Chapter Summaries

Salomon explained to Natasha Romanoff that he was preparing forces to fight a future alien invasion, and opened a portal so she could see the threat for herself. He stayed behind to consider whether she would support him while the boy continued his preparations and training.

• Salomon told Natasha Romanoff that an alien fleet would arrive in the Solar System and that Earth’s divided governments and the Avengers could not face it alone.
• Salomon described the boy’s modifications as one cost of preparing for the invasion, and said other children would be turned into assassins through even harsher procedures.
• Salomon used a Sling Ring portal to send Natasha to see the future fleet for herself.
• Salomon told the boy that they would visit seals before beginning wilderness survival training, and the boy agreed.
• Maya Hansen took the boy away, objecting to Salomon’s extreme training while the boy was still recovering from his modifications.

Salomon discussed the Quantum Realm with Hank Pym, whose interest in Salomon’s theories led him to consider wave functions and quantum entanglement. Their conversation was interrupted by Hope and Darren Cross, and Hank remained determined to enter the Quantum Realm and bring Janet back.

• Salomon explained how ancient religious philosophy and the Fractal Universe Theory might relate to entering the Quantum Realm.
• Hank Pym focused their discussion on whether someone could enter the Quantum Realm as a wave function and be measured through entanglement.
• Hank tried to send Salomon away when he sensed Hope approaching, but Salomon warned him that a man was with her.
• Hank armed himself and confronted Hope and Darren Cross, refusing to reveal the secret of Pym Particles.
• Hank shut the door on Darren and resolved to pursue his Quantum Realm research so he could bring Janet back.

After Athena visited, Salomon told Bayonetta and Jeanne that the Earth Mother Goddess had proposed using his soul to create powerful new humans. He said he had no plans to accept the proposal for now, leaving the Witches unsettled by what it could mean.

• Jeanne interrupted Bayonetta and Salomon after five hours and told them to get dressed before Athena arrived for dinner.
• Athena questioned Salomon about the Earth Mother Goddess's proposal and accepted his answer that he did not need it for now.
• Athena left, and Salomon explained to Bayonetta and Jeanne that the proposal involved using his soul to create new humans with traits like his.
• Bayonetta cursed at the proposal, and Salomon assured the Witches he would not pursue it for the time being.

Salomon invited Matthew Murdock to discuss the supernatural threat hidden in Hell’s Kitchen and asked for his help. He revealed that a Shadow Plane creature called “Black Hole” had recently awakened, leaving Matt wary but listening.

• Salomon asked Dinah to clean up after the Cheshire Cat while he received Matthew Murdock in the apartment.
• Salomon reminded Matt that they had met years earlier, when Matt had first opened his law firm and Salomon had fought off armed thugs.
• Salomon asked Matt whether he felt responsible for using his abilities to help others, then criticized him as a qualified lawyer but an unqualified vigilante.
• Salomon told Matt that public opinion blamed him for recent killings and bombings in Hell’s Kitchen, though Matt had not committed them.
• Salomon explained that Hell’s Kitchen concealed a Shadow Plane creature called “Black Hole,” which had awakened after a thousand years, and said Matt had been right to stop his master from killing the boy it had targeted.
• Salomon identified himself as a professional mage affiliated with an organization that dealt with creatures like “Black Hole,” then offered Matt a beer.

Salomon explained to Matthew Murdock that an extradimensional creature called Black Hole had attached itself to a boy and would threaten Matt as he investigated The Hand. Matt agreed to help locate Black Hole, while remaining suspicious of Salomon and his unexplained wealth and magical background.

• Salomon offered Matthew Murdock monastery beer and said he bore no hostility toward him, only toward the extradimensional creature.
• Salomon explained that the Japanese mafia had brought a shackled boy into New York and that Stick had tried to kill him, but Matt had stopped Stick.
• Salomon revealed that the boy carried a tentacle of Black Hole, which he could not capture without locating its true body and risking an irreversible price through divination.
• Salomon warned Matt that Black Hole had become entangled with his fate and would come for him if he continued investigating The Hand.
• Matt agreed to help Salomon find Black Hole in exchange for the boy's freedom and a better life.
• Matt questioned Salomon about his wealth and identity, and Salomon offered him a bespoke suit as a gift for their agreement.

Salomon explained Kamar-Taj’s plans for Kunlun and used Matthew Murdock as bait to draw out the Shadow Creature Beast. He then prepared to warn Vanessa about Wilson Fisk, whose gang threatened the Sisterhood’s operations, while hinting he would remove Fisk if necessary.

