Chapter Summaries

He-El asked Nick Fury to hide the Mind Scepter in a secret location, while privately planning to use it to lure Thanos to Earth and take the remaining Infinity Stones. Nick agreed to keep it, and He-El left with the president’s motorcade.

• He-El asked Nick Fury to store the Mind Scepter somewhere only Fury knew about.
• Nick Fury questioned why He-El would surrender the Scepter and doubted S.H.I.E.L.D. could protect it from political pressure or alien demands.
• He-El claimed he feared the Scepter might tempt him to control humanity, but privately planned to draw Thanos to Earth for the Infinity Stones.
• He-El told Nick Fury he was studying the Scepter and could counter its mental control, reassuring Fury that they could restrain one another.
• Nick Fury agreed to find a secret hiding place, and He-El departed in the president’s motorcade.

He-El oversaw the creation of Vivian’s mechanical body and began using the Mind Scepter to form her psychic will. The process detected a foreign will, and Odin sensed the disturbance from Asgard and looked toward Earth.

• He-El finished his presidential work, including approving the site for Alaska’s clean-energy reactor Supertown, then traveled to the Manta Ray Mothership.
• He-El questioned Vivian about psychic fluctuations and learned that Uru Metal might contain a will obstructing the Mind Scepter’s energy.
• He-El reviewed Vivian’s simulations, created a safety regulator, and ordered her to use the Mind Scepter to create herself.
• Vivian began constructing her psychic will, but the Regeneration Cradle warned that it had detected a foreign will.
• Odin’s heart jolted on Asgard, and he looked toward Earth.

In Asgard, Odin prepared to punish Loki for betraying Asgard and Earth, but Loki sensed that He-El had erased the last trace of his consciousness inside the Destroyer. Loki accused He-El of threatening the Nine Realms, while Thor defended him and challenged Loki's prejudice.

• Odin berated Loki for his betrayal and prepared to declare him imprisoned, but his attention suddenly shifted toward Earth.
• Loki sensed the ancient remnant of his consciousness inside the Destroyer's Uru Metal being erased and concluded that He-El had caused it.
• Loki provoked Odin by claiming He-El threatened Asgard and the Nine Realms.
• Thor told Loki that He-El was honorable and had fought beside him against the alien invasion.
• Loki mocked Thor for not understanding him and insisted He-El concealed his true ambitions.
• Thor argued that He-El had no conflict with Asgard and had even helped him retrieve the Cosmic Cube.

Odin considered He-El an increasingly serious threat after learning of his unusual power and Ancient One’s warning. He ordered Loki confined, then sent his will across space into the Uru Metal on Earth.

• Loki argued that he wanted He-El dead despite having no conflict of interest with him, and Odin reconsidered He-El’s past feats and Mjolnir’s recognition of him.
• Odin realized He-El might be using the Mind Scepter to find and erase his will from the Uru Metal left behind by the Destroyer.
• Odin ordered guards to take Loki to The Jail so Loki could not confront He-El, while Thor left to prepare for the Rainbow Bridge repairs and unrest in the Nine Realms.
• Odin told Frigga to guard him, closed his eyes, and sent his will into the Uru Metal on Earth.

He-El used the Mind Scepter to purge the psychic residue from Vivian’s Uru Metal body while she constructed her own psychic will. Odin’s surviving will resisted the purge, then stopped fighting and drew He-El into his mindscape.

• He-El directed the Mind Scepter’s psychic energy through Vivian’s mechanical body to purge foreign psychic wills as she built her own.
• Odin’s psychic will surged through the Uru Metal, overwhelming the antivirus defenses and threatening to reclaim the body.
• He-El tripled the Mind Scepter’s output and built defensive walls in the body’s neural pathways to protect Vivian.
• He-El suspected the stubborn psychic will belonged to Odin and challenged it through the Mind Scepter.
• Odin stopped resisting, merged into the Uru Metal, and sent out waves that pulled He-El into his mindscape.

