Chapter Summaries

Su Ming warned Tony and Banner that the Regeneration Cradle had been contaminated, but Tony continued the upload as Steve attacked and the two fought. Thor’s lightning shattered the Cradle and awakened its creation, which activated a purge program and locked onto Tony.

• Su Ming told Tony and Banner that Ned Leeds had found evidence the Mind Stone had infected the Cradle’s core programming, but Tony demanded the data and refused to abandon the upload.
• Steve returned, saw the Cradle, and attacked it; Tony deflected his shield, and they began fighting while Banner watched helplessly.
• Su Ming projected the fight for Peter, Ned, Wanda, and Quicksilver to watch, then mocked Tony and Steve over the open call.
• Clint learned that Natasha had sent her location from Ultron’s hideout in Sokovia using a makeshift transmitter.
• Thor channeled lightning into the Regeneration Cradle, which exploded and cast him away as a red-skinned, Vibranium-bodied figure rose from the wreckage.
• The figure completed initialization, activated its purge program, and locked onto Tony, who told Su Ming he no longer needed the data.

Thor awakened Vision, whom he called an ally, then returned to Asgard, leaving the Avengers to face Ultron’s creation. After Purifier defeated them and escaped with the Regeneration Cradle core, the Avengers learned Natasha was in Sokovia and sought reinforcements, with Nick Fury telling them to find Su Ming.

• Thor accelerated the Regeneration Cradle’s incubation, identified the awakened Vision as a possible ally, and left for Asgard.
• Purifier attacked Tony and the Avengers, restrained Banner, and took the Cradle core component before flying toward Sokovia.
• Clint told the Avengers that Natasha had sent him a Morse-code message from Sokovia, where Ultron had taken over a former Hydra base.
• Steve decided to rescue Natasha, and the Avengers regrouped while Tony called Nick Fury for help.
• Nick Fury told the Avengers to find Su Ming.

Su Ming left for Wakanda to reinforce its energy barrier while Nick Fury tried to recruit him to help the Avengers in Sokovia. Fury’s call went unanswered, leaving the Avengers to face Ultron without reinforcements as they prepared to fight.

• The Avengers raced toward Sokovia to rescue Vision and stop Ultron, while Su Ming wondered how they could defeat Ultron’s threat without Thor and with Wanda and Pietro at his base.
• Nick Fury told Tony that he was mobilizing the Helicarrier and sent an encrypted call to Su Ming for help.
• T'Challa asked Su Ming to reinforce Wakanda’s energy barrier, and Su Ming opened a portal to meet him at the border.
• Su Ming ignored Nick Fury’s incoming call after arriving in Wakanda, and Fury realized Su Ming had anticipated his request.
• Tony, Barton, and Captain America prepared to fight Ultron without reinforcements, while Fury vowed to keep calling Su Ming.

Su Ming negotiated for Wakandan Vibranium and secretly took the Heart-Shaped Herb while Ultron’s corrupted civilians and robot swarm overwhelmed Sokovia. Fury finally secured Su Ming’s help on his terms, as Natasha succumbed to the contagion and Hulk emerged to stop her.

• Su Ming refused Fury’s call, bargained with T'Challa for Vibranium, reinforced Wakanda’s barrier, and secretly uprooted the Heart-Shaped Herb.
• Ultron spread the Cradle Core’s corruption through Sokovia, turning civilians violent as the Avengers struggled to protect them.
• Ultron raised a huge section of Sokovia into the sky and unleashed a robot swarm, forcing Fury to order the Helicarrier to fire despite civilians remaining in the city.
• Fury reached Su Ming and agreed to give him the cleanup fee, Ultron’s lair spoils, the right to handle the contamination source, and S.H.I.E.L.D. warehouse coordinates.
• Natasha succumbed to the contagion, killed infected civilians and Ultron robots, and attacked Banner until Hulk emerged.

As Sokovia rose and the Avengers were overwhelmed, Su Ming arrived and reversed the battle with a wave of gentle light. He restrained the Purifier and used the Mind Stone to call for Vision to awaken.

• Natasha broke free of Banner and choked him until he transformed into Hulk, who was soon buried beneath a collapsing building.
• The Purifier prepared to kill the battered Avengers as Sokovia continued rising, but time stopped and Su Ming's light restored Natasha, repaired Tony's armor, freed Hulk, and cleared away the robots.
• Su Ming appeared on the battlefield, and Nick Fury and Hill reacted to his sudden intervention.
• The Purifier attacked Su Ming from behind, but he crushed its energy beam, froze it in place, and tapped its forehead with the Mind Stone while telling Vision to wake up.

