Synopsis / Summary / Plot
A load of Deathloks have come to Earth-616 to warn the Avengers about the threat of the Multiversal Masters Of Evil. We saw 2 DLs arrive at Avengers Mountain at the end of #50 where they met Black Panther and Ghost Rider. But the MMOE turned up on Earth too. Last issue we saw King Killmonger with Dark Phoenix and her mind-slaves attack Iron Man, Phoenix (Echo), Thor and some DLs in Asgard. Now we'll see where Captain America, Captain Marvel and the young Starbrand are ...
... they're in Shawnee, Kansas attending a funeral for 1 of the last surviving US soldiers from WWII. CapA is there because he fought beside him, and he's carrying the coffin solo because all the man's old comrades have already passed. Brandy Selby is now a sulky pre-teen (or probably even pre-10) who can't see why they're here. CapM says they're here to pay their respects to the dead soldier even though they never knew him, but mainly because Steve Rogers asked them to. Carol Danvers asks the girl why she's just not happy to be out of Avengers Mountain for a change - unless there's something she wants to tell her. We see a flashback the Starbrand routing a troop of alien soldiers (maybe Badoon) and then blowing up their spacecraft. She gets defensively angry at Carol claiming she was born to protect the Earth from alien scum so the half-breed Kree (CapM) better watch out. Steve joins them and says there's something Brandy needs to see.
They move to a dilapidated house in Strawberry Hill in Kansas City, still in Kansas. The Starchild is equally bored here because there are no aliens around. Then Steve tells her that this is where her mother Suzanne was born and lived. Her family were Serbian immigrants, and when Suzanne lost her job she emigrated while pregnant to a Shi'Ar world for fruit-picking work. However she was arrested as an undocumented immigrant and sentenced to the Ravenstarr Prison Galaxy. Which is where our team found her (#30) giving birth to Brandy and passing on the Starbrand.
The Caps tell her that they know she's been sneaking out hunting aliens but she's got to stop. The Starbrand makes her possibly the most powerful weapon on the planet, but she needs to be grounded in her past to balance that. Brandy meekly says she'd like to look around the house ...
... but she doesn't get the chance because they are confronted by a bunch of Deathloks. The Caps move to protect the little girl but the 'Loks say they are friends from the Avengers Tower in the God Quarry. They seek the greatest Avenger of this era but it's not either of the Caps it's the Starchilde (with an 'e'), the multiversal Polaris. They bow to her and request sanctuary from the Death Hunters, ravagers of the multiverse.
As if on cue a smoking green skull lands amongst them and explodes, taking out some of the Deathloks. Carol recognises the soul-burn of the Hellfire of a Ghost Rider. 2 figures streak overhead going across the Kansas River and CapA sends CapM flying after them. He tells Brandy to stay put and races off in pursuit. The girl is left staring at the smoking ruins of her family house.
The scene shifts to the West Bottoms of Kansas City, this time in Missouri. The 2 foes are Black Skull and the Ghost Goblin with his bag of skull bombs which are pleading for mercy. Skull extends tendrils of his Venom symbiote to grab a Deathlok here as Marvel swoops in to pluck Goblin from his Glider and pummel him into the ground. CA arrives to tackle Venom who he assumes is Eddie Brock. But the symbiote entangles his shield and its master steps out to reveal himself as the Red Skull. More Deathloks arrive with machine guns to shoot at this foe who they call Black Skull/Herr Venom of the Multiversal Masters Of Evil. He's from a timeline where Skull, overlord of Hydra, grafted a Klyntar symbiote to his flesh.
Cap tries to call in reinforcements from Avengers Mountain but can't get a response. As they keep blasting at Skull 1 of the DLs says they shouldn't have led the Hunters to reality-616 because it's too important. Another DL scoffs at this as being 1 of the weakest set of superbeings they've ever seen. BS chews into 1 of them with a symbiote chainsaw as the 1st DL responds that these Avengers are on the brink of their next evolutionary leap. The core 4 (CapA, Iron Man, Thor and ?? - CapM or Black Panther?) are united, at least for now. Carol Danvers keeps improving with no limit. They have a new Phoenix. The primary Ghost Rider (presumably Robbie Reyes) is heading for cosmic awareness (in Avengers Forever). Sub-Mariner is rising from the ruin he himself created, and Jane Foster has already risen (as Valkyrie). DL2 counters with all the other Earths they've seen fall to the MMOE, their Phoenixes and GRs and gods erased. What's so special about this place? In answer the other GR points to a sign in the sky ...
... as Starbrand comes to the lure of an alien Klyntar symbiote who fears fire. She blasts Black Skull hurting his Venom form dearly. Meanwhile Ghost Rider is pummelling CapM with blazing skull in his fists. He explains that he is Norman Osborn who rips apart Ghost Riders and uses thir heads as weapons. Until Brandy punches the man who blew up her mother's house to fall next to the weakened Black Skull. They are shocked to see a Starbrand here because they believed all such long burned out in the multiverse.
The Caps try to talk Brandy down and get her to take the last surviving DL to safety. But she's drunk on power. The 2 baddies have recovered and plan their escape. GG dumps the rest of his GR skulls on the heroes, which he claims should take out most of the continent. Carol scoops them up intending to smother them with her body. But the Starchilde telekinetically takes them from her and concentrates star power on them, burning them out before they can explode.
And as the smoke clears she tells the others she can sense another alien attacking Avengers Mountain. But she doesn't realise she's now evolved into a teenager.