[1] In early 2009, Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada said the series was put "on hold" after issue #8 (Nov. 2008) because of Straczynski's increased demand as a screenwriter after the success of Changeling, and artist Weston's having taken on conceptual art and storyboarding on a separate film project.

Put into the care of the U.S. military, they are housed together in a mansion where they receive counseling and support, are gradually made to understand that decades have passed, and are offered a role as heroes in the 21st century.

The Twelve adjust in various ways: The Blue Blade becomes a celebrity; the Phantom Reporter starts a column for the Daily Bugle, Dynamic Man allies himself with the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies and throws himself into heroics; the Black Widow reconnects as the "instrument of vengeance" of an unknown party and begins going on missions; and Rockman bemoans being cut off from an underground kingdom that may or may not exist.

In the framing story (set "much later"), the Phantom Reporter, gun in hand, stands over the body of the Blue Blade, regretting the man's death and vowing to find the killer.

It is inferred that his creator's phobias about sexual purity were transferred to Dynamic Man, thus explaining his discomfort with interracial marriages and the homophobia he has displayed throughout the series.

Mastermind Excello has used his wealth to buy a private security company, renamed EXC Enterprises, and sets up Phantom Reporter and the Black Widow as operatives.

Laughing Mask is given a deal (which views his cryogenic sleep as time served) for his previous crimes and now controls Electro, going after terrorists in sanctioned military strikes.

In the closing scene, Phantom Reporter, in a new "combat suit" with a flame emblem, and Black Widow, in a new "spider web" costume, are seen heading towards a new mission at an unknown location, having been sent there by Mastermind Excello's "EXC Corporation".