Synopsis / Summary / Plot
In a tale that spanned the pages of Avengers and Avengers Forever the Multiversal Masters Of Evil have been defeated and some of them killed, but the alternate Earths they laid waste too still remain. And Doom Supreme and Mephisto remained to lead their hordes of alternate Dr Dooms and Mephistos against Avenger Prime's multiversal Avengers in Avengers Tower in the God Quarry, the grave of dead gods. The defenders were joined by the Avengers of Earth-616 and the survivors of their prehistoric counterparts including the 1st human Phoenix, plus Old Man Phoenix and the Goddesses Of Thunder from a far future. Even Galactus and the Deathlok Celestial who used to be Avengers Mountain HQ turned up. Many Dooms and Mephistos were killed, as were many defenders. But Mephisto-616 absorbed all the other surviving Mephistos to attain his secret goal of breaking through the floor of the God Quarry to release the entropy/chaos from the First Firmament beneath.
Now from the gaping hole bursts a flood of the 'rotting remains' of the First Firmament drowning all before it. The good guys try to help each other escape while the Dooms trample over each other. Our Captain America rallies the Howling Commandos of variant Steve Rogers to take people to higher ground, but Iron Man points out that no ground will be safe and they need to get to the Avengers Mountain Celestial and teleport away. However Odin counters that the 'flood' will sweep across all realities drowning the multiverse. Cap won't let that stop him rescuing the dog who is 1 of his alternates, but then he realises that they're both now going to be consumed together by the burning waters. Except now Old Man Phoenix (who once was Logan/Wolverine) exerts *all* his power to temporarily stop the flood in its tracks.
Having achieved his goal Mephisto has shed all the other devils who now lie dead around him. He stands alone and weak from his exertions. Doom Supreme congratulates him on his cunning plan but berates him for not having the will to control the released power. He knows that the devil just wants reality to be erased as a colossal suicide. Mephisto admits that truth - he's grown monumentally bored of ruling in Hell and just wants it all to end. So Doom uses a sorcerous blast to give the devil the death he desires.
But before Mephisto expires Doom wants to show him what he *could* have done. The waters of the First Firmament may destroy en masse but he extracts a small amount from the frozen wave which *he* intends to control. He will use it to rebuild the universe with himself as the only inhabitant. But suddenly the small ball of substance in his hand grows rapidly larger and engulfs him. As the villain dies he sees that Ant-Man (the Tony Stark of Earth-818) has done it with his Stark Particles (fired from a gun). Doom is turned to stone like the dead gods in the Quarry but AM doesn't think that's enough, so he shrinks the statue to toy-size with his gun.
Stark reports this to Avenger Prime (a good Loki) and others. AP and Agamotto of the 1M BC Avengers are using their mystic powers as Sorcerers Supreme to try to close the breach in the God Quarry, but unsuccessfully. The multiversal Carol Corps have their hands full with ordinary Dr Dooms who won't give up, helped by the Star Panther and our Sub-Mariner. Valkyrie (Jane Foster) is using her All-Weapon to stop Old Man Phoenix from buckling under the strain of holding back a cosmos. Ka-Zar is downing Dooms with the Power Cosmic of a Herald Of Galactus, but Galactus himself has retreated back to the past. Gorilla-Man came here in the Deathlok-Celestial and does his bit.
Loki greets the Deathlok who is now the mind of the dead Celestial - this DL is the last of what used to be an army of them who served Avenger Prime. Avengers Mountain prepares to strike. Loki warns him that this might kill even a Celestial like him, but he replies that being a Deathlok means he's already died before and that didn't stop him. So saying he plunges his enormous metal hand over the hole. He stops the flood but the pressure starts to tear him apart. Thor and the Goddesses Of Thunder along with Iron Man and the aged Starbrand try to cauterise the 'wound' (the hole).
The female Phoenixes (the prehistoric Firehair and the current Echo) are on their way to help but they're waylaid by Dark Phoenix (another MMOE survivor). Raven Darkholme in a raven/phoenix form dunks them in the chaos water but the other 2 channel the chaotic Phoenix Force to escape and rip the Phoenix-wings off their foe who falls dying into the flood. The water has eaten the Deathlok Celestial's hand and the water gushes out again. But the Phoenixes join OMP in holding it back. However much of their energy was spent defeating DP. But Thor adds the power he 'inherited' from his 'mother' Firehair and they start to force the water to retreat.
Cap now starts to worry about how they'll plug the hole rather than just deal with the water that's already come through. Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) and Starbrand (Brandy Selby) figure this is where *they* come in. The All-Rider uses his enhanced power to reassemble the flaming fragments of Doom The Living Planet which he then propels to act as a giant bung. However Mephisto (self-healed from Doom Supreme's attack) bursts their bubble by saying that it won't hold for long. Loki is forced to agree with him. The ground of the God Quarry is made from rubble from the dead First Firmament (strengthened with the bones of dead gods). Nothing from *this* multiverse can hold the energy from *that* side.
