Appearing in "Only One Can Win!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Rick Jones
- Fawn (Death)
- Rambu
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Kree
- Shabby Allus (Only in flashback)
- Drax the Destroyer (Only in flashback)
- Sub-Mariner (Vision or hallucination) (Only in flashback)
- Blazing Skull (Vision or hallucination) (Only in flashback)
- Human Torch (Vision or hallucination) (Only in flashback)
- Vision (Vision or hallucination) (Only in flashback)
- Captain America (Vision or hallucination)
- Mister Fantastic (Vision or hallucination)
- The Thing (Vision or hallucination)
- Thor (Vision or hallucination)
- Iron Man (Vision or hallucination)
- Cyclops (Vision or hallucination)
- Angel (Vision or hallucination)
- Black Bolt (Vision or hallucination)
- Medusa (Vision or hallucination)
- Spider-Man (Vision or hallucination)
Locations:
Items:
- Nega-Bands
- The Millenia Bloom
- Soul Gem of Deneb IV (Only in flashback)
- Captain America's Shield (Vision or hallucination)
- Captain America's Uniform (Vision or hallucination)
Vehicles:
- The Star of Vengeance
Synopsis for "Only One Can Win!"
As Mar-Vell, Rick Jones, Fawn, and Rambu fly from Deneb IV to Hala, they're intercepted in orbit over Hala by the Kree dreadnought, the Star of Vengeance. The Supreme Intelligence teleports Rick onto the ship and Mar-Vell to his audience chamber on the planet, threatening each with Supremors, humanoid manifestations of the Supreme Intelligence itself. By forcing them apart, the Supreme Intelligence prevents either Rick or Captain Marvel from drawing the full power of the Nega Bands, ensuring his victory.
Meanwhile, Fawn and Rambu sneak onboard the ship to help Rick. The Supremor can't see Fawn, but when she begins to attack him, he realizes that she is another subconscious manifestation of Rick's Destiny Force. The Supremor then blasts in the direction Rick is looking, killing her. Rick's grief over Fawn resonates with Mar-Vell, distracting him enough for his Supremor to land a decisive blow. The Supremor then reveals the end-goal of his plan -- to weaken Rick and/or Mar-Vell enough that the impending Millenia Bloom will consume their minds and make them his slaves, intending to turn Rick's Destiny Force on the destruction Earth to ensure that only the Kree Empire will ever possess the ultimate weapon hidden in the genetic code of humanity.
In a last-ditch effort, Mar-Vell sends a telepathic message to Rick to seize control of the dreadnought's weapons. Rick launches anti-matter nuclear missiles into Hala's sun, igniting a solar flare that batters the planetary shields, overloading the Supreme Intelligence, knocking out all Kree machinery and the Kree themselves with the electromagnetic storm, and interrupting the Millenia Bloom event. Rick flies down to the surface to find Mar-Vell's dying body and desperately uses the combined power of the Nega-Bands to revive him, briefly wishing he did so for Fawn instead. With the Supreme Intelligence's plan foiled and all their opposition incapacitated, Rick and Mar-Vell decide to return to Earth.
Notes
- Plot by Englehart and Milgrom (both uncredited), script by Claremont.
- Rick and Captain Marvel had required the use of a spacefaring robot mule to travel between planets for the last few issues. At the beginning of this issue, they and their allies are flying through deep space under their own power.