Months later, it would appear that Thanos had returned to his destructive ways. He began to appear in various places around the world, attacking and slaying incarnations of the woman formerly known as Mantis, each becoming more powerful than the last. One of Mantis' incarnations manages to get off a psychic message to the sythezoid, Vision, who alerts his companions, the Avengers.

As Thanos attacks the fifth and final incarnation of Mantis, the Avengers intercede, attacking the Titan. He fends them off, but the delay allows Mantis to fully awaken, joined once more with the power and memories of her other selves. Once again the Celestial Madonna, Mantis attacks and battles Thanos to a standstill. The Titan stands down, and reveals his true purpose, to destroy not only Mantis, but also her son Quoi, the Celestial Messiah. Thanos then departs to begin his gambit, the first act of which requires the unwilling help of a Priest of Pama. Using the priest's power, Thanos enters the realm of Eternity and his sister, Death, where Thanos makes his claim as a member of the cosmic pantheon of true Gods. Eternity balks at this, but Thanos is resolute, claiming that the Celestial Messiah is his polar opposite. However, Thanos is unwilling to be anything other than alone and unique, which is why he has decided to slay Quoi. Before leaving, Thanos announces that he is through with Death, and loves only himself.

As Thanos sets off after Quoi, the Avengers travel to Quoi's location in hopes of protecting him from Thanos. Along the way, the former lovers, Mantis and the Vision, get re-acquainted. Soon, the Avengers are attacked by a band of Space-Pirates led by Captain Reptyl and his lieutenants, Raptra and Kid Syn. The Avengers repel the pirates, who flee right into the path of the Sanctuary, and thus, Thanos.

The Avengers arrive on Tamal, home of the sentient plant-race, the Cotati, where Quoi had been raised. However, Mantis find her son to be rebellious, and unwilling to accept his place in the cosmic scheme. As Mantis and the Avengers grapple with this development, Thanos makes his intentions known to Captain Reptyl. He offers Reptyl a place at his side, a chance to become the first of a new pantheon of gods. Raptra and Kid Syn object, but the power-hungry Reptyl accepts, and is evolved by Thanos, who uses the life-energies of Kid Syn as a catalyst. The process works, and Reptyl becomes the first of Thanos' new-Gods.

Meanwhile on Titan, Mentor sensed his Dark-son's intentions, and gathered a strike-force of Titans, led by Eros. After the force departs, Mentor also leaves, following his own agenda. Unaware of this development, Thanos moves on, sending Retyl onto a ship inhabited by a race of beings called the Plasmagen, creatures who are composed of living plasma flame. Reptyl defeats Primo, the leader of this group of beings, but Thanos offers him a chance to become another God in his new Pantheon, an offer Primo accepts. As Primo adjusts to his new state, the strike force of Titans attacks, and Thanos sends Reptyl and Primo off to engage them. As the Titans battle Thanos' new Gods, Eros himself enters the Sanctuary and battles his brother on his own. Despite his speed advantage, he is felled by Thanos, and rendered unconcious. Witnessing the sheer power of Thanos and his new pantheon, Raptra, concerned with her own survival, flees the Sanctuary, determined to find Quoi first, and succeeds.

Raptra knocks Quoi unconcious, and flees from Tamal. Now her problem is compounded as both Thanos AND the Avengers seek to find her and her unwilling passenger. Meanwhile, Mentor's destination is revealed as he approaches an area of terrible darkness, a darkness that blots out the stars and seeks to consume all it touches. This area is also the destination of Raptra, who tells the now awake Quoi of how she intends to save both their lives as she flees towards the darkness she terms "The Rot". As the pair journey, they become closer, and develop an emotional bond. Soon, Thanos also arrives in the area, and finds his father crumbling away inside the void. Mentor reveals he has done this so that he could draw Thanos to him. Thanos, however, is unmoved, and casts his father into the heart of the corruption. Declaring himself the All-Father, Thanos departs. Meanwhile, as the Vision and Mantis travel to speak with Eternity, Haywire kills a small insect he had captured on Quoi's planet, in the hopes of drawing Death out. The gambit works, and Death appears to a shocked Silverclaw and the Scarlet Witch. The pair fear she is siding with Thanos, and Silverclaw swears that Death shall not claim Quoi. With that, Death pauses, and then departs.

