Chapter Summaries

The Dark Order and the universe’s other forces fought the Annihilation Swarm with evolving armies while the insects hunted Galactus’s Heralds. Nova joined the front and used her mass mind control to turn insect warriors against their own, but the Insect Kings were occupied by a greater crisis elsewhere.

• The Shi'ar defenses fell back as the Annihilation Swarm devoured the Andromeda Galaxy and spread into the Kree and Skrull empires.
• Thanos sent the Dark Order’s Outriders, undead, and bio-beasts to fight the insects while he continued researching Magnetic Field Rotation.
• The insects and the Dark Order’s scientists repeatedly adapted their armies to counter each other, while mechanical soldiers were quickly outmatched.
• Annihilator sent Tenebrous and Aegis to hunt Galactus’s Heralds, and they pursued Nova to the superhero front line.
• The superheroes defeated Tenebrous and Aegis, and Nova joined the battle against the insects.
• Nova controlled large numbers of insect warriors and turned them against their own side, while the Insect Kings faced a greater crisis elsewhere.

Odin led Asgard’s resurrected warriors against the Bug Swarm in the Solar System, realizing that the price of their resurrection was to die fighting the invasion. He devastated the swarm’s fleet and charged at Annihilator as the Bug Kings arrived with reinforcements.

• Odin and the Asgardians met the Bug Swarm in the Solar System, and Frigga switched their ships’ attacks from energy weapons to magic.
• Thor and Loki fought together in the swarm while Odin watched, reasoning that Asgard’s resurrection and his restored body had come at the price of the gods dying in battle against the invasion.
• Odin chose to pay that price, entered the fight, and empowered the Asgardian warriors as he attacked the Bug Ships.
• Odin broke through the swarm and destroyed its fleet, forcing it to call the four Bug Kings for help.
• Annihilator led the Bug Kings and reinforcements through a spatial passage, and Odin charged straight at him.

The Annihilator’s Bug Race forces met Odin and Asgard in battle, but Odin held off the Annihilator and three Bug Kings even as the Cosmic Control Rod drained his divine power. When Thor and Loki arrived, the Annihilator’s ambush faltered because Loki revealed far greater strength than he had shown before.

• The Annihilator’s Bug Swarm overwhelmed its way through the Andromeda Constellation, then suffered heavy losses when Odin and Asgard blocked its advance.
• The Annihilator used the Cosmic Control Rod to weaken Odin, but Odin fought him and three Bug Kings while Sleipnir helped withstand their attacks.
• The Annihilator learned that Nova and the Positive Universe’s heroes had routed the Bug Swarm in the Shi'ar Empire, so he decided to end the battle quickly.
• Thor and Loki arrived to aid Odin, and the Annihilator weakened Thor with the Cosmic Control Rod while the three Bug Kings attacked him.
• Loki rescued Thor by striking the Bug Kings with an Ultimate Emperor Leg, revealing that his true combat strength surpassed Thor’s and disrupting the Annihilator’s ambush.

Odin and Loki pursued the retreating Bug Kings to prevent them from evolving new defenses, while Odin secretly hoped to end the insect threat and protect Thor. Their surprise attack destroyed a Bug Ship and killed one Bug King, but the Annihilator and another Bug King had already evolved and resisted their assault.

• Thor fought a Bug King while Loki battled two others, and the Annihilator ordered Thor's opponent to let him attack so it could develop resistance to his powers.
• Odin recognized the trap and warned Thor, then the Annihilator and the Bug Race forces retreated from the battlefield.
• Frigga organized Asgardian teams to pursue the scattered Bug forces, while Odin sent Thor to help and took Loki after the Bug Kings.
• Odin explained to Loki that the Bug Kings would return with new resistances and that a king needed to protect others; Loki said he would rather support Thor, but Odin warned that others might place the crown on him.
• Odin and Loki found four Bug Ships hidden beneath an uninhabited planet's ocean, then charged through the planet and destroyed a ship in a surprise attack.
• Loki killed one Bug King in a single strike, but the Annihilator and another Bug King had evolved, and the Annihilator stopped Odin's spear without being harmed.

