SUMMARY PAGE: AVENGERS, PART III, MARVEL NOW!
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Premise:Earth's Mightiest Heroes are now facing threats that need serious response. Some of the villains qualify as World-Killers. This story arc, therefore, represents an upgrade to the team. They're no longer a simple core association, but a power grab of the most powerful superheroes alive. Also important to the event, two new characters have been created, and will probably be around for a long time. Starbrand and Nightmask.
Avengers #1 (The key chronological maker in this issue is that Captain America's garb is now ungraded to look like armor. The wing-tipped mask is also now replaced with a helmet-chinstrap with painted wings. The start of this issue is a jump through the Marvel Timeline until it rests with Stark and Rogers saying they need to expand the concept behind the Avengers supergroup. The story then cuts to the super-villain Ex Nihilo and his team on Mars, sending evolutionary "origin" bombs to earth. The Avengers arrive - and it's the team from the 2012 movie - and are soundly defeated and captured. Although the issue is sketchy, Captain America is returned to Earth and begins to activate "the plan" he devised with Stark, calling on Avengers specialists to join the team. On the last page of the story, a whole array of new Avengers have assembled.)
Avengers #2 (Continues from Avengers #1 with no other chronological markers. As the story continues, Ex Nihilo explains his origin, which includes the origin of "The First Race" and the members of his team. Meanwhile, back on Earth Captain America is preparing his assemble Avengers to counterattack. The issue also uses flashbacks to show Stark and Rogers recruiting members like Captain Universe, Spider-Woman, Sunspot, Falcon, Cannonball, and others. In the final pages, one of their newest members, Manifold, teleports them to Mars.)
Avengers #3 (Continues from Avengers #2. Bannered. Concluding their battle with Ex Nihilo, Captain America leads the team to rescue the original Avengers. As the battle unfolds, Captain Universe, referred to as "The Universe", comes into play and destroys the Aleph.)
Avengers #4 (Continues from Avengers #3. Centering mostly on Hyperion, the story weaves its way back and forth through his origin, a titan that survives the collapsing of two, alternate universes, and how his public feelings are different from his private ones. The Avengers begin looking for the crash sites of the Bio-Bombs left by Ex Nihilo, they believe they find them all, including one later located in The Savage Land, but readers are surprised on the last few pages when Hyperion hides the fact that there is actually a seventh site, comprised of its own mysterious.)
Avengers #5 (Continues from Avengers #4. The Hulk is still with the team. Focusing on the superhero known as Smasher, "Izzy", a girl from Iowa. This issue details how she got her Sub-Guardian Shi'ar Empire powers and became an Avenger and transitions to her battling invaders and being promoted to Super-Guardian status. The final reports from the Empire is that the attackers weren't attacking at all, but runnning away from something.)
Avengers #6 (Continues after an undisclosed period, but Spider-Man is noticeably acting more brash and rude. This is likely to be happening because the Doctor Octopus alter-ego is controlling him, so this issue occurs after the Superior Spider-Man series. While Stark is running tests on the lifeform created from their encounter with Ex Nihilo, Shang-Chi is using his techniques to learn more about Captain Universe, also called "The Universe". Her real revealed name is Tamara Devoux and she came upon her powers immediately following a car crash. Shang-Chi gets her to reveal much information, but more prominently, he learns that the universe is dying. With Universe by his side, he approaches TOny and the lifeform, who Universe calls "Nightmask". It turns out both of them can talk, and that's when Nightmarks tells them the Universe is about to die from a "White Event".)
Left: Nightmask and Starbrand from Avengers #9 (2013)
Avengers #7 (Continues directly from Avengers #6. Notably, Banner is present and he's wearing a layer of armor. This means the Hulk series should occur before this. Captain Universe or "Universe", continues to help explain the plot, which at this time remains a bit confusing. The NightMask, however, is one of a series of heralds that will handle a "White Event". According to this the heralds are: a Starbrand, Justice, Cipher, and sometimes a Spitfire. This time, however, the "Universe is Broken", a common theme here as the sky brightens over the earth. The NightMask uses Stark Tech and finds an area, corresponding to a College where the Starbrand should be. The believe is that the wrong person got transformed -- and the Avengers show up just as a young student rises from the transformation.)
