#supreme intelligence

Luckily, at this point in continuity, Earth has a permanent scientific outpost orbiting near the Sun, Starcore One. Headed by super doctor astronaut Peter Corbeau.

Quasar finds the station, requests permission to come aboard, and even cracks a corny "take me to your leader" joke when they let him in. Quasar is a bit of an endearing dork.

When he asks whether the Sun is being weird, the scientists all start talking at the same time that yes, it is being very weird! One of the scientists says that the tentative answer is that yes, using hyperspace so close to the Sun is disrupting it's normal activity. But that also, the Sun has been putting out several major flares a week recently. Which they haven't seen anything like before.

Not sure whether the Sun is being weird. Or whether the Shi'ar have been coming and going a lot more than just this one trip to kidnap Rick Jones.

Quasar offers to evacuate all the scientists to Earth, if the Sun is being so unpredictable. But they refuse to abandon their experiments and Sun-monitoring scientific duties.

So he offers to tow the Starcore station further from the Sun. But they refuse that too because it would mean that all of the experiments would have to be cancelled or recalibrated.

Quasar unhappily compromises by giving them a way to contact him in case they need evac. He can get to them remarkably quickly once he receives the signal. But the signal can only travel at the speed of light.

That sounds fast but we're talking space distances. For example, Quasar receives a call from Peggy Carter at the Avengers Mansion. There's an eight minute delay on that.

Even if Quasar is chilling on Earth waiting for the signal, a lot can happen in eight minutes.

And he won't be on Earth. Peggy's message for Quasar is that Starfox contacted the Mansion to advise that someone tripped the security alarms around Captain Mar-Vell's tomb-world.

Quasar is the Avenger who can get to Saturn the fastest so she's asking if he can go check it out.

Light takes about 80 minutes to get from the Sun to Saturn. If an emergency happens on Starcore, like a big solar flare that threatens to destroy the station, Quasar won't hear about it for over an hour.

But the scientists refuse to leave and Quasar can't not investigate something going on at Mar-Vell's tomb. Mar-Vell was kinda his predecessor!

Quasar makes a note to ask Captain America to persuade Starcore to evacuate, with his persuasive Captain America powers. Then he quantum jumps to Saturn.

Interestingly, the scientists on Starcore were scanning the area at the time. And Quasar's quantum jump didn't affect the Sun. So there's a different mechanic of travel between quantum jumping (which bridges two points in real space through the quantum zone, apparently) and however hyperspace works in Marvel.

By the by the way. Remember how Rick Jones was rescued during the previous part of the event? Well, the Avengers are keeping him safe and sound in the Avengers West Coast Compound whether he likes it or not.

He wants to go hang with the Hulk but Captain America doesn't want to risk the Shi'ar or Kree swooping him up again so he's in protective custody. But, hey, being guarded by Wonder Man! That's! Almost as good as being protected by the Hulk!

(Wonder Man isn't any happier having to throw out his entire schedule and sit around and watch Rick.)

Rick Jones: "Simon Williams -- Mister Hollywood -- my bodyguard?!? How come I'm not relieved?" Wonder Man: "Maybe you didn't like my performance in 'the Revenge of the Ninja Nuns?'"

Hah! I like whenever anyone has to allude to Wonder Man's acting career, they just make up the most dogshit movie title possible instead of using one of the films he's explicitly been in.

I regret that the Marvel wiki doesn't keep track of all the movies that Wonder Man has supposedly been in. He has to have a hell of a weird filmography at this point.

Anyway.

Upon arriving around Saturn and near the unnamed teeny moonlet that Mar-Vell was buried on, Quasar notes that a spaceship has been tethered to the moonlet.

He bangs on the hatch and when there's no immediate response, he decides to bust the hatch open.

Just as Starfox opens it up to let him in, causing Quasar to cartoonishly fly through the open hatch and slam into the wall.

What a dork (affectionate).

With the two Avengers linked up, they go to investigate the tomb.

Inside the tomb, two intruders are intruding. And shit-talking about how burial customs are such a waste of resources. Imagine, burying a body! It is to laugh!

Then one of the intruders has a "seventh sense flash" that trouble is a-coming and then both intruders are seized by yellow energy tendrils and yoinked out of the tomb. By Quasar.

