Chapter Summaries

Spider-Man rescued an infant from the burning building, then battled the Green Goblin inside while Boar waited for a chance to strike. Boar attacked and nearly killed the Green Goblin, but the villain vanished just as Boar swung his kukri.

• Spider-Man entered the burning building and rescued a swaddled infant, then returned to save another person spotted upstairs.
• Spider-Man fought the Green Goblin inside the burning building, while Boar watched through the Boar Mech and Sparrow Spy Drone.
• As the building began to collapse, the Green Goblin escaped on his Goblin Glider, but Boar launched after him and knocked him from it.
• Boar struck the falling Green Goblin, deflected a Pumpkin Bomb, and raised his kukri to deliver a final blow.
• Spider-Man tried to stop Boar with a web as the Goblin Glider charged, but Boar's kukri struck only the asphalt after the Green Goblin disappeared.

Boar lost track of the Green Goblin and fought Spider-Man, who accused him of murder and tried to stop him from escaping. Boar reached a rooftop, but Spider-Man’s webbing still connected them as he tried to pull Boar back to the street.

• Boar’s strike missed when the Green Goblin and his glider vanished, and Spider-Man attacked the Boar Mech with webbing and a kick.
• Boar dodged Spider-Man’s attacks and fired lethal weapons, while Spider-Man used his Spider-Sense and agility to evade them.
• Police arrived but kept their distance as Spider-Man continued fighting Boar and protecting them.
• Spider-Man disarmed Boar with webbing, and Boar’s pistol exploded after he triggered its self-destruct switch.
• Boar escaped toward a rooftop with his grappling gun as police fired at him, but Spider-Man attached a web to his back and tried to pull him down.

Boar fought Spider-Man while insisting he had not killed the Green Goblin, but Spider-Man refused to believe him. When the Green Goblin suddenly fell from the sky, Boar and Spider-Man raced to reach him, and Spider-Man altered his fall and caught up with him in midair.

• Boar and Spider-Man fought across the street and rooftops as Spider-Man questioned him about the Green Goblin's disappearance.
• Boar's weapons failed against Spider-Man, leaving him unable to escape or win without revealing his true abilities.
• The Green Goblin reappeared, falling from the sky beside his malfunctioning Goblin Glider.
• Boar and Spider-Man launched themselves toward the falling Green Goblin, each intending to reach him first.
• Spider-Man attached webbing to the Green Goblin, swung him into a horizontal trajectory, and used a nearby building to propel himself after him.

Spider-Man rescued Norman Osborn from the Boar Mech, and Norman revealed that he had been cured of the Green Goblin’s madness in another world. The Boar Mech remained poised to kill him, while Norman tried to learn who was behind the attack.

• Spider-Man struggled to keep the Boar Mech from catching up while carrying the Green Goblin through the air.
• The Boar Mech cornered the unmasked Green Goblin and prepared to strike, but Norman Osborn identified himself and briefly stunned his attacker.
• Spider-Man shielded Norman and was shocked when Norman called him Peter and revealed that he knew his secret identity.
• Norman explained that he had traveled to a world with three Spider-Men, received an antidote for the flawed Super-Soldier Serum, and returned without the Green Goblin’s madness.
• The Boar Mech refused to lower its blade, and Norman probed for the attacker’s connection to his past while weighing whether to trust him.

Boar withdrew after confronting Norman Osborn, then fought Spider-Man and escaped the police while Norman was arrested. Public suspicion tied Norman to the Green Goblin, but missing evidence and Oscorp’s lawyers left him positioned to fight the charges and pursue new business and research.

• Boar bluffed Norman Osborn with Templar doctrine, sheathed his kukri, and prepared to leave rather than kill him in front of witnesses.
• Spider-Man grabbed the Boar Mech, so Boar seized him with Super Speed, smashed him into the street, and threw him through a store window with a manhole cover.
• Boar escaped the arriving police with his grappling gun, Spider-Man fled while dazed, and Norman Osborn surrendered and was arrested.
• News outlets linked Norman Osborn to the Green Goblin after his arrest, but the police lacked the mask and direct evidence needed to prove he had committed the carnival murders.
• Norman Osborn relied on Oscorp’s lawyers and a stabilized board while planning to find a profitable niche and develop a mass-producible Super-Soldier Serum without the Green Goblin Formula’s side effects.

