Recaps

After Thor went missing, Apocalypse discovered that a mysterious barrier at Nidavellir blocked his efforts to trace Thor. He prepared to investigate personally and ordered Asgard to mobilize for an unknown threat.

• Black Widow explained that people recognized Apocalypse because he had appeared as a giant above Earth, while crowds in New York turned his visit into religious ceremonies and treated those he had helped as blessed.
• Heimdall reported that Thor had gone missing after traveling to Nidavellir to repair his hammer, and Apocalypse used his power of fortune to trace Thor there.
• Apocalypse found Nidavellir in ruins and the Stellar Furnace extinguished, but a mysterious mist blocked his divine sense and Thor's causal line.
• Apocalypse traveled to Asgard, reassured Frigga that Thor was still alive, and said he would go to Nidavellir himself.
• Apocalypse ordered Valkyrie to prepare Asgard for war and allowed Frigga to peer into the river of time despite the risk of exposing his soul imprint.

Apocalypse and Hela traveled to Nidavellir to investigate Thor’s disappearance and found the Cosmic Dwarves gone. A surviving Dwarf revealed that Thanos had abducted the population, leaving the story with their fate and Thor’s whereabouts unknown.

• Frigga failed to see the future or Asgard’s timeline, so Apocalypse took Hela with him to search for Thor.
• Valkyrie issued a divine war mobilization order in the names of the monarch, Frigga, and Prince Tang, rallying Asgard and its territories.
• Apocalypse and Hela arrived at Nidavellir and found the Star Forge sealed and the Dwarves missing.
• Apocalypse restarted the Star Forge, revealing a Dwarf who had survived inside it for years.
• The Dwarf told Apocalypse and Hela that Thanos had captured all the Dwarves and shut him inside the Star Forge before leaving.

Apocalypse learned that Cosmic Dwarves could use artifact spirits to locate their forged divine artifacts, revealing a backdoor that could help find the dwarves imprisoned by Thanos. The repairman began the summoning while trying not to alert them.

• The dwarf repairman told Apocalypse that he and his people had been trapped for several years, and Apocalypse wondered whether Thanos had prepared for his arrival.
• The repairman explained that artifact spirits could communicate with their masters through the Soul World and that Nidavellir's dwarves could summon the divine artifacts they had forged.
• Hela confronted the repairman about whether the dwarves could control Mjolnir, and he said artifact spirits obeyed their masters while hinting at secrets in the King's Codex.
• Apocalypse asked the repairman to summon the artifact spirits discreetly so they could learn the imprisoned dwarves' coordinates.
• The repairman put on heat-resistant armor, pulled a lever at the console, and the neutron star at the center of the stellar ring blazed to life.

Apocalypse and Hela traveled from the neutron star to the center of the Milky Way while searching for Thor. After crossing a barrier that blocked their passage, Apocalypse saw an immense Misfortune Flame ahead.

• The neutron star scanned the void and returned coordinates from a powerful divine artifact, so Apocalypse told the dwarven repairman to prepare weapons for Asgard.
• Apocalypse took Hela through a void passage, but it shattered and left them stranded in space together.
• Hela identified their location as the densely packed central starfield of the Milky Way, and Apocalypse agreed to search for Thor there.
• Apocalypse and Hela crossed a wall of light pressure formed by starlight, gravity, and an unknown force.
• Apocalypse saw an enormous Misfortune Flame beyond the barrier and wondered how the universe could contain such immense misfortune.

Apocalypse and Hela faced an attacking fleet, and Hela destroyed one carrier by concentrating her swords against its shield. A mysterious golden light then effortlessly pierced every carrier and revealed itself as a woman before Apocalypse and Hela.

• Apocalypse and Hela shielded themselves from five Star-Destroying Projectiles as the fleet’s carriers approached and opened fire.
• Hela attacked the carriers with enormous swords, then broke through one carrier’s shield by striking with a chain of swords.
• The crippled carrier’s crew died in the star field, and the remaining carriers fled while warning Lord Ebony Maw that a supreme deity had arrived.
• A golden light pierced every carrier, destroying the fleet’s shields and power cores.
• The golden light stopped before Apocalypse and Hela and revealed a woman.

Apocalypse and Hela met Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, and joined forces with her to investigate the abduction of scientists and engineers. They found a vast Stellar Web draining millions of stars to funnel energy toward the center of the Milky Way, leaving them wondering what Thanos intended to do with it.

