Recaps

He-El visited the imprisoned Zeus on Mount Olympus and had Athena wake him so he could ask questions. Zeus regretted opposing He-El after learning the Olympian Gods had betrayed him for a chance at independence.

• The Olympian Gods imprisoned Zeus and kept him unconscious, draining his power through a rune-covered artifact.
• He-El arrived at Zeus's prison with Athena and told her to wake him.
• Athena briefly stopped the energy conduits and used a soul-stimulating technique to awaken Zeus.
• Zeus remembered how the Olympian Gods had betrayed and defeated him, and regretted not surrendering to He-El for a chance at independence.
• Zeus asked He-El whether he had come only to see him, and He-El said he had questions.

He-El considered whether Zeus could be trusted as a subordinate, while Athena explained that avatars would obey him as they pursued the chance to become independent. The chapter left Zeus waiting on He-El’s decision.

• Zeus begged He-El for the opportunity to become his subordinate, offering to answer anything he knew.
• He-El questioned whether Zeus’s ambition and past conduct made him a threat to New Krypton’s stability.
• Athena told He-El that Zeus had not yielded to torture but wanted the same freedom and opportunity as the other Olympian gods.
• Athena advised that avatars would obey He-El while they pursued independence, leaving Zeus’s fate undecided.

Zeus pleaded with He-El for a chance to become an independent self and serve him, promising to conquer the universe on his behalf. He-El released Zeus from his chains, and Zeus swore loyalty before learning that New Krypton had already conquered the universe and that He-El’s ambitions reached beyond it.

• Zeus explained that he would sever his old memories and experiences so his new self could serve He-El without being ruled by his former nature.
• Zeus begged He-El to accept him as a loyal subordinate, offering to be his blade and shield.
• He-El agreed to give Zeus a chance and ordered Athena to release him.
• The rune-engraved chains were removed, Zeus healed, and he knelt before He-El to swear his loyalty.
• Athena told Zeus that New Krypton had conquered and was governing the universe, while He-El had turned his gaze beyond it.

He-El, Athena, and Zeus reached the universe’s boundary, where Zeus identified the distant red mist as Heavenly Blood that sustained the universe. He-El learned that Zeus knew little about it and questioned him about the Blood Domain and the number of universes.

• He-El, Athena, and Zeus arrived at the universe’s desolate boundary, protected by He-El’s control of time and space.
• Zeus explained that the red mist was Heavenly Blood, which the universe absorbed to sustain itself.
• He-El used his enhanced vision to examine Heavenly Blood but could see only darkness, while Zeus and Athena could not explain its nature.
• Zeus told He-El that Heavenly Blood maintained the universe and served as secondary food for the original bodies.
• He-El asked Zeus where their universe existed and how many universes there were, after considering how Heavenly Blood could supply countless Parallel Universes.

Zeus explained to He-El how the Blood Domain, universes, Speed Force Wall, and God's Domain were arranged, and why divine true bodies sent avatars to seek the Source. When neither Zeus nor Athena could explain what the Source was, He-El suggested that they themselves might be the Source.

• Zeus said universes absorbed Heavenly Blood but could be corroded and destroyed by it.
• Zeus explained that the Speed Force Wall enclosed the Blood Domain and protected its universes from God's Domain.
• Zeus said the true bodies lived in God's Domain and sent avatars into universes to obtain the Source.
• He-El asked what the Source was, but Zeus and Athena admitted they did not know.
• He-El suggested that Zeus and Athena might be the Source.

He-El questioned Zeus and Athena about The Source, but neither knew how their true bodies expected them to find it. After examining Athena and hearing Zeus explain divine authority, He-El concluded that the gods’ distinction from native lifeforms lay in how they gathered and concentrated information.

• Zeus admitted that he and Athena knew nothing about how their true bodies obtained or contained The Source.
• Athena wondered whether the avatars had been created as empty vessels that became The Source by absorbing material and knowledge from the universe.
• He-El used X-ray and Microscopic Vision to examine Athena and found no exceptional difference in her biology or genes.
• Athena considered whether the gods were truly distinct from native lifeforms, noting that the Olympian Gods could not defeat the Guardians of the Universe one-on-one.
• Zeus explained that gods formed divine authorities by gathering information about aspects of the universe, allowing them to suppress others without making them unbeatable.
• He-El recognized that the underlying principle was information.

He-El realized the gods’ main bodies sent avatars to gather information from the universe, which they consumed to complete and strengthen themselves. He-El concluded that his own universe made him superior to those gods, then ordered Athena to prepare Earth’s passage before deciding to study the Heavenly Blood.

