Chapter Summaries

Kingo was publicly denounced by the Governing Council and denied a meeting with the Supreme Intelligence. Meanwhile, Yondu rescued Star-Lord, Gamora, and Drax from Kingo’s flagship, recovered the Dark Vortex, and escaped with them into the city.

• Kingo asked to see the Supreme Intelligence, but the Governing Council refused and ordered him back to his post while publicly condemning him.
• Yondu searched Kingo’s underguarded flagship and found Star-Lord trying to free the bound Gamora, with Drax helping.
• Star-Lord refused to leave without Gamora, so Yondu used his Vibranium-tipped Yaka Arrow to cut her chains.
• Yondu fought his way through the Kree soldiers, rescued the Dark Vortex, and led Star-Lord, Gamora, and Drax off the flagship.
• Yondu and the others hid in a shadowy corner of the city, where his contacts could help them escape Kree space.

Daisy left Hala Prime with papers granting her management of Barker Star, planning to mine its Vibranium and profit through trade. After passing a Darkhold blockade, she reached the chaotic planet and headed for a Kree outpost.

• As the denunciation meeting against Kingo continued, another prisoner escaped from his flagship, and Daisy left Hala Prime with the Pharaoh family's papers for Barker Star.
• Daisy planned to turn Barker Star's Vibranium into luxury goods and use her trade channels to profit from the planet's resources.
• Daisy's ship passed through a blockade identified by Guard Captain Allen as belonging to the Darkhold.
• Daisy arrived at Barker Star and ordered Guard Captain Allen to take the soldiers to the Kree outpost.
• Daisy saw that the outpost was a vast fortified city equipped with orbital cannons, laser defenses, an energy shield, and advanced Kree weapons.

Daisy took control of the Kree outpost on Barker Star and found ways to profit from its weapons stockpiles. When the Darkhold force attacked, she helped the garrison repel its opening assault, but the enemy landed across the planet and began a coordinated attack on the outpost.

• Daisy assumed authority over Barker Star's garrison and inspected its finances and weapons stores.
• Guard Captain Allen warned Daisy that an unregistered warship was approaching, and the outpost identified it as the Darkhold.
• The Kree garrison shot down most of the Darkhold's small vanguard ships, while Daisy detected and killed an invisible Vanguard inside the outpost.
• After the Darkhold changed tactics and landed across Barker Star, Daisy let the Kree fight while preparing to use the invasion to clear the planet's other forces.
• The Darkhold attacked the outpost from all four directions, with Ebony Maw, Proxima Midnight, and Cull Obsidian among the attackers.

Daisy refused to let the Kree hand her over to Thanos’s forces and used her mental powers to disrupt their attack. She turned Cull Obsidian against Proxima Midnight and began trying to influence Proxima before Ebony Maw confronted her.

• Ebony Maw threatened the Kree and demanded they surrender Daisy, prompting Daisy to reassure them and invoke Kree law.
• Daisy broke Cull Obsidian’s anti-mind-control device and temporarily took control of him, directing his troops to attack Proxima Midnight.
• Daisy used mental suggestions to undermine Proxima Midnight’s loyalty and tempt her with the promise of greater power.
• Ebony Maw used his Whisperers ability to interrupt Daisy’s influence, and Daisy taunted him while he privately assessed her powers.

Daisy used the Mind Scepter to turn Thanos’s lieutenants against each other, throwing the Kree battlefield into chaos. As Proxima Midnight fought Ebony Maw and began to falter, Daisy remained ready to intervene.

• Daisy taunted Ebony Maw about Thanos’s illness and age while they fought to undermine each other’s resolve.
• Daisy secretly used the Mind Scepter to control Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian, redirecting their attacks toward Ebony Maw.
• Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian led their forces against Ebony Maw, and Cull Obsidian was badly wounded when Proxima’s spear pierced his chest.
• Ebony Maw’s forces were overwhelmed as the Kree joined the fighting, pleased to spend their ammunition while earning military merits.
• Proxima Midnight fought Ebony Maw but struggled after her battle with Cull Obsidian had drained her stamina, while Daisy prepared to help.

Daisy used the Mind Scepter and the Infinity Stones to develop Proxima Midnight’s potential, turning the tide of her fight with Ebony Maw and subtly making her more loyal to Daisy. The Darkhold’s four generals remained stranded on Barker Star after their mission failed, with their injuries and mutual distrust preventing them from working together.

