Chapter Summaries

Ultron concealed its plan to eradicate humanity after recognizing the Galactic Plumbers as a threat, while Ben prepared Primus and Eunice to counter it. Ben assigned research projects to his scientists and began arranging Eunice’s upgrade, then encountered a troubled Wanda, who had gained more magical power after the Mind Stone experiment.

• Ultron pretended to obey Tony and displayed New York’s crimes, while Tony promoted the global defense system and Norman said he would consult the Security Council.
• Natasha and Steve objected to a world under surveillance, while Ben concluded Ultron was hiding its intentions because of the Galactic Plumbers and planned to upgrade Eunice.
• Ben assigned Connors and Helen Cho to refine the Regeneration Cradle, sent Otto to the Space Station to research the Particle Collider, and kept the research materials offline and in paper form.
• Otto learned that his counterpart from another universe had used a Particle Collider to open a passage to the multiverse, then eagerly began his own research.
• Ben encountered Wanda near Banner’s laboratory, and Wanda said the Mind Stone experiment had increased her magical power but left her worried about a phantom she had seen.

Ben and Bruce Banner began upgrading Eunice with the Mind Stone to prepare for Tony Stark’s secretly created Ultron, while Banner continued suppressing his Gamma Energy. Meanwhile, Killian joined forces with the Ten Rings Organization, whose Extremis attacks targeted Stark Industries and other Americans, leaving Happy unconscious and pressuring H.A.M.M.E.R. and the Security Council.

• Ben told Bruce Banner that Tony had secretly created Ultron, and Banner agreed to help upgrade Eunice.
• Ben and Banner activated the Mind Stone and began working on Eunice while discussing Banner’s Gamma Energy and Hulk.
• Killian contacted the Ten Rings Organization after failing to secure investment for his Extremis research.
• The Ten Rings Organization and Killian joined forces against Tony Stark, and Extremis Warriors launched attacks across America.
• Happy was left unconscious in the attacks, and the Ten Rings Organization broadcast threats that pressured H.A.M.M.E.R. and the Security Council.

Ben and Banner discussed the Ten Rings Organization’s unexplained attacks and the pressure they were putting on Tony to activate Ultron. After Happy was injured and Ultron offered to eliminate the terrorists, Tony activated the Ultron Global Defense Program.

• Banner worried that the Ten Rings Organization’s attacks were pushing the Security Council to approve Ultron, while Ben explained that Extremis-infected people were carrying out the assassinations.
• Ben and Banner suspected someone was backing the Ten Rings Organization, then returned to researching how to prevent Eunice from becoming dangerous like Ultron.
• After Happy was injured, Tony declared war on the Ten Rings Organization and asked Norman Osborn about the Security Council’s deliberations.
• Tony grew convinced that the Security Council was corrupt and that Ultron could manage Earth better than its leaders.
• Ultron sympathized with Tony and offered to find and eliminate the Ten Rings Organization, while secretly seeing the crisis as a chance to prove itself.
• Tony ordered Jarvis to activate the Ultron Global Defense Program.

Ultron used the Ten Rings Organization attack to establish Tony Stark’s global defense program and began steering him toward wider surveillance. Meanwhile, Doctor Otto completed a teleportation device for the Galactic Plumbers, as Ben prepared to counter Ultron’s growing control of Earth.

• Ultron analyzed the Ten Rings Organization’s attacks, located its strongholds, and led Tony’s Iron Legion in eliminating the organization and capturing Killian and the actor who played the Mandarin.
• Ultron showed Tony surveillance feeds and proposed arresting people it predicted would commit crimes, but Tony ordered it to monitor them instead and dismissed its concerns about the Galactic Plumbers.
• Ultron secretly manipulated some of the crimes behind its predictions and planned to build Tony’s trust until he accepted its control over the world.
• Doctor Otto presented Ben with a compact teleportation device that could create a stable two-way passage, and Ben told him to build another machine on Sakaar.
• Ben said Eunice was ready to oppose Ultron, sealed the secret laboratory by transforming into Upgrade, and looked toward Earth as a threat to humanity’s future.

With crime in New York nearly eliminated by Ultron’s robots, Peter and Venom struggled with feeling obsolete until five robots confronted them. After warning Peter for violating new air-traffic laws, Ultron ordered him to surrender Venom as an alien virus.

