Chapter Summaries

The Avengers defeated Cull Obsidian’s fleet on Vormir, but he escaped and could warn Thanos about the planet. As the Avengers prepared a ground defense to stop Thanos from reaching the Soul Stone, Natasha saw through Red Skull’s attempt to manipulate her into making a sacrifice.

• Thor overwhelmed Cull Obsidian with Stormbreaker and endured the mothership’s main cannon, but Cull Obsidian escaped before the Avengers reached the empty control center.
• Nebula warned the Avengers that Cull Obsidian would report Vormir’s abnormalities to Thanos, prompting Steve to insist that they stop Thanos from obtaining the Soul Stone.
• Tony and Professor Hulk salvaged components from the captured mothership to build automated defenses, while the Avengers planned to lure Thanos into a ground battle on Vormir.
• Red Skull tried to persuade Natasha, Professor Hulk, and Clint to seek the Soul Stone by sacrificing someone they loved.
• Natasha pretended to be fooled, then deduced that Red Skull wanted someone to make the sacrifice so he could leave Vormir, and Red Skull stormed off.

The Avengers worried that Red Skull could sabotage their defenses or use the Soul Stone to compromise Friday, so Tony set out to develop a way to restrain spirits. After months of research, Tony created a Spirit Binding Gun, but Red Skull disappeared before the team could use it.

• Red Skull repeatedly harassed the Avengers, while Tony mocked his outdated knowledge and monitored him with cameras.
• The Avengers discussed Red Skull’s nighttime inspections and considered having Friday watch him and control the defense systems.
• Tony warned that the Soul Stone might turn Friday into a true soul, making their weapons a danger, and decided to develop a spirit-binding force field.
• Tony spent several months researching spirits and created a Spirit Binding Gun and a force-field cage to capture Red Skull.
• The Avengers searched the surrounding area with cameras, fighter jets, and a sweep across the mountain, but Red Skull had vanished.

After Red Skull vanished from Vormir, the Avengers questioned his motives and strengthened their defenses while preparing to retrieve the Power Stone from Morag. Clint and Rocket encountered the Black Order en route, and Thor set out to Morag instead, with Steve urging him to retreat or call on Odin if he was in danger.

• Steve, Tony, and Professor Hulk speculated that Red Skull had deceived them, but Tony's scan confirmed the Soul Stone was still on Vormir.
• Natasha revealed that she had gained Magnetic Field Rotation and reached the Two Hundred Thousand Volts realm of Current Drive, and Clint agreed to travel to Morag with Rocket.
• Clint and Rocket ran into the Black Order, evaded its pursuit, and warned Steve that enemy ships had blocked the routes back to Vormir.
• The Avengers reconsidered the dangers of Morag, and Steve chose Thor to go retrieve the Power Stone.
• Steve told Thor to return rather than fight the Black Order and to summon the Bifrost and ask Odin for help if trapped.

The Avengers prepared to defend Vormir, but Ebony Maw exposed a Planet Buster Cannon and forced them to attack the Black Order’s mothership. They reached the ship and fought through its defenses, where Thor encountered Ebony Maw and was thrown back into the Avengers.

• Thor returned to Vormir and warned Steve that the Black Order was coming, while admitting he still could not summon the Bifrost.
• Ebony Maw’s fleet arrived and revealed a charging Planet Buster Cannon aimed at Vormir, forcing the Avengers to abandon their defensive plan and head into space.
• Steve ordered Thor to lead the attack while the others escorted Nebula’s fighter toward the mothership, but concentrated enemy fire forced Nebula to abandon the craft.
• Thor cleared a path through the fighter formation, allowing the Avengers to reach the mothership and fight their way through its troop deployment entrance.
• Thor went ahead to destroy the cannon, but Ebony Maw hurled him back into the ship; the Avengers’ attacks were blocked by floating fighter wreckage before Ebony Maw appeared.

The Avengers fought Ebony Maw aboard the mothership, where he injured Scott, disabled Nebula, and nearly manipulated Thor. After using Professor Hulk as a shield to disarm Thor, Ebony Maw claimed Stormbreaker for himself.

• Thor attacked Ebony Maw, who used explosives hidden among metal debris to blast the Avengers and leave Scott badly injured.
• Ebony Maw told Thor that Odin was dead and exploited his grief, but Nebula shouted to wake Thor before he fell under Maw's influence.
• Ebony Maw overloaded Nebula with a forced update and used her and Scott as wounded bait, pinning the Avengers down with attacks.
• Ebony Maw offered to help Thor take back Asgard's throne, but Thor rejected him and fought harder.
• Professor Hulk charged Ebony Maw, who used him as a shield to force Thor to pull back Stormbreaker, then knocked the weapon from Thor's grasp.
• Ebony Maw reached Stormbreaker before Thor could summon it and declared that the weapon belonged to him.