And the two intruders are Captain Atlas and Dr Minerva.

Fun bit, Captain Atlas is dressed up in Captain Marvel's original green and white outfit. And Dr Minerva totally stole Carol Danver's Ms Marvel outfit. So they're dressed like villainous copies of Marvel and Marvel.

The two are Kree operatives that Quasar has tangled with before. The last time he ran into them, they promised that they wouldn't come back to the Solar System.

Captain Atlas: "The conditions under which I made that agreement have changed. The Kree are at war --" Quasar: "Come on! That's business as usual for you space troopers!" Captain Atlas: "Let me finish! We are at war with the Shi'ar Empire for the first time in our race's history!"

And just as Quasar is asking whether there are any Shi'ar in the Solar System, every single member of the Imperial Guard shows up at once!

That is a lot to throw at two guys. Four, if Atlas and Minerva manage to swing an Enemy Mine trope with the heroes. And even then, I think they'd be outnumbered by just Gladiator.

Minerva begs Quasar to release her and Atlas because otherwise they'll die, unable to defend themselves, but Quasar decides instead to put up a big, protective dome around himself, Starfox, and the two Kree prisoners.

Problem being, the Imperial Guard starts hitting the dome so hard that Quasar isn't sure he'll be able to keep it maintained.

Starfox tries to overwhelm the attackers with pleasure but dangit, it doesn't seem to be working!

... Starfox, stop shooting orgasm rays at people. I beg of you. Like. Get another power to represent love.

The various members of the Imperial Guard manage to bust through Quasar's shield despite it being as strong as he could possibly make it.

Also, Captain Atlas has somehow managed to sneak off the instant the bubble broke. Quasar can't deal with that now because of the whole every single member of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard trying to kill him at the same time situation.

So Quasar launches himself at- ... through! One of the members of the Imperial Guard. And not in a gory modern way. He just goes through the guy like he's intangible.

And Starfox and Dr Minerva find similar results when they put their foot and fist, respectively, through a member of the Guard.

None of the people Quasar tries to hit can be hit. And none of the Guard have been landing blows, either, since breaking the dome.

Quasar just starts connecting the dots, wondering if the Guard are nothing but illusions, when Manta pops up and blinds him.

But this is Quasar's book, so he's allowed to be creative and competent. Thinking fast, he covers himself in an armor made of quantum energy and lets the Quantum Bands see for him.

He relies entirely on the Bands' ability to sense energy. And despite being surrounded by the Imperial Guard, only three of them are giving off any energy.

So he picks the biggest energy reading, Impulse (based on Wildfire of the Legion of Super-Heroes) and punches him in the face. Impulse's own counterattack bounces harmlessly off Quasar's cool new armor.

Meanwhile, Starfox figures out Manta is real, grabs her, and uses his pleasure powers on her to bliss her out.

We see her some panels later just sitting on a rock, chilling. Too psyched to participate anymore.

Also meanwhile, Dr Minerva uses her seventh sense (space prescience that is often associated with Captain Marvel related characters) to find 'the source of danger' and she blindly punches thin air.

Knocking someone out.

The big group of intangible Imperial Guard disappears except for a blissed out Manta, Impulse who Quasar is still blindly punching, and Magique (based on Princess Projectra, so has illusion powers).

All along, every single member of the Imperial Guard attacking at once was just an illusion, to cover up that this mission was being handled by just three Guardsmen and two of them being not particularly punchy ones.

Dr Minerva punches Starfox out just as he's complimenting her for figuring the illusion thing out and then she runs off to go find and help Captain Atlas.

Meanwhile, a new character introduction on some obscure Kree world.

When the Supreme Intelligence was usurped, the new bosses cancelled a number of research projects and banished the scientists involved to menial jobs running munitions factories.

One such scientist was Korath, head of the genetic-engineering super-soldier Pursuer project. And out of spite, he took the research with him when he was banished and has been secretly converting part of the factory into the necessary equipment for his project.

Korath sees that the Kree Empire is in decline. And he's tempted to just let it collapse, to serve people right for cancelling his research. But he'd rather prove them wrong by proving the Pursuer project kicks ass.

