Chapter Summaries

Su Ming redeemed the Black King’s Energy Absorption and Release talent to overcome his limits on replenishing energy. After discovering its low starting absorption threshold, he decided to pay for an upgrade, suspecting it would expand his body’s energy capacity.

• Su Ming reviewed his talents and weighed redeeming a new ability against upgrading his existing ones.
• Su Ming spotted the Black King’s Energy Absorption and Release talent and redeemed it for eight billion dollars.
• Su Ming tested the new talent by absorbing heat from bathwater and his Heat Vision, but its unupgraded limit left his palm smoking.
• Su Ming saw that the next upgrade cost twenty billion dollars and later levels cost far more.
• Su Ming decided to upgrade Energy Absorption and Release, reasoning that the talent could increase his body’s energy capacity.

After upgrading the Black King's talent, Su Ming accidentally wrecked his hotel room and moved with Alisha to their new base. Alisha discovered that the Mind Scepter had been moved to Sokovia for secret research.

• Su Ming's talent upgrade increased his energy capacity, but he accidentally destroyed his hotel room while testing his power.
• Su Ming flew with Alisha to their newly built base to avoid the arriving police and firefighters.
• Thor continued suppressing rebellions after the Bifrost was repaired, then learned from Heimdall that Jane Foster had disappeared.
• Alisha explained that she had been using her S.H.I.E.L.D. access and Stark's hacking tools to gather intelligence.
• Alisha told Su Ming that the Mind Scepter was in Sokovia, where it had been transferred as an auxiliary resource for Project Insight.

Su Ming upgraded Immortal Body and considered how it paired with his Black King energy absorption, while deciding to monitor Hydra’s experiments with the Mind Scepter and the Maximoff siblings. Thor found Jane and took her to Asgard after red energy erupted from her, and Su Ming brought Alisha to lunch with Gwen’s family, where an unexpected teenage guest arrived.

• Su Ming upgraded Immortal Body, received no sensation from the change, and concluded that it might let him absorb limitless energy without dying.
• Su Ming told Alisha to keep watching the Mind Scepter and thought about intervening in Hydra’s experiments on Wanda Maximoff and her brother.
• Thor found Jane on Earth, and red energy blasted away the police who approached her, so he took her to Asgard.
• Odin told Thor that Jane had been invaded by the Aether after Asgard’s royal physician could not identify what was wrong with her.
• Su Ming and Alisha joined Gwen, Helen, George, Peter, and Aunt May for lunch, and George shared a rooftop cigarette with Su Ming.
• A teenage boy arrived at Gwen’s house and greeted Gwen and Peter.

Su Ming attended dinner with Gwen’s family, where Ned met him and Alisha and was invited to visit their secret base. As the meal ended, Su Ming spotted a flash of light alongside the thunder and suspected Thor had arrived through the Bifrost.

• George thanked Su Ming for saving Gwen, and Su Ming advised him to wear a bulletproof vest on duty.
• Ned met Su Ming at dinner and eagerly asked him about his suit and mask.
• Su Ming introduced Ned to Alisha, who outmatched him in hacking, and invited him to visit their secret base.
• Alisha agreed to let Ned visit but told him to call her big sister, prompting Peter and Gwen to ask to come too.
• Su Ming used Magnetic Control to stop Ned’s falling spoon and return it to him.
• Su Ming noticed a pillar of light flash with the thunder and wondered if the Bifrost had been repaired.

Su Ming learned that the Aether had awakened Malekith and that Jane had been taken by it, then went with Daisy to retrieve Selvig so he could follow Thor’s next moves. The chapter ended with Su Ming arriving at the police station, where Daisy told him Eric was still being held inside.

• Malekith invaded Asgard to seize the Aether, but Frigga died protecting Jane, and the Dark Elves retreated after Thor attacked them.
• Su Ming discovered that Jane had entered a strange space and that the Aether had invaded her body, prompting him to anticipate a chance to confront Malekith.
• Su Ming asked Alisha to contact Daisy, learned Selvig was in police custody, and decided to go with Daisy to collect him.
• Su Ming used a portal to appear outside the police station in his Crimson Suit, startling Daisy’s intern, who recognized him as the Crimson Silver Baron.
• Su Ming asked Daisy where Eric was, and Daisy told him Eric was still being held inside.

