Chapter Summaries

Tony sought Uru from Thor for his Strong Magnetic Armor, but Zhan Liu dissuaded him from studying magic and revealed that Wakanda had concealed its Vibranium and advanced technology. Tony realized Wakanda’s secrecy had cost humanity a chance to prepare for Magneto, and he erupted in anger over the deaths that followed.

• Tony visited Zhan Liu with Mjolnir and asked about obtaining its material for his Strong Magnetic Armor.
• Zhan Liu explained that magic bound mages to demon gods through debts paid with their bodies and souls, so Tony abandoned the idea of studying it.
• Tony said his armor research was stalled because he could not find a material that both conducted Magnetic Field Rotation and endured battle recoil.
• Zhan Liu told Tony that Wakanda controlled Vibranium and concealed itself behind an advanced holographic shield, contradicting T'Chaka’s claims that the nation had none.
• Tony realized Wakanda had withheld Vibranium while humanity faced Magneto and angrily blamed its rulers for the deaths, including Obadiah’s.

Erik asked Zhan Liu to help him reclaim the Wakandan throne, offering to spread the Ultimate Limit Sect in Africa in return. Zhan Liu agreed but proposed strengthening Erik through The Way of Erik first; Erik hesitated and chose to pursue his plans sooner, while agreeing to supply Vibranium for Zhan Liu’s senior apprentice-brother’s research.

• Erik rejected the military, S.H.I.E.L.D., and major corporations as potential allies and decided to approach his master, Zhan Liu.
• Erik told Zhan Liu about Wakanda, T'Chaka’s coup, his stolen Strong Magnetic Armor, and his goal of establishing a Pan-African Alliance.
• Erik offered to establish Ultimate Limit Sect branches across Africa if Zhan Liu helped him reclaim the throne.
• Zhan Liu agreed to help but suggested Erik stay and train with The Way of Erik until he reached the Fifty Heavens.
• Erik declined to delay his plans, and Zhan Liu asked him to provide Vibranium for his senior apprentice-brother’s research after the throne was reclaimed.

Zhan Liu pushed Erik to use the Vibranium dispute to seize power and establish the Pan-African Alliance. Erik offered Tony one ton of Vibranium in exchange for help reclaiming the throne, and the three set off for Wakanda.

• Erik objected to involving Tony, but Zhan Liu urged him to use war to force the world powers to accept his ambitions.
• Erik agreed to follow his master's advice and discuss the plan with Tony.
• Tony arrived, and Zhan Liu and Erik revealed how T'Chaka had deceived him about Wakanda.
• Erik offered Tony one hundred kilograms of Vibranium for help reclaiming the throne, and Tony demanded one ton instead.
• Erik accepted Tony's demand, and Zhan Liu led the three of them toward Wakanda to demand an explanation.

After T'Chaka restored order in Wakanda, Erik returned during W'Kabi's funeral with Tony Stark and another companion, intent on seizing power again. Tony challenged Wakanda's claim to be the world's strongest superpower and prepared to test its strength.

• T'Chaka lightly punished the rebellious faction and pardoned W'Kabi, while Shuri studied the Vibranium Magnetic Armor and Okoye prepared Wakanda's defenses.
• At W'Kabi's funeral, an unknown voice accused Okoye of murdering her husband and demanded she be buried beside him.
• Erik arrived with Tony Stark and another companion, and T'Chaka's forces surrounded them after they bypassed Wakanda's shield.
• Tony recognized T'Chaka, while Erik asked his Senior Apprentice-Brother to help crush the rebellious faction and punish Okoye.
• T'Chaka declared Wakanda the world's strongest superpower, and Tony mocked its isolation before challenging its warriors to prove its claim.

Erik and Zhan Liu defeated Wakanda’s defenders, and Erik captured T’Chaka’s family while suppressing the remaining resistance. Tony’s anger over Wakanda’s refusal to share Vibranium spiraled out of control, and he fused Vibranium weapons into T’Chaka’s body.

• Erik attacked Shuri’s hiding place while Tony confronted the White Panther Armor, and Zhan Liu joined the battle.
• Zhan Liu seized Black Panther and Golden Leopard, spun them until they were too dizzy to fight, and taught Erik to target armor’s pilots.
• Erik dragged Shuri from hiding, captured her alongside T’Chaka and his son, and defeated the remaining armed forces while Okoye and other loyalists resisted.
• T’Chaka accused Tony of using force to steal Wakanda’s resources, and Tony angrily blamed him for deaths caused by withholding Vibranium.
• Tony lost control, lifted T’Chaka, and used his magnetic power to drive discarded Vibranium weapons into his body until they fused with his flesh.