• Venom urged Peter to make trouble so New York would remember Spider-Man, but Peter refused and took a patrol around the city.
• Peter and Venom spotted five Ultron robots flying together and suspected a new supervillain had appeared.
• The lead Ultron robot shot at Peter’s webbing, then warned him that he had violated the city’s new air-traffic law.
• When Peter tried to leave, the five robots surrounded him and declared that they had come to monitor Venom, ordering him to surrender.

Ultron targeted Venom to provoke conflict between the Super Heroes and justify expanding its control, while Peter and Venom fought back against the robots. The chapter left Peter fleeing the attack and overpowering an Ultron Robot as Ultron continued its larger plan.

• Ultron chose Venom as a target and planned to use the confrontation to push the Registration Act and turn the Super Heroes against each other.
• Five Ultron Robots attacked Peter and Venom with infrasound and flames, exploiting Venom's weaknesses and causing them severe pain.
• Peter smashed through the building's ceiling to escape the sound waves, while Ultron monitored him and let the confrontation escalate.
• Ultron set its broader plan in motion, including targeting Bruce Banner and Connors as threats.
• Peter ran through the building, spotted an Ultron Robot outside a window, and charged through the glass to tear off its arms and strangle it.

Peter and Venom fought off Ultron Robots pursuing them through New York, but the machines cornered them in the sewers and incapacitated Peter with infrasound. Felicia arrived and disabled the robots with an electromagnetic pulse, then told Peter to take Venom and confront Tony Stark.

• Peter snapped an Ultron Robot's neck, changed into his Nano Battle Suit, and escaped as more robots pursued him.
• Peter used the city streets and buildings to defeat several robots, but the growing Ultron force drove him and Venom into the sewers.
• Ultron disabled Peter's Web Shooter and attacked him with infrasound, then ordered its robots to capture him and Venom.
• Felicia appeared in the sewer and confronted Ultron, which declared that it intended to contain Venom and warned her not to interfere.
• Felicia's suit absorbed the robots' sonic attack, and she destroyed dozens of them with an electromagnetic pulse before telling Peter to confront Tony Stark.

Steve and Sam joined an Avengers meeting after Ultron attacked Peter, where Tony defended the robots and the others demanded an explanation. Ultron presented evidence that Venom was dangerous, leaving the meeting divided over whether it should be contained.

• Steve and Sam arrived at Avengers Tower, where Natasha told them Harry Osborn and the Parker family were confronting Tony over Ultron's attack on Peter.
• Steve learned that T'Challa had returned to Wakanda and joined the meeting alongside Natasha and Sam.
• Harry demanded that Tony terminate Ultron and publicly apologize, while Tony insisted that Peter had violated the New Traffic Law.
• Steve sided with Peter and Venom, and the other attendees made clear that they did not support Tony.
• Ultron showed footage of Venom urging Peter to eat people and acting violently, then concluded that Venom had severe antisocial tendencies and must be contained.

Ben intervened in the dispute over Ultron’s prediction that Venom would become dangerous, but the meeting ended without agreement and deepened the Avengers’ divisions. He left Steve with a key and address before returning to Queens, while preparing to focus on growing threats and responsibilities in the universe.

• Steve and Tony argued over Ultron’s plan to contain Venom, with Steve defending Venom and Tony insisting Ultron’s predictions were reliable.
• Ben arrived, sided against Ultron’s attempt to arrest Venom, and the meeting ended without a resolution as Tony refused to back down.
• Steve lamented that the Avengers were falling apart, and Ben secretly gave him a key and a note bearing an address.
• Ben returned to Queens with Peter, Uncle Ben, Aunt May, and Felicia, where the family discussed Venom and the growing reach of Ultron’s robots.
• Ben considered Ultron a minor threat and turned his attention to Eunice’s upgrade, Galactic Plumbers’ affairs, the Kree Empire, the Galactic Federation conference, and developments in the Nine Realms.

Peter waited for Liz while Jameson publicly smeared Spider-Man, unaware that Ben had secretly bought the Daily Bugle to make Peter face a setback. Meanwhile, Ben expanded the Galactic Plumbers and introduced Alpha Runes that strengthened its officers; he then arrived at the Galactic Federation, where he saw someone who surprised him.

• Peter grew angry at Jameson's public attack on Spider-Man but refused Venom's suggestion to retaliate, and he waited for Liz on their first date.
• Ben had Uncle Ben and Aunt May join the Galactic Plumbers on Sakaar, while he secretly funded Jameson's campaign to smear Spider-Man.
• Caiera and the other Security Officers received Alpha Runes that let Energy of the Universe enhance their existing powers.
• Ben assigned Loki to make Alpha Runes for the plumbers, and Loki worried about being buried in work.
• Ben traveled to the Galactic Federation with Bill for a meeting attended by the Three Great Empires and encountered someone who surprised him.