• He-El explained that the gods’ avatars gathered information by remaining in the universe and coming into contact with everything.
• Zeus and Athena questioned how information could be consumed and doubted their own memories, which the main bodies had manufactured.
• He-El said the main bodies sought to complete themselves by consuming information and considered how they might use it to strengthen their divine authority.
• He-El realized his all-encompassing universe could travel between universes, making him superior in essence to gods dependent on God's Domain.
• He-El sent Athena back to Earth and ordered her to tell everyone he would close the traversal passage in one hour.
• Zeus worried that He-El would approach the corrosive Heavenly Blood, but He-El said he needed to study it.

He-El took Zeus to the edge of the universe to study the dangerous Heavenly Blood as the universe decomposed it. After Athena confirmed the supplies had been moved and the Traversal Vortex could close, He-El guided one tiny particle toward Zeus, who prepared to try absorbing it.

• He-El and Zeus traveled through spacetime tunnels toward the Heavenly Blood, where the tunnels eventually stopped working.
• Athena reported that she had returned to Earth and helped Zero transport the necessary supplies, so He-El closed the Traversal Vortex.
• He-El and Zeus observed the Heavenly Blood being broken down and absorbed at the universe’s boundary, and Zeus recognized the extent of He-El’s power.
• Zeus agreed to try absorbing a particle of Heavenly Blood to prove his worth to New Krypton.
• He-El drew a tiny Heavenly Blood particle toward Zeus’s fortified fingertip, and Zeus cried out when it touched him.

He-El and Zeus tested whether Zeus could absorb Heavenly Blood particles, but contact nearly corroded Zeus to death, forcing He-El to sever his arm. After seeing how Heavenly Blood sustained a universe, He-El decided it could supply and expand his own small universe.

• Heavenly Blood particles fused with Zeus's divine power and rapidly corroded his arm.
• He-El severed Zeus's arm and pulled him away before the corrosion could spread through his body.
• Zeus sealed the wound and decided never to regenerate his left arm, concluding that cosmic lifeforms could not safely touch Heavenly Blood.
• He-El observed that the universe alone could break down and absorb Heavenly Blood, while his avatars could not.
• He-El considered using Heavenly Blood to supply and expand his small universe.

He-El touched a Heavenly Blood particle and used it to reconstruct and expand the logic of his universe. He concluded that universes could become eternal only by developing rules capable of containing the underlying logic of every universe.

• Zeus warned He-El not to touch the Heavenly Blood particle and offered to risk himself instead.
• He-El touched the particle, and it melted into his universe, making its operational logic and his memories manifest.
• He-El shattered the crystallized foundations of his universe and triggered another Big Bang, expanding it beyond its former size.
• He-El realized that every universe had unique operational logic and that collisions between universes created new universes rather than fusing the old ones.
• He-El concluded that a universe could achieve perpetual existence only if its underlying logic could contain the logic of all universes.

He-El absorbed a Heavenly Blood particle without being harmed and realized it could greatly strengthen his universe. He ordered Zeus and the Olympian Gods' avatars to prepare to kill and seize the avatars their original bodies would send, as He-El drew more Heavenly Blood and attracted the attention of powerful beings.

• Zeus watched in alarm as He-El touched and absorbed a Heavenly Blood particle without being corroded.
• He-El reflected that Heavenly Blood could strengthen his universe and reveal its underlying workings.
• He-El told Zeus to prepare the Olympian Gods' avatars to kill and seize the avatars sent by their original bodies.
• Zeus pledged to obey and resolved to kill any version of himself that threatened his chance to become independent.
• He-El summoned his universe to absorb more Heavenly Blood, drawing the attention of powerful beings from the Blood Domain and God's Domain.

Darkseid and Father Izaya sensed the birth of a fifty-third Source Universe in the Blood Domain, an event that threatened the balance among the universes and could weaken the Speed Force Wall. Orion feared that Darkseid would exploit the opening to enter the Blood Domain and destroy universes.

• Darkseid sensed the fifty-third Source Universe from Apokolips but could not see through the Speed Force Wall.
• Father Izaya sensed the new universe from New Genesis and tried to look into the Blood Domain.
• Orion told Father Izaya of his alarm after sensing the same event.
• Orion recalled that the Blood Domain had always contained fifty-two Source Universes and that a new one would disrupt their balance.
• Orion feared Darkseid would be the first to breach the weakened Speed Force Wall and attack the universes.

Orion and Father Izaya learned that a new Source Universe had appeared within the Blood Domain, threatening to draw the powerhouses of God's Domain into a war. Father Izaya ordered New Genesis to prepare for battle while the pantheons of the Heavenly Realm sensed the universe and vowed to claim it.