Odin and Loki fought the evolved Bug Kings and their returning swarm, and Odin sacrificed his strength to destroy the Annihilator’s body. When the last Bug King escaped with the Annihilator’s severed head, Loki abandoned the pursuit to try to save his dying father, leaving Odin furious as the chapter ended.

• Odin and Loki fought the evolved Annihilator and two Bug Kings, while Sleipnir lost both hind legs protecting Odin.
• The Bug Swarm returned and overwhelmed the battlefield, so Odin unleashed his full divine power and charged the Annihilator with Sleipnir.
• Odin and Loki broke the Annihilator’s Cosmic Control Rod and impaled him, but the last Bug King severed his head and fled with it.
• Loki’s Magnetic Field Rotation surged as he killed one Bug King, but the final Bug King and the swarm kept him from pursuing the Annihilator’s head.
• Odin’s divine power faded, and Loki abandoned the fight to pour his power into his dying father and attempt to save him.

Loki learned that Odin’s death and the resurrection of the Asgardians were part of Eternity and Ancient One’s plan to prepare the universe for the Negative Zone invasion, then sacrificed his life to destroy Annihilator. As Thor and Frigga mourned an apparent victory, the Cosmic Control Rod drained an insect fleet and resurrected Annihilator.

• Odin told Loki that the Asgardians would die again unless the Bug Kings were destroyed, then sacrificed himself to wipe out the surrounding Bug Swarm.
• Loki pursued the fleeing Bug King, ignited his life force, and crushed it to ashes.
• As Loki’s power rose, he learned that Eternity and Ancient One had arranged events to spread Magnetic Field Rotation and prepare the universe to resist the insect race.
• Loki found Annihilator and completely annihilated him before his life force ran out, while Thor and Frigga fought the remaining insects.
• Frigga and Thor sensed a sudden pain as an insect fleet fought over the Cosmic Control Rod, which drained the fleet and resurrected Annihilator.

The Annihilator destroyed Asgard and returned to Xandar, where he turned the tide against Nova, Hela, and their allies. After Hela died and the Bug Race surrounded the superheroes, a mysterious figure arrived and crushed the Annihilator, leaving the battle’s outcome uncertain.

• The Annihilator tossed aside Thor's head, confirmed Asgard's destruction, and hurried back to Xandar after losing three Bug Kings.
• At Xandar, the Annihilator stabilized the Bug Race army against Nova and the allied forces, then prepared an escape route in case he died.
• The Annihilator used the Cosmic Control Rod to weaken the attacking superheroes and fought Nova and Hela with the divine weapons of the fallen Bug Kings.
• The Annihilator severed Hela's link to Asgard and killed her, causing her undead army to collapse and the Bug Race to overwhelm the allied forces.
• Cull Obsidian and the Dark Order retreated, leaving Nova and the other superheroes surrounded by the Bug Race.
• A figure crossed the battlefield, grabbed the Annihilator, and crushed him to death.

Eternity and Ancient One’s attempts to control events had unraveled because Peter Parker achieved Star Shattering and escaped his destined role, leaving the universe’s plans against the Bug Swarm in disarray. Natasha fought the swarm with the Infinity Mu Jins, but after adapting her attacks to changing resistances, she suddenly collapsed in pain.

• Eternity’s introduction of the Magnetic Field Rotation Force created loopholes in fate, and Peter Parker’s Star Shattering let him break free of his assigned role.
• Ancient One and Eternity redirected the Alternate Avengers and other figures to compensate for Peter’s disruption, but their plans cost them Wanda, Tony Stark, and Zhan Liu as useful combatants.
• Queen Raven sacrificed herself for only one Bug King, while Odin and Loki later defeated four Bug Kings before Annihilator revived from a trace of blood.
• Annihilator avoided Earth and attacked the Shi’ar front, while Natasha was trapped by a Bug Swarm whose members had evolved resistance to Magnetic Field Rotation.
• Natasha used the Power Stone to shatter space and destroy the swarm, then switched to the Reality Stone as the bugs adapted to her attacks.
• Natasha was suddenly struck by chest pain, lost her vision, and spat out blood.

