Estranged ex-Avenger Quicksilver races into Avengers Mansion seeking aid, but finds only Jarvis. As Jarvis explains, the Avengers are at Pier 12 saying goodbye to Hank and Janet Pym (alias Yellowjacket and the Wasp), who have resigned from active Avengers duty so Pym can study Alaskan wildlife for the US government, assisted by Bill Foster. As the Pyms and Foster depart, Quicksilver hurtles into the Avengers’ midst, and a wary Goliath tries to restrain him, sparking a fight. Quicksilver evades or stuns most of his would-be attackers until the Vision subdues him. Quicksilver tells of how he needs the team’s help to save his sister and the world from Arkon, who has just abducted several leading nuclear physicists.
Arkon prospers as Imperion (leader) of the warlike otherdimensional world Polemachus until the energy ring encircling his planet, source of their world’s light and warmth, starts to disintegrate. When it finally burns out, a famine and disease-ravaged Polemachus seems doomed until new light suddenly warms the planet, sparked by the detonation of atomic bombs on Earth. These random atomic detonations are too small and infrequent to lastingly revive the energy ring, but the Old One determines that a massive, world-destroying atomic blast at the right location on Earth could restore the energy ring permanently. While Polemachus has the means to send inanimate objects to Earth, it cannot make an atomic bomb, so Arkon spends over two decades observing Earth and finding a way to reach that world (p1). Quicksilver and Toad aid Scarlet Witch in seeking a way to restore her lost hex power. Their search leads them to a cloister and a hidden book from which Scarlet Witch recites a spell that brings Arkon to Earth. Arkon reveals he sent the book to Earth so that a mutant would someday read from it, bringing him to Earth, where he has come with a twofold purpose: to spark an atomic disaster and to seize the Scarlet Witch as his mate. The mutant trio resists, but Arkon transports Toad, Scarlet Witch and himself to Polemachus, leaving Quicksilver behind (p2). Arkon also abducts several of Earth’s top nuclear physicists (d).
Quicksilver adopts a new blue version of his traditional costume as of this story. Pages 12 & 13 of story are half-pages, resulting in a 19-page story numbered as a 20-page tale; format continues through Av #90, ’71.
