Chapter Summaries

Yon-Rogg explained Krypton’s history with the Skrull and Kree empires, then tried to recruit Black Super and enlist his help against Carol Danvers. Black Super refused and vanished, leaving Yon-Rogg and Carol to resume their fight.

• Yon-Rogg described how the Skrull Empire had tried to conquer Krypton, how Krypton resisted, and how it sealed itself off in the Phantom Zone about ten thousand years earlier.
• Black Super questioned Yon-Rogg’s account and asked what he knew about Krypton and the Supreme Intelligence.
• Yon-Rogg offered to take Black Super to Hala and asked for his assistance, then raised his gun at Carol Danvers.
• Black Super rejected the offer, said the conflict was not his concern, and disappeared before Carol and Yon-Rogg could question him.
• Yon-Rogg tried to appeal to Carol Danvers’s pride as a Kree warrior, and she struck him with a Photon Blast.

Henry Brown was arrested by the LAPD after a police alert identified him as dangerous, and the FBI prepared to transfer him to S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury realized the arrest stemmed from the skrulls’ earlier mess and was alarmed when Owen Davis told him Henry had been caught.

• A veteran LAPD officer stopped his rookie partner from drawing on Henry Brown and arranged for Kitty to be tranquilized before officers took Henry into custody.
• Henry called a Los Angeles attorney from the station while the LAPD chief notified the FBI that he had been arrested.
• Owen Davis learned that the FBI could not legally hand Henry to S.H.I.E.L.D. and called Nick Fury to arrange an unofficial transfer.
• Owen told Nick Fury that the LAPD had arrested Henry Brown, and Nick reacted with alarm.
• Nick remembered that the skrulls had caused the situation and admitted he had forgotten about Henry while resolving Barbara Morse’s case.
• Owen asked Nick to explain what was going on, suspecting he had made a serious mistake.

Nick Fury discussed S.H.I.E.L.D.’s mistaken pursuit of Henry Brown with Owen Davis and learned that Henry’s position at Stark Studios made him dangerous to target. He then showed White Nick Fury the recovered Kree corpse Minn-Erva and asked about the Infinity Formula, leaving White Nick Fury to warn him of the consequences.

• Nick Fury admitted to Owen Davis that S.H.I.E.L.D. had wrongly blamed Henry Brown and said the agency could not intervene because it was undergoing an internal purge.
• White Nick Fury warned Black Nick Fury not to target Henry Brown without proof that he was a threat, explaining that Tony Stark would retaliate against anyone who touched him.
• Black Nick Fury took White Nick Fury to a warehouse and showed him Minn-Erva’s body preserved in a freezer.
• Black Nick Fury said he wanted to explore the Infinity Formula’s potential, and White Nick Fury agreed to share information while warning him that powerful people might come after S.H.I.E.L.D.’s laboratories.

After an erroneous FBI arrest, Henry Brown learned that the agency had lost his equipment and was offering him a paltry compensation payment. The FBI presented the offer as it prepared to release him, leaving Henry furious at the valuation.

• Owen Davis reviewed Henry Brown’s case and decided to resolve the situation personally.
• Owen Davis entered the interrogation room, apologized to Henry Brown and his lawyer, and blamed the arrest order on an administrative error.
• Henry Brown signed a statement confirming he had received no improper treatment.
• Owen Davis offered compensation for equipment and property damaged or lost during the search of Henry Brown’s home.
• Henry Brown saw that the FBI valued his equipment at only a little over seven hundred dollars and laughed in anger.

Henry accepted compensation for the equipment the FBI had lost and left to retrieve his car and Kitty. An FBI agent privately warned someone to dispose of Henry’s missing phone, leaving its whereabouts unresolved.

• Henry questioned the FBI’s handling of his missing equipment, then agreed to classify it as lost property in exchange for compensation.
• Henry asked Owen Davis to check whether his missing phone had been mixed in with the other lost items, then signed the document and took the check.
• Henry arranged for his lawyer to drive him to the LAPD impound lot to collect his car before retrieving Kitty from the temporary shelter.
• Owen Davis warned the accompanying agent to be more careful about lost evidence, and the agent later called someone to report Henry’s release and demand that the missing phone be disposed of.
• The person in a research laboratory considered the agent’s warning after ending the call.

Henry’s stolen research materials triggered a destructive device that devastated Sony America’s Los Angeles branch and injured or killed people, while Henry concealed his responsibility. After retrieving his Cadillac, he learned that Kitty had been taken to the Los Angeles Zoo, where a keeper challenged him over her paperwork.

