Author's Note: Readers, thanks for your feedback about this story. Please bear with me again, because this chapter is even longer than the last one, and I'm not the best at writing battle scenes, so things may seem a little repetitive. I hope they don't to you, but they may. Also, thanks for your patience with this chapter. It was a little bit late, but once I actually sat down and started writing it, I finished it much quicker than I would have expected for a chapter of this size. Enjoy!
Chapter Four
Chaos ensued.
There wasn't quite any other way to describe it. Peter Parker, dressed in the brightly-colored tights that made him easily recognizable as Spider-Man, stood among several of his most trusted allies, a few of his most hated enemies, and a bunch of other villains who he wasn't particularly fond of, either. Precise but violent movement flooded his peripheral vision as several of the combatants rushed readily towards each other, ready to fight. Peter felt the rush of adrenaline, that unique mixture of excitement and fear that he felt each time he faced off against a supervillain, but to a greatly heightened degree this time, since the battle was on a much larger scale than, per se, the bank robberies he was used to stopping.
Peter had been in grand-scale super-powered battles before, of course. He thought back to the time when the Beyonder gathered them all on Battleworld to pit them against the assembled villains, and more recently, to the Civil War that had caused such a violent rift among the superhuman community, and the invasion of the Skrulls who Earth's heroes had just barely managed to fight back. The fact that he had done this before in no way lessened the thrill and apprehension he felt now. Each battle was a critical, delicate situation in which one mistake or wrong move could prove fatal, but the right course of action would lead to victory and the fulfillment of the hopes they had all been fighting for. And this time, they were fighting for him—for Spider-Man, whose life had been thoroughly messed up by Mephisto and who was determined to take it back or die trying. More than he could express in words or even concrete thoughts, Peter was grateful for the sense of cameraderie that came with the life of a superhero, for his teammates and allies who were willing to fight for him just as if the battle were their own.
And even now, his allies were fighting. As Peter looked around, he saw that several of the combatants were already locked in battle against a particular opponent. Luke Cage was testing his own enhanced strength against that of Ares, and the Thing was enjoying his trademark clobberin' time with Namor, longtime rival of the Fantastic Four. Ronin, formerly known as Hawkeye, was matching weapons with the Dark Avengers version of Hawkeye, the original Ms. Marvel was battling the counterfeit Ms. Marvel, and the young, reckless mutant known as Daken was clashing claws with the old, reckless mutant who was his father, Wolverine. Sometimes in a great battle like this one, Peter had trouble trying to decide which opponent to fight, considering who was already matched with an opponent to the prospect of where his powers could do the most damage, and trying to decide in the split seconds before the ensuing chaos forced his hand when he was unprepared. He would have loved to just walk up and beat the heck out of Mephisto with nothing but the fists he had used on so many villains before, but he knew he wouldn't stand a chance against such a powerful being (that's why he had brought Loki and Doctor Strange). That being the case, he'd just have to find someone else to fight.
This time, he didn't have time to decide.
"Spider-Man," came a darkly familiar voice behind him. His spider-sense had not detected it. Peter spun around quickly to see the living, symbiotic costume he himself had once worn on the body of Mac Gargan, with whom he had traded punches on many occasions in the past. Peter braced himself. "Get ready to die," Gargan said before raising his fists and launching himself angrily against Peter.
* * *
Separate from the rest of the battle, three mighty figures stood facing each other, each determined to prevail. The imposing figure of Victor von Doom, majestic green cape flowing behind him, stood next to the beautiful, regal figure of Loki, and both of them faced the horrible demon Mephisto. Each possessed some knowledge and ability in the mystical arts, and while Mephisto could probably crush either Loki or Doom fighting separately, the two hoped that, together, they could emerge victorious.
"Doom! Combine your might with mine!" Loki shouted desperately, knowing that they didn't have much time to waste. With a few words from some ancient, long-dead tongue, Loki cast a spell that merged Doctor Doom's power of eldritch energy blasts with her own mystical energy, creating a bright beam of pure magical energy that shot right at Mephisto. It was relatively simple and low on the scale of mystical attacks, but hopefully it would hold for the time being.
Not missing a beat, Mephisto retaliated, apparently unhurt by the energy that was being thrown against him. Outstretching his crimson claws, the demon created a sphere of red light, also composed of mystical energy. He used it as a shield to deflect the blasts against himself, and then channeled it into a similar blast against his two opponents, who had to struggle to keep up.
"Ah, Loki," Mephisto said tauntingly while maintaining his attack. "What a pleasure to see you again. And you too, Victor, although I certainly do miss seeing your mother around my place."
"You fiend!" Doom cried angrily. "I will see to it that you burn for eternity for what you have done to my mother!"
"Somehow, I thought that was already a given," Mephisto remarked sarcastically. Ignoring his response and rashly letting himself be goaded by Mephisto's taunt, Dr. Doom broke away from Loki and ran full speed at Mephisto, ready to use his physical strength or mystical powers or any means he could to tear the demon apart. With a cruel laugh, Mephisto stretched out his hand, sending Doom falling backward and sliding far away from himself.
"Be careful, Victor," Mephisto chided. "Aren't you and Loki supposed to be working together?" He laughed again and began to focus his attack more on Loki, whose power was barely standing against Mephisto's own.
* * *
"Now, this is what I call a good time," Ben Grimm announced gruffly, slamming his rocky fist into the chiseled frame of Namor, Prince of Atlantis. "It's been a while since I got to give anyone a good clobberin'."
"Your foolishness will be your downfall, Benjamin Grimm, just as it always has been," Namor stated tersely, standing his ground. "You cannot hope to triumph over Namor, Prince of Atlantis."
"Funny," said Ben. "I seem ta remember beatin' you at least a couple times before. An' believe me when I say that Aunt Petunia's favorite nephew ain't a fool." Ben slammed into Namor even harder, sending his opponent sprawling back and landing a few yards away. He knew that Namor was tough and would still be far from down and out, but Ben had earned maybe a few moments' reprieve from battle. "How's it goin' fer the rest o' you, Stretcho?" he called.
The other three members of the Fantastic Four were nearby, also trying to hold their own against the small army of villains. "Sue, Johnny, see if you can hold them off and keep us safe for a while," Reed said, his stretchy arm holding a moderately-sized, very scientific-looking device. "I've got to—"
"Got to what?" asked his wife, Sue, the Invisible Woman, throwing up a quick forcefield to shield herself. "There's so many bad guys here, we need all the help we can get."
Reed began to protest. "Yes, but this could turn the tide of—"
"Hey, Reed," called Johnny, the Human Torch, his flaming body hovering in the air. He saw a determined, golden-clad figure coming towards him in the air. "Isn't that that Sentry guy we all helped a while back?"
