Chapter Summaries

Stark and Banner uncovered S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret weapons program, and the resulting argument among the heroes was intensified by the Mind Stone. A military transport attacked the Helicarrier, leaving the heroes scrambling to respond as Hulk chased Natasha through the ship and Dottie watched in amusement.

• Stark and Banner hacked S.H.I.E.L.D.'s network and confronted Nick Fury about the Space Stone weapons program.
• Nick Fury blamed Thor's arrival and warned the heroes about Dottie's powerful alien boss, while the group argued under the Mind Stone's influence.
• A military transport plane bombed the Helicarrier, damaging its third engine and throwing the arguing heroes to the deck.
• Nick Fury ordered Stark to repair the engine and the pilots to steer the Helicarrier closer to the ocean, while Steve and Stark went to respond.
• Banner transformed into Hulk and chased Natasha through the lower cabin as Dottie laughed and watched.

Natasha and Dottie escaped Hulk’s pursuit after Gold intervened, while the Helicarrier’s crisis spread to the Command Center and Loki’s prison. Loki released himself and dropped Thor’s cage, but Coulson and Natasha stopped him from escaping, leaving him knocked out against a wall.

• Natasha lured Dottie into Hulk’s path, and Gold arrived and slashed Hulk through several walls.
• Gold sent Natasha and Dottie away, then led Hulk toward an air vent while they split up to answer separate emergencies.
• An infiltrator released Loki, but Thor found him and fell for Loki’s illusion, ending up in the prison cage as it dropped from the Helicarrier.
• Coulson confronted Loki with an energy-charged gun, and Natasha arrived and shot Loki’s scepter aside as Loki attacked.
• Coulson pulled up his pants and blasted Loki into a wall while Loki was distracted by arguing with Natasha.

Dottie defeated Loki’s armed squad and captured Hawkeye, but Loki escaped from the Helicarrier. After Stark repaired Engine Three, Loki destroyed Engine One, leaving the carrier tilting and descending again.

• Fury ordered Gold to lure Hulk away after a squad attacked the Command Center, while reports said Hulk and the werewolf had fallen off the carrier.
• Dottie killed the armed attackers, disarmed Hawkeye, and knocked him unconscious after teasing him about Natasha.
• Fury learned that Loki had escaped and that Banner and Thor were off the Helicarrier.
• Stark repaired Engine Three, and the Command Center began to stabilize.
• Loki fired an Energy Blast at Engine One, destroying it; Stark reported that the engine was gone and the Helicarrier was descending.

S.H.I.E.L.D. identified Stark Tower as the site where Loki planned to open a portal, but the Chitauri invasion began before the heroes could stop him. Iron Man and the arriving Avengers struggled to defend New York as the alien army poured through the portal.

• Stark realized Loki would choose the conspicuous Stark Tower, and Fury ordered satellites to watch it.
• The satellite feed showed Selvig activating the Space Stone atop Stark Tower, so the Avengers rushed toward New York.
• A portal opened above the city, and the Chitauri swarmed through it to attack civilians and buildings.
• Iron Man fought the Chitauri vanguard alone but was overwhelmed by their numbers.
• Thor arrived at Stark Tower to confront Loki while the other Avengers joined Iron Man in the battle.
• The Quinjet was hit by Chitauri fire and crashed into a building.

The Avengers fought to contain the Chitauri invasion as their forces dwindled, and Stark carried a nuclear missile through the Space Portal, only for the mothership’s shield to survive the blast. Duke rescued Stark and began preparing an attack after counting the Chitauri’s ki, leaving the battle poised for his intervention.

• Thor wounded Loki with lightning after Loki stabbed him in the kidney, but Loki escaped aboard a flying craft as the Chitauri’s metal beasts emerged through the Space Portal.
• Gold transformed into WereGarurumon and helped the Avengers defend civilians, while Stark and Hulk joined him in destroying a metal beast.
• Steve assigned the team their roles, and the Avengers fought the Chitauri until the captain, Hawkeye, Natasha, Thor, Gold, and Hulk were wounded or exhausted.
• The Security Council launched a nuclear missile at New York, and Stark carried it through the Space Portal into the Chitauri mothership, whose shield survived the explosion.
• Duke caught the powerless Stark as he fell from the Space Portal, then closed his eyes and counted 136,874 Chitauri ki signatures.