Ebony Maw exploited the Avengers’ weaknesses to keep them on the defensive, using telekinesis and the Black Order’s firepower while Thor struggled to fight without endangering his allies. After Steve revealed that the Soul Stone was on Vormir, Ebony Maw dismissed the warning and demanded the Avengers surrender before he would investigate.

• Stormbreaker shocked Ebony Maw and returned to Thor, but Ebony Maw used Professor Hulk as a human shield to blunt Thor’s attacks.
• Thor rescued Professor Hulk, but Ebony Maw pulled Steve and Rhodey into the fight; Rhodey blocked Thor’s blow and was sent crashing into the mothership’s wall.
• Ebony Maw targeted the armored Avengers with telekinetic spinning, while Friday adapted the armor’s thrusters to counter his control.
• Ebony Maw threatened to destroy Vormir with the Planet Buster Cannon, and Steve revealed that the Soul Stone was on the planet.
• A Black Order spacecraft sent to the surface was shot down by Vormir’s Automatic Defense System, and Tony offered to disable it while directing Ebony Maw to the altar near the Avengers’ base.
• Ebony Maw claimed he believed Tony and offered to stop the cannon if the Avengers surrendered.

The Avengers fought Ebony Maw aboard his mothership as he destroyed Vormir with the Planet Buster Cannon. When Ebony Maw took Nebula hostage, her power suddenly surged beyond Thor’s, and her instinctive counterattack blasted apart his defenses and lower body.

• Steve, Natasha, and Thor entered the Magnetic Field Rotation Realm as the Avengers tried to stop Ebony Maw from destroying Vormir.
• Thor used Stormbreaker to breach the mothership’s hull, but Ebony Maw survived the vacuum and returned to the fight.
• Ebony Maw fired the Planet Buster Cannon and caused Vormir to explode, while Natasha and the others combined their suits’ thrusters to drive Professor Hulk toward him.
• Ebony Maw escaped the combined attack and took the confused Nebula hostage after using verbal commands to make her remove her Iron Suit.
• Nebula’s power surged to an incomprehensible level, and her instinctive counterattack pierced Ebony Maw’s defenses and blasted away his lower body.

After Nebula recovered from Ebony Maw’s memory attack, she explained how Zoyun’s backup had affected her and revealed that she had reached the Eightieth Heaven of Magnetic Field Rotation. She restored her human body, healed Scott, and said she had a way to obtain the Soul Stone.

• Ebony Maw died, and the Black Order soldiers fled as the Avengers took control of their abandoned Super Battleship.
• Nebula regained her senses and told the Avengers that overlapping memories from Zoyun’s backup had nearly replaced her personality.
• Nebula shared what she knew of Zhan Liu, Dr. Zola, and Asgard, while Tony confirmed that the Soul Stone remained safe.
• Nebula healed Scott and revealed that she had reached the Eightieth Heaven of Magnetic Field Rotation.
• Nebula shed her mechanical body and recreated a human form, then gave Tony Zoyun’s technology and told Steve she could obtain the Soul Stone.

The Avengers recreated the Sacrificial Formation, manifested the Soul Stone, and left for Asgard to seek the Reality Stone and Mind Stone. Red Skull returned to Earth, discovered it had become the New World Empire, and killed a man after an Integrity Scanner exposed him as a criminal.

• Tony rebuilt the Sacrificial Formation aboard the Super Battleship, and Nebula supplied the energy needed to manifest the Soul Stone.
• Tony stored the Soul Stone safely, and Steve announced that the Avengers would head to Asgard for the Reality Stone and Mind Stone.
• Red Skull returned to Vormir, discovered the planet had been destroyed and his bond with the Soul Stone had ended, then used the Space Stone to travel to Earth.
• Red Skull arrived near what had once been New York and learned that the area was part of the New World Empire.
• A driver used an Integrity Scanner on Red Skull, identified him as a criminal, and threatened him with a gun.
• Red Skull killed the driver, examined the Integrity Scanner, and drove toward the city while planning to gather information and establish a Hydra base in the United States.

Red Skull explored the New World Empire, learned about its Emperor and Magnetic Field Warriors, and planned to build a force of his own. After a Magnetic Field Warrior caught him with a corpse in his trunk, the man recognized him and greeted him with “Hail Hydra!”

• Red Skull searched the city for signs of crime and poverty, then went to Old John's bar to gather information.
• Red Skull deceived the bartender's Integrity Scanner and learned that the Empire had eliminated gangs and drug dealing, while Magnetic Field Warriors held great authority.
• Red Skull heard that the Americas had been shattered and resolved to recruit Magnetic Field Warriors for Hydra.
• A Magnetic Field Warrior tracked Red Skull to his car and found the corpse of the old white man in the trunk.
• The Magnetic Field Warrior recognized Red Skull and whispered “Hail Hydra,” and Red Skull returned the greeting.

