Chapter Summaries

An Extremis-enhanced spy infiltrated the building where Wang Khan and Gwen were discussing the Space Elevator and a plan to monitor the Solar System. A Smart Spider recorded the spy’s movements, but she reached the eighteenth floor and opened fire on Gwen.

• A female spy used a radar-resistant hang glider to enter New York and survived a thirty-meter drop with the help of the Extremis Virus.
• The spy used her modified eye and exceptional strength to identify the eighteenth floor as her target and evade security guards.
• A Smart Spider recorded the spy as she passed a ventilation opening.
• Wang Khan told Gwen that he planned to build the Space Elevator within a year and create a Solar System surveillance network with satellite probes.
• Gwen called out the person hiding above the ceiling, but the spy broke through the plasterboard and fired two pistols at her.

Gwen fought James Bond, whose Extremis Virus gave her immense heat and rapid regeneration, while Wang Khan watched and warned Gwen about the danger of close combat. After James Bond’s identity as Natasha Romanoff was revealed, she recognized Wang Khan and charged at him in a blazing attack.

• Gwen dodged James Bond’s ceramic bullets and used metal from the rooftop to pin her, but James Bond tore off her hand to escape as the Extremis Virus heated her arm.
• Gwen and Wang Khan discussed the virus’s strength, and Gwen insisted on fighting James Bond herself.
• James Bond’s hand regenerated, and she charged through Gwen’s metal arrows, melting them with her flames and punching a hole through the wall.
• Gwen slammed a metal ball into James Bond, caving in her chest, but James Bond regenerated as the sprinklers extinguished the flames.
• Wang Khan recognized the woman as Black Widow, and Red Queen identified her as Natasha Romanoff, likely taken by Hydra.
• Natasha recognized Wang Khan, blamed him for her suffering, and attacked him as a human bomb.

Wang Khan stopped Natasha from self-destructing with a vacuum field created using the Space Stone, then examined her Extremis Virus infection. Natasha’s condition linked Killian and A.I.M. to Hydra, and Wang Khan planned to investigate the conspiracy.

• Wang Khan enclosed Natasha in a vacuum barrier, extinguishing the flames inside her and knocking her unconscious.
• Wang Khan explained that his Space Stone research had let him create vacuum fields and Energy Cannons, though he still could not teleport.
• Wang Khan carried Natasha to Laboratory Zero and described how the Extremis Virus spread regenerative power through the body while risking self-destruction.
• When Natasha’s temperature rose again, Wang Khan sedated her and inferred that keeping her brain dormant could suppress the virus.
• Wang Khan and Gwen concluded that Hydra had likely abducted Natasha and that Killian’s A.I.M. was tied to the Extremis project; Wang Khan decided to investigate.

Wang Khan stabilized Natasha’s Extremis Virus and revealed that he intended to make her his ally rather than kill her. Gwen agreed to monitor A.I.M. and obtain its research materials and the virus’s inventor, while Wang Khan waited to see what Ross would do.

• Natasha woke in a culture tank and discovered that Wang Khan had removed her mechanical eye and the bomb in her head, while Red Queen had blocked the building’s network signals.
• Wang Khan argued that Nick Fury had abandoned Natasha, and she blamed Wang Khan for her suffering and threatened to kill him.
• Natasha tried to self-destruct, but Wang Khan used a targeted drug to stop her Extremis Virus from overheating.
• Wang Khan promised Natasha a better future as his comrade, and she passed out from the drug’s effects.
• Gwen proposed monitoring Hydra’s A.I.M. personnel, and Wang Khan tasked her with acquiring A.I.M.’s Extremis research and its inventor.

Wang Khan captured Maya Hansen and revealed to her that he was Shockwave Man, then began transforming both her and Natasha with his research. He restored Natasha’s missing eye and left Maya’s evolution underway.

• Gwen’s surveillance uncovered AIM’s Extremis experiments, and Inhumans intercepted Maya Hansen as she sought Tony Stark.
• Wang Khan welcomed Maya to Laboratory Zero, where she recognized him as Shockwave Man after seeing the Golden Eagle Cataclysmic Beast.
• Wang Khan injected Maya with two syringes, and Natasha awoke to watch her convulse in pain.
• Wang Khan activated Natasha’s Extremis Virus, restoring her right eye, then crushed the mechanical eye that had contained a bomb.
• Maya stopped struggling as her body swelled and her skin turned green.

