The Amazing Avengers Issue 17

“Amazing Dimensions, Part 1” is the 17th issue and chapter of The Amazing Avengers.

Featured Characters

 * Avengers
 * Captain America / Peter Parker
 * Redwing
 * Captain Marvel / Mary Jane Watson
 * Jocasta
 * Black Panther / Felicia Parker-Reilly
 * Black Widow / Teresa Parker
 * Winter Soldier / Jack Parker
 * Mecha-Hulk / Amadeus Cho
 * Quasar / Gayle Watson / Phyla-Vell Neramani
 * Hulkling / Theodore "Teddy" Altman / Dorrek VIII
 * Star-Lord / Kevin Quill
 * Groot
 * Mantis
 * Songbird / Sally Stark
 * Prowler / Aaron Davis

Supporting Characters

 * Avengers Academy
 * Silver Owl / Marina Morbius
 * Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan
 * American Son / Gabriel Stacy
 * Spider-Boy / Miles Morales
 * Spider-Girl / Gwen Stacy
 * Inferno / Dante Pertuz
 * Sandboy / Finn Marko
 * Wasp / Cassie Lang-Van Dyne
 * Reptil / Humberto Lopez
 * Liz Allan
 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Tony Stark
 * Maria Hill
 * Henry "Hank" Pym

Villains

 * Thanos
 * Kingpin / Wilson Fisk (single appearance; dies) (flashback and main story)
 * Scorpion / Mac Gargan (Noir Reality) (first appearance)
 * Green Goblin / Norman Osborn (Ultimate Reality Earth-2) (first appearance)
 * Flash Thompson (flashback and main story) (as Crimson Spider in flashback only) (dies)

Other Characters

 * Vanessa Marianna (flashback only; deceased)
 * Ben Parker (grave)
 * May Reilly (grave)
 * Steve Rogers (grave)
 * Stan Lee (grave)
 * Avengers (Ultimate Reality Earth-2)
 * Spider-Man / Peter Parker (first appearance)
 * Iron Man / Tony Stark (first appearance)
 * Tigra / Mary Jane Watson (first appearance)
 * She-Hulk / Jennifer Walters (first appearance)
 * Captain America / Steve Rogers (first appearance)
 * Hulk / Bruce Banner (first appearance)
 * Avengers (Noir Reality)
 * Sargeant America / Steve Rogers (first appearance; cameo)
 * Black Widow / Natasha Romanoff (first appearance; cameo)
 * Spider-Man / Peter Parker (first appearance; cameo)
 * Joe Fixit / Bruce Banner (first appearance; cameo)
 * Avengers (Earth-616)
 * Iron Man / Tony Stark (cameo)
 * Thor / Jane Foster (cameo)
 * Captain America / Sam Wilson (cameo)
 * Redwing (cameo)
 * Vision (cameo)

Premise
The Avengers set out to stop Wilson Fisk, who has built a particle accelerator to access parallel universes and reconnect with alternative versions of his deceased fiancee Vanessa Marianna, who died in a car accident. The heroes soon learn of the worse when they discover that Fisk has made a deal with Thanos, who allowed Fisk to use Space and Reality Infinity Stones for his machine in exchanges of resources for his goals... as well as revenge on the Avengers.

Plot
Following the end of his career as Crimson Spider, Flash Thompson is residing Ravencroft Institute for his crimes while being yelled at by the angered citizens of New York. Just then, he is visited in his cell by a man who has "unfinished business with him". To Thompson's horror, the man is Wilson Fisk / Kingpin, the first super criminal the Crimson Spider fought against; they first fought when Fisk was leading a gang on a riot against a rival crime lord near to Midtown High until Crimson Spider stood in their way. Consequently, Fisk's fiancee Vanessa Marianna witnessed in horror the savagery of both Crimson Spider and Fisk and ran away; immediately after that, she died in a car accident, a tragedy which Fisk forever blamed Crimson Spider for. In Present Day, Thompson attempts to reason with Fisk over the situation, but Fisk refuses to listen and, against the officers' wishes, kills Thompson, avenging Vanessa.