AND HE TESTS IT ON HIMSELF! BECOMING KORATH, THE PURSUER! That's a good mad scientist flex. It's that kind of boldness that gets you adapted into a movie although with a wildly different portrayal.

Back at Mar-Vell's tomb where Quasar is still fighting Impulse. Quasar accidentally breaks Impulse's containment suit and since the guy is just energy in a suit, he starts disappointing.

Quasar can detect energy geysering out so he bubbles up Impulse and all of his energy in an orb. Then he sees, through cloudy vision, three people lying on the ground so he bubbles them up, too, for good measure.

He was blind when the illusions were stopped so he has no idea where the rest of the Imperial Guard went. He just sort of shrugs at being the only one left standing on the battlefield and then decides to go check Mar-Vell's tomb. Maybe everybody went down there.

Quasar, still in his shiny new energy armor, heads into the tomb and finds Atlas right when he's grave-robbing from Mar-Vell's dead, deceased corpse.

What Atlas and Minerva were here for were the Nega-Bands that Mar-Vell was buried with.

Atlas claims that he just wants to keep the bands safe from Shi'ar hands, since the Shi'ar shi'already have the Psyche-Magnetron technology.

Quasar goes cool, I don't trust you, if you want the bands kept safe, Quasar will keep them safe.

Minerva tries to sneak up on Quasar but then falls into a very silly trap he set up just in case someone tried to sneak up on him. But in that brief distraction, Atlas slips the Nega-Bands on, clangs them together, as ya do, and then something very silly happens.

See. When Mar-Vell clanged his fancy bracelets, he and Rick Jones would switch places. Usually swapping one person to take the place of the other in the Negative Zone.

Well. Apparently, they still make the wearer switch places with Rick Jones! Specifically Rick Jones!

The guy just got whisked away from safety in the Avengers West Compound and to an airless moonlet where he's about to asphyxiate!

I don't think being protected by the Hulk would have prevented this but I'm sure Rick will still blame Wonder Man for doing a bad job.

Speaking of Wonder Man, it's his turn next. Operation: Galactic Storm continues in Wonder Man #7. Probably involving the Kree jerk who just showed up were a Rick Jones used to be!

March, 1992

Operation: Galactic Storm, Part 4: SHARED SPACE

With Rick Jones nega-swapped to Mar-Vell's tomb, that means that Captain Atlas is now where Rick was.

In the Avengers West Coast Compound.

Except he doesn't know that the Nega-Bands do the switching. So he's very upset and takes it out on Wonder Man, who happens to be in the area. Because he was supposed to be watching Rick.

So Wonder Man just gets belted across the jaw out of the blue.

Atlas demands to know where Minerva is and where he is right now so Wonder Man punches him back and says "There's only one thing I can tell you, Cap... you and your friends have really stupid names!"

Those in glass houses, Wonder Man.

Meanwhile, in space, Quasar has saved Rick Jones from asphyxiating because his do-everything Quantum Bands can make a bubble full of air. Rick quickly explains the Nega-Bands and that since he doesn't have a pair, he can't force a switch back. Only Atlas can.

Back on Earth, the fight crashes out of the mansion and Captain Atlas tries to fly away to find Dr Minerva. Wonder Man jumps after him and while grappling the Kree super-soldier, accidentally causes his wrists to bump together. Doing the clang thang.

Fwash, suddenly instead of grappling Atlas, Wonder Man is holding Rick Jones.

Oh, and since Wonder Man had just been sitting around the mansion, guarding a kid, he doesn't have his rocket belt on. Without Atlas trying to fly up, both Wonder Man and Rick Jones are now crashing down.

Thankfully, Atlas finds himself facing both Quasar and Starfox on the other side of the clang! And he's deduced that clanging is what's causing the CHANGE PLACES!

So when Dr Minerva tells him to gtfo so he's not captured, he clangs again to swap back to Earth. And swaps back into the plummeting Wonder Man's arms.

And now that Captain Atlas knows how the Nega-Bands work, things get quite Looney Tunes.

Every time Wonder Man is about to hit him, Captain Atlas swaps out and puts Rick in front of the wonder punches. So Wonder Man stops his punch. Then Atlas finds himself in a situation again back on Starfox's ship so swaps back to Earth and cheap shots Wonder Man when he's not expecting it.