• A researcher called the private number associated with Henry’s missing belongings, unknowingly activating a timer inside the main unit.
• Ten minutes later, an explosion struck outside Sony America’s Los Angeles branch, and Mickey Schulhof saw a burning corpse crash onto his car as debris and bodies fell around him.
• Henry heard the explosion from the attorney’s car, hid his involvement, and reflected that he should install separate self-destruct devices in each item next time.
• Henry retrieved his Cadillac from the impound lot, then learned that Kitty had been transferred to the Los Angeles Zoo because the animal shelter could not safely house her.
• A young female keeper accused Henry of keeping Kitty without legal quarantine or customs clearance, and he demanded to know how she had reached that conclusion.

Henry completed the paperwork and paid to reclaim Kitty, but the zoo staff discovered she was missing from her temporary holding room. Kelly admitted she had put Kitty in the tiger enclosure, and Andy rushed to check whether the unfamiliar tiger had been hurt or caused an incident.

• Andy Thomson told Henry he could reclaim Kitty after signing documents and paying the zoo’s fees.
• Henry signed the forms, paid the full amount by check, and followed Andy toward the dangerous animal area.
• Kelly refused to help Henry but followed him and Andy to Kitty’s assigned holding room.
• Henry and Andy found Kitty’s room empty, then discovered that all four temporary holding rooms were empty.
• Kelly revealed she had put Kitty in the tiger enclosure with the zoo’s other tigers.
• Andy hurried to the enclosure and called for Raven to bring a tranquilizer gun.

Henry found Kitty among the zoo tigers and called her home, but she escaped the sunken enclosure in a spectacular leap. As chaos spread, a tranquilizer dart meant for Kitty struck Kelly, leaving Mr. Thomson to deal with an urgent medical emergency.

• Andy Thomson counted the tigers, realized there was one extra, and told Kelly to help return Mr. Brown's pet.
• Henry called to Kitty, who rose from the highest rock and gave the other tigers a few roars before leaving.
• Kitty bounded off another tiger and a landscaping protrusion to leap out of the enclosure, frightening the visitors and the young man who had boasted about fighting tigers.
• Henry called Kitty over and rubbed her head while Kelly demanded that he return the tiger to her enclosure.
• A backup staff member aimed a tranquilizer gun at Kitty, but Henry's roar made her jump aside, and the dart struck Kelly in the chest.
• The gunman rushed to Kelly as Mr. Thomson tried to take charge, and Henry warned him to get medical staff because the dose was meant for a tiger.

Henry left the zoo with Kitty and returned to his apartment building, where he reassured Old Gary and reunited with a distraught Charlize. Meanwhile, Henry’s destructive device devastated a floor of Sony America’s Los Angeles building, killing the researchers and destroying the equipment he had targeted.

• Henry and Kitty left the zoo amid the chaos and drove back to Old Gary’s apartment building.
• Henry showed Old Gary the FBI’s seven-hundred-Dao compensation check and claimed it covered the missing contents of his home.
• Charlize rushed to Henry, clung to him, and told him how frightened she had been while he was gone.
• J.J. Harris watched Henry and Charlize together and wondered whether he would help or harm Charlize’s future.
• Henry’s thermite-based device blasted open a floor of Sony America’s Los Angeles building, destroying his handmade equipment and killing the researchers there.

After an explosion at Sony's research lab killed people and destroyed equipment, FBI officials realized their mishandling of Henry Brown's property had ruined the chain of evidence. Owen Davis concluded they could not prove Henry caused the blast and considered how Sony and Stark Industries might respond.

• Mickey Schulhof demanded that the FBI arrest Henry Brown, blaming him for the explosion and deaths.
• Owen Davis assigned a young agent to record Schulhof's observations while warning him not to make unnecessary statements.
• A seasoned agent told Owen that the wreckage appeared to come from the equipment seized from Henry, and Owen explained that their settlement and mishandling of the property had broken the evidence chain.
• The agents considered whether Henry had triggered the bomb by phone or timer, but Owen pointed out they had no way to prove it and could not safely reopen the issue of the missing property.
• Owen said the FBI could not establish Henry's guilt and speculated that Sony would avoid making the explosion public if it could pursue a business dispute instead.

Nick Fury warned Owen Davis that disguised enemies had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and might still be on Earth, while keeping the Skrulls’ departure secret. Owen explained that Mickey Schulhof was finished after Tony Stark moved against him and investigators linked recovered devices to those seized from Sony America.

