Chapter Summaries

The heroes struggled to damage the Anti-Celestial Armor as it advanced toward Avengers Tower, so Spider-Man devised a plan to trip it with symbiotes. With help from Agent Venom, Venom, and Wasp, they brought the two-kilometer giant crashing to the ground, though Pym Particles proved ineffective against it.

• Tony, Thor, Hulk, Cyclops, and Captain attacked the Anti-Celestial Armor, but its force field blocked their assaults and it annihilated a group of cloned superheroes.
• Tony urged Pym to use Ultron to hack the armor, while Peter noticed its automatic defense system ignored people crawling on it and asked for Agent Venom.
• Black Cat found Agent Venom and Flash and told them that Spider-Man was looking for them.
• Peter asked Flash and Venom to spread symbiotes over the armor’s ankles so they could trip it, and Wasp enlarged Anti-Venom to expand the symbiote covering.
• Spider-Man and Agent Venom pulled together and brought the Anti-Celestial Armor down, while Wasp reported that Pym Particles did not work on it.

The Avengers immobilized the anti-Celestials armor and turned it against itself, with Johnny controlling it while Ultron breached its systems. As the armor’s chest energy source exploded, Victor emerged from the wreckage with Kang and raised the Cosmic Cube, prompting Reed to demand that he put it down.

• Magneto and Strange restrained the anti-Celestials armor while the heroes searched for a way past its defenses.
• Peter proposed that Kitty let the armor move around her, creating an opening for Johnny to enter and control it.
• Kitty waited beneath the falling armor, and Johnny drove the Hell Charger into it and set it ablaze.
• Ultron breached the armor’s system, slowing its movements as the heroes attacked and Peter warned them about Kang’s Time Stone.
• The armor’s chest energy source exploded, and Victor emerged from the wreckage dragging Kang and holding up the Cosmic Cube.
• Reed shouted at Victor to put down the Cosmic Cube.

Doom, Kang, and the heroes fought over the Cosmic Cube as Kang used the Time Stone to revive himself and manipulate time. Peter gave the Cube to Kovac, who reset the world and ended the battle.

• Doom seized the Cosmic Cube from Kang, but Kang used the Time Stone to revive himself and evade Doom’s attacks by deleting time.
• Doom used Morgan le Fay’s spell to isolate Kovac, then fought Kang over the Cosmic Cube as Kang repeatedly regenerated.
• Ghost Rider, Hulk, and Wolverine joined the fight, while Mephisto’s protection prevented the Cube from changing Johnny Blaze’s past.
• Gwen webbed the Cosmic Cube and sent it to Peter, who handed it to Kovac.
• Peter told Kovac to return everything to its proper track, and blue light covered the world.

After the Kang Dynasty was erased from most memories, Peter explained how the heroes restored reality and suggested a new team name. The chapter revealed threats and plans still underway, while Kovac entered the Beyond-Gods’ realm and encountered The Beyonder.

• Peter told Bruce Banner and Logan that Kovac had restored reality, Kang and his variants had died, and Strange had taken the Time Stone.
• Peter proposed calling the group the Circle Four, though Logan disliked the name New Fantastic Four.
• On Hydra Island, Arnim Zola used Otto Octavia’s remains and symbiote material to create a new symbiote intended to kill Spider-Man, while Madame Viper pressed him about Zemo’s disappearance and Project Insight.
• Strange gathered leads on Mephisto and considered forming a magical team called the Midnight Sons.
• Kovac crossed beyond the multiverse, was welcomed by the Beyond-Gods as a future Beyond-God, and saw The Beyonder enter the multiverse.

A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent injected death-row inmate Cletus Kasady with an experimental red-and-black substance, and after his execution, Cletus bonded with a symbiote in a strange realm. He escaped the crematorium as Carnage and set out to feed.

• Kingpin saw a sedan arrive at Rikers Island and noticed it was headed for the death-row block.
• A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent told Cletus Kasady he was scheduled for execution and injected him with the last dose of an experimental substance.
• After Cletus was declared dead and sent to the crematorium, he encountered a gaunt man in a strange realm who offered him power in exchange for killing people.
• Cletus woke inside the furnace as red-and-black biomass spread over his burned body, and he burst out as Carnage.
• Cletus decided to eat at the crematorium before hunting for other living people.

