Chapter Summaries

He-El learned that Doctor Manhattan had created the fifty-two Source Universes and was repairing and converging their countless Parallel Universes. Doctor Manhattan revealed that He-El’s existence was an abnormal distortion spawning more universes, leaving He-El aware that he was the cause of Manhattan’s growing workload.

• He-El asked Doctor Manhattan who he was and heard how he had become a being able to command fundamental particles and observe and alter universes.
• Doctor Manhattan explained that his observation of Superman’s origin had produced fifty-two Source Universes, which gave rise to countless Parallel Universes he was now repairing and converging.
• Doctor Manhattan told He-El that only a few factors could cause universes to depart from their original paths and generate further Parallel Universes.
• He-El realized that his arrival and survival across altered timelines had made him the distortion causing countless universes to form around him.
• He-El understood that his existence was abnormal because it spawned more Parallel Universes than ordinary variations did.

Doctor Manhattan explained that He-El’s Inner Universe was an extraordinary existence that made He-El its own origin, and asked him to help converge the Parallel Universes. He-El withheld his answer, and Doctor Manhattan gave him information so he could first study converging the universes created by his own aberration.

• Doctor Manhattan told He-El that he could see an initial universe within him, unlike anything he had encountered among the Parallel Universes.
• He-El realized his Inner Universe could contain and operate according to different universal models, and recognized that it was the foundation of his power.
• Doctor Manhattan asked He-El to help converge the Parallel Universes into the final fifty-two Source Universes.
• He-El said he needed time to consider the consequences of convergence, and Doctor Manhattan urged him to begin with the Parallel Universes caused by his existence.
• Doctor Manhattan placed information about converging Parallel Universes into a mass of blue ionized energy and gave it to He-El.

He-El studied the Marvel Universe’s operational logic and experimented with creating particles inside his own universe, only to discover that its growth required an energy source. He realized his next goal was to make his universe circulate energy perpetually and took out the Ionized-Particle Information Cluster Doctor Manhattan had given him.

• He-El entered seclusion and examined the six Infinity Stones and the Marvel Universe’s operational logic recorded in his universe.
• He-El dissolved into his universe and created faster-than-light particles and many kinds of particles, but could not sustain their spread without more energy.
• He-El realized that his own universe was the true source of his power and that it needed an external energy supply to keep developing.
• He-El concluded that he should make his universe a perpetual motion machine, where matter and energy cycled without end.
• He-El took out the Ionized-Particle Information Cluster Doctor Manhattan had given him.

He-El absorbed Doctor Manhattan’s information about the Source and Parallel Universes and considered whether to help consolidate them. Wary of Doctor Manhattan’s motives and the unknown consequences, he decided to proceed slowly while strengthening his own universe, then summoned Athena.

• He-El absorbed the Ionized-Particle Information Cluster and learned more about the 52 Source Universes and countless Parallel Universes.
• He-El recognized that helping Doctor Manhattan could provide energy for his universe, but suspected the consolidation might strengthen Doctor Manhattan or trigger unknown effects.
• He-El considered Superman’s connection to The Source and wondered whether being He-El’s son had placed him under its protection.
• He-El decided to consolidate the Parallel Universes slowly until his own universe could support New Krypton’s inhabitants and part of its circulation.
• He-El remained wary that Doctor Manhattan might sacrifice himself and try to take He-El with him, then summoned Athena to the meditation room.

Athena explained to He-El that the universe and its living beings were not perpetual-motion systems, and that Heavenly Blood from the Blood Domain supplied the universe’s fundamental energy. The chapter left He-El considering what lay beyond the universe, with Athena suggesting Zeus might know more.

• Athena left Hera in command of the Olympian Gods’ southern expansion and returned to Earth after He-El summoned her.
• He-El asked Athena about the universe and its nature, while she described how her avatar came from her true body and was destined to return to it.
• Athena told He-El that neither the universe nor a self-cycling system could operate forever without consumption.
• Athena explained that Heavenly Blood in the Blood Domain supplied the universe’s fundamental energy.
• Athena said her knowledge of the Blood Domain was limited and suggested Zeus might know more.

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.