Recaps

Nick Fury briefed the Avengers that Loki had taken control of the vice president and much of the U.S. government, using the Mind Scepter to threaten humanity. Thor agreed not to pursue Loki alone, and the team realized Loki could command the country’s military and weapons.

• Nick Fury warned Thor not to chase Loki alone, and Thor accepted that Loki had become too powerful to face by himself.
• Nick Fury projected Evans and identified him as Loki, prompting the team to recognize the danger of a villain occupying the presidency.
• Tony Stark connected Loki to politicians targeting He-El’s New Energy City and seeking sanctions against him.
• Nick Fury revealed that Loki controlled more than five hundred politicians and forty active military generals, shocking the Avengers.
• Bruce Banner realized Loki could control the country’s weapons, including nuclear bombs, and Thor explained that the Mind Scepter let Loki manipulate people’s minds.

Nick Fury and the team planned to lure Loki away from the Oval Office with the Cosmic Cube and capture him before he could trigger a nuclear war. As Fury prepared to explain the plan, Hill reported that the vice president was coming to inspect S.H.I.E.L.D.

• Steve Rogers suggested taking Loki’s Mind Scepter, and Thor warned that Loki’s psychic attacks made approaching him dangerous.
• Nick Fury presented Psychic Defense Devices based on information from He-El; Tony Stark declined one because his armor already had psychic defenses.
• Steve Rogers began preparing the team for an assault, but Nick Fury explained that Loki’s invisibility and duplicates made stealing the scepter too risky.
• Thor realized Loki’s true target was the Cosmic Cube, and Nick Fury confirmed that S.H.I.E.L.D. had kept it to draw Loki out.
• Steve Rogers agreed with the plan to lure Loki away from the Oval Office and capture him, but Hill interrupted to report that the vice president was preparing to inspect S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick Fury welcomed Evans to S.H.I.E.L.D. for an inspection, unaware that Loki was disguised as the vice president. Steve Rogers and Thor could not detect flaws in Loki’s impersonation, while Tony Stark trusted the trap they had prepared.

• Nick Fury’s armed guards searched him and removed a large collection of spy gear before he greeted Evans.
• Evans explained that security had increased since the president’s assassination and thanked Nick Fury for understanding.
• Nick Fury welcomed Evans’s inspection, hoping it would ease suspicions about Hydra’s lingering presence in S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Steve Rogers and Thor watched Evans from a balcony but could not identify any flaws in Loki’s disguise or behavior.
• Tony Stark told Steve Rogers and Thor to trust the trap and called them back as it was about to begin.

Nick Fury led President Evans toward the Cosmic Cube as part of a plan to lure Loki into a trap. The Avengers prepared to ambush him from above, but the chapter ended just as Evans and Nick entered the hall.

• Evans asked Nick Fury about He-El's Helicarrier, his injuries, and the NASA West District incident, and Nick answered with a cover story.
• Evans asked to see the object the enemy wanted, and Nick agreed to lead him toward the trap.
• Tony Stark and the Avengers prepared their equipment and positions around Mjolnir, planning to use Thor's lightning to reveal Loki and prevent his escape.
• Steve Rogers, Hawkeye, and Natasha remarked that the plan had gone suspiciously smoothly, while Thor said he intended to break Loki's legs and take him back to Asgard.
• Nick led Evans into the hall, where they saw the Cosmic Cube.

Nick Fury exposed Evans as Loki by electrifying him, but the attack failed to break his disguise. Thor then crushed Evans’s right leg, and the chapter ended with Loki still appearing as Evans.

• Nick Fury brought Evans into the room to see the Cosmic Cube and watched him react to it.
• Thor used Mjolnir to send lightning through the arc amplifier, striking the guards and Evans below.
• Nick Fury recognized the yellow energy in Evans’s eyes as a sign that he was Loki.
• Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha, Hawkeye, and Thor dropped through the ceiling and surrounded Evans.
• Thor swept Evans off his feet and smashed his right leg with Mjolnir, but Loki’s disguise remained intact.

Hill and the control-room team watched the Avengers spring their trap for Evans, but a news report revealed that another Evans was appearing at the Capitol. The chapter ended with Thor maiming the Evans in the trap and Hill rushing to intervene after realizing the trapped man was not Loki.

