Chapter Summaries

Dane used Mjolnir after Laufey trapped him in ice, revealing that he could wield Thor’s Hammer and command the Power of Thor. He defeated Laufey with a devastating lightning strike, while Odin awoke and announced that a new Thor had been born, leaving Thor alarmed that his father might not restore his power.

• Laufey deduced that Dane’s body was his weakness and tried to close the distance, but the Twin Rings kept knocking him back.
• Laufey used the Casket of Ancient Winters to trap Dane in a massive block of ice, and Dane reached for the nearby Mjolnir.
• Dane lifted Mjolnir, summoned lightning, and broke free of the ice, stunning Laufey and the Asgardians when Heimdall identified the wielder as the wizard from Middle-earth.
• Dane struck Laufey with Mjolnir and lightning, causing a massive explosion that devastated the palace grounds and shook the Hall of Odin.
• Odin awoke and called Dane a new Thor; Thor then asked whether his father no longer wanted him and wondered when his power would be returned.

Dane used Mjolnir to defeat Laufey and helped restore Thor’s divine power, while Odin judged Thor’s response to the invasion and urged him to claim public credit. Asgard’s crisis ended with most Frost Giants defeated or captured, and Odin questioned Dane about his origins and unusual rings.

• Frigga told Thor that Dane had lifted Mjolnir, and Odin led Thor and Frigga outside to find Dane standing over Laufey with the casket.
• Dane returned Mjolnir to Thor, restoring Thor’s divine power, and Thor proposed punishing the invading Frost Giants while sparing Jotunheim from extermination.
• Dane encouraged Thor to claim credit for Laufey’s death, and Odin and Frigga backed him as Thor announced Laufey’s death and demanded the Frost Giants surrender.
• Thor and Asgard’s forces killed the remaining resisters, while the surviving Frost Giants surrendered or were captured, ending Asgard’s crisis.
• Odin invited Dane to speak privately, questioned whether he was a Wizard or a mage of Kamar-Taj, and thanked him for aiding Asgard.

Dane secured friendly relations between Umbrella and Asgard, while Frigga foresaw that Ragnarok’s prophecy had changed and was connected to him. After the battle, Thor planned to suppress unrest across the Nine Realms, and he and Dane agreed to pursue a permanent portal between their worlds.

• Dane asked Odin to recognize friendly relations between Asgard and Umbrella, and Odin agreed while limiting the promise to Dane’s faction.
• Frigga entered a vision and told Odin that the Ragnarok prophecy had changed significantly and was connected to Dane.
• Thor arrived and left the great hall with Dane, then described his plans to warn the Frost Giants and suppress a rebellion in Vanaheim.
• Thor told Dane that Asgard had ancient gateways between worlds and suggested establishing a portal to Middle-earth.
• Dane asked Thor to arrange for an Umbrella diplomatic consulate in Asgard, and Thor agreed to help establish contact and a portal.

After helping Asgard recover from the Frost Giant invasion, Dane arranged a portal between Asgard and Earth and visited the injured Asgardian warriors. He persuaded Sif to take on diplomatic training in preparation for a possible future as Thor’s queen.

• Dane arranged for Umbrella’s foreign affairs team to build a portal in Sokovia and returned to New Mexico to check on the injured Asgardians.
• Fandral complained that Thor and Hogun had left him behind, while Dane told him and Volstagg that Thor had defeated Laufey and Asgard still faced rebellions across other realms.
• Volstagg chose to remain on Earth until Asgard was ready to resume its campaigns, and he and Fandral discussed Loki’s actions and the pleasures of Earth.
• Dane told Sif that Queen Frigga wanted her to manage diplomatic affairs with Earth, then argued that she needed to develop political skills if she hoped to stand beside Thor as queen.
• Sif accepted that the assignment could prepare her for a greater role, though she remained unsure of her ability to meet Frigga’s expectations.

Dane analyzed the Bifrost energy in the Bracelets and used it to develop a way to travel through space, then considered how to power it. He decided Tiamut might be the best energy source and concluded that he needed to strengthen Atlas and the others before pursuing the Eternals.

• Dane studied the Bracelets’ energy and concluded that Bifrost power was connected to Asgardian divine power.
• Dane rejected the mainstream star-network approach and resolved to reproduce mystical technology through human science and industrial production.
• Dane discovered that he could use the Bracelets’ Bifrost energy to travel between fixed coordinates, but the energy would only support one trip.
• Dane considered the Space Stone and the Casket of Ancient Winters as energy sources, but found neither suitable for replenishing Bifrost energy.
• Dane identified Tiamut as a possible source of planetary-core energy and decided he needed to locate it through Ajak and the Eternals.
• Dane decided to strengthen Atlas and the others and find a way to use the Casket of Ancient Winters’ magic.