• Nick Fury told Owen Davis that disguised enemies had issued improper orders and caused illegal actions, and warned that some might still be hiding on Earth.
• Owen Davis asked whether Henry Brown had been targeted with a bomb, and Nick Fury said it was possible without confirming who was responsible.
• Nick Fury questioned Owen Davis about the aftermath, and Owen said Mickey Schulhof had lost Sony’s support and Tony Stark was moving against him.
• Owen Davis said recovered devices from Sony America’s Los Angeles building matched items in the seizure records and could help prove the case against Mickey Schulhof.

Owen Davis and Nick Fury discussed Sony’s legal troubles after the FBI admitted losing seized property, then Fury spoke with Phil Coulson about the Sony Building explosion. Fury suspected Henry Brown had arranged the bombing as retaliation, though he could not explain how the bomb was detonated.

• Owen Davis explained that Sony had few allies and would struggle to avoid a ruling in Stark Studios’ favor, then said he would leave the bombing investigation to others.
• Owen Davis left, and Phil Coulson joined Nick Fury for a drink and asked whether the Skrulls had framed Henry Brown.
• Nick Fury praised Phil Coulson’s caution and said Henry Brown was his leading suspect in the bombing.
• Nick Fury pointed to Henry Brown’s missing early history, intelligence, and quick settlement with the FBI as reasons to suspect him, while admitting he did not know how Brown detonated the bomb.
• Nick Fury told Phil Coulson that Henry Brown warranted watching but was not necessarily dangerous, and argued that the people harmed were not innocent.

Henry met Tony Stark at his Malibu villa, where Tony passed on Peggy Carter’s warning that Henry must not discuss the matter that had prompted his attempted capture. Tony then asked Henry about an explosion, and Henry admitted he had misjudged the amount of explosives.

• Henry arrived at Tony Stark’s Malibu beach party in a suit and mocked Tony for shivering in the cold.
• Tony sent the women inside and walked uphill with Henry, leaving Happy and the others behind.
• Tony told Henry that Peggy Carter had warned him not to discuss the secret matter because the intelligence agency could silence even someone difficult to kill.
• Henry asked why Tony was not curious about the matter, and Tony said he wanted to know what had caused the explosion.
• Henry said he had miscalculated the amount of explosives and joked that he could use the bombs as an alarm clock because he could not be blown up.

Henry and Tony Stark discussed Henry’s role as bait in the Skrull attack and the lawsuit against Sony over stolen Stark Studios technology. Tony revealed Sony Japan had offered a $200 million settlement, leaving Henry stunned as they continued discussing its terms.

• Tony Stark asked Henry why he had acted as bait, and Henry explained that his changed circumstances required him to respond differently to people targeting him.
• Henry said the Skrulls’ brute-force attack had exposed a weakness, while Tony argued that Sony was liable for commercial espionage and that his lawyers could win the case.
• Tony said he wanted the lawsuit to succeed, would let Henry keep the compensation after fees and taxes, and revealed Sony Japan had offered a $200 million settlement.
• Henry froze at the settlement amount, and Tony teased him before Henry compared the shock to seeing a fighter jet streak past.

Tony Stark asked Henry whether Stark Studios should join Sony’s digital alliance, but Henry rejected the idea and Tony accepted his lack of interest. At Tony’s villa, the beach party moved indoors, where Tony launched the dancing and plunged into the crowd.

• Tony Stark asked Henry whether two hundred million dollars was a lot, then sought his opinion on Sony’s offer to bring Stark Studios into its digital alliance.
• Henry argued that the alliance did not fit Stark Studios’ film-digitization work and could leave the studio serving Sony, and he said he was not interested in expanding beyond Hollywood.
• Tony Stark accepted Henry’s answer, ordered his staff to move the beach party inside, and went upstairs while Henry stayed on the first floor.
• The guests arrived in formal dresses, and Happy Hogan brought Tony Stark a cocktail.
• Tony Stark called for music, liquor, and dancing, then entered the crowd of women after inviting Henry to join in.

At Stark Studios’ 1995 Christmas banquet, Henry watched Tony Stark hold court while Charlize Theron mingled with Hollywood’s elite. Henry then oversaw a demonstration of experimental projection equipment, leaving the guests to recognize that Stark Studios was presenting more than an old film.