• Apocalypse recognized the woman as Captain Marvel, and she introduced herself as Carol Danvers and greeted him and Hela.
• Carol asked about Earth, and Apocalypse described the world-ending crises it had faced while she was away.
• Carol explained that she had tracked ships abducting scientists and engineers to the center of the Milky Way, while Apocalypse and Hela said they were searching for Thor and Thanos.
• The three flew toward the center and discovered Star Rings draining stars across a vast Stellar Web to send energy inward.
• Carol warned that the web could cover millions more stars and asked whether Thanos meant to destroy the Milky Way.

Apocalypse, Hela, and Captain Marvel confronted Thanos’s generals at the Stellar Network, where Ebony Maw held Thor and Loki hostage to prevent them from interfering with Thanos’s undertaking. Apocalypse withdrew his attack to keep the captives alive, and Ebony Maw claimed the Stellar Array had thwarted him.

• Apocalypse sent Hela to destroy the stellar rings and Captain Marvel to evacuate the engineering motherships as he warned that a great battle was coming.
• Ebony Maw and Thanos’s other three generals appeared with Thor and Loki bound in bladed energy rings, threatening to kill them if the heroes advanced.
• Hela’s Flying Swords could not break through the Stellar Network, and Ebony Maw tightened the rings, wounding Thor and Loki.
• The Stellar Network flared and flames blocked Ebony Maw, but he severed one arm from each captive as Apocalypse’s attack threatened the array.
• Apocalypse withdrew his Law Force, allowing the flames to subside, and Ebony Maw loosened the rings while declaring that the Stellar Array had stopped Apocalypse.

Apocalypse defeated Thanos's four generals and rescued Thor and Loki from the Stellar Array. He sent the others to rescue the captives and destroy the Star Rings while he headed toward the array's center to confront Thanos.

• Apocalypse secretly warned Thor and Loki to protect their consciousness, then used the Fist of Laws to shatter the Stellar Array and save them with Purple Recovery Potions.
• Apocalypse struck down Ebony Maw, Proxima Midnight, Black Dwarf, and Corvus Glaive, destroying hundreds of stars behind them.
• Hela threatened Loki, while Thor teased him about Hela's past until she silenced Thor with a glare.
• Apocalypse ordered Carol to rescue the civilians and sent Hela and Thor to destroy the Star Rings, while he went to meet Thanos.
• Loki offered to lead Hela to the dwarves, and Thor and Captain Marvel began freeing the hostages and evacuating them aboard the engineering motherships.
• Apocalypse destroyed Star Rings as he flew toward the Stellar Array's center, where he prepared to face Thanos.

Apocalypse found Thanos refining a colossal, unknown heart at the center of the Stellar Array and discovered that it could withstand attacks powered by several Infinity Stones. Thanos emerged claiming the Heart of the Universe had made him the center of the Multiverse, leaving Apocalypse injured and facing a newly empowered enemy.

• Apocalypse followed the stellar energy to a moon-sized heart, which the Mind Stone and Soul Stone nourished with yin and yang currents.
• Apocalypse's Triple Fist of Laws shattered against the heart, and its fragments destroyed stars that then fed the heart.
• Apocalypse summoned the Time Stone from Doctor Strange and prepared a Quadruple Fist of Laws, but the heart's pulse shattered it and wounded him.
• Thanos emerged from the heart and told Apocalypse that he had spent a long time refining it.
• Thanos named it the Heart of the Universe and declared himself the true center of the Multiverse.

Thanos absorbed the Heart of the Universe and challenged Apocalypse, whose six Infinity Stones could not match Thanos’s power. Their battle devastated the Milky Way and damaged other universes, so Apocalypse asked Stephen and Wanda to find uninhabited or dead universes.

• Thanos absorbed a million stars into the Heart of the Universe, discovered it was the Transcender’s heart, and fused it into his body.
• Apocalypse took the Soul Stone and Mind Stone, completing his set of six Infinity Stones.
• Thanos crushed his own heart and attacked Apocalypse, whose Sixfold Fist of Laws met Thanos’s punch and sent destructive energy through Universe-616 and other universes.
• Apocalypse trapped Thanos in a Sixfold Time Loop, but the Heart of the Universe nullified its effects and Thanos shattered the boundaries of time with another punch.
• Apocalypse contacted Stephen and Wanda through the Soul World and asked them for coordinates of dead universes or universes without intelligent life.

Apocalypse protected his allies from Thanos while testing ways to contain him, but Thanos escaped both the Mirror Dimension and the Quantum Realm. The chapter ended with Apocalypse opening passages to dead universes and approaching Thanos for a direct confrontation.

