Recaps

The president and senior officials concluded that the Golden Barrier could not be destroyed and proposed building underground cities to shelter the United States. Harold arrived with evidence that a black shadow had controlled officials around the world to create the barrier and prepare underground cities, drawing everyone’s attention to the president.

• A report warned that the Golden Barrier had covered Nevada and Arizona, was absorbing vast amounts of energy, and could devastate Earth if destroyed.
• The officials ruled out attacking or relocating the barrier and agreed that the president’s proposal to build underground cities was the only immediate plan.
• Harold forced his way into the Executive Office and said he knew the truth behind the barrier.
• Harold played records claiming a black shadow had controlled officials and institutions worldwide to engrave protons, launch them into the atmosphere, and plan underground cities.
• The officials turned their gazes toward the president after Harold presented the evidence.

Harold learned that leaders around the world had launched laser-engraved protons into the atmosphere, helping Dr. He-El build the Sevenfold Golden Barrier. Optimus Prime explained that the completed barrier would either charge the AllSpark or pierce Earth, while He-El’s second layer began spreading and gathering solar energy.

• Harold confronted the president and accused him and other officials of betraying Earth by launching protons into the atmosphere.
• A communications officer reported that Army General Adolf had spotted a second Golden Barrier forming in the stratosphere above Hoover Dam.
• Harold asked Optimus Prime to analyze Dr. He-El’s plan and sent him the proton locations and circuit data.
• Optimus Prime explained that the seven atmospheric barriers would concentrate sunlight into a seventy-thousand-degree ionic beam capable of piercing Earth in sixteen seconds or charging the AllSpark.
• He-El completed the first barrier over Nevada and Arizona, and the second layer began spreading through the stratosphere.

He-El completed the first Golden Barrier over Nevada and Arizona, then discovered Megatron and Starscream had fled while an army surrounded him. He used the AllSpark to begin transforming his Black Suit into a guardian as General Adolf threatened him, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• He-El finished the first Golden Barrier and set the second layer in the stratosphere to assemble itself automatically.
• After recovering from his exhaustion, He-El found soldiers and military vehicles surrounding him and asked where Megatron was.
• General Adolf questioned He-El and warned that humanity would not fear war, while He-El concluded Megatron and Starscream had missed their chance to serve him.
• He-El used the AllSpark to prepare a Transformer with his own source code, deciding the Black Suit was the best choice for a guardian.
• As General Adolf and the soldiers threatened him, He-El pressed the AllSpark against his Black Suit.

He-El used the AllSpark to create the Black Suit Transformer while Army General Adolf ordered his troops to attack. After the new suit annihilated the army with electromagnetic force, He-El combined its nanomachines with his cape to create a giant Transformer that pledged to guard him.

• He-El controlled the AllSpark’s folded space and used its energy and source code to create the Black Suit Transformer.
• Army General Adolf ordered the soldiers to fire on He-El, and tanks and other weapons bombarded him for nearly three minutes.
• Blue energy particles emerged from the smoke and disintegrated the vanguard, then pulled apart the rest of the thirty-thousand-strong army.
• He-El emerged unharmed in his Black Suit as the electromagnetic vortex stopped around him.
• He-El threw his cape to the nanomachines, which merged with it to form a nearly five-meter-tall Transformer.
• The Transformer knelt before He-El, named itself his guardian knight, and pledged to protect its master.

After the United States lost thirty thousand troops to He-El’s electromagnetic power, Harold and the president organized underground-city construction and cooperation with the Transformers. As Optimus Prime sent Autobots to find Sentinel Prime, Megatron enlisted The Fallen and Quintessa in rival plans to exploit Earth’s crisis and the Star Harvester.

• The White House learned that He-El had reduced thirty thousand soldiers and their equipment to atoms in four seconds, and officials agreed to build underground cities while preparing to fight back.
• Harold became humanity’s representative, and the president gave him a file about the crashed spacecraft on the Moon; Harold then arranged cooperation between humanity and the Transformers at a Hawaii base cluster.
• Optimus Prime explained that Sentinel Prime, his former teacher, had crashed on the Moon, and Autobots launched rockets to search for him.
• Megatron contacted The Fallen, who traveled to Egypt and activated the Star Harvester at the Khafre Pyramid, intending to use it with the Sevenfold Golden Barrier against He-El.
• Megatron secretly contacted Quintessa, told her the AllSpark and the stolen staff were on Earth, and warned her that Optimus Prime, Sentinel Prime, The Fallen, and humanity were preparing for a major battle as Unicron might awaken.

