Chapter Summaries

Downton, Bruce, Clark, and Lex reached the Arctic and dug through the ice and permafrost toward the alien ship beneath them. At a nearby expedition station, Lois Lane recognized Downton in a satellite photo and feared he had followed her there; Clark then uncovered the ship’s metal hull.

• Downton joked with Lex and Bruce about their fictional world and the actors who portrayed them, while Bruce worried about Downton and Lex protested the suggestion that he would lose his hair.
• The Batplane landed on Arctic ice, and Downton, Clark, Bruce, and Lex began digging toward the alien ship beneath the coordinates Clark had received.
• An Arctic expedition detected unusual geomagnetic signals and photographed the Batplane and its occupants, marking Downton as extremely dangerous.
• Lois Lane arrived at the expedition station to report on glacial melting, recognized Downton in the satellite image, and agreed to alert her father and report what she knew.
• After Downton and Clark dug through the ice and deep permafrost, Clark stopped Downton from striking the metal hull of his people’s ship.

Clark, Downton, Lex, and Bruce entered the buried Kryptonian ship and fought its defensive machines until Clark used his key to shut them down. They encountered the phantom of Jor-El, who struggled to identify which of the four men was his son.

• Clark told Bruce, Lex, and Downton that he feared his people might threaten Earth, and Bruce admitted he had prepared for that possibility.
• The group entered the ship and was attacked by nanostructured machines; Downton drew most of them while Clark, Lex, and Bruce fought back.
• Bruce led the group to a large hall, where a console appeared and Clark inserted the inverted triangular key to stop the pursuing machines.
• Clark spotted a figure across the hall, and Downton recognized it as the phantom of Jor-El.
• Jor-El saw the four men together and guessed that the unarmored Clark was his son.

Jor-El mistook Downton for his son Carl-El and tried to embrace him, but Downton attacked the projection before Clark clarified the mistake. Jor-El finally reunited with Clark, then questioned Downton about how he could touch a projection as Lex and the others began suspecting that Jor-El had deliberately sent Clark to Earth to become its god.

• Jor-El identified Downton as his son Carl-El and moved to embrace him, but Downton grabbed the projection and slammed him to the ground.
• Clark, Bruce, and Lex restrained Downton, and Lex discovered that his hands passed through Jor-El while Downton could physically hold him.
• Downton told Jor-El that Clark was his real son, and Jor-El embraced Clark after confirming the key on the console was meant for him.
• Jor-El questioned Downton about how he could harm a being who did not exist, and Downton claimed he was closer to God than all of Krypton.
• Lex challenged Jor-El's decision to send the powerful Clark to Earth, prompting Clark and Bruce to suspect that Jor-El had intended to give humanity a god.

Jor-El explained Krypton’s destruction and asked Downton’s group to care for Clark, who mourned the loss of her people. Lex then revealed that Kryptonian ships across the galaxy could expose Earth to a future invasion, leaving Clark to fear that her surviving people might bring war.

• Jor-El explained that Krypton had been destroyed suddenly, that few Kryptonians might remain, and that he would give up the ship’s knowledge if Earth continued accepting Clark.
• Downton agreed to take care of Clark and left Lex and Bruce to study the ship while he went fishing with Bruce.
• Lex and Bruce learned that Kryptonian ships held Genesis Chambers capable of creating new Kryptonians and shared records with other ships across the galaxy.
• Lex warned that Earth’s discovery could bring a Kryptonian fleet, and Clark said her people’s history of conquest made that possibility a threat rather than good news.

Downton and his allies recovered Clark's Kryptonian ship and planned to recruit a Marvel-universe playboy into the Human Federation. Back in Gotham, Victor told Downton the Wraith Party needed an experienced executive, prompting Downton to consider calling Falcone.

• Downton reassured Clark about possible Kryptonian arrivals, and Clark, Bruce, and Lex prepared to take his scout ship back to Gotham.
• Downton decided to bring the polar bear family home, and Clark used the ship's spatial mastery to transport them and the others to the manor instantly.
• Lex proposed recruiting a capable ally from the Marvel universe, and Downton agreed to take Lex, Bruce, and Clark there the following day.
• Lois and the Arctic expedition team discovered the enormous pit left by the ship; Lois resigned from the expedition and resolved to investigate Downton in Gotham.
• Victor told Downton that the Wraith Party's rapid expansion had outgrown his management capacity, so Downton decided to call Falcone and ask him to return.