On cue chaos water starts to erupt from cracks in the once-Living Planet. The Goddesses Of Thunder use their Mjolnirs to plug some holes. Valkyrie joins them to summon all the other Mjolnirs lying around (brought by the Goddesses from the universes where the MMOE had killed their Thors). Even the 2 versions of the Earth-616 hammer wielded by Thor and the prehistoric Odin follow, whether their owners agree or not. It seems to be working but Mephisto gloats that it won't last. Nighthawk punches out the devil that created him, which he's been looking forward to for a long time. Ant-Man suggests they throw Mephisto in the hole but Agamotto says that the devil *wants* to die - so he sends him to a more fitting fate.
The 3 Phoenixes tell the assembled heroes that they've run out of power to stop another wave when it breaks through. Iron Man says their only option is for someone to close the gap from the other side. Now Starbrand steps forward to say that she's the only 1 who can survive in there long enough to do the job. Captain Marvel protests that the very old woman is still a child (Brandy Selby was born in Avengers #30 and aged rapidly every time she used her power). But Robbie Reyes steps up again and asks Carol Danvers and Steve Rogers to look after his brother Gabe before calling his Hell Charger car to him. Brandy flies after him but the All-Rider sends his hellfire chains to entangle her and then drives his car straight through the hole to the waters below. And the ex-Living Planet collapses and the flood is no more.
Now it's time for the Avengers to recover. Brandy weeps over bits of Hell Charger that fell off. The Deathlok-Celestial is nursing its hand. The remaining Dooms surrender. And Loki asks what they should do about the 615 alternate Earths that the MMOE ravaged (by going back in time and destroying *their* prehistoric Avengers). The multiversal Avengers were birthed by those rewritten timelines. Many of them would give up their own existences to restore the proper timelines but some would prefer not to. Nighthawk thinks it's a moot point because they don't know how to do it anyway.
Phoenix (Firehair) goes to find Brandy sitting beside the Celestial who is weeping because he knows she's near death. But she tells him that Starbrands burn bright and brief. She recalls how she and Echo-Phoenix combined to rewrite the 2021 Heroes Reborn reality to bring back the main 616 reality (in the Heroes Return 1-shot). Brandy and Firehair know that this time *they* will mend a multiverse. Fireless Echo and Logan watch them go as they ignite together.
The rest is epilogues in the restored version.
Stone Age Earth-616 and the survivors of the prehistoric Avengers convene in a cave. Blinded Sorcerer Supreme Agamotto creates the 3 mystic amulets known as the Eyes Of Agamotto to help him see the future as Iron Fist (Fan Fei) and the caveman Moon Knight watch. He foresees this rise of more Ghost Riders and mutants, and humanity reaching the stars. They leave the cave and we see the painted power symbols that were found in #1 of the latest Avengers series (which this issue is the finale of).
Odin was also part of that early Avengers but now he's retired to Asgard where he berates the hammer Mjolnir for being insubordinate (and not just in this issue). He leaves it in the armoury swearing that no-one will ever carry it again. (But surely he knows like us that the hammer born by his son Thor is the same 1.)
In a far future universe the 3 Goddesses Of Thunder look after the planet New Midgard. They have only retained 1 Mjolnir which they take it in turns to use to bring rain for the settlers crops. It's Ellsiv's turn but Atli won't give it back to her. King Thor left Old Man Phoenix to keep them in line but now that he's just Old Man Logan he's happier tending his flower garden.
In present-day Asgard Thor introduces the equally no-longer-Phoenix Maya Lopez to his other mothers Gaea and Freyja who welcome her.
Nighthawk prowls the night in New York City. He still hunts the villainous other members of the Squadron Supreme Of America, who like him were artificial creations of Mephisto. He doesn't know how long this body will last but he intends to use it as a vigilante.
Captain America, Captain Marvel and Iron Man watch as armoured guards escort manacled Sub-Mariner back to Seagate Prison. The ex-King Of Atlantis accepts his punishment (for leading the Atlanteans against the surface world again) but Steve Rogers hails him as an Avenger. Namor breaks his chains (as he could have done any time) to shake Steve's hand and then goes to jail.
The Deathlok Celestial no longer stands at the North Pole as the Avengers' HQ but all of the heroes who have featured in the latest series, along with Gabe Reyes in his wheelchair, are gathered there to see ice(?) statues of Ghost Rider and Starbrand.
Valkyrie and her talking horse have been scouring the afterlife but have found no trace of Brandy, Robbie or Firehair.
But Mephisto is back in the Hell he hates ruling. And to keep him 'company' there's the Orb (killed in #50) who keeps annoyingly prattling on about all the things he can see.
In the God Quarry the Deathlok Celestial has replaced the destroyed Avengers Tower as the base for Avenger Prime and his muliversal Avengers, mainly the Howling Commandos and the Carol Corps who he sends out to check that their worlds are now truly OK. It seems that Phoenix and Starbrand succeeded in restoring those timelines to before the MMOE messed with them, without cancelling the heroes that arose from them. Inside Loki has Star Panther and Thor God Of Fists plus the Earth-818 heroes Ant-Man, Infinity Thing, Moon Knight, Vision and Wonder Man waiting for trouble.
Lastly we see a light in the dark water below the Quarry. Ghost Rider has survived and is repairing the Hell Charger in hopes of escape home. He keeps reminding himself that he is Robbie Reyes and his brother is Gabe.