As the Golden Barrier plunged Earth into darkness and extreme cold, Harold and Sentinel Prime prepared Optimus Prime to stop Dr. He-El from completing it. Optimus launched toward the thermosphere, while Sentinel secretly planned to use a Space Bridge to strand He-El in a remote corner of the universe.

• The Golden Barrier spread across North America, and temperatures fell rapidly as Earth stopped rotating.
• Harold questioned whether Optimus Prime could stop He-El, while Sentinel Prime insisted that the Turbo Absorber could prevent the final three barrier layers from forming.
• Sentinel Prime privately reflected on his secret agreement with Megatron to rebuild Cybertron and judged Optimus Prime unfit to lead.
• Engineers finished attaching the rocket-powered Turbo Absorber to Optimus Prime, and Harold ordered the launch.
• Sentinel Prime went to prepare the Space Bridge pillar as Optimus Prime flew toward the thermosphere to absorb the protons needed for the next barrier layer.

He-El stopped Earth's rotation, setting off catastrophic changes, then confronted Optimus Prime as the Decepticons arrived through a transmission pillar. The chapter ended with He-El crushing Optimus Prime while Cybertron appeared in the transmission beam.

• He-El explained that Earth's halted rotation would bring darkness, weakening magnetic protection, catastrophic tidal changes, and the moon's eventual collision with Earth.
• At Hoover Dam, He-El ordered Black Suit to keep Earth's rotation stopped while he went to confront Optimus Prime in the thermosphere.
• He-El restrained Optimus Prime and questioned why he would protect humanity after the Autobots and Decepticons had devastated Cybertron.
• Optimus Prime secretly sent a signal to activate the transmission pillar, bringing Decepticons and their machines from the moon to Earth.
• Sentinel Prime's transmission beam revealed Cybertron, startling Optimus Prime, and He-El crushed Optimus Prime with his biological magnetic field.

Sentinel Prime betrayed the Autobots and attacked humanity to claim Earth as a new home for Cybertron, killing Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet before annihilating Harold’s forces. As Cybertron emerged through the Space Bridge, Sentinel Prime turned back to guard the beam and found He-El watching it.

• Cybertron began emerging into space as He-El watched from the thermosphere and Transformers continued attacking humans on Earth.
• Sentinel Prime rejected Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet’s challenge, killed Jazz, then killed Ironhide and prepared to execute Ratchet.
• Harold arrived with human reinforcements, but their weapons and vehicles malfunctioned against Sentinel Prime.
• Sentinel Prime beheaded Ratchet, destroyed the human forces, and blasted Harold to pieces.
• Sentinel Prime turned to guard the Space Bridge and saw He-El staring at its transmission beam.

He-El examined the Space Bridge, shut it down, and took its transmission pillar, stopping Sentinel Prime’s plan to bring Cybertron to Earth. As He-El moved to kill Sentinel Prime, the Star Harvester fired at the golden barrier, and He-El vanished from Hawaii to respond.

• Sentinel Prime approached He-El and offered the Space Bridge technology in exchange for Cybertron’s survival on Earth.
• He-El used String Sight to study the Space Bridge, shut down its transmission pillar, and took it while Cybertron continued emerging under the Controllers’ guidance.
• Sentinel Prime attacked He-El with his Cosmic Rust Gun and Primal Blade, but He-El caught the blade, broke it, and prepared to crush him.
• The Star Harvester atop Egypt’s Khafre Pyramid fired a beam toward the center of the seven-layered golden barrier, and He-El vanished from Hawaii.

The Fallen fired the Star Harvester at the Sevenfold Golden Barrier, but He-El redirected the beam and destroyed the weapon atop the Khafre Pyramid. After the Fallen escaped, He-El recognized Cybertron as a potential threat and returned to finish the barrier.