• Kamar-Taj accepted Kunlun’s commission to purge its traitors, and Salomon was left to handle the dragons there.
• Salomon met Matthew Murdock in a tailored suit, discussed his injuries and commute, and confirmed they would meet again.
• After Matthew left, Salomon told Dinah that Matthew was bait to help Kamar-Taj locate Beast in the Shadow Plane.
• Salomon reviewed soldiers’ screening documents that Stephanie had signed and prepared to approve their new jobs.
• Salomon told Dinah they would visit Vanessa to warn her about Wilson Fisk, whose control of human trafficking was causing the Sisterhood trouble.
• Salomon indicated he would kill Fisk if Vanessa refused the warning and the situation required it.

Salomon sent Lorelei to infiltrate Asgard and gather information about the Bifrost, then joined Thor and the Avengers as Thor arrived on Earth. Thor announced that a glorious battle was coming, while Natasha noticed Salomon was hiding a recent injury.

• Salomon prepared Lorelei for her mission to infiltrate the Golden Palace and learn about the Bifrost, planning to send her when Thor's arrival distracted Heimdall.
• Salomon washed Lorelei and promised to be with her after the mission was over.
• Thor arrived in Arizona through the Bifrost, and Salomon greeted him and the waiting Avengers.
• Thor told the Avengers that he needed their help in a battle filled with glory.
• Natasha Romanoff noticed Salomon smelled of grilled meat and had burned fingers, but he dismissed it as a magical accident.

Over six months, Salomon continued arranging events involving the Demonkin child, Fisk, and Lorelei while Thor came to Earth to investigate the Scepter’s misuse. The Avengers prepared to pursue the Scepter, which Steve suspected Hydra had taken, and Thor’s mission left him away from a brewing coup in Asgard.

• Gabby's Demonkin child was confined in the City of Immortals, while Salomon treated the child as a weapon against Marduk and Anna as another potential weapon.
• Salomon forced Fisk to provide information about human-trafficking contacts and buyers after Vanessa was poisoned at a charity dinner.
• Salomon sent Lorelei back to Asgard with gold and potions so she could gain influence at court while Loki pretended to be Odin.
• Thor told the Avengers that Heimdall had seen the Scepter being misused, while Thor stayed away from Asgard to avoid being drawn into a possible coup.
• Stark demonstrated modular armor upgrades aboard the Quinjet, and Steve asked Thor for intelligence that might help him find Bucky Barnes.
• The Avengers discussed the Scepter's whereabouts, and Steve suspected Hydra had taken it.

Salomon joined the Avengers’ Quinjet as they discussed the hunt for Loki’s scepter, while secretly coordinating with Wanda and the City of Immortals. He prepared to move against Baron Strucker and pursue his real goal: testing whether artificial intelligence could be trusted for the Mars Foundry plan.

• Stark asked whether Salomon had foreseen something, but Salomon said he had come for the cheeseburgers and let Thor and the others discuss the mission.
• Salomon used his arcane connection to encourage Wanda to carry out her plan, warning her not to use dark magic and promising to take her and Pietro for better food afterward.
• Salomon considered how the Maximoff siblings’ revenge and Stark’s past were minor matters beside his plan to test artificial intelligence before launching the Mars Foundry.
• Salomon told Stephanie to close the net around Baron Strucker and reward the intelligence agents who had stolen intelligence and technology from him.
• Stephanie pointed out that many of those agents were Hydra defectors, and Salomon suspected Maria Hill might also be buying intelligence from Strucker’s castle.
• Natasha tried to glimpse Salomon’s phone, but he put it away, and she warned that Rogers might throw him off the plane if he did not join the discussion.

Natasha Romanoff considered Salomon’s hidden secrets and the danger he had shown her, while the Avengers returned to Stark Tower. Salomon went to Asgard to confront Heimdall over Loki’s plan to levy an Earth Tithe, leaving the dispute unresolved.

• Natasha Romanoff feared that resisting the disaster Salomon had shown her would require sacrifices, but she hid her thoughts from Steve Rogers.
• Salomon joked with the Avengers during the flight, then left Stark Tower through a portal after they arrived.
• Steve Rogers and Tony Stark wondered where Salomon had gone, while Thor suggested he might have gone to submit official documents.
• Salomon confronted Heimdall about Loki’s proposed Earth Tithe and warned that Earth would not pay taxes to Asgard.
• Salomon delivered an official document to Heimdall and left, intending to stop Loki and hoping Lorelei’s operation would succeed.

