Chapter Summaries

James Howlett fought Apocalypse across Earth and the moon, where Apocalypse drew power from the solar wind and blasted James with overwhelming energy. James survived by transforming into a flaming skeletal form, returned to Earth with Apocalypse impaled on his claws, and declared the old king dead before the assembled crowd.

• James restrained Apocalypse with Crimson Chains and pursued him as they teleported across Earth.
• Apocalypse explained how Earth’s atmosphere filtered solar energy, then teleported James to the moon and absorbed power from the solar wind.
• Apocalypse’s beam carved a vast trench across the moon, but James survived and transformed into a flaming skeleton clad in Vibranium armor.
• James impaled Apocalypse and carried him back to Earth through the atmosphere, burning away most of his body.
• James arrived before the royal city’s crowd holding Apocalypse’s head and declared, “The old king... is dead.”

After defeating Apocalypse, James Howlett struggled to contain the Hellfire until Laura’s touch turned it blue and briefly gave her the same power. James reclaimed the fire and called on the world’s extraordinary factions to help restore order, ending with the Sorcerer Supreme agreeing to join him.

• James extinguished the Hellfire on Apocalypse’s skull and sat on the throne as the assembled mutants watched in silence.
• Laura climbed up to James and touched him, turning his flames blue and reassuring everyone that he was still her father.
• James’s Hellfire spread to Laura, transforming her into a flaming skeleton until he took the power back and restored them both to normal.
• James refused to let Laura keep the dangerous Hellfire and ordered Steve and Charles to settle the gathered mutants and coordinate the aftermath with governments.
• James summoned extraordinary beings and organizations to meet him, and the Sorcerer Supreme agreed to join him in restoring order.

After defeating Apocalypse, James Howlett took responsibility for the losses at Wolf Tower and the Order Whip, then ordered a worldwide effort to bring superhuman groups under control. He left the captured Horsemen and Gambit to face punishment and continued purging the lingering forces in his mind.

• Bucky, Steve, and Erik accepted responsibility for their failures, but James told them that the deaths and injuries were his fault and vowed to impose order on the world's superhuman organizations.
• Azazel brought Jason Stryker, Rasputin, and Gambit before James, and Rasputin demanded death after she gave birth to her child.
• James ordered Rasputin and Jason imprisoned permanently in Wolf Tower, allowed Rasputin's child to be released, and had Apocalypse's head sealed at the tower's deepest level.
• James doubled Gambit's original seven-year sentence, and Bucky took him back to Wolf Tower without needing restraints.
• James directed Professor Charles and the others to search the world for secret organizations and bring their members in, telling them to wake him if they encountered someone they could not handle.

After the devastation in Egypt, James Howlett prepared to summon supernatural organizations and representatives from around the world to a gathering. As Charles Xavier and the Order Whip assembled for the coming operation, Charles recognized that James intended to impose a new order on the hidden superhuman world.

• Mutants and officials returned through the portals to Egypt, while an Indian mutant persuaded an Order Executor to let him bring goods in for the coming gathering.
• Xiao Li told an Order member about his past friendship with James Howlett as he helped stabilize a portal.
• Charles Xavier completed a long Cerebro scan and underwent psychic cleansing after searching the world for hidden superhuman groups.
• Hank McCoy and Raven discussed James’s anger over the casualties in Egypt and the effects of En Sabah Nur’s actions.
• Charles warned that James wanted hidden organizations to resist his registration so he could eliminate them, then joined the assembled leaders in the Order Whip council chamber.

Steve Rogers and the assembled leaders planned a worldwide operation to contact hidden supernatural groups, while Azazel confronted The Hand in Japan and investigated a psychic blind spot in the Amazon. The Yashida Family agreed to attend the Cairo convention, and Azazel discovered that the Amazon village had vanished.

• Peggy Rogers, Professor Charles, and Master Wong briefed the council on supernatural sites and groups, including the Ten Rings, the witches' coven, and a psychic vacuum in the Amazon.
• Steve Rogers assigned missions, and Mystic Arts practitioners and the Red Devil opened portals to send the Order Whip, Howlett Family members, and operatives around the world.
• Ichirō Yashida told Shingen Yashida to bring the Yashida Family to Cairo in ten days and attend the convention in person.
• Azazel captured Ninja Master Murakami, ordered him to summon The Hand's other four leaders to Cairo, and learned about the Yashida Family's genetic research.
• Azazel traveled to the Amazon and found an empty, level clearing where a village had apparently been removed, identifying it as the blind spot in Charles's psychic search.