Natasha became the Bug King after repeatedly replacing her failing hearts with bug hearts, but Destroyer emerged from Earth and annihilated the Bug Race before killing her and the Annihilator. After the Annihilation Insect Disaster ended, Ancient One used the Infinity Gauntlet to change the universe’s rules and restore Earth and its dead, leaving the rebuilt planet changed.

• Natasha’s heart failed during battle, so she replaced it with a bug heart and continued slaughtering the Bug Race, unknowingly taking its traits and power.
• Natasha absorbed the Bug Race’s corpses and blood, evolved into the new Bug King, and ordered the swarm to attack Earth.
• Destroyer emerged from Earth, wiped out the Bug Race, killed Natasha, and traveled to the Andromeda Constellation to crush the Annihilator and seize the Cosmic Control Rod.
• With both Bug Kings dead, the superheroes hunted down the disorganized Bug Race, and the Annihilation Insect Disaster ended after thirty-seven days.
• Ancient One snapped the Infinity Gauntlet, altered the universe’s rules, and restored Earth, its continents, buildings, and dead, though the new Earth was different from the original.

After waking in a muscular stranger’s body, Zhan Liu discovered he was the owner of a martial arts school and tried to bluff his way through teaching. FBI agent Melinda May arrived to arrest him, but Zhan Liu killed her with a single punch, leaving him surrounded by armed agents.

• Zhan Liu woke in an unfamiliar body, remembered being swept away by an alien spaceship, and found a beautiful woman named Natasha leaving him breakfast before work.
• Zhan Liu searched for clues about his identity, discovered an Eastern courtyard and martial arts school, and realized the students expected him to teach them.
• Zhan Liu improvised a lesson by asking a disciple to demonstrate the horse stance.
• FBI agent Melinda May arrived with armed agents and announced that Zhan Liu was under arrest for suspected illegal activity.
• Zhan Liu rejected Melinda May’s authority to arrest him, struck her, and killed her when her attempted counterattacks broke against his body.
• The other agents drew their guns and aimed at Zhan Liu, who realized he had killed someone.

S.H.I.E.L.D. mistook the bodysuit-wearing Natasha for a Skrull after two identical Natashas produced matching DNA results, while a newly activated system assigned her a mission to establish a school. After Nick Fury released the pencil-skirt Natasha and ordered the other interrogated, the bodysuit Natasha discovered her strength could shatter her cell and escaped.

• Natasha arrived at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and found another woman with her exact face in Nick Fury's office.
• Nick Fury had both Natashas imprisoned and tested their DNA, but the results matched, so he questioned them about recent missions.
• Pencil-Skirt Natasha correctly described the current mission, while Bodysuit Natasha had no memory of it and saw a system mission to establish the Ultimate Limit Hall.
• Maria Hill told Nick Fury that two Tony Starks had appeared at Stark Tower, prompting him to release Pencil-Skirt Natasha and order Bodysuit Natasha interrogated.
• Bodysuit Natasha shattered her cell door with a punch and escaped to survive and clear her name.

Nick Fury ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. to investigate possible Skrull infiltrators after a powerful Natasha impersonator attacked the agency and escaped. As duplicate Clints were detained and evidence suggested a new cloning technology, Agent Hill reported that Zhan Liu had killed Agent May and was being escorted back to S.H.I.E.L.D.

• Nick Fury ordered Natasha to organize an internal investigation and directed Agent Hill to request screenings of government and military leaders for Skrulls.
• A powerful Natasha impersonator stormed S.H.I.E.L.D., broke out of her cell, and escaped through a window using a hang glider after Natasha failed to catch her.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. discovered two Clints and detained them, but Natasha found that both had matching DNA, memories, and abilities, suggesting they might be clones rather than Skrulls.
• Nick Fury concluded that the escaped Natasha could be a Super-Skrull, while Natasha proposed that new Skrull technology might explain the duplicates.
• Agent Hill reported that Zhan Liu had killed Agent May and was being escorted back to S.H.I.E.L.D.

