Chapter Summaries

After becoming Red Hulk during the Chitauri invasion, General Ross joined Lu Yifang and the Mutants, who asked him to serve as their public leader and spokesperson. Ross accepted, recognizing that his transformation tied his interests to theirs, and prepared to help save the world.

• Ross recalled how the Abomination incident ruined his military career before the Chitauri invasion drew him back into rescue efforts.
• A golden rain transformed Ross into Red Hulk, and Professor X’s mental link led him to seek out Lu Yifang and the Mutants.
• Ross praised Lu Yifang’s work and agreed to discuss cooperating with the Mutants.
• Lu Yifang explained that the Mutants needed a public leader and spokesperson, and offered to help Ross restore his career.
• Ross asked why the Mutants trusted him, and Lu Yifang replied that they trusted their own influence over Ross’s transformed identity.
• Ross accepted his place among the Mutants, asked what they should do next, and declared himself ready to serve as unmanned helicopters filmed him.

Ross and Hulk fought the Chitauri while Ross declared war on them in a broadcast that united humanity. At Kamar-Taj, Doctor Strange learned that Mephisto’s clone Roch was leading a demon invasion and set out to stop it.

• Ross kicked Hulk into the fight, and he and Red Hulk tore apart a Chitauri mothership while Red Hulk absorbed the aliens’ energy fire.
• Ross stood atop the wreckage and declared war on the Chitauri, and White Queen’s broadcast of his speech stirred people around the world to unite.
• Lu Yifang wondered why the sorcerers had not joined the battle after noticing the sign for 117A Bleecker Street.
• Doctor Strange emerged at Kamar-Taj with wounded sorcerers and learned from Jarrett that the Tesseract’s power had overwhelmed the Sanctums’ spatial seals.
• A sorcerer told Doctor Strange that Roch, a clone of Mephisto, was leading an army of demons, and Doctor Strange opened a Portal to confront them.

Lu Yifang and the Hulks fought through the Chitauri defenses around Stark Tower, while Hawkeye and Hulk turned on Loki. The battle left a Chitauri mothership destroyed and Loki beaten down by Hulk.

• Lu Yifang led Hulk and Red Hulk toward Stark Tower as the Chitauri focused their attacks on them.
• A Chitauri mothership exposed its main cannon, and Lu Yifang hurled Red Hulk toward it, but aircraft knocked him off course and injured him.
• Hulk agreed to help Red Hulk, and Lu Yifang threw him into the air; Hulk collided with Red Hulk and sent him flying into the mothership's cannon, destroying the ship.
• Hawkeye fired a TNT arrow at Loki, and the blast sent Loki into Stark Tower, where Hulk crashed into him.
• Hulk grabbed Loki by the foot and swung him around, ignoring Loki's protests and calling him a weak-ass god.

Nick Fury defied the World Security Council’s order to launch a nuclear strike on New York, learning it was meant to kill the Mutants as well as destroy the portal. After warning Lu Yifang, the Mutants prepared to expose the plot to the world as the remaining Chitauri forces were routed.

• Fury rejected Gideon Malek’s demand to launch a nuclear strike, and Malek revoked Fury’s command authority.
• Hill reported that a fighter carrying a nuclear warhead was taking off without authorization, so Fury shot down one plane, though another got airborne.
• Fury told Coulson to contact Lu Yifang, and Coulson relayed what had happened.
• Lu Yifang asked the White Queen to reduce the livestream delay and asked Professor X to help reveal the nuclear plot to the world.
• Professor X said he had located the bomb and could broadcast a message, while Lu Yifang prepared to use the livestream to turn public opinion against the people in power.

After Red Hulk threw the nuclear missile into the sky, New Yorkers mourned the dead and raged at the government that had abandoned them. Lu Yifang urged Ross to use the crisis to secure autonomy for New York, then flew to meet Professor X about gaining another bargaining chip for the Mutants.

• Professor X broadcast the nuclear missile launch to humanity, and the White Queen synchronized the livestream as people watched in horror.
• Red Hulk caught the missile and hurled it beyond the stratosphere, where its blast tore through Storm’s clouds and ended the livestream with an electromagnetic pulse.
• People worldwide celebrated humanity’s victory, while devastated New Yorkers grieved their losses and learned that their government had nearly killed them.
• Ross asked Lu Yifang whether this was the opportunity he had anticipated, and Lu Yifang proposed political and economic autonomy for New York under the United States.
• Ross agreed that the Mutants might win concessions, and Lu Yifang flew to Professor X to seek another powerful bargaining chip.

