Thanos claims that the Infinity Gems are too powerful for a mere human to control. If Hood succeeds in collecting all 6 he will be wiped out of existence. But on the way out he might destroy the universe, which Thanos wouldn't like. So Thanos offers Robbins a deal:- give him the Gems and he will grant all Robbins' desires.
Hood calls his bluff. And it turns out 'Thanos' was bluffing. It further transpires that this Thanos is actually Dr Strange. Strange drops his disguise and calls in small group of Avengers, including Red Hulk with the Power Gem.
Rulk smashes Hood in the eye, and Robbins loses control of his Gems, dropping them. Sub-Mariner and Ms Marvel swoop in a scoop up the Space and Mind Gems. Iron Man dives for the reality gem but Hood beats him to it.
Red Hulk attacks Hood again, who panics and takes the 2 of them through various times and realities. Robbins eventually gathers himself together and tells Rulk to give him the Power gem or he will wipe him out of existence. But Rulk smiles as he shows him empty hands.
Red Hulk's attack was a ploy to gain time. Now all the Avengers arrive, led by Iron Man with all 5 other Infinity Gems embedded in the Infinity Gauntlet. Hood tries to use the Reality Gem only to find that it leaps to the Gauntlet to join its mates.
The defeated Hood whines that he only did what any one of them would do if they lost their power:- whatever it took to get the power back. Any one of them with the Infinity Gems would use them to remake the world as they think it should be. He asks Iron Man what he's going to do now.
Tony Stark, under the watchful eyes of Steve Rogers, muses that he could rewind the recent past to wipe out his mistakes. He could bring people back, like his father and the Wasp. He could make the world a technological paradise. But that paradise wouldn't be earned.
Tony only does 2 things with the Gauntlet. 1st he sends Robbins back to jail. Then he uses the Gems to wish themselves and the Gauntlet out of existence.
There are 2 postscripts to the adventure:-
Steve Rogers compliments Red Hulk on his actions, including tactical advice, and invites him onto the main Avengers team.
The 5 Illuminati (excluding dead Black Bolt or his wife Medusa) meet up again, and it turns out that Iron Man didn't destroy the Gems and Gauntlet after all. They redistribute the Gems, promising to hide them better this time:- Iron Man purple Space Gem again, Prof X blue Mind Gem again, Namor red Power Gem, Mr Fantastic yellow Reality Gem, Dr Strange green Soul Gem again. The orange Time Gem goes to Steve Rogers, who has agreed to join the Illuminati despite all he said against them earlier.
Give that special marvelite a timely gift
Story #2Avengers Assemble: The Oral History of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes Chapter 17
Writer:
Brian Michael Bendis. Penciler/Inker:
.
Synopsis
Continued from
New Avengers #11.
This is in the TP as
Ch19This episode covers a lineup change (
#150-151), a battle with
Count Nefaria (
#164-166) and the
Korvac saga (
#173-177).
This was the first time the
Avengers had a planned reshuffle since
#16. Previously people just drifted in and out. This started a trend for having press conferences to announce new lineups.
The Count Nefaria story turned him from an unpowered
Maggia boss into a super-powered menace, in future just known as
Nefaria. But I don't know why
Bendis singled it out for mention here.
On the other hand the Korvac saga is one of the Avengers' biggest epics, which had actually been building since
#167, and arguably involved every appearance of the
Collector since
#28, including some revealed to be behind the scenes.
Story #3#12.1 (no title given)
Writer:
Brian Michael Bendis.Penciler:
Bryan Hitch. Inker:
Paul Neary. Colorist:
Paul Mounts. Letterer:
Cory Petit.
Synopsis
Abigail Brand, head of
SWORD, as come to
Avengers Tower to tell them that
Spider-Woman is one of her agents, and she has gone missing on a mission. We see by flashback
Jessica Drew flying over the
Wakandan jungle seeking an alien energy. She lands and finds it, but is confronted by members of the
Intelligencia (
Klaw,
MODOK,
Red Ghost (and his apes),
Thinker (and his android) and
Wizard).
The assembled multi-team Avengers are
Steve Rogers (boss),
Captain America (
Bucky),
Hawkeye,
Iron Man,
Maria Hill,
Ms Marvel,
Protector and
Thor (all
Avengers),
Dr Strange,
Iron Fist,
Jessica Jones,
Luke Cage,
Mockingbird,
Thing and
Victoria Hand (of
New Avengers),
Spider-Man and
Wolverine (on both teams),
Ant-Man,
Beast,
Iron Man 2.0 and
Valkyrie (
Secret Avengers).
Abigail has to explain to Steve that SWORD is the alien-fighting arm of
SHIELD, which she is surprised he didn't know about since he's head of SHIELD as well as of the Avengers. Beast owns up to being a SWORD agent too.
Brand says she went to Spider-Woman's reported location, but couldn't find anything. Now she's come to the Avengers for help. Steve designates a team for the job, with Brand to show them where to go, Iron Man, Ms Marvel and Thor for power, Protector for alien expertise, Beast probably as another science-guy, Wolverine as tracker, and Moon Knight for some reason or other.
Meanwhile Jessica Drew has woken up naked with her hands cuffed behind her. Thinker and Wizard enter her cell, and both sides try to find out what the other knows. Spider-Woman manages to fire a bioelectric blast at the villains from her bound hands. But they are shielded.
It turns out the Intelligencia think they have found a crashed comatose
Spaceknight. MODOK urges caution, but Red Ghost just dives in and pokes around, while Klaw is doing something indecipherable.
Spider-Woman's interrogation is interrupted as Protector uses an alien device to teleport himself and Iron Man into her cell. Iron Man blasts the 2 villains out into the area where the rest of the Intelligencia are working, just as the rest of the Avengers team (not including Abigail Brand) smash their way in.
MODOK boats that they can't touch him because of his force field. Until Thor whacks him with his hammer. Red Ghost and Wizard surrender, and soon the whole gang is captured.
Abigail brings Jessica in, modestly cloaked. Iron Man explains they were able to home in on the Spaceknight's energy, as she did. But Red Ghost's tinkering has activated the alien, and it turns into
Ultron!
This time
Mjolnir is ineffectual. And Ultron takes his leave. The energy devastates the Intelligencia's island base.
Brand says SWORD had heard that Ultron was active in deep space. Tony Stark guesses that Ultron downloaded himself into the Spaceknight, and then aimed it at Earth.
Tony also remembers the future they saw in
#1-6, where Ultron had taken over the world. This is what he expects Ultron will work towards next.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Victoria Hand.