There were voices, thundering, lightning and an earthquake...and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood. There fell a great star from heaven, burning as if it were a lamp...and I beheld, and heard an Angel, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, WOE to the inhabiters of the earth. The story begins with Wesley Dodds speaking with his pastor, Norman McCay, as he is reading from the book of Revelation in the Bible.
And I saw the seven angels which stood before God, and another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar...and the seven angels prepared themselves to sound... Norman McCay is now seeing a vision of "seven angels" bathed in the fire of what appears to be the torch of the Statue of Liberty.
...and he cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth, and when he cried, seven thunders uttered their voices... Norman McCay sees yet another vision, this time of Captain Marvel calling down lightning upon himself. These visions he is seeing are what he believes are "dreams of Armageddon".
There were voices...and thunderings, and lightnings...and an earthquake. This was my dream...no more. As Norman McCay and the Spectre watch, Armageddon has begun.
New Avengers (2004) #21 is a numbered issue in New Avengers (2004), a comic series from Marvel. It is included in the Civil War reading collection.
As the Superhuman Registration Act approaches activation, tensions rise among the New Avengers. Iron Man visits Luke Cage in an attempt to persuade him to register voluntarily, arguing that cooperation with the government is the safest path for his family. Cage refuses, unwilling to surrender his autonomy or place himself under government control.
With the Superhuman Registration Act now in effect and the New Avengers splintering, Jessica Drew finds herself under intense scrutiny from S.H.I.E.L.D., distrusted by her teammates, and still entangled with Hydra, who once restored her powers. Realizing she can no longer maintain her double life, Jessica makes a decisive break. She confronts Hydra, rejects their attempts to reclaim her, and violently severs her ties to the organization.
The Sentry retreats to the Moon in an attempt to distance himself from the escalating conflict of the Superhuman Civil War. Seeking isolation and clarity, he arrives at the Blue Area, where he is immediately confronted by the Inhuman Royal Family. Concerned about the presence of such an unstable and immensely powerful being, the Inhumans attempt to assess his intentions.
New Avengers (2004) #25 is a numbered issue in New Avengers (2004), a comic series from Marvel. It is included in the Civil War reading collection.
Eight months after the formation of the Cabal, Namor visits Doctor Doom, telling him all that has happened with the Illuminati, the Cabal and the Incursions. He declares the Cabal to be "unmanageable."
On day one, the Illuminati relocate to a new hideout. They immediately establish contact with, and begin tracking, Amadeus Cho, who is on a mission in New York to secure Tony Stark's files. Cho is successful, but is captured in the process.
As two masked figures drop down from orbit towards the Cabal's headquarters in the Necropolis, Black Swan taunts Tony Stark, who is held in a cell identical to the one she was imprisoned in. She claims that the reason she did not break and he will is because he serves no one but himself, while she considers her life meaningless compared to the will of the Great Destroyer. In Latveria, Doctor Doom calls Valeria Richards to discuss the incursions with her.
Sunspot sent a deputation of the New Avengers on a mission to investigate the forces destroying reality, backed up by a cadre of Nihilii. They went expecting to never come back. Today, at a fortress floating in nothingness, a door to somewhere opens, from which emerges the New Avengers.
With Sunspot and his team of Avengers arriving on the scene, Sunspot sends Steve Rogers a message, asking him to stand down in a long speech. Steve shuts off communications midway through, and tells Maria to "deploy the package", the package being a remotely controlled alternate-universe Hulk. Next, Steve is interrupted by Manifold, Black Widow and Spider-Woman who teleport onboard the ship, asking him to cease fighting.
The Illuminati gather at the Necropolis in Wakanda, where they have not been for months. They see the remains of a holding cell, one which had contained Iron Man, stained with blood and broken from the inside, and think on the death of the Cabal. Later, Reed Richards and Black Panther stand at the graves outside the Necropolis.
Hank Pym explains to everyone about the Beyonders, which are depicted to be a race of gray humanoids in contrast to the more familiar "Beyonder" encountered by the heroes in the past. According to Pym, the Beyonders are beings that cannot be fully comprehend in a human fashion while the Beyonder encountered in the Secret Wars was a "child unit" who visually modified what it perceived.
It is a quiet night on a version of Earth. A Black Priest spies on a doorway, then returns to his group. Presenting himself to his leader, Dr Strange, he explains that the door to the Library of Worlds is guarded but is active.
On the shattered remains of a Mapmaker world in Earth-1120006, the team of Avengers and Gardeners are standing over the remains of a nonfunctional Mapmaker. Abyss uses her powers to see a map leading to the Beyonders. Nightmask teleports them, killing himself in the process, but succeeds in bringing them face to face with the Beyonders.
