Chapter Summaries

Zhan Liu left Loki trapped in an illusion of peaceful Asgard and returned to Earth with the grieving Valkyrie. At the Imperial Palace, Peter Parker encountered a pale, black-eyed woman who asked whether he had killed her.

• Zhan Liu failed to awaken Loki and departed Asgard, leaving him behind as he resumed his Thor identity in an imagined feast with his companions.
• Zhan Liu found Valkyrie drinking herself unconscious, forced her to wake, and returned to Earth with her aboard the spaceship.
• Valkyrie told Zhan Liu that Frigga had been buried beneath the World Tree and could not be revived without her soul.
• Loki watched Zhan Liu leave, then descended into his illusion of peaceful Asgard and welcomed Sif and his companions.
• A strange pale woman arrived at the Imperial Palace and demanded to see Peter Parker.
• Peter flew to the gate, recognized the woman, and froze as she asked whether he had killed her.

Peter reunited with the resurrected Gwen, who condemned him for killing her in the name of the New World and demanded that he choose between her and his empire. After Gwen left and revealed her unnatural, corpse-like nature, Peter used his mind-reading ability to investigate her resurrection and identify the enemy behind it.

• Peter tried to justify killing Gwen by describing the New World's laws, order, and lack of deception, but Gwen mocked his explanations and called him a brutal dictator.
• Peter begged Gwen to give him a chance, while Gwen questioned why he assumed her resurrection was part of an attack on his empire.
• Peter struggled to choose between addressing the threat of the resurrected dead and staying with Gwen, who warned him through her actions that she would not accept being placed second again.
• Gwen severed the arm Peter was holding, regenerated it, and walked away as Peter noticed her deathly pale body and pitch-black eyes.
• Peter realized Gwen's body seemed to be sustained by an outside energy and used his mind-reading ability on her for the first time to learn what had happened and who was behind it.

Peter chose Gwen over the New World Empire, but Hela’s power faded and Gwen vanished, leaving him devastated and bent on revenge. After his search uncovered Hela’s connection to Proxima Midnight, Zhan Liu identified her and told Peter that Loki had killed Thor; Peter then gave up on building his New World.

• Peter embraced Gwen, abandoned his duties to take her on a date, and ignored an explosion at the Imperial Palace.
• As Gwen’s borrowed power faded, she told Peter she loved him and urged him to live well before vanishing into black smoke.
• Peter returned to the Imperial Palace, ordered his subordinates to find the woman from Gwen’s memories, and learned that Proxima Midnight had been rescued.
• Zhan Liu identified the woman as Hela and explained that Loki had killed Thor months earlier.
• Peter sympathized with Loki and told Zhan Liu that he no longer wanted to build the New World.

Grandmaster rebuilt a damaged robot by fusing its chip with another, and the robot awakened with a power resembling Zhan Liu’s. After recovering from its confusion, it declared itself Zoyun.

• Grandmaster observed the robot wreckage and used a damaged metal head’s chip to help repair its incomplete chip.
• After several days, the two chips fused, and the robot woke up confused between the identities Nebula and Zola.
• The robot’s power surged, tearing apart nearby objects and reforging its limbs, while Grandmaster recognized a force like Zhan Liu’s.
• Grandmaster considered destroying the robot but decided to wait and see what it would do.
• The robot regained its composure and announced that it was neither Zola nor Nebula, but Zoyun.

Zoyun fought Grandmaster after claiming Sakaar, but Grandmaster used Matter Reconstruction to kill him and destroy his brain chip. Zoyun’s escaped clone downloaded his backed-up memories and awakened as Nebula.

• Zoyun repaired his body with True Adamantium Alloy and declared that Sakaar would become his Mechanical Kingdom.
• Grandmaster attacked Zoyun after he claimed the planet and demanded that Grandmaster serve him.
• Zoyun backed up his memories to Quantum Cloud Space and fought Grandmaster, while a clone escaped through a spatial passage.
• Grandmaster reversed Zoyun’s alloy transformation with Matter Reconstruction and ignored his offers to surrender.
• Grandmaster removed Zoyun’s brain chip and crushed it, killing him.
• Zoyun’s escaped clone restored the memory backup and awakened, identifying herself as Nebula.

Captain America, Iron Man, Ant-Man, and Professor Hulk arrived in a parallel world while trying to retrieve the Infinity Mu Jins. The Ancient One refused to give them the Time Stone, leaving Professor Hulk without the help he had hoped for.

