The Battle of New York was a long, hard fought battle for the men and women of Earth. The NYPD and U.S. Armed Services joined together to stave off an alien incursion led by the Asgardian Loki. Their efforts would have been in vain had it not been for a small band of six people who set aside differences for the greater good.
With Loki defeated and returned to Asgard via the Tesseract, escorted by Thor, the humans began to tend to the wounds left on the city of New York. The Avengers went their separate ways, ready to return to duty should the world need them. But peace never lasts for long.
Months after the attack on New York, unknown hostiles slipped into the well guarded armory on Asgard and stole the Tesseract, determined to harness it's power for their own personal use. Recklessly they activated it in their experiments, causing rifts not only in space, but across dimensions and times, pulling a multitude of people unwittingly into various spots in Central Park.