Appearing in "The Hottest Slot In Town!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Villains:
- ⏴ Ruby Thursday ⏵
- Dibbuk (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- James-Michael's android parents (duplicates)
Locations:
- New York City
- The Bronx
- Hell's Kitchen
- Gramps' Second-Hand Shoppe
- Port Authority Bus Terminal
- Amber and Ruth's apartment - 431 44th St.
- Las Vegas
- Pennsylvania
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "The Hottest Slot In Town!"
John Nedley died shortly after his release from the hospital. James-Michael, Dian, Ruth, and Amber attend his funeral. Omega attends as well, dressed in the suit he bought with the reward money he claimed for returning the goods Blockbuster stole. Omega decides that more money is required not just for himself, but to give James-Michael an escape from the savagery of Hell's Kitchen. James-Michael independently plans to escape himself, and Dian offers to join him in running away. They gather what money they can to take a bus back to James-Michael's old home in the mountains, which has been untouched since he and his parents left months ago. While James-Michael is showing Dian around the house, they come across a hidden closet containing the motionless forms of what appear to be James-Michael's parents.
Meanwhile, Omega takes Gramps on a trip to Las Vegas. Omega exploits his affinity with the gambling machines and his ability to calculate probability to game the system, building to a haul to fifty-five thousand dollars in winnings before retiring to their hotel room. Unfortunately for them, Ruby Thursday has been watching them in disguise and follows them to their room, attacking them and taking the money. She leaves with her demonic servant Dibbuk, who had attacked Omega earlier while he was out in the desert looking for solitude. Omega recovers and tries to chase the woman down, but to the Vegas police he appears to be a madman attacking an innocent woman, so they open fire, ignominiously ending the life of the ill-fated hero.
Notes
- Omega the Unknown is cancelled after this issue. The last page promises that the story will be concluded in a future issue of Defenders, which OTU co-creator Steve Gerber was also writing at the time. However, Gerber was fired from Marvel before he could fulfill this promise. The task of wrapping up the dangling plotlines would go to new Defenders writers Ed Hannigan and Steven Grant, starting in Defenders #73 and building to Defenders #77.