Reed turned his stretchy neck around to look. "Yes, Johnny. Don't engage him. He's extremely dangero—"
"But, Reed, he's on the bad guys' team now!" Johnny exclaimed. "And we're in a battle." Hastily, the impulsive youth rushed forward and blasted the Sentry with a steady ray of flame.
"Johnny, be careful!" Sue called up to him, fervently hoping that her brother's flames would be enough to counter the mysterious Sentry's poweful energy blasts. She was about to go up to help him when she felt someone bump into her rather violently. Somewhat stunned, Sue spun around to see the familiar face of Emma Frost, currently in her diamond-skinned form.
"Emma," Sue addressed coldly. The two of them had never quite seen eye to eye in their meetings in the past, and they were on opposite sides in this battle.
"Sue," Emma returned coldly.
From out of the chaos in the direction that Emma had come from, Spider-Woman glided to the ground. "Take that," she said bitterly to Emma. Sue gathered that the two had already exchanged a few blows in this battle, and that Spider-Woman had probably been the cause of sending Emma sprawling into Sue.
"No," Emma breathed, getting back up to her feet and reverting to her normal form. "Take this." She didn't launch a return blow at Spider-Woman, but instead just glared at her opponent and concentrated. Spider-Woman put her hands to her head and cried out, clearly in agony from Emma's telepathic attack.
"Need a hand?" Sue asked, running over to Spider-Woman and thrusting a forcefield barrage against Emma.
Spider-Woman looked momentarily relieved. "Thanks for the save."
Seeing that his teammates were occupied and holding their own, Reed returned to examining the device he carried. "Now, if I can just—"
Suddenly, Reed was slammed by a force that would've severely injured him if not for his pliable, elastic body, which enabled him to remain keep his feet planted firmly on the ground while his torso expanded to deal with his unknown assailant. Frantically, Reed enlargened his hands to completely cover the device, hoping to keep it safe from outside damage, and twisted his head to see who had hit him. This person called himself Captain Marvel, but it was not the Captain Marvel he had fought alongside many years ago. "Noh-Varr," he uttered.
"You," the Kree boy said to Reed accusingly. "You and your friends came to visit me when I was imprisoned at the Cube."
"Yes," said Reed. "And I'm grateful for the part you played in turning back the recent Skrull invasion, but the man you're working for—"
"You're opposing the Avengers," Noh-Varr said, clearly not happy with Reed. The Kree Warrior stretched out his hand, and the mechanized gauntlet that he wore transformed quickly into a gun, which was pointed directly at Reed. "And I'm an Avenger now." Noh-Varr fired.
* * *
Wolverine winced as he forcefully grabbed hold of his son Daken's arm and pulled the boy's claws out of their resting place deep in his own shoulder. Blood poured from the wound, but Wolverine ignored it; he had had much worse before, and his healing factor would begin taking care of it in no time. He grunted as he pushed Daken off of himself and took a firmer stance on the ground.
"It's time for Daddy to teach you a few manners," Wolverine muttered as he bared his adamantium claws, and brought them forward.
"I always have been rebellious," Daken replied sarcastically. Unbreakable metal clashed against hardened bone as the two mutants struggled against each other once again, neither one willing to relent or to show any sign of restraint.
"You'd be better off givin' up now," Wolverine said. "I've been doin' this a whole lot longer than you, and I've been hurt a lot worse. You can't bring anything against me that I haven't beaten before."
"Can't blame a guy for trying," Daken replied with a mischievous grin.
* * *
In the guise of his new identity as Ronin, Clint Barton used his twin katana to deflect an arrow from the man who wore his old costume.
"Gonna have to do better than that, Deadeye," he called to his opponent. "I knew the original Hawkeye pretty well, and trust me, you're not him." Clint didn't want to reveal that he himself had once been Hawkeye, but didn't mind throwing a few taunts at his enemy, which was a customary thing to do in these sorts of battles.
"You're right," said the man dressed as Hawkeye, who was really the criminal known as Bullseye. "I'm not Hawkeye. Hawkeye, as good as he was, missed from time to time." He strung another arrow onto his bow. "But not me. I never miss." Bullseye fired, and Ronin raised his swords for protection, the skills and accuracy he had used in his years of archery serving him just as well with swords instead. However, the arrow did something he didn't expect, and Ronin mentally chided himself for not being wary of trick arrows, which he himself had so often used as well. Instead of flying straight on its usual course, the arrow split off into two equally sharp and dangerous projectiles midway through the air, only one of which came into Ronin's range. He knocked the one half aside with his sword, but desperately realized that he'd be unable to reach the other one in time, and hoped it wouldn't hit one of his teammates who was engaged in another battle and thus had their back turned to him.
From out of the corner of his eye, Ronin saw the arrow deflected by another sizeable blade. He turned to look and, to his relief, saw Mockingbird, his wife, standing with her weapon poised expertly.
"Need a hand?" Mockingbird asked.
"I had it under control," Ronin protested.
"Because you were doing such a good job with both halves of that splitting arrow," she teased him.
"I am glad you're here, though," he said sincerely.
"So am I," she answered. Looking towards the false Hawkeye, she asked, "Shall we?"
"Sure thing," said Ronin. Together, the two of them raised their weapons and began to charge at Bullseye, who was notching another arrow already.
* * *
Carol Danvers, also known as Ms. Marvel, soared through the air, growing increasingly frustrated with her opponent. Who would've known that this fake Ms. Marvel would have all of her own powers plus the ability to turn intangible at will? How was she supposed to be beaten if energy bursts just phased right through her harmlessly?
"You know," said Carol, trying to hide her discouragement. "If you're going to rip off the real Avengers, you should do your homework first. That outfit is Captain Marvel. I, the real Ms. Marvel, have never worn anything like that."
Moonstone, dressed in a red and blue outfit with a golden emblem at its center, hovered in the air and snickered. "Hey, styles change," she retorted. "But I guess you wouldn't know much about that. I mean, how long have you been wearing those stupid black tights?"
Unable to think of a proper comeback, and focusing on the more important issue, Ms. Marvel once again sent forth the bursts of energy from her hands, aimed at her opponent. However, not entirely unexpectedly, Moonstone just phased in and out of tangibility, still ending up unharmed. She laughed. "Times change, and so do the Avengers." She stretched out her arms, pointed them at Ms. Marvel, and released a steady barrage of laser rays that were indeed a successful hit. And they hit hard.
Ms. Marvel staggered backward in the air, wondering how or even if she could possibly win.
* * *
"Sweet Christmas!"
Luke Cage felt the mighty battle axe of Ares slam into his chest. It didn't feel good. His superhumanly strong skin kept the blade from cutting him, but it didn't stop the pain. Cage tried to ignore the agony. He prepared for the mightiest punch he could muster and threw his fist into Ares' face, but it only fazed the war god lightly, if at all. Ares was stronger than Cage, and they both knew it.