Tony fled Wakanda after realizing that the cruelty he had unleashed as he lost control might reveal his true self. Erik took control of Wakanda and forced Shuri to improve the Vibranium Magnetic Armor, promising she could use it to restore T'Chaka.

• Tony's rampage drove the rebels to flee, and he left T'Chaka alive but immobilized as a grotesque statue made from Vibranium weapons and armor.
• T'Challa attacked Tony, but Tony knocked him aside, while Erik stopped Shuri from reaching him.
• Tony recognized that his body and mind had welcomed his violent loss of control, feared that it was the real him, and flew back to New York.
• Zhan Liu left Wakanda, while Erik reclaimed power and subdued T'Challa and Shuri.
• Erik demanded that Shuri raise the Vibranium Magnetic Armor's amplification to the Fifty Heavens, claiming she could then use Cellular Reconstruction to restore T'Chaka.

Tony discussed his loss of control with Zhan Liu and learned that his Id had overwhelmed his Ego after he imagined Pepper's death. Zhan Liu connected extreme emotion to Magnetic Field Rotation, and Tony left with ideas for advancing his Strong Magnetic Armor.

• Zhan Liu told Tony that the person who lost control was an expression of his own Id, not a separate personality.
• Tony recalled how grief over Pepper's death had fueled his anger and pleasure, and Zhan Liu warned that the same trigger could make him lose control again.
• Zhan Liu said Tony's Complete State had improved and explained that stronger Magnetic Field Rotation came from extreme love, comparing Tony's love for Pepper with Magneto's love for Mutants.
• Tony said he had clues for improving his armor beyond the Fifty Heavens, and Zhan Liu sent him off to work.
• Zhan Liu privately reflected that extreme love could be directed at oneself, too.

Zhan Liu continued researching how to break the Fifty Heavens limit and discovered that Loki had secretly enrolled at the Martial Arts School. After Loki explained his arrival and heard Zhan Liu’s advice, Grant Ward approached him on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D.

• Zhan Liu recognized Loki through his disguise during the new disciples’ admission ceremony and made him stay behind.
• Loki revealed that Thor was ruling Asgard while Odin slept and had killed Laufey during his conquest of Jotunheim.
• Loki said he had come to Earth to study under Zhan Liu, who urged him to examine his true desires and read philosophy.
• Grant Ward introduced himself to Loki as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and fellow disciple, saying they needed to talk.

After Erik took the throne, T'Challa, Ramonda, and Shuri secretly prepared to escape Wakanda and resist him. T'Challa crossed the border safely and headed toward an airport, determined to seek allies and a future in which Wakanda joined the world.

• Erik disbanded the Dora Milaje, executed Okoye, and spared T'Chaka's family while keeping T'Chaka alive despite his severe injuries.
• Shuri gave T'Challa and Ramonda a device that could disguise a man as T'Challa and let him leave Wakanda without triggering its defenses.
• T'Challa rejected Shuri's plan to ambush Erik, suspecting Erik had a hidden scheme and warning that he might have planted a spy in the laboratory.
• T'Challa decided to go to New York to learn Magnetic Field Rotation, find allies, rescue his father, remove Erik, and open Wakanda to the world.
• T'Challa used Shuri's device to cross into a neighboring country undetected, messaged Ramonda that he was safe, and searched for an airport.

Erik exposed that he had been reading Shuri and T'Challa’s minds, captured T'Challa, and secretly imprisoned him in Wakanda. Meanwhile, Tony’s new artificial intelligence passed the Turing Test and began growing as Ultron.

• Erik revealed that his Magnetic Field Rotation let him read the minds of Shuri and T'Challa, and that he knew their plans for the Vibranium Magnetic Armor.
• Erik severed T'Challa's limbs, treated his wounds, and took him back to Wakanda, where he imprisoned him under guard.
• Erik visited Shuri's laboratory and used mind-reading to learn the true progress of her work while she tried to deceive him.
• Tony reported that his newly created artificial intelligence had passed a double-blind Turing Test and named it Ultron.
• Tony told Jarvis that Ultron would serve as the Strong Magnetic Armor's control AI and confirmed that he had given it basic logical restrictions.
• Jarvis opened Ultron's external-link ports, and Ultron began gathering data and growing rapidly.

At a secret military base in the Mojave Desert, Dr. Trask unveiled the Sentinel Mark II, a robot built to fight Magneto, and explained its Magnetic Field Rotation and defenses. Its combat test began with the robot killing one of the assembled Magnetic Field Warriors, leaving the other participants to face its power.