Having been discovered by Doctor Strange, Doom begins to tell him how he came to assume the mantle of "the Great Destroyer". Some time ago, the Molecule Man and Doom travelled to the time and place when Owen Reece first became transformed into the Molecule Man. The Molecule Man explains that he is not a person in the ordinary sense.
As the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" begins, the skies turn red all across the world. Having finally learned about Sarah Simms's new boyfriend, Gary Sellers, and having talked things over with her amicably, Cyborg hardly notices the atmospheric oddity until he is approached by a costumed super-powered woman called Harbinger. After a skirmish, Cyborg agrees to accompany her to her mentor, the Monitor.
In Alabama, Arella continues the search for her daughter. She learns that Raven had inexplicably fallen from the skies above the Johnson farm weeks earlier, whereupon the farmer and his sons had taken her to a nearby hospital. Upon her recovery, she began using her powers to cure her fellow patients, and gained a local reputation as a faith healer.
Powers of X, increasing in scale and complexity. X0 - Year One, the Dream. X1 - Year Ten, The World.
In the early days of the X-Men, Professor X and Moira McTaggert visit Magneto on his island base in the Bermuda Triangle. Xavier has come to mend fences with Magneto, and despite initially mistrusting him, Magneto agrees to open his mind to them. Moira reveals her true nature to him, giving Magneto a glimpse into her previous lives.
As the Church of Ascendancy, dedicated to the worship of the machines, is hosting a sermon at the Temple of Concordance, the X-Men arrive and attack. Omega Sentinel watches from the Human-Machine Monolith and tries to convince Nimrod the Lesser of the need to investigate, but he refuses, dismissing the attack as meaningless.
Powers of X, increasing in scale and complexity. X0 - Year One, the Dream. X1 - Year Ten, The World.
In the past, Professor X approaches Forge in order to realize his project of copying over mutant minds through Cerebro. Forge is initially skeptical, asserting that the means required to make those modifications do not exist on Earth. After Xavier reveals that he can solve the two biggest problems; energy supply and storage space, through Shi'ar technology, Forge agrees to build the modified Cerebro.
Before the founding of the X-Men, during her first meeting with Xavier, Moira asks him to read her mind, revealing to him the knowledge she has accumulated during her many lives. A thousand years into the future, the Librarian enters the Preserve, a zoo of sorts housing near-extinct species, among them mutants. Fending off an attack from some of the mutants, the Librarian encounters Logan and Moira.
Secret Wars #0 is part of Secret Wars. Secret Wars is a 2015 to 2016 American comic book crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics and recalls the 1984 to 1985 miniseries of the same name.
On one side of the Multiverse, Doctor Doom was confronting the Beyonders. They demanded to know who dared stand before them, and he presented himself. Meanwhile, on Earth-1610, Nick Fury was making the final arrangements for the upcoming and final incursion, and soon after sent all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fleet towards Earth-616.
The issue opens with a ceremony in which a Thor is attempting to lift a Mjolnir. The Thor fails, and another steps forward and succeeds in lifting the hammer. The eldest Thor explains to him that he is now to become the executor of God's justice, as he is cheered by a hall of Thors.
Sheriff Strange goes through his weekly report of events in Battleworld to All-Father Doom. When Doom complains that Strange's record keeping is banality and of no interest to him, Strange counters that while Doom is omnipotent, he is not omniscient, and that he must be kept informed in order to protect himself from the threats to his throne. Strange concludes that Doom is in "a damn tricky mood" and Doom concludes the same of Strange.
As the Cabal and the Thors engaged in combat, Sheriff Strange explained to the new-found survivors from the raft that when he and Doom confronted the Beyonders, they were able to kill them, and while Stephen didn't, Doom took their power for himself and used it to build Battleworld from the remains of the Multiverse. The hammer of the Thor from Higher Avalon starts glowing, meaning he was being called for battle.
The following day, a funeral was held for Stephen Strange in Doomstadt, with the cause of his death kept a secret by Doom himself. Once the dusk had fallen, Doom tasked Valeria to use the resources of the Foundation to find the interlopers who had been scattered across the world, denying to provide any more information than that. Once Valeria left, Doom opened a portal below a Molecule Man statue in his garden, walking down a set of stairs to meet the Molecule Man and informed him of Strange's death.
It is three weeks later. The survivors of the two ships are wanted for the murder of Sheriff Strange, and have been hunted across Battleworld. Two have been caught in the Domain of Apocalypse, and brought before God Emperor Doom while comatose.