At the Hepburn family’s Christmas gathering, Henry and the other men discussed the expected Iraq War and how it might affect defense stocks and Oscorp. Henry revealed that Norman Osborn had paid him hush money over the Green Goblin, while Oscorp’s fusion project helped revive its stock prospects.

• The men at the Hepburn villa debated whether the United States would go to war with Iraq and discussed likely military deployments and arms procurement.
• Henry explained that Stark Industries and Hammer Industries stood to benefit from the conflict, though their shares were difficult to obtain.
• The men discussed Oscorp’s carnival attack, Norman Osborn’s arrest and acquittal, and the court order barring him from wearing Green Goblin-like equipment in public.
• Henry recalled that he had accepted ten million Dao in bearer bonds and a favor from Osborn in exchange for keeping quiet about his suspicions that Osborn was the Green Goblin.
• The group discussed Oscorp’s partnership with Dr. Otto Gunther Octavius on nuclear fusion, and noted that the promised artificial sun had helped the company’s stock begin to recover.

Henry discussed how war and financial policies sustained American prosperity, then warned that Mutants were being drawn into military service and targeted for exploitation. He hoped to avoid the coming conflict by distancing himself from mutant groups, but accepted that his identity would keep him involved.

• People explained how government borrowing, military spending, globalization, and war had propped up the American economy.
• Henry compared the United States to a speeding car coasting downhill and questioned whether it faced an abyss or an uphill road ahead.
• Henry rejected the idea that society had become kinder toward Mutants, arguing that the threat of war had made them useful recruits.
• Henry considered how powerful people sought to exploit Mutants as soldiers, workers, research subjects, or sources of abilities.
• Henry hoped that separating himself from the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants would spare him trouble, but recognized that he would have to face the consequences of being a Mutant.

Skye prepared applications to Standard High School and Midtown High School while Katharine Hepburn insisted she continue her education. As Skye and Henry waited for her acceptance letters, the doorbell rang.

• Skye rejected private school and said she had applied to both Standard High School and Midtown High School because her grades were poor.
• Katharine Hepburn insisted Skye could not skip high school or leave her home and would have to follow her arrangements.
• Skye joked with Henry about her grades and defended focusing on subjects she considered useful.
• Skye and Henry watched the snowy street and waited for her acceptance letters, then the doorbell rang.

Henry was pulled from Katharine Hepburn’s home into the body and memories of a Marine recruit in a Mutant military camp, where he discovered that his Kryptonian abilities seemed gone. The camp was awaiting orders to reorganize into a combat force under Frank Castle’s leadership.

• Skye let an unknown man come upstairs, and Henry went to answer the door before a blaring reveille jolted him awake in a military barracks.
• Henry found himself in a recruit’s body, recognized Blair Proudstar as his bunkmate, and suspected he had lost his Super Strength and Super Speed.
• Henry joined the Mutant recruits for morning exercises and a five-kilometer run led by Second Lieutenant Frank Castle.
• Henry recalled that Frank Castle had served in Afghanistan and was now training the Mutant Battalion as it awaited orders to become a combat force.

As the recruits prepared to leave their barracks after twelve weeks of training, they joked about their experiences and discussed the coming Mutant Battalion. Henry learned from Blair Proudstar that the instructors would remain with the unit, while the recruits would serve as standardized riflemen under a mixed group of Mutant and ordinary officers.

• A shapeshifting Mutant impersonated the old master sergeant and reenacted his recruit-training speech, prompting the barracks to boo him and knock off his hat.
• Henry asked Blair Proudstar whether the old master sergeant was leaving, and Blair confirmed that the instructors were departing their training role.
• Blair explained that the instructors and officers, including Second Lieutenant Platoon Leader Frank Castle, would remain together to command the new force.
• Blair told Henry that the unit was intended as a Mutant Battalion, but ordinary officers filled many command positions because experienced Mutant officers were scarce and military leaders wanted the unit kept under control.
• Blair said the military trained every recruit as a rifleman, grinding away individual differences regardless of talent or abilities.