Su Ming cleansed Vision and the infected civilians of Sokovia with Faith Energy, allowing the evacuation to proceed as the city continued rising. New allies joined the Avengers against Ultron’s robots, and Pietro’s remark about the Galaxy Guard Corps sparked an idea in Su Ming.

• Su Ming purified Vision, restoring his clarity and the Mind Stone’s golden glow.
• Su Ming spread Faith Energy over Sokovia, curing the infected and prompting Hill to order a full evacuation.
• As Sokovia continued rising, the Avengers prepared to fight the Mechanical Legion again, and Tony awkwardly offered to repay Su Ming for his help.
• Wanda, Pietro, and Peter Parker joined the battle, while the restored Vision fought Ultron’s forces with golden energy.
• Pietro compared the aerial battle to the Galaxy Guard Corps’ combat environment, prompting Su Ming to recognize a possible connection.

Su Ming brought the Guardian Corps and a massive fleet to Sokovia after Ultron overwhelmed the Avengers, turning the battle against the Mechanical Legion. The fleet devastated Ultron’s forces as the Avengers watched in astonishment.

• Su Ming contacted Star-Lord and summoned the Guardian Corps to join the fight.
• Ultron unleashed a larger, better-organized Mechanical Legion and pressured the Avengers back toward the Engine Hub.
• Hill announced that all civilians had been evacuated from Sokovia, and Su Ming opened a huge portal into space.
• Star-Lord, Yondu, and more than a thousand ships poured through the portal into Sokovia’s skies.
• Rocket, Gamora, Groot, Drax, and the fleet attacked Ultron’s forces, blasting the Mechanical Legion into wreckage.

Su Ming summoned a colossal Dharma Avatar to stop Sokovia from falling toward Earth, then ordered the Guardian Corps to destroy the city and Ultron. The city was reduced to dust, leaving the fleet and Avengers staring at the aftermath.

• Ultron reversed Sokovia’s engines, sending the city plummeting toward Earth as the Avengers and Guardian Corps could only watch.
• Su Ming appeared beneath the falling city and manifested a gigantic golden Dharma Avatar that caught and held Sokovia aloft.
• Su Ming declared Ultron unworthy and ordered Quill and the Guardian Corps to turn the city into rubble.
• The Guardian Corps bombarded Sokovia while Su Ming’s Dharma Avatar held it steady, and the city and Ultron were destroyed.
• After the Dharma Avatar disappeared, Star-Lord admired the cloud of dust and praised Su Ming’s demolition skills.

After the Avengers and Su Ming stopped Ultron’s attack on Sokovia, General Ross arrived with armed forces and demanded that they surrender their weapons and submit to government supervision. Wanda and the others challenged his authority, while Ross singled out Su Ming as a threat.

• FRIDAY alerted the Avengers that nations had activated emergency defenses and that General Thaddeus Ross was approaching with armed forces.
• Ross ordered Tony and the Avengers to explain the battle and demanded that Su Ming’s fleet disarm or face elimination.
• Tony mocked Ross for arriving after the danger had passed, while Su Ming ignored him and watched Rocket salvage parts from an Ultron robot.
• Wanda confronted Ross over the government’s failure to protect Sokovia and its decision to threaten the heroes after they had saved the city.
• The Avengers and Quill reacted angrily to Ross’s demand for supervision, and Ross singled out Su Ming as especially in need of control.

After Sokovia was secured, Su Ming rejected General Ross’s demands and took the heroes and Guardians to New York for a celebration. Ross called for a review of the Sokovia Accords as public debate over powerful heroes spread, while Thor appeared at the border of Asgard.

• General Ross threatened the heroes and demanded that the off-world forces leave and everyone else submit to supervision, but Su Ming declared that he decided for his people.
• Su Ming asked Tony to arrange an all-you-can-eat meal, and Tony invited the fleet to a celebration at Avengers Tower.
• Su Ming opened portals for Wanda and the others, while the Guardian Corps and Ravagers flew toward New York and the Avengers boarded the Quinjet.
• Captain America left Sokovia worried that disputes over power, responsibility, control, and freedom were only beginning.
• Ross reported the departure to the Global Strategic Defense Council and called for the highest-priority review of the Sokovia Accords draft as citizens expressed both gratitude and fear.
• That night, the celebration began at Avengers Tower as public debate spread, and Thor appeared at the border of Asgard.

