Synopsis / Summary / Plot
The previously page shows Gladiator deciding to lead an alien armada to destroy Earth (last 2 issues), plus some recent Iron Man bits. In #24 he merged a rogue planet from the future with Earth. In New Avengers #26 Black Widow and Spider-Woman learned that (Superior) Iron Man is a captive of the Cabal, and decided to leave him there.
2 weeks ago (NAv#29) the Illuminati (Beast, Black Bolt, Black Panther, Captain Britain, Hulk and Mr Fantastic) have reoccupied the Wakandan Necropolis now that the Cabal have gone. They have discovered Iron Man in his prison cube but they don't know whether to let him out. They consider him more guilty than they are, possibly for reasons that will be revealed later (possibly in Avengers World).
Tony Stark says they're all going to die, but he wants to be released so he can die fighting. T'Challa is worried that Tony's reappearance would shatter the fragile alliance they have built with Steve Rogers' SHIELD Avengers. But he activates a power glove and breaks the confining forcefield. Iron Man dashes off.
2 hours ago holograms of Gladiator appear all over the world announcing that Earth will be destroyed to save the universe. But in gratitude to the Earth heroes who helped fight the Builders (in Infinity), the population will be given 2 hours to make their peace. Steve Rogers and an assembly of Avengers from all teams prepare to fight back.
In a lull Steve Rogers and Reed Richards chat about Tony Stark. In the midst of the threatened end of the world (and end of the multiverse), Tony's betrayal still eats at Steve. Reed suggests that Tony's morality was always subject to what he saw as the greater good - mankind's future (presumably ignoring the (still-ongoing?) Superior Iron Man phase).
He also says that Stark was always solving several problems at the same time, even while the Illuminati were battling the end of the universe. He hands Steve a control device and explains that it's for a Builder planetkiller craft they acquired during Infinity. Tony built the control system while they were enhancing Reed's Bridge to be a multiversal viewer (NAv#15).
Steve takes the control device to Black Widow at SHIELD command. She activates it, and the planetkiller rises out of Jupiter's Great Red Spot.
Last issue Gladiator called Smasher to take her place in the Imperial Guard in the upcoming invasion. In a flashback we see her refusing to attack her homeworld. Gladiator recalls that such a conflict of loyalties led to him taking the Shi'ar throne. He releases her from her duty and lets her return to Earth.
Now Izzy Kane is working with her husband Cannonball and Sunspot and his AIM scientists to save her child. She hands him over to the girl inside the Pod android. If the end of the world comes Pod will go through the Auger to the multiversal void. Izzy will follow (and find out whether the Smasher uniform will protect her there).
Roberto da Costa and AIM put another plan into operation. They have 20 satellites in orbit which combine to focus the 'power of the Earth' as a massive thermal lance. Mentor and Oracle report to Gladiator as it rips through 6 ships of the alien armada. In a coordinated 1-2 blow Black Widow (watched by Captain Marvel and Steve Rogers) jumps the planetkiller into the fleet causing more destruction.
Then the AIM weapon fails due to overload. And Gladiator gets Annihilus to send the Annihilation Wave to overwhelm the planetkiller. Steve Rogers thinks it's all over as Gladiator prepares the rest of the alien fleet to attack Earth.
But the Illuminati (Beast, Black Panther, Hulk and Mr Fantastic) are in the control room for the rogue planet. The planet itself occupies the same space as Earth but out of phase. They swap the 2 planets (I think). They now wait for Iron Man, who we learn has headed for Sol's Hammer the partial Dyson sphere he constructed around the sun (NAv#4).