Chapter Summaries

Darkseid invaded Oa Star after Scarface’s betrayal trapped the Guardians of the Universe and Green Lantern Corps in an isolated dimension, cutting them off from the stellar-level reinforcements they had prepared. He attacked a Guardian with his Omega Beams, and seventeen Guardians charged him as a battle began.

• Apokolips’s Mother Boxes isolated Oa Star in another dimensional spacetime, while Parademons swarmed the planet and overwhelmed its defenses.
• Darkseid emerged from the Boom Tube and confronted the Guardians of the Universe and more than a thousand Green Lanterns.
• The Guardians realized Scarface’s betrayal had prevented them from bringing in the more than fifty stellar-level reinforcements prepared to trap Darkseid.
• Darkseid fired Omega Beams that struck a Guardian in the chest and hurled him a thousand kilometers through the Parademon swarm.
• Seventeen Guardians of the Universe charged Darkseid, and he swooped down to meet them.

Darkseid and Apokolips attacked Oa Star, where Scarface struck Steppenwolf down and Superman and two Guardian of the Universe Parademons fought Scarface and Thaal Sinestro. As reinforcements arrived through a Boom Tube, Steppenwolf spotted a familiar face, while He-El led New Krypton’s forces and allies to Apokolips.

• Darkseid charged the Guardians of the Universe, and Steppenwolf ordered Desaad to revive Apokolips’s stellar-level Parademons.
• Steppenwolf attacked Scarface after rejecting her claim that Apokolips was bound by an alliance.
• Scarface caught Steppenwolf’s axe and hurled him into a vast crater, where he ordered the Parademons to attack.
• Superman and two Guardian of the Universe Parademons battled Scarface and Thaal Sinestro as nutrient pods descended onto Oa Star.
• Steppenwolf saw a familiar face among the arrivals at the Boom Tube and stared in shock.
• He-El appeared above Apokolips as New Krypton’s legions, the Olympian Pantheon’s War Ark, and part of New Genesis emerged through a Space Bridge.

He-El attacked Apokolips after New Genesis used information from Steel Bone’s Mother Box to find its coordinates, crushing Desaad and threatening to destroy the planet. He then entered the battle on Oa Star, where Darkseid faced him as the conflict escalated.

• Desaad sent the final nutrient pod containing Hades through the Boom Tube toward Oa Star and saw Steppenwolf lying wounded in a crater.
• Desaad looked up and saw New Genesis emerging from a Space Bridge toward Apokolips, but He-El struck him down before he could activate the planet’s defenses.
• He-El confronted Steppenwolf through the Boom Tube, and Steppenwolf ordered all stellar-level Parademons to stop the Guardians of the Universe from bringing reinforcements.
• He-El and his allies entered Oa Star through the Boom Tube and cut off the Parademon route, crushing nearby Parademons with their arrival.
• Darkseid, holding one Guardian and standing on another, saw He-El arrive and roared his name.

He-El arrived on Oa after apparently conquering Apokolips, giving the Guardians a chance to summon reinforcements as Darkseid’s forces came under attack. The chapter ended with He-El and Darkseid charging toward each other while the battlefield erupted into a new cosmic war.

• He-El appeared above Oa, and the Guardians realized his arrival had removed the Boom Tube shielding that blocked their reinforcements.
• The Guardians ordered Ganthet to open a transfer passage and held back a hundred stellar-level Parademons while he worked.
• Ganthet brought more than fifty stellar-level allies to Oa, where they recognized fathers, ancestors, brothers, and comrades among the Parademons.
• Darkseid realized He-El had likely conquered Apokolips, crushed a Guardian in his grip, and charged at He-El.
• He-El ordered his forces to destroy the enemy and charged down at Darkseid.

He-El and Darkseid fought a devastating battle across Oa Star, astonishing its defenders with their power. After their clashes hurled them into the planet’s moons, He-El emerged from a crater and challenged Darkseid to keep fighting.

• He-El and Darkseid locked hands, headbutted each other, and He-El gained the advantage by slamming his shoulder into Darkseid’s chest.
• He-El and Darkseid traded blows across Oa Star, producing miniature Supernova Explosions that destroyed the surrounding terrain and left the Guardians of the Universe and stellar-level fighters stunned.
• He-El and Darkseid’s clash sent them through Oa Star’s atmosphere and into its moons, where each smashed half a moon-sized crater into the surface.
• He-El stepped out of a lunar crater with blood at his mouth and taunted Darkseid.

