in the aftermath of the "infinity wars" storyline, gladiator and the shi'ar empire arrive to save everyone after they were ejected from a hole in the space station following the black order stealing thanos' body during the funeral. gladiator joins up with starfox's dark guardians. the dark guardians found nova and ambush him, wounding him enough to crash land onto a planet. when gladiator and cosmic ghost rider order wraith to back off, nova takes the chance to fly off again. the dark guardians plan to track down again.