Chapter Summaries

Gwen was bitten by an experimental Oscorp spider while accompanying Peter at the expo, and Jarvis rushed her to seek help. Downton recognized the bite as the event that would give Gwen spider powers and sent Jarvis to Tony’s lab, while promising May that the Stacy family would receive compensation.

• Gwen screamed after an experimental spider bit her neck, and Jarvis identified it as a spider created through an Oscorp project involving Richard Parker.
• Jarvis carried Gwen to Captain Stacy and explained that he had contacted Stark Industries’ legal teams and arranged medical help.
• At May’s house, Downton received Jarvis’s call and learned that Gwen, not Peter, had been bitten after Jarvis stopped spiders from reaching Peter.
• Downton told Jarvis to bring Gwen to Tony’s lab, where Lex could monitor her and give her nutrient solution.
• Downton reassured May that Peter was safe and promised to get Oscorp to compensate the Stacy family.

Lex stole Tony Stark’s research before helping JARVIS respond to Gwen Stacy’s severe reaction to an Oscorp spider bite. Downton brought Gwen and Peter Parker to the laboratory, where Doctor Strange arrived after being summoned, furious that someone had called him a wizard.

• Lex bypassed JARVIS’s defenses and copied Tony’s research records, then agreed to develop an antidote for Gwen’s spider venom.
• JARVIS told Lex that Gwen Stacy had been bitten by an Oscorp experimental spider while he escorted her and Peter Parker around the expo.
• Lex recognized JARVIS’s anxiety as evidence of his emotions and reassured him before examining the venom report.
• Downton arrived at the laboratory and worried that JARVIS’s intervention had changed the spider bite’s intended target from Peter to Gwen.
• JARVIS brought the feverish Gwen and frightened Peter to the laboratory, and Downton invited Doctor Strange inside after learning he had arrived.
• Strange confronted the Stark Industries receptionist and angrily protested being called a wizard instead of a doctor.

Strange arrived at Stark Industries to examine Gwen, certain that medicine had nothing to do with magic, but Downton revealed that Strange's future self was already a sorcerer. The chapter ended with the future Strange asking how Downton had pulled him out of the timeline.

• Strange met Jarvis, who warned him that Downton was dangerous and told him to follow the lab rules.
• Downton greeted Strange and brought him into the observation center, where Strange met Alexander Luthor.
• Strange saw Gwen's dangerously high fever and accused Downton of experimenting on her before trying to take her to a hospital.
• Downton stopped Strange and pulled his future self, dressed in a sorcerer's robe and red cloak, out of the timeline.
• Future Strange covered the present Strange's mouth and asked Downton how he had summoned him from the future.

Gwen’s spider bite triggered a powerful transformation, leaving her stronger and older-looking, while the Sorcerer Supreme explained his changing beliefs to his younger self. The chapter ended with Strange driving away drunk and crashing into Happy’s Rolls-Royce.

• The Sorcerer Supreme told his younger self that both of them had been overly confident in relying exclusively on science or mysticism, while Gwen’s body temperature continued rising as she evolved.
• Gwen’s temperature peaked and fell as her body grew stronger and older-looking, and she woke up with spider-like abilities.
• Gwen accidentally broke Peter’s ribs, damaged his scapula, and fractured his clavicle when she pulled him close, so Jarvis took him to the hospital.
• Strange left the laboratory to arrange Peter’s emergency treatment after refusing to discuss magic, and Downton promised to find Gwen a teacher.
• The Sorcerer Supreme opened a portal and left as Strange drove away in his Ferrari, which crashed into Happy’s Rolls-Royce.

Happy rescued the drunk-driving Strange, who explained that his younger self’s suffering would teach him empathy, before leaving Downton’s lab. After Downton healed Peter and returned Zatanna to her world, Bruce called to report that a fast-spreading fire had engulfed a third of Los Angeles and asked for help.

• Happy’s Rolls-Royce stopped Strange’s speeding sports car, and Happy pulled the bloodied, unconscious driver from the wreckage.
• Strange told Downton that the losses and hardships awaiting his younger self would help him gain empathy and live a more satisfying life, then left through a portal.
• Lex asked whether magic could enhance technology, and Downton said Zatanna could enchant armor while explaining that powerful artifacts relied on more than enchantment.
• Downton summoned Zatanna to heal Peter, then returned her to her world and took Peter and Gwen back to the expo hall.
• Bruce told Downton that Los Angeles was burning after he took out the city’s Hydra leader, with strong winds spreading flames across a third of the city.