• Apocalypse gave Purple Potions to Loki, Thor, and Hela, healing the severe aging caused by Thanos’s attacks.
• Thanos learned Apocalypse had inherited the Transcender’s legacy and declared he would take it for himself.
• Loki fled to Asgard, but Thanos’s punch pursued him; Apocalypse redirected the attack into a dead universe, and Loki returned injured before healing himself with a Purple Potion.
• Apocalypse trapped Thanos in the Quantum Realm after Thanos escaped the Mirror Dimension, but Thanos broke free and reflected on the worlds within worlds.
• Apocalypse opened dark passages to dead universes and challenged Thanos to settle their fight head-on.

Thanos and Apocalypse fought across the Milky Way, with Apocalypse redirecting much of Thanos’s power into extinct universes. Thanos forged a double-bladed sword from a star’s essence and ended the chapter with a slash that nearly split Universe-616 in two.

• Thanos and Apocalypse traded blows, while Apocalypse diverted much of the force through passages into the Extinction Universe and other extinct universes.
• Thanos struck Apocalypse into a passage, erasing one universe, then swept his kick through another and tore it apart.
• Apocalypse landed a Sixfold Fist of Laws on Thanos, injuring him despite the Heart of the Universe’s protection.
• Thanos crushed a star into Star Essence and forged a double-bladed greatsword, while Apocalypse named the Infinity Stones as his weapon.
• Thanos’s sword slash cleaved planets, stars, and galaxies and opened a vast rift across Universe-616, then he taunted Apocalypse for dodging.

Apocalypse fought Thanos, whose Heart of the Universe empowered a blade capable of threatening the universe, and repeatedly let himself be cut apart so he could slap Thanos. He revealed that the attacks were meant to wear down Thanos’s misfortune, but Apocalypse’s own fortune was nearly exhausted when the battle paused.

• Apocalypse met Thanos’s blade with the Sixfold Law Fist Seal, was severed in two, and restored himself with a Recovery Potion before urging Thor to leave.
• Apocalypse charged into Thanos’s next attack and slapped him, then continued trading slaps for sword strikes while diverting much of the blade’s radiance into the Extinction Universe.
• After Thanos unleashed dozens of strikes and reduced Apocalypse to hundreds of pieces, Apocalypse restored himself and explained that he was trying to disperse Thanos’s Misfortune Flame with his own fortune.
• Thor, Hela, and Captain Marvel watched from a distance, and Captain Marvel guessed that Apocalypse was wearing down Thanos’s fortune.
• After thousands of exchanges, Thanos swept Apocalypse away and created distance; Apocalypse regretted that he had nearly run out of fortune, while the spectators wondered how to help.

Apocalypse asked the universe’s powerhouses to become his friends so their Fortune could help him wear down Thanos’s power. As Heimdall broadcast the request, the Celestials and countless others pledged their support, and Apocalypse’s Fortune surged while he kept Thanos occupied.

• Captain Marvel and Hela pledged friendship to Apocalypse, restoring and strengthening his Fortune; Thor pledged too, but his Fortune was already connected to Apocalypse.
• Thanos sent a blade of light at Thor, but Apocalypse blocked most of it and Captain Marvel pulled Thor clear, though Thor lost an arm and shoulder.
• Apocalypse continued fighting Thanos as Thor urged Heimdall to broadcast the request for support across the universe.
• Heimdall sent the message through the Bifrost, and Earth’s superheroes pledged their friendship, though their support added little to Apocalypse’s Fortune.
• Arishem pledged support on behalf of the Celestials, causing a visible Fortune Flame to surround Apocalypse and inspiring countless beings, including Namor, Uatu, Adam Warlock, and Grandmaster, to pledge as well.

Wanda and Doctor Strange rallied powerful beings across the multiverse to support Apocalypse, whose Fortune Flame grew as Thanos carved deadly rifts through Universe-616. Apocalypse drove Thanos’s fortune to zero, but Thanos’s final slash left the universe trembling beneath an aura of annihilation.

• Wanda and Doctor Strange broadcast a plea for multiverse powerhouses to become friends with Mr. Tang and support Universe-616.
• Carter, Venom, the Living Tribunal, and other beings pledged their support, strengthening Apocalypse’s Fortune Flame.
• Thanos slashed enormous rifts through Universe-616, threatening to make the universe collapse and destroy its inhabitants.
• Thanos explained that he sought to become a transcender and offered to stop the destruction if Apocalypse surrendered the transcender’s inheritance.
• Apocalypse struck Thanos with hundreds of Fortune Flame-wreathed punches, extinguishing the shadow of misfortune behind him and reducing his fortune to zero.
• Thanos dismissed the universe’s rejection of him and unleashed a final slash, spreading an aura of annihilation throughout Universe-616.

