The Final Threat

Adam Warlock arrives at the ruins of Thanos’ headquarters. There he finds Gamora hanging on by a thread. She tells him that her master turned on her after she uncovered that he was attempting to commit stellar genocide. She also says that there is only one being Thanos fears most, Adam Warlock himself. To ease Gamora’s suffering, Adam absorbs her lifeforce into his Soul Gem. This gives him full access to Gamora’s memories and the details of Thanos’ plot. Realizing that the Mad Titian might succeed, Adam Warlock heads to Earth to find allies who can assist him.

On Earth, a storm rages over New York City, as the Avengers enjoy some downtime. However, Iron Man has a strong sense of foreboding that something is going to happen but doesn’t know what. As if in answer to this, both Captain Marvel and Moondragon arrive seeking out the Avengers help their enhanced senses have warned them of a coming danger as well. At that moment, Thanos’ space ship — Sanctuary II — uses its weapons system to make a star go supernova. Sensing the untold destruction with her mental powers, Moondragon warns her comrades that the danger has just begun.

That’s when Adam Warlock appears before them seeking their help,[1] saying that the impending danger is coming from a mutual foe, Thanos.[2] He reminds the Avengers of their last encounter with Thanos when he tried to use the Cosmic Cube to make an offer to his beloved, the personification of Death. However, the Cube was destroyed by Captain Marvel before he could use it. In the interim, learned of the existence of six Soul Gems that could give him the power to accomplish his goals. He went about collecting them from each of their previous owners. Until he learned the final one was in the possession of Warlock himself. Although Thanos assisted Adam in defeating the Magus, a twisted version of himself from the future, Thanos realized that Adam would not willingly give up his Soul Gem. In order to get around this, he has since constructed a massive synthetic gem to siphon power from the five gems already in his possession.[3] He learned all this through his connection to Gamora in the Soul Gem. Learning what he can from the Avengers, Warlock realizes that Thanos intends to snuff out every star in the universe.

Meanwhile, Adam’s ally Pip the Troll arrives at Sanctuary II looking for his allies. There he only finds Thanos. The Mad Titan informs Pip that while they were once allies, that is no longer the case.

Back on Earth, the Avengers are contacted by Starcore who tells them that there was a massive alien fleet appearing just past Earth’s sun.[4] The sheer size of the fleet dwarfs that of the Skrull invasion fleet the Avengers faced during the Kree/Skrull War, but they are undaunted and soon are racing to the scene in their own ship.[5] Along the way, dwell on their past encounters with Thanos. For Moondragon, she remembers how Thanos killed her family. She was saved by Mentor, the father of Thanos, who had her trained to potentially become the Celestial Madonna.[6] Iron Man thinks about his own early encounters with Thanos.[7] While the others try to think of other strategies to deal with the Thanos.[8][9]

When they finally arrive before the invasion fleet, Iron Man and Thor go and run interference while the others infiltrate Sanctuary II. There they are attacked by a horde of aliens. As the battle rages Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock make a grisly discovery. In one of the rooms, they find Pip the Troll in a catatonic state. With no way to snap him out of it, Warlock absorbs Pip’s essence into the Soul Gem as well. Finding no trace of Thanos, the pair then fly to the opposite side of the sun where they discover that the ship they were in was actually a decoy and the real Sanctuary II is about to destroy Earth’s sun. Smashing their way inside, the two men try to stop Thanos. However, Adam Warlock was gravely wounded.

That’s when Thor and Iron Man arrive and while Thor battles Thanos, Iron Man shatters the synthetic gem. With his scheme foiled, Thanos then teleports away. Captain Marvel goes to find Adam Warlock and is shocked to see Adam talking with an apparently identical twin. The other Warlock convinces Adam that it is his time to die and allows his soul to be taken into the gem on his forehead. When Thor and Iron Man find Mar-Vell and Adam’s now dead body, they asked what happened. Unfortunately, the Captain isn’t entirely certain he knows what happened.

…. This story is continued in Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2.

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Scarlet Witch, the Vision, the Beast, Moondragon), Captain Marvel, Adam Warlock, Thanos, Gamora, Pip the Troll

Continuity Notes

1. Thor recalls his last encounter with Warlock back when he called himself Him. That was in Thor #165-166.

2. The Avengers encountered Thanos previously during the so-called Thanos War. See Captain Marvel #25-33, Marvel Feature #12, and Avengers #125.

3. This was all detailed in Strange Tales #178-181 and Warlock #9-15 and Marvel Team-Up #55.

4. A footnote here reminds readers that the Avengers dealt with Starcore in Avengers #104.

5. The Kree/Skrull War took place in Avengers #89-97.

6. For more on Moondragon’s origins see Captain Marvel #32, Avengers #135, 211, Daredevil #105, Giant-Size Avengers #4, and Defenders #138 and 143.

7. Iron Man dealt with Thanos in Iron Man #55.

8. Captain Marvel thinks about his unique relationship with Rick Jones. The two have been atomically bonded almost consistently since Captain Marvel #17.

9. Here, the Vision refers to the Eternals of Titan as a “evolved offshoot of the gods of Olympus.” This is not correct at all. What If? #25 confirms that those living on Titan are actually members of the Eternals. Centuries earlier there was a schism between the Eternals. With one group loyal to Zuras remaining on Earth while others, loyal to A’Lars (aka Mentor) went to live on Titan.