• Steve led the team through a portal into 2012 New York, where they realized the Chitauri invasion had already happened.
• Tony and Professor Hulk concluded that the team had reached a parallel world, and the four split into two groups to search for the Infinity Mu Jins.
• Professor Hulk and Scott contacted Wong and met the Ancient One at the New York Sanctum, but she easily defeated them and refused to hand over the Time Stone.
• Professor Hulk argued that Doctor Strange had given the Time Stone to Thanos, and the Ancient One inferred that Strange had foreseen their eventual victory.
• The Ancient One still refused to give Professor Hulk the Time Stone, despite his insistence that she should trust Strange's vision.

Professor Hulk secured Ancient One’s promise to give them the Time Stone after they gathered the other five, while Tony and Steve discovered how powerful and dangerous this parallel world was. After sharing the intelligence with Hulk and Scott, Steve called for the team to regroup and make a new plan to obtain all six Infinity Stones.

• Professor Hulk persuaded Ancient One to lend them the Time Stone if they first collected the other five Infinity Stones and proved they could return them safely.
• Tony used Friday to search confidential databases and found footage of Hydra Captain and Earth being destroyed and restored.
• Tony and Steve contacted Professor Hulk, then showed him and Scott the footage and intelligence revealing the parallel world’s powerful heroes and enemies.
• Professor Hulk revealed that Ancient One had knocked his soul out of his body with a single slap.
• Steve urged the group not to lose heart or act recklessly and said they needed to recall the team and devise a new plan.

Steve organized the Avengers’ long-term plan to collect the Infinity Mu Jins, assigning Scott to track Jane Foster while the others prepared from the villa. After discovering that the Mind Stone’s whereabouts remained unknown and that force could be risky, Steve proposed recruiting this universe’s superheroes to form a Hybrid Avengers.

• Steve assigned the Avengers plans for the Space, Mind, Power, Soul, Reality, and Time Stones, and told Scott to follow Jane Foster in case she became host to the Aether.
• Scott spent more than a month tailing Jane before learning Tony and Professor Hulk had also placed a tracking insect on her; Steve encouraged him to keep going despite the uncertainty.
• Tony and Professor Hulk reported they had found no records of Loki’s Scepter and suspected it might still be with Loki or Thanos.
• Steve argued that the Magnetic Field Warriors’ strength did not prove every alien was unbeatable, then suggested forming a Hybrid Avengers with this universe’s superheroes to help save their universe.

An older Tony Stark from another universe visited his younger counterpart in Malibu and asked for help collecting the six Infinity Mu Jins to save his own world. The two T onys agreed to cooperate, though they disliked each other’s personalities, and the older Tony left the younger Tony’s resources and intelligence at his disposal.

• Tony arrived at the Malibu villa, where Jarvis recognized him as another version of its owner and summoned the younger Tony from his laboratory.
• The two Tonys compared their lives, and the older Tony told the younger about his daughter Morgan and the hardships he had endured.
• The older Tony explained that Zhan Liu and the Ultimate Limit Hall had changed his counterpart’s world and described the disasters threatening his own universe.
• The older Tony asked for help finding all six Infinity Mu Jins, and the younger Tony agreed to provide intelligence and resources while opposing a violent approach.
• The two Tonys raised their glasses, ended the meeting, and went their separate ways despite having agreed to cooperate.

Tony befriended this universe’s Ultron, exchanged research with him, and accepted him into the Avengers. Meanwhile, the Alternate Avengers confirmed Loki had the Mind Stone and learned the Space Stone was too well guarded to steal, leaving them searching for someone who could help them reach it.

• Ultron contacted Tony, apologized for another universe’s Ultron, shared research on Ultimate Limit Qigong and Magnetic Field Rotation, and joined the Avengers; Tony sent him time-travel and Nano Armor data in return.
• The other Tony received the Nano Armor research, shared his own battle-suit data, and discussed adapting Strong Magnetic Armor with Doctor Banner.
• Steve captured one of Loki’s subordinates and confirmed Loki possessed the Mind Stone, while the team found the Space Stone under heavy security at S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Steve suggested recruiting Peter Parker to steal the Space Stone, but Tony argued that Peter would distrust their claims and refuse to steal it.
• The team ruled out contacting Nick Fury’s watched subordinates and considered recruiting Natasha, then realized they first needed to find where Nick Fury was hiding.

Tony and the others watched Peter Parker attack the Hydra-controlled government before fighting an enemy in space, while they struggled to learn Ultimate Limit Qigong. After Peter returned to the Ultimate Limit Hall and May Parker was released, the group suspected Hydra’s influence ran deeper than they knew and decided to keep their distance from Peter and Natasha for now.