Soon, the Vision and Mantis meet with Eternity, who refuses to aid them. Not wanting to take no for an answer, Mantis communes with Eternity, and finds the void is as a cancer to Eternity. However, Eternity has accepted this, and rejects Mantis' offer of aid. When Mantis exits the energy that is Eternity, she finds Thanos waiting, and is blasted into unconciousness. Thanos leaves, taking the Vision and Mantis with him. Meanwhile, Reptyl and Primo track down Raptra's ship, and attack. After a feirce struggle, Quoi is rendered unconcious, and Raptra does her best to hold Reptyl off. However, her efforts are in vain, for Thanos arrives and captures both her and Quoi, as the Avengers' vessel approaches the area.

Thanos then prepares to kill his captives one by one, with Mantis being the first to die at his hand. He has her strapped down, as he did woth the Priest of Pama, and transports her to the Realm of All Gods. There, he battles her, and soon finds that she has evolved to be his near-equal, and he fails to find a chink in her mental armor. Thanos withdraws, and resolves to kill Quoi, just before the Avengers attack. Thanos sends Reptyl and Primo to counterattack, as Thanos makes ready to destroy Quoi. However, Thanos is unaware that Raptra has escaped, thanks to her Pirate skills, and frees the Vision in the process. As Thanos battles Quoi, he finds that he is the equal of his mother, and more, as he can not only defend himself, but attack as well. Thanos withdraws from the realm of Gods, and moves towards the control center of his ship, stopping for nothing and no-one. The Vision frees Quoi, who in turn, frees Mantis. As Thor and the Scarlet Witch smash their way into Thanos' ship, they realize that the Quinjet containing Silverclaw and Haywire is being enveloped in the Rot. Thor rockets to the stricken vessel, and frees his companions, returning to Thanos' ship just in time. Now surrounded by enemies on all sides, Thanos attempts to teleport away, and soon finds he cannot, as his ship is now completely surrounded by the Rot. And then, Death herself appears, and says aloud that they are all trapped there with her.

Refusing to back down, Mantis creates a sphere of energy, and expands it until it surrounds the entire ship, and holds back the corruption. However, Mantis weakens for a moment, and a tendril of the Rot bursts through, killing Primo instantly. Quoi quickly assists his mother, augmenting her shield with his own energies. Haywire, seeing his opportunity, at firsts asks, and then demands, that Death give back his dead lover, Inertia. Death answers, not in words, but with a stare so cold, that Haywire immediately grows quiet. Thanos, however, is undaunted, and demands an explaination for Death's presence, and uncommon speech. But Death, as usual, says nothing. Thanos and the Avengers then decide to join forces, so they may all find a means of escape. Quoi then reveals he drained half of Thanos' power when Thanos attempted to kill him. Soon, Thor, Reptyl, the Scarlet Witch, and the Vision exit the ship, and attack the Rot from behind Mantis' shpere of energy. The Rot, however, is unaffected, and the group withdraws. Quoi then decides to use his power, and the power he took from Thanos, to attack the Rot. He plunges into the corruption, attempting to absorb the rot itself. He finds it is too much, and then attacks it with his power and Thanos' power...and find that the Rot easily absorbs it. Quoi is then forced to retreat, and as he tells the others of his failure, Death announces that the Rot is the child of herself... and Thanos.

Thanos resists this revelation, reminding Death that the two of them had never been intimate. However, Death goes on to reveal that the moment Thanos was killed all those years ago by Adam Warlock, and fell into her dark embrace, the two of them created "horror". The Rot grew slowly at first over the years, its growth gaining speed as it absorbed more and more of the matter it enveloped. It went unnoticed for many years, even hidden to Death herself. Finally, when she at last sensed it, she realized that the Rot was not Death, nor was it Life... it was completely alien to the nature of the Cosmos itself. Thanos is angered, stating that he never creates, that he only destroys. He agrees with Death that the Rot must end, but cites his lost energies. Quoi, however, is quick to return Thanos' energies, and with that done, Thanos and Death plunge into "the sum of all and nothing"

Thanos attempts to destroy the Rot with his energies, and finds that this only makes the dissolution grow faster. Death then tries to absorb the Rot, as she does with life, and the affect is the same. Thanos then deduces that the pair of them must go against their very natures to destroy the Rot, and reverse tactics. Thanos attempts to absorb the Rot into himself, while Death unleashes her powers... and at last, the Rot begins to dissolve. Then, Thanos unleashes all he has absorbed, coupled with his own might... and the Rot is undone. Is destruction leaves behind all life and energy it had consumed, and the cosmos surrounding them burns with renewed vigor. Mentor, approaches his son, who at last figures out Mentor's true reason for plunging into the Rot. He brought Thanos to it, so that he might end it.

