Day of the Godslayer!

Seeking immortality on top of his seemingly limitless power, Count Nefaria has returned to Avengers Mansion demanding to see Thor. After trouncing the Avengers in battle, he gets his wish as Thor has just arrived and is eager to avenge his fallen teammates.[1] Nefaria quickly discovers that Thor is much more powerful than him and can cause him pain.

When the thunder god attempts to open a vortex to another dimension to banish his foe, Nefaria chokes the portal shut by toppling a building onto it. Thor manages to free himself from the rubble and battle his foe anew.[2] Summoning a powerful storm, Thor brings down Mjolnir to strike but, surprisingly, Nefaria is able to stop its blow with his bare hands.

Meanwhile, the Beast and Yellowjacket have retreated to the basement lab of the mansion in order to accelerate the Vision’s repairs following his battle with Ultron.[3] The two Hanks pull off reviving the Vision, but he emerges from his regeneration tank acting even more emotionless than before. Joining Thor in the battle on the street, the Vision discovers that Nefaria’s new powers also render him immune to the Vision’s phasing powers. As the battle ragers, a mystery man with red hair takes photos of the hole in the side of Avengers Mansion before trying to get inside through it.[4] While inside, Jarvis manages to revive the Wasp, who was injured during Nefaria’s first attack and get her up to speed on what’s going on. While just outside the battle, Kenneth Sturdy crashes through the police barricade in the Count’s Rolls Royce. He crashes the car and staggers out to get to the battle.

When Nefaria spots the scientist, he recalls how Sturdy helped give him his powers by siphoning energies from the Lethal Legion and how, after he got his powers, he tried to eliminate the scientists in order to prevent them from ever trying to depower him. Sturdy reveals that Nefaria is rapidly aging as a side-effect of his powers and he will lose a year of his life for every few hours. Looking at his reflection in a nearby window, Nefaria sees that his hair is starting to grey, confirming this. Nefaria goes on a rampage, prompting the Avengers to regroup and attack him anew. Ultimately, Nefaria is knocked out when the Vision flies high into the air and drops on top of his foe at maximum density. In the aftermath of the battle, Captain America takes out his frustrations on Iron Man, who he accuses of not taking his role as leader of the Avengers seriously.

Yellowjacket interrupts them long enough to explain Sturdy’s dying words. Nefaria was aging but this is apparently a non-issue as his newfound powers actually gave him the immortality he was seeking. Luckily, before his death scientist was able to impart how to de-power Nefaria so the Avengers can end his threat.

Meanwhile, an elderly man waits to board a cruise ship in Vladivostok. He pauses to look at the photos of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver he has in his locket before boarding with his luggage which consists of two wood-carved dolls.[5]

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Yellowjacket, the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Beast, Wonder Man), Count Nefaria, Edwin Jarvis, Kenneth Sturdy, Henry Gyrich (unidentified), Django Maximoff (unidentified), (in flashback) Hellen Rachelson, Lethal Legion (Power Man, Living Laser, Whirlwind)

Continuity Notes

1. Thor’s sudden appearance here is due to the machinations of the Collector. As details in Avengers #175, he had plucked Thor out of time to help the Avengers in order to keep them alive until he was able to add them all to his collection. He is doing so in order to protect them from destruction at the hands of Korvac. Thor was pulled out of time in the middle of a search for his father which ran from Thor #255-266. He will be returned to his proper place in time with no memory of what happened.

2. Thor states here that he never fought a more powerful foe since his last clash with the Destroyer. A footnote cites Thor’s more recent battle against the enchanted armor in Thor #265-266. However, Official Index to the Marvel Universe: Avengers cites that Thor appears here between the events of Thor #260. One could assume that Thor is actually referring to the battle with the Destroyer in Thor #224-225.

3. Yellowjacket mentions their recent battles with the Grim Reaper and Ultron. See Avengers #160-162.

4. This man is later identified in Avengers #168 as NSA agent Henry Gyrich.

5. This mystery man is identified as Django Maximoff in Avengers #182. Issues #185-187 leave everyone believing that he adopted Wanda and Pietro as children. Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5 and Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #4 later confirm that Django is actually their uncle.