Bruce and Clark struggled to save Los Angeles after Hydra triggered a citywide fire, but Downton and the Ancient One refused to intervene. Clark was left desperate as his powers began to change, and he suddenly rose into the sky.

• Bruce and his armors defeated Hydra in Los Angeles, but Hydra's counterattack damaged the city's utilities and ignited fires at eleven locations.
• Bruce and Clark tried to rescue residents and manage evacuations as the fires spread, while Bruce learned that insurance companies had withdrawn coverage from major American cities.
• Bruce contacted Downton for help, but Downton said the fire had become a natural disaster and declined to act.
• Bruce sent Clark to ask the Ancient One for a portal to the ocean, but she refused, saying Kamar-Taj would not intervene in a human conflict, and sent him back to Los Angeles.
• Clark returned to Bruce in despair, then the ground cracked beneath him and he flew into the sky.

Clark mastered flight and freezing breath, then tried to lift a massive iceberg to help extinguish the Los Angeles fire. After fighting Namor, he cut the iceberg into smaller pieces and carried them toward Los Angeles.

• Clark gave his armor to Bruce, who arranged for a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to use it in the Los Angeles rescue effort.
• Clark froze a vast expanse of ocean after sensing encouragement from the sun, then struggled to lift the resulting ice field.
• Namor confronted Clark, mistook him for an enemy, and attacked him with a trident.
• Clark knocked Namor unconscious, freed Namor's two frozen subordinates and their sea-bull mounts, and continued practicing with his bio-field.
• Clark lifted the iceberg partly out of the water, cut it into smaller pieces with heat vision, and flew toward Los Angeles carrying them.

After Clark extinguished the Los Angeles wildfire, Downton settled Peter, Gwen, Aunt May, and Mrs. Stacy into a villa while Diana and Atlantis reacted to their Mother Boxes becoming active. The chapter ended with Orm setting out to investigate Atlantis’s ancient temple, uncertain what the Mother Box was for.

• Clark turned the ice he brought to Los Angeles into torrential rain, ending the wildfire and making Superman famous across America.
• Downton moved Peter, Gwen, Aunt May, and Mrs. Stacy into an Oscorp-funded villa, and May and Mrs. Stacy hosted a housewarming party.
• Andarois warned Diana that Themyscira’s Mother Box had stirred, and Diana joined Hippolyta in guarding it as it activated again.
• Hippolyta fired Hephaestus’s arrow into the sacred brazier at Athena’s temple, but the people of Athens mistook its flame for a tourist attraction.
• An Atlantis guard told Orm that the kingdom’s Mother Box had briefly activated, and Orm ordered a team to investigate the ancient temple.

Orm reported that the Mother Box in the undersea temple had begun trembling, prompting the weakened Sea King to summon Nereus and ask Vico to help protect Atlantis and restrain Orm. Nereus arrived with his daughter Mera, whom he intended to introduce to Orm as a future Sea Queen, while Mera resisted the prospect of marrying him.

• Orm ordered a guard to inform the Sea King that the sealed Mother Box had begun to tremble.
• The Sea King summoned Nereus to help deal with the Mother Box and assigned Orm to assist him.
• The Sea King asked Vico to protect Atlantis, keep Orm from leading the kingdom into war, and continue searching for Atlanna.
• Vico went to observe the Mother Box, where Orm snubbed him before Nereus arrived from Xebel.
• Nereus brought his daughter Mera to Atlantis and told her she was destined to become Sea Queen and should meet Orm.
• Mera objected to the idea of marrying Orm, while Nereus reassured her that she had time before the marriage.

Nereus brought Mera to Atlantis and explained the danger posed by the Mother Box as they approached the palace. In Gotham, Joker hijacked a television broadcast to terrorize the city, but General Zod interrupted him with a demand for Clark Kent and a threat to destroy Earth.

• Nereus reassured Mera about their visit to Atlantis and warned her that the Mother Box might be a doorway to powerful enemies.
• Nereus and Mera arrived at the Atlantean palace as anxious guards rushed past them.
• Gordon asked Alfred to help him find operatives to capture Joker, and the group watched Joker’s violent broadcast on television.
• Floyd left to confront Joker after Joker killed a television host and reporter during his broadcast.
• General Zod hijacked the broadcast, demanded that Clark Kent surrender, and threatened to destroy Earth, enraging Joker.

Floyd killed the Joker with a six-kilometer sniper shot, but the Joker’s heartbeat-triggered bombs killed 273 Gotham TV employees. As Gotham’s leaders planned for the aftermath and the threat of General Zod, a portal opened on Themyscira and sent a towering armored figure through.