• The Fallen saw He-El's battle with Optimus Prime and Sentinel Prime and decided to destroy the Sevenfold Golden Barrier before it was completed.
• The Fallen fired the Star Harvester from the Khafre Pyramid toward the barrier, and He-El intercepted its beam with Heat Vision.
• He-El forced the Star Harvester's beam back to Egypt and destroyed the weapon, blasting apart part of the Khafre Pyramid.
• The Fallen escaped He-El's pursuing Heat Vision using Instant Transmission and left Earth.
• He-El studied the emerging Cybertron, judged its technology dangerous, and flew back to complete the Sevenfold Golden Barrier.

The Fallen was subdued by Quintessa and sent to retrieve her staff from Earth, while He-El continued building the Sevenfold Golden Barrier. Unicron’s awakening paused when Quintessa began drawing his energy to Cybertron, leaving He-El to finish the barrier as a destructive conflict over the AllSpark loomed.

• The Fallen confronted Quintessa on Cybertron and rejected her claim to be the Transformers’ creator.
• Quintessa overpowered The Fallen, programmed him to obey, and ordered him to retrieve her staff from the Twelve Knights’ Ship in Earth’s ocean.
• Megatron rose and affirmed his loyalty to Quintessa as The Fallen departed under her control.
• He-El continued constructing the Golden Barrier while Earth’s stopped rotation and loss of sunlight caused falling temperatures, tsunamis, and shifting plates.
• He-El spotted six metal horns emerging from Earth and recognized that Unicron was nearing awakening.
• He-El used North America’s geomagnetic field to help drain Unicron’s energy toward Cybertron, calming the planet, then resumed building the barrier’s seventh layer.

Quintessa absorbed Unicron's energy and sent Megatron and The Fallen to destroy He-El's seventh Golden Barrier. The barrier's electromagnetic field killed The Fallen and crippled Megatron, whom Soundwave rescued, while the completed barrier plunged Earth into darkness.

• Quintessa absorbed Unicron's energy and ordered Megatron and The Fallen to destroy the seventh Golden Barrier.
• Megatron sent Soundwave ahead in surveillance-satellite form and followed The Fallen toward the barrier.
• The barrier's electromagnetic field shredded The Fallen and tore apart Megatron's lower body.
• Megatron pleaded with Soundwave not to leave him behind, and Soundwave pulled him to safety and carried him toward Cybertron.
• The seventh Golden Barrier completed its circuit around Earth, gathered the surrounding light, and plunged the planet into darkness.

He-El absorbed energy from Earth’s Sevenfold Golden Barrier and opened spatial apertures in his cells to draw power from stars across the universe. After half a year of gaining energy equivalent to twenty thousand years of Superman’s sunbathing, he reached his body’s limit and became consumed by doubt, even as Quintessa attacked.

• He-El absorbed the Sevenfold Golden Barrier’s solar beam and felt his cells divide and evolve.
• He-El used String Sight to perceive spatial nodes across the universe and opened apertures in his cells to draw in stellar energy.
• He-El grew into a five-hundred-meter-tall giant while absorbing energy from stars and cosmic radiation.
• He-El realized his body had reached its limit after absorbing energy equivalent to twenty thousand years of Superman’s sunbathing.
• He-El kept pouring energy into his cells but could not change his essence, and he remained lost in doubt as Quintessa destroyed the Sevenfold Golden Barrier and attacked from space.

Quintessa absorbed Unicron’s surface energy, destroyed the Sevenfold Golden Barrier, and advanced on He-El, who was consumed by doubt over his inability to evolve. She attacked his neck with a beam powerful enough to pierce the moon, but it left only a faint red mark.

• Quintessa used the energy she absorbed from Unicron to shatter the Sevenfold Golden Barrier from within.
• Quintessa connected herself to Cybertron with gravity and dragged the planet behind her as she approached He-El.
• He-El questioned his strength and identity after failing to evolve despite absorbing and testing vast amounts of energy.
• Quintessa descended through the ruined barrier and planned to control He-El as her servant.
• Quintessa fired a moon-piercing particle-stream beam at He-El’s neck, but it only left a faint red mark.

