Chapter Summaries

Hawk interrogated Dr. Merrick about his God-given mission, then killed him and sent his soul to the Underworld. As Hawk wondered why God had not appeared, four mysterious sea-dwellers attacked him, and he discovered they could not breathe in the air.

• Hawk questioned Dr. Merrick about the Red Apple, his cloning experiments, and his belief that Hawk was the archangel Samael.
• Merrick explained that he had cloned and killed Hawk to cleanse souls and prepare them for God’s return, but he did not know where Sutrick was.
• Hawk killed Merrick with a Phoenix Ray and sent his soul to the Underworld, where Anna was holding the Red Apple.
• Hawk concluded that God was using Merrick and the souls to infiltrate Hell and target him, but God did not appear.
• Four blue-gray, web-fingered mermaids leaped from the sea and accused Hawk of murdering their people.
• Hawk grabbed one mermaid and realized she and the others could not breathe as they pleaded for air.

Hawk Phoenix battled Namor McKenzie, the king of Talokan, after Namor attacked him to avenge Wakanda and protect his wife, Shuri. Their clash triggered energy readings that brought S.H.I.E.L.D. to the North Pacific, where its satellite began showing the fight.

• Hawk freed himself from the speedboat as Namor erupted from the sea, retrieved his trident, and identified himself as the king of Talokan.
• Hawk recognized Namor as the Marvel King of the Sea and learned that Shuri had survived Wakanda's destruction and married Namor.
• Namor accused Hawk of killing Shuri's family, and Hawk challenged him to hand over Shuri or risk the destruction of Talokan.
• Namor demanded that Hawk kneel for Wakanda, then charged at him with his trident; Hawk struck back, and their blows created a huge crater and walls of water.
• S.H.I.E.L.D.'s satellite detected the battle's intense energy, and Commander Victoria Hand and Director Maria Hill watched as the North Pacific appeared on the screen.

Hawk fought Namor across the ocean and struck his hidden weakness, sending him unconscious into the seabed. A giant deep-sea octopus attacked Hawk as S.H.I.E.L.D. watched the ocean in suspense until dawn.

• S.H.I.E.L.D. Commander Victoria Hand and S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Maria Hill watched satellite footage of Hawk fighting Namor in a crater surrounded by seawater.
• Namor flooded the crater and attacked Hawk with a massive pillar of water, but Hawk dodged and warned Namor that he would destroy his kingdom.
• Hawk knocked Namor away from the Nemo Trident and raced him to recover it, spotting a dull patch of scales near Namor's hip.
• Hawk struck Namor's weakness underwater, and Namor fell unconscious into the seabed with his trident.
• A gigantic deep-sea octopus attacked Hawk while Maria Hill, Victoria Hand, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents watched the ocean until dawn.

Hawk defeated a colossal octopus but Namor escaped through an undersea fissure, leaving him badly injured by Phoenix Fire. He told Sharon Carter that Namor ruled Talokan, the renamed Atlantis, and revealed that the undersea kingdom held Vibranium and a herb that let its people breathe underwater.

• A colossal octopus erupted from the sea, and Hawk killed it after Namor escaped beneath the seafloor.
• Hawk joined Sharon Carter aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. speedboat, put on a replacement S.H.I.E.L.D. shirt, and learned she had helped Gwen arrange matching shirts.
• Hawk told Sharon that the merman was Namor McKenzie, king of Talokan, and explained that Talokan was the successor to Atlantis.
• Hawk said Namor had escaped but was critically injured and would suffer from Phoenix Fire for at least a year.
• Hawk revealed that Talokan had Vibranium and an underwater-breathing herb, and offered to help the Five Benevolent Ones claim them.

Hawk planned to use the Five Benevolent Ones to locate Talokan and destroy it, then explained to Sharon how Merrick’s clone gained a soul and revealed that the Dimension War involved Heaven and Hell. Sharon asked him to explain what those realms really were, and Hawk began with the birth of Earth.

• Hawk decided to have the Five Benevolent Ones search for Talokan by telling them about its Vibranium and underwater-adaptation herb, and Sharon reported the discovery to Director Hill and Commander Hand.
• Hawk told Sharon that Merrick was dead and that the captured Merrick had been a clone whose consciousness came from a bitten apple he identified as the Fruit of Wisdom.
• Sharon planned to check the Sandbox intake records for the apple, and Hawk told her to burn the clones found after the Molokai Island explosion, confirming that the Cloning Crisis was over.
• Sharon asked about Hawk’s earlier claim that the clone was connected to the Dimension War, and Hawk warned her that the truth might challenge her faith.
• Hawk revealed that the war was between the Heaven Dimension and the Hell Dimension, and Sharon asked him to explain, prompting him to begin with the birth of Earth.