Wang Khan subdued Maya Hansen and gained access to her Extremis Virus research, while Killian escalated his plans by kidnapping Pepper Potts and Colonel Rhodes. Tony found evidence of a fire-controlling superhuman at Pepper’s ambush site, and Rhodes’s captor was revealed as a flame-wreathed blonde woman.

• Wang Khan used the Space Stone to stop Maya Hansen’s attack, then controlled her with Hive parasites and helped her master her new Hulk-like strength and flight.
• Maya Hansen pledged herself to Wang Khan, revealed Killian’s plans to target Tony Stark, and urged Natasha to join him.
• After Maya disappeared, Killian accelerated his plan and targeted Pepper Potts.
• Tony rushed to Pepper’s ambush site, found her bodyguards dead and her car damaged, and discovered signs of immense strength and high-temperature burns.
• Killian’s forces also abducted Colonel Rhodes, leaving the Iron Patriot wrecked beside a blonde woman surrounded by flames.

Tony defeated Killian’s plot, rescuing President Ellis and exposing A.I.M.’s Extremis Soldiers, while Ross’s attempt to use the program against Umbrella Corporation collapsed. After Ross was demoted and the program shut down, a man claiming to represent New York’s Old Guard offered him a new way to bring Umbrella down.

• Ross learned that the Extremis Virus remained unstable and ordered his subordinate to help A.I.M. solve its problems, even if that meant obtaining experimental subjects abroad.
• Ross received news that President Ellis had been kidnapped aboard Air Force One, then learned the kidnappers had used the Iron Patriot and that Rhodey was missing.
• Videos of the Iron Legion fighting Extremis Soldiers led Ross to realize that A.I.M. was working for the Mandarin, and the truth about Killian’s scheme came to light.
• Tony defeated Killian, while Rhodey rescued President Ellis; Killian’s death and the arrests of the vice president and others exposed the conspiracy.
• Ross was demoted and the Extremis Soldier Program was shut down, leaving him to drink alone in a bar.
• A middle-aged man introduced himself as part of New York’s Old Guard and offered to help Ross bring down Umbrella Corporation.

Ross agreed to help New York’s Old Guard sabotage Mars Armor sales and obstruct New York’s reconstruction, then a news report showed Mars Armor causing a massacre at a military base. Meanwhile, Umbrella Corporation emerged from the Iron Man 3 crisis with new Extremis breakthroughs, but the footage threatened its reputation and operations.

• A New York Old Guard representative asked Ross to disrupt Mars Armor sales and construction supplies using an insider’s access, and Ross accepted the plan despite its cost to the military and New York residents.
• The Iron Man 3 conflict ended with Tony losing at least twenty suits and racing to cure Pepper Potts, while Umbrella Corporation gained Maya Hansen and Natasha.
• Wang Khan and Maya resolved the Extremis Virus’s self-detonation problem, and Wang Khan modified it to support Inhuman awakening.
• Ross’s move surfaced as news footage of a Mars Armor malfunction showed it firing on soldiers at a military base and destroying a nearby warship.
• A news host demanded that Umbrella Corporation explain how its flagship weapon had caused the destruction.

After the Mars Armor disaster sparked attacks on Umbrella Corporation, Wang Khan and Gwen clashed with the US government over its demands and export restrictions. A federal team tried to arrest Wang Khan, triggering a violent standoff that President Ellis interrupted by calling in.

• News reports blamed Umbrella Corporation for the Mars Armor rampage, and Gwen learned the military had destroyed the armor and its evidence.
• Wang Khan refused to surrender the Mars Armor source code, so Gwen pursued sales to foreign countries after the US military suspended its purchase contract.
• The Department of Commerce blocked Umbrella Corporation’s export plans, and an FBI-CIA strike team entered headquarters to arrest Wang Khan.
• Wang Khan resisted the agents, Gwen shot two fingers off a female agent, and Umbrella’s Mars Warriors and federal forces faced off.
• Wang Khan beat the agents in hand-to-hand combat, while Umbrella’s forces mobilized and a pilot destroyed a law-enforcement helicopter with a missile.
• President Ellis’s voice came through as the standoff threatened to turn into a full-scale battle.

Wang Khan forced President Ellis’s agents to withdraw from Umbrella Corporation’s headquarters and ordered New York closed to anyone without an Umbrella pass. Ellis then authorized Ross to target Wang Khan covertly and isolate the corporation through public opinion.