With his ragtag army of Doom-deniers ready for battle, the Prophet marches them up to the base of Doomgard and orders them to attack. The Prophet reveals himself as Maximus the Mad as his troops charge into battle against the forces of Doom's loyalist barons. Within Doom's castle, Black Swan asks if Doom wishes her to join his army and repel the Prophet's rebels.
While the battle in Doomstadt waged on, the two Reed Richards were transported by Star-Lord to Castle Doom. The Thing from the Shield joined the brawl, and easily destroyed anything in his way. Franklin von Doom opposed him using his Galactus, and The Thing decided to surrender after learning the kid he was fighting was the son of Sue Storm.
Doctor Doom tried to convince T'Challa and Namor to stop fighting by promising them to rebuild Wakanda and Atlantis, but they refused the offer and struck Doom down. Victor quickly regenerated from his own corpse and after dealing an energy blast at T'Challa and Namor which only killed the latter, continued fighting. While Doom and Black Panther use their power against each other, Mister Fantastic and the Maker visited the Molecule Man.
The Man of Steel is held captive by the Superman Revenge Squad. He is taken to New Krypton, home of the Kandorians, and is forced to watch as the Revenge Squad attempts to conquer and destroy the planet. Eventually, they are thwarted by Sylvia (the wife of Superman's cousin Van-Zee).
Superman discovers an intruder, Salkor, an alien, in his Fortress, taking a round metal object from the Supergirl room. Superman learns that Salkor is really Supergirl's husband, whom she married while she was rendered amnesiac from a collision with a Kryptonite meteor. Salkor had called her "Jasma", and, while married to her, had fought side-by-side with her against the menacing invader, Naxx.
June 6th, Doctor John Hathaway of Scotland's Royal Museum visits the Sussex manor Fawny Rig, home of the occult magus Roderick Burgess. He explains to Burgess that his son Edmund had been killed in the war. He offers him a mystical tome called the Magdalene Grimoire and begs Burgess to use his knowledge of the occult to resurrect his son.
In a private Threshold in the Dreaming, Desire plots against its sibling, Dream. Desire summons its twin sister Despair to a private gallery. It tells Despair about the coming of a dream vortex in the form of a young woman.
On the advice of her new-found grandmother Unity Kincaid, Rose Walker moves into an apartment in Florida with a number of eccentric housemates. In addition to Hal - her cross-dressing landlord, Barbie and Ken - a yuppie couple, Zelda and Chantal - a pair of collectors of dead spiders, and Gilbert - a so far unseen man of British descent, Rose has been frequently visited by a raven. In a dream, Rose's long-lost brother Jed dreams of being taken flying by Hector Hall and his wife Lyta.
Six months pregnant, Lyta Hall wakes up in the Dream Dome. Her husband Hector has been absorbed in his work, cooperating with Glob and Brute as the new Sandman. Hector becomes aware of an entity approaching.
In the year 1389, Dream and his elder sister Death enter a local pub with the hope of getting the former to relate more to humans in their waking lives. In this pub is a man named Robert "Hob" Gadling, who believes that men only die because it's what they expect that they are meant to do. He feels that there is so much more life to lead than just a few decades' worth.
At the hotel in which Rose Walker and her companion Gilbert are staying, a convention has been booked. While in name, it is a "Cereal" convention, it is in fact a convention for serial murderers - collectors. Each of the people attending murders and then collects some part of their victims, physically or spiritually.
After spending days watching over her younger brother in the hospital, Rose Walker returns to her shared house in Florida. Her housemates welcome her back, but her mental and physical exhaustion are obvious, and they send her to bed as each of them retires as well. That night, Ken dreams of money, sex and power while his girlfriend Barbie dreams of living in a fantastical world with an animal companion; a world that is better than her real life could ever be.
Out in a deserted section of the Dreaming, Dream reveals to Rose Walker that she is what is known as a "Vortex of Dream", and in order to protect the Dreaming, he must kill her. Rose hopes that it is a dream, that she will wake up, and none of this will have happened, but eventually it becomes clear to her that it is a dream from which she will never wake. Meanwhile, Gilbert and Matthew the Raven return to the Dreaming, and rush to their master's location.
Somewhere in England, author Richard Madoc makes a deal with a local surgeon to acquire a bezoar. Normally, these are precious stones, but in this case, it is a ball of hair that was trapped in the stomach of a woman with Rapunzel syndrome, which prompts someone to eat their own hair. Richard has written a very popular novel, but has since suffered from writer's block.