Captain Stacy and Spider-Woman investigated a grisly funeral-home murder and discovered clues suggesting a killer had emerged from a cremation furnace. Elsewhere, Cletus chose to delay Knull’s orders while Carnage grew, then stole a suit from a man he attacked.

• Captain Stacy arrived at the funeral home and vomited after seeing the headless, disemboweled victims arranged around the word “Rebirth.”
• Spider-Woman concluded that the killer had crawled out of the cremation furnace, and the pair traced the latest cremation record to Rikers Island Prison.
• Spider-Woman learned that no death-row inmates had been executed in recent weeks, while the victims’ torn-off heads suggested a possible symbiote attack.
• Cletus decided not to hunt Venom or Spider-Man yet because he doubted Carnage could defeat them and wanted the symbiote to grow and learn to speak.
• Cletus punched a man who confronted him, ran into an alley, and emerged wearing the man’s suit.

Peter chatted with Johnny while Gwen and Cindy discussed training and their relationship with him. Jessica arrived looking for Spider-Man, and Cindy learned from Peter's text that they needed to go somewhere.

• Peter and Johnny discussed Peter's dating situation, and Johnny joked that Spider-Man's debut had caused New York's later troubles.
• Gwen complained about Jameson blaming Spider-Man and discussed learning to control her powers with Cindy.
• Cindy and Gwen disagreed over whether Peter had agreed to date them both at the same time.
• Jessica asked Gwen and Cindy where Spider-Man was, and Cindy checked Peter's text and said they needed to go somewhere.

Peter brought Gwen and Jessica to Spider-League headquarters, where Miguel showed him a group of universes the Web of Destiny barred the League from entering. Peter could not identify them and left to check on Gwen and Jessica, while Miguel suspected the worlds were meant for Peter.

• Peter showed Gwen and Jessica around Spider-League headquarters, where they saw its vast city of Spider-Men and encountered a Spider-Cat.
• Miguel asked Peter about the tremors in his universe, and Peter explained that Conqueror Kang had altered its reality.
• Miguel told Peter that encounters with the Web Legion had injured League members, though the League had avoided deaths by retreating.
• Miguel showed Peter a multiversal map, including several dozen universes that the Web of Destiny forbade the League from entering.
• Peter said he could not enter or identify the barred universes, and Miguel suggested they might have been prepared for Peter.
• Peter decided to go see what Gwen and Jessica were doing.

Gwen, Jessica, and Cindy explored Spider-League headquarters while Peter learned about several universes with powerful reality barriers. Miguel identified one mysterious universe as Earth-1610, leaving Peter facing the prospect of a familiar and potentially troublesome counterpart.

• Gwen and the others received watches from Spider-Man Aunt May at Spider-League headquarters.
• Cindy explained to Jessica that Earth-616’s reality barrier required them to travel through the Fantastic Four’s Baxter Building.
• Spider-Gwen introduced herself to Jessica and offered to show her around headquarters, suggesting adventures in other universes.
• Miguel told Peter that Earth-199999 produced no variants and that another universe appeared unusually similar to Earth-616.
• Miguel revealed that the mysterious universe’s designation was Earth-1610.

Peter watched Gwen and the others train at headquarters before Jessica thanked him for saving her during the Battle of New York and asked for his help investigating a brutal murder. The evidence led Peter to suspect that Cletus Kasady might still be alive as Carnage, putting Flash in danger.

• Peter watched two Gwens spar and spoke with Miguel, who left to attend to Earth-928.
• Jessica thanked Peter for saving her during the Battle of New York and told him she had gained spider abilities.
• Jessica described seven people found dead at a Harlem funeral home, their heads apparently bitten off by a huge mouth.
• Peter ruled out the known symbiotes and artificial symbiotes, then considered that the killer might be the supposedly dead Cletus Kasady.
• Peter urged Jessica to investigate Cletus and warned that Flash could be in danger if Cletus was alive.

Flash and Venom investigated reports of a new symbiote host, but their search led them to an injured drug dealer, whom Flash took to Mister Negative’s Charity Ball for help. Meanwhile, Cletus fed and indoctrinated Carnage, ending by urging it to enjoy killing with him.