Ajak reunited the Eternals aboard the Domo after nearly five centuries apart and told them their mission on Earth was nearing its end. As they discussed Thena’s Mahd Wy’ry and James Howlett’s growing influence, Sersi questioned whether mutant powers resembled their own.

• Sprite recreated the Hanging Gardens of Babylon for Ajak before the Eternals gathered at the ancient site.
• Phastos activated the buried Domo, and Ikaris arrived with Thena and Gilgamesh before the spacecraft vanished from Earth.
• Ajak told the Eternals that humanity’s population had grown to several billion and that they must avoid conflict with James Howlett while awaiting their return to Olympia.
• Druig complained about the rule against interfering with humanity, while Ajak checked on Thena and discussed her Mahd Wy’ry with Gilgamesh.
• Sprite doubted that James Howlett could match Ikaris, and Sersi asked Ajak whether mutant powers were similar to the Eternals’ abilities.

The Eternals discussed the rise of mutants and the growing power of James Howlett, whom Earth’s superpowered groups called the Wolf Emperor. Meanwhile, Magneto and Alex’s team provoked Atlantis into revealing itself, and its ruler emerged to confront them.

• Sersi questioned whether mutant powers were connected to the abilities of the Eternals, and Ajak avoided answering directly.
• Phastos showed the Eternals images of Earth, while Druig described James Howlett as Romulus and the Wolf Emperor.
• Charles Xavier sensed nearly a hundred thousand intelligent beings beneath the Atlantic and detected brainwaves resembling those of humans.
• Magneto used his control over metal to shake the seabed and disturb the hidden city of Atlantis.
• Atlantis’s ruler rose from the sea with a trident and warned Magneto that whoever stirred the waves would face the ocean’s wrath.

Erik Lehnsherr confronted Namor McKenzie, the king of Atlantis, to invite him to meet the surface king, but Namor attacked to protect Atlantis’s secrets. Their battle moved from the sea floor back into the air, where Erik tried to keep Namor from escaping into the ocean.

• Erik introduced himself to Namor and invited Atlantis’s leader to meet the surface king, while Professor Charles identified Namor as the son of Leonard McKenzie.
• Namor learned that Erik knew his mixed heritage, declared that Atlantis’s secrets must remain hidden, and overturned the Wolf Fang with a towering column of water.
• Erik used electromagnetic force to take Namor’s Trident of Neptune, but Namor attacked him with immense strength and dragged him beneath the sea.
• Namor battered Erik’s force field underwater and waited for him to suffocate, but Erik tore metal from the seabed to form dragons and escaped toward the surface.
• Namor pursued Erik above the water as Erik attacked with metal constructs and ruptured the seabed again to prevent Namor from retreating into the ocean.

Erik Lehnsherr and Professor Charles Xavier captured Namor and took him away for a meeting, while the Atlanteans returned to their royal city to consult their elders. In Hong Kong, Steve Rogers and Peggy arrived to approach the Ten Rings’ leader, who learned that the Wolf Emperor’s people were on their way.

• Erik used metal and Charles’s mental communication to subdue Namor, then carried him aboard the Wolf Fang aircraft.
• Sea Fiend ordered the Atlanteans to return to the royal city and consult the Council of Elders before deciding how to respond to Namor’s disappearance.
• Steve Rogers and Peggy entered Kamar-Taj’s Hong Kong sanctuary through a Mystic Arts portal and prepared to approach the Ten Rings leader.
• A masked subordinate told the Ten Rings leader that Wolf Emperor’s people had arrived in Hong Kong, led by a blond man carrying a shield.
• The Ten Rings leader scoffed at the title Wolf Emperor and remarked that people still revered royal power.

Xu Wenwu confronted Steve and Peggy after they entered the Ten Rings fortress, and Peggy fought him with her sword and gun. Wenwu disarmed her and challenged Steve to demonstrate his legendary shield technique.

• Xu Wenwu awakened the Ten Rings and ordered Qinglin not to resist the Americans who had reached the fortress.
• Steve introduced himself and Peggy delivered the Howlett family’s invitation, which Wenwu destroyed before attacking them.
• Peggy drew her Vibranium sword and fought Xu Wenwu, impressing him with her martial arts and marksmanship.
• Xu Wenwu trapped Peggy’s sword with the Ten Rings and wrenched it away.
• Xu Wenwu challenged Steve to show him the shield technique that no one had ever broken.