He-El endured Quintessa’s attacks and revealed that his body could withstand both an ultra-intensity particle beam and a Boson distortion sphere. After grabbing Quintessa and lamenting that he could no longer grow stronger, he left her stunned when her strongest attack failed to hurt him.

• Quintessa’s particle beam barely reddened He-El’s neck, and he mistook the pain for proof of his weakness.
• Quintessa released Cybertron from its gravitational restraints and prepared a Boson attack to mutilate He-El.
• He-El used Instant Transmission to seize Quintessa by the shoulders, piercing her steel skin, and envied that she could keep growing stronger.
• Quintessa fired the Boson sphere into He-El’s chest, but his cells formed a stronger defensive force field and quickly healed the red mark.

Quintessa's attacks failed to harm He-El, whose doubts about his own strength continued even as he effortlessly resisted her power. Cornered on Cybertron, she awakened Unicron and left Earth stirring from its slumber.

• Quintessa tore free her captured arms, regenerated them, and attacked He-El with metallic blood, but it could not penetrate his defenses.
• He-El doubted his strength as his internal defenses destroyed Quintessa's metallic blood and left her unable to affect him.
• Quintessa fled to Cybertron and activated the Planetary Turbine, but He-El followed and endured its powerful beam without resistance.
• Terrified and enraged, Quintessa used her scepter to awaken Unicron, and a wave of sound reached Earth and stirred the planet.
• A voice began to speak as Earth awakened.

Quintessa awakened Unicron to stop He-El, but Earth immediately curled back into dormancy under his overwhelming pressure. He-El killed Quintessa and was left brooding over the limits of his strength.

• Quintessa activated Unicron, causing six metallic horns to emerge from Earth as the planet began to awaken.
• He-El stopped compressing his cells and unleashed his pressure, crushing Cybertron's surface and halting Earth's rotation.
• Earth sensed He-El, withdrew its horns and limbs, and returned to sleep before it could finish speaking.
• Quintessa realized Unicron had retreated and knelt before He-El, abandoning her faith in Unicron.
• He-El melted Quintessa into molten metal, then sat on Cybertron and stared forlornly toward the Sun.

He-El questioned why reaching the limits of his Kryptonian body had driven him into an obsession, despite his enduring will and the possibility of drawing power from countless worlds. After Megatron praised his strength and resolve, He-El examined his body and remained focused on the Kryptonian bloodline.

• Megatron emerged from hiding in Cybertron’s ruins and knelt before He-El, who asked whether Megatron thought him powerful.
• Megatron listed He-El’s victories and praised his wisdom, planning, and resolve rather than only his physical strength.
• He-El reconsidered his obsession and recalled the hardship that had shaped his determination to gain power.
• He-El questioned why his Kryptonian body’s limits had unsettled him when he could still travel to other worlds and grow stronger.
• He-El studied his hand, flexed his fingers, and focused his thoughts on the Kryptonian bloodline.

He-El collected Quintessa’s surviving metal cells, Cybertron’s planetary technology, and the Star Harvester before demanding a core spark and Energy Converter from Unicron. After Unicron attacked, He-El took the device and returned to DC through a Traversal Vortex.

• He-El left Megatron and reached Cybertron’s central platform, where he collected Quintessa’s surviving metal cells in the AllSpark.
• He-El stored Cybertron’s Planetary Turbine, central control system, and other useful technology inside the AllSpark.
• He-El traveled to Egypt and collected the Khafre Pyramid, the buried Star Harvester base, and its equipment.
• He-El awakened Unicron by shifting Earth’s orbit and demanded a portion of Unicron’s core spark and the Energy Converter.
• Unicron hurled the Energy Converter at He-El, who stored it in the AllSpark and returned to DC through a Traversal Vortex.

He-El checked the Universe Mothership’s progress and began upgrading it with technology from Cybertron and Unicron. After installing the new components, he headed to the command room to inspect Ciri and prepare to turn Zero into a lifeform.

• He-El learned that the Universe Mothership was 18 percent complete and ordered Zero to suspend production except for the stellar engine.
• He-El asked about Ciri and learned that she had completed her biological body, while the biological nutrient solution had nearly run out.
• He-El ordered Zero to clear space around the stellar engine and announced plans to upgrade the mothership with Planetary Turbine and other technology.
• He-El used the AllSpark to place the Planetary Turbine, Central Control Console, Star Harvester, and Energy Converter aboard the Universe Mothership.
• He-El flew toward the command room to inspect Ciri and prepare to transform Zero into a lifeform.