Carmine Falcone resisted Alberto’s push to return to Gotham, but Downton arrived in Sicily and offered to rehire him to help manage Gotham’s underworld. Carmine was left facing an unexpected return to the city he had fled.

• Carmine rejected Alberto’s proposal to return to Gotham, warning that the city was too dangerous and that their family was no longer powerful there.
• Carmine’s lawyer assistant told him that a call had come from a number previously used by Officer Victor Zsasz, and Downton revealed himself as the caller.
• Downton suddenly appeared in Carmine’s ward, frightening Alberto and the Falcone Family members who recognized him as Wraith.
• Downton teased Carmine about his worsening cancer and denied that he had come to kill him.
• Downton told Carmine that he wanted to rehire him to help manage the Wraith Party and Gotham’s nights, and insisted that Carmine come out of retirement.

Downton brought Carmine back to Gotham to reorganize the gangs and promised to seek a cure for his cancer, while Selina confronted her father. Downton then took Bruce, Lex, and Clark to New York, where they met The Ancient One as they prepared to visit Tony Stark.

• Downton recruited Carmine to reorganize Gotham and said Bruce, Lex, and others would help treat his cancer.
• Selina punched Carmine after seeing him, but Downton calmed her and she left without speaking further to her father.
• Carmine and Victor headed to the Iceberg Lounge, while Downton gave Koo Ja-yoon a loose role helping people around the estate.
• Downton left with Bruce, Lex, and Clark, intending to give Tony Stark a taste of Gotham F4's strength.
• The group arrived in New York and met The Ancient One, whom Downton introduced as Earth's protector and the second Sorcerer Supreme.
• Clark questioned Downton because he had expected Master Ancient One to be an old man with a beard.

Downton and his companions met the Ancient One in the Marvel universe, where they were welcomed but learned that magic and magical artifacts could not safely leave their world. After Downton assaulted Kaecilius, the group left the New York Sanctum and set out to meet Iron Man.

• The Ancient One greeted Downton, Clark, Bruce, and Lex, then led them into the New York Sanctum for tea.
• The Cloak of Levitation chose Bruce, but the Ancient One explained it would lose its magic outside its own world and returned it to its case.
• Kaecilius mistook the visitors for dimensional lords and attacked them, so Downton subdued and painfully bound him with his own golden whips.
• Bruce and the others left the Sanctum with Downton after the smell from Kaecilius made the tea room unbearable.
• The group changed into suits, hailed a taxi, and headed out to meet Iron Man.

Downton took Bruce, Lex, and Clark to Stark Tower, where his crude reunion with Tony Stark ended with him tearing apart Pepper's armor and spanking her. Tony angrily confronted Downton and the three strangers, demanding to know who they were and whether they were cosplaying.

• Downton shot at and threatened the taxi driver, then Bruce took away his pistol and the driver delivered them to Stark Tower.
• Downton led the group past the frightened receptionist and changed the elevator destination to the eighty-second floor, where Tony was hiding Pepper.
• Pepper tried to escape in an Iron Man suit, but Downton caught her and followed her into Tony's room.
• Downton tore open the armor covering Pepper's rear and struck her several times, leaving Tony furious and Pepper crying.
• Bruce apologized and introduced himself, Lex, and Clark, but Tony mistook their names for cosplay and demanded an explanation from Downton.

Tony Stark mistook Bruce, Clark, and Lex for cosplayers until Downton showed him their extraordinary technology and took him to Gotham. After seeing the dragon and Kryptonian ship, Tony accepted that they were real, then asked what era they came from and who was active in Gotham.

• Bruce transformed his nanotech suit into Batman armor, startling Tony, who criticized the modifications and proposed working with Downton’s group.
• Lex concluded that he was a famous villain while Tony rejected the group’s claims and tried to negotiate for Pepper’s safety.
• Downton threatened Pepper, Clark attacked him, and Bruce demonstrated his identity as Batman before the group decided to take Tony to Gotham.
• Downton teleported Tony to Gotham, where Tony saw a dragon and a Kryptonian ship, panicked, and was knocked unconscious by Bruce.
• Tony woke and asked about Joker, Superman, and Gotham’s current residents; Bruce revealed he did not know Joker and learned that Selina had the Catwoman codename.

Downton, Bruce, Tony, Clark, and Lex joked about their comic-book counterparts and headed to Brooklyn for a meal, while Tony learned that he had died in a possible future. The chapter ended when Happy crashed their stretched Hummer into a Chevrolet after Tony introduced the DC characters to him.