• Wang Khan confronted Ellis over the raid and threatened to use Justice Gundam if the enforcement team did not leave.
• Umbrella’s systems disabled the enforcement team’s Mars Armor, and Ellis ordered his agents to retreat before Wang Khan’s deadline expired.
• Wang Khan ordered Umbrella to deny entry to New York without a pass and told his employees to eliminate anyone who forced their way in.
• Gwen suspected Ross and New York’s remaining forces had helped provoke the confrontation, while Wang Khan warned that continued interference could destroy America’s status as the world’s leading military power.
• Ellis told Ross to act against Wang Khan without leaving evidence and to use public opinion to isolate Umbrella Corporation.

Ellis and New York’s Old Guard used media pressure, supply cutoffs, and an export ban to undermine Wang Khan’s control of reconstruction and Mars Armor. Wang Khan prepared to strike at U.S. military bases worldwide and chose Gwen, now calling herself Silk, to join the fight.

• Ellis supported a media campaign against Umbrella Corporation and told his brother-in-law he would let the Old Guard proceed.
• Wang Khan learned that building-material suppliers had coordinated to stop deliveries and that customs had blocked Mars Armor exports.
• Wang Khan decided to use his Extremis Calamity Beasts and Mars Armor intelligence to attack U.S. military forces and bases.
• Wang Khan recruited Gwen as Silk, and she eagerly accepted the chance to join him.
• Wang Khan took out a fiery red injection to enhance Gwen’s strength.

Wang Khan and Gwen attacked a U.S. military base with ten Calamity Tigers, destroying its weapons and killing its soldiers after discovering its Mars Armor had been stripped of parts. They left for another base in the region, with the Tigers returned to kitten form.

• Wang Khan sent a metal box of ten kittens toward the base, and Gwen used Metal Control to guide it past the anti-aircraft fire.
• The kittens emerged and transformed into giant Calamity Tigers, which killed the officer and began destroying tanks and other military equipment.
• The base activated ten incomplete sets of Mars Armor, which Wang Khan realized had likely been stripped of parts and sold on the black market.
• The Calamity Tigers defeated the Mars Warriors and destroyed the base's important facilities and heavy weapons, while captured desert people survived.
• Gwen called the Tigers back in kitten form, and the Golden Eagle carried Wang Khan and Gwen toward another U.S. military base.

Ellis and the US military faced devastating Calamity Beast attacks on bases in Desert Nation and Japan. The chapter left the United States reeling after the beasts destroyed an aircraft carrier, while the Japanese base lacked Mars Armor because of Ellis’s own delay.

• Ellis rejected compromise with Wang Khan and expected the military to seize Umbrella Corporation’s technology.
• The Defense Minister told Ellis that Calamity Beasts had destroyed three US bases in Desert Nation and killed over ten thousand soldiers.
• At a US base in Island country, Calamity Tigers healed from artillery wounds, breathed fire, and destroyed an Osprey helicopter.
• Ellis learned that at least fifty Calamity Beasts were attacking US forces in Japan and suspected Shockwave Man had obtained the Extremis Virus from Dr. Maya Hansen.
• Nearly twenty Calamity Tigers boarded a US aircraft carrier, wrecked its fighters, and sank it while the base’s Mars Warriors could not respond because it had not received Mars Armor.

After the Calamity Tiger destroyed the US base in Japan, Ellis ordered a missile strike on Shockwave Man, who was heading toward the United States. The missile and Shockwave Man vanished from radar, leaving the White House fearing he had seized control of it and might attack them.

• After the carrier sank and the Calamity Tiger withdrew, Okinawa residents celebrated the destruction of the US base.
• Ellis recalled senior officers and ordered US radar and satellites to locate Shockwave Man.
• When radar found Shockwave Man heading for the East Coast, Ellis ordered an Intercontinental missile launched against him.
• As the missile neared its target, radar lost both Shockwave Man and the missile.
• The FBI director warned Ellis that Shockwave Man could use Metal Control to commandeer the missile, and Ellis panicked.

Wang Khan rode a hijacked Intercontinental missile toward the Atlantic Fleet while Gwen headed south, and Red Queen prevented the military from remotely detonating it. As the White House struggled to stop him, the president agreed to summon the Avengers, including Tony Stark and Nick Fury.

• Wang Khan used his Metal Control ability to ride the Intercontinental missile and had Red Queen's bracelet terminal disable its detonation program.
• Wang Khan and Gwen split up, with Gwen flying south on the Golden Eagle and Wang Khan heading north toward the Atlantic Fleet.
• The White House spotted Wang Khan again, and drone footage confirmed that he was controlling the missile.
• Ellis and the generals argued over how to stop Wang Khan, then agreed to contact the Avengers when they could not control the missile remotely.
• The chapter described the Avengers' divided factions and Captain America's distant relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D. before noting that he had answered its call.