Su Ming rescued Eric Selvig from the police station as Reality Stone disturbances began opening portals across Earth, then took him and Daisy to Jane’s laboratory. In Asgard, Thor remained determined to avenge Frigga despite Odin’s refusal to let him use the Aether as bait, and he visited Loki in prison.

• Su Ming used his upgraded Sling Ring Portal to reach Daisy at the police station, where Eric was being released after being detained and drugged.
• Eric recognized Su Ming, and the group left the station with Eric’s equipment as it began detecting abnormal spatial fluctuations.
• Flocks of birds vanished and reappeared through a portal, confirming to Eric that the strange events around him were real.
• Su Ming opened a portal to Jane’s laboratory and brought Daisy, Eric, and the intern through, astonishing the police officers.
• Thor rejected Odin’s refusal to use the Aether to lure Malekith and remained set on avenging Frigga.
• After Frigga’s memorial, Thor visited Loki in prison, where the brothers’ shared grief over their mother left Loki with a glimmer of hope.

Thor and Loki carried out their plan to lure Malekith into absorbing the Aether, but the battle left Loki apparently dead and Thor badly wounded. Thor and Jane escaped to Earth, where Su Ming met them and comforted Thor, who remained unaware that Loki had survived.

• Thor and Loki tricked Malekith into absorbing the Aether, but the Infinity Stone reassembled inside him and Malekith left to bring about the Dark World.
• The Cursed Warrior overpowered Thor, and Loki stabbed him before activating a Void Grenade that destroyed the enemy; Thor believed Loki had died.
• Thor took Jane through a cave that led to Earth, where Daisy reached them by phone and Su Ming opened a portal.
• Su Ming welcomed Thor and Jane, and Thor drew comfort from his friend's support while grieving Loki and Frigga.
• Eric hugged Jane at the laboratory and asked why he was wearing only briefs.

Jane, Erik, Thor, and Su Ming uncovered Malekith’s plan to use the Convergence at Greenwich, while Su Ming tried and failed to charge himself with household electricity. Malekith arrived with the Dark Elves to face Thor, as Su Ming slipped behind their spaceship to appraise it.

• Jane demanded all of Erik’s research, and Erik learned that Loki was dead while Asgardian warriors recovered Loki’s body in the Dark World.
• Jane and Erik explained that Malekith planned to unleash the Aether where the Nine Realms connected, and Erik used ancient landmarks to identify Greenwich as the convergence point.
• Su Ming’s attempt to charge himself from a wall outlet tripped the lab’s power, while Selvig struggled to find his pants in the darkness.
• Daisy and the intern prepared Erik’s devices near the convergence point as Jane and Erik searched for another coordinate.
• Malekith’s spaceship emerged near Greenwich and brought the Dark Elves to Earth, where Thor confronted him.
• Su Ming sneaked behind the spaceship and used Appraise on it.

Su Ming and Thor fought Malekith and the Dark Elves as the Aether-powered king attacked them. After Thor took over the fight and Su Ming drove off the Dark Elf grunts, Su Ming turned his attention to the Dark Elves’ spacecraft, which he planned to exchange.

• Malekith attacked Su Ming with Aether spears, but Su Ming blocked them with Heat Vision and summoned metal into a huge blade with his Magnetic Field.
• Su Ming’s blade split through Malekith’s Aether defenses and drove him into the ground, though the Aether kept him from being cut in half.
• Malekith taunted Su Ming after freeing himself, but Thor struck him with Mjolnir and sent him crashing through a pillar into a car.
• Thor charged Malekith again to avenge his mother, while Su Ming left the fight to him and confronted the Dark Elf grunts.
• Su Ming blasted one grunt apart and ordered the rest to leave, so they fled alongside the civilians.
• Su Ming checked that he had used less than two percent of his energy, then approached the Dark Elves’ spacecraft and chose Exchange.

Jane and Eric used the device to send Dark Elf soldiers away while Su Ming exchanged the vanished spaceship for $1.2 trillion. Malekith charged Su Ming in rage, and Su Ming’s energy-wrapped punch blasted him through a portal to Jotunheim, sending a Frost Beast to Earth.

