The Defenders #26

When young Vance Astro meets his 31st self, the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy has some explaining to do!

Continued from Giant-Size Defenders #5.

Valkyrie and Jack Norris continue to discuss their relationship. Norriss still believes her to be his wife, and Val continues to stiff-arm him, saying she is a completely different person.

Jack, like Hawkeye in issue 9, randomly decides to kiss her without her consent, believing that's the best way to make her like him. She warns him off (and unlike the situation with Hawkeye, doesn't decide she likes it after all, but in fact continues to not be a fan of being kissed without being asked).

There is an earthquake, and Jack falls off a cliff. Val swoops down on her pegasus Aragorn and saves him.

Back at Defenders HQ, Nighthawk has been monitoring the world's weather, which has been going haywire. Dr. Strange explains that it is because of the presence of the Guardians of the Galaxy, who have traveled back to our time from the 31st century. In particular, it is because Vance Astro is present both as a child (upstate) and as an adult (with the Defenders).

Upstate, the Guardians' crashed ship has gained the attention of the authorities. The army and reporters surround it. The door opens, and Martinex and the child Astro come out. The adult Astro sees him on the news, and Strange transports the Defenders and other Guardians up there.

Strange asks them to repair their ship as quickly as possible to avoid more weather problems.

The adult Astro talks with the child Astro about his origin, and the history that leads to the creation of the Guardians, while making it sound like it happened to another planet, so the young Astro doesn't change his own future.

In the adult Astro's timeline, humanity was beset by problems from the ozone hole, due to their lack of regulation of big business, which continued to make polluting products. People had to live in full-body suits to protect themselves from the sun's rays.

Eventually they had to resort to cybernetics to survive. They sent out a desperate final rocket into space, with Astro aboard, in 1988. There was a war due to a lack of resources, and nuclear weapons were used. This brought the people of Earth together, and they started to repair the planet--until invaders from Mars attacked and conquered the Earth in 2001.

Heroes like Killraven fought back, and Earth was freed by 2075.

The next 500 years were a post-apocalyptic horror, run by techno-barons. This ended with the execution of one of the barons, Kwaal, in 2525. Humanity was once again free.

They colonized the solar system, and genetically modified themselves to fit in the different environments of each planet. People on Pluto became like Martinex, people on Jupiter became like Charlie-27. By 2960, they sent ships to other solar systems, and met the people of Yondu's race. By the year 3000, all these different peoples joined in harmony.

In 3006, Astro's ship landed. He was still alive, but stuck in his suit.

A year later, the Badoon attacked, and took over Earth. A few people fought back, becoming the Guardians of the Galaxy. They were occasionally joined by heroes from Earth's past, like Captain America and the Thing.

Strange send the young Astro back home and makes him forget what he has heard.

Val and Norriss join the Defenders at the crash site. The ship has been repaired, and the Defenders plan to go to the future to help the Guardians. Jack once again tries to tell Val what to do, and Val has absolutely none of it: she decides what she's going to do.

They all get onboard, and fly into space, then Strange uses his magic to transport them into the future.