• Floyd deployed a citywide drone network, located the Joker at Gotham TV, and killed him with a long-range shot from Arkham District.
• The Joker’s death triggered bombs that killed 273 Gotham TV employees, and Floyd identified the Joker and reported the casualties to Alfred.
• Alfred assigned Oswald to handle Gotham’s recovery, ordered Gordon to accelerate police recruitment, and told Carmine Falcone to restore gang control while the Wraith Party prepared for future threats.
• Alfred said Don and Bruce would confront General Zod by nightfall and instructed Victor and Carmine to prepare Wraith Party soldiers with support from Wayne Enterprises and LexCorp.
• Diana sensed danger from the shaking Mother Box and urged Hippolyta to gather the Amazon army, but a portal opened and sent a towering armored figure into the temple ruins.

Steppenwolf arrived on Earth to reclaim the Mother Boxes, fought Diana at the Amazon temple, and escaped to pursue easier targets. He seized the Mother Box at Gotham’s S.T.A.R. Labs, but a silver spacecraft of apparent Kryptonian design appeared overhead.

• Steppenwolf fought Diana at the temple while Hippolyta took the Mother Box, then fled before Diana could stop him.
• Steppenwolf’s thoughts revealed that he feared Earth’s powerful defenders and needed to retrieve the Mother Boxes before Downton returned.
• Steppenwolf followed a signal to Gotham’s S.T.A.R. Labs, where Silas Stone and other researchers were studying a Mother Box.
• Steppenwolf broke into the lab, seized the Mother Box, and escaped into the street after mocking and attacking the researchers.
• A silver spacecraft descended above Steppenwolf, who wondered why it looked Kryptonian if Krypton had been destroyed.

General Zod and Fiora reached Gotham while pursuing the Kryptonian ship, and Zod attacked Steppenwolf, who had stolen the Mother Box. As Fiora fought Steppenwolf, Alfred evacuated Fox and sent support toward S.T.A.R. Labs, while Zatanna and Enchantress Danzamo rushed to the battlefield.

• Zod and Fiora tracked the Kryptonian ship to S.T.A.R. Labs, where Steppenwolf had taken the Mother Box.
• Zod kicked a car at Steppenwolf, and Fiora began fighting him amid widespread destruction in downtown Gotham.
• Fox called Alfred, who sent Floyd, Victor, and the Wraith Party to support him and help evacuate civilians.
• Danzamo teleported Fox to the manor, where he met Carmine Falcone.
• Zatanna teleported toward the battle, and Danzamo warned that Apokolips could counter Earth magic before following her.
• Alfred left the manor in the care of Danzamo's younger brother as the fight continued on blurry satellite footage.

General Zod and Steppenwolf fought over the Mother Box until Zatanna and Danzamo intervened, but a Kryptonian black hole grenade broke Zatanna’s confinement. Steppenwolf escaped through a Boom Tube with the Mother Box and emerged underwater, where he attacked the Atlanteans.

• Alfred refused to let the kid brother sacrifice himself and watched the battle in Burnley District through surveillance feeds.
• Steppenwolf overwhelmed Fiona and several Kryptonian soldiers, but General Zod stopped his axe and challenged him to fight alone.
• Zatanna used reverse-incantation magic to separate Zod and Steppenwolf, then confined the Kryptonians while Danzamo restrained Fiona from striking her.
• A Kryptonian soldier used a black hole grenade to escape Zatanna’s cage, and Fiona followed with another grenade while ordering a soldier to carry the injured warrior back to their ship.
• Steppenwolf grabbed the Mother Box and opened a Boom Tube, escaping Zod and Zatanna before arriving underwater.
• Steppenwolf killed the Atlanteans who rushed him and swam onward with the Mother Box.

General Zod halted the fight with Zatanna and Danzamo and agreed to meet Alfred over the buried Kryptonian ship, while a wounded Kryptonian soldier discovered that exposure to Earth made him feel stronger and believed the Codex was nearby. The chapter ended with the soldier demanding to return to Earth as his cells evolved.

• Faora left to investigate the Codex, and Danzamo summoned a storm as Zatanna and Danzamo prepared to drive the Kryptonians away.
• Zod stopped Faora from attacking and approached the two magicians, seeking a meeting instead of risking more of his dwindling forces.
• Zatanna proposed that Alfred decide whether to trust Zod, and Zod insisted that they meet at the site of the buried Kryptonian ship.
• Alfred agreed to meet Zod and flew toward Burnley District with Floyd and Victor in nano armor.
• A wounded Kryptonian soldier began evolving after exposure to Earth and demanded to be taken back there, convinced the Codex was nearby.

