The Avengers #175

"The End... and Beginning!"

Still, aboard the Collector’s space station, the Avengers have just witnessed their captor turned to ash by a bolt from the blue. They set about exploring the strange craft and its equipment to find a way to get home.

Iron Man discovers a time machine and pieces together an ongoing mystery that has plagued the team: Thor’s abrupt appearances and apparent amnesia. The Collector had evidently been observing the team’s adventures from afar and occasionally grew concerned when they were in certain situations (such as when Ultron incapacitated most of the team). Using the device, the Collector would pluck Thor out of his own time stream and send him to aid the Avengers but then later send him back to his point of origin but with his memory erased.

Two-Gun wants to be returned to his time, feeling out of place in the 20th century. Iron-Man operates the time machine and sends him on his way, despite it meaning his memories of the 20th century will be erased. Meanwhile, the Vision has discovered a teleportation device, which sends them all back to Earth.

The individual Avengers begin appearing around New York City, but not entirely safe. Wonder Man appears in the middle of traffic and a city bus runs into him. The Scarlet Witch appears in mid-air and begins plummeting towards the ground. She’s saved at the last minute by Captain Marvel, whose cosmic awareness alerted him she would need rescuing. Hawkeye also appears in midair but manages to grab hold of a flagpole before landing.

Elsewhere, Michael and Carina share an intimate moment in which he extends his cosmic power to her. In flashbacks, it is revealed that Michael is Korvac. Following a battle with the Guardians of the Galaxy in the 30th century, he teleported away blindly and found himself aboard Galactus’ worldship in the 20th century. Plugging his circuitry into the worldship caused him to be flooded by the power cosmic and evolve into a godlike being. While he believes he has transcended evil intentions, his goal is to reshape the universe and all of its inhabitants according to his own idea of how everything should be.

At the mansion, the Avengers hold a meeting to discuss the situation, but don’t have much to go on. Ms. Marvel drops in to offer her help. Hawkeye berates her, saying they don’t need her. But Moondragon jumps to her defense and insults the archer in the process. Jocasta also offers her assistance, but Quicksilver makes his prejudice against machine life, including Wanda's husband the Vision, known and leaves the room.

Iron Man discovers that while the team was away, Gyrich had some of the database memory banks removed for security reasons. Jarvis inadvertently gives Iron Man the idea to contact the Guardians of the Galaxy.

And Michael, knowing the Avengers have contacted Starhawk, is satisfied knowing that Starhawk cannot perceive him and that he will therefore not have to kill the Avengers.