After Su Ming’s intervention in Sokovia, the Ancient One recognized him as a powerful variable and decided Stephen Strange would need to become Earth’s new guardian. At the Avengers Tower celebration, Tony Stark received a high-level intrusion alert from Pym Technologies in San Francisco.

• The Ancient One sensed the effects of Sokovia and saw Su Ming’s power disrupting the balance and changing the future.
• The Ancient One chose Stephen Strange as a potential new guardian and sensed Dormammu growing more active.
• Su Ming celebrated at Avengers Tower with the Guardian Corps, Avengers, and Guardians of the Galaxy.
• Tony Stark’s satellite device sounded an intrusion alert, and he and Rhodey saw that its source was Pym Technologies in San Francisco.

During Tony Stark’s party, the Avengers watched Scott Lang fight Darren Cross at Pym Technologies, and Su Ming secretly used his powers to help Scott win. The gathering ended in laughter, while elsewhere a luxury car plunged off a cliff.

• Tony Stark pulled up live footage of Scott Lang fighting Darren Cross in the Pym Technologies laboratory, and the Avengers watched from his party.
• Tony identified a weakness beneath Darren’s left shoulder blade as Scott was cornered by the Yellowjacket Suit.
• Su Ming secretly immobilized Darren, giving Scott the chance to strike the suit’s weak point and disable it.
• Hank Pym locked down and encrypted the laboratory’s core data after Darren was defeated.
• Wanda told Tony that Su Ming had intervened, and the Avengers joked about his remote rescue as Rhodey fled to the bathroom to avoid a drink.
• A luxury car worth tens of millions plunged off a cliff elsewhere.

Stephen Strange’s brilliant medical career ended after a car accident severely damaged his hands, leaving him desperate to find a cure. At Avengers Tower, the Guardians of the Galaxy stirred up a chaotic party, while Tony’s growing support for the Sokovia Accords clashed with the newcomers’ unruly behavior.

• Stephen Strange saved a gunshot victim with a blind bullet extraction, but a rain-soaked car crash later left his hands badly damaged and ended his surgical career.
• Star-Lord and Tony Stark argued over music, hair, armor, and looks before agreeing to hold an interstellar music festival with Hulk as judge.
• Drax startled Sam, questioned Banner about Hulk, praised Natasha, and confused Captain America while debating privacy and tact.
• Rocket criticized Rhodey’s armor, stole an energy regulator, and discussed it with Peter Parker, prompting Rhodey and Tony to complain.
• Groot helped Captain America tend the Liberty Ivy, sharing a quiet, warm moment while Tony watched and joked about Steve’s influence.

After the Galaxy Guard Corps departed, the Avengers’ contrasting views on the Sokovia Accords hardened, while Su Ming collected S.H.I.E.L.D. artifacts and discovered a third Starcore Fragment. General Ross then trapped Su Ming in a hidden base and detonated a nuclear bomb beneath it.

• Gamora and Wanda bonded while shopping, and Yondu’s advice later came back to Clint as he considered the Sokovia Accords.
• The Galaxy Guard Corps left Earth, and Tony and Captain America committed to opposing views on the Accords as Groot’s sapling sprouted on Steve’s windowsill.
• Su Ming took a file bag from Nick Fury and exchanged the contents of a hidden S.H.I.E.L.D. warehouse, finding a Starcore Fragment that joined the two already within his chest.
• The fragment’s flash stirred a mysterious presence in the distant void, whose eyes opened briefly before it dismissed the event as an illusion.
• General Ross sealed Su Ming inside the base, thinned the air, and detonated the nuclear bomb beneath it.

After General Ross persuaded the World Security Council to destroy Su Ming with a nuclear bomb in the Alps, the attack triggered devastation and drew warnings from Ancient One and China. The chapter ended with Tony and Nick Fury realizing the blast had struck a populated part of Europe, while Su Ming’s fate remained unknown.

• General Ross convinced the World Security Council that Su Ming threatened world order, and they approved an attack at any cost.
• A nuclear bomb detonated at Su Ming’s secret S.H.I.E.L.D. warehouse in the Alps, creating a vast blast and devastating the surrounding area.
• Ancient One tried to contain the disaster and warned world leaders that the explosion threatened the dimensional barrier, but they dismissed her.
• China condemned the Council’s decision and announced it was withdrawing from the World Security Council.
• General Ross celebrated the apparent destruction of Su Ming as the shockwave and floods ravaged the Alpine town of Grainau.
• FRIDAY alerted the Avengers to the enormous explosion, and Nick Fury recognized the coordinates as the location he had given Su Ming.

