Journey

Gilgamesh is in a coma following the Avengers battle with the Lava Men. Transformed into beings of gold, the repentant Lava Men turn into a makeshift Quinjet to rush the team back to their headquarters on Hydrobase.

Not far away, Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman have just finished lowering Hydrobase to the ground after it was lifted up on a crumbling pillar of volcanic rock during the Lava Men attack. Also present are the West Coast Avengers. After the artificial island is set down they check that Jarvis is safe before heading off.[1]

When the East Coast team arrives, they fill Jarvis in on what went down and rush Gilgamesh into the med lab for a body scan to find out what is wrong with him. Thor’s analysis determines that the Eternal is neither dead or alive, leaving them no closer to an answer to his condition than before.[2] Now the Avengers must seek out the Eternals, unsure if they are still on Earth.[3]

Meanwhile, in Greece, a shepherd is trying to get his flock in line when they suddenly start disappearing out of thin air. Investigating, he ends up stepping through an invisible portal to Olympia, the home of the Eternals. There, he is greeted by Sprite who begins mocking the human until Ikaris arrives and tells him off. He and Makkari then show the shepherd and his sheep back through the portal and seal it off. Concerned that the barrier that separates them from humanity might be weakening, Ikaris thinks this might be an unforeseen side effect of many of their people leaving Earth. They report back to Thena who is in a meeting with Phastos, who tells her that the machines that keep their domain hidden is starting to malfunction.[4] Overhearing this, Sprite decides to take matters into his own hand by repairing the machine in his own style.

Back in New York, the Avengers have taken Gilgamesh to the only Eternal they know that lives in the city, Sersi.[5] Seeing the state her fellow Eternal is in, Sersi tells them to bring him inside. As they do so, Thor suddenly feels dizzy for a moment. When Cap notices, the thunder god tells him he’s fine and to focus on Gilgamesh.[6] Unfortunately, Sersi can’t figure out what’s wrong with Gilgamesh and suggests they go to Olympia. Taking a Quinjet, Sersi leads the Avengers to the Eternals home only to find a smoldering crater in its place.

At that moment, in New Jersey, a home suddenly explodes. Emerging from the rubble is a scientist who believe he is finally close to making a huge breakthrough.[7]

Recurring Characters

Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Black Panther, She-Hulk, Sub-Mariner, Quasar, Gilgamesh) Invisible Woman, Mister Fantastic, Avengers West Coast (Wasp, Hank Pym, Wonder Man, Scarlet Witch, Tigra, Vision), Edwin Jarvis, Eternals (Thena, Ikaris, Makkari, Sersi, Sprite, Phastos), Lava Men (Jinko, Akor), Paul Harker (unidentified)

Continuity Notes

1. Jarvis is depicted wearing an eyepatch here. He suffered damage to an optic nerve after a beating from Mister Hyde in Avengers #275. He will continue wearing this eyepatch until his eye is fully healed in Avengers #317.

2. Thor casually mentions that he has been trained in medicine. This was during his time trapped in the mortal form of Donald Blake. See Thor #159 for all the details. At the time of this story, Thor had just recently abandoned his Don Blake identity circa Thor #339. However, he still retains some of his medical knowledge.

3. This statement doesn’t really make any sense because the Eternals haven’t really gone anywhere. This might be a reference to Avengers #250 when most of the Eternals left Earth. However, the Avengers should know that there are still some left since they had recently encountered them in Eternals (vol. 2) #12.

4. The whole “Eternals hiding out of synch with the rest of the world” thing in this story might be an attempt to answer something brought up in Silver Surfer Annual #1. In that story, the Surfer goes to Olympia for the first time and notes that he never saw it before in all the time he was exiled on Earth and questions if it was ever really around as long as the Eternals claimed it to be. Writers must have thought this opened up a can of worms they’d rather not have to explain and came up with this half assed explanation instead.

5. Captain America recounts how he was once indebted to Sersi. Their last encounter was in Captain America #357.

6. This is one of many dizzy spells that Thor has suffered. Thor #413 reveals that Loki is the cause. The trickster was able to trigger these dizzy spells after he donated some of his power to Thor in Thor #398 during his battle with Seth.

7. We first saw this scientist in issue #306. Next issue it is revealed that he is working on a new form of experimental energy. Named Professor Harker in that story, his first name is identified as Paul in the Nebula profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #8.