Steve defeated Xu Wenwu in a fight and convinced him to meet James Howlett, while Professor Charles reported that the other missions were going smoothly except for the unexplained magical mist near Salem. The chapter left Wenwu traveling to meet James as Charles remained unable to learn what was happening in Salem.

• Steve fought Xu Wenwu, using his shield techniques and Jing Qi to overcome the Ten Rings and defeat him.
• After learning that James Howlett had reached the Jianshen realm and possibly gone beyond it, Xu Wenwu agreed to meet him.
• Peggy summoned an aircraft, and Xu Wenwu traveled aboard it while wondering who James Howlett was.
• James asked Professor Charles for a report, and Charles told him that the missions were progressing but that Madam and an unusual vanished group remained unaccounted for.
• Professor Charles checked Steve's progress and then tried to probe Salem, but dark magical mist still blocked his telepathy.

Emma Howlett and Master Mark investigated Salem’s supposed witch attraction and discovered that its owner, Agatha Harkness, was a real witch whose magic had disabled Mark’s powers. Agatha revealed that the mummified bodies were the final members of the Coven, including her mother, and greeted Emma as the White Queen.

• Emma Howlett and Master Mark visited Agatha's Witch-Hunting Town while investigating a strange spiritual force in Salem.
• Master Mark explained that the Salem witch trials had killed innocent people and had not involved real witches.
• The attraction’s guide opened nine coffins containing mummified women, and Emma sensed a foul spiritual force around them.
• Agatha Harkness used magic to disable Master Mark and make the tourists surround Emma and him.
• Agatha revealed that the corpses were the Coven’s final members and that the one with the crooked mouth was her mother.
• Agatha transformed her clothing and greeted Emma as Madam White Queen.

Emma and Master Mark confronted Agatha Harkness in her magic-sealing domain of Whisper Mountain, where she revealed her coven’s fate and tried to capture Emma to gain power. Emma defeated Agatha’s monstrous servants, but Agatha summoned the Darkhold and covered the mountain in demonic fire.

• Agatha revealed that Whisper Mountain’s runes sealed away magic and that she had absorbed the power of her dead coven sisters and mother.
• Emma invited Agatha to represent the Coven at James Howlett’s gathering, but Agatha destroyed the invitation and tried to seize Emma to forge the Scarlet Witch.
• Emma broke Agatha’s control over the tourists and fought the witches and their transformed servants alongside Master Mark.
• Master Mark recognized the monsters as Servants of Chthon from the Darkhold, while Emma used her diamond form and strength to destroy them.
• Agatha summoned the Darkhold and unleashed black demonic fire across Whisper Mountain, leaving Emma’s white radiance as the only clear patch.

Emma Howlett defeated Agatha Harkness, sealed her psychic power, and took the Darkhold, while the Ancient One explained why Kamar-Taj would not keep the dangerous book. The captured witch was brought to a pyramid hall filled with prisoners and gathered figures, where a young-looking man on a stone throne opened his eyes and asked whether everyone had arrived.

• Emma Howlett broke the magical barrier and shrugged off Agatha Harkness's attacks while Master Mark escaped through a portal to report to the Ancient One.
• Emma defeated Agatha, sealed her psychic power, and took the Darkhold, causing its strange writing and magic to vanish.
• The Ancient One arrived with Master Mark, explained that Agatha's mother had once agreed to forbid the Coven from studying Darkhold spells, and had Agatha bound.
• The Ancient One refused to take the Darkhold and advised Emma and Mr. Howlett to seal and safeguard it.
• Emma, the Ancient One, Master Mark, and the captive Agatha entered a pyramid hall where numerous prisoners and visitors awaited a man on a stone throne.
• The man opened his eyes and asked whether everyone had arrived.

Supernatural organizations and powerful figures gathered at the Pyramid Royal City for James Howlett’s assembly, while T’Chaka forced his way inside and warned T’Challa to survive in the dangerous new world. James released the captured superhumans and called for everything to be brought up as Azazel returned, leaving the assembly poised to begin.