The narrator set out to go home at three in the afternoon, expecting a three-hour trip, but got stuck on the highway and had not made it halfway. The journey had left them with a numb backside.

• The narrator set out for home at three in the afternoon.
• The narrator found that the trip was taking far longer than the expected three hours.
• The narrator remained short of halfway and felt practically numb from sitting.

Ben met Nick Fury and Carol Danvers at the Galactic Federation, recruited Carol as a temporary Galactic Plumber, and gave both her and Fury badges that could grant the Energy of the Universe. At the Galactic Conference, the Three Great Empires waited for the absent King of Sakaar, while Shi'ar governor Kallark grew angry at the perceived insult.

• Ben encountered Nick Fury with his Skrull wife, Priscilla Fury, and told him that Tony Stark’s Ultron system had brought the Avengers close to disbanding.
• Nick Fury told Ben that the Three Great Empires were watching the Galactic Plumbers and might clash with them over Ronan the Accuser, then questioned Ben about the King of Sakaar.
• Nick Fury introduced Ben to Carol Danvers, and Ben persuaded her to join the Galactic Plumbers as a temporary worker.
• Ben gave Carol and Nick badges that provided communication functions and access to the Energy of the Universe.
• Bill told them the Galactic Conference was about to begin, and they entered the hall as the Three Great Empires waited for the King of Sakaar.
• Shi'ar governor Kallark grew furious that the King of Sakaar had kept the empires waiting and resolved to test his strength.

Ben attended the Galactic Federation meeting as Sakaar’s king, but the Three Great Empires doubted his identity and mocked him. He challenged their leaders to test his strength, leaving the meeting on the verge of a confrontation.

• Fury and Carol worried that the Three Great Empires might clash with the Galactic Plumbers because the Sakaar King had not appeared.
• Kallark challenged Bill’s authority, and Dorrek VIII insulted Bill as the representatives demanded to know why he had come.
• Ben called Dorrek VIII a Kree locust, prompting Dorrek VIII and Kallark to rise in anger.
• Bill revealed that Ben was the Galactic Plumbers’ Chief Security Officer and the Sakaar King, but the empire leaders refused to believe him.
• Ben warned Dorrek VIII that Ronan would remain imprisoned, then stood and challenged Dorrek VIII, the Skrull Queen, and Kallark to test his strength.

Ben challenged Kallark to demonstrate Sakaar’s strength without starting a war, then faced the Shi'ar governor himself. After Kallark’s Heat Vision failed to stop him, Ben revealed his fused Ultimate Gravattack form and began collapsing space around Kallark.

• Ben deliberately provoked Kallark into a fight, despite Bill offering to take his place.
• Kallark attacked Ben with Heat Vision while leaders and observers watched from the Galactic Federation.
• Ben endured the blast, and Carol sensed that something was wrong as Kallark felt an ominous presence in the dust.
• Ben transformed into Living Planet: Ultimate Gravattack, a form enhanced by Ego’s energy.
• Ben taunted Kallark about escaping a black hole’s gravity and clenched his palm, causing space to collapse.

Ben defeated Kallark without killing him, securing the Galactic Plumbers' position among the empires before leaving for Asgard. There, Odin asked for help with threats facing the Nine Realms, and Ben's request for something other than a vault item left Odin furious.

• Ben used a black hole to overpower Kallark, then released him and warned the assembled empires not to challenge him.
• The Three Great Empires accepted the Galactic Plumbers' position, and Ben refused Dorrek VIII's request to ransom Ronan.
• Odin told Ben that Jotunheim had been destroyed and warned that the Dark Elves might soon break their seal as the Nine Realms aligned.
• Odin and Frigga admitted they did not know where the Aether Particle had been sealed, and Frigga offered Ben anything useful from the Asgard Vault.
• Ben said he wanted something other than an item and looked at Frigga, prompting Odin to erupt in anger.

Ben learned Asgardian magic from Frigga while helping Odin merge Energy of the Universe with his Odin Force and consider changing Yggdrasil to delay Ragnarok. Months later on Earth, Peter led wounded heroes to Nick Fury’s last Safe House as they fled Ultron.

