The "Saving the Future" story line also has elements of the Marvel Universe post Onslaught. There is a Zemo lead team of villains running around saying them are Heroes. People think a large group of heroes are dead but have just been shunted to pocket dimension. Sure, a young boy disn't send them there & we don't have a Hulk analog but there a similarities. I didn't go with this since it required some knowledge Catherine didn't have.
As for the Catherine befriending April idea: I'll send you an e-mail about that.