Marvel Team-Up (vol. 3) #15
League of Losers Part One
The peace in New York City is shattered when Stark Tower, the Avengers’ headquarters is suddenly blown up.[1] The man responsible is named Chronok who soon gets a status report from his underlings. They report that they have already killed many of the world’s superheroes including Daredevil, the Black Panther, the entire Fantastic Four, Thor, and that they have a squad in Westchester to eliminate the X-Men.[2] That’s when a report comes in confirming that the Hulk has been killed. Assessing the damage done to Avengers Tower, Chronoc figures that Wolverine wasn’t present as he would have survived the blast and attacked them already and decides to go in and soo who they can find. Among the scattered bones, Chronoc finds the remains of Iron Man’s armor and Captain America’s shield. However, Chronoc’s glee is interrupted when reports are coming in informing them that they lost the element of surprise and other heroes are starting to fight back. Chronoc orders his men to initiate phase two, which involves going after the loved ones of these heroes, figuring this will force many to surrender. Returning to the remains of Avengers Tower, he continues to assess the damage begins trying to figure out who perished in the blast when he is told that Spider-Man is still alive.
At that moment, Peter Parker — his identity compromised by Chronoc’s minions — is trying to web-sling himself and his wife Mary Jane to safety. Finding cover in a nearby alley, Peter tells Mary Jane to make a run for it while he finishes changing into his costume. Once she is safely away, the web-slinger goes back out into the open to face his pursuers and is killed instantly. The decide against going after Mary Jane since she has no powers and prepare to go after their next target, Moon Knight.
Elsewhere, Speedball is fleeing after the rest of his teammates in the New Warriors were wiped out by Chronoc’s men. Afraid for his life and wondering what to do, Speedball finds cover in a nearby apartment building. The soldiers pursuing him decide to give up and go after the Punisher instead. While at the lab of Henry Pym, he and Janet Van Dyne are unable to reach the Avengers and decide its time to come out of retirement. However, before they can get thier costumes back on, a bomb is lobbed into the lab and they are killed in the resulting explosion. In Harlem, Luke Cage is alone against Chronoc’s soldiers and when their lasers don’t have an effect on his bullet proof skin, they switch to a device that causes his skin to melt. Before they can kill Cage, they are ambushed by Gravity. The pair hold their own against Chronoc’s army, but when their foes have been defeated, Gravity turns to congratulate Luke only to discover that he has died from his injuries.
In Los Angeles, Chris Powell witnesses as Chronoc takes control of the television airwaves and tells the world that his forces have nearly destroyed every hero. He then gives the leaders of the world 48 hours to surrender or he will exterminate all life on Earth. Needing to warn his friends in Excelsior, Chris uses his amulet to turn into Darkhawk in order to get to their headquarters as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, when he arrives the only person left alive is Ricochet, who is being attacked by Chronoc’s men. As Ricochet tries to explain what happened he is killed. Horrified by what’s happened, Darkhawk flees. Chronoc’s men decide against going after him as they have no record for the hero and decide to focus on their next target, Rick Jones.[3] When one of the soldiers complains about having incomplete files, another says that they’re making record time and the heroes that they don’t have in their database probably didn’t make a huge impact on history and probably won’t be much of a problem to track down later. Still a unit of soldiers go after Darkhawk and after getting shot in the back, Chris decides to return to the ground and deactivate his powers. Fearing that he might be one of the few heroes left on Earth, he decides that he has to stop Chronoc’s invasion by getting to New York.
Recurring Characters
Speedball, Gravity, Darkhawk, Chronok
Continuity Notes
This story occurs in an alternate reality, Marvel Legacy: The 1990’s Handbook #1 identifies this reality as Earth-6215.
Chronoc’s minion tells his master that Thor was dead before they arrived in this time period. Up to this point, this reality mirrors the history of Earth-616. In that reality, Thor had died in Thor (vol. 2) #85. Presumably, the Thor of Earth-6215 died in a similar fashion.
When one of the soldiers asks why they are going after Rick Jones, he is told that Jones has powers on an off some of the time. On Earth-616 Rick Jones has had powers on various occasions. They were:
Although technically not powers of his own, Rick was bonded to Captain Marvel from Captain Marvel #17-51. He was later bonded to Genis-Vell, Captain Marvel’s son from Avengers: Forever #12 until Captain Marvel (vol. 5) #25
When RIck Jones accessed the Destiny Force during the Kree-Skrull War in Avengers #89-97. He reconnected with the Destiny Force in Avengers: Forever #1-12
He was briefly granted powers by the Beyonder in Rom #72
Rick later was given the ability to become a Hulk from Incredible Hulk #324-332. He briefly regained this ability in Savage Hulk #1.