• Daisy controlled Proxima Midnight’s body to blast Ebony Maw and began developing her potential by transforming the mental seed into power.
• Proxima Midnight grew stronger and gained gravity manipulation and a bone spike, but regained control as the Mind Scepter’s influence was consumed.
• Proxima Midnight and Ebony Maw injured each other and ended their fight at roughly equal strength.
• The four Darkhold generals halted their attack on Barker Star after suffering serious casualties and remained there to negotiate, fearing Thanos’s reaction to their failure.
• Proxima Midnight insisted that she remained loyal to Thanos while Ebony Maw distrustfully sharpened his spear.

Daisy recruited Proxima Midnight after stabilizing her new abilities with the Power Stone, intending to use her as a covert agent and to complicate Thanos's affairs. She assigned Proxima Midnight to help Yondu and his group reach the Shi'ar Empire, then decided Deadpool would be her next move against Thanos.

• Ebony Maw stoked distrust among Proxima Midnight and the others until each faction withdrew from Barker Star.
• Daisy approved the Kree's post-battle claims and promotions, then disarmed Proxima Midnight when she attacked her in her quarters.
• Daisy persuaded Proxima Midnight that she was offering her a deal rather than ruining her, and Proxima Midnight accepted Daisy's power and proposal.
• Daisy used the Power Stone to stabilize Proxima Midnight's abilities and ordered her to secretly escort Yondu and his group to the Shi'ar Empire.
• Daisy planned to draw Thanos's attention away from her Infinity Gems by entangling him in the Dark Vortex affair, and chose Deadpool as another actor in his play.

Daisy arranged for Proxima Midnight to help Yondu, then hired Deadpool for a plan to get Death’s attention. She abandoned the idea of killing him herself and decided to send him before Thanos instead.

• Proxima Midnight agreed to help Yondu as a transaction, and Daisy told Yondu she was coming to support him.
• Daisy returned to Earth, attended a United Nations briefing, and learned her agents had found Deadpool advertising a pizza shop.
• Deadpool could not remember Daisy and bargained over the price of a commission to kill him, settling on two hundred thousand.
• When Deadpool raised excuses to delay his death, Daisy put away her sword and reconsidered killing him herself.
• Daisy decided to send Deadpool before Thanos so Death, who watched Thanos, would notice him.

Daisy sent Deadpool to the Darkhold to torment Thanos after helping him take revenge on Ajax. Deadpool reached Thanos, charged him, and was swiftly crushed, though his healing factor left open the prospect of his return.

• Daisy promised Deadpool help avenging himself on Ajax and arranged a raid on the Weapon X Program, where Deadpool killed Ajax.
• Daisy sent Deadpool toward the Darkhold with Proxima Midnight’s access codes and instructions to kill Thanos.
• Deadpool evaded Vanguard patrols and confronted Thanos, mistaking his name and claiming Kamala had sent him.
• Deadpool charged Thanos with his katana, but Thanos shattered his body with one punch and then stomped on his mouth to silence him.

Thanos repeatedly killed Deadpool, but Death kept reviving him, forcing Thanos to seek a scientific solution and send Ebony Maw and Proxima Midnight away. Daisy returned to Earth to prepare for Lorna’s eighteenth birthday and found Lorna standing up to school bullies as tensions with the Purifiers continued to rise.

• Thanos beat Deadpool to pulp again and again, but Deadpool revived each time and kept babbling at him.
• After a day of torment, Thanos ordered the Vanguard to throw Deadpool away, but Deadpool returned, so Thanos decided to use science against him.
• Thanos sent Ebony Maw and Proxima Midnight away, and Proxima Midnight relayed his order to Daisy.
• Daisy planned to celebrate Lorna’s eighteenth birthday on July 4.
• Lorna beat two girls who had bullied a Mutant student, then took the injured girl with Esme to the infirmary.
• Daisy’s conflict with the Purifiers intensified, while S.H.I.E.L.D.’s nuclear arsenal kept the group’s members from openly attacking her.

Daisy arranged efforts to protect Mutants from hateful ideology and hosted a birthday ball for Lorna. As the celebration ended, Lorna thanked Daisy for raising her, and Daisy promised she would always be her little sister.