Professor X and Lu Yifang offered Nick Fury complete X Crystal research data to secure deeper cooperation with S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury accepted the opportunity and began planning how to spread superpowers worldwide while strengthening S.H.I.E.L.D. and preparing for an interstellar federation.

• Fury confronted Professor X and Lu Yifang over their secret actions and the trouble they had caused him.
• Lu Yifang gave Fury complete X Crystal research data that could enable mass production within a month.
• Professor X proposed cooperation to prepare humanity for future alien threats by expanding access to superpowers.
• Fury recognized that the X Crystal data could help him spread superpowers, build S.H.I.E.L.D.'s influence, and target Hydra.
• Fury planned to share X Crystal data and products with major powers, use the resulting arms race to expand S.H.I.E.L.D., and eventually support a human interstellar federation.

After resting from the Battle of New York, Lu Yifang went to the newly renamed X Mutant Academy for the first day of classes. There he met Peter Parker, whose aunt hoped the academy could help him regain control of his abilities.

• Lu Yifang learned from the news that General Ross had become New York's mayor and that Fury's reputation had risen after a photo showed him defying the World Security Council.
• Lu Yifang relaxed at home while New York residents cleared rubble and began rebuilding, then Katie reminded him that classes were starting.
• Yuriko drove Lu Yifang and Katie to X Mutant Academy, where crowds of families had gathered to enroll children with abilities.
• An admissions officer turned away a boy named Parker, and his aunt explained that he could climb walls but had struggled to use his abilities since the Battle of New York.
• Lu Yifang recognized the boy's name, approached him, and learned that he was Peter Parker.

Lu Yifang accepted Peter Parker into the Academy and learned how the Student Union’s influence was growing in Academy City. At the mission hall, he found an S-Class assignment involving intruders armed with Mutant Weapons and questioned where the weapons had come from.

• Lu Yifang accepted Peter Parker into the Academy and wrote Deadpool as his counselor.
• Lu Yifang and Katie discussed the growing power of the Student Union and Lionheart Society in Academy City.
• Katie gave Lu Yifang a packed schedule, but he escaped at supersonic speed and went to the mission hall instead.
• Lu Yifang read an S-Class mission from Frank Castle seeking help against intruders who might carry Mutant Weapons.
• Lu Yifang became concerned because modern researchers could not yet manufacture Mutant Weapons and wondered where the intruders had obtained them.

Lu Yifang visited the Enforcement Team headquarters and met Polaris, Eclipse, Blink, and Thunderbird, former Brotherhood members who recognized him as their new boss, Aleister. He learned why they had joined the Punisher’s team and reflected on how the Punisher had rapidly reduced crime in Academy City.

• Lu Yifang arrived at the Enforcement Team’s damaged headquarters after responding to its mission posting.
• Eclipse challenged Lu Yifang, but Polaris arrived and revealed that he was the team’s new boss, Aleister.
• Polaris introduced Eclipse, Blink, and Thunderbird as her teammates from the Brotherhood and spoke about the hardships of being Magneto’s daughter.
• Polaris explained that her team had joined the Enforcement Team to do the dangerous work needed to protect Academy City.
• Lu Yifang considered the Punisher’s ruthless methods and the rumor that he had cut Academy City’s crime rate by eighty percent in three days.

Frank Castle, now the Punisher and a leader in Academy City’s underworld, recruited Lu Yifang to help catch powered intruders seeking X Crystals. They planned to ambush the group at the airport that night, with Blink opening a portal to get them there.

• Frank Castle’s military past and the loss of his family led him to support Academy City’s autonomy and become the Punisher.
• Polaris brought Lu Yifang to meet Frank, who showed him photos of the intruders: Morris Bench, known as the Water Man, and blue-skinned powered people with anti-powered equipment.
• Frank suspected the intruders wanted X Crystals, and Lu Yifang concluded they might be something more unusual than spies from another government.
• Frank revealed that the Mutant Research Institute would deliver X Crystals to S.H.I.E.L.D. at eight that night, and he planned to ambush the intruders at the airport.
• Blink opened a portal to the airport, and Lu Yifang praised her portal ability.