As the universe began to dissolve, a mysterious white light from Earth repaired its fissures, and Thanos turned toward the planet to seek its source. Apocalypse stopped him and fought with all his strength, but the battle left Apocalypse near death while Thanos remained dangerously powerful.

• As the universe split apart, Apocalypse told Heimdall to evacuate the Asgardians to Earth and prepare to move to another universe.
• A white light from Earth healed the universe's fissures, though it did not restore the lives and worlds already lost.
• Thanos tried to fly to Earth to find the source of the light, but Apocalypse blocked him and resumed their fight.
• Apocalypse and Thanos exchanged blows across the Milky Way, grievously injuring each other as Apocalypse used all his power to attack.
• Thor found Apocalypse looking hollowed out and offered Recovery Potions, but Apocalypse said they could not heal his injuries.

With his soul nearly destroyed, Apocalypse discovered that Thanos’s Heart of the Universe was limited by being housed inside Thanos’s body. He joined forces with Captain Marvel for a final attack, burning his soul and their combined Fortune as they charged at Thanos.

• Apocalypse realized that Recovery Potions could heal his body but not the damage the Heart of the Universe had inflicted on his soul.
• Thor, Hela, and Captain Marvel stood between Apocalypse and Thanos, but Apocalypse explained that Thanos’s mistake was putting the Heart of the Universe inside his body.
• Apocalypse teleported his allies out of the path of Thanos’s attacks and told Captain Marvel to help him strike Thanos’s heart.
• Apocalypse and Captain Marvel embraced, combined their power and Fortunes, and launched a final attack fueled by the Infinity Stones and Apocalypse’s soul.

Apocalypse severed Thanos's connection to the Heart of the Universe, and Thor and Hela helped drive it away while Captain Marvel held Thanos back. Apocalypse's body healed, but his soul remained gravely injured and he stayed unconscious as Thor joined the fight against Thanos.

• Apocalypse and Captain Marvel struck Thanos and blasted the Heart of the Universe out of his body, while Hela's Flying Sword severed its last connection to him.
• Thor used his lightning to push the Heart of the Universe away, and Captain Marvel and Apocalypse returned to block Thanos from reaching it.
• Captain Marvel kicked the Heart of the Universe farther into space and kept Thanos occupied, while Hela gave Apocalypse Recovery Potions but could not revive him.
• Thor stopped trying to heal Apocalypse and charged to help Captain Marvel, striking Thanos with his hammer.
• Thanos retaliated with a punch and rushed toward Thor.

Thanos's attack nearly killed Thor, while Apocalypse's damaged soul began recovering after Thor placed him on the Heart of the Universe. Thanos then opened passages to countless Parallel Universes and summoned their powerhouses to seize the heart and Apocalypse.

• Thanos shattered Thor's Hammer and pulverized half of Thor's body, but Captain Marvel knocked Thanos away and saved Thor with a Purple Potion.
• Hela found that Apocalypse's soul was badly damaged and warned that Asgardian medicines could not heal him, so Thor placed him on the Heart of the Universe, whose energy began restoring him.
• Captain Marvel and Hela held off Thanos while Thor carried Apocalypse to the heart, and Thanos failed to notice their dwindling supply of Recovery Potions.
• Thanos released the remaining power of the Heart of the Universe to open passages to countless Parallel Universes and urged their powerhouses to claim the heart and Apocalypse.

After Thanos and Apocalypse were incapacitated, countless powerhouses crossed into Universe-616 to seize the Heart of the Universe and the chance to transcend. Hela and Captain Marvel tried to contain the threat while Thor hid the Heart with Apocalypse, but his movement triggered a devastating melee that left the starfield littered with casualties.

• With Thanos and Apocalypse weakened, powerhouses from across the Multiverse rushed through the open passages into Universe-616.
• Hela warned Captain Marvel to watch Thanos and keep him away from the Heart of the Universe, while Thor was told to hide inside it with Apocalypse.
• Thor carried Apocalypse into the Heart of the Universe and flew into its depths to hide.
• The gathered powerhouses began attacking one another, igniting a massive battle across the starfield.
• The first wave killed more than eighty percent of the fighters, while unusual survivors such as Red Skull and Ghost Rider endured attacks that destroyed others.

Thanos tried to reach the Heart of the Universe amid the melee, while Hela and Captain Marvel struggled to stop him. As the gathered powerhouses began attacking the heart, Thor escaped with the unconscious Apocalypse, but Silver Surfer and Sentry blocked his rescue.