As Mentor departs, Death approaches Thanos, and says she accepts him. Strangely, Thanos rejects this offer, stating that if Death would have him, she is unworthy, and he quickly teleports away. Haywire again demands that Death return Inertia to him, and Deathr efuses. Unable to accept this, Haywire plunges into Death herself, and vanishes. The Avengers start towards her, but Death's gaze quickly returns them to their senses, and she too departs. Quoi expresses a desire to help heal the raw cosmos around him, and Raptra offers to stay with him. Mantis gives them both her blessing, and the Avengers board Thanos' ship to begin their journey back to Earth.

In a realm far removed from our own, and yet an intrinsic part of it, a mysterious being muses over a troubling quandary. He waits for a male and a female that have not arrived, a worry since his time draws to a close, and with his end would come Madness and Oblivion for all that there is.

Meanwhile, Pip the Troll pays a visit to to the Corporation for Mental Stability on the planet Degaitor. There, under the guise of a physician, he seeks Adam Warlock who had lost his sanity and was admitted there 2 years prior, and soon after retreated into his restorative cocoon. Adam's caretaker, Dr. Nilrats, led Pip to where he had stored the cocoon, and Pip then quickly teleported away, taking the dormant Adam with him. Light-years distant, Pip arrived on a large space craft, where he delivered Adam's cocoon to none other than Thanos, who seems to be none the worse for wear. Thanos ascertains that Warlock is suffering from severe Psychic trauma, which he is not equipped to heal. However, he knows someone who can. In yet another space-sector, Gamora pays a visit to the space-port planet of Baligiest, seeking some R&R. But instead of a good time, she finds out that the Nihilist Sect is meeting in the arena later that day. There she finds that the speaker seems to be none other than Thanos, a development she finds odd since Thanos supposedly disbanded the cult years before. Also odd is the fact that Thanos is decked out in electronic armor from head to toe, not unlike the armor worn by Iron Man. Before Gamora can decide if the speaker is the real deal or not, he detects her presence and orders the crowd to kill her. Gamora manages to evade the cult members and the energy blasts of the armored Thanos long enough to escape during the resulting confusion. She darts aboard her vessel and rockets out of the solar-system, determined to find out what's going on.

On Earth, a small gang of burglars finds their illegal activities busted up by Spider-Man, who makes short work of them. Suddenly, his Spider-Sense goes off at full-strength, a warning of a danger that beckons him somewhere north of New York City. At the same time, the Avengers have been called out west by Moondragon to take out a small enclave of AIM agents. During the battle, Moondragon is snatched up by a teleportational gateway, and finds herself face to face with Pip and Thanos. The Titan goes on to explain that her skills are needed so that Adam Warlock can be awakened from his dormant state. She warns against such a move, but Thanos assures her that the need is most dire. Thanos walks into another chamber, leaving Pip and Moondragon alone to talk, and as the door shuts behind him, the charade is abandoned. "Thanos" assumes his true form, and is revealed to be a doppleganger, small in stature and large of brain. The doppleganger, named X, greets his "brothers", the Hulking Warrior, the mage known as Mystic, and the metal-clad Armor - the Thanos double Gamora had encountered on Baligiest. X asks if Mystic can make any predictions about Warlock's next incarnation, and Mystic admits that he cannot. Armor suggests that they worry about Gamora, but Mystic states that she poses no threat. X goes on to state that they shouldn't split their forces, since their plans are proceeding as scheduled. Doomsday is nigh!

And in that distant realm, the mysterious Alien remains troubled about the gathering darkness, and worries that his failure could doom the entire Cosmos.

Doctor Strange travels to the mystic realms and finds that the blocks of nothingness exist there as well. The threat proves dire indeed when the rest of the Defenders, Namor, Hulk, and the Silver Surfer are summoned to Strange's side by the curse which links them. However, Strange's teammates are suddenly absorbed into yet another block of nothingness, leaving Strange alone and very concerned. Back on the ship belonging to X, Moondragon succeeds in awakening an extremely angry and confused Adam Warlock. X, back in the guise of Thanos himself, suggests that Adam has forgotten vital information, a revelation that calms Warlock long enough for him to realize that there is indeed a gap in his memory. He recalls a single item amidst this mental wreckage... the name ATLEZ.