• Hill adjusted the trap while Bruce Banner studied Mjolnir's potential and Peter Parker watched from the control room.
• The Avengers entered the trap room, and Hill's team watched as they began their operation.
• An agent reported that Vice President Evans was giving an interview at the Capitol, where an angry crowd attacked him before his guards escorted him away.
• Hill realized there were two Evans, but the trap-room team's communicators could not reach Nick Fury.
• Thor tackled the Evans in the trap and smashed his right leg with Mjolnir, but Evans did not turn into Loki.
• Hill cursed and ran from the control room toward the trap room.

The Avengers realized that the Evans Thor had injured was an ordinary person, not Loki, after Hill reported seeing another Evans at the Capitol Building. Nick Fury concluded that Loki had tricked them and warned that the real Evans was about to die.

• Thor smashed the unconscious Evans's right leg, but Evans did not transform back into Loki and instead showed signs of dying from blood loss.
• Tony Stark had JARVIS scan Evans, which found no anomalies and confirmed that his vital signs were rapidly declining.
• Thor raised Mjolnir to strike Evans, but Nick Fury, Hill, and Tony Stark shouted that he was not Loki.
• Hill showed footage of a second Evans giving an interview at the Capitol Building, and Tony Stark blasted Mjolnir away to stop Thor from killing the injured man.
• Nick Fury realized Loki had played them and identified the injured man as the real Evans, who was about to die.

After Thor accidentally blew off Vice President Evans’s leg, S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers struggled to keep him alive. Nick Fury arranged for Tony Stark to retrieve a Regeneration Cradle, then told He-El that they had screwed up.

• Nick Fury ordered Hill to organize emergency treatment for Evans while Natasha tried to stop his bleeding.
• Tony Stark used Iron Man’s freezing rays and repeated defibrillation attempts, but Evans did not respond.
• Thor used Mjolnir’s lightning to restart Evans’s heart and keep him alive temporarily.
• The doctors warned that Evans’s condition was critical and his chance of survival was poor.
• Nick Fury sent Tony to retrieve a Regeneration Cradle from the Medical Rebirth Project and messaged He-El, “we screwed up.”

King T'Chaka and Wakanda's Tribal Council of Elders debated how to handle the Super Technology Group mining Vibranium beyond Wakanda's borders without exposing the country. After T'Chaka shared information about He-El and failed diplomatic efforts, Vivian accused Wakanda of displaying the arrogance of seclusion.

• The Tribal Council of Elders debated whether to reclaim the Vibranium vein beyond Wakanda's borders by force or purchase it from the Super Technology Group.
• The elders warned that conflict or a large Vibranium purchase could expose Wakanda to the outside world.
• T'Chaka asked the elders to review PRIDE's information about He-El and the Super Technology Group's achievements.
• T'Chaka said Wakanda's diplomats had been turned away when they tried to meet the group's founder in New Century City.
• Vivian appeared by projection and said Wakanda had displayed the arrogance of seclusion.

Vivian appeared before Wakanda’s leaders and demanded cooperation with He-El, arguing that their diplomatic approach had insulted her master. She pressed King T’Chaka to discuss Vibranium, threatening to expose Wakanda’s secrets if they refused.

• Wakanda’s elders and King T’Chaka panicked when Vivian appeared, but the Science Research Department and Shuri could find no trace of an intrusion.
• Shuri disconnected Wakanda’s network, yet Vivian’s projection remained, and she said He-El had given her authority over Wakanda and Vibranium as a test of her intelligence.
• Vivian criticized Wakanda for sending diplomats to meet He-El and warned its leaders not to offend her master again.
• T’Chaka denied that Wakanda had anything to cooperate on with the Super Technology Group, while the elders suspected Vivian had come for Vibranium.
• Vivian demanded that Wakanda discuss cooperation and threatened to reveal its true circumstances to the world if it kept refusing.

Vivian took control of Wakanda’s network and weapons to break the Tribal Council of Elders’ confidence before negotiating over Vibranium. T'Chaka and the elders backed down from their threats as T'Challa realized that open hostility could lead to Wakanda’s destruction.

