Synopsis / Summary / Plot
In the ruins of Avengers Mansion, Goliath holds the battered Thor—but then Thor strikes back, overcoming the giant baddie. Wrecker tries to go to his aid but Captain America heads him off. But Wrecker has his original full power back and goes after an outclassed Cap. Downstairs the chaos is heard by Wasp, Ant-Man, and Black Knight who are tending to the critically wounded Jarvis. Wasp heads upstairs to help and tries to dissuade Black Knight from accompanying her because he also has been wounded. Together they break through the rubble of a staircase and come upon Thor hammering at Goliath while Cap dodges Wrecker, maneuvering him into bringing an upper floor down on himself—but that doesn’t slow him down….
As seen last issue, Baron Zemo sends Yellowjacket to ready their flier as he goes up to the roof and, finding Doctor Druid there, shoots him with his needler and tries to revive the fallen Blackout. YJ discovers that the power has been shut off to the flier. Zemo attempts to get Blackout to unleash his Darkforce powers but Druid, semi-conscious, enters Blackout’s mind, convincing him that Zemo is his enemy and to fight back against him….
Goliath enlarges, breaking through the third floor and the supports give way, dropping Zemo’s flier with Yellowjacket inside. Thor finally topples Goliath and Cap and Wasp drive Wrecker back so the giant baddie falls on him. Army troops enter but Cap stops them from going over an unseen drop. Cap finds Yellowjacket, telling her that Captain Marvel had sabotaged the ship; she surrenders without an argument….
At the Palisades, Captain Marvel advises the injured Moonstone not to move as she may have a broken neck [she does]. Then CM learns that Zemo, not Moonstone, was controlling Blackout, meaning the Darkforce threat isn’t over….
Back at the Mansion, Zemo and Blackout battle, with Zemo trying to control the baddie via his headband. The mental battle grows so intense that Blackout falls over, dead of a cerebral hemorrhage. Doctor Druid explains that he merely released Blackout from Zemo’s control and the latter chose to defy Zemo on his own. Captain Marvel arrives and Zemo fires his guns at her but they have no effect on one who can turn into any sort of energy. Instead, she melts his guns, leaving him only Captain America’s shield as a weapon. Cap arrives and engages Zemo in a fight to the finish, Cap denouncing the villain for all the harm he and his father have brought to Cap and his “family” of Bucky and the Avengers. Cap then reveals that Zemo Senior’s death was his own fault, killed in a rockfall he caused himself. Zemo calls him a liar and spring for Cap’s throat but Cap ducks and Zemo goes over the edge, falling to the ground below….
The Masters of Evil are taken away to jail, the wounded are dispatched to the hospital, and Wasp tells the press she will have a longer statement later. CM finds Cap weeping over his footlocker, which contained all of the mementos of the people in his life, now destroyed on Zemo’s orders, including the only photo he had of his mother. He feels ashamed in view of the harm that has come to the others, but CM tells him not to, it was all he had of his past. But she advises him to look to the future so he rejoins his teammates….