On Earth, Spider-Man follows his spider-sense to upstate New York, while back in deep-space, a Skrull research vessel investigates the aftermath of the event that destroyed Thanos' starship. In the process, they find themselves overcome by an uninvited guest.

Elsewhere in space, Rick Jones and Captain Marvel watch a series of trails erupt from the null-cube, little knowing that this development is a result of the studies of Doctor Strange, who follows one of the trails deeper into the mystic realms, as Marvel opts to follow the one that leads back to Earth. This development doesn't go unnoticed by the faux-Thanosi, and Armor deploys a squad of Nihilists to investigate the emanations leading to Earth. Elsewhere on that same vessel, Pip suggests a trip back to Monster Island on Earth, and "Thanos" posits that it could help stir Adam's memories. Pip teleports away with Adam in tow, and in an attempt to get a full grasp of the situation, Moondragon falls under the psychic thrall of X.

Arriving at her destination, the nondescript hideaway that Thanos often called home, Gamora is troubled by the sight of a huge meteor crater, and a parked Skrull research vessel. She becomes even more troubled as she investigates the scene, and then finds that Thanos is there as well, battered but otherwise fine. Gamora starts asking questions, and Thanos provides answers, answers which Gamora finds disturbing in the extreme.

Soon, Spider-Man follows his senses unerringly to the location of the perceived danger, and finds, to his surprise, a very normal looking farmhouse. He initially spots no threat, but all that changes when Armor's Nihilists arrive. Spider-Man quickly engages them, and once more his spider-sense warns him of impending danger. Suddenly, Captain Marvel arrives and carries Spider-Man away from the battle, and the reason why becomes clear when the Nihilists are swallowed by yet another null-cube. Meanwhile, Armor detects an intruder alert originating from Thanos' hideaway, and Mystic orders Armor to eliminate her. Mystic also announces that Doctor Strange may have become involved in this affair, and X sends his new slave, Moondragon, to put a stop to Strange's meddling.

Back at the hideaway, Thanos explains the recent goings-on to Gamora. He reveals that the doppelgangers are indeed his own creations, designed to test the abilities of potential allies. Admitting that the project was a disastrous failure due to the destructive mindsets of his creations, Thanos had scheduled the duplicates for recycling. Then, the unforeseen occurred when a mystery player became involved and blasted a hole in Thanos' hideaway, a move which activated 5 of the replicants, X, Mystic, Armor, Warrior and Omega, who has remained unseen thus far. The news worsens when Thanos reveals that these 5 were fixed in Thanos' previous nihilistic phase, and seek nothing more than the end of all that is. In the last bit of troubling news, it seems that the mystery player also entered a directive into the minds of the Thanosi, a single line of data:

"Adam Warlock is the key to Oblivion."

As Moondragon confronts and attacks Doctor Strange in the mystic realms, Pip and Warlock prowl around the ruins of their former abode, at a seeming dead end. Warlock muses about his former life and possible future, and Pip offers a bit of sage advice. Finally, a idea strikes Warlock, and he has Pip quickly take them on a journey to visit Eternity. At the same time, a planet within the Kree Empire is devoured by a being that appears to be Galactus. Back at Thanos' hideaway, Gamora gets further explanations about Thanos' doppelgangers and their abilities, and then Thanos discovers that Armor is arriving on-planet, likely on Gamora's trail. Thanos orders her to keep him occupied, and lure him into an ambush. Gamora expresses concerns over possible betrayal, but Thanos assures her that she is now a crucial factor in his plans. In the Realms of the Mystic, Doctor Strange awakens to find himself Moondragon's prisoner, and discovers that she is under someone's thrall. Freeing himself from her binding illusion, Strange and Moondragon do battle, and the mage eventually prevails, but then collapses from the effort. As Strange unwillingly rests, Warlock and Pip make a crucial and disturbing discovery... Eternity and Infinity merged together, two halves of the same whole. But instead of a willing merger as has happened in the past, this one seems to be a symptom of cosmic schizophrenia, and it brings naught but ill-tidings.