And this! Just! Keeps! Happening!

But despite being a big, tough muscle man, Wonder Man isn't an idiot. He was a bit of a scientist himself, back in his day. And he's not just going to keep getting punched.

He's been figuring out the rough timing of Captain Atlas clanging in and out of the scene. So Wonder Man winds up a big punch at Rick... because he knows Captain Atlas is about to swap back in.

Honestly. Very satisfying. Deserves that two-page spread.

With Captain Atlas knocked out, Wonder Man carries him off to the Avengers West Coast Compound, keeping him in a full nelson so his arms can't get near each other.

And on Starfox's ship, Quasar put Rick Jones in a forcefield. Because even if Captain Atlas swaps in, he'll be trapped.

Rick Jones is very tired of all of this and blames it mostly on Wonder Man.

Rick Jones: "Just hand me over to the Hulk when we get back... and keep me away from that idiot Wonder Man!"

Rude.

Elsewhere, Demon Druid from Thor #209 back in 1972 is chilling on a desolate world contemplating "the emptiness of [his] eternal soul" when the Supreme Intelligence appears to him. He tells him that he knows the answers to the questions that plague the blue-skinned mystery man. He renames him Ultimus and tells him to come to the Kree galaxy for all the answers.

Back on California Earth, Wonder Man has arrived with Captain Atlas in a full nelson and Quasar and Starfox arrive with Dr Minerva in an energy cocoon.

The Avengers aren't sure if they'll be able to hold the Kree. The Avengers base doesn't really have jail facilities. They have that cell they kept that giant baby in but that's about it. But they'll need to figure something out because if Atlas gets his arms free, then he and Rick are going to be back to swapping around all willy nilly.

Rick Jones continues to be very aggressive about how much he blames Wonder Man for everything and that aggros Scarlet Witch.

Scarlet Witch: "Simon battled Captain Atlas for you, young man -- and defeated him, with no help from you! You just remember that you're alive -- and without Simon you might not have been!"

She tells Wonder Man to be glad someone will stick up for him, since he won't defend himself. And then she storms off.

Rick Jones cracks wise about Scarlet Witch being 'stuck on him' and that makes Wonder Man angrily yell at Rick. Because dammit! He did so much pining for Wanda (when she was grieving her identity deathed husband) so he knows for a fact that she doesn't feel that way for him!

Captain America calls everyone to the big A table and announces that a big war between the Kree and the Shi'ar with the Solar System in the middle of it seems to be happening. So the Avengers -- all of the Avengers they can get -- are going to need to meet in New York to discuss what to do.

And Wonder Man has a reasonable suspicion that the Avengers are going to wind up heading out into space to Do Something about all of this.

So since the Avengers need Wonder Man's muscle and dragging Rick into space with them is counter to the idea of keeping him out of this, Captain America comes around to returning Rick Jones to the Pantheon so he can be Hulk's problem.

And Rick is so happy about getting to go back to his corner of continuity, that he actually lays off Wonder Man. A little.

He doesn't thank him or anything. He just tells him that timing his punch to catch Atlas when he swapped back in was a really neat trick. And then shakes Wonder Man's hand.

You take what you can get, I guess.

Since this is Wonder Man's solo and since he has a life that the solo focuses on and since the Avengers are probably heading out into space for the duration of this event, Wonder Man has to spend some time getting his life put on hold.

He calls his agent and tells him to put all auditions on hold. Calls his girlfriend Alex Flores to let her know that he has to postpone their dates for an indeterminate while. He even lets slip some classic Wonder Man anxiety about dying, musing that he has no idea when he'll get back because "That's how it is with wars."

Wonder Man empties his fridge, makes sense all the lights and faucets are off, the answering machine is on, and all the doors and windows are locked. And he pays the next month's rent in advance just in case he's gone that long.

Its a grounded touch that I really appreciate. For all that he's an ionic super muscle man, Simon Williams is often one of the more human Avengers.

This issue of Wonder Man being part of the event has actually made me want to go read more of his solo at some point.

BUT RIGHT NOW THE SUN IS FLARING AND STARCORE IS IN DANGER! SHOULDA LET QUASAR EVACUATE YOU!

