Chapter Summaries

Jude took Bruce, Peter, Clark, Diana, and Barry through a portal to another universe, where the group discovered their powers had grown stronger. They arrived in the world of The Boys, while Jude remained troubled by a strange nursery rhyme that had echoed during their journey.

• Jude asked Peter to explain the multiverse to Bruce, then left to bring Clark, Diana, and Barry along.
• The group traveled through a portal, where they all heard a disturbing nursery rhyme that Jude recognized as its third appearance.
• The five arrived atop a skyscraper in a bustling city and found their senses and physical strength had increased.
• Jude explained that the new world's lower pressure let their powers return closer to normal, then identified the world as The Boys.

Jude introduced Bruce, Superman, Diana, and Barry to the corrupt superhero world of The Boys and gave them a week to explore it. He planned to use the time to find a Clone of himself in that world and end the Clone’s existence once its mission was complete.

• Jude described how Vought International controlled superheroes, exploited vulnerable people, and profited from Compound V and idol worship.
• Jude told Bruce, Superman, Diana, and Barry to explore the world for a week before meeting him again for a surprise.
• Superman persuaded Diana to treat their time together as a vacation, and they left to enjoy it as an ordinary couple.
• Barry complained that Superman and Diana were together, then vanished after Jude teased him about his relationship with Iris.
• Jude told Bruce he intended to find his Clone in that world and eliminate it after its mission was finished.

Jude arrived in The Boys world and tracked down Clone 35, intending to eliminate the Clones he had created. He easily defeated Clone 35 and Ivy's clone, then heard Clone 35 warn that others would come for him.

• Jude surveyed New York and reflected on Vought Corporation's influence and The Boys' resistance.
• Jude used a tracker to locate his Clones and flew Cowboy 2 to Clone 35's island.
• Jude burst into a room and killed Peter, a Little Spider clone, and an unfamiliar woman.
• Clone 35 and Ivy's clone attacked Jude, but their weapons and powers barely affected Cowboy 2.
• Jude killed Clone 35 and Ivy's clone before Clone 35 could self-destruct, and Clone 35 warned that others would come for him.

Jude destroyed the island after killing Clone 35, then spent a week with the Justice League members in The Boys' world. Batman uncovered Vought Corporation's lies and human drug trials, and Jude prepared to reveal more about the world.

• Jude found that Clone 35 had not activated Operation Phoenix, then destroyed the island and sent it sinking into the sea.
• The island's destruction sparked rumors of an American weapons test, which the government used to threaten Vought Corporation.
• Jude, Barry Allen, Superman, and Diana discussed their impressions of the world and disagreed about Vought's influence on superheroes.
• Batman reported that Vought had artificially created all superpowered people, including Homelander, and that two of its charities likely conducted human drug trials.
• Jude told the others he would reveal the truth of the world.

Jude and his companions infiltrated The Seven’s headquarters to observe Starlight’s initiation ceremony. As Homelander welcomed her and began the ceremony, Maeve left, and Barry sensed that something was wrong.

• Madelyn introduced Starlight to the press as The Seven’s newest member while Jude and his companions watched.
• Jude gave the others devices that made them invisible and broke into The Seven’s headquarters.
• After the press conference, Homelander welcomed Starlight and insulted The Deep during the team meeting.
• Homelander announced Starlight’s initiation ceremony and asked Maeve whether she wanted to participate.
• Maeve left with a pitying look toward Starlight, and Barry whispered that something felt wrong.

Starlight discovered that Homelander and the other members of The Seven intended to assault and control her during her initiation. Homelander threatened her family and invoked Vought’s power, leaving her trapped and defeated as Jude and the others watched from the shadows.

• Homelander ordered Starlight to kneel, and A-Train, Black Noir, and The Deep surrounded her.
• A-Train forced Starlight to her knees while explaining that everyone in The Seven had to obey Homelander.
• Starlight tried to resist, but Homelander threatened her with Heat Vision, and Jude stopped Barry Allen and Diana from intervening.
• Starlight declared that she was quitting and would expose The Seven, then ran for the exit.
• Homelander blocked Starlight and threatened her family, her finances, and her life, claiming Vought would protect him.
• Starlight’s resolve crumbled, and she slid helplessly to the floor by the door.

Jude stopped Diana, Barry, and Clark from intervening at Vought Tower, then watched Starlight defend herself against The Deep and escape. That night, he led the group into a hidden venue, where a depraved scene awaited them.

• Jude threw a metal ball at Vought Tower, shattering its glass exterior and causing chaos throughout the building.
• Homelander rushed to Madelyn's office, while Black Noir and A-Train were ordered to investigate the damage.
• The Deep tried to assault Starlight, but she blasted him away and fled Vought Tower.
• Jude warned Barry, Clark, and Diana that Vought's crimes went beyond what they had witnessed, and the group left the tower unnoticed by Homelander.
• That night, Jude led the four others to a hidden venue, hypnotized its guard, and opened a door onto a depraved scene.