• Tony Stark dominated the banquet as Hollywood executives gathered around him, while Henry stayed at the edge with Charlize Theron.
• Henry joked to Charlize that Tony was showing off to a crowd beneath the absent Old Money.
• J.J. Harris tried to bring Henry and Charlize around to meet influential guests, but a Stark Studios employee summoned Henry to prepare a presentation.
• Henry supervised engineers as they connected Stark Industries components and prototype equipment to a projector and screen.
• Henry’s team screened Katharine Hepburn’s 1932 film A Bill of Divorcement, and guests familiar with film technology noticed something unusual.

Henry demonstrated Stark Studios’ computer-based digital restoration technology to filmmakers and patrons, showing a classic Katharine Hepburn film first in restored detail and then in color. The demonstration ended with the recolored scene illuminating the screen and impressing the guests.

• Directors including Steven Spielberg and James Cameron questioned Henry about the projector and the film restoration technology.
• Paul Mellon and Rachel Lambert Mellon arrived and asked Henry how old Katharine Hepburn had been when she made the film.
• Tony Stark argued with Paul Mellon over how established businesses should invest in and employ talented people, and Henry redirected the conversation.
• Henry explained that the 1932 film was Katharine Hepburn’s first Hollywood film and that she had been twenty-four during filming.
• Henry praised the Mellons’ cultural preservation efforts and introduced a second, recolored segment of the restored film.
• The computer displayed the colorized scene, showing Katharine Hepburn in vivid detail and captivating the guests.

Henry offered Rachel Lambert access to Stark Studios' image-restoration services, then learned that an appraisal had confirmed one version of Lady with an Ermine was the most likely authentic painting. The authentic work went to the National Museum in Washington, while the Mellons gave Henry an antique forgery in gratitude.

• Henry explained that Stark Industries' supercomputer had restored Katharine Hepburn's old photograph and offered Rachel Lambert a restoration service for her own photographs and films.
• Tony Stark objected to Henry offering the supercomputer's services without asking him, while Paul Mellon asked about the cost of building a similar machine.
• Henry advised Paul Mellon that using Stark Studios would be more practical than building and maintaining a supercomputer, and Paul agreed to arrange a contract.
• Rachel Lambert told Henry that experts had examined competing versions of Lady with an Ermine and judged her painting the closest match to an authentic work.
• Rachel Lambert explained that the authentic painting had been donated to the National Museum in Washington and gave Henry a seventeenth- or eighteenth-century imitation as thanks.

Henry learned that the Mellons’ art appraisal conference had stirred resentment among art dealers, and that their gift of an imitation painting had helped redirect blame toward him. Meanwhile, Stark Studios expanded its digital restoration business and classic-film screenings, while Tony Stark used the studio’s demanding technology needs to push Stark Industries forward.

• Henry pieced together that the Mellons had held their appraisal conference because he had claimed the genuine artwork was nearby, and that their imitation painting helped shift the resulting resentment toward him.
• Rachel Lambert Mellon’s satisfaction with Stark Studios’ restoration of her old photographs and films drew wealthy clients, so Henry created a separate department to handle outside restoration work.
• Stark Studios’ digital restoration department became a major revenue source, while competitors’ inferior results brought them close to lawsuits from wealthy clients.
• Henry arranged for a cinema to screen restored Stark Studios classics, attracting audiences and prompting film fans to call for other studios to restore their libraries.
• Hollywood’s major studios consulted Stark Studios but decided that restoration would not become profitable until Blu-ray Discs and HD televisions were available.
• Tony Stark used Stark Studios’ high-end technical demands to push Stark Industries’ technological progress and continue his contest with Henry Brown.

Charlize Theron’s supporting roles in The Rock and That Thing You Do! gave her paid work and publicity, while Henry considered how Stark Studios might find future film opportunities. The chapter ended with Henry hoping to invest in Titanic if James Cameron needed funding, though the outcome remained uncertain.

• Charlize Theron had roles in The Rock and That Thing You Do!, with Sean Connery speaking up to keep her part in The Rock after it was nearly cut.
• Henry learned that Connery had looked after Charlize at Catherine Hepburn’s request and thanked him by sharing a meal with Charlize.
• J.J. Harris used the incident to promote Charlize, who continued auditioning for major productions and received pay that eased her financial strain.
• Henry searched Stark Studios’ proposals for promising projects but found no overlooked gems and recognized that Titanic was his clearest opportunity.
• Henry had hinted to James Cameron that Stark Studios could provide funding if Titanic ran short, but he could not control whether Cameron would accept.