Yellowjacket reassembles and restores Dr. Spectrum’s shattered, seemingly inert Power Prism as a birthday gift for his wife the Wasp, but the gem’s consciousness takes control of Wasp and she attacks the Avengers as the new Dr. Spectrum. After subduing Quicksilver and Wonder Man, she seeks out Iron Man at Stark International and captures him, considering him a particularly dangerous threat since he knows of the gem’s vulnerability to ultraviolet radiation and can generate ultraviolet rays from his armor. After hiding her three captives in an energy prison in the ocean, Dr. Spectrum is confronted by the other Avengers and Ms. Marvel, who battle the menace until Vision subdues Spectrum using sun lamps. Despite Spectrum’s defeat, the gem has bonded with Wasp’s nervous system, making it impossible to remove it without killing her. Vision suggests consulting a previous prism host for information, and Hawkeye leads the team to their old ally Dr. Strange, whose Defenders had defeated the previous Dr. Spectrum and the rest of the Squadron Sinister. Strange is occupied by a ritual with his disciple Clea and cannot join their search, but tells the Avengers how he mystically removed the Squadron’s memories of their powers and criminal careers since they were not wanted by the authorities and could not be jailed. Strange says that simply confronting the Squadron with knowledge of their past will be enough to restore their memories, but he warns that doing so for one of them will do so for all three of them, so the heroes split into three groups to seek out the three ex-Squadron members. Black Panther, Ms. Marvel and Vision find Hyperion managing a health spa, where he flies into a violent rage after they restore his memories. Superhuman warrior woman Thundra had been applying for a job at the spa when the heroes arrived and she aids Hyperion in his battle with them, until Vision talks Hyperion into reconsidering his vendetta against humanity and ceasing hostilities. Captain America, Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch find Whizzer working as a pharmaceutical formulizer under the alias Harvey James; he attacks them upon regaining his memories, until he is downed by Cap’s shield. The Beast approaches Dr. Spectrum’s previous host body, celebrity evangelist Billy Roberts, who claims he had been the prism’s unwilling pawn and offers to help cure Wasp. Secretly wanting the prism for himself, Roberts re-bonds with it and attacks the Avengers as Dr. Spectrum until the prism abandons him to take control of Thor instead, the prism having long coveted Thor as a potential host body. The prism’s switching from host body to host body frees his three captives, and Wonder Man tends a nearly-drowned Quicksilver while Iron Man flies off and joins the team in battling Spectrum. Merging with Thor’s hammer Mjolnir and controlling him through it, the prism battles the Avengers until Thor is separated from his hammer, which transforms into the walking stick of Thor’s mortal alter ego Don Blake due to Odin’s enchantment. As a result of this transformation, the prism fades away into nothingness, and the heroes happily celebrate the Wasp’s birthday.