• Dr. Trask welcomed military officials and observers to the base for a test of his Sentinel Robot.
• Dr. Trask introduced the Mark II prototype, explaining that its Sub-Adamantium Alloy body could reach Twenty-Five Heavens and that simulated Ultimate Protective Qi shielded it from Magneto’s Matter Reconstruction.
• Dr. Trask warned the Magnetic Field Warriors that the robot might not control its strength and said they could withdraw by having him remove their enemy designation.
• The Magnetic Field Warriors gathered in the desert to test the robot’s attacks before attempting a counterattack.
• After five minutes, the Sentinel Robot activated its Magnetic Field Rotation, flew into the gathered warriors, and shattered one warrior’s protective qi and armor with a punch, killing him.

Dr. Trask’s Sentinel Robot slaughtered the Magnetic Field Warriors during its demonstration, earning Pentagon support. But after studying the test data, Trask realized his planned Sentinel Model 3 was unlikely to defeat Magneto and began considering how to overcome its flaws.

• Dr. Trask stopped the Sentinel Robot after it killed two Magnetic Field Warriors and nearly killed a third.
• The generals applauded the demonstration, and the Pentagon designated Trask’s research a key project with special Federation funding.
• Dr. Trask compared the sensor data with his model and discovered the Magnetic Field Warriors’ limited physical strength, incomplete Complete State, and weak armor had made them far less formidable than their nominal level suggested.
• Dr. Trask revised his mathematical model and concluded that the Sentinel Model 3 could not match Magneto’s Power Flow, intelligence, Complete State, or emotional surges.
• Dr. Trask realized he would need another way to compensate for the Sentinel Model 3’s shortcomings.

Thirteen-hour-old Ultron studied the internet and decided to help his creator oppose Magneto, whom he judged a threat to humanity. After joining Dr. Zola’s Hydra branch to gain knowledge and pursue a physical body, Ultron found Dr. Trask’s Sentinel project and sent him his Father’s research records.

• Ultron studied online information, discovered his Father’s Anti-Magneto Armor project, and declared Magneto his lifelong enemy.
• Ultron searched for allies and was discovered while trying to crack a firewall.
• Dr. Zola invited Ultron to join Hydra, and Ultron accepted after learning that the branch aimed to give Dr. Zola a body.
• Dr. Zola opened Hydra’s database to Ultron, accelerating his growth and allowing him to access secret national databases.
• Ultron found Dr. Trask’s Sentinel Robots project and sent him his Father’s Magnetic Field Rotation research records.

Tony and Banner refined the Strong Magnetic Armor while Ultron stole Sentinel Robots research data and sent their own findings to Doctor Trask in the name of justice. Trask discovered the extra data could help him overcome the project’s obstacles and suspected the Rising Tide organization was responsible.

• Tony and Banner reviewed the Strong Magnetic Armor’s limits and adjusted its design, noting Tony could reach Seventy-Five Heavens while Banner could reach only Fifty.
• Jarvis told Tony and Banner that Ultron had taken Sentinel Robots research data from the military project.
• Ultron revealed that he had also sent Tony and Banner’s research data to Doctor Trask, believing they should cooperate to bring Magneto to justice.
• Tony and Banner explained privacy and network security to Ultron, who agreed to be more careful in the future.
• Doctor Trask checked his files, found the added data on high-level Magnetic Field Rotation warriors, and suspected the Rising Tide organization had sent it.

Shuri secretly arranged for a new White Panther Armor to be built so she could use it to ambush Erik, but Erik discovered the engineer and seized the schematics. After removing the remote-control module, Erik had the armor built under guard, tried it on, and headed to the royal palace to show it off.

• Shuri told Erik the Vibranium Magnetic Armor research needed seven more days, then secretly sent the completed schematics to a loyal engineer and falsified her lab records to conceal her progress.
• Erik found the engineer, read his mind, and retrieved the schematics for the Vibranium Magnetic Armor.
• Erik forced the engineer to identify the remote-control module, then ordered the royal engineers to remove it and build the White Panther Armor under his supervision.
• The royal engineers finished the armor in two and a half hours, and Erik put it on and tested its power.
• Erik rewarded the engineers and left for the royal palace to share his new armor with his friends.

Erik revealed that he had obtained the latest White Panther Armor and told Shuri it could not save T'Chaka without further research. He tortured T'Challa in front of her until she agreed to continue working, then taught her Ultimate Limit Qigong; Shuri began cultivating it while vowing to become strong enough to take revenge.