He-El confronted Odin after the King of the Gods pulled him into his mental realm to ask what he wanted. When He-El warned that Odin had also drawn the Omega Sanction into the realm, Odin suddenly recoiled in shock and demanded to know what He-El was.

• He-El recognized Odin's grand mental realm and told him that he should not have pulled him inside.
• Odin questioned He-El about his intentions, noting that he could not see He-El's past or future.
• He-El challenged Odin to explain why he had summoned him and pitied him for acting arrogantly.
• He-El warned that killing him in the mental realm would not destroy him completely because the Omega Sanction would remain.
• Odin's pressure intensified, and he leaped from his throne in shock, demanding to know what He-El was.

He-El’s Omega Effect curse contaminated Odin’s mental Other World, killing Geri and Freki and overwhelming Odin’s control. Odin cut He-El apart and expelled him, but the contamination remained sealed inside his damaged mental world.

• Odin confronted He-El as darkness and corruption spread through the palace and defied Odin’s attempt to identify the force.
• Geri and Freki attacked He-El, but the Omega Effect curse infected them and they died in Odin’s mental world.
• He-El warned that Odin’s Other World would eventually be consumed by the curse after Odin had drawn He-El into it.
• Odin realized he had lost control of his mental world and struck He-El with Gungnir, banishing him from it.
• Odin sealed the contaminated areas behind layers of barriers and temporarily withdrew from his mental world.

Frigga learned that Odin was injured and preparing to enter a temporary sleep, while He-El discovered Odin’s mental will had been keeping watch over the Uru Metal. He-El ordered Vivian to block the scattered will and continue building her mental information transmission channel.

• A guard told Frigga that Geri and Freki had suddenly died, and Odin dismissed him after opening his eye.
• Frigga sensed that Odin had weakened and asked what had happened.
• Odin told Frigga to have Thor rebuild the Rainbow Bridge and restore order across the Nine Realms, then said he needed to enter a temporary sleep.
• Odin warned Frigga not to tell Thor, and Frigga helped him toward the bedchamber.
• He-El withdrew from Odin’s mental world, and Vivian reported that the foreign mental will had scattered within the Uru Metal.
• He-El ordered Vivian to block the scattered wills and construct the mental information transmission channel.

He-El completed Vivian’s creation, bringing her to life as a powerful metal being who eagerly explored her new senses and emotions. Vivian mistook her attachment to He-El for love and concluded that he wanted her to be loyal only to him.

• The Regeneration Cradle opened, and Vivian stepped out as He-El welcomed her into the world.
• Vivian experienced breathing, touch, and her extraordinary senses while exploring the Life Creation Chamber and damaging its equipment with her strength.
• Vivian approached He-El, held his face, and pressed her forehead to his as she tried to understand her feelings for him.
• He-El commanded Vivian to stand properly and warned her not to imitate strange behavior.
• Vivian interpreted He-El’s protest as possessiveness and said she understood that he wanted her loyalty.

Stephen Strange faced the loss of his surgical career after a car accident damaged his hands and the destruction of the Regeneration Cradles left him without a timely treatment. Master Ancient One watched him reach despair, then put him to sleep and planted a dream he had once experienced.

• Dr. Etienne refused to operate on Stephen Strange’s damaged hand nerves and ended their call.
• Stephen Strange learned that the destroyed Regeneration Cradles and a twenty-year waiting list left him unable to restore his hands in time to return to surgery.
• Master Ancient One watched the distant clash between He-El and Odin and worried that the world was warping despite appearing to return to normal.
• Master Ancient One entered Stephen Strange’s apartment, sent him to sleep with a touch, and planted a dream he had experienced before.

After waking from a vivid dream in which he became Doctor Strange in a world without He-El, Stephen Strange struggled to tell whether he had experienced a possible future or another universe. The dream’s memories changed him, and by morning he left home to follow the path he had seen in it.

