"Earth's Mightiest Heroes have returned from the stars - but on the world they left behind, new threats have emerged, and the Avengers will be tested like never before. In one cataclysmic day, the face of the Marvel Universe will change forever...and the fight for Earth's future will begin. Smasher, Sunspot, and Cannonball find themselves trapped and prisoners of A.I.M.'s Scientist Supreme! Shang-Chi takes on the Gorgon in a fight to the death for control of the Hand! The City of the Dead will rise! And Starbrand must confront the ghosts of his past! Prepare for a globe-spanning epic of empires and armies, and the brave few who stand between them and us. The A.I.M. Empire has begun!"--P. [4] of cover.