After Zhan Liu was arrested for killing a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Natasha rescued him from the prisoner transport, and they fled together. Nick Fury then accelerated Project Insight and launched a nationwide hunt for suspected aliens, leading S.H.I.E.L.D. to arrest Scott Lang.

• Zhan Liu was transported by armed agents who claimed jurisdiction over aliens, and he mistakenly believed they belonged to a transmigrator bureau.
• A truck rammed the transport vehicle, breaking Zhan Liu’s handcuffs, and Natasha attacked the agents to rescue him.
• Zhan Liu killed the guards inside the vehicle, then escaped with Natasha in the truck while she left the surviving agents wounded.
• Natasha explained S.H.I.E.L.D. to Zhan Liu, who realized they were in the Marvel universe and suspected her rescue was a ploy.
• Nick Fury called Alexander Pierce and agreed to move up Project Insight after the escape strengthened his belief in an alien conspiracy.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. began arresting people suspected of being aliens, and its agents caught Scott Lang living outside prison with his ex-wife and child.

Zhan Liu and Natasha discussed why S.H.I.E.L.D. was hunting them and discovered that the term Ultimate Limit Qigong linked their troubles to the Sea Tiger comic. They agreed to flee the United States together while each kept secrets and pursued separate goals.

• Zhan Liu mistook the third eye on his forehead for a mutant trait before realizing Natasha might know why S.H.I.E.L.D. had captured him.
• Natasha asked Zhan Liu about Ultimate Limit Qigong and claimed that a Skrull impostor had stolen her identity and made S.H.I.E.L.D. hunt them.
• Zhan Liu explained that Ultimate Limit Qigong came from the Sea Tiger comic and warned Natasha about its terrifying War Gods, leaving both of them uneasy about the term appearing in their world.
• Natasha privately resolved to investigate her system mission and stay close to Zhan Liu, while Zhan Liu doubted her story but agreed to follow her plan to flee to Canada or Mexico.
• After discussing their escape, Zhan Liu and Natasha became intimate, and Natasha fell asleep in his arms.

Peter Parker escaped the citywide chaos, rescued an injured animal, and brought it home, only to learn from Tony Stark that it was Rocket, an alien whom S.H.I.E.L.D. had been trying to capture. Tony warned Peter that S.H.I.E.L.D. would value Rocket as a source of alien technology rather than bring him to justice, leaving Peter stunned beside the sleeping creature.

• Peter fled the destruction and police pursuit, then found an injured animal and carried it out of the cordoned area in his backpack.
• Peter recognized George Stacy at a checkpoint, received help getting through, and returned home, where Aunt May treated the animal's wounds.
• Peter connected with Tony Stark for their lesson, and Tony recognized the animal as Rocket, an alien sought by S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Peter tried to call the police, but Tony stopped him and explained that S.H.I.E.L.D. would prize Rocket's alien technology instead of punishing him.

Natasha and Zhan Liu recruited the Wild Dogs Gang for a staged drug-delivery operation, but Arcanado ambushed them. Zhan Liu discovered that bullets could not harm him and tore through the gang, while Natasha realized his powers would draw S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attention.

• Natasha posed as a company representative and offered Arcanado the Coyote's business in exchange for the Wild Dogs Gang carrying out a drug-delivery test.
• Natasha explained to Zhan Liu that the gang relied on corrupt NYPD officers and had mistaken them for powerful backers who could protect it from retaliation.
• Natasha and Zhan Liu prepared fake drugs and went to the Wild Dogs Gang's headquarters that night.
• Arcanado sprang an ambush, and the gang opened fire on Natasha and Zhan Liu.
• Zhan Liu found that bullets flattened against his skin, then charged the gang and killed or wounded its members.
• Natasha realized Zhan Liu's apparent immunity would make S.H.I.E.L.D. track them, while an unseen satellite observer cut the connection.