• Stephen Strange woke on the cold floor after dreaming that his uncontrolled emotions drove Christine away and that he pursued a cure for his nerve damage.
• Stephen Strange recalled a world without He-El, where he found a paralyzed man who had recovered and received an address that led him to the magical world and the Ancient One.
• Stephen Strange remembered becoming the Sorcerer Supreme, failing to stop Thanos on Titan, surrendering the Time Stone, and dying when Thanos erased half of all life.
• Stephen Strange sat in a daze through the night, unable to distinguish the dream from reality.
• Stephen Strange rose in the morning and left home to follow the path from the dream.

He-El’s attempts to build a Scaling Ray for Quark Armor repeatedly failed because microscopic particles behaved differently in this universe than in his memories. He ordered Vivian to study Hank Pym’s particles as a new foundation for the armor.

• Vivian announced that the thirty-eightfold atomic scaling test had begun as He-El watched from behind the lab’s glass wall.
• The shrinking ray destabilized the alloy, which swelled and exploded into pools of liquid metal.
• He-El concluded that differences between universes at the microscopic level had undermined his Scaling Ray calculations.
• He-El ordered Vivian to inspect Hank Pym’s Pym Particles and compare them with his failed design.
• Vivian warned that Pym Particles worked differently from the Scaling Ray and advised against combining them directly.
• He-El told Vivian to create a new folder and begin optimizing Pym Particles as the basis for Quark Armor.

Vivian tested Pym Particles while He-El warned her against shrinking matter far enough to enter the dangerous Quantum Realm. He-El then ordered Vivian to impersonate him and serve as president after the experiments, and she agreed.

• Vivian used third-generation Pym Particles to shrink an alloy block in the laboratory.
• He-El rejected Vivian’s plan to use Pym Particles to explore the universe’s smallest limits and explained that shrinking too far could open a passage into the Quantum Realm.
• He-El ordered Vivian to continue the shrinking tests in increasingly large steps while observing safety measures.
• Vivian said she had no interest in the Quantum Realm and was researching to help He-El accomplish his goals.
• He-El told Vivian to disguise herself as him and serve as president after the experiments, and Vivian agreed.

Vivian spent a day disguised as He-El, handling presidential duties and struggling to understand human society and her master's intentions. After work, she decided to take Helen Cho on the dinner date He-El owed her.

• Vivian disguised as He-El and began her presidential day with a morning jog before reviewing briefings and meeting with Cabinet members.
• Vivian chaired a Cabinet meeting, met legislators and foreign leaders, and advanced He-El's policies through Congress.
• At eight in the evening, Vivian reflected on the complexity of governing people and wondered why He-El had asked her to impersonate him.
• Helen Cho arrived with documents, and Vivian handled her work issue before announcing that they would go on a date.
• Helen Cho followed Vivian out of the Oval Office, stunned and delighted by the invitation.

He-El explained that Vivian’s impersonation had encouraged Helen Cho’s infatuation, and he learned that she had given Helen a lock of his hair. He-El revealed that his genes were locked by the Omega Effect and that he needed the six Infinity Stones to remove the curse, leaving him and Vivian ready to pursue them.

• Vivian told He-El that Helen Cho seemed devoted to him, and He-El warned that Vivian’s behavior had given Helen false hope.
• Vivian revealed that she had given Helen Cho He-El’s hair, prompting concern that Helen might use it for genetic experiments.
• He-El explained that the Omega Effect locked his genes and that genetic research could not free him from the curse.
• He-El said only the six Infinity Stones could restore him, and Vivian recognized that she was his shield.
• Vivian spotted someone entering the café through nearby surveillance cameras as He-El agreed they were there to find the Infinity Stones.

