Continued from "Come the Conqueror"
The situation is even more grim than previously thought. While the Avengers have been successful in New York City, Kang has already conquered 3/4 of the planet and the rest will follow soon enough as the Damocles begins to charge up some kind of powerful energy weapon. Oh no, wait, it already fired and it was targeted right at the Avengers Mansion. Since a blast that size would take out the entire city, Thor flies out to meet the blast.
Amazingly, he is able to repel the blast back at the Damocles, damaging it. Ant Man diverts a couple of the Ultron units to catch him but the Avengers cannot go back. Thor has brought them an opportunity to stop Kang and they have to take it before he fires again. The quinjet is caught in a battle against Kang's Scarab fighters and the Ultrons the Avengers brought for backup are destroyed in short order. The situation is getting bad real fast, so Iron Man and Wasp fly out to clear a path. Iron Man has designed a suit of custom space armor that enhances Wasp's bio-stingers so they're able to destroy the Scarabs when they couldn't before. The other Avengers make it into the Damocles but the breach is sealed before Iron Man and Wasp can follow.
Inside, they prepare to confront Kang but are stopped by a trio of super speedsters who seem to be able to predict and avoid all of their attacks. To the viewer, however, they're not fast at all but have specialized equipment that allows them to stop time and move out of the way at their own convenience. With this kind of technology at their disposal, beating down on the Avengers and the two remaining Ultron robots is no problem. Hawkeye realizes what's going on and comes up with a creative solution: he uses a flash arrow to blind the three, at which point they are easily taken out. Wasp and Iron Man also find their way into the ship with some creative hull breaching techniques. At almost the same instant, the forces invading Wakanda are repulsed and Kang gets visibly annoyed. He goes out to take care of the problem personally.
The Avengers are now split up over the ship. Iron Man moves to link up with Cap and the others, who are tracking down the Damocles' Time Drive, hoping to end the war in a single stroke. Wasp moves ahead to scout and ends up in a room with the unconscious woman seen throughout the series. It turns out that she is Princess Ravonna, Kang's lady love, and she is slowly being erased from history just like the rest of the future. The rest of the group manages to get to the Time Drive but it is shielded and protected by automated security systems. Then Kang shows up to smack them all down and gloat. Just as he is about to execute Captain America and end it all, Iron Man shows up and blasts everything to pieces, having found a way to bypass Kang's protective shielding.
Not only that, but he's able to use the massive processing power of Ultron's human brain-based AI to hack the Damocles' systems and gain control of the entire ship. Kang finally decides to fight man-to-man but it's too late and after a short battle he is defeated. Ultron returns the entire army to the future and is prepared to send the Damocles back as well but Wasp stops it, explaining that Ravonna will die if they go back. She offers to help save Ravonna if Kang will back down but he refuses and is taken prisoner.
S.H.I.E.L.D. swoops in and carts off all of Kang's tech for further study. They also take over the Damocles for use as an orbital base (under the direction of Carol Ferris, now a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent). Hank takes Ravonna to Reed Richards, who begins working on a cure for her condition. Kang is taken to 42 but delivers an ominous warning: Captain America's betrayal will signal the beginning of the end.
Tropes:
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Heading out of the quinjet, Wasp immediately gets distracted by being in space. Iron Man has to tell her to focus on the ongoing space battle.
- Batman Gambit: With the Damocles so hard to break into, Wasp goads a few of Scarab fighters into pursuing her. The resulting weapons fire and crashes cause a sizable hull breach, allowing Iron Man and Wasp to easily fly inside. Iron Man is admittedly impressed.
- Bring It: "You wish to fight me? Then so be it!"
- The Cameo: Reed Richards and even Herbie appear, as Hank is working on Ravonna's condition.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: The Ultrons get shot down left and right until only Ultron-5 remains, who manages to keep up with the heroes and survives the final battle.
- Deus Exit Machina: Thor is knocked out deflecting Kang's laser cannon, leaving the Avengers to save the day without their most powerful member. Bonus points for involving an actual god.
- Foreshadowing: When only one Ultron, Ultron-5, is left standing, he appears to move and stand with a more human posture rather than the stiff robotic movements seen in all the others, hinting at his emerging sentience.
- The End... Or Is It?: Kang is defeated and imprisoned in the Negative Zone prison, but he warns Cap and Iron Man that "the worst is yet to come", still believing that Cap will inadvertently destroy the future. Meanwhile, one of the Ultrons Ant-Man used in the counterattack has ominously powered up.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Thor does this to allow the rest of the team to press on. Luckily, he is only knocked out.
- Honor Before Reason: Kang's mooks side with Wasp and disregard Kang's orders in the hope of saving Princess Ravonna.
- Irony: Well, Kang thinks so at any rate.Kang: Though I do enjoy the irony that you, a man out of time, thinks he can beat the Master of Time.
- It Only Works Once: Thor deflects a deadly laser attack from the Damocles and is taken out of the battle. On the plus side, the ship can't use it again after the weapon is damaged.
- "Not So Different" Remark:Kang: I will do whatever it takes to ensure the survival of my timeline — the survival of humanity.
Captain America: We want the same thing, Kang. We can work together to make sure that happens. - Oh, Crap!: Hank upon realizing that Kang's blast will take out everyone in New York City.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!:Iron Man: It's over, Kang!
Kang: Please, you are no— (gets blasted) How did you—?!
Iron Man: My technology may not be as advanced as yours, but I'm a quick study. - Take the Third Option: Kang tries to take over the world, while the Avengers try to send them packing (literally) by attempting to use the time system against them. When Wasp discovers Princess Ravonna's predicament, she suggests finding a way to cure her without Earth or the Kang forces' fall, as that was one of the reason's Kang tried to "fix" the past in the first place.
- Underestimating Badassery: One of Kang's mooks mocks Hawkeye as a primate fighting with a stick. Hawkeye then demonstrates why he shouldn't be so close to one of his trick arrows.
- Villain Respect: After trapping Cap, Kang admits the Avengers fought well by making it all the way to the time drive.
- You Fool!: Kang over Iron Man using Ultron to hack into the ship's systems. Iron Man then explains to him why he's wrong to say so.