Moving on to Avengers #345.

March, 1992

Operation: Galactic Storm, Part 5: Storm Gatherings

Each issue leads into the next. I appreciate that. Bare minimum for a big crossover thing but that's not always accomplished.

Last time, Starcore One was about to be rocked by a giant solar flare?

This time, various Avengers head to near solar orbit to respond to the distress call.

And newbie Thor managed to do a Thor thing and use Mjolnir to transport himself, Quasar, Vision, and Sersi there! It was very nice of Quasar to let him do that and not just quantum jump everyone there like he could have.

Uuuuunfortunately. The Avengers received the Starcore distress call 12.6 minutes ago. And it takes the signal eight minutes to go from the Sun to Earth. So we're twenty minutes past the point where the Starcore scientists were freaking out and calling for help... and there's no Starcore One station where there's supposed to be.

But Quasar is able to detect human life and zips off, calling for the Avengers to follow.

Quasar finds the Starcore lifepod and Vision is able to verify that everyone inside is safe by intangibling through the hull. And since super doctor astronaut Peter Corbeau is among their number, he's not even startled to see a man float through the wall. He's just happy someone came to save him and the other scientists.

Dr Corbeau explains that a huge solar flare came too quickly for Starcore to engage thrusters and move out of the way.

There's a disturbance that disturbs the lifepod so Vision floats back out in time to see a wormhole forming nearish by. Oh, and then a second wormhole opens, too.

And a whole armada flies out of it.

And the armada? A Shi'ar fleet.

The two wormholes? Well, the Solar system is just a layover. The plan was for the fleet to pop out of one wormhole and then go through the second. The plan was definitely to spend as little time as possible in this system. Empress' orders.

Buuuuuut. The lead Shi'ar fleet detects humanoid life signs in the area around the wormholes.

There is some debate between a commander and a praetor on what to do. The commander eventually wins the praetor over by positing that the lifeforms might be Kree spies who will report fleet movements to Hala. CAN WE RISK THAT THESE RANDOM PEOPLE ARE NOT SPIES? Why are they hanging around a wormhole if not for spying reasons?

Back on Avengers Mansion rooftop, New York, Earth, the Avengers East Coast are waiting for the Avengers West Coast and reservists to arrive for the big Avengers Council of Probably War.

Crystal is nervous. And she's not sure whether she's more nervous about the big space war or about being in the same general area as her estranged husband's sister.

Black Knight: "Hmmm... Intergalactic war... or domestic squabble. It's nice to know you can keep things in perspective."

Hey, man, from what I hear, this era is all about you making your interpersonal problems everyone's problems. Don't throw stones from your future glass house.

Black Knight: "Then again, choosing between an angry Scarlet Witch and a space battle with little green men, I think I'd vote for the battle."

Aw, you have a way with words, Dane.

Anyway, awkwardness of Crystal having to spend time with Scarlet Witch aside, there's space violence happening.

As decided earlier, the Shi'ar fleet starts firing on the small group of Avengers plus Starcore lifepod.

Thor notes that fact to which Sersi snarks that Hercules was right about new Thor sure likes to say obvious things.

Sersi has been a bit prickly this issue. And she was a bit prickly in the last issue. We haven't yet learned why. But I don't love it. Sersi can be a jerk. But what makes Sersi Sersi is that she's a party girl. She needs to be a jerk in that vein. She needs her fun-loving nature.

She needs to be the Beast or Hercules or Starfox of the team. Sure, she can take the Avengers job seriously or as seriously as she can muster. But off hours, she should be living it up.

Please. Please let this characterization stand.

Anyway. An exciting space battle is no place for a lifepod. So Quasar yeets it out of range.

Sersi saves Thor from getting hit by a photon torpedo. Perhaps taking her prior criticism too much to heart, he jokes that he didn't know she cared and thanks her.

Sersi: "You're raw... naive... headstrong... But I think you have possibilities. Vision, I do believe I've made our neophyte godling blush." Vision: "I will store that information in the proper data bank, Sersi... but now I suggest we retaliate against this aggression."

I miss when Vision had emotions but emotionless Vision drily reacting to things can be funny too.

