Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Last issue Captain Marvel fought 2 Skrulls working for someone they call Masterlord. The plot involved Rick Jones being arrested (by a Skrull posing as a cop) for the murder of Prof Savannah. This was supposedly witnessed by the Prof's niece and Rick's girlfriend Lou-Ann Savannah. Now Mar-Vell has come to find out why Lou-Ann lied.
In answer to his question the girl tells a long story which begins on Titan, a moon of Saturn ruled by Thanos. He's hired an army of alien mercenaries to conquer the universe, starting with Earth. Thanos has also enlisted an Earth villain to plant slave discs on people in power so that he can control them. And Lou-Ann whips out a little alien gun to shoot the Captain with.
CM of course easily stops her. And the girl breaks down, claiming that when she's finished following Thanos' orders her mind is free - and now she wants them to find a way to help her. Mar-Vell clangs his Nega-Bands together switching places with Rick Jones, who is now free to comfort his Lou-Ann.
But now we join Masterlord/Thanos with the Skrulls Skragg and Super-Skrull. It turns out Lou-Ann is still being controlled, and Skragg has a new plan which Thanos sends SS to implement.
Super-Skrull flies with his Human Torch power (he has the powers of all the Fantastic Four) and locates Thing trudging along a lonely street. The alien would love to obliterate his old foe but restrains himself to follow his master's orders. (It seems he sees Thanos' campaign as a stepping stone to regaining power in the Skrull Empire.) He taunts Ben Grimm to meet him at a certain address. Ben knows it'll be a trap but he's going to walk into it anyway.
Meanwhile Lou-Ann names that same address as where the slave disc was attached to her skull. Rick advises her to go to the Avengers who hopefully can remove the disc. He and Captain Marvel go to investigate the address. They also suspect a trap and sneak in a back way. The place seems deserted but Thanos & co are upstairs. Skragg says that the person controlling the discs has let go off Lou-Ann now her usefulness is ended.
Thing brazenly smashes through the front door and is confronted by a weapon which takes away his voice. When he runs into Captain Marvel both think the other is the Super-Skrull. Thing can't tell CM otherwise, but Mar-Vell's angry words make Ben realise that he's facing the real deal. However that doesn't stop him from fighting back. Skragg intends Mar-Vell to kill Thing in battle and then be driven mad by guilt when he realises his mistake.
The fight is happening in an alien lab. Thing rips the metal floor up from under the Kree burying him in rubble. Mar-Vell breaks free and jabs Thing with the broken end of a 1,000 volt cable. CM grabs a large metal spike and prepares to stab his fallen foe ...
... but can't bring himself to kill. And the electric charge has given Ben his voice back. And the heroes start to team up.
Thanos (accompanied by a hooded figure with glowing eyes) is not happy with Skragg whose plans failed this issue and last. And the punishment for failing Thanos is death. The heroes hear the Skrull's death-cry (which the Kree Captain recognises from many combat situations). Busting in they find him turned to stone. And we get our 1st proper view of Thanos, flanked by Super-Skrull and the hooded figure.
Thanos does his villain rant including:- Saying that he's seized power on Titan (more on that next issue). And that Mar-Vell will give him the knowledge to conquer the stars. Thing attacks but Thanos blasts him unconscious. Captain Marvel swears never to reveal whatever it is Thanos wants from him. Thanos says it's not Mar-Vell who knows ...
... and he triggers the swap with Rick Jones and they all teleport away. Leaving Ben Grimm to wake up wondering what's happened.