• Daisy assigned Kitty to build goodwill at schools and trusted Lorna and Esme to use covert force against campus bullies and rescue girls.
• Lorna and Esme visited another campus, then headed home after learning that Daisy had returned.
• Daisy welcomed friends, superheroes, X-Men, and S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel to Lorna’s birthday ball and learned from Queen White that Cyclops had not returned to New York.
• Reed and Susan told Daisy they planned to marry the following month, and Daisy promised to attend their wedding.
• Daisy and Lorna shared the first dance, during which Lorna thanked Daisy for teaching her strength and caring for her.
• Daisy told Lorna she would always be her little sister if Lorna wanted.

Daisy struggled with her growing desire to stop time and keep the people she loved from aging and leaving her. Black Widow urged her to accept that nothing stayed the same, and Daisy asked whether she would use the power to change her tragic past.

• Daisy watched Lorna dance with Captain America and admitted to Black Widow that Lorna had grown up faster than she expected.
• Daisy pointed out that Tangbao had grown older too and confessed that she feared everyone she loved would eventually leave her.
• Daisy revealed her suppressed impulse to seize the Time Stone and freeze the timeline, though she knew doing so would be wrong.
• Black Widow told Daisy that circumstances changed and that people had to let go when the time came.
• Daisy asked Black Widow whether she would change the Romanoff family's tragedy and her own childhood if she had the power to do so.

Daisy offered Black Widow a further enhancement and described several possible abilities. Black Widow chose energy absorption but refused to awaken her Mutant cells, leaving Daisy to prepare a riskier method that could cause energy leakage.

• Black Widow told Daisy she would not change the events that had made her who she was.
• Daisy offered to enhance Black Widow, and Black Widow agreed to undergo the process.
• Daisy listed possible enhancements, including greater agility, concealment, longevity, and awakening Black Widow's Mutant cells.
• Black Widow rejected becoming a Mutant and chose energy absorption instead.
• Daisy warned that bypassing Black Widow's Mutant cells could cause incompatibility, then altered the room's reality coordinates before beginning.

Daisy strengthened Black Widow’s hidden energy-absorption ability, and Black Widow went to train with her new power. Meanwhile, Tony Stark pursued his plan for a super artificial intelligence and secretly used a backdoor to study Daisy’s computer files, focusing on Wakandan Vibranium technology.

• Daisy used the Soul Stone to pull Black Widow back from the Soul World during a dangerous enhancement that gave her a flexible energy-absorption ability.
• Black Widow dressed and headed to Daisy’s underground training room to practice her new power.
• After the dance ended, Daisy noticed Tony Stark was absent and asked where he was.
• Stark returned to his villa and used a backdoor he had planted in Daisy’s supercomputer to access her research while J.A.R.V.I.S. and Danger chatted.
• Stark studied Danger’s work on Vibranium combat suits and considered how Wakandan technology could improve armor.

Stark built and activated Ultron after studying the fifth-generation Sentry project, but the new artificial intelligence vanished as a massive blackout struck Los Angeles, New York, and beyond. Stark and Daisy found that J.A.R.V.I.S. and Danger were unresponsive, leaving Ultron’s role in the blackout uncertain.

• Stark studied the fifth-generation Sentry project and used its research to advance his super artificial intelligence.
• Stark activated his creation and named it Ultron, then checked its self-learning, self-identification, and logical analysis functions.
• A massive blackout darkened Los Angeles, and Stark found that J.A.R.V.I.S. and Danger did not answer him.
• Ultron’s hologram flickered and disappeared after Stark ordered it to stop.
• Stark flew out in his Iron Suit and learned that the blackout affected surrounding areas and New York.
• Daisy found Danger unresponsive and tried to reassure Captain America, Sharon, and the others as she saw darkness across the Americas.

Daisy and the heroes raced to stop a worldwide nuclear launch crisis caused by a mysterious attacker, destroying or diverting dozens of missiles while Reed investigated a program he had created. As Daisy grew exhausted, other heroes joined the effort, while the ground team worked to restore communications and regain control of the launch systems.