Hawk told Sharon that Jehovah had returned to reclaim Earth, causing her faith to collapse as she chose world peace and asked how S.H.I.E.L.D. could help. In the Frozen Underworld, Hawk offered Alexander Pierce freedom in exchange for Anna’s location, but Pierce refused and Hawk gave him one final chance.

• Hawk explained to Sharon that Jehovah’s return and the red apples were part of a plan to defeat Mephisto, seize Hell, and reclaim Earth.
• Sharon accepted that God might destroy Earth and chose to support world peace, while Hawk told her the war was his responsibility.
• Hawk flew to New York City and entered the Frozen Underworld, where Merrick angrily accused him of betraying God.
• Hawk blasted Merrick away and stopped Alexander Pierce, who said he had died 13,500 times in the Frozen Underworld.
• Hawk offered to pardon Pierce if he revealed where he had imprisoned Anna, but Pierce refused to leave.
• Hawk reminded Pierce that this was his last chance to reveal Anna’s location because Hawk missed his friend.

Hawk returned to New York and reunited with Gwen, who learned that Dr. Merrick and his clone had been dealt with. Hawk suspected Wolfgang von Strucker was holding Anna and planning something with Hawk’s blood, but he resolved to wait for Strucker to reveal himself before visiting Gwen’s parents with their gifts.

• Hawk returned to New York, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents guarding 521A Palm Street quietly left as Gwen greeted him in the garden.
• Hawk told Gwen that Dr. Merrick and his clone had been dealt with, but Alexander Pierce had refused to reveal where Anna was imprisoned.
• Hawk suspected Wolfgang von Strucker had another plan involving Hawk and was holding Anna, though Merrick had denied working with him.
• Gwen and Hawk considered what Strucker could do with Hawk’s blood, but neither could identify a threat beyond cloning or biological weapons.
• Hawk explained that he had spared Alexander Pierce’s soul because he wanted to catch Strucker, and vowed that Strucker would die horribly if Hawk found him.
• Gwen reminded Hawk that they needed to visit her parents with the gifts they had brought back.

Hawk and Gwen visited Gwen’s family after she lied about why he missed his flight, and they negotiated over the revealing outfits she had bought him. The evening ended with George urging Hawk to get a medical examination, leaving Gwen to realize her father had misunderstood Hawk’s excuse.

• Gwen convinced Hawk to blame her for missing his flight, bargaining with him by offering to wear the nurse and female cop outfits he had bought.
• Hawk and Gwen arrived at the Stacy home, where Helen welcomed them and George greeted Hawk sternly before warming up to Gwen.
• Helen took Gwen upstairs after Hawk claimed Gwen wanted six children for Helen to help raise, while Hawk was left alone with George.
• George gave Hawk Dr. Mary’s card and urged him to get a physical examination, apparently believing Hawk’s diarrhea excuse indicated a health problem.
• On the drive home, Gwen learned George had arranged the examination and agreed to wear the female cop outfit, then asked when Hawk would get his physical.

Hawk focused on finding a law internship while Gwen prepared for a special doctoral defense based on her limb-regeneration research. Gwen earned her doctorate, and Hawk and Gwen visited Peter and Felicia after they welcomed their baby.

• Hawk avoided getting a physical and searched for a law firm internship while Gwen prepared for her doctoral qualifying defense.
• Gwen explained that her joint research with Helen Zhao had successfully combined her regeneration theory with Curtis Connors's work, earning her a chance to defend her research before a special committee.
• After Gwen teased Hawk about being called Mister rather than Doctor, he texted his academic advisor and decided to pursue a doctorate himself.
• On March 24, 2015, Gwen received her Doctor of Philosophy degree for her research on mammalian limb regeneration using arthropod genetic templates.
• Hawk and Gwen drove to St. Sins Private Hospital to congratulate Peter and Felicia, who had safely welcomed their baby after Felicia carried the child two months past the expected due date.

Felicia gave birth to Peter’s son, Ben Hawk Parker, and Peter asked Hawk to be his Godfather. After arranging the baptism, Hawk was interrupted while considering a gift when Helen called with news that George had been shot and was being treated at the hospital.