Gamora soon discovers, without surprise, that her best shots do little to slow Armor down, and she quickly evades his deadly blasts, and lures him deeper into the complex. Meanwhile, Adam Warlock converses to the merged embodiment of all time and space, and posits that reality is disintegrating. He discovers that he had indeed visited them 2 years previously, and had managed to convince them to open a gateway beyond time and space, through which he had traveled. Back on Earth, Spider-Man and Captain Marvel bustle the Langunn's, owners of the farmhouse, back into their home, and follow them inside to seek safety from the feeling of disaster that their senses detect. Sure enough, something does happen, as everything outside of the farmhouse fades completely away, surrounding them with complete nothingness. As they wonder about their predicament, Gamora continues to stay out of Armor's way as best as she possibly can.

Adam Warlock decides that he must again leave via the portal, and warns Pip against joining him, since Adam's last trip through it led to an experience that left him insane. As Pip ponders the possibility of getting himself a good, stiff drink. Captain Marvel and Spider-Man find that they cannot exit the null-area. However, Marvel's senses do give him insight into how they escaped destruction, and they lead him to one of the Langunn's twin daughters, Atleza. Armor plows through a wall and thus catches up with Gamora, cutting her escape short with an energy-blast that comes all to close.

Gamora thinks that she's had it until the real Thanos appears and kills Armor with a single blast. Mystic senses the passing of his brother, as does X, and the remaining Thanosi decide to alter their plans. X takes a squad of elite Nihilists to Earth, while Mystic and Warrior track down the fate of Moondragon. Little do they know that the real Thanos is alive, and now has access to their systems and thus their plans.

Captain Marvel and Spider-Man decide to have some coffee and take a small break. Their rest proves short-lived when Atleza warns them of an impending attack, a warning that proves true when X and his Nihilists appear and head for the house. Mystic and Warrior come upon the fallen Moondragon and Doctor Strange, and from there follow the trail that Strange had discovered. As they leave, they fail to notice that Doctor Strange has awakened. Back in the Kree sphere on influence, Thanos and Gamora discover a trio of planets that have been completely gutted. Thanos then reveals that the Omega, the 5th of the activated replicants, was designed to challenge Galactus.

As Warlock travels through the portal, he drifts through his missing memories, and witnesses a nearly incomprehensible sight, a vortex filled with myriad realities stretching upwards beyond infinity, and then looking below, he spies a cosmic abyss, a place where actualities perish. He realizes that his own reality nears the edge of oblivion, and heads for a small, black orb that hovers near it. There, he realizes, is where Atlez resides, anchoring their reality. Atlez announces that his end draws nigh, and in order to prevent the end of their actuality his successor, Atleza Langunn, must be summoned. Warlock realizes that he had already failed in this task two years before. Captain Marvel and Spider-Man take the battle to the Nihilists, while Gamora and Thanos look on via a monitor aboard Thanos' vessel. The two heroes wipe the nihilists out rather quickly, but X uses his psychic powers to take control of their bodies, and orders Captain Marvel to kill Spider-Man. However, Gamora appears behind him via a teleportational gateway, and stabs him with a poison-tipped knife. As X falls, the nihilists attack again, but X proves too strong, and recovers too quickly for the 3 heroes to cope. Soon, all 3 are held fast by his mental-might.

As the real Thanos makes contact with Pip, Warlock recalls more and more of his previous visit with Atlez, who informs Warlock that his Soul Gem would be able to receive and store the information Atleza would need to take her place as the new anchor of reality. It was this rapid transfer of information that caused Warlock's insanity, causing him to lose two years of his life. Meanwhile, Pip teleports in and whisks away Moondragon, leaving a somewhat confused Doctor Strange to resume his original course. Warlock's review of events ends, and he finds himself with Atlez in the present. His host would go on to explain that Warlock's insanity had required him to activate the Thanosi as an indirect means of helping Warlock, so that he may complete his mission. Unfortunately, his plan had spun out of control, since he had intended to activate Armor alone, and now the 5 Thanosi had joined together to realize their goal of cosmic oblivion. The situation worsens when Mystic and Warrior arrive, and prepare to kill Atlez.