• Jane used Eric’s device to transport attacking Dark Elf soldiers to another dimension, but accidentally sent Daisy and the intern across the street.
• Su Ming received $1.2 trillion from the spaceship exchange, and the ship disappeared above the plaza.
• Thor realized Su Ming had removed the Dark Elf spaceship and attacked Malekith with renewed energy.
• Malekith saw his spaceship was gone, drove Thor away with the Aether, and charged at Su Ming.
• Su Ming struck Malekith with a powerful energy-wrapped punch, blasting him through a portal to Jotunheim and knocking a Frost Beast through to Earth.
• The Frost Beast swallowed a Dark Elf soldier after arriving on Earth.

As Malekith unleashed the Aether during the peak of the spatial convergence, Thor and Su Ming prepared to enter the storm and stop him. Su Ming also hoped to absorb the Reality Stone’s energy, and the chapter ended with both brothers heading into the crimson maelstrom.

• Malekith rose from the rubble and gathered the Aether as portals and spatial convergence spread across Greenwich.
• Daisy’s intern saved her from Dark Warriors by lifting a car, and Jane’s device teleported the pair into an unexpected reunion with Jane and Eric.
• Thor returned to Su Ming as Malekith’s Aether storm filled the sky, and Eric and Jane explained that the devices had to be brought close to Malekith.
• Su Ming checked that his system had not counted the Aether as collected and resolved to enter the storm to absorb its energy.
• Thor took the spatial devices and walked into the Aether storm, and Su Ming followed him despite Thor’s concern.

Thor and Su Ming entered Malekith’s storm, where Thor struggled against the Reality Energy while Su Ming absorbed it and charged himself. Thor used Jane’s spatial device to remove Malekith’s arms and then charged at him, summoning Mjolnir as the chapter ended.

• Daisy asked the intern who was stronger, Thor or the Silver Duke, while Jane watched the storm anxiously.
• Thor fought his way toward the storm’s center as Su Ming moved through the energy without being harmed.
• Su Ming realized the Reality Stone’s energy was rapidly charging him and began absorbing it, easing the pressure on Thor.
• Malekith noticed the Aether’s energy shifting toward Su Ming, but dismissed Thor’s challenge as he continued his plan to plunge the Nine Realms into darkness.
• Thor threw spatial devices at Malekith, and Jane activated the controller to teleport away both of Malekith’s arms.
• Thor charged at Malekith with the final devices and summoned Mjolnir.

Thor tried to teleport Malekith away, but the device broke and Malekith nearly killed him. Su Ming secretly began competing with Malekith for control of the Aether and, after seeing Thor in danger, prepared to intervene.

• Mjolnir returned to Thor, who struck Malekith with the final teleportation device, but the lightning shattered its circuitry.
• Malekith choked Thor with an Aether-made hand while Jane tried and failed to activate the broken device.
• Malekith began recovering his arms, but the Aether’s red Storm jolted as Su Ming’s growing control interfered with Malekith’s power.
• Thor summoned Mjolnir and shouted for Su Ming to run, intending to make a final stand.
• Su Ming saw Thor’s predicament, blamed his own intervention for the changed events, and called out that he would handle Malekith.

Su Ming took control of most of the Aether particles as Thor collapsed from his fight with Malekith. After Malekith launched a compressed energy attack, Su Ming struck it with a backhand, and sunlight appeared as the sphere and storm vanished.

• Malekith struggled to retain control of the Aether particles while Thor, near death, called for Mjolnir.
• Su Ming told Thor to calm down, and Thor relaxed and passed out after hearing his brother was safe.
• Su Ming absorbed control of more than half the Aether particles, stopped them from spreading, and sent Thor away from the Storm.
• Malekith restored his severed arm and formed a basketball-sized sphere of compressed Aether particles to attack Su Ming.
• Su Ming struck the sphere with a backhand, and Malekith saw sunlight as the Aether particle storm and sphere disappeared.

Su Ming dispersed Malekith’s massive energy Storm with a single release of power and took control of the Aether particles. Thor awoke after being carried to safety, while Malekith crumbled into ash.

• Jane repeatedly tried to activate the malfunctioning controller as Thor remained trapped in the Storm.
• The Aether particles carried an unconscious Thor out of the Storm, and Jane ran to comfort him.
• The Storm vanished after a powerful gust swept through the street, while Su Ming’s energy barrier protected Jane, Eric, and the others.
• Su Ming realized his strike had consumed over 200% of his energy and left the Aether particles under his control.
• Malekith failed to summon the Aether particles and disintegrated into ash.
• Thor opened his eyes, and Daisy and the intern embraced and kissed.

