Aliens pit heroes against each other, each lured by the promise that they will get something they really want. Then, their enthusiasm for the fight is secured through good old-fashioned mind control.
It turns out to be a Brood plot to take over Rogue’s body and user her ability to absorb the heroes’ powers, and become super powerful.
Yes, dumb story. But you really don’t get a book like this for the plot. you get it for the fights. I won’t play-by-play all of them, but here’s a choice few:
Scarlet Witch versus Cable is a pretty even fight.
Black Widow vs. Thor is much shorter…
Another one:
And this:
The tech used to mind-control the heroes is nanites. Iron Man hacks them to end the fighting and then Hawkeye(!) is the hero powerful enough to save the day.
I know these kinds of “gang bang” books aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, and this one is densely plotted because it’s written by Chris Claremont, which kind of defeats the prupose of a mindless “big fight” story.
Claremont’s late ’90s Marvel work is far from his best.