On Earth, X is tricked by the arriving Moondragon into believing that his goal of destruction had been realized, an illusion that proves to be fatal to X in reality as well. As the heroes in the nil-sphere regroup, Warlock fights for Atlez's life as well as his own, but the combined forces of Warrior and Mystic prove to be too much. Fortunately, Doctor Strange arrives to battle Mystic, and Warlock attacks Warrior directly, and finds that his foe is far too strong to be beaten in a physical conflict, and Warlock is pummeled ferociously as a result. Doctor Strange defeats Mystic, but isn't quick enough to avoid a knockout blow delivered by Warrior, who then turns an prepares to slay Atlez. Warlock, however, stands and prepares to use his Soul Gem upon Warrior, threatening to steal the doppleganger's soul. Warrior believes Warlock to be bluffing, thinking that Warlock wouldn't risk taking his evil spirit into his own. However, the stakes are far too high, and Warlock does indeed drain Warrior's soul, taking it into the gem.

Atlez expresses worry over the cost of Warlock's victory, and his weary savior replies, saying that Warriors dreams of oblivion are now his own. He sinks into nihilistic ramblings, but Doctor Strange recovers and helps Warlock regain his senses. That done, Warlock departs to complete the mission he began two years before, and Doctor Strange remains behind to keep Atlez alive. Warlock quickly joins Pip, who then takes him to the Langunn's farmhouse, a move that surprises everyone there save for Moondragon and Atleza.

With Warrior's spirit still causing intense conflict within, Adam slaps Atleza's father aside and then transfers the knowledge that Atlez had provided to his successor. She immediately assimilates the knowledge, and her powers come into full-bloom as she uses her abilities to return the nil-areas to normal. Unfortunately, the elation proves to be short-lived as Thanos arrives, and explains that his wayward creation, the Omega, is on its way and is fully-charged. Before he can completely explain, the Omega arrives and strikes!

Fortunately, the house and all inside are protected within one of Thanos' temporary force-fields. Thanos' then quickly teleports the house, the Omega, and a fair portion of the ground outside to another planet. Thanos, via a telepathic link from Moondragon, informs everyone of his plan, a scheme that doesn't sit well with Moondragon, Spider-Man or Captain Marvel. Soon, Moondragon takes Doctor Strange's place by Atlez's side, and the Sorcerer Supreme joins the battle. As Moondragon lends a portion of her own life-force to Atlez, the restless spirit of Warrior again makes its poisonous presence felt within Adam Warlock, who watches his companions battle the Omega and wonders why they bother. Thanos, however, helps him fight Warrior's influence, and soon Warlock joins the fray, unleashing the awesome energies of the Soul Gem upon the Omega, a blast that proves powerful enough to knock the Omega away from his craft. Captain Marvel and Doctor Strange further distract the reeling Omega, allowing Pip to teleport aboard Omega's ship, and destroy it with a bomb. It is at that point that Thanos himself makes his presence known to the Omega, distracting his creation with an earth-shattering blast that proves to be naught but a mere annoyance to the towering doppleganger. The rest of the heroes attack the Omega, full-force, as Spider-Man waits for a signal to attack. The Omega attacks Thanos directly with a blast of tremendous power, and the Titan barely survives. Thanos then gives the signal to Spider-Man, who slingshots through the air towards the Omega, who ignores him completely. However, Spider-Man completely empties his web-shooters into the Omega's face, blinding him long enough for everyone to teleport away, leaving the Omega alone. Once back on Earth, Thanos reveals that a fleet of remote-controlled battleships have now surrounded and opened fire upon the planet where they just battled. Made of a highly unstable and fissionable form of matter, the planet explodes in a conflagration so gigantic that the Omega is destroyed.

Pip quickly transports Atleza, with Warlock and Gamora in to take her place as the Anchor of Reality, and find that Atlez has just passed on. Thanos dismisses his companions, who offer up an angry tongue-lashing directed at the Titan and his manipulative ways. The Langunn's return home, thanks to Pip, to find their house gone. Captain Marvel grows enraged, accusing the Titan of ruining the Langunn's lives. Before Cap can attack, however, Thanos teleports away, and in his wake a bright flash of light reveals that the Langunn's house has been completely restored.

Afterwards, life returns to its normal rhythm, and those involved move on to their own pursuits. As her parents, and twin sister, mourn the absence of Atleza, the new Anchor of Reality continues to grow into her responsibility, with Adam Warlock and Gamora at her side. There, Warlock resolves to make up for past mistakes, and with Gamora as his guide he finds happiness he never thought possible. As for Thanos, he busies himself with the restoration of his resources in preparation to renew his search for that elusive secret prize, a prize that Warlock believes Thanos will certainly find. An elusive grail that the Titan will find unfulfilling, as he has in times past.

"On that day, let the Universe tremble. For then someone will surely have to pay for that bitter disappointment."