Su Ming survived a nuclear blast by absorbing its energy and repairing the devastation, leaving the Ancient One and the watching Avengers stunned. The World Security Council and General Ross realized their attack had failed catastrophically, while Quill received an order to keep his team on standby.

• Nick Fury condemned the World Security Council and General Ross for sending Su Ming into a nuclear death trap that endangered countless people.
• Su Ming appeared in the mushroom cloud and absorbed the nuclear blast, summoning his Dharma Avatar to draw in its energy.
• Su Ming reversed much of the destruction around him, pulling back the shockwave and repairing the craters and shattered landscape.
• The Ancient One recognized that Su Ming's power seemed to operate at the level of laws, while General Ross and the council panicked at the satellite footage.
• Tony, Captain America, Fury, Pietro, and Peter reacted with shock as they saw Su Ming's feat and realized he had spared Glenau Town from the shockwave.
• Quill heard Su Ming tell him to keep the brothers where they were, and Quill eagerly wondered if they were about to show off again.

Su Ming absorbed the nuclear explosion in the Alps, restored the devastated land, and left Washington, D.C. to confront the authorities who had attacked him. As he approached, the city’s defenses and communications failed, and its leaders panicked over what he would do next.

• Su Ming absorbed the nuclear blast and its destructive energy, leaving the Alps scorched but free of lasting damage as animals returned and submitted to him.
• Su Ming released the animals, then walked across the blast site as crimson Manjusaka flowers bloomed behind him.
• General Ross, the World Security Council, Ancient One, and the Avengers witnessed Su Ming’s power, while Nick Fury concluded that Earth's order had changed.
• Su Ming flew toward Washington, D.C., where his approach disrupted electronics, frightened animals, and sent officials into a panic.
• The President was rushed to a safe room, the Pentagon shut down its missile systems, and officials argued over whether to apologize or resist.
• Captain America watched the crisis unfold and wondered what Su Ming intended to do.

Su Ming hovered over the U.S. Capitol after surviving Ross's nuclear attack, terrifying Washington and deepening divisions among the heroes over his use of power. As the standoff continued, Quill arrived with more than a thousand starships in battle formation to back him up.

• Su Ming flew slowly over Washington and stopped above the National Mall in front of the U.S. Capitol, leaving the city and its leaders paralyzed with fear.
• Tony, Steve, Wanda, Pietro, and Nick Fury reacted to Su Ming's actions, arguing over whether his show of force was justified or dangerous.
• Quill arrived over Washington aboard the Milano with more than a thousand starships and vowed to defend Su Ming.

Su Ming exposed General Ross and the World Security Council’s conspiracy to kill him, turning global public opinion against them. As the Secretary of Defense resigned and citizens demanded accountability, Ross appeared and tried to redirect their anger toward Su Ming’s alien fleet.

• Quill aimed the Galaxy Guard Corps’ weapons at Washington, while the Secretary of Defense condemned Su Ming for threatening the capital.
• Su Ming revealed footage of Ross and the World Security Council plotting to kill him, cover up the evidence, and smear him despite his role in stopping the alien invasion.
• The public reversed its stance, demanding Ross’s trial, the Council’s dissolution, and an explanation for the nuclear attack.
• The Secretary of Defense apologized to Su Ming, accepted responsibility, and resigned by removing his badge.
• General Ross arrived with loyal soldiers, pointed at the fleet behind Su Ming, and declared it the real threat.

General Ross tried to discredit Su Ming before the world, but Su Ming exposed corrupt officials and their crimes in public. As one official killed himself, the crowd erupted in uproar.

• General Ross accused Su Ming of seeking power and defended his own actions as necessary sacrifices, drawing anger from most of the public.
• Su Ming silenced Ross, teleported the people inside the U.S. Capitol into the square, and separated corrupt officials from the others using their black Causal Threads.
• Captain America arrived and challenged Su Ming, but Su Ming showed the officials’ crimes in projections above their heads.
• Agents recognized officials’ links to unsolved crimes, while Steve was stunned by the extent of corruption in the system.
• An official whose rape of a female subordinate was revealed called the projections fake and denounced Su Ming before shooting himself.