• Orion asked Father Izaya about the new Source Universe aura and warned that Darkseid and Hell's forces would target the Blood Domain.
• Father Izaya foresaw chaos disrupting God's Domain and ordered Orion to prepare New Genesis's army for war.
• Orion doubted that New Genesis alone could stop the villains, and Father Izaya said he would consult the pantheons of Heaven and the Heavenly Realm.
• Orion withdrew to prepare New Genesis's army, while Father Izaya questioned whether Heaven would intervene.
• The pantheons of the Heavenly Realm sensed the new Source Universe, debated its hidden location and maturity, and declared their desire to seize or feed on it.

Lucifer Morningstar sensed the birth of a new Source Universe and saw that Trigon and the Olympian Gods were connected to it. Tired of ruling Hell, he seized Trigon and prepared to investigate the universe.

• Demons in Hell celebrated the new Source Universe while Lucifer Morningstar watched its aura with suspicion.
• Lucifer recalled his failed rebellion against God and his long, unwanted rule over Hell.
• Lucifer traced karmic threads from the new universe to the Olympian Gods and Trigon.
• Lucifer opened a portal and pulled Trigon from his realm to face him in Hell.

Lucifer summoned Trigon, learned how he had tried to use his avatars to reach the Blood Domain, and took over his body to seek the newly born Source Universe. In Heaven, Michael opened his eyes and looked toward Hell.

• Trigon recognized Lucifer as far more powerful than himself when Lucifer summoned him to Hell.
• Lucifer saw Trigon's origins and learned that he had sent avatars into the Blood Domain to find a way past the Speed Force Wall.
• Lucifer told Trigon he would become him and search for the new Source Universe.
• Lucifer enthralled Trigon, pierced his heart, and took control of his body while preserving the connection to Trigon's avatars.
• Lucifer turned his attention to the Speed Force Wall, and Michael opened his eyes in Heaven and looked toward Hell.

Michael considered the newly emerged Source Universe and Lucifer’s intentions, then enlisted The Spectre to stop Lucifer from reaching it. The chapter ended with Destiny of the Endless stunned by events unfolding in God’s Domain.

• Michael watched Hell from the Pearly Gates and wondered what Lucifer intended to do with the Source Universe.
• Michael summoned The Spectre and said Lucifer could not be allowed to get what he wanted.
• The Spectre agreed to Michael’s plan to preserve the balance between good and evil.
• Michael proposed that The Spectre enter an Olympian God’s divine body, follow the avatar through causality, and stop Lucifer from reaching the Source Universe.
• Destiny of the Endless reacted with greater shock than the other powerful beings in God’s Domain.

Destiny discovered that He-El’s emergence as the new Source Universe had erased the future from the Book of Destiny, leaving He-El without a recorded fate. Unable to observe or guide what would happen, Destiny gathered the other Endless to discuss the crisis.

• Destiny found that the future concerning Dream had changed after the Source Universe appeared, and the Book of Destiny contained no future for He-El.
• Destiny realized that even the record identifying He-El as the new Source Universe was gradually vanishing from the book.
• Destiny questioned what he should do, unable to determine whether He-El’s role would begin a new multiverse or become a threat within it.
• Destiny decided to summon the other Endless, and they gathered in their great hall in the Dreaming.
• Destiny told the assembled Endless that the matter was very serious.

The Endless discovered that the new Source Universe lay beyond their concepts and outside Destiny’s Book, leaving its future unpredictable. They decided to observe it up close and see what might exist beyond their usual order.

• Morpheus, Destruction, Despair, Desire, and Delirium said they could not sense their respective concepts in the new Source Universe.
• Destiny told the Endless that the new Source Universe was not within his Book, shocking them with the prospect of an unpredictable future.
• Death asked whether they should interfere, and the Endless considered whether the new universe should contain concepts like theirs.
• Delirium suggested that the new Source Universe might exist without the Endless, and Destiny said it would have its own versions of their concepts.
• Death welcomed the new universe as a sign that the multiverse was no longer completely lifeless, and Destiny proposed observing it up close.

He-El’s new universe attracted the attention of powerful beings, and Doctor Manhattan tried to seize it before it could draw more notice. He-El recovered the universe after it absorbed part of Doctor Manhattan, but Doctor Manhattan warned that beings across God’s Domain had fixed their eyes on him.

• The Monitors, Doctor Manhattan, Darkseid, Father Izaya, Lucifer, The Spectre, and the Endless reacted to the emergence of He-El’s new Source Universe.
• Doctor Manhattan concealed the universe’s location from the other Source Universes, then appeared before He-El and reached for it.
• He-El pulled his universe back, and it absorbed part of Doctor Manhattan’s will and azure energy, including his left wrist.
• Darkseid and Father Izaya found that the new Source Universe’s aura had vanished, while Lucifer left Raven’s office and the Endless observed He-El.
• Doctor Manhattan told He-El that his universe was a Source Universe and warned him that powerful beings in God’s Domain had noticed it.

