Attack on Greenwich Village

The Attack on Greenwich Village was a conflict that pitted the combined forces of Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Wong and Spider-Man against Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian, who had been sent to Earth to extract the Time Stone from the Masters of the Mystic Arts.

Background[]

Seeking the Infinity Stones, Thanos and the Black Order attacked the Statesman, a vessel with the refugees from Asgard and Sakaar. Thanos and his subordinates killed half of the ship's passengers, allowing the rest to escape and confronted Thor and Loki, as Thanos knew that the latter had the Tesseract in his possession. Hulk attempted to attack Thanos, however, he was overpowered, so Heimdall used his powers to summon the Bifrost Bridge and transport Hulk to Earth. Thanos killed Heimdall and forced Loki to hand over the Tesseract to him, finally obtaining the Space Stone. Thanos then killed Loki when he tried to double-cross him and sent the Black Order to Earth to gather the remaining stones, before destroying the ship.

Banner crashed inside the New York Sanctum and informed the Masters of the Mystic Arts that Thanos is coming and he needs the Infinity Stones. Doctor Strange and Wong brought Tony Stark to the Sanctum to discuss the upcoming threat together, noting that if Thanos gets all six Infinity Stones, he will gain an unfathomable power. Assuming that Vision was likely to be targeted because of the Mind Stone, Stark admitted that he had lost contact with Vision and Steve Rogers was the only one who knew where to find him.

Stark was hesitant to get in touch with Rogers, since the Avengers disassembled, but Banner insisted they had more pressing issues at hand, telling Stark that Thor fell victim to Thanos. Before Stark could contact Rogers, they were interrupted by the sound of agitation in the streets and debris flying through the air. Leaving the Sanctum to investigate, the four found people fleeing and screaming in panic, as a Q-Ship sent by Thanos had arrived, devastating the surrounding city with powerful winds. Peter Parker also saw the Q-Ship, so while Ned Leeds provided a distraction, Parker covertly left the school bus and donned the Spider-Man Suit, swinging back to Manhattan to face the arriving invaders.^[1]

Attack[]

Outside the New York Sanctum, the descending Q-Ship was confronted by Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Doctor Strange and Wong. As Stark commanded F.R.I.D.A.Y. to evacuate the surrounding area and mobilize emergency response teams, Strange cast the Winds of Watoomb, neutralizing the powerful winds created by the Q-Ship.

Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian then sailed on the ground, as Maw announced that they were members of the Black Order, sent by Thanos, and demanded the Time Stone from Strange. Both Strange and Stark refused to comply, so Maw ordered Obsidian to charge into attack, while Banner unsuccessfully attempted to release the Hulk to aid in the fight. Realizing the Hulk would be of no assistance, Stark donned his nanotech Mark L armor, and blasted Obsdian away.

With Obsidian incapacitated, Maw moved on the offensive, sending the distracted Iron Man flying into the air and directly assaulting Strange and Wong with his telekinetic powers, throwing debris at the Masters. While Wong defended against Maw's attacks by summoning the Shield of the Seraphim, Strange used his Sling Ring to send Banner to safety in the nearby Washington Square Park. Iron Man returned, commanding Strange to also flee and get the Time Stone away from the city, who refused. Iron Man attempted to assault Maw, only to be engaged by Obsidian, who sent Iron Man flying into Washington Square Park, encountering Banner.

While Iron Man held off Obsidian to protect Banner, eventually joined by an arriving Spider-Man, Banner continued to attempt to unleash the Hulk, only for the Hulk to directly refuse his commands. On the streets, Maw engaged Strange and Wong, telekinetically throwing a swarm of brick spikes at them. The Masters managed to redirect the attack with their Sling Rings, injuring Maw, who then incapacitated Wong by bursting a nearby fire hydrant. Strange attempted to restrain Maw with an Eldritch Whip, only for the latter to tackle Strange, telekinetically trapping him in the side of a nearby building.

Attempting to directly remove the Time Stone from the Eye of Agamotto, Maw was quickly rebuffed, burned by a magical seal protecting the Relic. Breaking free, Strange attempted to use the Stone against Maw, but was quickly restrained again by cables. Before Maw could kill Strange, he warned that his death would not remove the seal, causing Maw to choke him unconscious, instead, choosing to bring him back to the Q-Ship alive. However, the Cloak of Levitation managed to escape the restraints with the unconscious Strange, with an enraged Maw in hot pursuit.