As Nick Fury and Alexander Pierce reacted to Umbrella’s growing power and the Asgard incident, The Ancient One sensed a mysterious force while observing Destiny and chose not to interfere. In Brooklyn, Steve Rogers and Bucky confronted how much the country had changed, then agreed to split up so Steve could join S.H.I.E.L.D. and investigate Hydra from within.

• Nick Fury grew alarmed by Dane and Umbrella’s power after reviewing footage from Asgard, while Alexander Pierce ordered Hydra agents inside the F.B.I. and C.I.A. to investigate Umbrella.
• Daniel Drumm told The Ancient One about Asgard’s presence in New York, and she glimpsed enormous eyes over the river of Destiny before deciding that Asgard was no concern for the Sanctums.
• Steve Rogers and Bucky visited Steve’s old home in Brooklyn and debated whether Hydra or America itself was responsible for the country’s wars and corruption.
• Steve decided to join S.H.I.E.L.D. to investigate Hydra, while Bucky agreed to leave and avoid direct contact with him.
• Steve crushed his phone before they parted, and Bucky warned him not to assume that Peggy Carter was still innocent after decades working in S.H.I.E.L.D.

In 2012, Dane’s influence grew as Umbrella developed New Hell’s Kitchen, traded with Asgard, and formed powerful new materials and Astartes units. Meanwhile, the Faceless Man confronted Ajak, revealed he knew the Eternals’ secret, and fought her on the South Dakota prairie.

• Nick ordered Phil to bring Steve Rogers into S.H.I.E.L.D., and Steve agreed to visit while secretly intending to investigate it.
• Tony studied the Destroyer armor and considered asking Dane to obtain materials from Asgard.
• Umbrella’s development transformed New Hell’s Kitchen into prosperous Clinton, where S.H.I.E.L.D. agents began moving in despite Dane’s secure position.
• Wanda told Dane she planned to remain in Clinton, while Sokovia maintained trade with Asgard and Umbrella gained new materials and cultural exports.
• Dane’s research produced a mass-producible Giant Serum and led him to organize the giant soldiers as the Astartes.
• The Faceless Man confronted Ajak, identified her as a synthetic human, and prompted her to attack; they exchanged blows, revealing that his strength and durability matched hers.

Dane Davis fought Ajak and Ikaris to learn Tiamut’s location, using his Bracelets to absorb Ikaris’s cosmic energy and capturing Ajak with help from three Astartes. Ikaris escaped, leaving Dane with Ajak in custody.

• Dane Davis defeated Ajak in a brief fight and demanded Tiamut’s exact location, but she refused to tell him.
• Ikaris arrived to protect Ajak, but Dane absorbed his eye beams and wounded him with vibranium and Asgardian-mineral blades.
• Dane restrained Ikaris with the Bracelets while an Astartes shot and wounded Ajak as she tried to intervene.
• Three Astartes emerged in Powered Armor, and Dane drained Ikaris’s energy until Ikaris broke free by dislocating his fingers and fled.
• Dane healed his hands and had two Astartes seize Ajak while a third aimed a Bolter at her head.

Dane captured Ajak and challenged her belief in the Celestials, uncovering that she might have planned to flee Earth aboard the Tiamut. Meanwhile, Ikaris sought Phastos’s help, and Talos alerted Nick Fury to a powerful energy signal as Dane considered ways to delay the Emergence.

• Dane used the Bifrost ring to remove Ajak’s golden communicator and discovered that electrical shocks could incapacitate her.
• Ikaris fled toward Earth with broken fingers while Cortana tracked him, and Talos detected his energy signature from the Skrull refugee ship and sent the results to Nick Fury.
• Ikaris found Sersi in Paris, told her Ajak had been captured, and persuaded her to accompany him to America to find Phastos.
• Dane imprisoned Ajak at the Umbrella Laboratory and argued that humanity should resist the Celestials rather than flee into space.
• Dane suggested Ajak had intended to escape aboard the Tiamut and warned that her companions might be left behind if they did not learn of her plan.
• Dane considered delaying Tiamut’s birth by moving people into space or reducing Earth’s population, believing Arishem would not notice quickly.

Dane analyzed the Eternals’ golden sphere while Nick Fury pursued stronger weapons for S.H.I.E.L.D. using the Cosmic Cube. Loki emerged from a portal at the Cube facility and fought off the agents, leaving Hawkeye struggling to stop him.