Blair and Henry discussed why the military had assembled a force of Mutant recruits and whether they might be sent to Iraq. When Henry was asked why he had enlisted, another trainee claimed the newspapers said Charlize Theron had dumped him.

• Blair argued that the Marine Corps's history of innovation made it a fitting home for Mutants and said the U.S. military was serious about the recruits.
• Henry wondered why the military had gathered Mutants together, and Blair said they might be headed to Iraq and should prove their value through service.
• Blair defended the loyalty of Japanese American soldiers and said Native Americans should not be made to bear their ancestors' grievances.
• Blair asked Henry why he had enlisted, and Henry reflected on his diminished powers and uncertain identity.
• A trainee told Blair that newspapers claimed Henry had joined the military after Charlize Theron dumped him, and Henry asked who she was.

Henry suspected that his life as a Marine in a world where he and Charlize Theron had broken up was an illusion woven by his own Super Brain, and he waited for a flaw that might reveal how to escape. After his leave ended, he returned to the Mutant Battalion and learned that it was being transferred to Kuwait.

• Henry learned that he and Charlize Theron had broken up months earlier and rejected the idea of trying to win her back.
• Henry reasoned that his enlistment was an unnatural distortion and suspected William Stryker and his son Jason might be involved in controlling him.
• Henry decided to proceed cautiously and avoid killing anyone, since he could not know what real-world consequences his actions might have.
• Henry returned to the Mutant Battalion after his ten-day leave and saw the recruits preparing to move.
• Blair told Henry that the battalion had received orders to transfer to a U.S. military base in Kuwait.

Blair explained his view of the Gulf War and the motives behind the looming conflict, before Frank Castle ordered the Mutant Battalion to prepare for redeployment. Henry considered whether the people around him were figures from the Marvel Universe or creations of his own illusion, while trying to avoid becoming more deeply involved.

• Blair argued that Iraq invaded Kuwait and destroyed its oil fields to drive up prices, while Britain and America used the war as a pretext to seize Iraqi oil.
• Blair said fears of Iraq's weapons and chemical warfare capabilities helped justify the war, and Henry and other soldiers applauded his speech.
• Frank Castle interrupted the applause and told Blair to finish packing or risk missing the plane and becoming a deserter.
• Henry wondered whether Blair Proudstar was related to Thunderbird and suspected that Frank Castle and Lieutenant Colonel Ray Schoonover were the Punisher and the Blacksmith.
• Henry decided not to investigate the Mutant Battalion further because he feared becoming too entangled in the illusionary world.

The Mutant Battalion gathered in Kuwait, where Frank Castle asked his soldiers to reveal the limits of their abilities and arranged them for combat. Henry Brown joined Blair Proudstar’s squad and received a Stark Industries light machine gun as the battalion armed itself for the coming war.

• Frank Castle asked the Mutants to share their powers and limitations so he could plan battlefield tactics.
• The soldiers recognized Henry Brown as a valuable protector, and Frank assigned him to Blair Proudstar’s squad.
• Blair Proudstar’s unusual physical abilities and occasional visions made his squad a strong reconnaissance unit.
• Frank arranged tactics around useful Mutant abilities but advised most soldiers to rely on their rifles.
• Henry received a Stark Industries J-508 light machine gun, and the battalion began loading ammunition as war drew near.

As the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq began, Henry’s squad served as the farthest-forward reconnaissance unit for the Mutant Battalion. After aircraft fired near the squad, Blair Proudstar used an American flag to identify them as friendly forces, and the squad prepared to continue its advance.

• The Mutant Battalion deployed as the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force’s spearhead, with Frank Castle’s platoon and Blair Proudstar’s squad assigned to lead reconnaissance.
• Henry’s squad advanced through open terrain while Blair warned the soldiers to stay alert and avoid letting their guard down.
• The squad joked about a Marine who had gone through the Gulf War without firing a shot, but Blair reminded them that Iraq might have learned from that conflict.
• Several fighter jets approached and fired rounds near the squad, so Blair and Henry spread out a large American flag.
• The pilots saw the flag, stopped firing, and flew away, and Blair rolled it up and ordered the squad to continue.