Anyway, Thor does as Vision suggests and attacks back.

Although Mjolnir bounces off the lead warship's shields, it hits so hard that the ship rocks and the shields start to fail.

Another Mjolnir hit and a blast from Quasar and Sersi and the shields fail altogether.

It really illustrates how Earth keeps standing against these massive interstellar empires with hundreds or thousands of worlds and inconceivably vast armadas of advanced warships.

The best ship in the Shi'ar fleet lasted all of a minute against a couple Avengers. Giant fleets are fine, I guess, but having a fuckton of superheroes is what wins big comic book conflicts.

Praetor, speaking to another Shi'ar: "Ah, young one, today you experience the bitter side of life. No matter how powerful you are, you will always meet someone stronger still. And pride and glory mean very little then. I pray it is a lesson our empire is spared."

Granted, the Shi'ar are doing okay in terms of having a fuckton of superheroes. That's what the Imperial Guard is. But if they don't have any of the Guard with them on this fleet, then things are going to go very badly.

(Actually, they do have a member of the Imperial Guard, apparently. The commander that talked the praetor into attacking turns out to be Hobgoblin of the Imperial Guard. The expy of Legion of Super-Heroes' Chameleon Boy and implied here to be a Skrull. In fact, Hobgoblin suspected that the people detected near the wormhole were Earth's superhumans and caused this conflict on purpose. Suffice to say, he's not here to be helpful. He's here to cause problems on purpose.)

The Avengers break through the hull, briefly causing atmospheric decompression but the Avengers are nice (mostly) and Quasar seals the rift with his bands once the Avengers enter the distressed warship.

Vision points out that the unprovoked attack was quite the dick move, but in emotionless computer talk. And that the Shi'ar should surrender and be taken back to Earth to be interrogated about what the hell is going on.

The Praetor refuses the indignity of surrender because no praetor has ever allowed a Shi'ar ship to be taken. And Sersi gets mean. I said that the Avengers are mostly nice and that mostly is because of Sersi.

If the Shi'ar do not surrender, she vows that the Avengers will destroy the ship with the Praetor on board.

We cut to an impressive gathering of Avengers (Captain America, Vision, Sersi, Spider-Woman, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Hercules, Quasar, Wonder Man, Crystal, Falcon, Black Knight, Gilgamesh apparently, US Agent, Hawkeye, Iron Man, She-Hulk, Captain Monica Marvel, Living Lightning, Mockingbird, Dr Pym, the Wasp, Starfox, and Black Widow).

And Captain America is FURIOUS that Sersi threatened to kill the Shi'ar if they didn't surrender.

He says that Avengers don't do stuff like that and Sersi argues maybe they should. Heck, they've got enough Avengers here. Lets vote on whether Sersi did the cool and right thing!

Annnd some of the other Avengers (Thor, Quasar) do back Sersi up to the extent that they think she was bluffing and that her bluff worked. The Avengers saved the Starcore lifepod without any lives lost and they have Shi'ar captives to question.

Captain America asks what Sersi would have done if the Praetor hadn't given up. And she doesn't have anything to say to that.

US Agent: "Dumdedumdum! A heavy pause. I love it! Dissention in the ranks!" Hawkeye: "Button it, Agent. Cap knows what he's talkin' about!" US Agent: "Button it yourself, Barton! I got every right to talk. After all, the Avengers are one big happy family, right?"

Oh, John, you are a dick. Never change entirely.

Something else Captain America isn't happy about is how they're holding the prisoners. The Avengers didn't have detention facilities to hold Captain Atlas and Dr Minerva. They certainly didn't have the space for an entire warship crew. But they did have Hank Pym on speed dial.

He shrank the prisoners and is keeping them in a box. Presumably with restraints on Captain Atlas so he can't switch places with Rick Jones.

This feels like the precursor to Hank's Big House prison concept. But right now its just a box.

And Captain America doesn't like it because it reminds me him of the Collector. Because of the Collection Obsession arc where the Collector was keeping people shrunken down in tiny ecosystems for his collection.

Wasp asks what the fuck else were the Avengers supposed to do with so many prisoners.