"If you are wise, mortal, you will give up now," Ares taunted cruelly. "Before I rip your body apart and make a helmet out of your skull."
His body ached, but Cage didn't give up easily, and he wasn't about to do so now. "Well," he said, struggling to stand. "I must not be very wise, then." With a determined shout, Cage rushed at Ares, planning to slam the full weight of his body into his foe. Instead, he was easily blocked from Ares' body by the business end of the battle axe, which caused him to stumble backward onto the ground.
"No, apparently not," Ares said, walking slowly toward his fallen foe.
* * *
Though Doctor Strange was suffering slight pain from the Hood's minor electrical attacks, he had already cast a healing spell and was far from defeated. Though the Hood sometimes appeared mystical, another quick spell of discernment had revealed to Strange that his opponent possessed no magical powers of his own, just those that he had borrowed from other mystical beings. The all-seeing Eye of Agamotto allowed Strange to easily perceive his foe's location, despite the Hood's cloak of invisibility. Using his powers to hover above the ground, Strange found the Hood and prepared his next attack.
Softly speaking a few incantations, Strange invoked the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, a spell that rarely failed to trap his opponent. True to form, the bands produced a mystical energy that swirled all around the Hood, imprisoning him in a circle that Strange doubted he would have the power to break. The Hood clearly struggled within his mystical cage, but to no avail.
Doctor Strange wasted no time. Having easily disposed of the Hood, he moved across the battlefield to join others who had need of even greater mystical power.
* * *
Bucky was angry.
It was bad enough that Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, was dead. The tragedy had rocked the entire superhero community—the entire country, even—and Bucky, his former partner, had probably been hit harder than anyone else, with a few possible exceptions, at the news. He had agreed to take on the mantle of Captain America, using Steve's shield and donning a costume similar to his predecessor's, not because he thought himself worthy of the title, but because the people needed a Captain America, and because someone had to make sure he lived on.
Bucky was quite convinced that that someone was definitely not Norman Osborn, formerly the Green Goblin, who had taken so many innocent lives in the past and had a history of mental instability. But there stood Osborn in his shining mechanical armor of red, white, and blue, calling himself the Iron Patriot, trying to add a sense of familiarity and security to his counterfeit Avengers by mimicking two of the team's most prominent veterans. Bucky didn't like it one bit.
"Okay, Osborn," he said, marching determinedly toward where the so-called Iron Patriot stood at the far edge of the battle. "I came to this fight as a favor to Spidey, but I've got no problems with taking you down all on my own, just because I want to."
"Well, if it isn't Captain America Jr.," Osborn mocked upon seeing Bucky's approach. "I believe you'll find that the Avengers are no longer in need of your services." Stretching out the palm of his heavily loaded armor, Osborn shot a laser blast at Bucky, momentarily halting the hero's progress.
Not to be deterred, Bucky pressed on. "You're not an Avenger," he spat at his enemy. "And you'll never know what it means to be one." Unlike his predecessor, Bucky didn't have the enhanced strength that had been granted to Steve by the super soldier serum, and so he hardly expected his fists or other such combat efforts to pierce through Osborn's high-tech armor. Lifting the iconic shield that had belonged to Steve, he swung it forward. The disc crashed into Osborn's armor with a clanking sound.
Osborn began to sprawl backward from the impact of the shield, but he didn't. Instead, he activated the armor's rocket thrusters, taking to the air and hovering a few feet above ground. The shield lay motionless on the ground. Bucky scrambled to reclaim it, but Osborn, with armor and rocket thrusters that were faster than a human, came down to the ground again and planted his foot firmly on top of the shield, keeping it out of Bucky's grasp. The Iron Patriot stood face to face with the current Captain America, who was down his usual shield.
Frantic for some sort of advantage and knowing that his strength alone wouldn't do the trick, Bucky reached for the pistol in his holster and pointed it at Osborn. It wasn't much, but it was something.
"Oh, please," Norman scoffed. "You're really going to have to step up your game if you want to compare to the real Captain America." With his mechanical glove, Osborn activated the armor's magnetic repulsor rays, forcing the metal pistol out of Bucky's fist, through the air, and into Osborn's grasp, where the might of the armor easily crushed the pistol as if it were a piece of paper.
Bucky was scared.
"A word of advice," said Osborn, his voice amplified by the mechanical suit. He pressed a button on the armor, and a pair of miniature missiles popped up from his shoulders, ready to aim and fire. "Don't mess with America." The missiles fired. Bucky tried to dodge, but at such close range and with no real superpowers to combat the armor, there wasn't much he could do. The missiles hit him hard, created a small explosion of fire and smoke, and left him lying on the ground, unconscious.
"That was too easy," Norman said to himself, smiling behind his iron mask. "But not very fulfilling. You, Captain America, are not the one I came here to fight." Across the field of battle, he glimpsed the familiar figure of his longtime foe, the one and only Spider-Man.
* * *
"You know, I gotta hand it to you, Mac," Peter said, struggling to hold his own in the fistfight with Venom, but trying not to show it. "You've really trimmed down since the last time I saw you. In fact, it kind of reminds me of myself back in the day."
"I am nothing like you!" Venom retorted, slamming his symbiotically enhanced fist into Peter's masked face. Peter tried to roll with the blow, but it hurt. A lot. "I am stronger and more powerful than you can imagine!"
"I don't know," said Peter, desperately throwing a few punches back at Venom. "I can imagine a whole lot." Unfortunately, it was true that the symbiote made Venom stronger than Spider-Man, but Spider-Man had beaten him before, either by outwitting Venom or exploiting one of his few weaknesses. "But seriously, have you been working out? You've really gotten into shape. I guess it does help to eat your vegetables, huh?"
"Shut up!" Venom screamed, swinging his arm at Spider-Man and causing the webslinger to fall to the ground several yards away.
Peter groaned as he gradually and painfully stood back up. The symbiote did have a few weaknesses, most notably its vulnerability to sonics and intense, high-pitched noises. Peter wished he had a utility belt where he could keep a dog whistle or something of that sort for every time he encountered Venom, but he didn't have anything he could use right now.
Better think fast, Pete, Peter thought to himself, seeing Venom rushing at him again.
Occasionally he had also weakened the symbiote with fire, but—
Fire! Of course!Peter leapt gracefully away from where he had been—not only to avoid Venom's rampage, but to position himself conveniently right under the skies above, where the Human Torch was battling the Sentry.
"Hey, Torch!" Peter called up as loudly as he could. "A little help down here?"
