Avengers Vol. 7 No. 10

This volume collects issue #10 of Avengers Vol. 7 (2016–2017), written by Mark Waid, a tie-in chapter of the Secret Empire event. The story unfolds at Hydropolis, an undersea research station in the South Pacific: Namor, King of Atlantis, declares war on humanity under the banner of the Defenders of the Deep, leading his deep-sea host in a assault on the human facility and vowing to drive humanity from the oceans. The Avengers, then serving as an international action team—Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, She-Hulk, Black Panther, Captain Marvel and Ghost Rider—assemble from their various duties to respond. Mid-battle, Russia's reconstituted Winter Guard suddenly descends: under the watch of the new Red Widow, Crimson Dynamo, Darkstar, Vanguard, Ursa Major, the East and the Slavic gods Perun and Chernobog arrive to hunt Namor, on the grounds that he caused Russian deaths in the Black Sea. A three-way melee ensues: Avengers, Winter Guard and Defenders of the Deep become entangled, and the heroes—possessed or mutually suspicious—fall to infighting as Perun and Chernobog vie for the final blow. In the end Namor personally executes his own out-of-control subordinate and leads his host into the deep, while Red Widow forcibly orders the Winter Guard to withdraw, leaving the Avengers to clean up and rescue civilians. In a second thread, General Ross meets S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Coulson to scout "their own team of superheroes" for the U.S. government; Ghost Rider encounters Odin, who comes to hold him to account and reveals the story of the first Avengers over a million years ago; and the threads of Rogue, Loki and Wolverine lay groundwork for what follows.