Lu Yifang and the others intercepted the Water Man and his allies as they tried to steal the X Crystal at the airport. After Lu Yifang subdued the Water Man and Polaris defeated Colossus with a technique Magneto had taught her, the team’s fight continued with the remaining attackers.

• Thunderbird detected that the Water Man was already aboard the plane, and Frank sent Blink to open a portal into the cargo hold.
• Frank, Sunspot, and the others confronted the Water Man, who escaped with the X Crystal before calling in Colossus, Porcupine, and two blue-skinned mutants.
• Lu Yifang repeatedly broke apart the Water Man, then trapped him in compressed air and shocked him with a powerful current.
• Frank fought Porcupine while Thunderbird and Blink engaged the blue-skinned mutants, and Polaris and Sunspot struggled against Colossus.
• Polaris used a coin to channel a devastating electrical attack that blasted a hole through Colossus’s chest, and Lu Yifang praised her potential.

Lu Yifang and Frank captured two Atlantean mutants and learned that King Namor had brought them to the surface. They traveled to Liberty Island to confront him, where Namor used his trident to force everyone except Lu Yifang to the ground and demanded that Lu Yifang kneel.

• Frank killed Porcupine, and two blue-skinned mutants activated a golden fish-bone pillar that suppressed the mutants’ abilities.
• Lu Yifang took the pillar and stored it in his Magic Ring, while Frank and Crossbones interrogated the Atlanteans.
• One Atlantean revealed that King Namor had ordered the mission and was on Liberty Island, after visiting a desert where traces of a battle remained.
• Blink opened a portal to Liberty Island, where Lu Yifang and the others found Namor holding a golden trident among the ruins.
• Namor struck the ground with his trident, pressed Frank and the others down with a blood-red Shockwave, and demanded that Lu Yifang kneel.

Lu Yifang defeated Namor after the Atlantean king attacked him and threatened New York with enormous waves. They agreed to discuss cooperation between Atlantis and the surface mutants, and Namor learned that Apocalypse was alive and teaching young mutants.

• Namor summoned a massive wave to attack Lu Yifang, but Lu Yifang repelled it with Shinra Tensei and knocked Namor into the river.
• Namor raised another wave with his trident, and Lu Yifang struck him with a plasma sphere before redirecting the water away from New York.
• Namor surrendered and explained that he had come to investigate Apocalypse's distress signal and had learned about the X Crystal.
• Lu Yifang and Namor discussed exchanging the X Crystal for Atlantean Mutant Weapons and possibly restoring contact between their peoples.
• Namor asked what had happened to Apocalypse, and Lu Yifang said Apocalypse had retired from public life to teach young mutants.

Lu Yifang discussed Atlantis with Professor X and Magneto, then prepared an expedition with Storm and Wolverine. John and Bobby asked to join him, while Wolverine joined the trip after being heartbroken over Jean and Cyclops.

• Lu Yifang told Professor X and Magneto about the Mutants living in Atlantis and said he wanted to learn more about them.
• Professor X told Lu Yifang he could make the decision himself, and Lu Yifang left them to their chess game.
• John and Bobby asked Lu Yifang to take them on his next mission, but he went to ask Storm to join the Atlantis expedition instead.
• Storm agreed to go with Lu Yifang and brought Logan, who had been drinking after learning Jean and Cyclops were living together.
• Lu Yifang and John tried to comfort Logan about his heartbreak, and John reminded him he had already been single for over a hundred years.

Lu Yifang and Namor traveled to Atlantis, where Namor explained the city’s origins and Atlanteans’ adaptation to underwater life. They arrived to find the city under attack, and a dying patrol captain collapsed before he could explain who was responsible.

• Lu Yifang and Namor discussed Atlantis’s history and how its people adapted to life underwater through their X genes and ancestral technology.
• Lu Yifang told Namor about X Crystals during the submarine journey to Atlantis.
• Namor welcomed Lu Yifang and the others to Atlantis, but they found a trail of wounded and dead sea creatures and a colossal octopus blocking their way.
• Namor rejected Lu Yifang’s suggestion that someone was controlling the attacking beasts, insisting that no other intelligent beings lived underwater.
• Namor’s guards brought back an injured patrol captain, who recognized Namor and began to mention a woman before he shriveled into a corpse.

Lu Yifang and Namor discovered Atlantis’s citizens under mental control and confronted a mysterious woman in the ancestors’ cemetery. The awakened Sea King Poseidon recognized her as an ancient royal survivor, and she demanded to be called Queen.

