Avengers! Take action, Avengers-- and swiftly-- for despite your lack of love for me, you must join me, must fight at my side-- to save the life of your companion Rick Jones-- and possibly an entire universe!
Appearing in "Now is the Time For All Good Men..."
Featured Characters:
- Avengers
- Yellowjacket (Hank Pym) (Main story and flashback)
- Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell) (Main story and flashback)
- Giant-Man (Hank Pym) (Main story and flashback)
- Wasp (Janet Van Dyne)
- Hawkeye (Clint Barton) (Main story and flashback) (Mentioned as Goliath)
- Songbird (Melissa Gold) (Main story and flashback)
- Captain America (Steve Rogers) (Main story and flashback)
- Rick Jones (Main story and flashback)
Supporting Characters:
- Supreme Intelligence
- Kang the Conqueror (Nathaniel Richards)
- Libra (Gustav Brandt) (Main story and flashback) (Identity revealed)
Villains:
- Immortus' "Army of the Ages" (countless warriors from every era of mankind)
- Eilif The Lost (Cameo)
- Lord Immortus (Nathaniel Richards)
Other Characters:
- S.H.I.E.L.D. (Cameo)
- Kree (Mentioned)
- Skrulls (Mentioned)
- Zodiac Cartel (Only in flashback)
- Taurus (Cornelius van Lunt) (Only in flashback)
- Aries (Marcus Lassiter) (Only in flashback)
- Pisces (Noah Perricone) (Only in flashback)
- Pisces (Joshua Link) (Only in flashback)
- Capricorn (Willard Weir) (Only in flashback)
- Aquarius (Darren Bentley) (Only in flashback)
- Virgo (Elaine McLaughlin) (Only in flashback)
- Sagittarius (Harlan Vargas) (Only in flashback)
- Cancer (Jack Kleveno) (Only in flashback) (Death)
- Leo (Daniel Radford) (Only in flashback)
- Aries (Oscar Gordon) (Only in flashback) (Death)
- Mantis (Only in flashback)
- Scorpio's Zodiac (Only in flashback)
- Priests of Pama (Mentioned)
- Avengers (Only in flashback) (First appearance)
- Thor Odinson (Only in flashback) (First appearance)
- Justice (Vance Astro) (Only in flashback) (First appearance)
- Oort the Living Comet (Mentioned)
- Solar Squadron (Only in flashback) (First appearance)
- Unnamed members (Only in flashback)
- Hercules (Mentioned)
- Eon (Only in flashback) (First appearance) (Corpse)
- Ego the Living Planet (Mentioned)
- Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) (Mentioned)
- Genis-Vell (Mentioned)
- Iron Man (Tony Stark) (Only in flashback)
- Secret Empire (Mentioned)
- Number One (Only in flashback) (Corpse)
Locations:
- Timestream
- Present Day (Main story and flashback)
- Moon (Main story and flashback)
- Blue Area of the Moon (Main story and flashback)
- Blue City (Main story and flashback)
- Blue Area of the Moon (Main story and flashback)
- Manhattan, NYC, NY, USA, Earth (Mentioned)
- Washington, D.C., USA, Earth (Mentioned)
- White House (Mentioned)
- Moon (Main story and flashback)
- Songbird and Captain Marvel's Future (Only in flashback) (First appearance)
- Limbo
- Present Day (Main story and flashback)
Items:
- Mandroid Armor MK I
- Captain America's Shield (Main story and flashback)
- Captain America's Uniform (Main story and flashback)
- Hawkeye's Bow & Trick Arrows (Main story and flashback)
- Nega-Bands (Main story and flashback)
Vehicles:
- Immortus's drone fighters
Synopsis for "Now is the Time For All Good Men..."
Flash-assembled from throughout time and space by a mysteriously-empowered Rick Jones, the Avengers are thrown into the middle of a battle on the Blue Area of the Moon between Kang The Conqueror and Immortus's "Army of the Ages". Kang directs them to align with his effort to save Jones. Confused by this circumstance, the Avengers await Captain America to make their play, only finding him more out of sorts than usual. Snapping to, the Wasp takes command, ordering the unlikely team to lend the Conqueror support.
As the fighting in the Supreme Intelligence research facility progresses, the Wasp and Giant-Man make some startling realizations about their new teammates, particularly Captain America's apparent superhuman strength and the improbable appearance of a "Yellowjacket" that could very well be Giant-Man himself during a period of mental instability. Even as his forces press their assault, Immortus attempts to collapse Kang's force bubble, hoping to trap the resistance in chronal stasis. Rick accesses cognitive mastery over his strange new gifts and is able to counter Immortus's pincer maneuver. Realizing stalemate afoot, the time lord withdraws his army.
Capitalizing on their brief respite, Kang strategizes with the Avengers, urging them to remove Rick from Immortus's potential grasp quickly. Facilitating this course of action, the Intelligence and his elusive ally, revealed as the Zodiac's Libra, offer their assistance. As Libra leads the heroes on an inconceivable egress bending all sorts of scientific laws, they are allowed a quiet moment to recount everyone's individual story.
Libra relays how he is still alive since his seeming demise amid Zodiac's criminal exploits[1], inadvertently raising flags when he outright denounces claims that he has since encountered the Avengers under the moniker "Moonraker".
Yellowjacket confirms suspicions that he is indeed Doctor Henry Pym from years in the past, pulled from across time on the day of his wedding to the Wasp[2]. Both the present-day Wasp and Dr. Pym are disquieted, realizing that this is nothing less than an erratic amnesiac persona made manifest and given a second lease on life.
Songbird, seen as a former super-villain turned would-be hero, recounts an experience from what would be the team's future, telling of a "recent" struggle against Oort The Living Comet and his Solar Squadron.
Hawkeye also verifies assumptions that is also from years in the past and not just sporting a new look since joining with Songbird's present-day teammates in the Thunderbolts. Bereft of his ubiquitous array of trick arrows, Hawkeye begins to tell about his exploits following the Kree-Skrull War before feeling he's needlessly bringing up old news.
Captain Marvel gives a terse account of disposing of the carcass of the cosmic entity Eon after its being used in a ploy against Earth by Ego the Living Planet. Rick recognizes the futuristic Captain as the modern-day ne'er-do-well son of his former partner, Mar-Vell.
Captain America becomes quiet and reserved when it reaches his turn. Coupled with the superhuman feat she witnessed earlier, the Wasp correctly surmises that Cap is also from their past, a brief yet specific era wherein after witnessing the Secret Empire infiltrate high-ranking U.S. political offices, he would become morally dejected and temporarily abandon his role.[3]
Assessing their situation, the Avengers overwhelmingly agree to not play defensive and run. Libra counsels that their most effective vantage point would be to seek refuge in Kang's pan-temporal city-stronghold of Chronopolis. Wending through various points in history, Libra and the Avengers eventually come across Kang's fortress. However, it seems they've arrived to late, as an armada of Immortus's attack ships is currently laying siege!
Notes
- Never fully disclosed yet highly likely that the Moonraker character associated with both Force Works and the Avengers circa events of the Crossing was a Space Phantom agent of Immortus.
- One-time Thor comrade-in-arms, Eilif The Lost, appears as part of Immortus's "Army of the Ages". Due to the nature of time-travel, it is entirely possible that he appears in this story prior to his appearances in Thor #342 and Thor #343 wherein he is dispensed to the eternal glory of Valhalla.
Trivia
Rick makes a reference to "The Wizard of Oz", quoting the line "People sure come and go awfully fast around here...!" regarding the sudden exiting of Immortus's army and then Kang.
See Also
Footnotes
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