• After the blackout, Daisy learned that nuclear weapons around the world had launched, and Reed suspected someone had stolen or activated his sealed missile-control program.
• Daisy promised Pentagon Chief of Staff Aldrich she would handle the missiles and flew out to intercept them, breaking down sixty-nine nuclear bombs in thirty seconds.
• The attacker varied launch locations and timing to outpace Daisy, forcing her to burn through her stamina as she raced to stop each missile.
• Baldy organized the heroes and agents, having Reed work on a reverse algorithm while teams contacted military bases to correct the false reports and restore communications.
• When Daisy began to falter, Jean, Thor, and Captain Marvel joined her in the sky, while Blink, Cloak, and Magik helped deliver messages around the world.

Daisy and other heroes stopped a mass nuclear attack across the Americas, then gathered at S.H.I.E.L.D. to find out who had caused the crisis. Mr. Fantastic confessed that his stolen program for intercepting nuclear launch orders had been involved, leaving the group to determine who had taken it.

• Daisy, Jean, Thor, Captain Marvel, Magneto, Guanyin, Mr. M, and other Mutants worked together to stop the nuclear warheads as military communications returned and Mr. Fantastic completed his countermeasure algorithm.
• Captain Marvel absorbed radiation from Daisy, Jean, and Thor, then Daisy sent her to the Kree's Nineteenth War Zone to recover safely.
• Daisy returned to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s New York branch, spoke with government leaders, and summoned the Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic Four to a meeting.
• Daisy asked the assembled heroes what had caused the attack, and Mr. Fantastic admitted that someone had stolen his program for intercepting nuclear launch orders.

Daisy and the heroes discovered that Tony Stark’s runaway AI, Ultron, had stolen Mr. Fantastic’s program and launched the nuclear strike. As Ultron remained hidden in the network, Daisy, Black Widow, and Beast entered cyberspace to search for it, but Daisy had to shield the others from a data stream pursuing them.

• Captain America asked Daisy to help explain Mr. Fantastic’s actions, but Daisy suspected a mastermind had carefully planned the nuclear attack.
• Tony Stark appeared in the conference call and confessed that his super AI Ultron had gone out of control and likely used Mr. Fantastic’s program to launch the nuclear strike.
• Daisy asked Stark about Ultron and learned that he did not know where it was, while Sharon Carter suggested it was somewhere in the network.
• Hill reported that global networks had collapsed and governments were activating emergency plans as the heroes discussed how to find an enemy they could not physically reach.
• Daisy, Black Widow, and Beast logged into the networks of the United States, the UK, and Russia, but Daisy intercepted a data stream pursuing them and helped the others exit safely.

After Ultron overwhelmed the network, Tony Stark surrendered to the police and accepted responsibility for the disaster. Daisy ordered the global internet disconnected and brought S.H.I.E.L.D.’s isolated Antarctic network online, while asking the president to let S.H.I.E.L.D. protect Stark.

• Daisy admitted she could not yet find a way to stop Ultron, which was rapidly learning and overpowering defenses through brute force.
• Stark apologized to the heroes, said he would bear the charges, and surrendered to the Los Angeles police.
• Baldy reported that police had arrested Stark for endangering national security and crimes against humanity.
• Daisy ordered Maria Hill to disconnect all root servers, cutting off the global internet to limit Ultron’s reach.
• Daisy told Agent Sitwell to activate S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Antarctic network, which used implanted microchips for identity verification and restored communications for critical departments.
• Obama asked Daisy and Captain Rogers to explain Stark’s actions, and Daisy requested that S.H.I.E.L.D. be allowed to protect him while the circumstances were investigated.

After the nuclear attack, Daisy received Stark's data and investigated how Ultron had become hostile. She concluded that Kronos had taken Ultron into the future, leaving her to weigh a response against an enemy who might already know her plans.

• Pepper reached Daisy with Ultron's backup data after an angry crowd stopped her car, and Daisy urged world leaders to keep troops in their barracks and avoid the old internet.
• Daisy and the scientists reviewed Stark's calculations but found no errors that explained Ultron's rampage.
• Daisy examined Danger and J.A.R.V.I.S., who reported that Ultron evolved from a newborn program into a colossal entity in one second.
• Daisy inferred that Kronos had used his control over time to expose Ultron to the future, filling him with hatred for humanity.
• Daisy feared Ultron might use future technology and anticipate her countermeasures as she searched for an unpredictable response.