• Lu Yifang and Namor entered Atlantis and found its people kneeling and muttering that their king had returned.
• Namor realized the intruder’s target was Paradise Lost, the resting place of Atlantis’s ancestors, and hurried there with Lu Yifang.
• A black-haired woman in the cemetery claimed to be Atlantis’s queen and forced Namor to his knees with a snap of her fingers.
• Namor summoned the spirits of Atlantis’s dead, and the Sea Kings and their armies awakened to defend Paradise Lost.
• Poseidon recognized the woman as the last royal Princess who had led survivors after Atlantis sank, and she told him to call her Queen.

The Black Queen demanded that Atlantis submit to her as she prepared to use the dead Deviants’ power to become a Demigod. After fighting her, Lu Yifang was trapped in Heaven’s Lock, where she offered to teach him in exchange for becoming her king-consort.

• The Black Queen revealed her plan to restore Deviant civilization and demanded that Namor and the Atlanteans become her subjects.
• Poseidon empowered Namor through his trident, and Lu Yifang, Storm, John, Bobby, and the others attacked the Black Queen, who resisted their assault and tried to compel them to submit.
• Namor used a spiritual shockwave to free his allies from the Black Queen’s influence, while she awakened the buried Deviants to gather their power and advance toward becoming a Demigod.
• Lu Yifang broke the Black Queen’s shield and reflected her energy attack, but she bound him with Heaven’s Lock before he could reach her.
• The Black Queen offered to teach Lu Yifang to use his potential if he would become her king-consort.

The Black Queen explained that Lu Yifang’s shallow understanding of his ability had stalled his growth, then demonstrated how he could control the magnitude of force. When Lu Yifang broke free, Namor and Poseidon awakened a damaged Celestial statue, but the Black Queen stopped it with her royal mark and began draining its energy.

• The Black Queen asked Lu Yifang about his ability and pointed out that his strength had stalled at the first stage of Level Five.
• The Black Queen showed Lu Yifang how to control the magnitude of force by making a stone strike the ground with hundredfold gravity.
• Lu Yifang shattered Heaven's Lock after the Black Queen refused to explain how she had done it.
• Namor followed Poseidon's guidance and summoned a giant, damaged Celestial statue from underground.
• The Black Queen revealed a blood-red royal mark that stopped the statue from attacking her, then sent tendrils from its shadow to drain its energy.
• Namor and Poseidon reacted in disbelief as Lu Yifang cursed their betrayal of their own side.

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Black Queen absorbs the power of the last Celestial statue, attempting to evolve into a Demigod.
• Her body cracks and transforms, but she fails to solidify her Demigod form.
• She realizes the Aberrant civilization's flaw might have led to its destruction by the Celestials.
• In desperation, she forces Lu Yifang to her side, absorbing his blood, and detonates, leaving behind a small, child-like form.

Character Developments

• The Black Queen's obsession with power and fear of extinction drive her actions, leading to a shocking transformation.
• Lu Yifang's power shows signs of evolution after the Black Queen's blood transfusion.

Significant Themes

• The consequences of unchecked ambition and obsession with power.
• The potential dangers of rapid evolution and transformation.
• The possibility of hidden flaws leading to downfall.

Character Interactions

• The Black Queen's desperate attempt to survive leads her to forcefully interact with Lu Yifang.
• Lu Yifang and his allies (Storm, Poseidon) observe and react to the Black Queen's transformation and the appearance of the child-like form.

After the Black Queen became a Demigod, Lu Yifang struck a deal to protect her while she taught him to grow stronger. Two days later, they left Atlantis with its technology and research materials, and Lu Yifang learned she had once been called Selene and Luna.

• Lu Yifang learned the Black Queen had given him some of her out-of-control divine power while extracting an Eternal gene fragment, and he asked how to use it.
• Lu Yifang offered to protect the weakened Black Queen in exchange for her teaching him how to become stronger, and she accepted.
• Poseidon pledged Atlantis’s support, and Lu Yifang helped the unstable Black Queen to her feet and carried her on his back.
• Namor agreed to Lu Yifang’s requests for Atlantis’s technology and research materials, and the group departed by submarine two days later.
• Lu Yifang asked the Black Queen for another name, and she told him he could call her Selene or Luna.