Darkseid and He-El fought across the Oa Star System and deep inside its sun, where their battle created a Black Domain that distorted time. He-El killed Darkseid but was cursed by the Omega Effect, and the Traversal Vortex activated, making him disappear.

• Darkseid smashed Oa Star's moon and drove He-El through its core toward the system's sun, where the two continued their brutal fight.
• Darkseid and He-El fought across the sun's surface and into its core, causing the star to collapse and form a Black Domain.
• Darkseid and He-El battled inside the Black Domain for over a hundred thousand years, until He-El pierced Darkseid's heart and crushed it.
• Darkseid unleashed the Omega Effect's final curse, but He-El countered with his combined powers and destroyed Darkseid.
• The Omega Effect seeped into He-El and cursed his body, soul, and consciousness, causing the Traversal Vortex to activate and carry him away.

Cursed by Darkseid’s Omega Effect, He-El became mortal and lost access to his powers after the Traversal Vortex brought him to a desert. He set out east to find water and heard an off-road vehicle approaching.

• Darkseid’s dying Omega Effect cursed He-El into becoming mortal, stripping away his powers and weakening his connection to his stored abilities.
• He-El realized he could not remove the curse for now and focused on surviving the desert’s heat and thirst.
• He-El regulated his breathing and body to conserve moisture, estimating how long he could survive without food or water.
• He-El checked the sun’s position and walked east through the sand in search of an oasis.
• He-El stopped when he heard an off-road vehicle’s engine in the distance.

He-El encountered two armed men in an Arabian desert and discovered that his mortal body could be wounded by bullets. After killing one man and disarming the other, he forced the survivor to take him to the nearest human settlement and found Stark Industries weapons in the vehicle.

• He-El watched a yellow-green off-road vehicle approach and inferred that a settlement lay somewhere nearby.
• The two armed men ordered He-El to the ground, and the driver shot him in the abdomen.
• He-El recognized that bullets could threaten his mortal body, then dodged the men's gunfire and killed the burly man with a Phoenix-Eye Fist.
• He-El used the burly man's corpse as a shield, shot apart the other man's rifle, and forced him to lead the way to a human settlement.
• He-El looked inside the vehicle and noticed Stark Industries weapons stacked in the back.

He-El forced a Freedom Fighters driver to reveal that Obadiah Stane had hired the group to attack Tony Stark’s military convoy and that Stark was being held at their base. After cauterizing his own wound, He-El continued toward the Freedom Fighters’ settlement, planning to rescue Stark and join the Avengers.

• He-El threatened the driver and promised to give him time to run once they reached the settlement.
• He-El questioned the driver while heating an SAS FS Dagger with Tony Stark’s golden lighter.
• The driver revealed that Obadiah Stane had hired the Freedom Fighters to attack the convoy, and that Tony Stark was making a Jericho missile at their base.
• He-El added five seconds to the driver’s escape time and considered how to remove the Omega Effect’s curse and join the Avengers.
• He-El used the red-hot dagger to remove the bullet from his wound and cauterize it as the Jeep headed toward the settlement.

He-El attacked the Ten Rings’ Freedom Base to rescue Stark, while Raza realized something was wrong with Stark’s disappearance. He-El destroyed the base’s heavy machine guns and advanced toward its fighters, leaving the assault underway.

• Raza found Stark missing from the surveillance feed and sent two Warriors to investigate the cave where Stark was held.
• Stark and Yinsen hurried to finish connecting the armor as Warriors pounded on the locked door.
• He-El approached Freedom Base in a Jeep, armed himself with a sniper rifle, and sent the driver running before walking toward the base.
• He-El fired three rapid shots that destroyed the base’s three heavy machine guns.
• He-El shot three Freedom Fighters at the entrance from long range, scattering the survivors as he continued toward them.

He-El attacked Freedom Base alone, using an automatic sniper rifle to pin down and kill the Freedom Fighters. Deputy Commander Abdul ordered missile trucks brought out as his men were overwhelmed.

