WARNING: The following contains spoilers for "Infinite Fury Part III" by Jed MacKay, Juan Ferreyra, Nick Lowe, Danny Khazem, and VC's Joe Caramagna, from the pages of Black Cat Annual #1, on sale now.
Over the past few weeks, Nick Fury has been on the hunt for the unfortunate souls which Adam Warlock bonded to the Infinity Stones decades ago. His search has taken him across the country and put him in contact with heroes such as Captain America, but Fury hasn't been able to catch a solid lead. He does know that Captain America and Black Widow's most recent run-in with the bearer of the Time Stone has drawn the attention of another mystery player who might just be better at Fury's own job than he is.
In fact, Fury has just been given the chance to find out whether or not that's true when he is given an explosive introduction to the Squadron Supreme's very own Nighthawk.
Nick Fury has just left a harrowing meeting with Captain America, one in which he explained to the Avenger just what the situation with the Infinity Stones was. The fact that they might be gathered together again on Earth, where they have previously unmade the entire universe, is a threat that no one can ignore. That the people imbued with them could even be unaware of just what it is they have been given only makes things more dire. Now that there is someone else chasing leads, Fury even has to worry that he is the one being hunted, and he has no idea how right he is to be paranoid of that possibility.
While making his way from one site to another, Fury is only narrowly able to escape being torn apart by the explosives planted in waiting for him. Try as he might to get up and fight back, his assailant is already on top of him. Even though they are only revealed as a silhouette, it is clear that this shadowy figure could be Kyle Richmond, Nighthawk of the Squadron Supreme. While he has historically been a champion of justice, this particular Nighthawk is cut from a far different cloth. He might even be the last person in the world who should get ahold of the Infinity Stones.
Much like his counterparts in the rest of the current Squadron Supreme, this Kyle Richmond is no ordinary hero, but rather a manifestation of Mephisto. Like the rest of the Squadron from the world of Heroes Reborn, Nighthawk is a twisted version of his usual self, one that delights in his own cruelty underneath his brooding exterior. He was also one of the scariest heroes from Mephisto's reality, having set off his world's superhero civil war and lived to tell about it after having fought Hyperion singlehandedly. Now that he and the rest of the Squadron Supreme have found themselves stranded on the Earth of the primary Marvel Universe, they are all but entirely lost.
While Hyperion solemnly traverses the globe in search of some sort of catharsis or respite, and the rest of the Squadron wallows in holding cells, Nighthawk has been toiling away in the shadows to find a way back to his own reality. Not only is he dedicated to getting back to what he remembers as home, but he doesn't seem very keen on leaving the one he has ended up in without some deep scars.
Now that the Pandemonium Cube has been turned into a personal prison for Phil Coulson following his defeat at the end of Heroes Return by Jason Aaron and Ed McGuinness, there are only so many items with that same kind of reality-warping power left.
Of course, the Infinity Stones just happen to be precisely that, and it makes perfect sense that Nighthawk would have joined in the hunt for them. With any luck it will be Nick Fury or another actual hero who finds them first, or at least figures out exactly why they are popping back up on the radar. If not, then the world of Heroes Reborn might not be as far away as fans were left to believe.