Kira, a discontented Magnetic Field Warrior serving Peter’s New World Empire, recognized Red Skull and helped him plot against Peter. Red Skull used the Space Stone to impress Kira, but when an island was mysteriously swallowed by a surging wave of earth and stone, Red Skull was as stunned as Kira was impressed.

• Kira recognized Red Skull during an assignment, chose to help him rather than turn him in, and brought him to his home.
• Red Skull claimed he had lived among advanced alien civilizations and could revive the dead, while Kira urged him to kill Peter and restore Hydra’s rule.
• Red Skull questioned Kira about Peter’s vulnerabilities and learned that Peter could read minds and sense events across great distances.
• Kira grew suspicious that Red Skull was not truly a powerful being and demanded that he prove his strength.
• Red Skull teleported himself and Kira to a deserted island with the Space Stone, then an island in the distance swelled and vanished beneath a huge wave of earth and stone, leaving Red Skull bewildered.

Quill rejected Worldmind and joined Ego on his home planet, where he awakened his divine power. Mantis became Worldmind’s host to try to save Quill, but after Quill threatened to tell Ego, she fled the planet with Worldmind.

• Quill told Worldmind to leave his body, and Ego extracted it and imprisoned it in a spaceship server.
• Ego brought Quill to his home planet and promised to help him awaken his divine power while Mantis welcomed them.
• Worldmind told Mantis that Ego would kill Quill if he failed to awaken his power, and Mantis agreed to become its host so they could rescue him.
• Mantis became a Nova Centurion and planned to help Quill escape, but she discovered that he had already awakened his divine power.
• Quill threatened to tell Ego that Mantis had become Worldmind’s host, so Mantis followed Worldmind’s advice and fled the planet aboard the spaceship.

Peter struggled to decide whether his duty to the New World Empire mattered more than his love for Gwen, while Zhan Liu tried to remind him of his original motives. When Ego’s Celestial Flower threatened Earth, Zhan Liu destroyed it and absorbed some of the Celestial baby’s Life Essence, while Ego absorbed enough to become a true Celestial.

• Zhan Liu urged Peter to remember that he had built the Empire for Gwen and Aunt May, but Peter insisted he had also wanted to protect others from exploitation.
• A tremor revealed Ego’s Celestial Flower growing where Missouri had been, and Zhan Liu recognized the danger to Earth.
• Zhan Liu destroyed the flower and found its roots draining Life Essence from a sleeping Celestial baby in another dimension.
• Zhan Liu absorbed the golden Life Essence from the roots, gaining the potential to evolve toward a Celestial form.
• Ego absorbed Earth’s Celestial baby’s Life Essence, repaired his defects, and emerged as a true Celestial called the Reshaper.

Thor and the Avengers found Loki alone among the ruins of Asgard, where he confessed that he had caused Ragnarok and the deaths of Odin, Frigga, and the Asgardians. As Thor struggled to accept the truth, Loki revealed the events behind the catastrophe, leaving the Avengers asking about the missing Reality Stone.

• Thor and the Avengers reached Asgard and found that Loki, disguised as Thor, had opened the gates and was weeping over Thor’s return.
• Loki confessed that he had killed his world’s Thor and caused the deaths of Odin, Frigga, and everyone in Asgard, then begged Thor to kill him.
• Thor, devastated by Loki’s confession, attacked him until Steve, Professor Hulk, and the others pulled him away.
• Natasha asked Loki why he had caused Ragnarok, and Thor suspected Thanos had manipulated or threatened him.
• Loki said no one had incited him and explained that his own conceit and schemes had caused the disaster.
• Scott asked where the Reality Stone had gone after Odin sent the Aether into spatial turbulence.

After Thor’s team left Asgard to search for the Reality Stone, Thor stayed behind to help Loki bury the dead and urged him to keep living despite his guilt. Thor departed, leaving Loki alone again, still unable to forgive himself or face the past.

• Steve obtained Loki’s Mind Scepter, and the Avengers left for Earth while Thor stayed behind with Loki.
• Thor began gathering and burying Asgard’s dead, and Loki eventually rose to help him.
• After they finished cleaning Asgard, Thor told Loki about his own losses and said he still loved him, though he could not forgive what Loki had done.
• Thor left for his companions, and Loki collapsed in grief, unable to bring himself to leave Asgard or release his guilt.

Killmonger received Red Skull’s proposal to help corrupt Peter Parker and refused to risk the Pan-African Alliance, until Red Skull demonstrated that the Space Stone made him difficult to kill. Killmonger then agreed to join the plan.