• Dane and Cortana scanned the golden sphere, reconstructed its components into a DNA double helix, and began analyzing the Eternals’ genome.
• Nick Fury ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to search for Dane and pushed Dr. Selvig to develop more powerful weapons from the Cosmic Cube.
• The Cosmic Cube opened a portal, and Loki arrived at the facility claiming to bring humans good news.
• Nick Fury shot Loki and ordered the agents to attack, but Loki repelled their fire and pursued Nick and Selvig as Hawkeye confronted him.
• Loki dodged Hawkeye’s attacks and overwhelmed him in close combat.

Loki took control of Hawkeye and Selvig while escaping with the Cosmic Cube, forcing Nick Fury and Agent Hill to flee and destroy the base. After learning the Cube was stolen, Tony Stark discussed tracking it with Nick, but his Gamma Ray equipment could not pinpoint Loki’s shifting location.

• Loki defeated Hawkeye, used the Mind Scepter to control him, and ordered him to kill the other agents.
• Nick Fury and Agent Hill tried to escape with Selvig, but Loki caught up, blasted their vehicle, and resisted Nick’s attempt to control him.
• Hill struck Loki with an energy weapon and escaped with Nick, while Loki controlled Selvig and learned that Selvig knew the most about the Tesseract.
• Nick ordered the evacuated personnel to activate the base’s self-destruct, while Loki used the Space Stone to relocate with Selvig and the Cosmic Cube.
• Dane learned that Loki had arrived and warned Tony Stark, who then called Nick and agreed to help track the stolen Cube.
• Tony told Nick that the Cube’s weak, shifting Gamma Ray signal prevented him from pinpointing Loki’s location.

Tony realized Loki may have used the Cosmic Cube to travel to Earth and joined forces with Banner and S.H.I.E.L.D. to locate it. Banner arrived at the Triskelion with information from Dane, and Nick sent him and Tony to the laboratory to track the Cube.

• Tony told Dane that he could not track the signal and discussed how Loki might have reached Earth without using the Bifrost.
• Tony concluded that the Cosmic Cube could create a spatial passage and offered to help Dane prepare for Loki’s plans.
• Banner arrived at the Triskelion, where Natasha greeted him and lowered the soldiers’ weapons.
• Tony joined Banner and explained how the Cosmic Cube’s quantum tunneling effect might create a stable passage.
• Banner told Nick and Tony that Loki had been missing since the war in Asgard and might have played a disgraceful role in it.
• Nick sent Banner and Tony to the laboratory to use gamma radiation to track the Cosmic Cube.

Loki sought iridium in Germany and planned to use the Mind Scepter to unleash Hulk against S.H.I.E.L.D., while Dane prepared to take the scepter for himself. Loki attacked a Stuttgart banquet to open a vault, but Iron Man interrupted him, and Captain America prepared to join the fight.

• Loki learned that iridium was needed to stabilize a portal and ordered Hawkeye to help him obtain it in Germany.
• After Hawkeye showed him footage of Hulk, Loki decided to use the S.H.I.E.L.D. candidate against the Avengers and buy time for his portal plan.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. detected Loki in Germany, while Tony left for Stuttgart and Nick ordered Captain America to prepare for the coming fight.
• Dane decided to pursue the Mind Scepter to protect Wanda and further his own research, then donned his new combat suit.
• Loki infiltrated a Stuttgart banquet, killed the guards who attacked him, and let Hawkeye open the vault with stolen retinal data.
• Iron Man blasted Loki into the villa, refused Nick's order to capture him, and Captain America prepared to disembark from the Quinjet.

Captain America and Iron Man fought Loki at the villa, but Loki’s illusions and strength kept them from gaining the advantage. When the lights went out, Dane appeared from the darkness, seized Loki’s scepter, and sent him crashing through a pillar.

• Steve made his live debut by leaping into the villa and joining Iron Man against Loki.
• Loki used illusions to confuse Steve and Tony, while Steve blocked Loki’s attacks with his Vibranium shield.
• Tony and Steve attacked together, but Loki revealed his real body and knocked Tony away before throwing Steve aside.
• The villa’s lights went out, and Steve sensed danger as Loki and Tony questioned what had caused the darkness.
• Dane suddenly appeared, grabbed Loki’s scepter, and struck him hard enough to send him through a stone pillar.

Dane fought Loki for the Mind Scepter and knocked him unconscious, while S.H.I.E.L.D. watched and debated whether Dane was an enemy. Dane kept the Scepter and left Loki with Iron Man, then departed after Steve failed to persuade him to hand it over.