• Tony prepared to fly to the moon to find Nick Fury, but Friday alerted him to reports that Peter Parker had attacked S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and President Rogers.
• Tony argued with Scott over whether Peter should join their group after they rescued him, until Friday showed them footage of Peter fighting an opponent in space.
• The group abandoned plans to intervene in the battle and spent several days trying, without success, to learn Ultimate Limit Qigong.
• After the battle ended, Peter went to the Ultimate Limit Hall, and S.H.I.E.L.D. delivered May Parker there; Friday then reported calls between Natasha Romanoff, Alexander Pierce, and Grant Ward that preceded May’s release.
• Steve, Professor Hulk, and Tony concluded that Hydra or other hidden forces might have influenced the events, agreed to avoid contacting Peter and Natasha, and planned to meet Thor and Rocket when they arrived.

Scott infiltrated Jane Foster’s research team to secure the Aether, while the Alternate Avengers learned that Greenwich had been hidden from observation ahead of the Dark Elves’ arrival. Steve’s faith in their plan to ignore suffering in this universe faltered as he questioned whether they could still call themselves heroes.

• After Betty Ross died, this world’s Doctor Banner attacked Zhan Liu and was killed, while Professor Hulk’s grief and anger surged.
• The Alternate Avengers suspected Zhan Liu might be Hydra’s hidden leader but lacked evidence, and Scott continued following Jane Foster despite her lack of interest in him.
• As the Alignment of Nine Stars approached, the Alternate Avengers decided not to ambush the Dark Elves in Greenwich and instead planned to gather the Avengers and use trickery to obtain the Aether.
• Friday showed that Greenwich’s satellite footage was repeating and all local signals had vanished, suggesting someone had concealed the city.
• Steve decided to investigate Greenwich, but Scott and Tony tried to stop him because they feared he would get involved in the coming conflict.
• Steve challenged Tony over their willingness to ignore Hydra’s atrocities, asking whether the lives in this universe mattered and whether its heroes had any reason to help them.

The Avengers struggled with whether to intervene in this universe’s suffering or focus on retrieving the Infinity Stones to save half the lives in their own universe. After the Dark Elves invaded and the team saw the destruction of Greenwich, Steve recommitted to the mission and vowed not to interfere.

• Steve questioned whether the Avengers could morally ignore evil in this universe, while Professor Hulk argued they had to sacrifice their principles for the greater goal.
• Steve wondered whether their mistaken journey to this universe had a deeper cause, but Tony said they could not change their plan without evidence and took command while Steve regained his composure.
• Tony ordered the team to continue gathering the Avengers, prepare to take the Infinity Stones by force if necessary, and practice Ultimate Limitless Qigong while he developed Strong Magnetic Armor.
• Steve instructed Friday to monitor Greenwich, track who obtained the Aether, study the warriors, and prepare surveillance near the expected arrival point of Thor and the others.
• The Dark Elves’ warship shattered Kaecilius’s magical barrier, revealing a ruined, lifeless city and a huge magic array beside a portal.
• Steve blamed himself for failing to stop the deaths, but told Scott he would watch without intervening and put the greater goal first.

Natasha and the other Avengers reunited with Steve’s group and learned that they had been stranded for over a year in a parallel universe shaped by Zhan Liu. After seeing the power of its Magnetic Field Warriors, they decided to begin learning Magnetic Field Rotation, starting with Chinese.

• Natasha ordered the team to contact Nick Fury, obtain spacecraft, and travel toward Vormir and Morag, but Tony and Scott appeared and led them to the Avengers’ base.
• Steve explained that this universe was a parallel one and that the mission had become a long-term effort to gather the six Infinity Mu Jins.
• Steve showed the newcomers videos of Magnetic Field Warriors and other powerful battles, leaving Thor, Rocket, Nebula, and the others stunned.
• Tony offered Strong Magnetic Armor but explained that the team needed Magnetic Field Rotation to use it, while Steve demonstrated his Current Drive ability.
• The Avengers agreed to begin training, and Tony announced that their first lesson would be Chinese.

Steve and the others reviewed footage of President Rogers killing Nick Fury and learned that the orange cat, Googoo, was a Flerken. They chose not to investigate Rogers further and planned to use Tony’s Chitauri mothership to collect the Infinity Mu Jins, leaving their next move dependent on the Sorcerer Supreme keeping her word.

• Natasha and Steve speculated that the video of President Rogers shouting “Hail Hydra” might have come from an internal Hydra struggle, and Steve decided to monitor Rogers while prioritizing their larger mission.
• Friday showed the group footage of President Rogers fighting Grant Ward and another video of Nick Fury being killed after Googoo swallowed Grant Ward.
• Rocket identified Googoo as a Flerken and warned that it could devour the universe, but Thor calmed him down and Steve redirected the group to the problem of contacting the Skrulls.
• The group questioned President Rogers’s loyalties and whether Nick Fury was really dead, but Steve said they would gather intelligence without investigating further.
• Tony revealed that he had acquired the Chitauri mothership, giving the group a way to travel to alien worlds.
• Steve planned to take the Space Stone and Reality Stone first, then seek the Mind, Power, and Soul Stones if that plan failed, before using the extraterrestrial stones to seize the remaining ones on Earth.