Thor returned the Aether to Asgard, where Loki secretly took Odin’s place and continued ruling. Su Ming stayed away from Asgard, returned to his base, and found Ned Leeds helping Alisha with technical support.

• Thor refused Odin’s offer of the throne, and Loki revealed himself as the one disguised as Odin after Thor left.
• Two days earlier, Su Ming declined Thor’s invitation to visit Asgard, then used a portal to get Jane and Thor home after Thor got drunk.
• Daisy took the intern to a motel, while Erik streaked through the streets again after drinking.
• Su Ming returned to the base and surprised Alisha with a box, then discovered Ned Leeds had been providing her with technical support.
• Alisha explained that Ned had helped track Jane’s phone signal and monitor events, but she disliked the mess in the computer area.

Alisha discovered Ned had trashed her technical support area, but Su Ming distracted her by revealing a massive gold brick as a local specialty. The next morning, Ned asked Su Ming how a superhero could become rich, and Su Ming replied that superheroes would never be rich.

• Alisha found Ned's snack-strewn mess and complained to Su Ming while Ned failed to understand what he had done wrong.
• Su Ming redirected Alisha's attention to a mysterious box, which she opened to reveal a huge gold brick.
• Alisha could not lift the gold, and Su Ming caught it as it fell; Ned was astonished that Su Ming called it a local specialty.
• Ned stayed awake wondering how Su Ming had become so wealthy, then joined Su Ming for breakfast the next morning while Alisha slept.
• Ned asked Su Ming how superheroes could become rich, and Su Ming said superheroes were miserable bastards who would never be rich.

Su Ming explained to Ned why superheroes deserved compensation, then received a commission from Pepper to help Tony, whose PTSD symptoms were worsening. Pepper offered nine billion, but Su Ming remained unsure why she had chosen him.

• Su Ming told Ned that superheroes could accept payment for their work, and Ned decided to discuss compensation whenever he helped others.
• Alisha told Su Ming that Pepper was looking for him, so he returned her call.
• Pepper said she suspected Tony had PTSD and asked Su Ming to help him, offering eight billion.
• When Su Ming questioned the offer and suggested finding a doctor, Pepper raised it to nine billion.
• Su Ming asked Pepper why she had chosen him.

Pepper hired Su Ming for ten billion dollars to help Tony with the trauma and anxiety that followed the Battle of New York, though Su Ming refused to guarantee results or offer refunds. After receiving the payment, Su Ming realized his upgraded portal might let him travel anywhere with basic information and began planning what to do next.

• Pepper called Su Ming and offered eight billion dollars to help Tony, whose anxiety and fear left him feeling safe only when wearing armor.
• Su Ming demanded ten billion dollars, and Pepper agreed despite his refusal to guarantee results or issue refunds.
• Su Ming received the ten-billion-dollar payment and celebrated his new job and record account balance.
• After breakfast, Su Ming opened a portal to Ned's room, and Ned's comment made Su Ming realize the upgraded portal could take him almost anywhere.
• Su Ming returned to his room and prepared to explore the system store.

Su Ming spent 50 billion dollars to acquire Word Becomes Law, then used its power to turn every leader’s promise to “keep it brief” into a two-minute limit and a two-thousand-dollar raise for everyone. Meanwhile, Killian pitched his Extremis Virus project to Pepper at Stark Industries and left after she rejected him.

• Su Ming questioned the scope of Heat Vision Lv4 and decided to buy a new ability instead, studying Word Becomes Law in the System Shop.
• Killian visited Pepper at Stark Tower to propose a partnership for his Extremis Virus research, which he claimed could regenerate limbs and enhance the human brain.
• Happy recognized Killian and contacted Tony, who recalled meeting him thirteen years earlier and leaving him waiting on a rooftop after forgetting his investment pitch.
• Pepper rejected Killian’s proposal despite his compliments, and Happy photographed Killian’s Range Rover as he left.
• Su Ming exchanged 50 billion dollars for Word Becomes Law and declared that leaders who promised to keep their remarks brief would have two minutes to speak and give everyone a two-thousand-dollar raise.