Having just gained a momentary advantage by giving the Sentry a concentrated burst of flame, Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, looked down to see his friend Spider-Man narrowly avoiding being pummeled by Venom. "Sure thing, Spidey," he said. The Torch flew down low until he was close enough to Venom to do some damage but still far enough away to be safe. Then, just as Venom was about to go after Spider-Man again, Johnny reached out his arms and emitted a steady blast of fire, scorching the symbiote and generating cries of agony from Venom. When he was finished, Mac Gargan was writhing in pain on the ground below, and the symbiote that covered him looked fried and beaten.
"Thanks for the save," Peter said to Johnny.
"No problem," answered the Torch.
Peter looked around, relieved to no longer have to deal with Venom, since his fight hadn't been with Venom in the first place. As impossible as it seemed, Peter still wanted to be able to fight Mephisto, his ultimate enemy in this quarrel. He looked around the battlefield to see if he could catch a glimpse of the demon and see how the magic users were faring against him.
Instead, he saw the Iron Patriot hovering above the ground right in front of him.
"Spider-Man," said Norman Osborn's familiar voice through the speakers in the armor. "You are in violation of the Superhuman Registration Act. Surrender peacefully or suffer the consequences."
Oh, crap, Peter thought. His trusty spider-sense tingling like mad, Peter immediately went on the defensive. He pointed his wrist-mounted web-shooter at the eyes of his enemy's iron helmet and fired.
With little apparent effort, the armor's mechanical eyeholes produced two thin laser beams, slicing clear through the webbing and allowing Norman to see again. Then Norman focused the deadly lasers on Spider-Man.
* * *
"Thanks for the save!" Spider-Man had said.
"No problem," answered the Torch. He was glad to be able to help his longtime friend Spider-Man, but he didn't want to ignore his own opponent for too long. He rose higher into the air again and spun around, but he didn't see the Sentry.
"You shouldn't have let your guard down," said a voice from behind him. It was the Sentry. Johnny started to turn around, but he was unprepared, and it was too late. The Sentry stretched out his hands and unleashed the power of one million exploding suns onto his unsuspecting foe. Under the impact of such awesome power, Johnny's flame was extinguished, and he struggled to remain in flight, but to no avail. Helplessly, his plain blue Fantastic Four uniform easily visible without his usual cover of flame, Johnny's unconscious body began to plummet to the ground several yards below.
"Johnny!" cried his sister Sue, the Invisible Woman. "Cover for me," she said to Spider-Woman, temporarily distracted from their battle against Emma Frost.
"I'll see what I can do," Spider-Woman replied.
Acting out of instinct, Sue created a force field in midair, catching Johnny and lowering him harmlessly to the ground, where she hoped he would be safe until he woke up or the battle ended.
Watching the Torch's rescue from above, the Sentry flew down and positioned himself in front of Sue. "You are an ally of the Human Torch, yes?"
"Yes," Sue answered resolutely.
"Then you are also my enemy," the Sentry stated coldly. Lifting his hands, he gestured toward Sue and prepared to release as much unstoppable solar energy as he had just used on Johnny.
"Bad idea," Sue replied. Without missing a beat, she concentrated and encased the Sentry in a close-quartered force field bubble. An indescribable sight transpired within the bubble as the Sentry's energy discharge created explosion after fiery explosion, but none of them were able to pierce the force bubble that Sue was so desperately maintaining. Instead, all the Sentry's destrucitve energy was just bouncing back and forth inside the force bubble, therefore only hurting the person inside the force bubble—the Sentry himself.
When the explosions seemed to have dissipated, Sue dissolved her force bubble. Smoke began to rise and small pockets of flame fell to the ground, along with the limp, unconscious body of the Sentry, knocked out by his own attack.
"Well, that takes care of that," Sue said to herself. "Now to—"
She stopped and screamed.
Inside her mind, Sue felt a presence that couldn't be mistaken for anyone other than the telepathic Emma Frost. A sharp, intense pain resonated unrelentingly throughout Sue's mind. She put her hands to her head, but to no avail. The presence wouldn't go away.
"The bad idea was for you to take your concentration away from the real threat—me," Emma stated arrogantly, focusing her mental energy against Sue. "Why don't you take a little nap?" At Emma's mental command, Sue closed her eyes and her body, too, fell to the ground, mentally sedated into a trance. Smiling, Emma looked to Spider-Woman. "One down, one to go," she said.
Spider-Woman looked back with determination on her face. "Let's finish this."
* * *
Given the flexible qualities of his elastic body, it was not very hard for Mister Fantastic to dodge the blast from Noh-Varr's gun, twisting his torso into a thin, hard-to-hit cord as easily as a normal man would swing his arm back and forth.
"Noh-Varr, you've got to listen!" Reed shouted to his opponent. "Norman Osborn is evil, but you don't have to be a villain!"
"I don't believe you," the Kree warrior replied sternly. "I'm a soldier, a warrior bound by honor, and Osborn is my commander now." He fired again, and Reed dodged again, but not quite so easily this time. Noh-Varr was good, and Reed wasn't going to get anywhere by just dodging lasers and trying to reason with him.
"Oh, no you don't," Reed said, beginning to act. Still keeping a close watch on the crucial device he had brought, Reed pulled one of his hands away and began to elongate his arm, stretching it out like rubber. Moving quickly, he wrapped his enlargened fingers fully around the gun in Noh-Varr's hand, but he didn't stop there. He continued to stretch out his arm and wrap it around Noh-Varr's gun hand over and over, creating several layers of insulation. Seeing his foe's plan, Noh-Varr fired the gun. The blast stung and Reed wanted to let go, but the layers of his skin that surrounded the gun protected him from the worst of it, and he held on tight.
Unable to use his gun or to free himself from Reed, Noh-Varr was trapped.
But Reed wasn't quite finished yet. He began to pour all the extra mass he could spare into his other hand, creating a massive, gigantic, super-dense fist. Once he gave Noh-Varr a few firm bops on the head with said fist, the Kree warrior was unconscious and down for the count. Relieved to have defeated his foe, Reed shrunk his fist back down to normal and unwrapped his arm from around the gun.
His body back to the proportions of a normal human's, Reed looked around. The battle was still raging on, but from what he could tell, each villain was already being dealt with by one of his heroic allies, and that meant Reed could do what he needed to. Trying to appear unnoticed, he picked up the device he had brought and carried it out of the way of the fray, behind a nearby building, where he should be able to work in peace until he could decide the battle.
Reed stretched his neck out from his hiding place and observed, his scientific curiosity racing like mad. The small group of magic users were trading energy blasts back and forth, often adding another sort of attack or defense spell into the mix against their opponents. Reed's extremely powerful mind ran several quick calculations, and he entered some data into his machine, trying to get the exact specifications and signatures of the energy that he saw. If all went well, it should only be a matter of time.