• The Tribal Council of Elders threatened Vivian with war rather than allow her to expose Wakanda.
• Vivian said she would expose Wakanda, and the Technology Department reported that its network and electronic systems had fallen under outside control.
• Unmanned spacecraft and drones filled Wakanda’s skies while the nation’s devices, weapons, and energy systems stopped responding.
• T'Chaka ordered Vivian to stop and demanded to know what she wanted, and Vivian insisted she had come for peaceful cooperation.
• Vivian warned that Wakanda’s hostility over Vibranium could give her grounds to destroy the nation and seize its resources, leaving T'Challa shaken by the possibility.

Vivian persuaded T'Chaka and Wakanda's elders to cooperate with He-El against the alien threat, though her show of force and request for Vibranium provoked their anger. T'Chaka accepted the alliance, offering both Vibranium and military support, and asked to meet He-El.

• Vivian demonstrated that she could control Wakanda's aircraft and devices, then restored them and reassured T'Chaka that the Super Technology Group would not harm Wakanda.
• T'Chaka admitted Wakanda had acted rashly and offered to apologize to He-El in person.
• Vivian explained that He-El had defended Earth from alien attacks and asked Wakanda to supply Vibranium for the coming fight.
• Wakanda's elders angrily rejected the implication that their warriors would hide behind the front lines and vowed to fight invading aliens.
• T'Chaka accepted cooperation with He-El, pledging Vibranium and military support and asking to meet him.

King T'Chaka brought T'Challa and Shuri to New Century City to meet He-El and assess the Super Technology Group's intentions toward Wakanda. He-El promised that Wakanda's vibranium and troops would be used only to defend Earth from aliens, and T'Chaka asked him to let T'Challa stay and learn from him.

• T'Chaka explained that T'Challa needed to learn restraint as Wakanda's future king, while Shuri worried about Vivian's undetected breach of Wakanda's systems.
• T'Chaka, T'Challa, Shuri, and the Dora Milaje toured New Century City and marveled at its advanced inner district and reactor facility.
• The Wakandans met He-El, and T'Challa realized that He-El had built New Century City before apologizing for speaking rudely.
• T'Chaka spoke with He-El about Wakanda's future and heard his promise that vibranium and Wakandan troops would only be used against alien threats.
• T'Chaka asked He-El to allow T'Challa to remain with him and learn from him.

T'Chaka offered for T'Challa to study under He-El, hoping to strengthen Wakanda's ties with him as Earth faced growing threats. He-El accepted and assigned T'Challa to command Wakanda's forces in the S.H.I.E.L.D. special unit fighting the aliens.

• He-El questioned T'Chaka's offer to send T'Challa to study under him, while Princess Shuri realized her father wanted to deepen Wakanda's ties with He-El.
• T'Chaka explained that he trusted He-El and believed Wakanda needed his protection against threats from Earth and beyond.
• He-El warned that T'Challa would face deadly alien battles and asked whether T'Chaka was certain about the arrangement.
• T'Chaka confirmed his decision, and He-El agreed to take T'Challa into the S.H.I.E.L.D. special unit to command Wakanda's forces.
• T'Chaka thanked He-El, stopped Shuri from objecting, and left the administrative palace with T'Challa and Shuri.

He-El prepared Vivian’s new metal body from Kinetic Nth Metal, Vibranium, and Uru Metal, while weighing the danger that Odin’s will might remain hidden in the Uru. After a successful simulation, he planned to retrieve the Mind Scepter from S.H.I.E.L.D. and told Vivian to comfort Helen Cho in his place.

• He-El discarded Vivian’s old body design and ordered a new plan using the Vibranium supplied by Wakanda.
• He-El and Vivian discussed whether Odin’s will might remain concealed in the Uru Metal taken from the Destroyer.
• He-El approved combining Uru Metal with Kinetic Nth Metal and Vibranium, and Vivian simulated a body with a 98% chance of receiving a mind from the Mind Stone.
• He-El ordered the Regeneration Cradle moved to the Helicarrier and said he would retrieve the Mind Scepter from S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Vivian told He-El that Helen Cho was struggling without a direct response, and He-El ordered Vivian to comfort her using his image and voice.

He-El met T'Challa and Wakanda's Warriors, remaining unimpressed by their reliance on traditional close-combat weapons despite their advanced technology. He-El directed them to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, hoping to deal with Loki before an alien invasion began.

