fail’d. In troth, ’tis true he fail’d, yet so may we all say.
Failure is as common ’mongst our group as hydrogen
in water—’tis part and parcel of our makeup now.
STARK
Is’t possible? Until this very second,
Methought thou wert a fuzzy Build-a-Bear. 35
ROCKET
Mayhap I am.
ROGERS
Three weeks now we have hunted Thanos grim—
Deep space scans, satellites, with no result.
Thou fought’st him, Tony.
STARK
—I did no such thing.
Nay, nay, not I, where didst thou come by this? 40
He wip’d my face withal a planet whole,
Whilst our magician—he of Bleecker Street—
Did give away the store, the mission, all.
’Twas how it happen’d, ’twas no proper fight,
For hear me, Cap: he is unbeatable. 45
ROGERS
Yet what of clues, coordinates, or aught?
Hath he giv’n thee no hint of his location?
STARK
Indubitably not; he gave me naught.
Some years hence, these events did I foresee.
A vision, which my heart would not believe— 50
In faith, though I thought it a harmless dream,
’Twas past the wit of man to say what dream
It was.
ROGERS
—I need thy focus, Tony, please.
STARK
I needed thee—the past tense, which outdoes
Whatever thou dost need. ’Tis far too late. 55
Apologies, yet this is how I feel.
What I require today is this: a shave.
Did not I tell you all that we should have
A suit of armor wrapp’d around the world?
Remember when I spake those prophet’s words? 60
We needed it, e’en if it did impact
The precious freedoms half of all who live
No longer may enjoy. ’Twas what we needed.
ROGERS
Yet it did not work out. Still, we must onward.
STARK
Imparted I the words of warning: we 65
Would lose the battle, lose the war complete.
Thou saidst to me: “Thus we’ll together, also.”
Canst thou, though, guess what happen’d? We did lose,
And thou wert not around to see it hap.
’Tis what we do, ’tis true? Our greatest works 70
Come after what is done—we are th’Avengers,
Not the pre-vengers we.
[Rhodes restrains Stark, who is becoming emotional.
RHODES
—Your point is made.
Be seated, prithee, rest your soul awhile.
STARK
Insensible art thou of mine intentions,
For I have more to say. [Indicating Danvers:] This one is
pow’rful, 75
New blood to energize we sleepy mules.
[To Rogers:] Naught have I for thee, Cap—coordinates,
Clues, strategies, opinions, none of these.
What I have may be summariz’d: zilch, nada.
And further, I’ve no trust left in my heart 80
For thee, dissembling knave. Take thou this core—
[He pulls the arc reactor from his chest and puts it in Rogers’s hand.
Find thou the villain, put it on, and hide.
[He falls to his knees.
RHODES
Ah, Tony!
TONY
—I am well.
POTTS
—My love, my heart!
[He collapses. Rhodes and Potts place Stark in bed, and Banner gives him an injection. Stark sleeps soundly.
RHODES
Bruce did administer a sedative,
That Tony’s like to slumber all the day. 85
DANVERS
Take care of him, and I shall bring anon
Elixirs Xorrian when I return,
Which shall help cure him from his malady.
ROGERS
Where art thou going? Thou hast just arriv’d.
DANVERS
To speak most frankly, this is my design: 90
To kill the hateful Thanos presently.
ROMANOFF
One moment, woman bath’d in murky myst’ry.
’Tis typical that we work as a team.
Betwixt us two, morale hath fragile grown.
ROGERS
Up there, beyond the stars, is thy domain, 95
Yet this is our fight, too, and we would join’t.
RHODES
Do you e’en know where Thanos may be found?
DANVERS
I know full many people who may know;
The arc of mine intelligence is broad.
NEBULA
Pray, bother yourself not, for I can tell 100
Thee whither Thanos fled. A long, long time
The brigand wasted trying to perfect me.
He work’d whilst speaking of his master plan.
E’en disassembl’d, I would fain please him,
Inquiring whither we would go when all 105
Had been accomplish’d. Ever giveth he
The same, consistent answer: “To the garden.”
RHODES
’Tis charming—Thanos hath retirement plans.
ROGERS
Where is he, Nebula? I bid thee say.
[Rocket projects images of planets within the galaxy.
ROCKET
When Thanos snapp’d his mighty fingers two, Earth 110
became the springboard of a surge of pow’r of cosmic
proportions passing ridiculous. No one hath ever seen
its like until two days ago upon another planet—
this one, here.
[In the projection, one planet is rocked by a large blast.
NEBULA
’Tis where ye shall find Thanos, I am certain. 115
ROMANOFF
The dark and massive damage shown therein
Is proof he doth employ the Stones again.
