Chapter Summaries

Apocalypse arranged to visit Peter Parker and learned that Peter had become more composed while trying to impress a girl. At dinner with Peter, Ned, and Aunt May, Apocalypse discovered that Peter’s guest was Antonia, the Taskmaster and daughter of General Dreykov.

• Apocalypse returned the restored cult leaders to Earth and told Nick Fury he would find S.H.I.E.L.D. more superheroes.
• Apocalypse called Happy, who said Peter had improved at catching criminals and seemed to be trying to impress a girl.
• Apocalypse agreed to visit Peter for dinner, and Happy asked whether Peter could bring a friend.
• Apocalypse arrived at Aunt May’s home, where she welcomed him alongside Happy, Peter, Ned, and a girl.
• Peter introduced the girl as Antonia, and Apocalypse recognized her as the Taskmaster, General Dreykov’s daughter.

Peter introduced Antonia to Apocalypse and his family during dinner, where Antonia revealed her harsh, independent life after escaping the Red Room. She ended by dismissing Peter as a childish Spider-Man, while Peter was shocked that she knew his identity.

• Peter brought his classmate Antonia to dinner and introduced her to Apocalypse, whom she recognized as the Apocalypse King and connected to Black Widow.
• Antonia explained that she had returned to school because she regretted never finishing her education, and said Apocalypse had healed her paralysis.
• Antonia revealed that her parents were dead, that she hired people to pose as her guardians, and that she financed her life by collecting protection money from Brooklyn gangs.
• May offered to support Antonia through college, but Antonia clarified that she beat gang members who refused to pay her.
• Peter asked Apocalypse about Antonia's past, but Apocalypse said it was Antonia's choice whether to tell him.
• Antonia called Peter a childish brat for dressing as Spider-Man, and Peter was startled that she knew his secret identity.

Apocalypse visited Peter’s home, where Peter’s classmate MJ arrived and joined the dinner. May agreed to let Peter join S.H.I.E.L.D., and Apocalypse promised to teach Peter and Ned cultivation techniques and spells.

• Antonia revealed that she had recognized Peter’s attempt to sneak away, and she teased him for thinking he had acted mysteriously.
• MJ brought Peter his competition materials, and Apocalypse invited her inside to eat with the group.
• Apocalypse told MJ that he knew her from another timeline and suggested she might develop abilities in the future, leaving the others wondering about her significance.
• Apocalypse formally invited Peter to join S.H.I.E.L.D., and May agreed, citing Uncle Ben’s words about responsibility.
• Peter celebrated May’s decision, and Apocalypse said he would teach Peter cultivation techniques and give Ned sorcerer spells suited to his physique.

Apocalypse offered Ned and Peter another chance to learn techniques and invited Antonia and MJ to study magic. He then arranged for Wakanda to integrate with the world through S.H.I.E.L.D., and after Wakanda invited him to visit, he chose companions for the trip.

• Apocalypse offered Ned and Peter another transmission of techniques, then invited Antonia and MJ to learn magic as well.
• Ned drew a golden circle for MJ, while Antonia felt conflicted seeing MJ with Peter.
• Apocalypse asked Nick Fury to coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and offer to mediate Wakanda’s peaceful integration into the world.
• Nick Fury conveyed Apocalypse’s offer, and Wakanda’s king sent a letter inviting Apocalypse to visit and advise the country.
• Apocalypse told Nick Fury to bring Tony, Rocket Raccoon, Vision, and Wanda.

Apocalypse and the visiting delegation arrived in Wakanda, where advanced technology and a grand welcome revealed the hidden nation's strength. T'Challa greeted Apocalypse King, while Rocket Raccoon's antics threatened to disrupt the reception.

• Apocalypse, Nick Fury, Iron Man, Rocket Raccoon, Vision, Wanda, and the others traveled to Wakanda aboard a Helicarrier.
• Apocalypse explained Wakanda's isolation and promised to protect its Vibranium from anyone who tried to seize it by force.
• Rocket Raccoon detected Wakanda's concealed city and was warned by Apocalypse not to steal anything.
• Wakanda's energy shield opened to reveal a futuristic city, and thousands of residents welcomed Apocalypse King.
• T'Challa greeted Apocalypse at the Helicarrier, while Rocket Raccoon complained about the loud welcome and Apocalypse threatened to summon Nebula.