Duke annihilated the Chitauri army attacking New York, stunning the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. before admitting that the biblical God existed. As the portal began sending through a more formidable force, Duke faced a new threat while his plans to steal the Space Stone had been exposed.

• Duke unleashed countless Death Beams that killed every Chitauri unit in New York and silenced the portal.
• Nick Fury realized Duke far surpassed his expectations, and the satellite feed went offline after Duke looked toward it.
• Duke told Stark and Dottie that the biblical God existed, then joined the Avengers, who thanked him for saving Earth.
• Duke abandoned his plan to steal the Space Stone later, explaining that he had intervened because New York might have fallen.
• The portal resumed operating and began sending through larger, battle-hardened Chitauri armed with melee weapons.

Duke and his Ice Dragons fought the Chitauri army while the Avengers protected New York from attackers who got past them. When the Chitauri retreated and fired ship-grade Beam Ion Cannons through the Space Portal, Duke answered with a combined Destructive Light, leaving the clash unresolved.

• Duke created nine Ice Clones and led ten Ice Dragons against the Chitauri, whose coordinated charge met his head-on.
• Duke and the Ice Dragons tore through the Chitauri ranks, while Steve told the injured Avengers to deal with enemies that slipped through.
• Duke wondered why the Chitauri had sent cannon fodder to Earth and concluded they had underestimated the planet.
• The Chitauri pulled back and fired more than a hundred Beam Ion Cannons through the Space Portal.
• Duke and his Ice Dragons combined their Destructive Light into a massive beam that collided with the cannon barrage, filling the sky above New York with dark clouds and lightning.

Duke stopped the Chitauri advance by unleashing a devastating blizzard, then confronted Loki at Stark Tower to learn how to close the Space Portal. After the Avengers brought him Loki’s scepter, Duke revealed that its gem was the Mind Stone and suggested that Thanos had treated Loki as a pawn.

• Duke regained control of himself and had the Ice Dragons freeze New York and the attacking Chitauri in a massive blizzard.
• The Avengers discussed shutting down the Tesseract while Duke’s clones continued fighting the Chitauri.
• Duke rode to Stark Tower, exposed Loki as a Frost Giant, and demanded to know how to close the Space Portal.
• Dr. Erik Selvig revealed that Loki’s scepter could shut down the Tesseract, and the Avengers arrived with the scepter.
• Duke identified the scepter’s gem as the Mind Stone and told Loki that Thanos had given it to him without explaining how to use it.

Duke ended the Battle of New York by shutting down the Space Portal and secretly stealing the Space Stone after throwing it through. The Avengers returned to the Helicarrier with Loki and the Mind Stone, while the Chitauri blamed nearby cosmic factions for the Stone’s disappearance and started a war.

• Loki wailed after learning Thanos had used him, while Duke found no energy response from the Mind Stone.
• Duke stopped the Space Portal with the Mind Stone, then threw the generator and Space Stone through before the portal closed.
• Duke gave the Mind Stone scepter to Natasha and teleported away with Gold and Dottie; Thor promised the Avengers he would not seize it.
• Thor and the Avengers escorted Loki onto a Quinjet, and New York’s residents celebrated the end of the invasion.
• Duke secretly stole the Space Stone from the Chitauri by teleporting it away, prompting them to attack the nearby cosmic factions.

Duke sealed the Space Stone in a ring on the moon and discovered that magic let him open a path through space. After Duke vanished, Thanos realized he could no longer sense the Space Stone and ordered his followers to find it and gather the other Infinity Stones.

• Duke and his two clones placed the Space Stone in a specially crafted necklace and sealed it, concealing its power in a dark sapphire ring.
• Duke tested the ring with different energies, found it responded to magic, and vanished after weakening the spatial barriers around him.
• Thanos noticed that he could no longer sense the Space Stone and learned that the Chitauri had lost it.
• Thanos withdrew his protection from the Chitauri and ordered five followers to discover who had obtained the Space Stone.
• Thanos ordered his followers to begin gathering the other stones scattered throughout the universe.

Duke crossed into a world overrun by zombie superheroes, escaped their attempt to eat him, and fled to another universe. He found that universe peaceful, but arrived naked beside another Deadpool, who immediately began harassing him.