BANNER
Were we to travel thither, there to fight
The huge, horrendous, horrible, harsh man,
We would be quite short-handed, would we not? 120
RHODES
He hath the Stones.
DANVERS
—Let us recover them,
And use their pow’r to bring the masses back
Within the gates of life and sweet existence.
BANNER
That simply? Vast reversal with such ease?
ROGERS
Such ease, forsooth.
[Rogers and Danvers nod at each other.
ROMANOFF
—E’en if there is a small 125
And shad’wy chance we may accomplish this—
That what was done may somehow be undone—
We owe it to all those not present here
To make th’attempt.
BANNER
—If we take on this giant,
Imprudent task, how do we know its end 130
Will be writ diff’rently than ’twas before?
DANVERS
In past, I rose not in your playwright’s mind—
I had no part within your recent plot.
RHODES
You, new lass, ev’ry person in this room
Hath liv’d the Super Hero life of late. 135
If you shall pardon mine obtrusive query:
By hell, where have you been the livelong day?
DANVERS
The universe contains abundant planets,
Which, sadly, do not have your merry band.
[Thor stands, walks to Danvers, and faces her. He holds out his arm and summons Stormbreaker to him. She doesn’t flinch as it passes her face.
THOR
This one—I like her. She’s a worthy witch. 140
ROGERS
Let us away, seize the son of a bitch.
[Exeunt.
SCENE 4
Planet 0259-S.
ENTER THANOS, COLLECTING FRUIT, BRINGING IT TO HIS SMALL HOUSE, AND RESTING. HE IS BADLY BURNT.
THANOS
[sings:] From all my labors I have rest,
Forever calm, forever bless’d.
Now all is joy and perfect peace—
From toil and sorrow, pure release.
Hey nonny non, my work is done, 5
Hey nonny nonny, on and on.
ENTER STEVE ROGERS, THOR, CAROL DANVERS, NATASHA ROMANOFF, BRUCE BANNER, ROCKET, JAMES RHODES, AND NEBULA IN THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY’S SHIP.
ROCKET
Who hath not been to space as yet?
[Rogers, Romanoff, and Rhodes raise their hands.
RHODES
Yet wherefore ask this question, somewhat rude?
ROCKET
Vomit ye not aboard my ship.
NEBULA
The jump we shall accomplish—three, two, one! 10
[The ship jumps to light speed. Danvers flies out of the ship toward the planet.
DANVERS
I shall below and bring reconnaissance,
To find the warren wherein Thanos hides.
[Danvers flies to the surface. Rogers looks at a picture of Peggy Carter inside the compass he carries.
ROGERS
[aside:] What would my Peggy make of all these things—
Space travel, half our population gone?
Would she were here to share all I behold, 15
Would that our fates had woven been as one.
ROMANOFF
This shady plan shall work, Steve.
ROGERS
—Yea, I trust.
For if it doth not, what shall come of us?
[Danvers returns to the ship.
DANVERS
No satellites or ships or armies wait,
And neither ground defense of any kind 20
Within the many forests, parks, and valleys.
’Tis he alone.
NEBULA
—And that shall be enow.
[All suit up and travel to the planet’s surface. Seeing Thanos in his home, Danvers shoots at him and attacks him, jumping on his back and kicking his gloved hand away.
DANVERS
Be still, thou villain! This time, thou art finish’d.
Though we are smaller, still we shall prevail—
A thunderbird I, not a nightingale! 25
[Banner emerges in the Hulkbuster suit, grabbing Thanos’s glove.
BANNER
Contend with one as massive as thyself!
[Rhodes, dressed in his War Machine suit, grabs Thanos’s other arm.
RHODES
Th’Avengers come upon you speedily!
[Thor flies in wielding Stormbreaker and cuts off Thanos’s gloved arm.
THOR
Feel thou the mighty blade of Stormbreaker!
THANOS
O, agony! O, peaceful life disturb’d!
[Rogers, Romanoff, and Rocket walk into the house. Rocket looks at the glove and sees that the Infinity Stones are missing.
ROCKET
Nay, nay! This portendeth greater doom. 30
ROGERS
[to Thanos:] Where are the Stones, thou whoreson?
DANVERS
—Answer now.
Thou wert the victor once, but nevermore.
THANOS
The universe requir’d corrective measures.
Thereafter, those strong Stones no purpose serv’d
Beyond temptation to a greater evil. 35
BANNER
Thou murder’dst trillions by thy massive plan!
[Banner shoves Thanos to the ground.
THANOS
You should be grateful for my gallant deed.
[Banner strikes him.
ROMANOFF
Where are the Stones, O man of darkest soul?
THANOS
Disintegrated into atoms bare.