Apocalypse visited Wakanda and secured an agreement in principle to have its people and technology help S.H.I.E.L.D. oversee the believers. While the leaders discussed the details, Rocket annoyed Okoye with questions and ended by asking her to be his woman.

• Apocalypse introduced Rocket to Black Panther and apologized for Rocket's unfamiliarity with Earth's etiquette.
• Black Panther introduced Apocalypse and his companions to T'Chaka, Ramonda, Shuri, and Okoye.
• Apocalypse asked Wakanda to help strengthen oversight of the believers, offering to protect the nation from other countries' ambitions in return.
• T'Chaka and Apocalypse agreed in principle, leaving Fury to negotiate the details with Wakanda's leaders.
• Rocket asked Okoye whether she washed her head with shampoo or facial cleanser, then asked Shuri if Okoye was single.
• Rocket told Okoye she was the most beautiful Earth woman he had seen and asked her to be his woman.

Rocket Raccoon interrupted the Wakanda negotiations by declaring his love for Okoye, then fought her outside after she rejected his advances. With the main terms settled, King T'Chaka invited Apocalypse to witness T'Challa’s coronation the next day, and Black Panther led the S.H.I.E.L.D. group on a tour of Wakanda.

• Rocket Raccoon confessed his admiration for Okoye and insisted Apocalypse was preventing him from pursuing her.
• Apocalypse sent Rocket Raccoon, Okoye, Shuri, and Vision out of the meeting hall, where Okoye rejected Rocket Raccoon’s advances and challenged him with her Vibranium spear.
• Rocket Raccoon and Okoye fought on even terms as Shuri cheered them on, disrupting the negotiations inside.
• King T'Chaka asked Apocalypse to stay and witness T'Challa’s coronation the next day, and Apocalypse agreed.
• Black Panther led the S.H.I.E.L.D. visitors on a tour of Wakanda, with the Vibranium Meteorite Crater as their main destination.

After touring Wakanda’s Vibranium facilities, Apocalypse and the others attended Black Panther’s coronation ceremony, where Killmonger suddenly challenged him for the throne. The crowd awaited the old king’s response as he looked toward Apocalypse.

• The group visited Wakanda’s underground Vibranium laboratory, where Shuri explained its technology and Rocket Raccoon criticized it.
• Rocket Raccoon claimed he was older than Shuri thought and teased Okoye about courting her in ten years.
• Wakanda held Black Panther’s coronation ceremony, where the old king invited challengers to contest the throne.
• Killmonger identified himself as N’Jobu’s son and claimed his birthright to challenge Black Panther.
• The Council of Elders and Zuri reacted with alarm, and the old king looked toward Apocalypse.

After Killmonger's royal lineage was confirmed, Apocalypse proposed abolishing Wakanda's tradition of choosing its king through trial by combat. Nick Fury exposed Killmonger's criminal career and his father N'Jobu's betrayal, turning the crowd against him and leaving his claim to the throne in doubt.

• A technician confirmed that Killmonger was descended from Wakanda's royal family.
• Apocalypse said Wakanda should abolish trial by combat as it joined the international community, prompting an uproar.
• Killmonger argued that Apocalypse should not interfere in Wakanda's ancient traditions, winning support from many citizens.
• Nick Fury challenged Wakanda's elders and revealed that Killmonger was a notorious artifact thief and N'Jobu's son.
• Nick Fury explained that N'Jobu had conspired to steal vibranium and died after taking Zuri hostage, causing the crowd to denounce Killmonger as ineligible.

Apocalypse exposed Killmonger's ambition to seize Wakanda's throne and wage war, then used the heart-shaped herb to contact Bast, the Black Panther God. Bast appeared before Wakanda and addressed Apocalypse, who asked why she knew him.

• Apocalypse revealed that Killmonger planned to wage war after taking the throne, and Killmonger’s startled reaction led the Wakandans to recognize his guilt.
• The Dora Milaje arrested Killmonger as the Wakandans rejected his claim to the throne.
• Apocalypse offered to contact Bast after an elder defended Wakanda’s throne ritual as the Black Panther God’s will.
• Black Panther brought heart-shaped herb liquid, which Apocalypse drank to reach the Ancestral Plane.
• A Void Gate opened above the waterfall platform, and Bast appeared as a panther before shrinking to human height.
• Bast greeted Apocalypse as Mr. Tang and asked why he had contacted her.

Apocalypse asked Bast to abolish Wakanda's royal succession rule and learn about the Soul World. After his attempt to enter the Ancestral Plane damaged it, he offered to see if he could restore it.