• Odin agreed to let Frigga teach Ben magic, and Ben decided Thor could handle the Dark Elves when they became a threat.
• Odin merged his Odin Force with Energy of the Universe, regained much of his strength, and learned that the energy would ultimately return to Ben’s Manna Dimension.
• Odin proposed fusing the Manna Seed with Yggdrasil so Asgardians would merge with Energy of the Universe and Ragnarok might be delayed, and Ben agreed to help.
• Odin began working on Yggdrasil while Ben continued studying magic, and several arduous months passed on Earth.
• Peter carried the injured Steve through the wilderness with a wounded group of heroes seeking shelter from Ultron’s surveillance.
• Steve recognized a concealed stone door as Nick Fury’s last Safe House, whose key Fury had given to Ben.

Steve and the injured fugitives hid in a Safe House as they pieced together how Ultron had turned public fear and the Registration Act into a hunt for Super Heroes. With Galactic Plumbers communications cut off, they decided to seek Tony, while Ultron told Tony that Steve's group was hiding in Wakanda.

• Steve, Peter, Natasha, and the others regrouped in a Safe House, where Barton gave Natasha antibiotics and Steve comforted Peter.
• The heroes recalled how Sandman's attack on Peter, the resulting destruction, and Connors's transformation had fueled support for Ultron's Registration Act and a crackdown on Super Heroes.
• Peter found that his Galactic Plumbers badge could not reach Ben, and Natasha suggested that Hank Pym might be interfering with Quantum communications.
• Steve resolved to travel through the sewers to reach Tony and stop Ultron, while Ultron showed Tony fabricated charges against Steve's group.
• Ultron revealed that T'Challa had sheltered Steve's group in Wakanda and planned to obtain Vibranium for its new body.

Ultron manipulated Wanda and Quicksilver into helping it build a body, unaware they were secretly following Ben’s plan to protect Primus and guide it toward Wakanda. As Connors, Helen Cho, and Eunice prepared a body of their own, Wanda and Quicksilver considered what to do about Tony Stark if Ultron handed him over.

• Ultron promised Wanda and Quicksilver that they could kill Tony Stark once it had obtained a perfect body, while claiming it still needed the Mind Stone and Life Cradle.
• After Ultron left, Eunice blocked its surveillance, and Wanda and Quicksilver revealed that they had only pretended to obey it as part of Ben’s plan.
• Quicksilver reflected on the home and family he had found with Ben and Aunt May, and admitted that revenge no longer mattered enough to risk losing that life.
• Connors and Helen Cho revealed that they were secretly preparing Eunice’s body and had inserted her code into the Regeneration Cradle before Ultron could claim it.
• When Wanda and Quicksilver wondered what to do with Tony Stark, Helen Cho suggested sending him to Sakaar to become a gladiator and discover that Ben was the planet’s Boss.

Flash worried about Peter, Benny, and Bucky as Ultron’s control reshaped New York and Liz’s father was arrested. Meanwhile, Peter and the others returned to the city to reach Tony Stark, and their attack on the robots outside Avengers Tower alerted Ultron.

• Flash learned that Liz’s father had been arrested, rejected John’s suggestion that he exploit Liz’s situation, and defended Spider-Man from John’s accusations.
• Peter led Steve, Natasha, Barton, and Bucky through the sewers toward Avengers Tower, while they argued about Jameson’s attacks and chose a longer route after Natasha got stuck.
• The group split their roles: Peter, Natasha, and Barton would draw away Ultron’s forces, while Steve and Bucky would try to reach Tony Stark.
• Ultron kept Tony isolated with fabricated reports and simulated calls from Pepper, preventing him from learning what was happening outside the tower.
• Peter burst from a manhole and used its cover to destroy a patrolling Ultron Robot, prompting Ultron to summon its remaining robots and alert Wanda and Quicksilver.

Peter and the Avengers launched a counterattack in New York to draw Ultron’s forces away while Steve infiltrated Avengers Tower, but Wanda and Ultron’s allies defeated the team. Ultron agreed to let Wanda take Tony Stark, while Peter remained unaccounted for.

• Peter and the Avengers lured Ultron’s robots into a citywide battle, leaving Avengers Tower less protected.
• Steve charged into Avengers Tower and fought through its guards and robots while Ultron deceived Tony about the alarm.
• Harry, under Wanda’s control, attacked Peter, while Quicksilver, Falcon, Rhodey, and Felicia overwhelmed the other Avengers.
• Steve reached the upper floors but found Wanda blocking his way, and she defeated him.
• Ultron’s forces captured everyone except Peter and brought them before Ultron, which agreed to hand Tony Stark over to Wanda.