• Duke arrived on the moon and sensed that Earth was covered in powerful, hunger-driven energy signatures.
• Duke teleported to New York, where Zombie Deadpool attacked him and a crowd of zombie superheroes closed in.
• Duke escaped into space and disinfected himself on an asteroid before using the Space Stone ring to leave the zombie world.
• Duke arrived in a peaceful world, teleported to the outskirts of New York, and encountered Deadpool while completely naked.
• Deadpool mistook Duke for someone else and subjected him to a stream of sexual jokes and insults.

Duke escaped another encounter with Deadpool by teleporting to an ordinary Earth, where he discovered Peter Parker mourning Uncle Ben and used magic to save him. The chapter ended with Peter noticing that Duke had left the surrounding crowd and police frozen and vacant.

• Duke teleported into Avengers Tower and found Deadpool amid the slaughtered Avengers and other heroes, then escaped Deadpool's attack by teleporting away.
• After another crossing, Duke found an Earth with no Deadpool and teleported to the strongest aura in Queens, where Peter Parker mourned the wounded Uncle Ben.
• Duke recognized Peter's world from Uncle Ben's warning about great power and great responsibility, then agreed to treat him after Peter mistook Duke's lab coat for a doctor's uniform.
• Duke floated the bullet out of Uncle Ben's wound and healed him with a beam of light, putting him to sleep.
• Peter asked if Duke was God, and Duke called himself the devil before revealing that the crowd and police stood frozen and unresponsive.

Duke took blood from Little Spider before leaving the first Spider-Man world, then used the Space Stone to enter the Marvel world at Alkali Lake. There, he encountered Colonel William Stryker using his son Mastermind to control Professor X and learned that Stryker had detected an intruder.

• Duke decided the Space Stone might still lead him to valuable superpowers and knowledge within the Marvel Multiverse, despite doubting it could reach worlds containing other Dukes.
• Duke drew blood from Little Spider, healed his arm, and vanished; Little Spider carried the unharmed Uncle Ben away while police and doctors argued over the missing gunshot wound.
• Duke sealed Little Spider's blood in a scroll and opened a path to another world, arriving at the military base inside the Alkali Lake dam.
• Colonel William Stryker revealed that his son, Mastermind, had mentally controlled Professor X and planned to use him against mutants.
• After a researcher reported an unidentified intruder detected by Cerebro, Stryker ordered soldiers and Deathstrike to confront the newcomer.

Mystique and Magneto helped the X-Men break into Stryker’s dam base while Duke secretly downloaded Weapon X research and collected mutant blood. As the download continued, Deathstrike confronted Duke, who controlled the soldiers but could not take control of her.

• Mystique disguised herself as Logan, subdued the soldiers escorting her, and exposed her identity to Stryker before heading for the floodgate controls.
• Magneto dismantled the soldiers’ weapons and led the X-Men through the base, while Logan went off alone to confront Stryker and pursue his lost memories.
• Duke harvested blood samples and downloaded the laboratory’s Weapon X data as fighting elsewhere shook the dam.
• Duke sensed Cyclops and Jean Grey fighting, then learned that Cyclops’s laser had damaged the dam’s foundations.
• Deathstrike arrived with armed soldiers to arrest Duke, but he took control of the soldiers and sent them outside to guard the laboratory.
• Duke said he could not control Deathstrike because of a strange energy in her mind, and she lunged at him and his clone.

Duke kept downloading data while his clone fought Logan and Deathstrike, then stopped the dam’s flood by freezing the lake. After the X-Men arrived, Duke took the still-living Deathstrike away, leaving Charles unable to meet him.

• The clone froze Deathstrike, but Logan mistook him for one of Stryker’s researchers and joined the fight against him.
• Magneto’s attempt to use Charles to wipe out humanity was stopped by the X-Men, who then searched for Logan and sensed Duke near him.
• As the dam began to collapse, Duke left the laboratory and froze the oncoming flood and the lake with his Cold Qi.
• Logan defeated Deathstrike after she was injected with Adamantium, while Duke finished downloading the data and discovered that Deathstrike’s soul remained trapped in her metal body.
• Duke sealed the remaining liquid Adamantium, carried Deathstrike away, and vanished before the X-Men reached the laboratory.