• Dane fought off Hawkeye’s surprise attack, then countered Loki’s illusions and disarmed him while using the Mind Scepter.
• Tony recognized Dane, and Nick identified him to Steve as Outlaw while S.H.I.E.L.D. monitored the fight.
• Nick told Steve to recover the Scepter, but Steve judged that Dane was not an enemy and did not intervene.
• Dane seized Loki’s mind with the Scepter and knocked him unconscious with a punch.
• Dane left Loki with Iron Man, refused Steve’s request to leave the Scepter behind, and said they would meet again soon.

Dane secured the Mind Scepter after Loki’s invasion and used it to probe Ajak for information about the Celestial Tiamut. The chapter ended with Ajak under the Scepter’s influence as Dane asked where Tiamut was closest to the surface.

• Natasha found the unconscious Hawkeye and the Iridium, then brought both back to the team.
• Tony restrained Loki while he and Steve discussed Loki’s identity and decided to leave with the prisoners before the police arrived.
• Dane told Sif that Loki was alive and had killed Earthlings, prompting her to hurry to inform Asgard.
• Dane stored the Mind Scepter at Umbrella’s Sokovia base, then returned the next day and blocked Tony’s request to study it.
• Dane pressed the Mind Scepter against Ajak’s chest, overcame her resistance, and asked where Tiamut was closest to the surface.

Dane learned how the Eternals were created and modified his own genes to absorb cosmic energy. He gained the ability to draw that energy from the void, while the story left the consequences of his experiment unresolved.

• Ajak told Dane that Arishem replaced the Eternals’ bodies after each emergence and that Makkari’s deafness and muteness came from an incomplete soul.
• Dane secured the coordinates of Tiamut’s emergence and arranged for Umbrella and Atlas to establish an outpost near the island.
• Ajak explained that Arishem created the Eternals to eliminate Deviants whose rapid evolution had turned them from guardians into predators.
• Ajak showed Dane the gene segments responsible for her healing power and ability to absorb cosmic energy, which Dane found in redundant regions of the human genome.
• Dane rapidly modified his own genes, endured his body’s backlash, and began absorbing cosmic energy from the void.

Dane theorized that the Ten Rings created a protective energy field before learning Thor had arrived on Earth. Aboard the Helicarrier, the Avengers argued over S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Cosmic Cube weapons program and learned Loki planned to use the Chitauri to invade Earth; Natasha revealed he still had mind-controlled followers and his Scepter.

• Dane considered how the Ten Rings’ energy field protected their wearer and asked Ajak about the Eternals’ differing powers.
• Natasha informed Dane that Thor had arrived on Earth, and Thor entered the Helicarrier to take Loki back to Asgard.
• Thor warned the Avengers that Loki had the Chitauri army behind him, while Tony and Steve confronted Nick about S.H.I.E.L.D.’s use of the Cosmic Cube to make weapons.
• Thor explained that Loki intended to use the Cosmic Cube and iridium to open a portal for the Chitauri, and the group realized Loki might still have allies on Earth.
• Natasha revealed that Loki had used the Scepter to control Hawkeye, Selvig, and other captured scientists.

Hydra fanatics used iridium to help Selvig stabilize a portal, while Loki escaped his Helicarrier cell and sabotaged a turbine. As Loki prepared to destroy another turbine, Thor confronted him in the sky.

• A Hydra agent delivered iridium to Selvig’s research base, where Selvig stabilized a spatial passage and the agent realized it could bring Hive back.
• Loki recruited allies through Hawkeye’s network, then escaped his cell when a soldier opened it and left without being noticed.
• Loki reached the Helicarrier control room and destroyed its equipment, stopping a turbine and forcing the crew to restart it manually.
• Loki hijacked a Quinjet and used a missile to destroy a turbine bearing, while Nick suspected a traitor was aboard the Helicarrier.
• Thor flew after Loki, who turned to attack the next turbine and found Thor waiting outside in a storm.

Thor discovered that Loki had deceived him with an illusion, wounded him, and escaped, then offered Asgardian troops to help Earth. Meanwhile, Dane encountered the Chitauri commander in a mental world after sensing an abnormality in the Mind Scepter.

• Thor struck the Quinjet with lightning, believed Loki had died in the crash, and lowered his guard before Loki stabbed him from behind.
• Thor exposed Loki’s illusion, struck the real Loki with lightning and Mjolnir, and drove him to flee.
• Thor told Natasha that Loki had escaped and offered Asgardian troops, but she could not accept the offer on Earth’s behalf.
• Nick asked the others aboard the Helicarrier to set aside their differences until they stopped Loki.
• Dane’s bodily transformation accelerated as he absorbed more cosmic energy, and he sensed an abnormality in the Mind Scepter.
• Dane entered the Chitauri commander’s mental world, seized him, and recognized him as the officer commanding the Chitauri army.