Synopsis / Summary / Plot
The issue starts with Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) sitting on the Moon looking back at Earth and pondering why some heroes join the Avengers. She guesses that Tony Stark is haunted by his past and strives to have a net positive effect on the world. And immortal Thor is prompted to do it because of mortals' brief fragile lives. She herself does it for the beautiful planet. She also sees the title Avengers not as a warning to their foes but to themselves not to lose something like the Earth that would *need* avenging. She gets a call from Iron Man to say there's an incident, and as current chairman it's her privilege to put out the call "Avengers Assemble". We then see the new team attacking the giant Terminus at Project PEGASUS.
This story will be interspersed with flashbacks to Carol recruiting the current team. And here's the 1st, 7 days ago in the Jarvis Lounge in the new (as yet unidentified) Avengers HQ. Tony lets her know that the members of the previous team have elected her as Chairperson and her 1st job is to organise their replacement team. Carol tells him she doesn't want the Avengers to be the world's policemen any more, she sees them more as troubleshooters solving problems and saving lives. Tony agrees that change is good after the God Quarry (Avengers Assemble event). She says the 1st person she wants on the team is *him*. He was expecting her to go straight for Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman), but she responds that Jess, Rhodey (War Machine) and Jen (She-Hulk) are her personal/Captain Marvel team and she doesn't want to mix the 2. She wants *him* to be her Executive Officer - she'd rather have him with her than against her (as in the fairly recent Civil War event. And also he's her AA sponsor and he needs support for his own current problems (in his own mag where he's lost his company and all his money). (But *that*'s mixing personal and professional!). Tony agrees.
Back in the present Iron Man briefs CapM on the foe. Terminus is a cybernetic being who's effectively immortal because his nanite spores eventually regrow him every time he's destroyed. And he's also got small Termini drones and he's currently attacking Project PEGASUS for their energy. At the moment he's smashing through defending conventional forces.
6 days ago CM goes to Asgard to see Thor. Even though nowadays he's weighed down with the responsibility of ruling the place he readily agrees to be on the new roster. As far as this founding member is concerned he's a permanent Avenger. She asks him if her guess about his motivation is right and her (hesitantly) agrees. She thinks to herself that they *both* lead a pantheon of gods.
In the present Carol details Cap and Panther to evacuate civilians from the Project while she and Thor take Terminus head on. The Thunder God boasts of his record at giant-felling and Captain Marvel advise the robot to stand down or she'll sick the most dangerous man alive on him.
5 days ago she locates T'Challa alone on a yacht in the middle of the South Pacific. She dismisses his question of how she found him by saying that if he *really* wanted to hide she wouldn't have been able to. She reminds him of recent events (in his recently ended series) where he developed Killswitch Protocols against potential threats to Wakanda including his fellow Avengers, but this led to him being deposed as King and as Black Panther. So she puts it to him that he wanted her to find him so he has a chance to make amends, and to become again the Avenger that he never stopped being.
He too obviously agreed because he's here now saving people from wolf-like Termini. He correctly deduced they would be vulnerable to Antarctic vibranium. He guides Project scientists towards waiting autopiloted quinjets but takes the senior engineer with him to deal with the main problem.
Still 5 days ago Captain Marvel finds the 2 Captain America's sparring in a gym. They indulge in what seems to be a running joke of all calling each other 'Cap', and she asks Sam Wilson to join her team. She tells them she's already got Tony, Thor and T'Challa - the last causing Sam to get angry (after their 'disagreement' in CA: Symbol Of Truth #5). So she says she now needs a Captain America, but she wants 1 who can represent the normal people and keep the 'gods' grounded - and Steve Rogers, Living Legend of WWII won't do that.
Again Sam-Cap obviously agreed because the flying Cap is here cutting down flying pterodactyl-like Termini with a bit of help from Iron Man. CA says the birds in the area sense a large electromagnetic local field. Then giant Terminus hits Thor into orbit and aims his eye-blasts at PEGASUS. CA deflects it but the recoil sends him through a wall to where BP is keeping wolf-termini off his scientist. It's a prickly meeting but they get on with the job.
4 days ago CapM locates Vision at the North Pole site of the Avengers recent HQ in the body of a dead Celestial (which has now relocated to the God Quarry). He's been thinking about the Judgement Day event where the reawoken Celestial judged all of humanity individually. The synthezoid now admits that he wasn't judged. Carol points out that many people were judged without being made aware of it. But Vizh fears that he was passed over because the 'god' considered him a mere machine. Carol doesn't remind the android that he's proved his humanity many times over. Instead she reminds him that he shouldn't care what a space god thinks because he's actually *met* his own creator (Ultron) and rejected *his* opinions.
The pep talk obviously worked because Vision's on the new team and he's just retrieved unconscious Thor from space. He warns the others to stand clear and then hits Terminus with a solar jewel blast which staggers the robot. But it recovers and claims that it needs the power from Project PEGASUS because the Convergence is coming. Panther and CapA report that PEGASUS have developed an artificial black hole reactor which they believe is what the giant robot is after. But the attack has damaged the reactor's containment and the black hole will be released to start eating the planet unless someone can do the impossible.
3 days ago Carol visited Scarlet Witch in her new home the Emporium in Lotkill NY (see her current series). Over cups of tea Wanda Maximoff agrees to be an Avenger again before being asked. She denies reading her friend's mind, she just knows her and the Avengers. And the team is the stable centre of her life so she'll always answer the call. (Except when she goes insane and disassembles them!)
Now the battle mage is casting a spell to contain the black hole but the many em-fields generated by PEGASUS experiments are causing interference. They must get the black hole clear of the site. Iron Man and Vision are keeping Terminus occupied, and now Thor rejoins them. BP and CA continue to deal with the Termini. So CM decides to take on the new job. She propels the huge reactor slowly into the sky while the other 3 powerhouses stop Terminus from interfering. Panther warns her that it's dangerously unstable and she should get clear before it blows, but Carol can't let it go off so near the ground. And SW needs it further way anyway. CM continues to raise it higher as her compatriots finally have Terminus down. Sam Wilson flies up to catch her her when she falls. Wanda casts her spell. And the reactor explodes.
Next thing Carol Danvers knows she's in a strange place which we are informed is 'nowhen, nowhere, null-time, the nothingness between moments' and it's where Kang The Conquerer is dying (from a wound inflicted in the 2022 Timeless 1-shot). He has a warning for her.