally downs Captain Marvel by tossing Mjolnir in the air so it lands on her head. But she's soon up and goaded into attacking Cap, who has 1 of Arrok's Singularity Spheres with which he opens a wormhole to Sinnaria in front of her hurtling form. Hopefully the Bowmaster's effect will have worn off before she makes it back to Earth.