Chapter Summaries

Earth’s forces defeated the Makluan invasion with S.P.E.A.R.’s command and help from Chinese dragons and Mount Shu sword cultivators, while Lin Hao let the soldiers fight to gain experience. He then sent the damaged spaceship’s largest pieces crashing into America’s rival regions, lighting the fuse for renewed civil war.

• S.P.E.A.R. and the Ring Fortress pierced the Makluan ship’s shields, and Earth’s nations accepted S.P.E.A.R.’s command as their fighters joined the battle.
• Carol confronted Lin Hao for refusing to intervene, and he explained that people needed to learn to fight without depending on a savior.
• After the Ring Fortress destroyed an engine, Koo ordered the Makluans to abandon ship, and Great Bear pilots charged to meet them.
• A floating Immortal Mountain appeared, and Azure Dragon and other divine dragons attacked the Makluans alongside Jiang Ming, Chen Lu, the Tao Brothers Five, and Mount Shu disciples.
• The dragons and sword cultivators overwhelmed the Makluans, while Lin Hao kept Koo alive to obtain intelligence.
• Lin Hao immobilized Carol and sent the disintegrating spaceship’s largest pieces into America’s southwest and southeast, setting its factions against each other.

As alien spacecraft wreckage devastated America, the Eastern Great Power proposed the Earth Civilization Alliance and a new energy network, undermining the oil-dollar system. The Southwest Federation declared war on the temporary federal government in the Northeast and began advancing east, while Arekom founded a Native American republic.

• Makluan spacecraft debris crashed across America, with intact wreckage landing in the South and causing widespread destruction.
• The temporary federal government claimed all wreckage for the federation, while the Eastern Great Power proposed the Earth Civilization Alliance and access to new energy for member nations.
• The alliance’s requirement for clearly defined sovereignty triggered a collapse in American stocks and weakened the Jewish Consortiums’ power.
• The Southwest Alliance declared itself the Southwest Federation and formally declared war on the temporary federal government.
• The Southwest Federation used alien weapons to advance east, while central states west of the Mississippi joined it and the Northeast fortified its defenses.
• Arekom raised the banner of the Native American Republic and organized five hundred thousand Indian undead alongside gathered Indian descendants.

Lan Kenian stole a Makluan artifact and returned to the Himalayan ravine where he and Shen Ran had encountered the dragons in 1968. His disguise fell away, and Makuahn recognized him as Shen Ran, while Lin Hao explained how he had identified him to Zheng Xian.

• Zhao Yi reported that Lan Kenian had vanished from his Hell's Kitchen apartment, and Lin Hao predicted he would return to his starting point.
• Lan Kenian appeared at a Los Angeles research base, took a sapphire-blue bead from the Makluan wreckage, and vanished again.
• Lan Kenian traveled to the Himalayan ravine and embedded the bead in his chest, triggering his return to the mountain's depths.
• Makuahn recognized Lan Kenian as Shen Ran, the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who had encountered the Makluans with Nick Fury in 1968.
• Lin Hao told Zheng Xian that he had identified Shen Ran through his birthday, his flight after the Makluans arrived, and the name Lan Kenian.

Shen Ran used the Makluan Holy Pearl to free and subdue Makuahn and Nian, while Lin Hao secretly manipulated the confrontation to make Shen Ran a more effective weapon. After the two Makluans vanished into the pearl, Shen Ran reflected on his long effort to live for himself alone.

• Shen Ran revealed the Holy Pearl and used it to pull Makuahn and Nian out of the ancient magic array, while Lin Hao and Zheng Xian watched from the corner.
• Lin Hao explained that he had altered the pearl so he could track Shen Ran despite his identity-changing wishes, and revealed his plans for controlling the supervillain.
• After the magic array failed, Nian attacked Shen Ran, who pierced Nian's head with his transformed hand and used the pearl to restrain him.
• Lin Hao and Zheng Xian discussed the prospect of another Steve Rogers appearing, then disappeared after Shen Ran captured both Makluans.
• Shen Ran wondered whether the Makluans had weakened during their long imprisonment and recalled his rise through S.P.E.A.R., his betrayal of its Americas Branch, and his decision to serve no nation or faction.

Carol and Coulson attacked Arekom’s convoy to stop the Native Americans from establishing a republic, while Arekom’s shadow clones and undead cavalry fought back. Carol began destroying the undead army, but a golden figure appeared as the battle continued.

