The Present

The Dark Avengers — Iron Patriot (Norman Osborn), Ms. Marvel (Karla Sofen), Spider-Man (aka Mac Gargan with the Venom symbiote), Hawkeye (secretly Bullseye), Wolverine (actually his son Daken), Captain Marvel (Noh-Varr), Ares, and the Sentry (Bob Reynolds) — had come to Latveria to help Doctor (Victor Von) Doom in his battle with the sorceress Morgan le Fay. The battle hasn’t fared well, with the Sentry seemingly killed and Ares turned to stone. On top of this, both Osborn and Doom have traveled back in time to stop Morgan in her own era. This has left the rest of the Avengers behind to fight her and her seemingly endless horde of demons alone.[1]

690 AD

The Iron Patriot and Doctor Doom have ventured back in time to the moment before Morgan launched her attack on Victor in the future.[2] Le Fay tries to turn the two intruders against one another by telling Osborn that Doom will ultimately betray him when the opportunity arises. Osborn is unphased by this and she tries to strike them down with a mystical blast. However, Doom was prepared for this and is able to shield himself and Norman from the attack. When he orders her to cease her attack, Morgan calls his bluff, pointing out that if he kills her here it will jeopardize his own timeline. Victor, knows that there are worse fates than death and casts a spell in a language that Morgan doesn’t understand. Suddenly, transparent tentacles come out of her cauldron and pull her into its soup. Doom explains that killing Morgan would be too disruptive to the time stream and so he sent her somewhere where she could bother them no more. Looking into the cauldron, Iron Patriot sees that Morgan has been cast back in time to the year 1 million BC and is now fleeing with cave men from a tyrannosaurus rex.[3]

With Morgan defeated, Osborn suggests that they take some time to do some looking around. Doom rejects this idea, warning that dallying in this era could have grave consequences if they don’t return to the present post haste. Norman is convinced and soon Doom’s Time Cube is summoned to bring them back to their proper time.

The Present

When Iron Patriot and Doctor Doom have returned, they find that the other Avengers have finished killing all of le Fay’s demons. With the battle over, Osborn asks Doom to reverse the spell that turned Ares into stone. In the aftermath of the battle, Gargan apologizes to Bullseye about trying to kill him in the fight, explaining that he was under the spell of Morgan le Fay and couldn’t control himself. The assassin tells him not to worry about it, he’ll just have to kill Mac later. That’s when they all remember that the Sentry was seemingly destroyed in battle. After waiting for a moment to see if he will come back, the Dark Avengers write him off as dead.

As a transport arrives to pick them up, Daken asks Doom what happened to his kingdom. Victor will only say that it is the work of Nick Fury and Tony Stark.[4] When the ship lands, Norman tells Doom that nobody will know about this. Victor scoffs saying he wants nobody’s pity. Osborn says he wasn’t giving any and says this is the last time he is going out of his way to help him in the future. When Doom says nothing in response, Norman sarcastically says “you’re welcome”. With Osborn and his cohorts gone, Doom summons his Time Cube once more and uses to restore his destroyed castle to its former glory. He then silently enters.

On the flight back, Ms. Marvel takes the opportunity to commend Noh-Varr for his part of the mission. She also takes the opportunity to explain that her Moonstone is of Kree origin, just like him[5] She uses this as an opportunity to string the young Kree warrior along and he falls for her flirtations hook, line, and sinker. This is noticed by Ares, who smiles to himself.

At the same time, Norman is checking in with his second-in-command, Victoria Hand. She has upsetting news, the outlaw Avenger known as Ronin (Clint Barton) has appeared on the news to call out Osborn for being a psychotic criminal.[6] Norman is arranging to have an interview set up so he can refute Barton’s claims when suddenly, they are all blinded by a bright flash of light. It is the Sentry, who somehow reformed his body after being blown up during the fight with Morgan le Fay. The Dark Avengers are shocked by this, and Bullseye says what they are all thinking: When Bob Reynolds finally goes mad, how are they going to kill him. Norman Osborn remains totally silent as he can only look on at the Sentry with growing horror.

Recurring Characters

Dark Avengers (Iron Patriot, Ms. Marvel. Spider-Man, Hawkeye, Wolverine, Captain Marvel, Ares, Sentry), Doctor Doom, Morgan le Fay, Victoria Hand (voice)

Continuity Notes

1. This recaps the last three issues, of course. Morgan is pissed at Doom because he turned down her romantic advances in Mighty Avengers #11.

2. Usually, something like this would have created a divergent timeline, where the Prime Marvel Universe would go on where Morgan never went to the future and a branching reality where she did. However, this does not appear to be the case and — as of this writing in October, 2024 — an official explanation has not been made. I think we can chalk this up to the fact that Morgan used magic to travel forward in time making it possible for her to have both travelled to the future and being stopped before she went. It’s magic, what do you want?

3. This scene of humans alongside dinosaurs in what will become England circa 1 million BC would be impossible given that dinosaurs had been extinct 66 million years ago (give or take). While there was a mass extinction of the dinosaurs in the Marvel Universe, there have been pockets that survived. Notably in the Savage Land and Wakanda. It is not impossible to consider that surviving dinosaurs may have — at one point — been in England 1 million years ago.

4. Doom’s claim that the state of his kingdom is because of Fury and Stark is true. Let’s get into that:

   • First of all, Doctor Doom was somewhat deposed of his rule of Latveria after he spent months trapped in Hell during a battle with the Fantastic Four in Fantastic Four #500. During his absence, the kingdom was taken over by Lucia Von Bardas for a short period of time. Her rule was destabilized thanks to a failed coup led by Fury in Secret War #1-5. In the aftermath of that fiasco, Von Bardas was arrested for trying to eliminate the heroes responsible with a massive bomb.

   • Doom eventually returned to the Earthly plane in Fantastic Four #536 and promptly resumed his rule. Not long after that, his Venom Bomb device was unintentionally released on New York City, prompting SHIELD and the Mighty Avengers to take him down, as seen in Mighty Avengers #7-11.

   • After this, Doom was liberated from captivity after Osborn took over in Secret Invasion #8, as seen in Dark Avengers #1.

5. The Moonstone is one of many gems of power that make up the Lifestone Tree. Centuries earlier it was used by a Kree warrior named Ajes’ha as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy, as explained in Thunderbolts #45-47. It eventually made its way to Earth. Karla jokes about how she bought it online, but in reality she stole it from Lloyd Bloch, the original Moonstone, in Incredible Hulk #228.

6. The news clip is taken from scenes we readers saw in New Avengers #51. As for Clint’s accusations, they are true: Osborn had previously been the criminal known as the Green Goblin dating back to Amazing Spider-Man #14. He was driven mad when his original Goblin Formula blew up in his face, as told in Amazing Spider-Man #40 (no thanks to a deal with the literal devil, as we later learn in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 5) #72). In more recent times, Osborn was able to win over the world after he killed the leader of the Skrull invasion of Earth, as seen in Secret Invasion #8. He will hold this position until Siege #4.

Topical References

• Karla jokes about how she got her Moonstone off eBay. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world business.