Avengers #8 (Continues immediately from the previous issue. The Avengers descend on a young boy named Keven Conner. He's received the Starbrand - a universal weapon designed to protect the planet during a White Event. Unfortunatley, something is wrong; Nightmask and Captain Universe detect there's a conflict of systems. Battle escalates when the Hulk attempts to grab him, but Nightmask and Starbrand teleport away, eventually ending up on Mars in a place called The Garden. This is where Nightmask was created, and before them is Ex Nihilo, his creator.)
Avengers #9 (Continues from the previous issue. Nightmask and Kevin now learn the truth as Abyss studies their physiology; the conflict is not with them, but with Earth. Ex Nihilo then reveals that he's unleashed evolutionary bombs to make the planet sentient. Instead of fearing it, he says, they may want to observe what happens. The two then head back to Earth, Crotia, where one of the bombs went off. As an evolutionary event transpires, Conner unleashes, destroying it. The Avengers arrive just in time to watch; now they worry Conner and the Nightmask are too dangerous to be on the planet. After some battle, though, they give up and are relocated to a Stark satellite in outer space.)
Avengers #10 (Continues from Avengers #9, and is a continuation of Ex Nihilio plot, but occurs roughly a month after that encounter. Centering on an evolution bomb in Regina, Canada, Department H and SHIELD call the Avengers in to investigate the inside of an unbreakable sphere. With them goes Agent Michaud of Department H. Once teleported inside, everything gets muddled, forgotten, or broken in recollection. Department H's only remaining scouting hero, Validator, has changed or been upgraded. When the Avengers and Michaud return to the outside world, the sphere disappears. They are debriefed, but say they have no memory of what occurred; this is mostly a lie. Michaud, having a data recorder implanted in his head, decides to kill himself. The only thing for certain now is what Validator, his daughter, said: "The system is online.")
Avengers #11 (Continues from Avengers #10, time period undefined. With Shang-Chi, the Master of Kung Fu, as the centerpiece, this story focuses on a market of biological weapons supposed to be on the market through the AIM organization. Shang-Chi and as assembled group of Avengers go undercover and fly into a Chinese Casino to uncover information. As it turns out, though, what they expected is heavily misunderstood. By the end of their mission, most of them learned nothing. Shang-Chi, however, has battled a super-villain known as Chimera and his assassin. In turn, he reveals that AIM is preparing to start a war and is looking to buy an army of killers.)
Avengers #12 (Continues from Avengers #11, an undefined period. There is a reference, however, to two weeks passing since the evolution bombs. There is also a reference that Tony Stark is physically in space with Rocket Racoon at the same time. With Iron Man, Thor, Hyperion, and a few others leading, the issue falls to the new life forms arising from the evolution bomb that fell in the Savage Land. Thor and Hyperion take the lead as they attempt to teach these self-sustaining children the importance of giving and other lessons. At the same time, though, the High Evolutionary has seen these creatures and uses a ruse to gather them together for plans of his own.)
Avengers #13 (Continues from Avengers #12, near immediately. With the children disappeared, Hyperion flies into a rage; the Avengers begin searching on all levels through the Savage Land. Finally, basic tracking leads them to an area that turns out to be a cloaking device. They pierce the veil and find the High Evolutionary with his minions. At the same time, he raises a Terminus unit to attack them. Hyperion goes directly after the High Evolutionary while the rest fight the monster. That's when we learn the children are being used as batteries. Once again Hyperion goes into a rage and destroys the devices, ultimately destroying Terminus and freeing the children.)
This is a Story Arc Summary Page provided by The Superheroes List. If you're just arriving, Marvel NOW! is a reformation of the Marvel Comics Publishing Group, reinventing and revitalizing their great superheroes and villains to the latest era. Are you interested in what's happening with Marvel NOW!? Well you're not alone. You can find the Reading Order and more information at The Marvel NOW! Reading Order. Twitter #MarvelNOW
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