• Flash and Venom considered whether more Knull-worshipping symbiotes might have reached Earth than the five they knew about.
• Flash and Venom found a badly injured drug dealer beneath a Harlem overpass, and Venom identified him as someone who sold drugs.
• Flash picked up the injured man and rushed him to Mister Negative’s Charity Ball for treatment.
• Cletus shared a lavish meal with Carnage and explained that humans pursued enjoyment beyond mere survival.
• Cletus urged Carnage to embrace killing as a source of enjoyment and superiority.

Peter investigated the missing Carnage while Jessica traced a suspicious death-row inmate murder to secret human experiments inside S.H.I.E.L.D. Flash found a horrifying crime scene but had not confirmed whether it was connected to their target.

• Peter returned to Queens, worried that Carnage and its host had vanished, then called Jessica before his date with Cindy.
• Jessica told Peter that a Rikers Island death-row guard had recently died under suspicious circumstances, and they deduced that someone had secretly experimented on inmates and cremated failed test subjects.
• Jessica found missing surveillance footage from Rikers Island and nearby roads, suggesting that someone inside S.H.I.E.L.D. was behind the experiments.
• Peter called Flash Thompson, who reported finding a horrifying scene and vowed that Agent Venom would bring the monster to justice.

Peter met Cindy for a coffee date after asking the Avengers to prevent a NASA mission that might turn J. Jonah Jameson's son into a wolfman. Their date was interrupted by a speeding truck pursued by police, and Peter invited Cindy to face the danger with him.

• Peter heard J. Jonah Jameson announce that his son would join NASA's upcoming manned space mission, recalled John Jonah Jameson III's past transformation into a wolfman, and messaged the Avengers to urge them to stop the launch.
• Peter read that Otto Octavius's leaked evidence of Osborn Industries' misconduct had caused the company's stock to plummet, despite Norman Osborn trying to discredit the information.
• Peter met Cindy at a coffee shop, where they awkwardly discussed her work at S.H.I.E.L.D. and began talking about summer plans.
• A large truck raced toward the coffee shop with police cars in pursuit, interrupting Peter and Cindy's date.
• Peter paid the bill, rushed outside with Cindy, and asked her if she wanted to face the truck together.

Peter and Cindy spent a peaceful day in New York after helping stop a bank robbery, while Jessica and Coulson's Bus Squad investigated a brutal murder linked to a symbiote. Fitz and Simmons detected an unknown symbiote signal in Manhattan, giving the team a lead on the killer.

• Peter and Cindy stopped a bank robbery with Spider-Man and Silk, and Peter learned the police were short-staffed after budget cuts and precinct closures.
• Peter invited Cindy to walk around downtown and meet Laurie and his pigeons instead of going for coffee.
• Flash and Venom followed the killer's scent while Jessica and Coulson's Bus Squad investigated the blood-soaked murder scene.
• Ward told Jessica that symbiotes could amplify a host's desires and warned that a symbiote bonded with the increasingly insane Cletus would be dangerous.
• Simmons and Fitz detected a symbiote signal that came from neither Spider-Man nor Agent Venom and traced it to somewhere in Manhattan.

S.H.I.E.L.D. lured a suspected symbiote killer to its safe house, where the creature attacked despite the force field. Agent Venom arrived and learned the symbiote was Carnage, who called him its father, as their battle began.

• Simmons explained the device that could lure symbiotes, and Ward recognized it as a trap.
• Skye questioned why S.H.I.E.L.D. was handling the case instead of asking the Avengers, while Fitz tracked the signal toward the safe house.
• The power briefly failed, and a grotesque red symbiote emerged near the safe house and attacked its defenses.
• Ward tested fire and sound against the creature, but neither harmed it as it shrieked and drained the force field's power.
• Agent Venom arrived and Carnage introduced itself as his child, then attacked him with blades and a piercing shriek.

Agent Venom fought Carnage across New York, but Carnage proved stronger and repeatedly overpowered him. After Carnage left Flash badly injured, Flash refused Venom’s suggestion to call Spider-Man and chose to continue fighting alone.