• Bruce worried that comic stories showed him pursuing Selina, but Tony explained that she had run away from their wedding before Downton got together with her.
• Bruce said he planned to marry Rachel and asked Downton to be his best man, and Downton agreed.
• Tony explained that the comics had many contradictory versions, then offered to buy the group Burger King if Clark helped keep Downton away from Pepper.
• The group left Stark Industries in Tony's Hummer and discussed Captain America's awakening and Happy's role in Tony's future.
• Downton told Tony that he died while his daughter was still young and his lover was still alive, prompting Tony to wonder whether he had been a good father.
• Tony introduced Batman, Superman, Lex Luthor, and Downton to Happy, who slammed the Hummer into a Chevrolet.

Tony brought Downton, Bruce, Clark, and Lex to Burger King to share the meal that reminded him of his return from Afghanistan, where they discussed a dragon in Gotham and their memories. Steve Rogers, Nick Fury, Natasha, and Hawkeye arrived, and Fury and Hawkeye explained that they had discovered Downton and Deadpool were visitors from the DC world.

• Happy settled the rear-end collision by paying for the other driver's new car, then recognized Bruce as Batman and Clark as Superman but wondered why Lex had hair.
• Tony took the group to Burger King, arranged a meal elsewhere for the restaurant's customers, and told them the burgers recalled his first meal after escaping Afghanistan.
• Downton revealed that he and Ciri had caught a Silverwing Nargacuga, which Happy identified as a Valstrax, and promised to take Happy and Tony to see it in Gotham.
• Tony and Bruce shared memories of the food they had longed for after returning home, and Bruce said he would not let Tony die as a hero.
• Steve arrived in a new Captain America uniform and recognized Clark as Superman, while Clark said he had grown up reading Steve's comics.
• Nick Fury and Hawkeye told Downton that their investigation had led them to conclude he and Deadpool were visitors from another world, and Fury joked about his comic-book counterpart being white.

Downton and the others negotiated with Nick Fury over cooperation, technology sharing, and threats facing their universes while revealing that S.H.I.E.L.D. might be compromised by Hydra. The discussion ended when Clark spotted a missile barrage heading for the Burger King.

• Nick Fury joked about adapting to powerful rulers, and Downton removed his mechanical eye before accepting his apology.
• Lex revealed that the group had come to study and eventually invade Nick Fury's world, prompting Bruce to clarify that they wanted to cooperate and warn S.H.I.E.L.D. about Hydra.
• Nick Fury acknowledged the possible Hydra infiltration and warned Bruce that Batman had caused catastrophic crises in other versions of his world.
• Lex introduced the Pan-Universe Humanist Alliance and proposed exchanging technology and assistance for access and cooperation, but Nick Fury refused to open everything up.
• Clark spotted missiles approaching the Burger King and alerted everyone as a barrage hurtled toward the restaurant.

Clark, Bruce, Tony, and Lex fought Hydra after Hydra seized S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Helicarrier and launched missiles at New York. As Nick Fury learned the coup had spread to Washington and the President, Frank Castle called him for help.

• Clark and Bruce armored up and flew out to intercept the missiles, while Tony summoned his Mark armor and Lex joined them.
• Lex destroyed the incoming missiles, and Bruce identified the cloaked Helicarrier as their source and led the group toward it.
• Clark spotted Hydra surrounding Commander Hill and Agent Coulson on the bridge, and the group attacked the Helicarrier’s Hydra forces.
• Lex killed an attacking soldier, while Clark struggled with the violence and Bruce and Tony helped push back Hydra’s defenders.
• Nick Fury realized the missiles had come from the Helicarrier, then answered Frank Castle’s call reporting that S.H.I.E.L.D. had kidnapped the President and taken over Washington.

As Hydra’s uprising plunged S.H.I.E.L.D. and the world into widespread conflict, Downton ate burgers and watched the Helicarriers come under attack. Lex warned him that the Helicarriers might crash and that the Hulk had fallen into a schoolyard, leaving Downton to decide whether to help.

• Frank Castle angrily hung up on Nick Fury, while Steve confronted Fury over Hydra’s infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. and left with Barton and Natasha to retrieve their equipment.
• Fury discovered that most S.H.I.E.L.D. branches had been thrown into chaos as Hydra, the FBI, and other groups fought across the world, including in Arizona and Wakanda.
• Downton tried to leave Burger King without paying, then robbed the clerks for their change before heading off with Happy in Tony Stark’s limousine.
• Clark destroyed two missiles over New York, while Happy drove Downton through the chaotic streets to Stark Tower and then went to find Pepper.
• Downton wandered back outside as Clark, Bruce, Lex, and Tony nearly defeated Hydra aboard the Helicarriers, but Hydra destroyed two engines.
• Lex told Downton that the damaged Helicarriers risked crashing and that the Hulk had fallen into a middle school surrounded by students.