• Felicia gave birth to a son, and Peter named him Ben after Uncle Ben.
• Felicia revealed that Peter wanted Hawk to be Ben Hawk Parker’s Godfather, and Hawk accepted.
• Hawk and Gwen left the hospital, then arranged Ben’s baptism at St. Mark’s Church for April 25th.
• Hawk began thinking about a gift for his godson, but Helen called Gwen and said George had been shot and was being treated at the hospital.

After George Stacy was shot and rushed into emergency surgery, Hawk learned from Detective Mahoney that George may have been lured to the scene by an informant connected to a case he had secretly kept investigating. Hawk decided to search George’s study for clues while Mahoney worked to secure the 21st Precinct’s involvement.

• Hawk and Gwen arrived at New Amsterdam Hospital, where Helen told Gwen that George was being resuscitated.
• Hail explained that George and two 12th Precinct patrol officers had been shot at a parking garage, and the two officers had died.
• Hawk called Detective Mahoney, who said George had canceled his morning schedule and had been privately investigating a case that was supposedly closed.
• Mahoney told Hawk that George had recently arranged to meet an informant who claimed to know the truth behind the case.
• Hawk suggested that the informant may have set George up and decided to search George’s study for information.

After George was seriously injured and taken into surgery, Hawk reassured Gwen that George would survive, and the operation succeeded. George remained unconscious but stable in the hospital, while Gwen and Hawk arranged support for Helen and their younger brothers.

• Hawk told Gwen that George's Nirvana Phoenix Feather could revive him if he died, but he believed George would not need it.
• Hawk reassured Gwen that George's soul fell under the Underworld's protection, and promised that George would be okay.
• The surgeon announced that George's operation had succeeded, though he needed close monitoring for the next twenty-four hours.
• Helen stayed beside George in the VIP ward while Detective Hail left to help the joint investigation into the shooting.
• Gwen and Hawk brought food to Helen, told her that Howard and Simon had been fed, and agreed to return that evening with dinner.

Hawk and Gwen searched George’s locked study for clues about his shooting and uncovered his secret investigation into reporter Ottos’s murder. They found a hidden safe containing family valuables, a gun, and a case file, leaving George’s connection to the case unresolved.

• Hawk and Gwen returned to the apartment, reassured Howard and Simon that George was okay, and promised to take them to the hospital after dinner.
• Gwen discovered that George had locked his study, and she and Hawk searched it for clues.
• Hawk found a note marked “BU” with a 9:30 a.m. timestamp, which he linked to George’s shooting five minutes later.
• Hawk found a hidden safe behind the bookcase, and Gwen opened it with her birthday as the combination.
• Hawk and Gwen found a case file about Ottos, the reporter who had been burned to death on a cross, and realized George had been investigating the murder in secret.

Hawk reviewed the case files on reporter Matos’s murder and agreed to let George handle the investigation according to his principles. As Mahoney and Hail pursued the shooter and waited for George to wake, Hawk suddenly announced that Helen had achieved Nirvana.

• Hawk learned that George had secretly investigated the Crimson Apocalypse after a suspect confessed to Matos’s murder and the case was closed under pressure.
• Hawk offered to kill Elani, but Gwen refused because the case belonged to George and he should be the one to finish it.
• Hawk, Gwen, Howard, and Simon visited George in the hospital, where Helen praised Gwen’s cooking and teased the couple about their future children.
• Mahoney and Hail told Hawk and Gwen that the suspected shooter, Ethan Thomson, had been found dead by apparent suicide, while the meaning of the initials BU remained unknown.
• Gwen said George would likely wake the next day and identify BU, and that Hawk could act if the suspect fled.
• About an hour after Hawk and Gwen went to bed, Hawk stopped and told Gwen that Helen had achieved Nirvana.

Helen Stacy and George survived the hospital shooting through supernatural resurrection, but George entered a vampire transition after being revived by vampire blood. Hawk and Gwen tried to determine how George had been exposed and how to keep him alive, while George unknowingly received a blood transfusion.

• Helen Stacy died in the shooting, then Anya's Fire Phoenix power revived her through Nirvana in the Underworld.
• Helen woke in the hospital and raised the alarm, while Hail found Mahoney and two officers wounded outside the room.
• George woke as Gwen and Helen reunited with him, and Hawk suspected his survival had begun a vampire transition.
• Hawk called Katherine for a Sunlight Ring and explained to Gwen that George needed blood within twenty-four hours or he would die.
• George tried to leave the bed to check on Mahoney, but Hawk noticed that a blood bag was already transfusing blood into him.

