Games Godlings Play
The Grandmaster abducts the Defenders and Daredevil to play in a gambling game against Prime Mover, whose prize is the fate of the Earth. The only problem is, whoever wins, the Earth will be doomed, making the Defenders and Daredevil seek for a solution desperately.
Daredevil finds himself beset by Nighthawk, who once attacked him as a villain. However, Nighthawk now wants Murdock to help him and the rest of the Defenders save the Earth as the Grandmaster's team in a cosmic game of chance. Daredevil agrees, and they are whisked away to a surreal space with the other Defenders.
The Grandmaster explains that this is another game like the one in which he pitted the Squadron Sinister (whom he created for the occasion) against Kang and the Avengers. (A later, similar game would become the famed Contest of Champions.)
This contest pits the Grandmaster and his team against the Prime Mover, a computer created by Dr. Doom, and its team. The Prime Mover left Earth and found the Grandmaster in its search for a challenge. They are playing for the right to own the Earth.
Nighthawk and Valkyrie are teleported into a realm of misty mountaintops. They fight two flying demons. Nighthawk and his demon grapple and fall into the mist.
Valkyrie quickly beheads her demon, but it stays alive. She realizes that its mount is the real demon, and throws her sword, Dragonfang, at it, killing it--while sacrificing her sword.
Nighthawk manages to outfly his opponent, even though his wings have ripped off and he is only left with his jetpack. The demon smashes into a rock and dies. The Defenders team wins.
Namor and Daredevil appear in a land with constant erupting energy geysers. A humanoid lizard attacks Namor, and an amorphous blob attacks Daredevil. Daredevil has a hard time evading its random shapes, ends up getting hit by one of the landscape's energy blasts, and dies.
Namor's suit, which keeps him hydrated, gets ripped in the fight. The lizard man takes advantage, and beats Namor to death. The Defenders lose.
Dr. Strange and Hulk appear in a town. A small yellow humanoid uses its telekinesis to throw the Hulk around, while Dr. Strange has to contend with Korvac. Both battles rage on equally.
The yellow imp covers Hulk in rubble, and Strange can't cast spells fast enough, since Korvac's computer keeps out-predicting his moves.
However, the imp's big attack used up all his energy, and Hulk flicks him away, while Strange decides to just punch out Korvac. The Defenders team wins, which means the Defenders win the game.
Back in the presence of the Grandmaster, the Defenders expect to be sent home, but the Elder of the Universe tells them he has decided to take over Earth himself after all. He zaps the Defenders and knocks them all out.
Only Daredevil held back. He offers the Grandmaster a game of chance to win back the Earth. They play heads or tails with a disk that Murdock flips. Grandmaster loses and returns the Earth. He doesn't know that Daredevil could tell which side of the disk would land upwards using his enhanced senses. The Defenders are returned to Earth.
The World Destroyers! (Reprinted from Sub-mariner 38).
Namor's girlfriend convinces him to take out his frustrations with the surface world on a group called the Fatalists, who have been trying to sell a dangerous "death ray" to various evil groups. However, it is so dangerous they don't want to buy it.
Namor randomly ends up finding them, and defeats them, freeing a hostage as well. It turns out the Fatalists are all aliens from Pluto; when Namor shoots them with their own ray, they suddenly float up into space and return home, against their wills.
The House of Shadows (Reprinted from Strange Tales 120)
A TV show plans a stunt by having a reporter spend the night in a reputed haunted house. Dr. Strange hears of it and is concerned, believing that there may be actual mystic creatures there.
The reporter does indeed find himself the victim of strange powers. Strange enters the house and communicates with its spirits. The house itself is alive. Strange gets it to let the reporter go, then banishes the house back to its home dimension.
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