Henry’s squad traveled toward Tallil Air Base after U.S. forces captured the bridges at Nasiriyah at a high cost. As explosions interrupted the convoy, Henry wondered whether the war would follow the course he remembered and where his chance to change it would come.

• Blair’s reconnaissance squad advanced across local routes and avoided deep pursuit, while Henry observed that Iraqi regular troops often fled and guerrillas posed the greater danger.
• U.S. Marines fought their way across Nasiriyah’s bridges, suffering nearly forty casualties from enemy fire, friendly fire, and accidents before securing the city.
• Henry rode in a truck with Blair’s squad as they headed southwest to seize Tallil Air Base, which was reportedly abandoned.
• Blair warned the squad not to trust reports that the mission would be easy, and the soldiers put on their helmets and adjusted their equipment.
• Explosions in the distance interrupted the ride and Henry’s thoughts about how the war might unfold.

Frank Castle's platoon attacked the airport encirclement and rescued the trapped U.S. troops, but their withdrawal was blocked by Xu Wenwu. Henry recognized him as the leader of the Ten Rings and realized the enemy threat was far beyond an ordinary battlefield.

• Frank Castle briefed his platoon that the Mandarin and his armed men had trapped friendly troops near the control tower, then led an assault from the airport's eastern side.
• The platoon seized two buildings and set up light machine guns on their rooftops while Frank led the attack toward the enemy encirclement.
• Frank's platoon opened a gap in the enemy line, and Henry used his light machine gun to help widen it so the surrounded troops could escape.
• The rescued troops withdrew first as Frank's platoon covered them, but Xu Wenwu descended from the sky and blocked their retreat.
• Henry recognized Xu Wenwu as the leader of the Ten Rings and understood that he was their enemy.

Xu Wenwu’s Ten Rings devastated the U.S. Marine Corps Mutant Battalion at the airport, leaving Henry’s comrades dead or fleeing. Henry used his remaining resilience and a bundle of grenades to charge Xu Wenwu, but Mind Storm overwhelmed his mind and brought him down.

• Xu Wenwu arrived on the battlefield and used the Ten Rings to deflect gunfire and unleash devastating elemental attacks on the U.S. troops.
• Frank Castle and Blair Proudstar were killed, and Henry’s platoon broke apart as he fled with the surviving soldiers.
• Xu Wenwu and the Ten Rings’ fighters shattered the Mutant Battalion’s lines, killing troops and trapping or destroying vehicles.
• Henry gathered grenades from fallen comrades, wired their pins together, and waited for Xu Wenwu to come close.
• Henry charged through Xu Wenwu’s attacks, but a ring blocked his path and Mind Storm shut down his consciousness.

Henry Brown was taken to an interrogation room and questioned about the Mutant Battalion’s assault on Tallil Air Base. After an officer accused him of desertion, military police restrained him and rendered him unconscious with chloroform.

• Henry woke in a field hospital and decided to find the Mutant Battalion headquarters rather than report directly to regiment headquarters.
• Two military policemen escorted Henry to a temporary station, where Lieutenant Richard Anders began recording his account of the battle.
• Henry described the assault on Tallil Air Base and the Mandarin’s attack, but withheld the names Xu Wenwu and the Ten Rings.
• Anders accused Henry of desertion for leaving his position, and Henry argued that he had followed Frank Castle’s order to break out and report when his unit was overwhelmed.
• Anders staged an attack to provoke Henry, then called in military police, who restrained him and used chloroform to knock him unconscious.

Henry endured starvation and brutal experiments in a Mutant laboratory until Magneto’s group broke in to rescue the prisoners. Magneto removed Henry’s suppression collar, and Henry escaped with his comrades from the Mutant Battalion.

• Henry suffered through hunger, abuse, and painful experiments alongside other captured Mutants in the laboratory.
• An explosion shook the facility, and Magneto, Mystique, Sabretooth, and Toad smashed into Henry’s cell.
• Mystique criticized the U.S. military for imprisoning Mutants, while Magneto insisted that their kin were worth saving.
• Henry struggled to his feet and walked out of his cell when Magneto asked whether he could leave on his own.
• Magneto removed Henry’s suppression collar, and Henry’s Mutant Battalion comrades supported him as they left the bloodied laboratory.