• Deputy Commander Abdul arrived as He-El shot Freedom Fighters at the base gate and then shattered the weapons and hands of fighters who fired back from cover.
• A Freedom Fighter told Abdul that Faisal had driven He-El to the base and been killed while trying to escape.
• Abdul ordered his men to bring out heavy weapons, but He-El shot a fighter who tried to run for them, so Abdul ordered grenades and smoke grenades thrown.
• He-El used sounds in the smoke to locate the fighters, shot an RPG as it fired, and killed more of the men who revealed themselves.
• Abdul killed fleeing fighters and ordered his men to bring out the surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missile trucks.

Tony Stark escaped the Freedom Fighters’ base in his Mark I armor after Yinsen died protecting him. Outside, He-El annihilated the attackers’ missile jeep, and Stark saw him emerge from the smoke.

• Raza learned that Tony Stark’s cell had been breached and ordered his soldiers to stop him.
• Raza attacked Stark with a grenade launcher, but Stark’s armor protected him and a miniature missile blast knocked Raza unconscious beneath falling rocks.
• Stark tried to persuade the dying Yinsen to escape, but Yinsen refused and died after urging Stark not to waste his life.
• He-El switched to armor-piercing ammunition and shot the missiles on an approaching jeep, causing them to explode and devastate the surrounding Freedom Fighters.
• Stark emerged from the cave and saw He-El walking out through the smoke with a Stark Industries rifle.

He-El massacred the Freedom Fighters at their base with an automatic sniper rifle and reunited with Tony Stark. As Abdul launched a missile barrage, Tony activated his armor’s propulsion system and fled into the air while He-El shot down the missiles.

• He-El stood outside the Freedom Base and shot the Freedom Fighters until they hid in terror and the firing stopped.
• Tony Stark saw He-El’s impossible accuracy and firepower and wondered whether he was human.
• Abdul launched missiles from a winding valley, and He-El shot them apart as they emerged, with the blasts staggering Tony.
• Tony realized the crude armor’s impacts could kill him and activated its propulsion system to take off.
• Abdul launched more than twenty missiles, and over ten pursued Tony into the sky.

He-El saved Tony Stark from the remaining missiles and drove him away from the destroyed Freedom Fighters' base. After Tony's grief over Yinsen prompted He-El to stop the Jeep, He-El dragged him out and drove off alone, leaving Tony stranded in the desert.

• He-El shot down the missiles pursuing Tony and the missiles aimed at him, then walked back to the Jeep as the Freedom Fighters' base exploded.
• The blasts disabled Tony Stark's armor, and he fell into the desert before He-El drove over and pulled him to safety.
• He-El drove Tony away from the base, gave him water, and said he had nothing to do with him.
• Tony thanked He-El, then mourned Yinsen and asked why He-El had not arrived sooner.
• He-El stopped the Jeep, dragged Tony out, and drove away, leaving him alone in the desert.

Phil Coulson investigated the destroyed Freedom Fighters' base with Lieutenant Colonel Davis, where the surviving terrorists blamed a devil for the massacre. Davis revealed that a single sniper had killed more than fifty attackers with impossible accuracy, leaving Coulson to wonder what kind of person could have done it.

• Tony Stark returned to New York after being rescued, and the military used his account to locate the Freedom Fighters' base.
• The U.S. military found the base in ruins, captured its surviving commanders and Warriors, and discovered that most of the terrorists had died in the explosions.
• Phil Coulson arrived by helicopter and Lieutenant Colonel Davis showed him the base and the cave where Tony Stark had been imprisoned.
• Coulson noticed Stark Industries weapons among the wreckage, while Davis explained that most had been destroyed in the blast.
• Coulson examined the bodies and learned that one sniper had killed more than fifty terrorists with headshots before the explosions.
• Davis refused to surrender the captured terrorists but offered Coulson the information they had provided, describing the sniper as practically the Grim Reaper.

Coulson questioned He-El in Kabul about his identity, extraordinary combat skills, and sudden wealth, but He-El refused to explain and instead threatened to unleash legal and political pressure on the CIA. The story left Coulson receiving a call from his superior as He-El’s plans to build a technology group and sue the agency took effect.