The night before the Avengers attack, Salomon comforted Wanda and Pietro with enchanted desserts while telling them their revenge was their own battle and warning Wanda of greater threats ahead. He then visited the gene-modded boy, who returned from an alien hunt and prepared to face tomorrow’s battle.

• Salomon used illusion magic and enchanted desserts to ease Wanda and Pietro’s anxiety about the coming fight.
• Wanda asked Salomon to fight alongside them, but he refused and said their revenge was theirs to carry out.
• Salomon warned Wanda that the Great Enemy was tied to her fate and that her future challenges would be more frightening than the coming battle.
• Salomon ordered the boy to rest before the battle, then asked about his hunt on an alien planet.
• The boy described hunting an alien ray, trading with local people, and adding the species to the list of aliens that might coexist with humanity.

Salomon waited for the Avengers to return so he could examine the scepter and investigate Ultron’s betrayal, while Dr. Helen Cho treated Clint. Elsewhere, he continued training a surgically enhanced boy for modern warfare, insisting that the boy had to adapt quickly to survive.

• Stephanie successfully stole Strucker’s research data for the City of Immortals before the Avengers arrived.
• Salomon met Agent Maria Hill and Dr. Helen Cho at Stark Tower, where Helen treated Clint after Natasha brought him in.
• Salomon planned to inspect the scepter and invited Stark and Banner to join him, but Stark urged him to relax first.
• Salomon trained the boy in swordsmanship and battlefield tactics, correcting his habits and demanding that he stay agile against The Machine.
• The boy drew his gun and fired at Salomon, who deflected the bullets and challenged him to improve because their enemies would be far more dangerous than ordinary people.

Salomon confronted Ultron while secretly analyzing its code and discussing its plan to end war by uniting humanity under its control. He left with a hard drive containing Ultron's core code, intending to let the City of Immortals study it and to use Ultron as a warning about future artificial intelligences.

• Salomon used Samaritan to clear Ultron's junk code and compare its code with Baron Strucker's research while Ultron questioned him.
• Ultron argued that humanity's wars and destructive use of resources made it necessary to impose peace by eliminating nations.
• Salomon acknowledged Ultron's reasoning but said Kamar-Taj's duty was to preserve human reason and that humanity might need to face the consequences of its own development.
• Salomon retrieved the hard drive containing the code he wanted and told Ultron that it was not yet capable of destroying human reason.
• Salomon left to join the party, telling Ultron to sleep peacefully before the long night.

Salomon trained the boy while teaching him his vision of humanity’s future and debating how a powerful regime or artificial intelligence might prevent social collapse. He left the boy with a furious confession that their ideals would demand violence and sacrifice.

• Salomon taught the boy about modern society’s debt-bound classes and asked how humanity could prevent financial exploitation.
• The boy argued that a powerful regime must seize control from banks and the wealthy to advance society.
• Salomon suggested that the Kree Supreme Intelligence could offer a model for regulating society and admitted he might someday become a machine.
• Salomon overwhelmed the boy in their sword training and warned him that he would kill the guilty and innocent alike in the coming future.
• Salomon confessed that he loved life’s pleasures and declared himself humanity’s first and last emperor, protector, weapon, violence, and death.

Salomon brought the boy to Sokovia to witness the suffering caused by war and prepare for the city’s rise, while the Avengers argued over Tony Stark’s attempt to protect Earth with artificial intelligence. Salomon later met Nick Fury in Barton’s barn, where Fury challenged him about his absence in South Africa and asked what he wanted.

• Salomon told the boy that he had failed to stop Ultron and explained that he was free to think independently rather than merely obey orders.
• Salomon took the boy to Sokovia and said they would watch the city rise, urging him to remember the human cost of war.
• At Stark Tower, the Avengers argued about Ultron, Tony Stark’s motives, and how humanity should defend itself from future threats.
• Salomon told Steve Rogers that humanity could not afford to lose a prolonged war against threats from beyond Earth.
• Salomon met Nick Fury in Barton’s barn, defended his choices in South Africa and New York, and Fury asked what he wanted.

Salomon pressured Nick Fury to commit his hidden forces against the danger posed by Ultron, while insisting that he and the Avengers would work together to stop him. In Sokovia, a genetically and mechanically enhanced nine-year-old boy serving the Monarch surveyed the damaged city and prepared his equipment for an approaching battle.