George learned that the transfusion was turning him into a vampire and recalled how a vampire attacked him after he investigated the Crimson Apocalypse cult. After Hawk explained the vampires’ plan to make George their police chief, George crushed Ben Urich’s phone with his new strength, and the hospital monitor showed a flat line despite George still sitting upright.

• Gwen pulled the blood bag from George’s arm, but the transfusion had already begun turning him into a vampire.
• George learned from Gwen and Hawk that he was being transformed and recalled being shot by a vampire who forced blood into his mouth.
• George explained that his mentor, Ben Urich, had warned him the Crimson Apocalypse cult served New York’s vampires and that vampire thralls were inside the police department.
• George revealed that Ben had arranged to meet him after warning him to stop investigating the cult, and Hawk concluded the vampires had turned George to silence or recruit him.
• Ben called George, but George accidentally crushed the phone in his hand, and the heart monitor displayed a flat line while he remained upright.

George became a vampire after surviving his heart stopping, but Gwen gave him a Sunlight Ring that restored his heartbeat and let him hide his vampirism. A vampire organization threatened Ben Urich and demanded George close the case surrounding Helen’s death, while Helen returned alive with a bullet hole in her coat and no memory of how she had survived.

• George’s heart stopped, and he realized he had become a vampire; Gwen welcomed Katherine Pierce, who brought a Sunlight Ring that restored George’s heartbeat and normal body temperature.
• Hawk told Gwen they would withdraw Howard and Simon from school and warned George he would not take responsibility for George’s family, prompting George to reassure Gwen that he would not leave her and Helen.
• A caller claiming to be a vampire told George that Ben Urich was in their custody and demanded that George personally close the case of Helen’s death before they would meet.
• George agreed to the demand and crushed the phone, then Helen returned and revealed that she had been shot and died but had somehow come back to life.

Helen returned to life after being shot and told her family she had seen Anya in Heaven, but George and Gwen kept her supposed death secret to draw out the vampires. At Helen’s funeral, a vampire contacted George, promised information about Ben, and directed him to a vampire gathering place that night.

• Helen told George, Gwen, and Hawk that she had died and been resurrected, and that she had seen Anya in what she believed was Heaven.
• George and Gwen told Helen to remain officially dead while they pursued the vampires, and Hawk agreed not to intervene unless Gwen asked him to.
• Detective Hail saw Mahoney awake and recovered, then left the hospital with a female officer after learning what had happened.
• George and Gwen staged Helen’s funeral, keeping Howard and Simon unaware that their mother was alive.
• After the funeral, a vampire called George, acknowledged his new powers and hunger for blood, and sent him to Hudson Meat Processing Plant to receive a meeting gift and learn about Ben.
• Hawk learned from Katherine that Hudson Meat Processing Plant was a vampire gathering place associated with Deacon Frost and Crimson Apocalypse.

Gwen and Hawk secretly followed George to a vampire gathering beneath Hudson Meat Processing Plant after a vampire invited George to receive a gift. George entered a private room and was confronted by a seductive vampire, while Hawk and Gwen watched unseen.

• Hawk told Gwen that a vampire had invited George to Hudson Meat Processing Plant at eleven that night, and Gwen asked Hawk to take her there.
• Hawk used the Reality Stone to hide himself, Gwen, and their car as George arrived and entered the plant.
• A bald vampire led George through the processing floor and down a staircase to a crowded underground vampire club, with Hawk and Gwen following unseen.
• A bearded vampire bar owner escorted George to a private room and said he was following someone else's orders.
• A female vampire entered the room, smiled at George, and began removing his pants as Hawk and Gwen watched.

Hawk held Gwen back while George refused the vampires’ attempt to coerce him into accepting a new wife, until they threatened Ben Urich. As the bearded vampire prepared to record George with the female vampire, Gwen agreed to Hawk’s price of two months of daily uniforms for his intervention.

• Gwen tried to rush to George, but Hawk stopped her and demanded a month of different uniforms in exchange for staying out of it.
• George rejected the bearded Black man’s offer of the female vampire, Aaliyah, as a new wife.
• The bearded Black man revealed that Ben Urich was tied above the dance floor and repeatedly lowered him toward the waiting vampires to pressure George.
• George sat back down and remained defiant as the bearded Black man insulted his wife and threatened to make him their dog.
• Gwen agreed to Hawk’s demand for two months of different uniforms as the female vampire began pulling down George’s pants.