Meanwhile, Peter Parker is visiting the graves of Uncle Ben, Aunt May, Steve Rogers and Stan Lee while speaking of the things he accomplished well while voicing regret for having not done more than it. He is approached by Aaron Davis, who assures him that he had proved himself the man he promised to be by keeping up with his responsibilities, proving he is better than the men who despised him. Just then, the two are alerted of Kingpin's shootout against the guards in Ravencroft and (switching on their alter-egos of Captain America and Prowler) set out to stop him. They confront Fisk, who has a monstrous-looking Green Goblin and a dark-looking Scorpion to keep Captain America and Prowler occupied while Fisk escapes. After defeating the two villains, Captain America and Prowler take them to S.H.I.E.L.D. for check-up. There, Groot uses his powers to identify the villains' origins and the heroes discover that Goblin and Scorpion are from parallel earths. Through a tracker Captain America implanted on Fisk before escaping, the Avengers learn that Fisk had somehow obtained two Infinity Stones and plans to use them for a particle accelerator to access parallel universes and reconnect with alternative versions of Vanessa Marianna. Knowing, however, that the Stones may prove unstable for the machine, the Avengers set out to stop Fisk. Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy also learn of Fisk's plan and (as Spider-Boy and Spider-Girl) set out to stop him.

Winter Soldier, Quasar and Mecha-Hulk infiltrate Kingpin's hideout and spy on him. Fisk is contacting his mysterious benefactor, whom the Avengers partially recognize as one powerful enemy of their past. The benefactor is the one who granted Fisk the Stones in exchange of the resources for his goals with the universe... and his revenge on the Avengers. Black Panther and Hulkling find footage of astronaults working for Fisk Industries having found the benefactor's body, which was frozen in space. When scientists confirm his body was frozen for eight years, the Avengers deduce in horror that Fisk's benefactor may be their first foe Thanos. Quasar confirms this to be true when she finds footage of Thanos entrusting Fisk in using the stones for his goals in exchange of resources. Sneaking into Fisk's lab, Miles and Gwen also learn of this fact when they see one of the engineers placing the stones in a battery pannel.

Just as the machine is complete and nearly powered up, the Avengers attack the facility, by which they confront Thanos (who now has a eye-patch in his blinded right eye and a bionic arm replacing severed left arm). While Mecha Hulk and Groot hold Thanos off, the other heroes battle their way across the facility as Captain America confronts Fisk, who uses the Space/Reality Stone-powered battery pod to summon more monsters from other dimensions to attack the Avengers. Fearing that the heroes may not stop Fisk's plan in time, Miles and Gwen manage to storm in an attack Fisk by surprise and retrieve the pod. Just as the two remove the Stones, the pod begins to overload and the two throw it into the machine’s energy stream, causing it to malfunction. Fisk recovers and, against Captain America's wishes to get out, attempts to keep the machine stable so that he can see Vanessa again. As the Avengers evacuate the doomed facility with Miles and Gwen, Fisk fails to keep the machine stable and the resulting explosion kills most of the dimensionally-displaced monsters and mortally wounds him. In retaliation for the crimelord's failure to prevent the Avengers from getting the Stones, Thanos mercilessly executes Fisk as he returns to his lair with the remaining monsters to renew his plans. Meanwhile, the Avengers keep the Stones safe in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Vault until they figure out what to do with them. Just then, Captain America and Captain Marvel are alerted of "strangers on the city"; though Fisk's machine was destroyed, some superheroes from alternate realities had already been teleported in there as a alternate version of Peter Parker (who is Spider-Man in his dimension) mutters: "New York. And yet..."

"'To Be Continued...'"

Quotes

 * (after Miles and Gwen sabotage the machine, Kingpin is mortally wounded by the explosion. Just then, he is confronted by Thanos, who is displeased)
 * Thanos: Keep the Stones safe, I said. Keep the Avengers from getting their hands on them, I said. But what did you do? (snarls) What did you do?!
 * Kingpin: (weakly and fearfully) It... wasn't... my fault. If... those children didn't come along... I... (Thanos snarls as his bionic arm ignites red energy) I'm... so close. Just... give me more time. Please...
 * Thanos: You had a chance to accomplish your goals. I was going to honor our agreement, if you proved you could handle the Stones. But you left your guard down. You were unbalanced, bested by meaningless children with no disciple! AND YOU FAILED!! (smashes Fisk's face with his fists, killing him. The dimensionally displaced monsters stare at Thanos, but bow before him) You were all wise. Come along. There is much to do. (he uses his bionic arm's teleporter to teleport the monsters to his lair. Thanos gives one last angry look at Fisk's corpse before teleporting away)