• Killmonger’s subordinate reported that Red Skull had contacted him through Hydra’s communications channel, and Killmonger agreed to take the call.
• Red Skull urged Killmonger to help recruit ordinary people and undermine Peter Parker’s spirit, but Killmonger refused to involve the Pan-African Alliance.
• Red Skull threatened to destroy the Pan-African Alliance by exploiting Hydra agents embedded throughout it, prompting Killmonger to threaten to kill him.
• Red Skull revealed that the Space Stone had chosen him and used it to appear behind Killmonger.
• Killmonger realized Red Skull would be difficult to kill and agreed to join his plan.

Killmonger watched an enormous warship arrive at Earth and learned that its crew claimed to be the Avengers. After discovering that their Earth had been transformed and many of their friends were unreachable, Steve and the others decided to contact Peter Parker and investigate what had happened.

• Killmonger ordered the Pan-African Alliance to stay out of the warship’s arrival unless its crew threatened them.
• The warship announced itself as the Avengers, and its crew ignored offers from Earth’s governments while preparing to land.
• Rocket showed the group that the Americas had shattered into archipelagos, and Steve and Tony blamed their earlier inaction for the world’s suffering.
• Friday reported that Hydra had been dissolved, the Americas’ population had fallen by ninety percent, and the New World Empire was ruled by Peter Parker.
• After seeing Peter’s coronation, Steve ordered Friday to contact the local Tony and gather their friends at Peter’s residence.
• Friday said she could not reach several friends, including Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, Clint Barton, Scott Lang, Nick Fury, and Phil Coulson, but confirmed Natasha Romanoff was reachable.

Steve contacted Natasha to ask for help gathering the Avengers and changing Earth, but she challenged his motives and the practicality of his plan. Natasha argued that the world’s collapse stemmed from power concentrated in individuals and could not be fixed by ideals or time reversal, leaving Steve unable to promise he would stay after collecting the Infinity Stones.

• Steve apologized to Natasha and asked her to connect him with surviving Avengers so they could gather the Infinity Stones and set Earth right.
• Natasha refused to help, saying most of the people Steve sought were dead and that she would only pass along contact information for the survivors.
• The other Natasha suggested that Natasha doubted their plan because she believed it was useless, and Natasha confirmed she would not support a futile effort.
• Natasha asked whether Steve would save this Earth or his own universe, and Steve said he would refuse to choose, though he fell silent when she asked whether he could promise not to leave.
• Natasha challenged Steve’s plan to reverse time and defeat Hydra, citing Earth’s repeated destruction and the failures of Magneto and Peter to change the world.
• Natasha recounted how Hydra’s takeover, the collapse of American society, and the battle between Peter and Steve had devastated Earth, concluding that military power determined who could impose change.

Steve and the others met Tony Stark in his hidden high-tech kingdom and asked him to explain what happened after they left Earth. Tony showed them footage of the Final Battle and the later clash between Peter and Steve, leaving them with more questions about Steve’s death and Peter’s condition.

• Steve concluded that the destruction of The Americas might have come from a later conflict and decided to seek answers from Tony before approaching Peter.
• Friday arranged a meeting with Tony, and Steve’s group traveled to his secluded island in Southeast Asia, which concealed a high-tech machine kingdom.
• The two Tonys awkwardly met Pepper, and Alternate Tony boasted about his daughter Morgan while Tony jealously defended his wife.
• Tony showed the group footage of the Final Battle, revealing how Zhan Liu’s martial art struck the Space Stone and destroyed the Space Fortress.
• Tony played footage of Peter’s battle with Steve, Nick Fury’s death, and Peter taking Pepper hostage, leaving the group stunned by the difficult reality.

Steve tried to recruit Tony Stark of this universe to help restore the world Peter had conquered, but Tony refused to reveal his plan because Magnetic Field Warriors could read minds. The two Tonys exposed that Tony needed something lost beneath the ocean and warned the group that his plan might strand them in this universe, leaving them arguing over whether to help.

• The Avengers learned that Peter had killed reporters, fought Steve, destroyed the Americas, and enslaved former American citizens, and they debated whether Peter could be saved.
• Steve asked Tony Stark to join their effort to change the world, but Tony proposed pursuing his own plan alongside the Infinity Stone search and refused to disclose its details.
• Tony explained that powerful Magnetic Field Warriors could use Mind Reading to uncover his plan, so he offered to give the group instructions without explaining their purpose.
• Alternate Tony guessed that Doctor Banner was being hidden and realized Tony needed something the group possessed, but Tony revealed that the crucial object had sunk into the ocean.
• Alternate Tony warned Steve and the others that Tony's plan was too risky and could prevent them from returning to their universe, while Tony argued that they could recover the object and find the Space Stone more effectively through his plan.
• The two Tonys argued over the difficulty of locating the Space Stone and whether they should cooperate on improving their equipment.