Duke, lost while traveling between worlds, arrived in a Civil War battlefield and accidentally knocked Captain America and Iron Man aside. After the heroes mistook his Space Stone for the Tesseract from Asgard, Duke explained that he came from another universe and was only passing through.

• Duke used the distinct auras of worlds to narrow his search for his home universe, but still found tens of thousands of possible matches.
• Duke chose to enter another world to eat, bathe, and rest, arriving in Bucharest as Captain America and Iron Man's teams charged at each other.
• Duke appeared between Steve and Stark just before their fists collided, and both leaders were sent flying when they struck him.
• The heroes halted their fight and confronted Duke, while Vision recognized the stone in Duke's ring as the Tesseract.
• Duke said the Space Stone in his ring was his own and that he came from another universe, prompting Stark to ask whether the multiverse existed.

Duke stunned the heroes by describing their alternate-universe fates, then resisted Scarlet Witch’s attempt to capture him with the Tesseract. He left the group with a warning that he could give them war if they continued to attack him.

• Duke told Stark, Steve, Vision, and Spider-Man about their grim fates in other universes, while Hawkeye collapsed after Duke failed to recognize him.
• Duke prepared to leave with Deathstrike, but Scarlet Witch demanded he surrender the Stone and immobilized him with one hundred times gravity.
• Duke forced his way out of the pit while still inside Scarlet Witch’s gravity field, carrying Deathstrike.
• Duke said three hundred times gravity was his limit, forgave the heroes’ attack, and warned that he would give them war if they insisted on fighting.

Three new Dukes from the Alien, Predator, and Interstellar worlds joined the Unknown Space, where the Dukes exchanged memories and Alien Duke and Predator Duke immediately fought. In Soul Society, Duke accompanied Retsu Unohana to a captains’ meeting about appointing Squad 10’s new captain and encountered Renji Abarai.

• Marvel Duke and the other Dukes met Alien Sentinel, Predator Hunter, and Hydralisk Duke in the Unknown Space.
• The Dukes exchanged memories, and Alien Duke and Predator Duke fought after learning about their species’ history of slaughtering one another.
• The Dukes discussed the Space Stone’s limits and possible artifacts that could travel across worlds.
• Duke woke in Soul Society and learned from Retsu Unohana that vice-captains had to attend the captains’ meeting about Squad 10’s vacant captaincy.
• Duke and Unohana met Captain Kuchiki and Renji Abarai, who nervously avoided discussing his past visits to Squad 4.

At a captains’ meeting, Tōshirō Hitsugaya endured the captains’ pressure and faced the examination required to become Squad 10’s captain. Meanwhile, Iba tried to recruit Duke and other lieutenants into the struggling Male Soul Reapers Association, and Kenpachi Zaraki volunteered to test Tōshirō.

• Iba urged Duke to join the Male Soul Reapers Association, but Duke refused despite Iba offering him a leadership position.
• Iba recruited Ōmaeda Chiyo, Hisagi Shūhei, and Kira Izuru, then turned with them to pressure Duke again.
• Tōshirō entered the captains’ meeting as the nominee for Squad 10 captain and stood firm under the captains’ imposing presence.
• The captains withdrew their pressure, and the Captain Commander called for volunteers to conduct Tōshirō’s captain’s examination.
• Kenpachi Zaraki offered to test Tōshirō, grinning at him as the other captains stayed silent.

The Captain Commander appointed Squad 4 Vice-Captain Duke to examine Tōshirō Hitsugaya for Squad 10's vacant captaincy, despite Tōshirō's resentment at being tested by a vice-captain. The examination began, and Duke effortlessly stopped Tōshirō's opening strike, leaving him stunned by the gap in their strength.

• Kenpachi Zaraki recommended Squad 4 Vice-Captain Duke as Tōshirō's examiner, and the captains unanimously approved.
• The Captain Commander chose Sajin Komamura, Kuchiki Byakuya, and Retsu Unohana to witness the examination and secured Central 46's permission.
• Matsumoto Rangiku warned Tōshirō to use Bankai, but the witnesses reprimanded her for giving away information.
• The Captain Commander began the examination and instructed Duke to make sure Tōshirō displayed his abilities.
• Tōshirō attacked Duke from behind but held back at the last moment, and Duke caught his Zanpakuto between two fingers while aiming White Lightning at his brow.