Synopsis / Summary / Plot
Dr Strange is sitting pensively alone in the Illuminati's meeting room (in an abandoned Stark factory) waiting for the others. Mr Fantastic joins him and asks if he's OK. Stephen Strange says that his lover Clea has left him to rule the Dark Dimension. It takes some hints for Reed Richards to recall who she is. Iron Man joins them and Reed explains Stephen's 'problem'. Tony Stark commiserates because she was very attractive, which doesn't go down well with DrS.
Stephen asks them how much attention is needed to keep a woman happy. But it is Prof X who answers, having entered with Black Bolt. Charles Xavier opines that no amount of attention is enough, and Strange adds that Xavier's experience extends to dating an alien (ie the Shi'Ar Lilandra Neramani). Charles is doubly-shocked - that his love-life is discussed online and that the Sorcerer Supreme goes online. He can access the Astral Plane! But Stephen says the Astral Plane doesn't get hockey scores.
Tony says he envies their long term relationships. He puts in a lot of effort but can't make it stick. Blackagar Boltagon pretends to make himself sick and telepath Prof X says that BB is mentally laughing and saying his wife Medusa never lets him get a word in (which is of course a joke). Tony comments that Reed's wife Sue (Invisible Woman) is great. Reed agrees but adds that she keeps wanting to interrupt his experiments, and when he ignores her she leaves the building. And he says he knows where she goes, looking meaningfully at Sub-Mariner who has just completed the group. Namor tells him that Sue feels trapped but she'll never leave him no matter how hard Subby tries to persuade her. Tony tries to break the tension by claiming to top all their tales by admitting to having slept with Madame Masque.
Then they get on to why he called the meeting in the 1st place. Noh-Varr/Marvel Boy, a Kree (from an alternate timeline), came to Earth and declared war on mankind (in the Marvel Boy mini-series). He's now imprisoned in the Cube but he's still dangerous. He might escape, or the Kree might demand his release. Namor suggests they beat him into submission. Tony suggests Prof X 'change' his mind. Xavier protests that he doesn't do that sort of thing. And he reminds them that if he *did* do that kind of thing then he and mutants would be ruling the planet instead of being outcasts. And anyway minds aren't that easy to mess with successfully. So they decide to just talk to MB.
But what we see 1st is Sub-Mariner visiting Marvel Boy in his cell and beating him up as he 1st suggested. But then the scene changes and Noh-Varr is with Prof X and Black Bolt in the Inhumans' home Attilan. Xavier tells him how the Kree created the Inhumans thousands of years ago to be weapons. Noh realises that this is an illusion created by PX. And because this is an illusion BB is able to speak and tell him he is king of the Inhumans. Then we're back to Namor beating the message into him.
Next up is Mr Fantastic in his head courtesy of Prof X. Noh and Reed are on the roof of the Baxter Building sharing a memory of Reed's of the original Captain Mar-Vell. The Kree remembers him as a traitor to their race during the Kree-Skrull War. MrF remembers him as someone who saved both the humans and the Kree from destruction. He goes on to admit that humans are a foolish squabbling lot but Mar-Vell saw the potential of greatness within us. Noh-Varr however sees all the more reason for the Kree to conquer them and make use of that potential. Richards persists in believing the alien could use his powers for good.
Marvel Boy expects to go back to being beaten up by Namor. But instead he finds himself having a cosy chat with Iron Man who tells him he understands having more intellect and power than everyone else. But he now faces a choice. He could be a hero (and we see him in a Captain Marvel uniform with the Avengers) or he could remain stuck in his cell ...
... which is where he now is apparently with all 5 of the Illuminati. He asks if they'll let him out if he says he'll be good. But Prof X says that he should *earn* his way out, and they leave his superior intellect to figure that out.
An epilogue in the Baxter Building shows Reed and Sue watching over their sleeping son Franklin. Reed gives his wife a choice for tomorrow. Should they go on a date or a family picnic, or both. We don't hear her answer but she looks happy. Tony Stark stares at his Iron Man mask and a presumably non-alcoholic drink. And Dr Strange levitates and meditates. While Noh-Varr contemplates the name Captain Marvel.