The Avengers depart the other-dimensional world of Polemachus via Thor’s mystic hammer, but only Black Knight, Black Panther and Thor return to their own Earth, where the Panther and Thor join Captain America and Spider-Man at a charity event. The other four Avengers are accidentally hurled to an alternate Earth, initially as immaterial wraiths witnessing an apocalyptic near-future event in which that world is being burned up by its sun two weeks from now, before materializing physically in this world’s present after the Scarlet Witch’s hex power redirects them. Initially unaware they are on an alternate Earth, they enter what seems to be Avengers Mansion, actually Richmond Manor, home of this world’s heroic Squadron Supreme. Since some of the Squadron are duplicates of the criminal Squadron Sinister from the Avengers’ Earth, the two teams mistakenly battle at first until the Avengers realize they are on a different Earth and that their opponents are not criminals. The Avengers also deduce that the experimental Brain-Child One solar rocket that the Squadron is helping launch may cause the disaster they saw in this world’s future. After defeating Richmond Manor’s Squadron contingent and convincing Squadron member Nighthawk of the danger, the Avengers fly off with Nighthawk to stop the rocket launch.
This story’s title is a play on the title of Christopher Fry’s 1948 play, The Lady’s Not for Burning. While Hyperion, Nighthawk, Dr. Spectrum and Whizzer are near-perfect visual duplicates of their Squadron Sinister counterparts, only Nighthawk shares his alternate-reality doppelganger’s alter ego, Kyle Richmond (the others have different dual identities). Like the Squadron Sinister, the Squadron Supreme are inspired by characters from DC Comics’ Justice League of America, specifically Hawkman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Superman, Black Canary, Batman, Atom and Flash. While Tom Thumb differs the most from his JLA inspiration (a scientist who could shrink), he arguably combines elements of the two main versions of DC’s Atom: the height issues of the 1940s JSA original (a diminutive strongman who was touchy about his shortness), and the genius intellect of the JLA version. The Squadron’s alternate reality, sometimes called Earth-S or Other-Earth, is designated Earth-712 in MEnc #6, ’04. This story is the 1st of multiple Avengers-Squadron battles over the decades.
