The Year 1211

Doctor (Victor Von) Doom had travelled back in time to gain arcane knowledge from Morgan le Fay.[1] He has come specifically to learn how to summon demons for the purpose of defending his land from invaders. Morgan agrees to teach, but wants to know what he has to offer in return.

Now

Mighty Avengers — Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers), the Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), Wonder Man (Simon Williams), Ares, and Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew)[2] — are in the ruins of Doom’s castle after Iron Man (Tony Stark) and the Sentry (Bob Reynolds) were lost in Doctor Doom’s time machine.[3] That’s when Doom ambushes them from behind with an army of Mindless Ones.

They are quickly swamed as the creatures begin merging into one massive form that absorbs the heroes. They then wake up to find that they are behind held in stasis in on of Doom’s secret bunkers surrounded by Mindless Ones and Doombots.[4] As they struggle to get free, they discover that their powers have all been nullified. Also, Iron Man and the Sentry are not with them. They recall that there was a bright flash, and the Wasp wonders if they were caught up in the Time Platform again, fearing that they could be lost anywhere in time and space. Carol gets Doom’s attention and vows that he will be arrested for his biological attack on New York City.[5] Rather than give one of his typical monologues, Doom merely threatens to kill them all. In reality, he is deeply concerned about Stark and the Sentry since Iron Man has new technology he is not privy to and Reynolds is deeply insane.[6]

What they are aware of is that Doom’s computers are tracking something coming back through the time stream. That’s when Spider-Woman realizes that she can still uses her powers and unleashes a powerful venom blast that frees them. While the rest of the Avengers fight the Mindless ones and Doombots, Ms. Marvel races back to the ruins of Castle Doom. This is just as Iron Man and the Sentry return from the past. She tries to warn them to get to safety, but is too late to stop the Time Platform from exploding. While they manage to get some distance, the sudden blast of energy threatens to cause Iron Man’s armor to overload. Carol tries to prevent this by absorbing the excessive energies in an attempt to save Tony’s life.

With Tony’s armor failing, he tells the Sentry to unleash his power of a thousand exploding suns to recharge his suit so he can complete repairs. They then race back to the bunker where Doom is unleashing black magic in an attempt to take down the rest of the Avengers. The battle is quickly ended when the Sentry arrives and covers Doom’s mouth so he cannot make any incantations. He then rips off Doom’s armor leaving him powerless to stop his arrest.

Later, Tony Stark is back at the SHIELD helicarrier where his Deputy Director, Maria Hill, congratulates him on capturing Doctor Doom. Still Tony is concerned that Doom was able to compromise his armor, which will require repairs and reverse engineering to circumvent this exploit. Maria also thinks it is great that they have Jessica Drew back on the team since she was instrumental on freeing everyone during the final battle. Tony isn’t so certain as her sudden return has made him suspicious.[7] At that same time, the Black Widow joins Spider-Woman in the hot tub at Avengers Tower. Natasha is wondering how Jessica’s powers were able to get them out of their jam, noting that she displayed power levels that aren’t listed in SHIELD’s records. Jessica tries to explain it away by saying the records are out of date and that she’ll look into is. This makes Natasha just as suspicious at Tony.

1211 AD

Morgan le Fay wakes up in her bed thinking that Doctor Doom has returned to her. However, when she looks up to see, she discovers that the room is empty.

Recurring Characters

Mighty Avengers (Ms. Marvel, Iron Man, Wasp, Wonder Man, Black Widow, Ares, Sentry, “Spider-Woman”), Doctor Doom, SHIELD (Maria Hill), Doombots, Mindless Ones, Morgan le Fay

Continuity Notes

1. This scene happens prior to the events of Mighty Avengers #9. As we see in that issue, Doom refuses to provide Morgan with anything from the future. This will have grave repercussions for him later on, as seen in Dark Avengers #1-4.

2. This is not the real Spider-Woman but a Skrull impostor, as we’ll learn in Secret Invasion #3. The real Jessica Drew, as revealed in New Avengers #42, was swapped out with her impostor circa Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1.

3. That happened over the last two issues. They ended up some 8 years in the past per the Sliding Timescale.

4. “Spider-Woman” quips that at least they aren’t naked. She is referring to the New Avengers first mission which saw them captured by the Savage Land Mutates. They were stripped naked and held prisoner until they escaped. See New Avengers #5.

5. She is referring to the so-called “Venom Bomb” that was unleashed on Manhattan in Mighty Avengers #6-8. While they think it was intentional, we learned in issue #9 that it was due to a malfunction.

6. Doom is referring to the Extremis upgrade that Tony received in Iron Man (vol. 4) #1-6. The Sentry, on the other hand, has had mental health issues dating back to his first appearance in Sentry #1.

7. “Spider-Woman” was a member of the New Avengers when the team was formed in New Avengers #1-5. However, she and most of the rest of that group became outlaws following the superhero civil war (Civil War #1-7). However, she came back into the fold after the outlaw New Avengers discovered that a Skrull was posing as Elektra as seen in New Avengers #27-31. She took this Skrull to Tony in New Avengers #32/Mighty Avengers #6. This is ahead of a planned invasion of Earth that will take place primarily in Secret Invasion #1-8.

Topical References

• SHIELD agents watch BBC news for the report on Doom’s capture. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world TV network.