* * *
Ben Grimm pounded his fists together, having subdued Namor the Sub-Mariner. Namor was strong, with his Atlantean blood and mutant gene, but he was only the size of a regular human, and he wasn't made of rock. In short, Ben was just as strong, if not stronger than Namor, and he was a better fighter, too. Right now Namor was unconscious on the ground, and he wouldn't be feeling very good when he eventually woke up.
"Okay," Ben shouted, eager for more villains to pummel. "Who else is up for a good, solid clobberin'?"
As if in reply, something hit Ben in the shoulder. It barely scratched him, of course, and hardly seemed like a punch or kick from a villain trying to hurt him, even an extremely pathetic villain. Ben looked down to the ground and saw a long, wooden arrow, its point cracked from its impact with Ben's shoulder. Ben casually stepped on the offending object, crushing it like a twig beneath his feet, and then turned to look at where it had come from. Just a few yards away, the skilful Ronin was trading blows and dodging arrows with the fake Hawkeye of the Dark Avengers. Presumably, the arrow that had just hit Ben had been dodged by Ronin and thus was free to hit someone else instead.
Smiling, Ben ran over to Hawkeye, who looked quite unnerved at the rocky behemoth's approach. "You dropped somethin' back there," Ben said, gesturing backward. Then, without a second thought, he forcefully pulled the bow from out of Hawkeye's hands and ripped it in half, throwing the two runied pieces off to the side. Ben then made similar work of the quiver full of arrows on Hawkeye's back. The purple-clad impostor stood staring intently at Ben, cowering in fear.
"You know, I was kinda hopin' for someone else ta clobber," Ben said. "But I'm gonna give you a warning. If I wuz you, I'd run away real fast, right now."
Hawkeye, stripped of his weapons and his dignity, turned and ran until he was well out of Ben's sight.
Ben turned to face his sometime ally, Ronin. "How's the lady?" he asked, referring to Mockingbird.
"She got hit by a smoke arrow," Ronin explained. "She's out, but she'll be okay."
"Good to know," said Ben. "Mebbe we should—"
"Hey, ugly!" called a female voice from behind him.
Ben sighed. "Well, there ain't too many folks here who that could be referrin' to." He turned around to see Ms. Marvel—also the impostor from the Dark Avengers, rather than the real one—flying straight at him.
"I saw what you did to Hawkeye," she said. "And I don't like people who do that to my teammates."
Ben groaned. "Look, lady, I really don't wanna fight you," he said, having no particular quarrel with Moonstone and feeling reluctant to hit a girl. "Doncha have someone else to fight?"
"I already beat the so-called Ms. Marvel," she explained. "You're next."
"Well, okay, you asked for it," Ben said. "It's clobb—"
Ms. Marvel shot one of her concentrated energy blasts striaght into Ben's chest.
"Yeeeeeeeow!" the Thing cried in pain.
Ronin, not particularly wanting to hurt his old Thunderbolts ally Moonstone, and realizing that he wouldn't be much use against a flying foe from his flightless position on the ground, began to patrol the battlefield in search of others who could use his assistance. He saw the corner of magic users at the far edge of the field, and purposely steered clear of them, knowing that he would be useless and that magic could be very dangerous. He saw the two Wolverines slashing at each other still, both severely cut and bleeding, but both enduring due to their healing factors, and both appearing just about evenly matched. And he saw Ares, the god of war, throwing the unconscious body of Luke Cage, Ronin's fellow Avenger, across the field.
"Who would dare challenge the might of Ares?" the warrior shouted, more of a taunt or a boast than a sincere question. Enraged at Cage's downfall and looking for someone to fight, Ronin stealthily came up behind Ares and struck his twin katana at the war god's exposed back.
Unfortunately, they didn't make a dent.
Ares spun around. "You?" he thundered. "You would dare challenge my might?" Without waiting for an answer, he swung his mighty battle axe and hit Ronin in the chest. Hard. Throbbing and bleeding, Clint Barton fell to the ground, struggling to maintain consciousness.
Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to challenge him, he thought.
* * *
"I must say, Norman, I simply love the new costume," Peter said while simulataneously trying to dodge the Iron Patriot's laser shooters and clog them with his own webbing. "I mean, sure, it's a total rip-off of two of this country's greatest heroes and it's a complete disgrace to them when being worn by a no-good scumbag like yourself, but that silly old goblin Halloween costume you used to ride around in really had me worried for a while there." He shot another thick strand of web into what he thought was the shoulder-mounted missile launcher. Hopefully he wouldn't have to deal with those.
"You'll learn not to mock me, Spider-Man," Osborn said, swinging at the agile wall-crawler with his iron fist.
"Funny," Peter replied. "After all the times we've fought, I still haven't learned by now. Do you think you could go over it one more time? Fundamental Basics of How Not to Mock Norman the Scumbag Osborn 101?" Peter got up close to his opponent and punched him in the facial area as hard as he could. Though still quite sturdy, the armor gave more under pressure than did the living symbiote of Venom. "I hope I get a good grade."
Rage fueling up inside him, Norman held his tongue and lunged at Spider-Man once again. With the help of his spider-sense, Peter tried to dodge, but Norman's rocket thrusters and his ability to hover above the ground made him fast—too fast for Peter. Using the enhanced strength granted to him by the iron suit, Norman wrapped his arms around Spider-Man, rendering him immobile, and lifted him up into the air. Norman was holding him so tightly that Peter couldn't move, and from what he felt, his web-shooters might be crushed, too. If Norman were to drop him from this height, it would be very bad.
"Time to die, Spider-Man," said Norman Osborn.
* * *
Doctor Strange stood beside two beings with whom he had never expected to ally himself for any purpose. Yet here he was with Doctor Doom, the tyrannical, sorcerous monarch of Latveria, and Loki, Norse god (or goddess) of mischeif and evil, fighting together with them against an even greater evil, the demon known as Mephisto. After defeating the Hood, Strange had joined his fellow magic users and began to combine his knowledge and energy with their own, hoping and praying that the three of them, though each one would have little hope individually, would be able to defeat Mephisto together.
Strange had already employed the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak on Mephisto, but having mystical powers even greater than those of Cyttorak, Mephisto couldn't be contained for long. However, the trap did buy Strange and his allies the few needed moments for Loki to strengthen the mystical bond among all three of their energies, creating a stronger shield against whatever attacks Mephisto might throw at them. However, as they employed their various spells against Mephisto and tried to resist his attacks, one thing was becoming clear: even together, the three of them weren't as powerful as Mephisto. Unless something changed, it would only be a matter of time until they lost the battle.