Jude argued that the horrors of The Boys' world showed Bruce why law could not restrain the powerful, then attended A-Train and Lightning's race with Bruce, Barry, and Diana. At the venue, Jude spotted Butcher and Hughie and prepared to bring Vought Corporation and The Seven down.

• Jude claimed that his restraint proved he could be considered a superhero, while Bruce insisted Jude still had compassion and valued relationships.
• Two days later, Jude and the others attended the live race between A-Train and Lightning, whose odds were close and whose crowd favored the challenger.
• Barry envied the superpowered celebrities' popularity, and Bruce explained that Vought Corporation's publicity machine came at the cost of personal freedom.
• Diana pointed out Lightning's similar name, and Barry dismissed the challenger's speed; Jude suggested Barry jump into the race as a surprise contender.
• Jude recognized Butcher and Hughie in the stands and concluded that The Seven and Vought Corporation were destined to fall, with a surprise awaiting Vought's superpowered recruits.

Barry Allen joined a 200-kilometer race against A-Train and Lightning after insulting Lightning's speed. He waited as A-Train neared his hundredth lap, then finally began to run.

• The Seven appeared at the competition venue, and Homelander praised A-Train while Starlight forced a smile.
• Lightning showed off his speed and challenged A-Train, who injected himself with three doses of Compound V before the race.
• A-Train arrived at the track and threatened to beat Lightning, then the two took their places for the hundred-lap race.
• Barry Allen appeared in the Flash's suit, announced that he wanted to join, and taunted Lightning about his speed.
• The referee started the race, and A-Train and Lightning rapidly accumulated laps while Barry stayed at the starting line to warm up.
• When A-Train reached 99 laps, Barry burst forward in a red blur across the stadium.

Barry demonstrated overwhelming speed by defeating A-Train and Lightning, then challenged A-Train to expose his secrets if Barry completed a speed test. A-Train set a global phone-delivery challenge, and Barry made it harder by insisting the participants and cities be chosen publicly before he began.

• Barry raced past the finish line and knocked A-Train and Lightning down with the force of his speed.
• Homelander and the spectators were stunned, while the host received orders not to announce Barry as the winner because he was not from Vought Corporation.
• A-Train claimed Barry had cheated because the race screen showed no score, and Barry explained that he had moved too fast for the cameras to capture him.
• Barry challenged A-Train to reveal his behind-the-scenes wrongdoing if Barry completed a challenge, and A-Train proposed delivering one hundred spectators' phones to landmarks in one hundred cities within an hour.
• Barry raised the difficulty by asking A-Train to display the selected people and cities publicly so Barry could find them and complete the challenge without collecting their phones beforehand.

Barry Allen completed A-Train’s challenge by collecting phones and taking requested photos around the world, then confronted him about supplying the Mole Gang with Compound V. A-Train agreed to reveal the truth after Jude treated his overdose, but Homelander tried to take him away and Superman blocked him.

• Barry Allen returned with all one hundred phones and proved he had taken each audience member’s requested photo.
• Barry stopped A-Train from leaving and demanded that he expose his dealings with the Mole Gang.
• A-Train collapsed from Compound V’s side effects, and Barry told the crowd the drug was killing him.
• Jude offered A-Train a specially made vial of Compound V in exchange for his cooperation, and A-Train accepted.
• Homelander tried to take A-Train back to the company, but Superman stepped in and refused to let him go.

Jude exposed Vought Corporation’s creation of superheroes and Homelander’s fabricated origin during a live stadium event. Vought shut down the broadcast, but Jude revealed a wider holographic projection of compromising footage, leaving the crowd stunned.

• Butcher told Hughie to stay hidden and watch, despite Hughie’s worry for Starlight.
• Jude questioned A-Train about Compound V and accused Vought Corporation of creating every superhero, including Homelander, whose backstory he called fabricated.
• Under Jude’s pressure, A-Train first confirmed the accusations, then denied them and pretended to fall ill.
• Madelyn arrived with Vought Corporation staff, threatened to sue Jude, and halted the match and broadcast.
• Jude activated plan B, projecting footage from a bar two days earlier that showed familiar superheroes in debauched scenes.

Jude exposed Vought and The Seven with secret footage, but Madelyn and Homelander persuaded the crowd that the videos were fabricated. Jude then revealed that Lamplighter was alive and ready to testify, leaving Vought facing a new witness.

• Jude projected footage of Vought's drug experiments and The Seven's crimes, shocking the audience and enraging the heroes.
• The Seven gathered around Homelander, who restrained himself from attacking Jude in front of the crowd.
• The projection showed Homelander with Madelyn and a shapeshifter, prompting Madelyn to call the footage fabricated and slanderous.
• Madelyn and Homelander appealed to the crowd, turning many spectators against Jude and the others.
• Jude revealed that Lamplighter was alive and had agreed to expose Vought's secrets, then called him forward.
• Lamplighter appeared at the stadium tunnel entrance.

Lamplighter exposed Vought Corporation’s crimes, and Homelander turned against Edgar and ordered a massacre at the stadium. Jude’s group fought back, with Superman overwhelming Homelander, before Stormfront arrived to find Vought’s forces already losing.