Downton agreed to handle the Hulk while Midtown High students, visiting children, and their parents took shelter during a battle involving a giant flying ship. The evacuation was disrupted when the green giant crashed through the gymnasium roof.

• Downton accepted Lex’s offer to take on the Hulk and vanished in a ball of flame.
• Connie and Jessica led a school tour attended by young Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker, who admired Midtown High.
• Explosions overhead sent the tour group and students into the school gymnasium for shelter.
• Students shared strange photos of armored fighters battling near a giant flying ship, while George Stacy left to help direct traffic and stop looting.
• Less than twenty minutes after George left, the green giant smashed through the gymnasium roof.

During HYDRA’s attack on the Helicarrier, Clark awakened heat vision and blasted the Hulk into a New York school gym, where Jessica Jones tried to protect students from him. The Hulk struck Jessica down, and Uncle Ben urged Peter to flee as he wanted to help her.

• Banner stayed aboard the Helicarrier and worked with S.H.I.E.L.D. on calming the Hulk until HYDRA attacked and triggered his transformation.
• Tony tried to restrain the Hulk, but Clark fought him on the Helicarrier’s deck while Lex warned that two power turbines had been destroyed.
• Clark awakened heat vision and blasted the Hulk off the Helicarrier and into the gymnasium of Midtown Science and Technology High School.
• Jessica pushed through the crowd of students photographing the unconscious Hulk and warned them to get away, but the awakened Hulk swung at a nearby student.
• Jessica intercepted the Hulk’s punch and was sent flying, while Peter wanted to help her and Uncle Ben urged him to run.

Downton intervened when Hulk attacked Jessica and the students, then kicked Hulk out of the city. Hulk returned with four arms and much greater strength, and the chapter ended as he caught Downton’s leg and swung a hammer blow at him.

• Hulk injured Jessica and sent students flying, but Downton appeared just before Hulk could stomp on her.
• Downton blocked Hulk’s foot, then kicked him far beyond New York, where Hulk grew two additional arms and leaped back toward the city.
• Downton helped Jessica recover while Gwen and Peter watched, and Hulk charged back into the stadium.
• Four-armed Hulk sent the students airborne, so Downton used telekinesis to protect them while attacking Hulk.
• Hulk caught Downton’s leg with his two rear arms and brought his front hands down toward Downton’s head.

Downton overwhelmed Four-Armed Hulk and kicked him out of New York, while the heroes on the Helicarrier discussed Clark’s newly manifested heat vision and his other powers. Downton then joined Jessica Jones at Midtown High School and suggested dealing with Purple Man later, before Jessica met him.

• Downton caught Hulk’s attacks, mocked him, broke off his bone spikes, and battered him with punches and kicks.
• Downton’s final kick sent Hulk ricocheting across the Pacific toward Japan, and he boasted about driving Hulk out of New York.
• Lex told Downton that Clark’s eyes had erupted with heat vision and that Clark was afraid to open them; Tony recognized the power and realized Clark was young and had not mastered flight.
• Bruce questioned whether Clark could fly without his armor and joked about throwing him off the Helicarrier, while Clark protested and Coulson arrived with Hill and the others.
• Downton told Lex he was at Midtown High School with Jessica Jones, then discussed her future encounter with Purple Man as Tony teased him over the channel.

Downton reunited with Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy at Midtown High after helping save the school, while Clark learned to control his heat vision and prepared to assist New York. The chapter ended with Downton chatting with the children as Peter questioned him about the Hulk and Gwen shooed Peter away.

• Downton joked with Tony over the communications channel, then told Clark he had seen young Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy at Midtown High.
• Clark practiced controlling his heat vision under Bruce's guidance, and Bruce asked him to help fight Hydra agents occupying parts of New York.
• Downton approached the stands, where Gwen asked his name and introduced herself; Downton amused her by teasing her and her mother.
• Peter praised Downton for saving the students and defeating the Hulk, and Downton explained that he had kicked the four-armed Hulk across the Pacific to Tokyo.
• Peter worried that the Hulk might hurt people, but Downton laughed it off, and Gwen shoved Peter aside for asking too many questions.