Appearing in 1st story
Featured Characters:
- Defenders (First appearance chronologically) (Main story and recap) (Unnamed)
- ⏴ Luke Cage ⏵ (Main story and recap) (Joins)
- ⏴ Jessica Jones ⏵ (Main story and recap) (Joins)
- ⏴ Daredevil (Matt Murdock) ⏵ (Main story and recap) (Joins)
- ⏴ Iron Fist (Danny Rand) ⏵ (Main story and recap) (Joins)
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Numerous unnamed New Yorkers
- Goddard (drug dealer) (First appearance; dies)
- Unnamed Harlemites
- New Avengers (Only in recap)
- Thing (Ben Grimm) (Only in recap)
- Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) (Only in recap)
- Wolverine (James Howlett) (Only in recap)
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker) (Only in recap)
- Doctor Doom (Victor von Dom) (Only in recap)
- Dani Jones-Cage (Only in recap)
- Kingpin (Wilson Fisk) (Only in recap)
- Hand (Only in recap)
- Maggie Farrell's father (Only in recap)
- Elektra (Only in recap)
- Karen Page (Only in recap)
- Milla Donovan (Only in recap)
- Bullseye (Lester) (Only in recap)
- NYPD (Mentioned)
- Shou-Lao the Undying (Only in recap)
- Yu-Ti (Nu-An) (Only in recap)
- Thunderer (Lei-Kung) (Only in recap)
- Steel Serpent (Davos) (Only in recap)
- S.H.I.E.L.D. (Mentioned)
- Hydra (Mentioned)
- A.I.M. (Mentioned)
- Purple Man (Zebediah Killgrave) (Only in recap)
- Mount Sinai Hospital staff
- Black Cat's Gang
- Black Cat (Felicia Hardy)
- Hammerhead (Joseph) (Voice only)
- X-Men (Mentioned)
- Avengers (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
- Humans (Main story and recap)
- Human-Kree Hybrids (Only in recap)
- Mutants (Only in recap)
- Dragons of K'un-Lun (Only in recap)
Locations:
- Earth (Main story and recap)
- United States of America (Main story and recap)
- New York (Main story and recap)
- New York City (Main story and recap)
- Manhattan (Main story and recap)
- Harlem (Main story and recap)
- Headquarters of the Heroes for Hire (Destruction)
- East Harlem
- Midtown (Main story and recap)
- Hell's Kitchen (Only in recap)
- Alias Investigations Office (Only in recap)
- Chrysler Building (Cameo)
- Hell's Kitchen (Only in recap)
- Civic Center (Only in recap)
- Foley Square (Only in recap)
- New York State Supreme Court Building (Only in recap)
- Foley Square (Only in recap)
- Harlem (Main story and recap)
- Manhattan (Main story and recap)
- New York City (Main story and recap)
- New York (Main story and recap)
- Latveria (Only in recap)
- Doomstadt (Only in recap)
- Castle Doom (Only in recap)
- Doomstadt (Only in recap)
- China (Only in recap)
- Tibet (Only in recap)
- Kunlun Mountains (Only in recap)
- K'un-Lun (Only in recap)
- Cave of the Dragon (Only in recap)
- K'un-Lun (Only in recap)
- Kunlun Mountains (Only in recap)
- Tibet (Only in recap)
- United States of America (Main story and recap)
Items:
- I.G.H. (Mentioned)
- Ms. Marvel's Suit (Only in recap)
- Wolverine's Suit (Only in recap)
- Spider-Man's Suit (Only in recap)
- Doctor Doom's Armor (Only in recap)
- Daredevil's Suit and Billy Club (Main story and recap)
Synopsis for 1st story
In New York, during a party at a nightclub a man by the name of Goddard is talking to some girls when he's interrupted by a menacing man with a hat. The man accuses him of selling a drug (which is actually laundry detergent) while claiming it is I.G.H. The man gets infuriated when Goddard pulls out a gun, so he has Goddard ingest his own medicine, which causes him to collapse as it has a deadly effect on people freebasing. The man with the hat leaves, throwing behind himself a handful of diamonds, which reveals him to be Willis Stryker, a.k.a. Diamondback.
Two girls walking home on the street meet a national hero: Luke Cage. As they greet him, he suddenly notices a missile falling their way and manages to save himself and the two girls just in time. Cage locates the rooftop the missile was launched from and when he arrives on location, he finds a handful of diamonds left on the ground. He's called on the phone and informed that his wife, Jessica Jones, has been shot and hospitalized.
At Mount Sinai Hospital, Luke Cage asks for his wife, whom he finds asleep in a room. Daredevil turns up from the ceiling, and explains that he had the name on the door changed to prevent whoever shot her from finishing the job. He explains he was attacked that same day too, and in his civil attire, meaning that the person who's trying to kill them knows things he shouldn't about their private lives. Another hero was attacked as well, Iron Fist, who appears at the door as well. As the three heroes elaborate on who to call for help and who could be the instigator, Jessica wakes up and tells them the culprit is Diamondback. Luke explains to her that Diamondback died a long time ago, but she's adamant in her conviction.
Black Cat, on a roof, is studying an apartment's window as her partner in crime, Hammerhead, tells her through earbud not to go in. Black Cat resolves to make the call herself, so she breaks in and is welcomed with a bottle of milk by Diamondback. She's sure Stryker called the meeting to be adviced on a hiding place, as the heroes he targeted are looking for him, but instead, Diamondback states that he's going to extend his base from Harlem all across the Eastern Seaboard: if Black Cat intends to collaborate, she will get a lot of money. She answers that she would've been very cordial to him (he destroyed "Heroes for Hire", after all), hadn't he attacked her with this intimidation. She adds that he's already killed his chances before starting when he shot Luke Cage's wife and also... that Cage is right there with them. Cage destroys the wall that separates him from his enemy with a punch and grabs Diamondback: he's been alive all those years and now he returns to attack his wife, something that Cage can't accept.
At a bar, Jessica meets with Daredevil and Iron Fist. While Daredevil finishes knocking out some thugs, they all agree that they weren't prepared for what happened, and that it would be best for them to unite against possible new local threats, like the Avengers do with global ones.
During his fight with Cage, Diamondback seems to be better prepared against him than it appeared at the beginning: he blows a dust in his face that causes him to collapse and then proceedes to smash his head in the floor of the apartment, to Black Cat's dread. As the sound of Cage's head being bashed reverberates, Diamondback contemplates how stupid it was of Luke to leave his friends behind...