• Arekom led a convoy of Indian descendants toward Oregon and Washington, guarded by undead cavalry that raided towns for supplies.
• Carol and Coulson arrived by spaceship and attacked the convoy, but Arekom evaded Carol with a shadow clone.
• Arekom’s undead cavalry surrounded Carol and the other superheroes while the Indian descendants fled into the wilderness.
• Coulson shot an undead knight, and Arekom mocked the Americans’ hypocrisy and their treatment of Native Americans.
• Arekom trapped a Christian swordsman in quicksand, and Carol destroyed the shadow clone but found the swordsman fatally wounded.
• Carol charged through the undead cavalry, reducing its numbers, until a golden figure suddenly appeared.

Carol and her allies failed to destroy Arekom’s undead army in the northwestern wilderness, where Arakaki Chie trapped Carol’s spacecraft while Arekom continued west. Elsewhere, Fake Captain, Falcon Sam Wilson, and Crossbones helped civilians amid America’s civil war, arriving in a Memphis devastated by months of fighting.

• Arekom recalled the Indian undead riders and used shadow clones to counter Carol’s attack as floodwaters swallowed her allies.
• Arakaki Chie and Arekom’s clones trapped Carol and her companions in a Four Red Yang Formation after Carol refused to threaten fleeing Native Americans.
• Arekom left the battlefield to continue west toward Washington State, while Carol and Arakaki Chie remained locked in a stalemate.
• Fake Captain, Falcon Sam Wilson, and Crossbones traveled through America’s war zones, punishing criminals and rescuing civilians.
• The trio reached Memphis, where northeastern forces and southwestern arms dealers had fought for months, leaving local residents caught in the violence.

The Fake Captain and Captain Zhen met in war-torn Memphis and parted after disagreeing over whether to recruit residents into Captain Zhen’s movement. Shen Ran returned to Hell’s Kitchen and unleashed two Makluans and the gangs she had assembled, throwing New York into chaos.

• Captain Zhen and Johnny Blaze discussed persuading Memphis residents to join their group before scouts spotted the Fake Captain, Falcon Sam Wilson, and Crossbones Brock Rumlow.
• The Fake Captain and Captain Zhen greeted each other without hostility, then declined to work together because Captain Zhen wanted to recruit the residents.
• Shen Ran returned to Hell’s Kitchen, gathered the local gangs, and ordered them to seize whatever they could.
• Shen Ran released Makuahn and Nian, whose rampage and the gangs’ looting plunged New York into chaos as they advanced toward the temporary federal headquarters.

Lin Hao brought Loki, Odin, and Whitebeard Ancient One to Earth-10086 during the 2012 Battle of New York, where they prepared to use the Time Variance Authority’s equipment to reach the end of time. After Earth-199999’s time-traveling Avengers arrived to collect Infinity Stones, Lin Hao took Loki to Stark Tower and insisted he get injured to match the expected sequence of events.

• Odin urged Loki to accept the mission to reach the room at the end of time, and Lin Hao instructed him to follow the process and open a passage with TVA equipment.
• Lin Hao lifted the Home Base Universe’s lockdown, and Whitebeard Ancient One opened a portal to Earth-10086, where the Battle of New York was underway.
• Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Scott Lang, and Bruce Banner arrived from Earth-199999 in 2023 and split up to seek the Time, Mind, and Space Stones.
• Lin Hao explained that Earth-10086 was the resource universe visited by the Avengers in Endgame and that Loki’s future role at the end of time mattered to his plan.
• Lin Hao transferred his group to Stark Tower, where they saw Hulk slam the 2012 Loki into the floor.
• Lin Hao told his Loki to get injured so the TVA would not notice that he did not match the expected sequence of events.

Lin Hao arranged for the Home Base Universe Loki to replace the 2012 Loki and escape with the Tesseract, sending him toward Kang the “Survivor.” After Odin chose to take the immobilized Loki back rather than let Lin Hao erase him, the group watched the mission unfold as planned.

• Lin Hao gave the Home Base Universe Loki cultivation manuals and techniques, protected his soul with a Demon Contract, and sent him to replace the 2012 Loki.
• Tony Stark, Scott Lang, Natasha Romanoff, and Steve Rogers followed the 2012 events as Crossbones Brock Rumlow and Agent Sitwell’s strike team took the Mind Scepter and Tesseract.
• The Home Base Universe Loki copied Steve’s line and left with Thor, while Scott hid on the 2012 Tony Stark and the 2023 Tony Stark took the Tesseract case.
• Hulk knocked the 2023 Tony Stark aside, and the Tesseract landed at the 2012 Loki’s feet.
• The Home Base Universe Loki retrieved the Tesseract, opened a spatial wormhole, and escaped; Odin then asked Lin Hao to let him take the other Loki back.

Lin Hao entered the Time Variance Authority with Ancient One and Odin to confront He Who Remains Kang and secure control of the organization’s multiverse technology. He ordered Sylvie to kill Kang, and she finally thrust her weapon forward.