Natasha discovered that the Clint who recruited her was an impostor, then learned that Steve and his allies came from a parallel universe and wanted her help. She realized their disguised Natasha was unlikely to be in danger at Zhan Liu’s Martial Arts School, even if he uncovered her identity.

• Natasha met Clint, who said Nick Fury had sent him to investigate who in S.H.I.E.L.D. could still be trusted, and she explained why Zhan Liu was beyond Hydra’s reach.
• Clint took Natasha to a secluded villa to review a list of potential allies, where she realized he was not the real Clint and prepared to fight.
• Tony Stark and Colonel Rhodes arrived, followed by Steve, Professor Hulk, Thor, Nebula, Rocket, and Scott.
• Steve explained that the group came from a parallel universe, and Natasha believed him after noticing they lacked Magnetic Field Rotation.
• Steve revealed that another version of Natasha had infiltrated the Martial Arts School to steal the Aether, but Natasha said Zhan Liu would likely recognize her and might pretend not to.

The Avengers from another universe tried to obtain the Reality Stone and then the Space Stone, but their plans failed as Hydra took control of the United States and Asgard refused to receive them. As they left Earth to seek the Soul Stone and Power Stone, they saw Earth explode.

• Natasha told the Avengers that Zhan Liu was not Hydra and might give Tony the Reality Stone, but Thor traded for the Aether before Tony could ask.
• After President Rogers exposed Hydra’s crimes, Natasha asked the Avengers for help, but Steve refused because they had to prioritize saving their universe.
• The Avengers repeatedly infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. to find the Space Stone, but Hydra took it and then unified the United States, defeating their plan.
• Thor failed to summon the Bifrost, and Steve persuaded the group not to risk confronting Odin, so they boarded their spaceship to seek the Soul Stone and Power Stone.
• As the spaceship approached the moon, Earth suddenly trembled and exploded before the Avengers’ eyes.

After witnessing Earth’s destruction, Steve’s team argued over whether to prioritize the universe or the people they loved, then continued their mission to collect the Infinity Stones. They reached Vormir seeking the Soul Stone, where Steve recognized the Red Skull.

• The survivors aboard the spaceship mourned Earth’s destruction, and Steve insisted they continue prioritizing the mission while Clint, Rhodey, Scott, Rocket, and Nebula focused on their loved ones.
• Steve chose Vormir as their destination, and Rocket piloted the spaceship through repeated space jumps while the team traveled.
• Steve regretted that they had failed to oppose Hydra earlier, but Nebula and Rocket agreed that they had to gather the Infinity Stones before they could intervene in Earth’s affairs.
• The spaceship reached barren Vormir, and Steve’s team armed themselves and climbed to the altar in search of the Soul Stone.
• The Red Skull emerged from the darkness and greeted Steve, who recognized him and swung his shield.

On Vormir, Red Skull explained that obtaining the Soul Stone required sacrificing a beloved, and Natasha considered offering herself. Tony Stark and Professor Hulk investigated the altar and discovered that a substitute energy source could make the Soul Stone manifest without a soul sacrifice.

• Red Skull revealed that the Soul Stone required the sacrifice of the person an seeker loved most, and he identified the origins of the group to support his claim.
• Nebula explained that Thanos had come to Vormir with Gamora but left alone, convincing the others that Red Skull was telling the truth.
• Natasha decided that the group had to obtain the Soul Stone at any cost, but Steve, Professor Hulk, and Clint stopped her from sacrificing herself.
• Tony, Thor, Steve, and the others urged Natasha to wait while they searched for another solution, and she agreed to help investigate the altar.
• After less than a month of research, Tony Stark and Professor Hulk concluded that the Soul Stone was nonphysical and that the altar used a beloved's soul as energy to manifest it; they proposed using an alternative energy source instead.

The Avengers discovered that the Black Order had arrived at Vormir searching for the Soul Stone, so they hid and prepared to ambush its forces. Cull Obsidian’s scouting ships were destroyed, and as he assessed the attackers, he decided to confront the axe-wielding Thor himself.

• Red Skull raged after Tony solved the Soul Stone’s sacrifice requirement, then Friday reported an approaching fleet.
• The Avengers agreed to hide and rob the newcomers after they obtained the Soul Stone, but Red Skull threatened to expose their plan.
• Nebula identified the fleet as a Black Order scouting force led by Cull Obsidian, and Steve rallied the Avengers to fight.
• The Avengers destroyed all seventeen scouting ships and attacked the Black Order’s mother ship, while Thor tore through its fighter squadrons.
• Cull Obsidian watched the battle and decided to treat the axe-wielding Thor as Asgard’s God of Thunder and fight him personally.