Captain America: "What, indeed? All I'm urging is caution, Wasp. It's a slippery, muddy road once you begin making death threats and incarcerating people... and I don't want to see the Avengers... despite the best of intentions... get caught in the muck."

Cap is going to be dismayed to learn that America incarcerates the highest proportion of people in the world. He'll be devastated.

Anyway. Black Widow nudges Cap back to the point and he apologizes to Hank specifically for flying off the handle.

The point at hand is that two ancient interstellar empires are using the Solar System as the midpoint in their war. And we get an explanation for that! Seems there's a convenient midway inert wormhole in the system and the Sun happens to be a good battery for opening it up. Both the Kree and the Shi'ar have been using the Sun to use this wormhole to save some time on the way to beating the crap out of each other.

All well and good for them but each use is damaging the Sun's nuclear cohesion. If the two sides don't quit using the Sun, it will go nova and wipe out all life in the Solar System.

Captain America: "What I'm about to suggest may seem as quixotic as fighting windmills... because admittedly, our combined abilities are next to nothing against powers as vast as the Kree and Shi'ar Empires... but somehow, we've got to convince these two ancient races to stop this war before it gets out of hand."

Big ask. I don't recall the Shi'ar or Kree ever being reasonable. The Shi'ar aren't even reasonable to the X-Men and Xavier is dating the empress. That just changes the unreasonableness to have a sad face. And the Kree don't even have a leader that's trying to be nice.

And Captain America's plan is to hope that the two sides CAN be reasoned with. He's going to divide the Avengers up into three teams and with the help of Quasar's warp powers, send two of the teams as envoys to each empire. And a third team to stay behind on Earth to deal with the inevitable bullshit that's going to show up there.

As for the teams? Captain America, Black Widow, and Iron Man put their heads together and tried to create three balanced teams with experience, POWER, SCIENCE, and adaptability to the rigors of space.

(I wanna say. It's incredibly funny that Black Widow has been actually on the Avengers for like five minutes but she's such a smart cookie, that she's Cap's second-in-command and equal to Cap and Iron Man in terms of making big command decisions. Well done, Natasha.)

On Team: We Hope The Kree Are Reasonable People is Captain America, US Agent, Iron Man, Crystal, Hercules, Black Knight, and Sersi.

On Team: God We Hope The Shi'are At Least Reasonable People is New Thor, Wonder Man (fulfilling his Concern that he would wind up in a space war), the Vision, Scarlet Witch (winding up on a space mission with her love triangle), Captain Marvel yay!, Starfox, and Living Lightning.

And on Team: Those Also Serve Who Stand and Wait on Earth is She-Hulk, Falcon, Mockingbird, Spider-Woman, Dr Pym and the Wasp having to share a panel despite being amicably divorced, Gilgamesh, and Hawkeye.

And Hawkeye is furious that he's on Team: Earth!

Let's put aside Hawkeye's baby tantrum for a second so we can analyze the teams.

Team: Kree definitely has plenty of experience between Captain America, Iron Man, and to a lesser extent Hercules. Got plenty of scientific prowess between Iron Man and Black Knight. Got plenty of power and I don't even have to name names. And between Sersi and Crystal, a lot of adaptability.

Team: Shi'ar: Wonder Man, Vision, and Scarlet Witch have tons of experience between the three of them. Vision and Starfox can pull their scientific weight. Having a Thor and a Wonder Man on a team means you have plenty of muscle. And between Scarlet Witch's do-anything powers and Captain Marvel and Living Lightning's power over light and electricity, they have tons of adaptability.

And, uh, Team: Earth are kind of the leftovers. No offense meant. Dr Pym, Wasp, and Hawkeye have tons of experience. Dr Pym is quite a scientist and Mockingbird has her share of PhDs as well. She-Hulk and Gilgamesh for strength ain't bad. And Falcon and Spider-Woman fill the team out with people competent but nothing that's going to be missed in a perilous space mission. Sorry.

Weirdly, Black Widow doesn't get assigned to a team here. So I guess she's going to hold down the fort. And Quasar also doesn't get assigned to a team. But since both space teams need him for transport, I guess he's a floating member of all the teams.

Anyway. Hawkeye. He mad.