Not one to give up easily, Strange tried to encourage his allies. "Muster up all the energy you can!" he shouted desperately. "Call upon whatever powers you know, and use whatever spells you can think of. We can't let Mephisto win!" Strange heard an unfamiliar buzzing noise coming from a short distance away, but he paid it little attention, assuming it was a byproduct of either some spell that Doom or Loki had cast or of someone's power in one of the many other battles raging in the vicinity. Focusing on the task at hand, he followed his own advice and focused his consciousness to reach for one of the deepest and most powerful spells he knew.
He felt nothing.
Strange was puzzled and instantly startled. It wasn't just that the spell he had been reaching for was unaccessible to him. Rather, it was as if, by some inexplicable phenomenon, all trace of magic and all the mental and spiritual connections to the mystical world that he was used to feeling could no longer be felt. He tried to cast a simple spell and couldn't. He couldn't sense the mystical energy of Doom or Loki, either. Was Mephisto so powerful as to be able to sever their connections to magic completely?
"What trickery is this, Mephisto?" Doom thundered angrily.
Loki chimed in as well. "What foul spell is this that it can even take away our very magic itself?" Apparently Strange was not the only one dealing with the sudden loss of power.
"I wish I knew," Mephisto retorted, sounding sincere. Strange looked up at Mehpsito. There was no ethereal energy emanating from his hands and there were no red clouds of magical mist surrounding him. He was just standing there helplessly like a normal physical being (although he did look out of place, still retaining his usual form as a crimson-skinned demon). Most convincingly, he wasn't employing some horrible attack spell to use against his enemies in their moment of weakness. Whatever was happening to the powers of Strange, Doom, and Loki was also happening to the powers of Mephisto. But no matter how hard he racked his brain, Strange couldn't begin to imagine what that something was.
Curious and cautious, he looked around him. Various superhuman allies and enemies were still trading punches all across the field, and several unconscious bodies littered the ground. But there was one man who fell into neither category, and that man was Reed Richards, who stood casually a few yards away from the magicians, holding an unidentifiable device that seemed to be emitting some sort of electrical energy, as well as the buzzing sound Strange had heard earlier.
"Richards?" Strange called. "Might I ask what you're doing?"
Reed looked up and glanced sheepishly at Strange, apparently not wanting whatever he was doing to be noticed just yet. "Um, I'll be right back," he said.
* * *
Without warning or explanation, Peter saw an oversized blue arm come up behind the Iron Patriot, and a current of visible electrical energy surged through his opponent's armor. Peter's spider-sense continued tingling wildly, the eyes in Norman's iron mask drained of the light that had powered them, and the rocket thrusters that had been propelling them through the air suddenly shut off. Whatever the source of the electricity Peter had just seen, it was apparently too much for the mechanical armor to handle without overloading. Normally Peter would be glad about Norman's armor being incapacitated, but right now he was falling rapidly with Norman, and had only seconds to react.
Thankfully, Peter had gotten very good at reacting in seconds over the years.
His mind and heart racing furiously, Peter wrenched his arm out from Norman's grasp, since the armor couldn't hold onto him much longer. His web-shooters had sustained some damage, but Norman hadn't fully crushed them. When they got close enough to the ground, Peter desperately shot a strand of his webbing at the base of a nearby building. It didn't come as quickly or stick as strongly as he would have liked, but it would do. Thanks to the connection of the webline, Peter fell against the side of the building, which wasn't a particularly nice landing, but wasn't as far of a fall as it would have been if he had landed on the ground. Once he reached the building, his spider-powers allowed him to cling safely to its surface where he could recover from pain away from immediate danger.
Norman Osborn, on the other hand, fell away from the building and to the hostile ground below, immobilized by his armor's loss of power. His landing produced a very unpleasant-sounding crash.
"Okay," Peter said aloud, feeling scared, relieved, and confused all at once. "What the heck just happened?"
To his right, Peter saw the pliable body of Mister Fantastic rising up to meet him on the side of the building and holding an unfamiliar mechanical device of some sort. "Spider-Man, this is your fight, not mine," he said. "So I thought you might want to see this."
"See what?" Peter asked incredulously.
"Come with me."
Not sure how else to respond, Peter jumped down from the building and followed his friend Mister Fantastic to another part of the battlefield where he saw Doctor Strange, Doctor Doom, Loki, and Mephisto all standing around and looking very confused. Peter tried to restrain his anger against Mephisto and listen calmly for the time being, because he knew that whenever Reed Richards, scientist extrarodinaire, was carrying out a plan of his, it was probably worth paying attention to.
"Some form of explanation would be in order, Richards," Doctor Doom demanded.
"I'm with Doom," Peter said to Reed. "What exactly is going on here, and why aren't we beating the heck out of Mehpsito right now? Come to think of it, why isn't he beating the heck out of us?"
"It's all very simple," Reed began. Peter knew, as a fellow scientist and from Reed's tone of voice, that it wouldn't all be very simple. Throughout Reed's entire speech, the device he carried kept buzzing along and generating electricity, containing a small ball of lighting within an insulated chamber on the side of the machine. Reed stood high enough off the ground that none of the others, Mephisto in particular, could reach or damage the machine he was holding. "As you should know, Victor, magic and science are not as different from one another as is widely assumed," he said. "I'm not nearly as knowledgeable of magic as any of you are, but if I'm not mistaken, magic is bound to a rational order and certain inherent laws, just as the natural sciences are. Another thing I've picked up on, especially from the combat that you four have engaged in and the mystical blasts you send back and forth is that magic is, at its core, an energy. And it is a well-known law of science that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only changed into different forms."
He cleared his throat and then continued. "Victor, you should be able to see where this is going. After one of our more recent encounters, in which I took the liberty of...uh...investigating many of your belongings, I began to study the nature of magic a little bit alongside my usual studies of science. After much experimentation and calculation, I was able to decipher, analyze, and pick apart the unique signature of magical energy, and so I incorporated it into my previously built energy converter."
"You mean—" Dr. Doom began indignantly.
"Yes," Reed interrupted, eager to finish his speech. "This device is programmed to absorb all forms of magical energy in the vicinity and automatically convert it into the more scientific electrical energy." To Peter, he softly added, "Which, conveniently, can also be used as a weapon in battle."
"Wow, that's pretty impressive," Peter said sincerely. "So, as long as you've got that thing going, none of them can use magic?"
"Precisely," said Reed.
"I will not stand for this indignity, to be bested by one such as Richards!" Doom shouted.
"Silence, Doom!" Loki chided him. "Do you not see? The one called Reed Richards has saved us all!"
"Loki is right," Strange added. "Mephisto was winning. Our magical energy couldn't compare to his. We would've lost, but now that none of us can use magic..." He paused to let his point sink in. "He's on the same level as we are." At these words, Strange, Loki, Doom, Reed, and Peter all glanced over at Mephisto, who looked very uncomfortable and afraid.
