[citation needed] An unrelated five issue limited series published in 1999, Contest of Champions II, is a sequel in title only.

The plan was scuttled when the United States refused to participate in the summer games, as a protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in late 1979.

The comic was already mostly-complete, so Marvel published Contest of Champions two years later, with a reworked storyline that avoided any connection to the Olympics.

[4] The pair decide to use various superheroes from Earth as pawns, the goal being to collect the four pieces of a prize called the "Golden Globe of Life".

An Avengers Annual eventually reveals that this was a ruse perpetrated by the Grandmaster as he is able to steal Death's powers and then, via another deception, forces the entity to banish all Elders from her realm, effectively making them immortal.