He very mad. Because Cap said he doesn't have enough raw power for the space missions. Because US Agent got a spot on a space team and he didn't. And because Mockingbird apparently almost laughed at how upset he was and he's mad whenever his estranged not-quite-divorced wife is happy at his expense. But probably most of all, Hawkeye mad because he feels disrespected despite being the most senior member of the Avengers outside the first generation and Cap. Hawkeye was the first person who joined what would be Cap's kooky quartet.

Dr Pym runs into Hawkeye stalking the halls and being mad and agrees with him. Hawkeye does deserve to go into space. Hawkeye was there for the Avengers' first encounter with the Kree.

Dr Pym: "I know what it's like to be the odd man out around here... and there was a time when you were more than just an archer, remember?"

He tosses Hawkeye a vial.

Hawkeye, smiling: "Sure do, Hank ol' buddy. Thanks!"

And Hawkeye, wait, I'm sorry, I mean Goliath barges into the briefing Captain America is having with Team: Kree.

Goliath: "I figured I was Goliath the last time we took on the Kree, so seeing as how we're runnin' into 'em again, I decided to take a dose of Hank Pym's growth serum. You know how nostalgic I get, Cap. Oh, by the way, Hank ran a series of tests just now. In this form, I could give ol' Herk a run for his money in the strength department. That enough raw power for ya?" Captain America, feeling a migraine coming on: "i knew it was going to be one of those days..."

So US Agent gets booted to the Earth team and he doesn't have a Dr Pym who will give him free drugs.

So obviously, like Hawkeye said, this is about nostalgia. Clint was Goliath during the Kree/Skrull war so we're doing that again. But Clint's time as Goliath doesn't get revisited often so it has a sense of novelty to it.

Plus, when Operation: Galactic Storm gets adapted into a video game, Clint being Goliath will inspire the developers to include Hank Pym as Giant-Man, punching people with huge fists from off-screen.

Three hours later, the two space teams have assembled in two space-capable Quinjets and Quasar sends them on their way.

Cap gives a reason here why Quasar isn't on either of the teams. He's being left behind to guard the stargate. Presumably meaning the wormhole the Kree and Shi'ar have been using.

Anyway, as soon as Quasar sends the two teams off, Her shows up. The Perfect Woman, analogue to Adam Warlock. Y'know. Her.

And she's here to comfort Quasar. Which. Is a plot thread that upcoming Quasar issues will probably pick up on.

Over on the Shi'ar homeworld once called Aerie, now called Throneworld, Empress-Majestrix Lilandra of the House of Neramani is =( about all this war.

But as far as Lilandra sees, the Shi'ar have no choice but for war because the Kree, under the new management of Dar-Benn and Ael-Dan after the Supreme Intelligence got overthrown, are aggressive expansionists and are nibbling away at the Shi'ar borderlands. Two empires that have mostly existed in peace are now inevitably headed to conflict. Not just because of the Kree wanting to conquer more stuff but also because the Shi'ar won't stand to not have vengeance for the Shi'ar blood shed in the Kree attacks. So Lilandra is =( stuck going to war even though she wishes there were another way.

All well and good but she's still willing to blow up the Sun because it's the most convenient way to wage war on the Kree. You suck, Lilandra.

Anyway, since Lilandra is too =( for war, her evil sister Deathbird pops into the room to offer her services.

Deathbird: "Policies of state weigh heavily upon you, do they not, little Lilandra? The rule of empire was not meant for one such as you. No, you are a woman of conscience. The death of billions will sear your soul like a flaming brand. Your name will be cursed across half the known universe by those you sought to save. Your precious failsafe device will usher in the doomsday you so desperately fear. You embark on a perilous course. But I, who have been your most bitter enemy... and also, you most loving sister... offer you a better way. This DEATHBIRD swears!"

Good thing Hawkeye Goliath is on the Kree team and not the Shi'ar one. I don't think diplomacy would go well if Deathbird remembered the time that Hawkeye sexually harassed her.

Also, it sounds like Deathbird is trying to present herself as the lesser of two evils compared to some doomsday weapon Lilandra has. LILANDRA WHY DO YOU HAVE A DOOMSDAY WEAPON?

Questions for later. That's five parts of Operation: Galactic Storm down. Still fourteen parts to go. Eesh.