We open
with yet another conversation between Uatu and X-51 regarding his deletion of
his personality circuits. This one ends
ominously though as Uatu pledges to explain to X-51 what the Celestials are
actually doing, and why the Watchers watch.
While
X-51 downloads that information, we see the origin of Spiderman. That’s pretty mundane though and doesn’t
offer much else until the end when the conversation between Uatu and X-51 turns
contentious. You see, X-51 failed to
actually delete his personality circuits, lying to Uatu and pretending that he
was a mere robot. As they are fighting
though, John Jameson comes in and asks for X-51’s help to warn the Earth.
With
that we head back down to the blue marble, where Cap uses Lockjaw’s (pour one
out for poor Lockjaw, who died of mange too young) teleportation device to
enter Iron Man’s impenetrable fortress.
Iron Man immediately goes all crazy germaphobe, vaulting himself to the
ceiling and encasing himself in a clear Iron Man suit to escape the germs. Another theory is the fact that Cap wore the
same “costume” across country in a train, that thing has got to be smelling a
little ripe right now. Cap is trying to
get Tony to help against the Skull, but Tony brushes him off, telling him that
the Iron Avengers probably have it all taken care of already. We then cut to the streets of New York, where
the Skull’s forces have overcome and dismantled the Iron Avengers and are now
attacking Hydra. The people of New York
can’t catch a break. When the cops try
to stop the Skull, the Luke Cage led team is met with the Skull’s mind control
powers as he commands the officers to shoot Cage. Cage cannot be harmed, however, and the ricochet
kills those around him. The Skull is
just playing with everyone now. Instead
of growing his army, he has turned to mass murder. 
On top of a building, we get
another quarrel between Spiderman and his daughter, May. Spidey doesn’t want May to be a superhero,
and May, rightfully so, sees that with great power, like a symbiotic super
suit, comes great responsibility. Down
on the ground, Reed is finding out that the Vibranium explosion that he thought
mutated the population, was not the culprit after all. Apparently everyone on Earth is now
Inhuman. The Terrigen mists were
released on the world, transforming everyone.
This is also evident because Luna, upon exposure to Earth’s atmosphere,
has begun to transform as well. This, of
course, brings to mind the Marvel event of 2013, Infinity, where the Terrigen
mists were released on the world, mutating the Inhumans that were hiding
there. Karnak initially blames the
release of the mists on Maximus, Black Bolt’s crazy brother, but it turns out
that Maximus is dead. Who released the
mists on Earth then? That’s a mystery we
will soon uncover.
In Dr. Strange’s humble abode, Hulk
and Thor come rocketing out of the land of the dead, apparently impervious to
Clea’s candle trick. This isn’t really
explained, though the buildup to their emergence is masterfully done by John
Paul Leon. A fight ensues, one in which
Loki stays out of even though Clea requests his aid. The skirmish does wind up in the death of
both Clea and Thor though, if you are to believe Loki, that is. I will withhold my judgment. 
We now travel to Russia, as Cap
goes on his recruitment drive to try and gain the help of Colossus and his
awesome mustache. Colossus reluctantly
agrees to help and we then travel back to New York, where May is battling Iron
Maiden in the skies above New York.
While this is happening, we see Peter, May’s father, mind you, taking
pictures. Spiderman has turned into the
least likable character in the Marvel Universe.
May defeats Iron Maiden and lands in front of the Skull, who immediately
takes control of her mind. Peter,
dumbfounded at his lot in life, doesn’t know what to do next, so he just walks
home. We end the action with the Skull
and his posse showing up to say hello to Norman Osborn, the President of the
United States, who has an office in New York City.
The Appendix for this issue is
dense, but important, so I’ll try to summarize the best I can. The Terrigen mists were brought to Earth by
the Kree, an alien race that loves to mess with the Celestials plans. Apparently there is the ability for everyone
to have superpowers embedded within every person, they just need a catalyst to
bring them forth. Sometimes that’s a
spider bite, the detonation of a gamma bomb, or the disbursement of the
Terrigen mists. The real reason everyone
has powers, why the Celestials gave them to the population will be reveled next
issue.
Next Issue: What is the grand Celestial plan? Can it be stopped? Should it be stopped?
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