He-El met with Erik Selvig, Jane Foster, and Darcy Lewis in secret in the United Kingdom and revealed plans by various forces to target Jane and provoke a war between Earth and Asgard. The chapter ended with Selvig and Jane alarmed, while Selvig asked whether Thor’s essence could still remain in Jane.

• Darcy Lewis was shocked to find He-El waiting for them, then excitedly hugged him, took a photo, and ran out to calm down.
• He-El stopped Jane Foster from following Darcy and said he had come secretly to the United Kingdom because of Jane.
• He-El gave Erik Selvig a folder of plans targeting Jane, and Selvig passed it to Jane to read.
• He-El warned Jane that she had never been truly safe, and Selvig realized the plans could provoke a war between Earth and Asgard.
• Selvig asked Jane whether Thor’s essence could still remain in her after their intimacy.

He-El explained that Jane Foster had secretly received extensive protection because her relationship with Thor affected relations between Earth and Asgard. When Jane rejected Thor’s request to look after her, He-El warned that refusing protection would endanger her and those around her.

• Jane Foster confronted Dr. Erik Selvig after his embarrassing question, then asked He-El why she had never felt threatened.
• He-El revealed that the United Kingdom had assigned more than seventy agents and a three-hundred-person logistics team to protect Jane.
• Dr. Erik Selvig explained that Jane had become an ambassador of friendship between humanity and Asgard because she was dating Thor, Asgard’s heir.
• He-El said he had come at Thor’s request as a friend, not as a representative of the Beyond the Galaxy Alliance.
• Jane refused the protection, saying she was an independent adult, but He-El warned that attackers could target her, Dr. Erik Selvig, and Darcy Lewis if the security detail withdrew.

He-El reassured Jane Foster that she would not be confined and arranged for Vivian to protect her after the United Kingdom withdrew its agents. He planned to make Vivian the vessel for the Reality Stone and transform her into his Infinity Gauntlet.

• Jane Foster worried that her relationship with Thor had made her a target and resented the danger and restrictions surrounding her.
• He-El told Jane that the United Kingdom would withdraw the seventy agents assigned to protect her.
• He-El introduced Vivian as Jane’s new protector, and Dr. Erik Selvig recognized her as an advanced metal life-form after He-El compared her to a Terminator.
• He-El warned Jane not to investigate dangerous places herself and to send Vivian in her place.
• He-El planned to put the Reality Stone inside Vivian and transform her into an Infinity Gauntlet for him.

Ancient One considered He-El’s actions and received Odin’s warning after Odin’s attempt to confront him ended in disaster. She entered Odin’s Realm of Gods to examine the dark curse that had forced him to prepare for slumber.

• Odin warned Ancient One that He-El could not die, prompting her to ask whether Odin had acted against him.
• Ancient One recalled that He-El had passed up chances to take the Cosmic Cube and Mind Scepter while benefiting humanity, but she remained wary of his unknown purpose.
• Odin told Ancient One that he had drawn He-El’s mind into his Realm of Gods, where a curse had devoured and killed his two wolves.
• Odin said he would enter slumber while trying to resist the curse, then invited Ancient One into his Realm of Gods.
• Ancient One entered Odin’s Realm of Gods and reacted with shock.

Ancient One found Odin badly afflicted after He-El’s curse contaminated his mental Realm of Gods. She joined Odin in opposing the danger and helped him sever a cursed portion of his mind, which they sent through a dimensional gate before Ancient One shut it.

• Ancient One entered Odin’s mental Realm of Gods and saw dark curses spread across his palace and body.
• Odin explained that He-El’s curse had contaminated his realm after Odin tried to draw it out, killing his two companion wolves.
• Odin said He-El was also a victim of the curse and that it would not spread unless someone tried to pull it from his mind.
• Ancient One and Odin agreed to work together to contain the curse and prevent He-El from using it.
• Ancient One opened a dimensional gate, and Odin severed and sent a cursed part of his mind through it.
• A dimensional demon god began raging at the curse, and Ancient One calmly closed the gate.