• T’Chaka’s credentials failed to secure entry, so he demonstrated his strength by punching through the stone floor and gained access for himself and T’Challa.
• T’Chaka showed T’Challa the ruined palace and warned him that they were lone beasts who had to endure and survive.
• Alex revived the captive Namor with water, and Erik released him and the other restrained superhumans beneath the throne.
• Ichirō Yashida and Shingen observed the powerful figures in the hall, while Lei Kung identified Wenwu and urged patience before confronting him.
• Azazel emerged from the final portal, and James Howlett told those present to bring everything up.

James Howlett used the Frost Giant corpses and the vampires’ destruction to argue that Earth’s extraordinary forces had to unite under rules enforced by the Order Whip. Namor challenged James’s authority, leaving the gathering on the brink of a confrontation.

• James displayed the Frost Giant corpses and declared that myths such as the Norse gods reflected real beings, while warning that Earth faced threats from beyond the planet and other dimensions.
• James called for extraordinary powers to unite and proposed rules requiring supernatural organizations to register and form an Extraordinary Council.
• A vampire progenitor identified himself as Cain and Dracula, transformed with two companions, and James burned all three to ash with Hellfire.
• James announced that extraordinary beings must not disrupt ordinary society and that supernatural power should be restrained like nuclear weapons.
• Namor McKenzie confronted James, insisted that the strong had always ruled Atlantis, and declared that he would not submit to the Wolf Emperor.

James returned Namor to the ocean and fought him at sea, where Namor unleashed the sea’s power but struggled against James’s strength and combat skill. The battle moved into an ocean trench, where Namor’s chant made the water increasingly viscous and hindered James’s movements.

• James summoned a portal to the Atlantic Ocean, returned Namor’s trident, and challenged him to show his true power in the sea.
• Namor entered the ocean, restored his strength, and attacked James with a massive surge of seawater.
• James and Namor clashed across the waves, and James repeatedly overpowered Namor despite his rapidly healing wounds.
• James followed Namor into the deep sea, where Namor circled him and chanted in Atlantis’s language.
• James felt the water thicken around him and realized that some force was interfering with his movements.

James Howlett defeated Namor the Sub-Mariner in the depths and challenged the gathered superhumans to face him. Xu Wenwu and Iron Fist Orson Randall fought him together, while James judged their martial arts to have form but lack true force.

• James transformed and overpowered Namor, beating him unconscious before taking the Trident of Neptune and returning to the surface.
• James challenged the gathered superhumans, and Xu Wenwu stepped forward to test his martial arts against him.
• Orson Randall overcame Lei Kung's warning and joined Xu Wenwu, declaring that he also wanted to witness James's power.
• James invited both fighters to attack together and promised to compete in technique rather than power.
• James parried their attacks with distinct fist-and-palm styles as Bucky and Steve watched, then observed that their external powers had kept them from developing their own potential.

James defeated Xu Wenwu and Iron Fist Orson Randall, then secured supernatural leaders’ acceptance of the Supernatural Order. As organizations began registering under the new rules, Ancient One explained the Darkhold’s connection to vampires and Atlantis, while James and his allies remained concerned about the missing Eternals.

• James seized control of the Ten Rings, defeated Orson Randall, and returned the rings to Xu Wenwu.
• Namor, Ancient One, Xu Wenwu, Iron Fist, and other supernatural representatives agreed to abide by the Supernatural Order.
• The Hand registered with the Order Whip and was warned not to threaten ordinary society or national order.
• Supernatural organizations mingled under the new order, while James arranged for rival groups to settle their grudges in a designated palace.
• Ancient One told James and Emma that Varnae used the Darkhold to become the first vampire, linking vampires, Morgan le Fay, and Atlantis.
• Emma, Professor Charles, and the others discussed the vanished Eternals and their possible whereabouts beyond Earth.

James Howlett suspected that the Eternals were serving an unknown purpose on Earth rather than protecting humanity out of goodwill. As Cairo recovered from Apocalypse’s destruction, James welcomed the arrival of whatever powers might challenge Earth.

• James examined the Darkhold, but its pages concealed their contents from him.
• Emma Howlett asked why James distrusted the Eternals, and he told her and the others that their apparent lack of desires made him suspect they were sheepdogs serving a hidden master.
• Charles worried that humanity could not prepare without knowing what the gods wanted, while Erik declared that Earth would resist their return.
• James looked toward the sun and invited whoever was watching to come to Earth.
• As the Cairo disaster faded from public life, people sought mutant powers, enhancement technologies, or ancient legacies, while superhumans were ranked as the Five Kings and their generals.