Mighty Avengers #23

Issue Details

Synopsis

EARTH'S MIGHTIEST PART 3 - THREE WORDS Broxton, Oklahoma, and Asgard are surrounded by nothingness. Loki tells Thor that she is trying to contact the outside world, but to no avail.  In the caves beneath Mount Wundagore, Hank Pym, aka The Wasp, and Iron Man are arguing about who should lead this new team. Pym points to all of Stark’s recent missteps as evidence that he's unfit, but Stark fires back that Pym can’t lead simply because of who he is. Iron Man orders the others to bind Modred in iron and do what it takes to keep Bruce Banner from Hulking out.   Bova reveals to the team that Chthon has taken over Quicksilver’s body and Pietro’s consciousness is trapped inside the Darkhold. Iron Man says that if they take Chthon out, all of the strange events around the world will snap out of existence. Amadeus Cho then radios in to Wasp (using an Ant-Man helmet he crafted from spare parts in Pym’s lab) with some bad news - a “tidal wave of tentacles” is closing in quickly on Wundagore. Iron Man tells US Agent and Hercules to help him put an end to this, and orders Pym to get the rest of the team and Modred to safety. Dejected and angry, Pym concedes.   Chthon approaches the outskirts of the town on the tentacle tidal wave as Iron Man, Hercules, and US Agent begin destroying Mount Wundagore, which Stark has determined is the source of Chthon’s magic. Amadeus is aghast at Stark’s plan given that the mountain is full of enough volatile uranium to destroy the entire town.   As Chthon begins to draw power from the fear and chaos he sows, Scarlet Witch’s astral form appears and whispers to Bruce Banner, prodding him to turn into the Hulk. Hulk smashes Chthon, which buys Wasp time to devise a plan. Pym and Amadeus use the Ant-Man helmet to scramble the language center of Quicksilver's brain, rendering Chthon incapable of uttering the right words to cast the spells necessary for his magic. The other Avengers begin to pummel Chthon, but Modred escapes his bonds and begins a ritual to make himself the new host for the chaos god.   On a hunch, Amadeus has Vision read aloud from the Darkhold, whose pages are now full of the words that Quicksilver’s consciousness has written in order to communicate. This causes the text to disappear, leaving the magical book searching for its original text - the very text that Modred grafted to his body in the ritual that initially released Chthon. Modred and Chthon are both drawn back into the Darkhold, ending the crisis and putting the world back to normal in the blink of an eye.   As the dust settles, the team tries to decide what comes next. Iron Man flies off, leaving these new Mighty Avengers in Wasp’s hands. Hulk and Quicksilver also elect to each go their separate ways, Hulk to be left alone and Pietro to uncover the secrets of the chaos magic that could reveal where his sister is. Scarlet Witch suddenly materializes and whisks all but Pietro away, leaving a stunned Quicksilver behind.   News reports the next day credit Hank Pym for saving the world, the first step towards restoring Pym’s public reputation after the Skrull invasion. Meanwhile, the citizens of Broxton and Asgard celebrate their return to this plane of existence. While Thor gives credit to the new Mighty Avengers, Loki grins into a mirror; the reflection grinning back is that of the Scarlet Witch. Loki could not allow another chaos god to claim the world for his own, so she once again created a team of Avengers for herself.