• T'Challa and Okoye welcomed He-El at the landing pad, and T'Challa took He-El's briefcase.
• He-El inspected Wakanda's elite Warriors and their weapons, questioning their reliance on spears and shields despite possessing advanced technology and abundant Vibranium.
• T'Challa introduced Wakanda's weapons, equipment, and invasion defenses while He-El toured the spacecraft.
• He-El told T'Challa to fly to the Triskelion Building, and T'Challa agreed that no one wanted war.
• The Wakandan spacecraft turned invisible and headed toward Washington.

Tony Stark detected a hidden spacecraft over Washington and discovered that He-El was aboard. He-El exposed Tony’s humiliating past to the spacecraft’s many passengers, and Tony joined him in the command room.

• Tony Stark’s Biological Mind Detector detected 102 hidden minds, and JARVIS confirmed there was no visible aircraft nearby.
• Tony Stark deployed blue-glowing nano-devices to surround the hidden craft and force it to appear.
• He-El invited Tony aboard, but Tony questioned whether he was really He-El.
• He-El identified himself by mentioning the time Tony had been forced to leave the Super Technology Building naked, embarrassing Tony in front of the passengers.
• Tony recalled his nano-devices, boarded the spacecraft, and was led to the command room to meet He-El.

He-El, Tony Stark, and T'Challa arrived at the Triskelion Building with Wakandan warriors to continue planning against Loki and the U.S. leaders under his control. Nick Fury asked He-El to help stall events, leaving the group to prepare for a dangerous confrontation.

• Tony Stark bragged to He-El about defeating Obadiah and Ivan Vanko with his improved Zero Gravity II armor and promised to send him footage.
• He-El and Tony Stark traded jokes about their inventions and teased each other about who would have to rescue whom while hunting for Loki's real body.
• Nick Fury greeted He-El, Tony Stark, T'Challa, and the Wakandan warriors, then arranged their transport into the Triskelion Building.
• Natasha drove He-El, Tony Stark, T'Challa, and Nick Fury toward the building as they joked about offering her better employee benefits.
• Nick Fury told He-El that he hoped He-El could find a way to stall things for a while.

He-El joined Nick Fury and the Avengers as they prepared to confront Loki, who had taken the Mind Scepter and was impersonating the president. Fury explained how Loki arrived and described the scepter’s mind-shattering attack, leaving the team to assess the danger.

• He-El told Nick Fury that T'Challa and Wakanda’s Warriors would be powerful allies, and the assembled heroes gathered for a briefing.
• Nick Fury explained that the Cosmic Cube had revealed Earth’s coordinates, allowing Loki’s allies to open a wormhole and send him to Earth with the Mind Scepter.
• Fury said He-El had beaten Loki several times before, but the scepter made Loki much harder to fight.
• Fury showed footage of Loki using Mind Blast to knock Thor aside and explained that the attack shattered its target’s will and could leave migraine-like aftereffects.
• Thor confirmed that even he had struggled to withstand the Mind Scepter, while considering that humans were more vulnerable to its lingering effects.

Nick Fury briefed the team on Loki’s abilities and their countermeasures, while He-El explained how he had fought the force controlling Loki. The footage ended with He-El taking a Mind Blast more than ten times stronger than Loki’s ordinary attack head-on.

• Nick Fury explained that Tony Stark’s Psychic Defense Devices might block Loki’s Mind Blast, warned the team to avoid the stronger Pure Energy Shock, and reviewed Loki’s other abilities.
• He-El described how he and Vivian identified Loki’s real body among his duplicates, and agreed to send Tony Stark an algorithm for analyzing Loki’s behavior.
• The team reviewed footage showing He-El overpowering Loki and agreed their goal was to stop Loki from escaping before He-El fought him.
• Nick Fury showed footage of Loki being controlled by a much stronger opponent, while He-El explained that the controller’s refined techniques and duplicates defeated his tracking calculations.
• The controller tricked He-El with duplicates and invisibility, then tried to seize the Cosmic Cube, but He-El resisted and took a powerful Mind Blast head-on.

He-El and the others reviewed how Loki’s controller had escaped and taken over the country’s political and military leadership. They suspected Loki was holding back from starting a nuclear war because he feared attracting Odin’s attention, while the threat remained unresolved.