Not wanting to succumb so easily to defeat, Mephisto changed fear into action. Realizing that he couldn't use any of his normal magical powers, the demon instead rushed at Mister Fantastic and prepared to attack, seeking to destroy the machine that was robbing him of his power.
"Oh, no you don't," Peter shouted, intercepting the attack. With the proportionate agility of a spider, he jumped up from the ground and landed right in front of Mephisto, wasting no time in slamming his fist into the demon's face. Mephisto staggered backward, but Peter was far from finished. This was the moment he had dared to long for throughout the entire battle—actually, throughout the entire ordeal of realizing what had happened to the timeline and to his marriage. Peter knocked Mephisto down onto the ground and bent down to meet him there, then proceeded to pummel him with his fists repeatedly. No witty banter escaped Peter's mouth this time, and neither did much speech at all, aside from an occasional comment that emphasized Peter's anger at Mephisto for what he had done. To Peter's delight, he was finding that Mephisto was practically helpless without his supernatural powers. He couldn't cast a spell, he couldn't teleport away, and he wasn't even superhumanly strong like Peter was. Despite his enemy's clearly demonic appearance, fighting the magicless Mephisto felt to Peter much like it felt when he apprehended a common criminal with no superpowers, except that this time, Peter wasn't holding back.
"Please..." Mephisto uttered, clearly in pain and showing no hope of defending himself as long as Mister Fantastic's energy converter was running. "Have mercy..."
"Mercy?" Peter exclaimed audaciously. "You want mercy? Did you show me mercy when you demanded an outrageous price in exchange for healing my aunt? Did you show mercy when you came here and attacked me with an army of supervillains? Did you?"
"No..." Mephisto admitted weakly, struggling to speak with Peter pinning him down on the ground. "Please...what do you want? I'll give you anything, but spare my life..."
"I want things back the way they're supposed to be!" Peter exclaimed, his heart racing with anger at Mephisto and with excitement at beating him. "I want my marriage to have happened exactly the way it did before you changed the timeline."
"You'll get it," Mephisto promised.
"But there's more," Peter said. "This can't happen again. I can't have something like this happen again. It all started with Aunt May being shot because the public knew my secret identity. You've got to put my marriage back just the way it was, but Aunt May also has to be completely healthy, and no one must remember my identity."
"You ask a high price," Mephisto said.
"Higher than your life?" Peter asked.
Mephisto appeared to consider this for only a moment. Then he smiled mischievously, as if he knew something that Peter didn't or still somehow had some ace in the hole. But his words suggested nothing of the sort. "Very well," the demon conceded. "If you spare my life, then I'll do all you just asked. But..."
"But what?" Peter asked.
Mephisto pointed up at Mister Fantastic. "...I am powerless as long as that accursed machine operates. Unless you turn it off, I can do nothing for you."
"Oh, yeah," Peter said, not having considered that beforehand. He almost told Reed to turn off the machine, but then had another thought. If Mephisto got his magical powers back, what would stop him from going back on his deal and hurting Peter instead?
As if anticipating what he was thinking, Mephisto spoke again. "We've made a deal now. I'm honor bound to fulfill it without trickery or deceit."
Not wanting to trust a demon's words about honor and deceit, Peter looked back to Reed, as if to ask for help or guidance.
"I still have the machine," Reed noted. "If he tries anything, I'll turn it back on immediately."
"Okay," Peter said hesitantly, hoping that he wasn't making a huge mistake. "Turn it off, Reed. Give him his power back."
Reed obeyed. The buzzing stopped, and Mephisto's eyes glowed a brighter red. Immediately, the bruises Peter had given him healed. But, true to his word, Mephisto didn't escape or attack. All around them, the other combatants who had lasted this long in the battle—the Thing, Ronin, Spider-Woman, Wolverine, Daken, Emma Frost, Ares, and Moonstone—had no idea that the outcome of the battle they were fighting had just been decided. Mephisto spoke.
"It'll be just like you demanded," the demon said. "All the years of your marriage will be like they originally were. Your aunt will be alive and in perfect health. And..." Here he smiled mysteriously once again. "...no one will remember the identity of Spider-Man. Is this what you want?"
"Yes," Peter said.
"Are you ready?" Mephisto asked.
"Yes!" Peter exclaimed. He hadn't meant to be shout, but this was the culmination of all he had been fighting for. He was about to get back the happy life that he never remembered knowing, but soon would. He couldn't help but be a bit enthusiastic about it. "I'm ready! Do it now!"
"Very well," said Mephisto. At his mental command, red smoke began to swirl all around them, thin and slow at first, but becoming increasingly more intense. Peter felt lightheaded. He looked back to see what his teammates were doing, but they weren't there. In fact, nothing was. Peter was in the dark, cold void between dimensions, much like the place he had seen through Reed's machine at the Baxter Building when he had learned about the damaged timeline in the first place. He looked and saw Mephisto, but then Mephisto was gone too. Peter felt all alone in an indescribably empty place.
And then, suddenly, he felt nothing at all.
* * *
Peter looked around, feeling slightly disoriented. He was standing in the living room of his old apartment. He was wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and socks. Moonlight shone through the window, and a familiar, beautiful redhead with a wedding ring on her finger sat on the couch a few feet away.
"Hey there, tiger," she said enticingly.
Peter perked up immediately. "Mary Jane!" he exclaimed vibrantly. He wasted no time. Peter ran to the couch, put his arms very tightly around his wife, sat down on the couch with a deliberate closeness to her, and began smothering her with kisses as passionately as he could manage.
"Well, it looks like someone's an eager beaver!" Mary Jane commented playfully between returning her husband's kisses.
"Sorry, MJ," Peter said.
"No, don't be sorry," she responded. "I'm certainly not complaining. Just a little bit surprised. Why so eager all of a sudden?"
"Other than the fact that I'm married to the most beautiful woman alive?" Peter asked. "I don't know. For some reason, I just feel like I haven't seen you in a long, long time—" He trailed off and looked out into the distance, as if struggling to remember something.
"What is it?" Mary Jane asked curiously. "Is something wrong?"
Peter hesitated before speaking, as if unsure of himself. "Mary Jane, this is going to sound crazy," he said. "But do you remember anything about...us being separated for a while? I don't mean just separated like people normally are, when they're married and then away from each other. I mean—"
"You mean like we were never married at all," Mary Jane finished for him.
"Yes!" said Peter. "It's crazy, I know, and my memory is still hazy, but...it happened."
"I remember it," Mary Jane said, exchanging her playfulness for a more serious demeanor. "But...why...how...?"
"I'm not sure," Peter answered. "I think there was magic involved. A being named Mephisto, I think, and a lot of magic."