Ciri showed He-El her modified body, which had ten tentacles designed to channel superpowers, and explained her plans to develop them further. After He-El gave her a sphere of metallic cells, she hurried off to study it while he turned to the S-Key.

• He-El entered the command room after hearing Ciri sing a modified version of “Love Story” about their first meeting.
• Ciri demonstrated her ten tentacles and explained that she was developing them as conduits for superpower genes, with one already carrying Kryptonian abilities.
• He-El gave Ciri a sphere of metallic cells from the AllSpark for her research.
• Ciri rushed to the biological research laboratory to examine the metallic cells, and He-El began channeling the AllSpark’s energy into the S-Key.

He-El created Zero as a loyal Transformer and had him redesign the cosmic mothership as his own body. After Zero began working on the plans, He-El headed to Kandor City to consider using its seven million Kryptonians as soldiers.

• He-El used the AllSpark to turn a metal key into Zero, a tiny Transformer with a marshal's personality and unwavering loyalty to him.
• Zero proposed making the mothership's modules into separate Transformers, then explained that he could instead become the entire mothership for greater coordination and efficiency.
• He-El ordered Zero to redesign himself as the cosmic mothership Transformer, incorporating advanced instruments and reserving combat ships as mechanical soldiers.
• Zero retracted into the keyhole to connect with the instruments and redesign the mothership.
• He-El left the command room and headed to Kandor City's collection room, where seven million Kryptonians remained available as potential soldiers.

He-El tried to restore Kandor City’s shrunken Kryptonians, but Blanch’s genes collapsed and killed him. After testing prisoners, He-El discovered that a psychic force carrying genetic information leaked from thousands of chromosomes as soon as they were returned to normal size.

• He-El entered Kandor City’s collection room and used his bio-magnetic field to retrieve Blanch from the underground cloning facility.
• He-El restored Blanch to his original height, but Blanch’s skin and organs failed as his genes collapsed, and he died despite He-El’s attempt to shrink him again.
• He-El enlarged a prisoner from Kandor City’s prison and saw the same genetic collapse after the prisoner reached his original size.
• He-El used the Celestial Magnifying Glass to inspect another prisoner’s chromosomes during restoration.
• He-El saw a psychic force carrying genetic coding information leak from thousands of chromosomes as they began to snap.

He-El discovered psychic energy embedded in Kryptonian genes and suspected that the Codex’s creator had imprinted Kryptonians with their talents and mentality. He questioned whether his own feelings for Krypton had been influenced, then began another experiment to investigate the genetic imprint.

• He-El detected psychic energy in Kryptonian genes and realized that it had been converted into genetic information granting Kryptonians their talents.
• He-El considered Krypton’s legends about the Codex and the sun god Rao, and suspected the myths might be true.
• He-El tested a prisoner from Kandor City and found that psychic genetic fragments formed a self-circulating Thought Imprint that shaped Kryptonian talents and mentality.
• He-El worried that the imprint could let its creator control Kryptonians and resolved to remove the psychic genetic information from his own genes.
• He-El questioned whether his attachment to Krypton had been influenced, then used the AllSpark to begin another experiment on a prisoner.

He-El compiled a preliminary database of Kryptonian gifted genes in the AllSpark and replaced a thug’s original genetic information with matching code. After confirming the thug showed no immediate rejection, He-El ordered Zero to preserve him and begin transforming the space mothership.

• He-El extracted and compared genetic information from criminals in Kandor City, emptying the prison as he built a Kryptonian gene database inside the AllSpark.
• He-El used the stored code to replace the genetic information in Chester, a muscular thug from the slums, as he restored him to his original size.
• Chester woke and mistook He-El for an evil scientist, then advanced on him before He-El knocked him unconscious with a slap.
• He-El told Zero to preserve Chester so he could observe his genetic response and later revive Kandor City's Kryptonians on a larger scale.
• Zero confirmed that the space mothership’s design was complete, and He-El ordered the transformation to begin.