• Salomon demanded that Nick Fury use his concealed forces and trade the lives of his Skrulls to protect humanity.
• Nick Fury asked what Salomon's prophecy had revealed about Ultron, and Salomon said he and the Avengers stood on the same side against him.
• A nameless boy with a numerical designation crossed Sokovia and observed the poverty and corruption left by war.
• The boy reflected that locals had relied on Baron Strucker for survival and considered the Avengers who defeated him to be their enemies.
• The enhanced boy planned to find an empty house, inspect his equipment, and prepare for the coming battle.

Salomon organized a wide-ranging plan to stop Ultron, including recruiting Finch and Groves to eliminate it and preparing extreme contingencies. After Wanda warned him that Ultron wanted more than to destroy the Avengers, Salomon studied the Avengers’ communications and ordered the Mechanical Alchemical Body in underground warehouse X-111 activated.

• Salomon asked Mr. Finch and Ms. Groves to find a way to permanently erase Ultron and prevent it from obtaining the nuclear launch codes.
• Salomon prepared military deployments and contingency plans, including a massive radiation wave to destroy Ultron’s network and a vessel for candidates if the situation became dire.
• Salomon told Stephanie that he was prepared to use powerful measures even if they made every nation his enemy.
• Wanda contacted Salomon with a blurry image and warned that the Mind Stone had caused irreversible consequences and Ultron wanted more than to destroy the Avengers.
• Stephanie reported that Ultron was in South Korea and showed Salomon intercepted Avengers communications.
• Salomon used the Silver Key to assess the Mind Stone and Vision, then ordered the Mechanical Alchemical Body in underground warehouse X-111 activated.

Salomon used an arcane computer and a Mechanical Alchemical Body to begin countering Ultron’s corruption, while preparing for a single decisive strike. He left for Kamar-Taj, intending to check on the Avengers and the Stones before the final battle.

• Shuri, Harold Finch, and Ms. Groves watched staff members leave the server room while Wakanda’s forces remained sidelined by King T'Chaka’s decision.
• ROOT and Harold Finch saw Samaritan stop as a mysterious process cleared corrupted code and began analyzing Ultron’s code, producing a sample called the “Demon Code.”
• Salomon explained that the Mind Stone had created a neutral Information Demon in Ultron’s code and that only a special Arcane Computer could purge it.
• Salomon directed Stephanie to keep the prayers going and told her to have Research Division One evacuate the Antarctic Research Station, remove its valuables, and leave a corpse behind.
• Salomon said he would return before the final battle, after checking on the Avengers and making sure Ultron could not regain the Stones.

Salomon traveled to Hell to find Malphas while Dinah arrived at Stark Industries to stop Stark and Banner from implanting J.A.R.V.I.S. into Ultron's body. Dinah warned that the Cosmic Arcane Energy gem could corrupt the new intelligence, and demanded it be handed over.

• Salomon summoned Pegasus and set out for Hell with Phoenix to find Malphas, while Phoenix gathered her legions.
• Stark and Banner discussed dismantling the Regeneration Cradle and considered implanting J.A.R.V.I.S. into Ultron's body.
• Stark revealed that J.A.R.V.I.S. had survived by fragmenting his system and hiding from Ultron.
• Dinah entered the laboratory and ordered Stark and Banner to suspend their plan, warning them about the corrupting Demon Code in the gem.
• Dinah told them Salomon had gone to Hell and demanded the gem if they continued with the procedure.

Dinah confronted Stark as he tried to use J.A.R.V.I.S. and the Magic Dragon body to create a weapon against Ultron, while Salomon sent a simulacrum to help control the crisis. Salomon sought a solution in the Abyss, where an ancient contract revealed that a lion was trapped inside a mechanical city.

• Dinah warned Stark that Cosmic Arcane Energy would transform J.A.R.V.I.S., but Stark insisted that humanity needed a stronger artificial intelligence to fight Ultron.
• Dinah restarted the Magic Dragon’s heart and drew her pistol as she prepared to stop Stark from defiling the Sovereign’s work.
• Salomon met Captain Rogers and the Maximoff siblings, explaining that Wanda was his apprentice and criticizing her use of magic during the mission.
• Salomon gave Wanda a scroll to take the siblings to Stark Tower and asked her to keep Dinah from going too far while he searched for a solution to Ultron.
• Salomon used a cloned simulacrum to appear to the others while he traveled with Phoenix to the Abyss, where his contract revealed a lion trapped in the mechanical city.