• Jude compelled Lamplighter to testify that Vought Corporation had conducted inhumane Compound V experiments and used him to kill failed subjects.
• Jude urged the stadium crowd to attack Vought, while Madelyn asked Homelander to take her away and learned he intended to kill everyone who resisted.
• Homelander revealed his contempt for humanity, killed Edgar after Edgar confronted him, and became Vought’s new leader before ordering his superpowered followers to attack the crowd.
• Jude’s group intervened: Barry captured two enemies, Diana defeated Queen Maeve and other superpowered individuals, Jude crushed Translucent, and Superman beat Homelander.
• Stormfront arrived with reinforcements, saw the battle already underway, and apologized for coming to the wrong place.

Jude confronted Vought’s forces and then the National Guard, whose secret orders were to eliminate superpowered people. After disabling their weapons and taking control of Earth’s connected devices, he flew into space to demonstrate his power to the world.

• Stormfront led hundreds of people into the stadium as Superman defeated Homelander, and Jude taunted the fallen supe.
• Colonel Waltzheimer arrived with National Guard forces, demanded that Jude surrender, and ignored civilians who tried to explain what had happened.
• Bruce, Diana, Superman, and Flash urged Jude not to harm the soldiers or civilians, and Jude promised only to give the military a warning.
• Jude disabled the vehicles, helicopters, and electronic weapons, then took control of internet-connected devices across Earth to broadcast his face.
• Jude flew Cowboy 2 beyond the atmosphere and headed toward the Moon, telling the world to remember what it was about to see.

Jude destroyed the moon with one punch, then replaced it with a gravity sphere to protect Earth. After returning to the stadium and dismissing Colonel Waltz, he left to create the Infinity Stones, his final task in The Boys world.

• Jude activated Cowboy 2's Overlimit Mode and punched through the moon, disintegrating it into tiny particles.
• People on Earth realized the moon's destruction was real when gravity shifted, and Jude restored stability with a gravity sphere.
• Jude returned to the stadium, where Colonel Waltz apologized and Jude told him that he and his companions intended to destroy Vought Corporation.
• Jude flew away, telling Superman and the others to meet him in three days, and set out to create the Infinity Stones.

Jude created a set of Infinity Stones in The Boys world and established an Operation Phoenix deployment device on a primitive planet. He then reunited with Bruce, Superman, Diana, and Barry and opened a portal to take them home.

• Jude reasoned that a complete world without existing Infinity Stones could support their artificial creation, and that the Fusion World could let them function across worlds.
• After two days, Jude completed the six Infinity Stones in The Boys world and judged their combined power to be weaker than the Fusion World's Stones.
• Jude built an Operation Phoenix deployment device and hid it behind an energy barrier on a primitive planet.
• Jude returned to Earth and later met Bruce, Superman, Diana, and Barry on the building where their journey had begun.
• Jude opened a portal and announced that they were going home.

Clone 77 gathered Jude’s second-generation Clones on Saturn to organize against the original Jude Herbert after No. 35 was killed. The Clones agreed to pool their strength, pursue a complete Portal Gun, and build a city called Freedom City.

• Clone 77 and Little Spider’s clone worked on Portal Gun research while Ivy brought them food and learned that No. 35 had died.
• Clone 77 reassured Ivy that his one-use Portal Gun offered a path toward a complete version.
• Dozens of Jude’s second-generation Clones arrived in the Injustice League universe using Portal Guns, and Clone 77 brought them together to discuss resisting Jude.
• Clone 77 proposed that the Clones unite and build a city to combine their intelligence and strength.
• The gathered Clones raised their hands in agreement and named their city Freedom City.

Jude and Bruce went to the Sanctum Sanctorum so Bruce could seek the Ancient One’s help in uncovering the truth about his childhood and his parents’ deaths. The Ancient One welcomed them, leaving Bruce’s questions unanswered for now.

• Clark announced that he and Diana would marry on Themyscira in a month and invited everyone to attend.
• Jude told the group a bizarre story about his past relationship with Gaia and a duel with Zeus, prompting Ivy to threaten to confront him about his other memories.
• Jude used Bruce’s search for answers as an excuse to leave with him, despite Ivy warning that she would deal with Jude when he returned.
• Jude and Bruce arrived at the Sanctum Sanctorum, where Mordo contacted the Ancient One for them.
• The Ancient One appeared and welcomed Jude and Bruce to the Sanctum Sanctorum.

Bruce visited the Ancient One and asked her to show him the night his parents died. She used the Time Stone to take him to the alley, where Bruce chose not to alter the past after learning it would erase his children.

• The Ancient One offered Bruce magic lessons, and Jude mentioned that Stephen Strange had died during the Setaar invasion.
• Bruce asked the Ancient One to reveal the cause of his parents’ deaths, and she used the Eye of Agamotto to take him into the past.
• Bruce asked whether he could change the tragedy, but the Ancient One warned that altering the past would erase Robin, Nightwing, and the others.
• Bruce accepted that he could not sacrifice his children and steadied himself as a family of three entered the alley.