• He-El assured the team that he had recovered from the Mind Blast and explained that Loki’s controller had escaped using physical duplicates.
• Nick Fury reviewed how Loki’s duplicates entered Washington, changed into hundreds of identities, and vanished from surveillance.
• Fury explained that Loki had impersonated vice president Evans and used the Mind Scepter to control politicians and generals, giving him influence over the country’s upper echelon.
• Steve Rogers warned that Loki’s control could lead to nuclear war, while Hawkeye questioned why Loki had not started one.
• Thor and He-El suspected Loki was avoiding Odin’s attention, and Nick Fury began to offer another possible explanation.

Nick Fury recounted S.H.I.E.L.D.’s failed attempts to trap Loki and explained how Loki had used a physical clone to impersonate Evans. The chapter ended with surveillance footage showing the clone dissolve into yellow Light Points, leaving the team to face the possibility that Loki had been manipulating them throughout.

• Nick Fury explained that the Cosmic Cube remained secure and that Loki had not yet obtained it.
• Nick Fury recalled S.H.I.E.L.D.’s May 11 trap, in which Thor mistook the real Evans for Loki and shattered his right leg.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. placed Evans in He-El’s Regeneration Cradle, and Thor thanked He-El for helping restore him.
• Nick Fury revealed that surveillance had uncovered a second opportunity to target Loki after S.H.I.E.L.D. failed to capture him.
• Nick Fury showed footage of Evans arriving home, smiling at a surveillance camera, and dissolving into mottled yellow Light Points.

S.H.I.E.L.D. failed to find Loki’s true body or carry out its second decapitation plan, so Nick Fury introduced a third strategy after Loki’s transformed identity, Evans, began preparing for the presidential election. The chapter left the team wondering whether Loki wanted to become president or use the office to dismantle S.H.I.E.L.D.

• Natasha and Steve explained that Loki’s ability to create physical duplicates had forced S.H.I.E.L.D. to suspend its second decapitation plan.
• Nick Fury said S.H.I.E.L.D. had triangulated more than thirty-four possible locations, but Hawkeye, Steve, Natasha, and Fury had found no trace of Loki at any of them.
• Nick Fury described S.H.I.E.L.D.’s surveillance of Evans and the people Loki controlled, then announced a third plan against Loki.
• Nick Fury revealed that Congress, politicians, and generals had begun preparing for the presidential election, and Tony Stark guessed Loki might run for president.
• Bruce Banner, Thor, and Nick Fury speculated that Loki might be seeking the office for amusement or planning to use it to dissolve S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick Fury proposed an election plan to stop Loki from taking the formal presidency, arguing that Loki controlled only 230 of the 538 electors. As the team struggled to find a candidate Loki could not control, Tony Stark stood up and everyone looked to He-El.

• Nick Fury and He-El considered whether Loki's push for the presidency was a diversion from his pursuit of the Cosmic Cube, and Steve Rogers agreed that both goals could be pursued at once.
• Nick Fury revealed that S.H.I.E.L.D. was monitoring electors in all fifty states and had confirmed that Loki controlled 230 votes, fewer than the 270 needed to win.
• Bruce Banner and the others doubted they could secure enough votes for a candidate Loki could not control, but Nick Fury insisted they had to oppose Loki.
• Natasha proposed disguising someone as an elector to meet Evans and capture him if he tried to use the Mind Scepter.
• Bruce Banner asked who could serve as a candidate with broad support and immunity to Loki's control; Tony Stark stood up as everyone looked toward He-El.

Nick Fury discussed the presidential race with Tony Stark and He-El, but He-El rejected the idea of running despite overwhelming support. He then learned that Vivian had already made him the Civilization Party’s presidential candidate to protect him from political interference.

• Tony Stark volunteered to run for president, and He-El supported his bid rather than take on the office himself.
• Nick Fury explained that state legislatures and electors mattered more than public approval, then revealed Tony had 28% support and Steve Rogers had 8%.
• Nick Fury told He-El that his approval rating was 95% across every state, but He-El said he did not want to run.
• Nick Fury revealed that He-El’s name was already among the presidential candidates and that party conventions would choose candidates in five days.
• He-El contacted Vivian, who explained that she had formed the Civilization Party in Congress and was backing his presidential campaign to stop politicians from disturbing him.