• Bast declared Apocalypse's will superior to the gods' and threatened to expel any Wakandans who resented it, but Apocalypse persuaded her to spare them.
• Bast placed Apocalypse above Wakanda's gods, and the Wakandans accepted the abolition of the succession rule.
• Apocalypse asked Bast about the Soul World, and she explained that gods developed their own soul realms there but did not create the world itself.
• Apocalypse reached through the Void Gate into the Ancestral Plane, but his hand annihilated parts of its landscape and threatened to collapse the realm.
• Bast said she could slowly condense the damaged realm again, and Apocalypse offered to try restoring it himself.

Apocalypse transformed Bast’s Soul Realm into a vast, illuminated microcosm, and Bast rewarded T’Challa with greater Black Panther power and pledged Wakanda’s service to Apocalypse. As T’Challa took the throne, Apocalypse realized that a future force tied to the Creator Dimension would kill Black Panthers across parallel worlds, including T’Challa.

• Apocalypse expanded Bast’s Soul Realm into a continent-sized world with a sun, moon, stars, and day-night cycles.
• Bast thanked Apocalypse and granted T’Challa greater Black Panther power, ordering him to follow and serve Apocalypse.
• Bast returned to explore her transformed realm, while Wakanda pledged to help safeguard Earth.
• Wakandans acclaimed T’Challa as king, and the old king welcomed his accession.
• Apocalypse recalled T’Challa’s future death and concluded it would result from Chadwick Boseman’s death in the Creator Dimension, affecting Black Panthers throughout the multiverse.

Apocalypse warned Black Panther that he would die of an incurable disease tied to the Creator Dimension, then brought Namor to Wakanda to prevent a future war. Namor arrived furious but became deferential when he recognized Apocalypse, who had yet to explain why he had summoned him.

• Apocalypse gave Black Panther a Purple Potion and explained that Black Panthers across parallel universes would die when their real-world counterpart died in the Creator Dimension.
• Black Panther accepted the potion and comforted Shuri and his family, while Shuri asked to study his DNA for preventive measures.
• Apocalypse revealed that Namor would later wage war on Wakanda, abduct Shuri, and kill Queen Ramonda, so he planned to avert the conflict and change their fates.
• Apocalypse reached across the Atlantic and dragged Namor from the sea to Wakanda, overpowering his attempts to resist.
• Namor crashed through the palace window, demanded to know who had summoned him, then recognized Apocalypse and asked whether his people had offended him.

Apocalypse brought Namor into a plan to protect Earth, revealing the Underwater Clan’s plan to attack the surface and securing Namor’s agreement to cooperate. The chapter ended with the Underwater Clan, Wakanda, and S.H.I.E.L.D. formally allied under Apocalypse’s oversight.

• Namor feared Apocalypse had come to punish the Underwater Clan, but Apocalypse said he wanted them included in Earth’s protection plan.
• Apocalypse revealed that he knew Namor was preparing to counterattack the surface, leaving Namor stunned.
• Namor accepted that he could not resist Apocalypse and knelt, agreeing to follow his arrangements for the Underwater Clan.
• Apocalypse ordered the Underwater Clan to share technology with Wakanda, establish travel channels with S.H.I.E.L.D., and allow S.H.I.E.L.D. elites to investigate corruption in the Underwater City.
• Namor admitted that some Atlanteans had gained strange powers they called gifts from the Feathered Serpent, and he promised to act if needed.
• Apocalypse united the Underwater Clan, Wakanda, and S.H.I.E.L.D. in a formal alliance led by Namor, Black Panther, and Nick Fury, with Apocalypse above them.

After Wakandan and Atlantean forces joined S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury asked Apocalypse how to handle peaceful sects worshipping beings from Parallel Universes. Apocalypse chose to use their goodwill to build alliances and established S.W.O.R.D. to negotiate with powerful beings from the myriad realms.

• Wakanda sent a team led by Black Panther, while Atlanteans began patrolling oceans and rescuing people, bolstering S.H.I.E.L.D.'s global forces.
• Nick Fury brought Apocalypse reports of new sects that worshipped beings from Parallel Universes but had committed no crimes and encouraged good deeds.
• Apocalypse explained that some beings sought contact rather than followers, and said Earth should unite benevolent powers from the myriad realms against hostile ones.
• Apocalypse proposed a new S.H.I.E.L.D. department led by Vision, Wanda, Ava, Natasha, Stephen, and Hill, with Nick Fury retaining command.
• Nick Fury asked for the department's name, and Apocalypse named it S.W.O.R.D.