As the Cloak fled past the combatants in the park, chased by Maw, Iron Man tasked Spider-Man with rescuing the unconscious sorcerer as he held off Obsidian. Despite Maw's efforts, Spider-Man managed to grab Strange, only for the both of them, as well as the Cloak, to be caught in the Q-Ship's tractor beam. Maw boarded the Q-Ship with Strange, and immediately prepared to leave Earth's atmosphere. The Cloak managed to stow away aboard the Ship while Spider-Man was left clinging to the Ship's hull as it ascended.

Back on the surface, Obsidian managed to overpower Iron Man, only to be sent through a portal to Antarctica by Wong before he could finish the downed Avenger. As Obsidian attempted to return, Wong managed to close the portal, severing the former's left arm. In gratitude, Iron Man personally invited Wong to his wedding, before giving chase to the escaping Q-Ship to rescue the captive Strange.

As he pursued the Ship to outer space, Iron Man deployed the Iron Spider Armor from the Avengers Compound to rescue Spider-Man, who was beginning to lose consciousness due to the lack of air. As Spider-Man fell unconscious from the Ship, the Armor managed to catch and surround him, allowing him to regain consciousness. With a final farewell from Iron Man, F.R.I.D.A.Y activated the Armor's in-built parachute to return him safely to the surface, much to Parker's dismay.

As Stark boarded the alien craft, he received a desperate call from Pepper Potts, who demanded his whereabouts. Potts became distressed upon learning he was currently on the departing Q-Ship, and beckoned him to return home. However, as the Ship left Earth's atmosphere, the connection was lost, and Stark's connection with F.R.I.D.A.Y. was severed. Unknown to Stark, Parker had also managed to remain on and stow away aboard the Q-Ship, mere moments before Ebony Maw sent the Ship on an automated route towards Titan to rendezvous with Thanos, unaware that the Ship carried stowaways.

Back on Earth, Banner managed to find the discarded burner phone left for Stark by Steve Rogers. While Wong returned to the Sanctum to guard it in Strange's stead, Banner decided to call Rogers to notify him of the coming threat on Vision's life.^[1]

Aftermath[]

Adventures in Space[]

On the Q-Ship, Ebony Maw began to torture an immobilized Doctor Strange in order to gain access to the Time Stone. Iron Man and Spider-Man, in a new spider suit, entered the ship and killed Ebony Maw by blowing him out of the ship and into space. They rescued Doctor Strange, and devised a plan to head to Titan in order to draw Thanos out. As they landed on Titan, they were soon attacked by the Guardians of the Galaxy through a misunderstanding, but the two factions then allied in order to Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet.

Having lost his left hand when Wong closed a portal which sliced it off, Cull Obsidian replaced it with a prosthetic he used during the Battle of Wakanda.^[1]

Public Reaction[]

The Black Order's arrival in New York City and the destruction left in their wake caused a surge of fear that spread throughout the country. City officials struggled to restore order as the citizens of New York, who suffered immense destruction and loss of life after their city had been the battleground for the Chitauri Invasion six years prior, began to panic that more extraterrestrial attacks could be on the way.

Despite the severity of the situation, S.H.I.E.L.D. was unable to lend support to New York as they were focused on halting Glenn Talbot's rampage, saving the citizens of Chicago and preventing the Destruction of Earth.^[4]

In 2024, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. updated their Captain America exhibit to include the second alien attack on New York City, specifically the arrival of the Q-Ship.^[5]

Samples Collected[]

Cull Obsidian's amputated hand was collected from the battlefield by the United States Department of Damage Control.^[6] In 2026, his hand was retrieved by the Skrull Resistance so that it could be used to enhance Skrulls via the use of the Super-Skrull Machine.^[7] The experiment was conducted on Gravik, who gained Obsidian's strength.^[8]

Appearances[]

• Avengers: Infinity War
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
  • Season Five
    • Option Two (mentioned)
    • The Force of Gravity (mentioned)
• The Falcon and The Winter Soldier
  • Season One
    • New World Order (picture & mentioned)
• Spider-Man: Far From Home (mentioned)

Behind the Scenes[]

• Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely considered including superheroes from the Netflix series in the battle. "We certainly had the conversation 'Should we put Luke Cage in this? Here we are in New York...'.^[9]

References[]