He-El learned from Doctor Manhattan that powerful beings across the Blood Domain may seek his unusual Source Universe, and that it has disrupted the balance of the fifty-two Source Universes. Doctor Manhattan asked to study it, but He-El refused and said he might reconsider after the Parallel Universes had been restored and he had observed Manhattan's actions.

• He-El asked Doctor Manhattan whether the powerful beings interested in him were dangerous, and Manhattan warned that even ancient or conceptual entities might come looking for him.
• Doctor Manhattan explained that the fifty-two Source Universes maintained the Blood Domain's balance and that powerful beings wanted a new Source Universe to become stronger and more perfect.
• Doctor Manhattan revealed that He-El's Source Universe had absorbed the fundamental connective force in his severed wrist, something no other Source Universe had managed to do.
• Doctor Manhattan asked to enter He-El's Source Universe and learn about it, but He-El refused because he did not yet trust him.
• He-El said he might reconsider after they restored all Parallel Universes to the fifty-two Source Universes and he had observed Doctor Manhattan's actions.

He-El learned that the Monitors were watching the fifty-two Source Universes and wanted to locate and destroy his. Doctor Manhattan gave him a vast collection of his knowledge, and He-El planned to study it before converging the Parallel Universes with him.

• Doctor Manhattan told He-El that the Monitors intended to find and destroy He-El's Source Universe while converging the Parallel Universes.
• He-El asked about the Monitors, and Doctor Manhattan described their surveillance of the Source Universes and their ability to consume Heavenly Blood.
• He-El suspected that the Monitors were themselves universes because they could consume Heavenly Blood.
• Doctor Manhattan condensed his knowledge and observations into an azure sphere and offered it to He-El.
• He-El drew the information sphere into his universe and said he would process it before converging the Parallel Universes with Doctor Manhattan.

He-El absorbed Doctor Manhattan’s knowledge and discovered that Doctor Manhattan’s energy was part of the DC Universe’s underlying framework. After integrating Anti-Crisis Energy into his universe, He-El left the Zero Mothership’s command room seeking more universal operational logic.

• He-El entered his universe and absorbed the knowledge Doctor Manhattan had given him.
• He-El combined that knowledge with energy from Doctor Manhattan’s severed hand and discovered it was part of the DC Universe’s framework.
• He-El learned that Anti-Crisis Energy consisted of seven cosmic forces that helped maintain the DC Universe.
• He-El integrated the framework energy into his universe, strengthening its developing DC structure alongside its Marvel structure.
• He-El returned to the Zero Mothership’s command room and decided he still needed more universal operational logic.

He-El connected New Krypton with The Three-Body Problem and Bleach universes so Zero could study and model their underlying operational logic. After checking on his son in Hell, He-El returned to the imperial palace and prepared to travel to a universe whose logic would be easy to observe.

• He-El ordered Zero to notify the Zeroers and study the operational logic of The Three-Body Problem and Bleach universes, while keeping watch for hidden powerful beings in New Krypton.
• He-El opened a traversal passage to The Three-Body Problem universe, where the Zeroers resumed work on the Dark Universe Highway and prepared to share their universe's operational logic.
• He-El traveled to Venus and opened a passage to the Bleach universe so its energy systems could be researched.
• He-El saw his son repeatedly die while trying to defeat a Hell monster and dismissed him as foolish for relying on brute force and empty declarations.
• He-El ordered Zero to model the Bleach universe's underlying logic, returned to the imperial palace, and began preparing to traverse to a universe whose logic could be easily seen.

He-El examined how the DC Universe and other universes operated, then sought a universe whose underlying logic he could observe. His universe located a target, but resistance from beyond the Traversal Vortex warned him that the other universe was intelligent or controlled by a living being.

• He-El compared the DC Universe’s seven paired cosmic forces with the operating logic of the Marvel and Bleach universes.
• He-El concluded that his universe could unite the logic of endless universes and let beings from them use their full powers.
• He-El ordered his universe to search for a universe with easily observed underlying logic, and a Traversal Vortex appeared.
• He-El sensed that the universe beyond the vortex resisted his crossing and might attack him with the power of the entire universe.
• He-El inferred that the universe possessed intelligence or that a living being had become or controlled it.

He-El found that a conscious universe fiercely resisted his attempt to enter, making his main body too vulnerable to cross safely. He created an ordinary-strength body from a drop of blood and sent it through the Traversal Vortex to seek the universe’s consciousness or controller.

• He-El sensed the conscious universe preparing to destroy him if he entered through the Traversal Vortex.
• He-El considered how different kinds of universes could transform or destroy an intruder and judged the resistance a sign that the universe might be able to negotiate.
• He-El made the Traversal Vortex invisible and decided not to send his main body through it.
• He-El formed an ordinary-strength duplicate from a drop of blood, focused his thoughts into it, and sent it through the Traversal Vortex.