Rise of the Red Skull

Disaster / Destruction

At the mid-summer Olympics in Seattle, Washington, the Red Skull stages the most public supervillain action since the 1940s. His minions include the power-stealing vigilante Mime who matches Firestar blow for blow.

Together -- live, on camera -- the villains manage to push almost all of the heroes past their personal limits. "The Demon" frightens the Olympic audience into a stampede for the exits. Firestar burns so hot that she and Mime both pass out in a scorched pit where the running track used to be. Knight Thrasher gets badly hurt, and the camera shows fangs and claws exposed under his torn costume. And, again on live camera, the little dark-haired leopard woman murders the Red Skull in a moment of complete rage.

In the aftermath, the traumatized heroes face the same extreme mistrust as the actual villains. Many of them start to consider relocation. Unknown to them, the government of Seattle sets into motion a plan to build an anti-meta barrier around the city, the first of its kind.