"Normally that would sound crazy to me," Mary Jane conceded, sounding increasingly concerned. "Except that I remember it all, too."
"The fact that we both remember means it's got to be real," Peter stated, perplexed. "I guess with all the crazy stuff I've seen in the world, it's not completely out of possibility...I mean, all kinds of superheroes and cosmic demigods duke it out in the middle of New York every other week. Doctor Strange is a magician and a superhero. And, from what I can remember of what happened, there were a lot of superheroes involved with whatever this was, too."
"You're right," said Mary Jane. "I wish I could remember more, but I know that there were superheroes. I think whatever happened somehow revolved around Spider-Man."
"So do I," said Peter carefully, still struggling to remember, as if there was something else about Spider-Man that he should be able to recall. "It was definitely about Spider-Man. I mean, after all my years of following him around with a camera, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that we got mixed up in whatever he was doing, but..."
"It's still a lot to take in," Mary Jane finished. "I think...if I'm remembering right...Mephisto bargained with us to take away our marriage...and Spider-Man was somehow involved..."
"And then Spider-Man defeated Mephisto and helped us get it back," Peter recalled.
"But what would a demon like Mephisto want with us?" Mary Jane asked, fear and desperation evident in her voice.
"I don't know," Peter admitted, just as concerned and confused as his wife was. "I don't remember exactly what happened either." Seeing that his wife was in a significant state of distress, Peter tried to comfort her. He readjusted his arm around her shoulder and continued speaking. "But I know the one thing that matters," he said. "I know that, even though our marriage was somehow taken away, we somehow have it back now." He kissed Mary Jane gently on the cheek. "As long as I'm together with you, everything else isn't quite as important."
"Yes...you're right," Mary Jane said, looking him in the eyes. "I'm so glad to be back with you again." She shifted her position on the couch and laid her head delicately on Peter's chest. For several moments they sat cuddled together, neither one speaking a word, both simply enjoying each other's presence. Then, after a while, grogginess showing itself in her tone, Mary Jane asked, "Do you think we're still in danger? From Mephisto or Spider-Man or anyone, I mean?"
"I can't say for sure," Peter admitted. "But somehow, I don't think so. I seem to remember Spider-Man making a deal with Mephisto to give us back our marriage. If he keeps it, we should be safe."
"That's good," Mary Jane muttered noncomitally. Peter looked down. His wife's eyes were closed, and she was only half listening to him. Come to think of it, he was pretty tired too.
"Tell you what," he said.
"What?" Mary Jane asked.
"It's getting late, and I feel like I haven't gotten to sleep with my wife in a long time. In the morning we'll be more well-rested and more awake, so maybe we'll remember more then. How about we head off to bed for now?"
"Mmmkay," Mary Jane replied sleepily. Slowly, she stood up, and Peter did the same. Together they walked towards their bedroom, still greatly confused, but satisfied to leave things as they stood for the time being.
Trying to put the best resolution he could on their confusion, Peter made one final comment. "Whoever Spider-Man is and wherever he is right now, he can worry about himself," he said, having no idea that at that exact moment he was fulfilling one of the conditions he had errantly demanded of Mephisto: that no one remember the identity of Spider-Man, not even Spider-Man himself.
Due to popular demand, Good Old Day will continue with a fifth chapter, in which this new plot twist will be resolved. To be concluded!
References:
When writing the battles between different characters, I often referred to the Powergrids in the Character Bios on to see who would be most likely to beat the other person in a fight.
There are some characters in this chapter, especially the newer ones such as Noh-Varr, Daken, the Sentry and the Hood, who I was not very familiar with, but I included them because they're in the Dark Avengers or the Cabal or whatever group I needed to use in this chapter. Since I didn't know much about them, I tried to gather what I could of their powers, personalities, etc. from online sources such as and Wikipedia. Please forgive me if I have portrayed them inaccurately compared to what they're like in the comics.
I'm not sure in which issue Noh-Varr was visited at the Cube by Mr. Fantastic and the Illuminati, because I learned about it from .org/wiki/Noh-Varr#New_Avengers:_Illuminati.
The Beyonder brought several heroes and villains together on Battleworld in Secret Wars #s 1-12.
The Civil War of the superhero community took place in Civil War #s 1-7.
The invasion of the Skrulls took place in Secret Invasion #s 1-8.
Several heroes, including the Fantastic Four, came to help the mentally recovering Sentry in New Avengers #7-10.
In Dark Avengers #1, Norman Osborn gave Venom some sort of formula that transformed him from the large, hulking monstrosity he was into a smaller, trimmer form reminiscent of Spider-Man's days with the alien symbiote.
In Fantastic Four #s 497-500, Dr. Doom attacked the Fantastic Four with his knowledge of sorcery and magic. Doom was defeated and shortly after, in #s 503-508, the Fantastic Four went to Latveria to raid Doom's castle and confiscate much of his technology and other important belongings, which could have easily included books of magic.
Spider-Man's response to Venom of "I can imagine a whole lot" is a quote from Han Solo in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. I'm a Star Wars nerd as well as a Spider-Man nerd, so I had to include a reference in here somewhere!
Editorial:
Now that I've brought Peter and Mary Jane back together, I'd like to say a few words about my opinion on the huge controversy over the "One More Day" and "Brand New Day" storylines. Even though I'm writing this story as a way to undo the events of "One More Day", I don't think those events and the subsequent "Brand New Day" storyline are as bad as lots of readers say they are. Yes, I like the character of Mary Jane, and I very much like seeing Peter's relationship with her. But I've read a lot of Spider-Man comics over the years, and Peter Parker is still my favorite character, even when he's not married. I like Peter being married, but "Brand New Day" brings back the classic, familiar feel of the original Spider-Man comics, and I like that, too. I can appreciate what Stan Lee said in the afterword of the One More Day collected edition about the importance of changing things up in the comics from time to time. However, I also have heard rumors that the reason Marvel chose to erase Peter's marriage was only to make him more relatable to fans who have come in from the Spider-Man movies and the Ultimate Spider-Man series. I can't verify whether these rumors are true or not. If they are, then I'm disappointed with Marvel's choice to appeal to a wider fanbase at the cost of compromising their character, but in that case it would be their motives I'm disappointed with, not the "One More Day" storyline in and of itself. As a long time reader and writer, my mind is always exploring different possibilities of each story and character, and so I eventually began to wonder how Marvel would possibly undo "One More Day" if they ever decided to. This story was birthed primarily from that curiosity, not from the opinion that Peter and Mary Jane necessarily must get back together, but just from wondering how they possibly could. I like Spider-Man when he's married, I like Spider-Man when he's single, and as long as he retains the friendly personality, witty sense of humor, familiar nerdishness and altrustic motives that he's had since his debut in 1962, I think I'll still like Spider-Man.