• Venom and Flash attacked Carnage, but discovered his unstable symbiote structure made him difficult to destroy and more resistant to symbiote attacks.
• Flash lured Carnage away from the safe house, and Carnage pursued him through the city by launching himself between buildings.
• Carnage caught Flash on a rooftop, endured his attacks, and used a sonic shriek before stabbing him with blades.
• Flash snapped off part of Carnage’s symbiote and swallowed it, then attacked Carnage, but Carnage recovered and pierced Flash with a giant blade.
• Carnage threw Flash to the ground and said he wanted to enjoy killing him, while nearby pedestrians fled.
• Venom suggested that Flash call Spider-Man, but Flash refused and vowed to defeat Carnage himself.

Agent Venom and Spider-Man fought Carnage, whose unusual abilities let him escape Anti-Venom by shedding part of his body. Peter suspected Knull had a hand in Carnage’s birth, while Venom explained that Carnage was likely targeting them to free the sealed symbiote god.

• Flash and Venom attacked Carnage, but their weapons and physical strikes failed to stop him.
• Venom realized Carnage’s apparent immunity to fire and sonic attacks might come from an ability to evade their effects, and urged Flash to retreat as S.H.I.E.L.D. called for reinforcements.
• Spider-Man arrived and trapped Carnage in Anti-Venom, but Carnage escaped by separating a portion of his mass and burrowing underground.
• Peter sealed the remaining Carnage sample and found that his Spider-Sense prophecy showed nothing about Carnage’s survival.
• Peter told Flash that Knull had probably influenced Carnage’s birth, and Venom explained that Carnage might be trying to kill them to free Knull.

Peter and S.H.I.E.L.D. investigated Carnage’s unusual biology and concluded that Hydra had likely created him and concealed the research. Peter left the team to seek Reed Richards’s help and turned to planning how to lure Carnage out.

• Simmons showed Peter, Cindy, Flash, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that Carnage’s strength far exceeded Venom’s and explained that his molecules acted as independent symbiotes.
• Peter identified Carnage as a symbiote Hive Mind network, explaining why ordinary sonic and heat attacks could not stop him.
• Peter proposed using Doctor Octopus’s molecular oscillator to separate Carnage from Cletus, but Fitz said S.H.I.E.L.D. could not find the device.
• Peter concluded that Hydra had hidden Doctor Octopus’s research and was likely responsible for creating Carnage and covering up Cletus’s records.
• Peter said he would consult Reed Richards at the Baxter Building, then asked how they could lure Carnage out.

Peter learned that Hydra had created Carnage from limited artificial symbiote material and that Cletus was their only successful test subject, while Fury arranged to protect Peter’s family. Carnage fled into the Appalachian Mountains, where Cletus welcomed his fear of death and celebrated the act of killing.

• Nick Fury met Peter Parker in miniature inside his own electronic eye and agreed to hand over all remaining Carnage samples.
• Fury told Peter that Carnage likely came from fragments of Venom and Otto Octavius’s artificial symbiotes, and that Hydra had no other successful Carnage subjects.
• Peter reasoned that Carnage could be hurt by sustained heat and might be vulnerable to Otto’s molecular vibration device, then asked Fury to protect his family.
• Fury arranged a family trip to England for Peter’s uncle and aunt and predicted Carnage would stay away for a while.
• Carnage fled south into the Appalachian Mountains, where he struggled to find food and briefly reverted to Cletus’s appearance.
• Cletus asked Carnage whether he feared death and described killing as the beautiful destruction of another person’s possibilities.

Peter searched for ways to understand Carnage and the symbiote hive mind, but Spider-League research offered no quick solution. Miguel identified a universe where a darkened Spider-Man had accepted a symbiote, and Peter chose it as their next target.

• Peter and Gwen discussed Carnage’s disappearance and how his murders had affected George Stacy and their plans to visit other universes.
• Peter asked Miguel about the Web of Destiny, Klyntar, and how the Spider-League might help him deal with Carnage.
• Miguel explained that Spider-Men empowered by the Black King could become powerful Carnage-like warriors who would not flee from a fight.
• Miguel showed Peter several candidate universes where the Spider-League could confront one of those warriors and obtain a sample.
• Peter chose the universe from Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, where Spider-Man had accepted a symbiote after growing darker.