BANNER
’Twas two days hence since last thou usèdst them. 40
Thy lies colossal shall not work with us.
THANOS
I us’d the Stones but to destroy the Stones,
Which nearly kill’d me. Now the work is done,
And is fore’er. Inev’table am I.
RHODES
Come, let us ransack this whole domicile. 45
’Tis certain he is lying, by my troth.
NEBULA
My father is a man of many things,
Yet of deceit and lies he is not made.
THANOS
My thanks, kind daughter. Peradventure I
Once treated thee too harshly. Pray, forgive. 50
[Thor yells in anger and decapitates Thanos with Stormbreaker.
ROCKET
What madness this? What hast thou done?
THOR
I aim’d my mighty weapon at his head,
As once the outlaw told me I should do.
ROGERS
Our hope is lost, then—all our friends lost, too.
[Exeunt.
SCENE 1
ENTER CHORUS.
CHORUS
Five years do pass, just after this last scene,
Five years with naught of hope found in between,
Five years of mourning, tragedy, and grief,
Five years of time relentless, sans relief.
Th’Avengers split and go their sep’rate ways, 5
No longer with a planet to amaze.
Instead, they do the work of living life
E’en when it bringeth little more than strife.
[Exit Chorus.
ENTER STEVE ROGERS AND VARIOUS SUPPORT GROUP MEMBERS ON BALCONY AT A MEETING IN NEW YORK.
MEMBER 1
In search of hope’s sweet taste or wisp of future,
The other day I went upon a date. 10
’Twas my first time in five years doing so.
We sat, the two of us, at supper, yet
I had but little notion what to say.
ROGERS
What did you talk about as you two sat?
MEMBER 1
The same as ev’ry conversation since 15
The travesty that once befell our planet—
How many things have chang’d in th’interim,
My job, his job, how much the Mets are miss’d.
Thereafter, quiet grew our dinnertime,
The silence of our unencumber’d sorrow, 20
And he did cry whilst salad was dish’d up.
MEMBER 2
And what of you?
MEMBER 1
—I cried before dessert.
Still, I shall see the man again tomorrow.
ROGERS
’Tis truly wonderful, a forward step.
Thou didst the hardest part and took’st the leap, 25
Sans knowing where thou wouldst land in the end.
Such few, brave baby steps are key for us;
We all must take them if we would be whole,
And find some purpose in the broken world.
In forty-five I was sunk under th’ice, 30
Just after I had met my paramour,
The woman I would love my length of days.
’Twas sev’nty years thereafter I woke up—
One must advance, or e’er tormented be.
The world is in our hands, ’tis left to us, 35
And we must something make of it, by Jove.
If not, then Thanos should have kill’d us all.
[Exeunt.
IN A SAN FRANCISCO WAREHOUSE, A RAT RUNS ACROSS A COMPUTER INTERFACE INSIDE A VAN AND A FLASH OF LIGHT APPEARS. ENTER SCOTT LANG BELOW, EMERGING FROM THE BACK OF THE VAN.
LANG
Alack, where have I been? What is this place?
’Tis not the rooftop whereon I did stand,
Yet somewhere else entirely, by my troth. 40
’Tis past mine understanding what hath happ’d.
These rats beside this powerful equipment—
Are they to thank for hither bringing me,
That I might make return unto my time?
Hope, art thou here? Is anyone nearby? 45
[He walks out of the warehouse and sees devastation around him.
What strange event occurr’d within my city
That all is overgrown, the streets so quiet?
These flyers cov’ring ev’ry pole or post
Each tell of missing people, gone for years.
The trash, strewn yon and hither through the lanes 50
Portray a breakdown of society.
ENTER A BOY, RIDING ON A BICYCLE.
I prithee, child, take heed! What happen’d here?
BOY
[aside:] The man is either senseless or insane—
In either case his company I’d shun.
[Exit boy, riding away.
LANG
He shall not speak to me, as if my query 55
Were something far too obvious to speak.
More newfound spectacles! Memorials
Throughout the Park of Golden Gate, with names
Of thousands—nearly millions—“vanishèd.”
With fear and trembling look I on the Ls— 60
Let not my daughter Cassie be among them!
Please, Fate, thy power summon and keep her
Safe from whatever harm hath come about.
What’s this? Not her name, nay, and yet mine own:
“Scott Lang” is writ in stone like I were gone, 65
Yet I am here. How can this be? With foot
Most fleet unto my Cassie’s home I fly!
HE RUNS TO HER HOUSE AND RINGS THE DOORBELL. ENTER CASSIE LANG AT THE DOOR. SHE TAKES HIS FACE IN HER HANDS AND CRIES.
CASSIE
O Father, Father! You’ve return’d at last!