After every Mutant disappeared, Nick Fury tried to placate Mutants by exposing those who had experimented on them, while S.H.I.E.L.D. investigated the Skrull invasion and Zhan Liu. The chapter ended with a report that Zhan Liu and a Super-Skrull were fleeing toward Mexico.

• Agent Hill told Nick Fury that every Mutant, including the X-Men, had disappeared from S.H.I.E.L.D., military custody, laboratories, and Xavier's School.
• Nick contacted the Security Council, and governments launched investigations and public campaigns clearing Mutants' names and condemning human experiments.
• Nick learned that Zhan Liu had killed members of the Viper Gang and suspected his disappearance was connected to the Skrull invasion.
• Natasha reported that her investigation had found no signs that most S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had been replaced, but John Garrett's secret group had obstructed her work.
• Nick asked Natasha about Zhan Liu's abilities and whereabouts, and she said he had immense strength, was bulletproof, and was difficult to track.
• Agent Hill reported that a caller had located Zhan Liu by satellite as he fled toward Mexico with a Super-Skrull.

After awakening with his memories intact, Tony Stark recruited Peter Parker and manipulated events to push Zhan Liu and Natasha toward becoming Star Shattering allies against Eternity. Meanwhile, Coulson investigated Agent Garrett, who realized Hydra’s cover could be at risk and decided to cause trouble for the investigation team.

• Tony Stark escaped his encounter with his alternate self, remembered the previous cycles, and decided to seek Peter Parker’s help against Eternity.
• Tony took Peter under his wing, built new Nano Armor, and learned that the reshaped Solar System was more than a decade behind the wider universe.
• Tony used Friday to locate Zhan Liu and Natasha and tipped off the Viper Gang and S.H.I.E.L.D. to force them back onto the path toward Star Shattering.
• Coulson watched Agent Garrett enter a manor and planned to identify its owner, unaware that Hydra agents had already spotted him following Garrett.
• Agent Garrett confirmed that Coulson’s investigation could threaten Hydra and called someone to say they needed to cause the investigation team trouble.

Zhan Liu turned back toward Washington after breaking away from Natasha, intending to force S.H.I.E.L.D. into a balance of terror. S.H.I.E.L.D. finally stopped him with liquid helium and transported his frozen body to headquarters.

• Zhan Liu tore through the nets fired by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and charged toward their convoy.
• Zhan Liu left Natasha behind and changed course toward Washington, prompting S.H.I.E.L.D. to deploy its prepared countermeasures.
• The S.H.I.E.L.D. commander electrified the nets on the ground, then ordered agents to attack Zhan Liu with incendiary bombs and oxyacetylene flames, but he walked through the fire unharmed.
• The commander ordered agents to spray Zhan Liu with liquid helium, which froze him solid and silenced the lightning within his body.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. agents confirmed that Zhan Liu could no longer resist, loaded him into a special freezer truck, and transported him toward headquarters.

A convoy transporting the frozen Zhan Liu came under attack from massive swarms of insects, forcing S.H.I.E.L.D. to rescue the trapped agents with fire. After the convoy survived a mosquito swarm and the Quinjets burned back attacking locusts, the ground forces prepared to fight the locusts themselves.

• A swarm of mosquitoes covered the convoy, forced its vehicles to stop, and infiltrated them through ventilation systems.
• The convoy commander called S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters for support, and the arriving Quinjets burned the mosquitoes away despite the danger of heat to the agents inside.
• The agents emerged from the vehicles, but a new swarm of locusts attacked the departing Quinjets.
• The Quinjets burned through the locusts attacking them, then climbed away to draw the swarm off the aircraft.
• The ground forces donned fireproof suits, aimed their flamethrowers at the descending locusts, and prepared to attack on the commander's order.