• Loki opened a TemPad portal to the ruined castle at the end of time, where He Who Remains Kang waited with Sylvie.
• Lin Hao, Ancient One, and Odin arrived, and Loki revealed that he had hidden several extra TemPads.
• Lin Hao decided the Sacred Timeline would give way to the expanding World Tree and told Sylvie to kill Kang.
• Kang tried to contact other Kangs, but Lin Hao blocked his message and warned Loki that he would not keep useless people.
• Loki urged Sylvie to act, and she stabbed Kang.

Lin Hao studied the timelines, installed a Loki clone as their ruler, and took control of the Time Variance Authority. He then altered the Avengers’ time heist, sending Tony Stark and Steve Rogers from the Earth-199999 Main Universe into the New York invasion while Scott Lang returned to his own time.

• Lin Hao spent roughly ninety-nine years studying the TVA’s temporal rules while Ancient One, Odin, and the others waited.
• Lin Hao empowered and contracted a Loki clone, which seized the chaotic timelines and sat on the golden throne as their ruler.
• Lin Hao wiped the memories of departing TVA employees, contracted the rest, and created a device for travel between universes.
• Back in Earth-10086, Steve took the Mind Scepter and Tony proposed retrieving the Tesseract and Pym Particles from a military facility in New Jersey.
• Lin Hao froze time and sent Tony Stark and Steve Rogers from Earth-199999 through a portal, while Scott Lang activated the device and returned to his own universe.
• Tony and Steve woke on New York streets amid panicked crowds, collapsed buildings, and aliens in the sky.

Steve Rogers and Tony Stark became stranded in a parallel New York where Makluans attacked and civil war had erupted in America. They learned that the time-travel device could not escape the universe, then contacted Jarvis as the city remained under attack.

• Steve stopped before activating the device when he and Tony saw two Makluans attacking the Empire State Building in an unfamiliar New York.
• Steve and Tony tried to return to their universe, but the device failed because Lin Hao had sealed the Home Base Universe from the Marvel Multiverse.
• Tony disguised Steve in ordinary clothes, and the pair entered a coffee shop while Makluans attacked and gangs looted the city.
• Friday searched the internet and showed them that America had been torn apart by civil war after years of disasters and political upheaval.
• Steve pulled Tony down as a Makluan's fire destroyed the coffee shop, and Tony ordered Friday to contact Jarvis.
• Tony Stark of the Home Base Universe stayed in Hawaii with Happy and Pepper, while wealthy Americans fled the civil war and ordinary people were left to fight.

Tony Stark from 2023 contacted his 2011 counterpart in a parallel universe, hoping to get help after their time-travel machine failed. The call ended in an angry misunderstanding, as the earlier Tony defended America’s refusal to fight the Makluans attacking New York.

• Tony from 2011 learned that an unfamiliar AI from New York had requested a call, and Jarvis connected him to another Tony Stark.
• Tony from 2023 introduced himself as a parallel-universe counterpart and asked to visit with Steve Rogers for help returning home.
• Tony from 2011 resented that his counterpart had appeared only after America had fallen into civil war, while Steve asked why no one was stopping the monsters in New York.
• Tony from 2011 accused Steve of blaming America without understanding the danger of provoking S.P.E.A.R. into war.
• The narration explained that America mistook the Makluans for a test by the new world ruler, so Iron Man and Carol had avoided defending New York to prevent a wider conflict.

Tony from 2023 and Steve sought help from Tony from 2011, who directed them to an estate and a route out of New York. They flew to Hawaii, where Tony from 2011 accepted that his visitors came from a parallel timeline and traded insults with his future self.

• Tony from 2011 agreed to help Tony from 2023 and Steve, directing them to an estate and warning them to avoid the war zone south of New York.
• Steve worried that they could not defeat the two Makluans without support and resolved to find out why no one was protecting the United States.
• Tony from 2023 used Friday to pilot a plane north and west, then across the Pacific to Hawaii.
• Tony from 2011 saw his parallel-universe counterpart arrive and believed his explanation.
• Tony from 2023 mocked Tony from 2011's haggard appearance, and Tony from 2011 retorted by calling Thor an alien fugitive who had destroyed the White House.

Tony Stark and Steve Rogers from 2023 learned about America’s catastrophic recent history from Tony Stark of 2011 and suspected Odin was behind it. They decided to keep their theory from the Thor of their universe.

• Pepper Potts met the two visitors, and Tony from 2023 flirted with her until Steve reminded him not to offend his counterpart.
• Tony from 2011 showed Tony from 2023 and Steve a projection of America’s disasters, including repeated attacks on the White House.
• Steve recalled Thor saying Odin had thrown Mjolnir to Earth, and the group wondered why it had struck the White House.
• Tony from 2011 concluded that Odin had orchestrated America’s troubles, possibly to protect his successor, and Tony from 2023 and Steve considered the theory.
• Tony from 2023 and Steve silently agreed to conceal what they had learned from their universe’s Thor.

