Appearing in "Breakdown!"
Featured Characters:
- Thanos
- Adam Warlock
- Gamora
- Pip the Troll (Pip Gofern)
- Moondragon (Heather Douglas)
- Dr. Strange (Stephen Strange)
- ⏴ Spider-Man (Peter Parker) ⏵
- Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell)
Supporting Characters:
- Atlez
- Atleza Langunn
- Eternity/Infinity merged being
- Rick Jones
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Ruby Langunn
- Brian Langunn
- Debby Langunn
- Avengers (Mentioned)
- Fantastic Four (Mentioned)
- Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) (Mentioned)
- Mistress Death (Mentioned)
- Galactus (Galan) (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
- Humans
- Eternals
- Mutants
- Zen-Whoberis
- Laxidazians
- Titanian-Kree Hybrids
- Abstract Entities
- Cosmic Beings
Realities:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
- Thanosi spaceship
- Sanctuary
Synopsis for "Breakdown!"
Warlock continues to recall the recent events that led to his current crisis:
Armour arrives at Thanos' hideout to attack Gamora. She holds him off while luring him towards the portal the real Thanos hid beyond, at which point Thanos reveals himself and quickly slays his doppelganger. He then takes Gamora with him in a replacement Sanctuary flagship to stay a step ahead of the remaining Thanosi, ensuring they don't realize he survived their earlier trap. He taps into their communication system to spy on them and pursues a trail of destroyed planets left behind by Omega, which Thanos reveals is a hybrid of himself and Galactus.
In upstate New York, Spider-Man and Captain Marvel take shelter in the farmhouse just as a white void of nothingness engulfs everything around it. They soon realize the key lies with the family that lives there, the Langunns. Specifically, Genis senses immense cosmic energy emanating from one of the two-year-old daughters, Atleza. After the rest of the family has gone to sleep, Atleza approaches the heroes and, speaking with greater levels of awareness and sophistication than her age would suggest, warns them of the approaching attack from the Thanosi X and more Nihilist crusaders.
At the extra-dimensional site of the battle between Moondragon and Doctor Strange, Mystic and Warrior arrive to find both combatants unconscious. They opt to leave them as they continue to follow the trail connecting the nothingness cubes towards what they believe will be the location of Atlez. Strange, who was just playing possum, overhears and stealthily follows.
Warlock and Pip face the composite Eternity/Infinity, whose deteriorating mind bodes ill for the state of the multiverse. Adam learns from them that in his previous visit two years earlier he was directed to a plane above even them, beyond all time and space. Leaving Pip behind, Warlock ascends above the overspace, where he previously lost his mind. Rather than explore it in the present, his mind constructs a facade from his memories so he can relive the remainder of what he had forgotten in the trauma. He witnesses countless orbs representing the multiverse, all teetering precariously over a dark abyss. He's guided by the Soul Gem towards an orb representing the anchor of all there is, leading him into a lightless space with a small pavilion floating within. There, he meets the dying Atlez, who implores him to retrieve the anchor of reality's successor, Atleza Langunn.
Notes
- Spider-Man mentions he was recently separated from his wife. This refers to developments in his series starting with Amazing Spider-Man 2001 #1. At around the same time as this issue's release, Peter is actually reuniting with Mary Jane in Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #43, though this story takes place earlier.