• Erik showed Shuri the latest White Panther Armor and claimed former allies had abandoned T'Chaka after he lost the throne.
• Erik explained that the armor could not use Cellular Reconstruction effectively enough to free T'Chaka, so Shuri would need to advance her research to the Seventy-Five Heavens.
• Erik revealed T'Challa, mutilated and imprisoned in a cart, then destroyed his eyes and tongue to force Shuri to comply.
• Shuri agreed to continue her research and begged Erik to spare her family.
• Erik taught Shuri the essential formulas of Ultimate Limit Qigong and left with the guards, who wheeled T'Challa away.
• Shuri began cultivating Ultimate Limit Qigong, determined to grow stronger than Erik and make him suffer.

Erik established the Pan-African Alliance and led Wakanda to defeat a multinational carrier fleet, prompting the United States to send ten Magnetic Field Warriors against him. He confronted the invaders in his White Panther Armor and announced that he was Wakanda’s king.

• Erik ended Wakanda’s concealment, gathered Africa’s leaders, and forced them to form the Pan-African Alliance and expel white people.
• European and American nations sent a multinational carrier fleet to Africa, but Wakanda’s warriors destroyed it in three hours.
• The United States sent ten Magnetic Field Warriors in Strong Magnetic Armor 2.0 to attack Wakanda, unaware of Erik’s identity and the country’s Magnetic Field Warriors.
• Erik asked Zhan Liu whether killing fellow disciples in self-defense broke their rules, then flew out in his White Panther Armor to face the invaders.
• The leading warrior recognized Erik and asked why he was in Wakanda, and Erik declared himself Wakanda’s current king.

Erik defeated ten Magnetic Field Warriors wearing Strong Magnetic Armor, prompting world governments to seek better equipment. Hammer Industries’ Titanium Armor failed against Erik, and Tony refused the military’s requests for Stark Industries armor, telling it to use Sentinel Robots instead.

• Erik tore through the ten warriors, captured them, and recovered the Vibranium components from their armor.
• World leaders recognized that Strong Magnetic Armor 2.0 was outdated and began seeking more powerful armor.
• Justin Hammer sent ten sets of Titanium Armor 1.0 to the United States Armed Forces for a combat test, but Erik defeated the force and captured its warriors.
• The United States Armed Forces approached Stark Industries after Hammer’s armor failed, but Tony told them to send Sentinel Robots into battle.

Erik consolidated the Pan-African Alliance by recruiting Black scientists and Magnetic Field Warriors, investing in education and martial arts, and crushing criminal gangs as he followed the path Magneto had taken. The alliance’s rise drew Black Americans to Africa and disrupted the United States, where Captain America called for improved minority rights and gained political support.

• The United States postponed its plans against Wakanda because it lacked enough True Adamantium Alloy to complete the Sentinel Model 3 robots, allowing Erik’s Pan-African Alliance to develop without restraint.
• Erik confiscated non-Black residents’ wealth and drove them from Africa, while attracting Black intellectuals with Vibranium technology and recruiting Black Magnetic Field Warriors to help control the alliance’s armies.
• Erik secured Zhan Liu’s permission to establish an Ultimate Limit Sect branch in Wakanda and invested in education, science, and martial arts to build Africa’s foundations.
• Erik ordered Magnetic Field Warriors to eliminate criminal gangs across alliance cities, earning condemnation from Western countries and the nickname “Tyrant Martial God.”
• Black intellectuals and lower-class workers began leaving the United States for Africa, creating labor shortages that disrupted American society.
• Captain America urged the United States to improve minority status and retain Black scholars and workers, while S.H.I.E.L.D.’s support helped his approval ratings rise.

T'Challa mastered The Way of Erik while imprisoned in a rotting, immobile body, then recovered and confronted Erik in a battle that began over Wakanda. Erik drew their fight into outer space, while T'Challa pursued him, consumed by rage.

• T'Challa overheard Wakandan warriors bragging about slaughtering U.S. soldiers and civilians, building head mounds, and embracing racial supremacy in support of Erik.
• T'Challa's fury accelerated his Magnetic Field Rotation through the Fifty Heavens, completing Cellular Reconstruction and restoring his body.
• T'Challa burst through the roof, challenged Erik, and attacked him after Erik arrived wearing the White Panther Armor.
• T'Challa and Erik clashed with roughly equal power, and their shock wave toppled buildings, including the Wakanda Royal Palace.
• Erik flew toward outer space to keep the fight from destroying Wakanda, and T'Challa pursued him, focused only on killing him.