• Thanos used the melee to slip toward the Heart of the Universe, but Captain Marvel and Hela intercepted him before he blended into the crowd.
• Hela warned the powerhouses that Thanos had refined the heart, and the crowd discovered and attacked him as he tried to approach it.
• Thanos warned that an unconscious Earthling inside the heart could recover by absorbing its energy, prompting some powerhouses to enter while others tried to refine it from outside.
• Captain Marvel stayed to hold off Thanos while Hela went to help Thor, but the Heart of the Universe beat and pulverized countless powerhouses.
• Thor emerged from the heart carrying the bloodied Apocalypse and called for Heimdall to take them away, but Silver Surfer cut off the Bifrost light as Sentry demanded that Thor leave Apocalypse behind.

While Apocalypse remained unconscious, rival powerhouses gathered to seize his soul imprint, and Thor was nearly overwhelmed until Arishem and the Celestials intervened. As factions from across the universe arrived to protect Apocalypse, the gathering became a vast standoff, with the battle still poised to begin.

• Parallel Universe powerhouses attacked Thor as they sought Apocalypse's soul imprint, but Arishem arrived with the Celestials and rescued him.
• Three Parallel Watchers challenged Arishem, refusing to let the Celestials take Apocalypse away, and Uatu arrived with other Watchers to oppose them.
• Valkyrie led Asgardian warriors through a portal and declared that they had come to welcome their prince.
• Doctor Strange, Wanda, Iron Man, and Earth's other heroes arrived in battle suits, while Black Widow flew to check on Apocalypse.
• Star-Lord and the Guardians of the Galaxy joined Earth's forces, and Star-Lord revealed that Ego's Cosmic Brain had made him a true god.
• The Sovereign, Kree, and Nova fleets arrived to defend their universe, with Adam Warlock, the Kree, and the Nova Empire pledging their support to Apocalypse.

Universe-616’s forces struggled against an overwhelming invasion of parallel-universe powerhouses as more enemies poured into the battle. Just as Heimdall was wounded while trying to evacuate Thor and the unconscious Apocalypse, Apocalypse woke up and addressed the battlefield.

• A Parallel Watcher struck Arishem, starting a vast battle between the parallel powerhouses and Universe-616’s defenders.
• Earth’s superheroes, Asgard’s warriors, the Celestials, and the Watcher fought to protect Apocalypse, while the Ancient One erased Thanos’s passageways.
• As Universe-616’s defenders suffered heavy losses, Hela left Captain Marvel to reinforce the Asgardians, and Valkyrie asked Heimdall to take Thor and Apocalypse away.
• The Silver Surfer pierced Heimdall as he prepared to use his rainbow power, seemingly ending the evacuation attempt.
• Apocalypse woke from his nap and complained about the noise.

Apocalypse awoke after developing his own Way of Truth and effortlessly defeated the Parallel Watchers and Sentry. He slaughtered the invading beings from parallel universes and left the central Milky Way filled with their remains and abandoned artifacts.

• Apocalypse woke from his dream, embraced Black Widow, and explained how his recovery had led him to develop the Way of Truth.
• The three Parallel Watchers attacked Apocalypse, but he casually dispersed them, killing them and scattering their remains across space.
• Sentry charged Apocalypse with the power of a million exploding suns, and the resulting blast devastated many weaker beings from parallel universes.
• The invading beings fled, but Apocalypse spread a force that killed those who were not native to Universe-616.
• Apocalypse dragged back those who had escaped through wormholes and killed the remaining invaders, filling the central Milky Way with seas of blood, continents of flesh, and divine artifacts.

Apocalypse captured Thanos, stripped away the Heart of the Universe, and sentenced him to ten thousand years of torment in Hell. After recovering the Heart and speaking with the Watchers and Celestials, Apocalypse reunited with the superheroes and prepared to return to Earth to meet someone.

• Captain Marvel returned without Thanos, so Apocalypse pulled his wounded body from the aorta and took the Heart of the Universe from him.
• Apocalypse sentenced Thanos to endure the bites of Hell's undead souls for ten thousand years, and Hell dragged him into its passageways.
• Apocalypse shrank the Heart of the Universe, sealed it in a box made of Uru Metal, and told the Watchers he still lacked a key thing to take the final step.
• Apocalypse told the Watchers and Celestials he could eventually lead them into the Creator Dimension, though each would have to take the final step for themselves.
• Apocalypse greeted the gathered superheroes, reassured Loki that Odin had pleaded for his life, and restored Thor's Hammer with his Way of Truth.
• Apocalypse announced that they would return to Earth to meet someone.