• Coulson approached He-El in a Kabul restaurant, showed him a forged CIA identification card, and asked whether he was human after hearing about his attack on a terrorist base.
• He-El claimed his apparent superhuman feats came from mastering human physical limits and exceptional technique, while Coulson noted that he had not confirmed being human.
• Coulson challenged He-El’s suddenly created American identity, and He-El told him to trust the records the CIA had found and threatened to sue over any negligence.
• Coulson asked how He-El had become wealthy overnight, and He-El claimed he had accumulated the money through years of building small businesses while traveling.
• He-El said he was buying major technology companies and assets, planning a technology group, donating thirty billion dollars to members of Congress, and spending twenty billion dollars on legal teams to sue the CIA.
• He-El warned Coulson that the restaurant cameras had recorded him and that his lawyers were already working; Coulson’s phone rang as soon as He-El finished speaking.

Nick Fury investigated the mysterious man who rescued Tony Stark and considered how He-El’s enormous funds could benefit the agency. The CIA director then called Fury and immediately launched into a torrent of abuse.

• Nick Fury reviewed Coulson’s report about the powerful man who had rescued Tony Stark and suspected he was an alien or superpowered individual.
• Fury examined the tens of billions of dollars in He-El’s accounts and decided the agency could use the money to upgrade its weapons, fighters, and Helicarrier.
• Maria Hill told Fury that the CIA director was calling, and Fury wondered why the man had contacted him.
• Fury asked to be connected, and the CIA director greeted him with a storm of crude abuse.

Nick Fury faced a political and public backlash after the CIA obstructed He-El’s plans and limb-regeneration research, while officials pressured him to keep the scientist and his company in the United States. The chapter ended with Alexander Pierce ordering Fury to apologize to He-El and warning that he might leave for another country.

• The CIA director cursed Nick Fury and blamed him for a worldwide scandal involving the agency’s attempts to investigate He-El, which had prompted lawsuits, protests, and condemnation from officials and organizations.
• Nick Fury decided not to intervene in the human political dispute or leave the Helicarrier, despite Coulson being held by the CIA director.
• The vice president urged Nick Fury to support He-El’s limb-regeneration research, citing its value to disabled Americans and his own disabled daughter.
• The president warned Nick Fury not to hinder He-El’s plans, which could create jobs and bring major economic and medical benefits to the United States.
• Alexander Pierce told Nick Fury that He-El was considering moving abroad, that he was expected to receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and that Fury had to apologize to him.

Nick Fury arrived in Kabul to meet He-El and repair the damage caused by the CIA impersonation scandal. Facing pressure from the United States government and a furious CIA, he left the airport determined to secure He-El’s forgiveness and bring him back to the United States.

• Nick Fury and Hill arrived at the Kabul airport, where Ricard Surik of the CIA greeted them and blamed them for the agency’s troubles.
• Ricard and Nick Fury faced the fallout from global outrage over the CIA’s alleged attempt to seize He-El’s Medical Rebirth Project, which had sparked protests and attacks on CIA buildings.
• Nick Fury recalled that the president, vice president, and Alexander Pierce had ordered him to apologize to He-El, earn his forgiveness, and bring him to the United States.
• Nick Fury admitted that he had not expected using the CIA’s name to cause such a crisis and recognized how quickly He-El had become a powerful figure with worldwide support.
• Ricard urged Nick Fury to resolve the situation quickly, and Nick Fury left the airport with him.

Nick Fury met He-El at the restaurant to apologize for the CIA’s investigation and assess him, but He-El revealed he knew Fury’s identity and proposed traveling to New Mexico. He-El rejected the woman’s plea to stay and left with Nick Fury.

• Nick Fury and Ricard arrived at the restaurant, where He-El’s mercenary guards checked their identities before letting them in.
• Nick Fury apologized to He-El for Coulson’s investigation and admitted he suspected He-El was an alien.
• He-El identified Nick Fury as the director of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.
• He-El said he wanted to preserve the world’s original course but had taken self-protective actions because of others’ suspicions, then invited Nick Fury to travel to New Mexico.
• The woman pleaded with He-El to stay, but He-El warned her to protect herself and left with Nick Fury.