Apocalypse arranged for powerful beings from Parallel Universes to establish direct contact with S.W.O.R.D. and leave traces of their auras in Vibranium beads. When one being refused, Apocalypse used a causal link to pursue it and asked Wanda and Stephen to help him find it.

• Apocalypse told Nick Fury to gather S.W.O.R.D.’s founding members and the believers who claimed to speak for powerful beings.
• More than a dozen cult leaders met with Apocalypse and said their gods wanted contact, with some offering to join his ranks.
• Apocalypse asked the cult leaders to have their gods leave traces of their auras, and Stephen sealed those auras inside Vibranium beads supplied by Vision.
• Apocalypse discovered that one bead was empty and learned that the being behind its cult leader had cut off contact.
• Apocalypse followed the remaining causal link and asked Wanda and Stephen to use the Darkhold and the Book of Vishanti to help locate the fugitive being.

Apocalypse used the Causal Line to find Cross, who had hidden in another universe after fleeing into the Quantum Realm. Cross tried to escape again, but Apocalypse pursued him into the Quantum Realm and destroyed him.

• Wanda and Stephen joined Apocalypse in following the Causal Line across universes to find the hidden powerhouse.
• Apocalypse discovered that the powerhouse was Cross, who had located Earth-616 and was hiding underground after learning Apocalypse was searching for hidden powerhouses.
• Apocalypse struck Cross's underground hideout with the Fist of Laws, but Cross escaped into the Quantum Realm.
• Apocalypse sent Pym Particles carrying the Fist of Laws into the Quantum Realm and struck Cross before he could flee.
• Cross's metallic body dissolved into points of light, and its particles returned to the Quantum Realm.

After Apocalypse restored the shrunken Parallel Earth and ordered all powerful beings to seek S.W.O.R.D.'s approval before entering Earth, the Sacred Timeline changed to revolve around Earth-616. Kang abandoned the TVA, whose employees became free to leave and enter universes across time.

• Apocalypse restored the Parallel Earth after Pym Particles shrank it, and the Moon was pulled back into an altered orbit.
• The remaining Pym Particles fused with the Parallel Earth, creating Sumeru Particles and leading to new technology, superheroes, and the Sumeru Divine Cult.
• Apocalypse declared that powerful beings had to contact S.W.O.R.D. and receive approval before entering Earth, officially establishing the organization.
• The Sacred Timeline transformed into a doughnut of timelines centered on Earth-616, and Kang told TVA employees they were free to leave.
• Kang vanished to meet Apocalypse, while TVA employees collected treasures and entered different universes and eras as time began passing in the TVA.

Apocalypse joined Odin, Thor, Jane, and Sif on a Norwegian seaside cliff as Odin prepared to die and entrusted the future of Asgard to him. Apocalypse agreed to protect Asgard and spare Loki and Hela if possible, while Thor suggested that Apocalypse could simply extend Odin’s life.

• Thor called Apocalypse and told him that Odin wanted to speak with him by the sea in Scandinavia.
• Apocalypse arrived and promised Odin that he would protect Asgard, reminding him that Asgard had once helped him with the Eternal Flame.
• Odin explained that he had sealed Hela away after she challenged the Celestials and asked Apocalypse to spare Hela and Loki.
• Apocalypse agreed to spare Loki under Earth’s laws and to seal him away if he committed further crimes.
• Thor revealed that he had not been grieving because he thought Apocalypse could extend Odin’s life by thousands of years.

Odin died and Apocalypse separated his soul from his body, allowing him to enter the Soul World and travel to Valhalla. As Thor prepared to return to Asgard, Hela appeared and demanded that he kneel before his queen.

• Apocalypse told Thor he could not extend Odin’s lifespan, but offered to help Odin enter the Soul World after his death.
• Odin chose Valhalla, and Apocalypse used a fragment of his soul to separate Odin’s spirit from his dissolving body.
• Odin said farewell to Thor and traveled toward Valhalla, leaving Thor grieving but comforted that they could meet again someday.
• Thor asked Apocalypse to contact Odin for him, then decided to return to Asgard to tell his mother the news.
• Hela emerged from a portal, dismissed Apocalypse as a mortal, and ordered Thor to kneel before his queen.