A wounded Kryptonian discovered that Earth’s yellow sun rapidly empowered and healed his people, prompting General Zod and the other Kryptonians to embrace the change. As Alfred faced Zod on behalf of Downton, he revealed that Bruce had prepared a possible Kryptonian weakness: green stones.

• A one-armed Kryptonian soldier flew under Earth’s yellow sun and rapidly began regenerating his severed arm, while his comrades watched in amazement.
• General Zod confirmed that sunlight was strengthening Kryptonians, removed his armor, and urged Faora and the other soldiers to follow his example.
• Danzamo urged Little Z to kill the Kryptonians before they grew stronger, but Zatanna stopped her from attacking and argued that they should let the Kryptonians reveal their intentions first.
• Alfred arrived with Floyd and Victor, introduced himself to Zod, and warned that Downton would retaliate if the Kryptonians harmed them.
• Zod and the rest of his soldiers began absorbing sunlight, while Alfred gave Floyd and Victor canisters and revealed that Bruce had prepared green stones as a likely Kryptonian weakness.

Steppenwolf defeated Orm and Nereus in Atlantis and stole the Mother Box, leaving the kingdom’s leaders incapacitated and Mera responsible for mobilizing the ocean. Hippolyta and Diana realized the human Mother Box had been taken from Gotham, while Downton remained unaware of the crisis in a private club.

• Orvax urged Vulko to tell Orm to challenge him for the throne, then collapsed unconscious after coughing blood.
• Steppenwolf overpowered Orm and Nereus and escaped with Atlantis’s Mother Box.
• Orm ordered Atlantis to prepare for war, while Mera agreed to lead the kingdom’s mobilization until Orm and Nereus recovered.
• Hippolyta and Diana saw the Amazonian Mother Box shaking and discovered that the human Mother Box had been stolen from Gotham City.
• Diana wondered where Downton was, as Downton sneezed in a private club and flirted with a woman.

General Zod negotiated permission to search the Kryptonian scout ship, then confronted Jor-El and learned that the city of Kandor and a hundred thousand Kryptonians had survived Krypton’s destruction. Zod vowed to find Kandor, though he still intended to pursue the Codex of Life.

• Alfred warned Zod not to take anything from the scout ship without Downton’s permission, and Zod agreed to search for the Codex of Life.
• Faora and the other Kryptonians recovered their strength and grew hostile, but Zod stopped them and ordered Faora to lead the search of S.T.A.R. Labs.
• Zod confronted Jor-El, who argued that his exile had preserved Zod and Krypton’s remaining hope.
• Jor-El revealed that a mysterious spacecraft had taken Kandor, along with a hundred thousand Kryptonians, just before Krypton exploded.
• Zod promised to search for Kandor but privately refused to give up his search for the Codex of Life.

Mera convened the Ocean Council, which decided to investigate the missing Mother Boxes and prepare Atlantis to join the coming war if needed. The council sent Mera and Vulko to the surface, where they arrived near a city and noticed a man speaking into a strange black slab.

• Mera blew the conch and convened the Ocean Council, whose members questioned her about Ovak's illness and the stolen Mother Box.
• Duchess Carlson and the councilors agreed to locate the remaining Mother Boxes, monitor the surface, and prepare Atlantis to enter the war.
• The council ordered Vulko to investigate the Mother Box taken by King Arthur and approved Mera accompanying him as a princess of Xebel.
• Duchess Carlson temporarily freed the council's deliberative authority so it could continue meeting while Mera was away.
• Mera and Vulko traveled in a patrol craft to a hidden spot near a surface city, where Vulko planned to investigate through television and newspapers.
• Vulko noticed a man speaking to himself while holding a black slab to his ear and wondered whether surface telephones had become wireless.

Vico and Mera learned that humanity’s heroes were fighting Steppenwolf and set out for Gotham to warn them about the Mother Boxes. Meanwhile, Arthur headed toward the ruined Mother Box site, and Atlantis’s council learned that he had been captured there and claimed to be Atlanna’s son.

• Vico won a golden retriever’s company and learned from its owner about the destruction in Washington, the chaos in Gotham, and the fight against Steppenwolf.
• Vico showed Mera a video of the battle and decided they should contact humanity about the Mother Boxes before traveling toward Gotham.
• Arthur heard a terrifying sound from Atlantis’s direction, remembered his resentment toward the kingdom, and swam toward the Mother Box ruins.
• Orm urged Atlantis’s council to mobilize and take control of the surface, while Nereus insisted they wait until Mera was safe.
• Atlantis’s guards reported that Arthur had approached the sealed Mother Box site, fought them, and identified himself as Princess Atlanna’s son.