Tony and Steve from 2023 learned that this universe’s Thanos had become an Earth official overseeing reforms, unlike the genocidal conqueror they remembered. They were left stunned by the news as they considered how different this universe had become.

• Tony from 2011 explained that S.P.E.A.R. was a Chinese organization with a long history, prompting Steve to question why it had not stepped forward during Thanos’s attack.
• Tony and Steve from 2023 chose to reveal their future, and Tony described Loki’s invasion of New York in their universe.
• Steve explained that Thanos had collected the Infinity Stones and erased half of all life, and Tony from 2011 called up a news broadcast.
• Tony from 2011 showed the others Thanos speaking at the Earth Civilization Alliance headquarters in Beijing.
• Tony from 2011 revealed that Thanos was the Alliance’s Director of the Supervisory Department, overseeing reforms and approving countries for interstellar integration.
• Tony and Steve from 2023 watched Thanos promote women’s rights and protections for children, and they were shocked by the contrast with their universe’s Thanos.

Tony from 2011 argued that humanity needed to prepare for the Interstellar Era instead of refusing space technology, while Steve and Tony from 2023 tried to understand why this universe's Thanos had changed. The chapter left Tony from 2011 angrily challenging Steve's opposition to military power and humanity's expansion into space.

• Steve and Tony from 2023 blamed an unknown outside influence for the differences between their universe and this one, including Thanos's changed choices.
• Tony from 2011 warned them that S.P.E.A.R. was too powerful to infiltrate and showed footage of it effortlessly defeating the Makluans.
• Tony from 2023 offered his armor designs in exchange for help, but Tony from 2011 complained that the files lacked spacecraft manufacturing data.
• Tony from 2023 admitted he had repaired an alien spacecraft but could not provide its blueprints, and Steve argued that humanity was not ready to enter space.
• Tony from 2011 condemned their refusal to prepare for alien threats and challenged Steve to explain how countries maintained order without military force.

Tony and Steve of 2023 discovered that Captain America was wanted in this universe and that another Steve was traveling with Brock Rumlow, so they returned to New York to investigate. Tony of 2011 stayed behind and planned to use the visitors from the Parallel Universes to test S.P.E.A.R.

• Tony of 2011 hosted Tony and Steve of 2023 at his Hawaii manor after failing to obtain the spacecraft data he wanted.
• Steve asked Tony to find his counterpart, and Friday revealed that two versions of Steve existed in the universe, one of them a wanted criminal.
• Tony found a surveillance image showing the other Steve traveling with Sam Wilson and Brock Rumlow, prompting Steve to suspect that the counterpart was Hydra.
• Steve insisted that he and Tony return to New York immediately, and Tony of 2011 lent them his plane and flight clearance.
• Jarvis warned Tony of 2011 that the Makluans above New York might be mistaken for Tony and Steve, but Tony planned to use the visitors to test S.P.E.A.R. and potentially expose their identities.

As the Makluans devastated New York, George Stacy led a small group of officers to defend Brooklyn Bridge and protect fleeing civilians. Meanwhile, Captain Zhen Steve Rogers learned the aliens had first appeared in Hell’s Kitchen and set out with his companions to confront what had happened there.

• George Stacy briefed the remaining NYPD officers and invited volunteers to help hold Brooklyn Bridge as civilians’ last escape route.
• George and fewer than ten loyal officers blocked the bridgehead and tried to keep panicked crowds moving on foot.
• When a gunman tried to force his car through the barricade and shot at officers, George disarmed him with his sword and shoved the car aside.
• George’s subordinates realized he had cut himself to gain strength and protect the officers who served with him, and he urged them to keep holding the line.
• Johnny Blaze told Captain Zhen Steve Rogers that the Makluans had first appeared in Hell’s Kitchen, and Steve led his companions there.

Peter, Gwen, and Ned returned to New York during the civil war and flew toward Manhattan to rescue civilians as the Makluans attacked. Near Hell’s Kitchen, they spotted Captain Zhen’s group rushing in and prepared to follow.

• Gwen returned to New York to help her father, while Peter and Ned came back to protect their families amid the war.
• After explosions rocked Manhattan, Peter, Gwen, and Ned closed Aunt May’s restaurant and escorted her to Gwen’s home.
• The three friends mounted their Flying Broomsticks and flew toward Manhattan, rescuing trapped residents along the way.
• Near Hell’s Kitchen, Gwen noticed the district was strangely quiet while the other areas were chaotic.
• Peter spotted Captain Zhen’s group charging toward Hell’s Kitchen, and Ned urged the others to follow them.