Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Last issue Kang sent the consciousnesses of Havok, Sunfire, Thor, Wasp and Wolverine back from the future to their bodies in the present to stop the Apocalypse Twins' plan to destroy Earth and all humans while taking all mutants away to Planet X.
Simon Williams and Wanda Maximoff are lying in bed together in the Apocalypse Twins' Ark hoping that their plan to betray the Twins and 'rapture' a horde of mutants to attack then will work. Suddenly Wolverine bursts in with Rogue and Sunfire. Future Logan and Shiro have come back to stop Rogue from killing Scarlet Witch. And to warn Wanda that Twin Eimin knows what she's planning, and intends to use it to her advantage.
The Celestial Exitar the Exterminator is about to destroy Earth as punishment for the death of at least 1 Celestial (all part of the Twins' plan), and Iron Man has gathered a group of heroes (and 1 villain) to stop him. Dr Doom, Vision and what must be Henry Pym (because Hulk is standing with Dr Strange and others) are working on a barrier to keep Exitar away. Dr Strange is going to lead a team to attack the Celestial directly.
But Rogue, Scarlet Witch and Wonder Man arrive to tell them both plans will fail. The future guys must have convinced Captain America of what they knew, because he's come along to add weight to their argument. And despite some resentment from Iron Man at Cap taking over, everyone agrees to a new plan:- Rogue will absorb everybody's powers. (It appears that the Uncanny Avengers/Unity Squad don't tell Tony Stark and the others the source of their knowledge.)
Meanwhile Apocalypse Horseman Daken reports to Eimin and Uriel that Wonder Man and the Witch have gone. Because events aren't now going the way Eimin foresaw, she deduces that someone must have broken through the Tachyon Dam they set up to keep time-travellers away. And it's probably their adoptive father and hated enemy Kang. But they check with another Horseman Grim Reaper who's guarding the Dam, and he reports it's still running.
(Actually Havok and Wasp destroyed the Dam in the future, letting Kang in then. And Kang's allies sent consciousnesses back rather than physical bodies (thus sidestepping the Dam?).)
Reaper is expecting Wasp to try to destroy the Dam, as per Eimin's prediction, and he knows she wouldn't kill him to get past him. But instead he faces Havok, Sunfire and Wolverine - and Logan at least will have no such compunction. And as the Reaper drops out of communication, Uriel discovers that Jarnbjorn is missing - Thor's axe that they used to kill Celestials.
Dr Strange and Scarlet Witch transport Rogue to Westchester where Rogue adds X-Men to her store of powers. Then she soars into space to stop the descending foot of Exitar. (If it touches the ground it will break through Earth's crust and eventually destroy the planet.)
This is only 1 part of the plan. Cap contacts Wasp and learns that Thor has convinced insane Horseman Sentry to help. He joins Rogue and holds back the Celestial's other foot. Meanwhile Thor attacks with Jarnbjorn and slices open Exitar's neck. As his energies bleed out Thor's hammer teleports them to rejuvenate a dying star and save a civilisation. The Earth is saved too.
Meanwhile again, Havok and Sunfire wreck the Tachyon Dam. And Kang and his Corps come from outside time. Suddenly, as we suspected all along, we find that this was all Kang's plan (devised with his own sense of honour to cause his opponents to engineer their own defeat). The Abomination Deathlok seizes Thor and plunges them both into the energy spewing from Exitar's wound. 5 other Corps members (except Stryfe) appear to threaten Iron Man's team. And Kang drinks Exitar energy and proclaims himself Conqueror of the Universe.