Tony, Banner, Captain America, Hawkeye, and Skye confronted Wang Khan as he rode an intercontinental missile toward the Atlantic Fleet. The Avengers damaged the missile through coordinated attacks, but Wang Khan used Metal Control to repair it and restart its boosters.

• Tony and Banner joined Nick Fury's team to stop Wang Khan, while Captain America, Hawkeye, Skye, and Coulson assembled for the mission.
• Tony briefed the team and gave Hawkeye and Skye flight packs, explaining that Skye needed to destroy the missile's protective components and detonator.
• Wang Khan learned Gwen would need an hour to reach him and accelerated the missile as he summoned a storm to meet the Avengers.
• Tony attacked Wang Khan with his shoulder cannon while Hawkeye used smoke-bomb arrows; Skye damaged the missile's shell and internal components.
• Wang Khan repelled Tony with a Quake-powered air cannon, then repaired the missile with Metal Control and restarted its boosters.

Wang Khan used his Quake abilities to attack the Avengers while explaining how Inhuman powers could advance technology, making Skye question her training at S.H.I.E.L.D. As the fight continued beside the repaired missile heading for the Atlantic Fleet, Ross urged President Ellis to launch more missiles and kill both Wang Khan and the Avengers.

• Wang Khan argued that Skye had been trained only to fight and that Inhumans could use their abilities for science and technology, while Tony urged her to focus on the battle.
• Wang Khan expanded his Quake Force Field into a wide Quake Domain, incapacitating Hawkeye and Captain America while Tony and Skye resisted the vibrations.
• Skye protected herself with a Quake Force Field and attacked Wang Khan as Tony struck him with an energy blade, but Wang Khan repelled the attack and criticized Tony's technology.
• Tony and Skye failed to destroy the repaired missile as it continued toward the Atlantic Fleet, and they fought Wang Khan while flying alongside it.
• As the missile's countdown continued in the White House operations room, Ross urged President Ellis to launch another wave of missiles and eliminate Wang Khan and the Avengers.

Ellis ordered the Atlantic Fleet to attack Shockwave Man with missiles, but Wang Khan survived the barrage through the Space Stone’s power. Tony and Skye were badly injured, and Wang Khan urged Tony to retaliate against the White House as he headed for the fleet.

• Ross persuaded Ellis that the Avengers could become a threat and urged him to strike Shockwave Man before the opportunity passed.
• Ellis ordered the Atlantic Squadron to fire conventional weapons at Wang Khan, and Tony grabbed Skye and fled as Jarvis warned him of the attack.
• The missile barrage injured Skye and Tony, but Wang Khan emerged from the explosions unharmed under the protection of his power.
• Wang Khan found Tony and Skye in a crater, disabled Tony’s damaged repulsors, and challenged him to attack the White House.
• The White House lost its drones and radar trail as Ellis realized Wang Khan was heading for the Atlantic Fleet.

Shockwave Man destroyed the Atlantic Fleet, while a woman leading a force of Calamity Beasts attacked the Pacific Fleet. As Ellis ordered every available force to defend it, Wang Khan refused his demand to send Justice Gundam.

• Shockwave Man devastated the Atlantic Fleet, destroying all five aircraft carriers and its warships while sparing soldiers who surrendered or fled.
• Ellis raised the bounty on Shockwave Man to ten billion dollars and ordered Mars Warriors to prepare the Pacific Fleet’s defenses under Ross.
• A woman riding a Golden Eagle appeared above the Pacific Fleet with about a hundred Calamity Beasts and began attacking.
• Ellis ordered all armed forces to support the Pacific Fleet and demanded that Wang Khan deploy Justice Gundam.
• Wang Khan rejected Ellis’s demand with a profane insult.

Gwen used her metal-control ability to devastate the Pacific Fleet while Ross’s forces tried to escape, and Wang Khan told her not to expose Umbrella Corporation’s connection to the battle. The chapter ended with Gwen crushing another aircraft carrier into a massive metal sphere.

• Ellis ordered Ross to hold the six aircraft carriers after Wang Khan insulted him.
• Gwen turned the fleet’s shells and missiles against its ships, while Ross ordered a retreat and fled aboard an aircraft carrier.
• Gwen told Wang Khan that the Calamity Beasts were suffering heavy losses, and he said they were expendable and warned her not to reveal Umbrella Corporation’s involvement.
• Gwen boosted her powers with the Extremis Virus and formed a huge sphere from metal wreckage.
• Gwen smashed an aircraft carrier with the sphere and crushed those still aboard.