Chapter Summaries

After Scott Lang was arrested for breaking into Hank Pym's house, the police chief treated him like an honored guest because he believed Scott was the Apocalypse King's close friend. Hank secured Scott's release on bail by asking him to help with a task that night, and Scott arrived at Hank's home with Apocalypse.

• Cassie Lang's stepfather brought Hank Pym and Scott Lang to the police station, where he asked Scott about Apocalypse and requested an introduction.
• The police chief fawned over Scott during the interrogation, while Hank Pym insisted that Scott's theft be recorded.
• Hank agreed to Scott's release on bail and told him to come that night to help with a task in exchange for dropping the charges.
• Hank waited at home with Hope, and Scott arrived with Apocalypse, who introduced himself as Tang and the Apocalypse King.

Dr. Pym brought Apocalypse into his plan to stop Cross, while Scott Lang began training in the repaired Ant-Man Suit. Hope challenged Apocalypse and explained why she deliberately dressed to appear less attractive at work.

• Hope and Apocalypse struck up a friendly conversation, leaving Scott Lang and Dr. Pym surprised by how quickly they got along.
• Dr. Pym explained Cross's dangerous research and said he would not involve S.H.I.E.L.D. because he did not trust it.
• Hope questioned why Dr. Pym trusted Scott Lang instead of her, while Apocalypse declined to take Scott's place in the Ant-Man Suit.
• Dr. Pym brought out his patched-up Ant-Man Suit, and Scott Lang went to train with it under his guidance.
• Apocalypse asked Hope about her appearance, and Hope explained that she dressed to avoid being treated as merely a pretty face at work.

Apocalypse watched Scott train with the Ant-Man Suit and considered the complex nature of Pym Particles, while Hope questioned whether Scott could handle the mission. After Hope rejected Apocalypse’s explanation for why he could not wear the suit, a silent figure slipped downstairs at midnight.

• Dr. Pym trained Scott to shrink through a keyhole, judge his surroundings, and control his strength while tiny.
• Apocalypse reasoned that Pym Particles changed a person’s weight and other traits as well as their size.
• Hope argued with Apocalypse over his coffee, and Scott was hit by the cup as he returned to normal size.
• Hope told Dr. Pym that Scott was progressing too slowly and suggested she would find her own way to take part in the mission.
• Apocalypse said his body, strengthened by Odin’s Eternal Flame, would require far more Pym Particles to shrink; Hope dismissed his claim and went upstairs.
• At midnight, while Dr. Pym and Scott slept, a tall figure silently slipped downstairs.

Hope tried to sneak out in the Ant-Man Suit to scout Pym Technologies, but Apocalypse stopped her and explained why Dr. Pym chose Scott Lang for the mission. He revealed that Hope’s mother, Janet, was alive in the Quantum Realm, leaving Hope and Dr. Pym demanding to know how to reach her.

• Hope put on the Ant-Man Suit and shrank, but Apocalypse trapped her beneath a glass before she could leave.
• Apocalypse told Hope that Dr. Pym chose Scott Lang because he was an outsider and losing Hope would be unbearable to her father.
• Hope described how Dr. Pym had sent her to boarding school after Janet’s apparent death, and Apocalypse explained that he had been searching the Quantum Realm for Janet.
• Apocalypse told Hope that Janet had survived entering the Quantum Realm and was still alive there.
• Dr. Pym emerged from behind the door and asked whether Janet could have survived without food.
• Apocalypse released Hope, and she punched him before demanding to know where Janet was and how they could save her.

Dr. Pym told Hope how Janet had disappeared into the Quantum Realm, ending their long-standing misunderstanding. Apocalypse said Janet was alive and that Scott Lang could help reach her, but Dr. Pym insisted they wait until they had dealt with Cross and learned more.

• Dr. Pym explained that Janet had sacrificed herself to enter a missile and fallen into the Quantum Realm, and he and Hope reconciled.
• Scott Lang arrived and interrupted their embrace, and Hope asked Apocalypse what he meant by saying Janet was still alive.
• Apocalypse identified Scott Lang as the key to reaching Janet and warned him to keep a Blue Flying Ring in reserve.
• Apocalypse explained that Scott could enter the Quantum Realm to find Janet while Dr. Pym handled the rescue, but Dr. Pym refused to begin testing yet because of Cross and the danger of rushing.
• Hope sent Scott back to training and warned Apocalypse not to lie, and Apocalypse asked how she would reward him if he told the truth.

Apocalypse helped Scott Lang develop his mental powers, allowing Scott to control ants and master the Flying Rings as he completed his Ant-Man training. Hank Pym proposed one final exercise before they infiltrated Cross’s laboratory, but Apocalypse objected, and Hank suggested they inspect Cross’s client meeting first.

• Scott made progress switching between normal and shrunken forms, but failed to control ants because he no longer had to rely on longing for his daughter.
• Apocalypse pressed a hand to Scott’s head and painfully developed his mental domain, enabling Scott to control ants with precision.
• Scott quickly learned to use the Flying Rings and hid a blue ring in his Ant-Man Suit for emergencies.
• Hank Pym told Scott to steal a Signal Scrambler Prototype from a S.H.I.E.L.D. branch, but Apocalypse argued they could attack Cross’s laboratory directly.
• Hope insisted that sneaking in was safer, and Hank proposed they attend Cross’s client meeting the next afternoon before deciding what to do.

Hope changed her appearance and joined Apocalypse, Dr. Pym, and Scott Lang at Pym Technologies for Cross’s presentation. Cross unveiled the Wasp Suit and drew eager offers from arms dealers, until someone in the crowd announced they would take one.

• Hope revealed her natural appearance, and Apocalypse teased her about paying him before he had rescued her mother.
• The group entered Pym Technologies despite Hope’s warning that Cross had imposed strict security, and employees recognized Dr. Pym and Hope.
• Cross introduced Dr. Pym as his mentor and presented restored footage of Ant-Man to explain his inspiration for the Wasp Suit.
• Cross demonstrated the suit by shrinking himself, and arms dealers clamored to buy it.
• Dr. Pym and Hope worried about Cross’s progress before a voice in the crowd said, “I’ll take one.”

Apocalypse intervened at Cross's Wasp Suit presentation, trapped Cross, and stopped a Hydra attack before it could harm the guests. After revealing himself as the Apocalypse King to Scott Lang and Dr. Pym, he admitted he wanted Pym's formula, though Tony had not sent him.

• Apocalypse trapped Cross and took control of the miniature Wasp Suit before the suit could spread to the black market.
• Hydra agents recognized Apocalypse, threw disguised bombs, and fled, but Apocalypse halted the explosions and dragged them back into the laboratory for S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Apocalypse restrained the Hydra agents and told Scott Lang he had intended to let him practice against Cross.
• Scott Lang, Hope, and Dr. Pym learned that Apocalypse was the Apocalypse King, and Scott reconsidered whether he had heroic potential.
• Dr. Pym asked whether the Starks had sent Apocalypse to steal his formula, and Apocalypse said he wanted it but Tony had nothing to do with it.

Apocalypse confronted Cross over the Pym Particle Formula, but before he could decide Cross’s fate, White Ghost appeared and rescued him. She escaped despite Apocalypse using the Spatial Cage, divine power, the Reality Stone, and a mental attack, leaving him unable to track her.

• Dr. Pym refused to give Apocalypse the Pym Particle Formula, and Apocalypse said he only wanted to keep it out of the wrong hands.
• Hope questioned why Apocalypse had trained Scott, and he insisted Scott would become a crucial superhero.
• Cross argued that Apocalypse had no legal grounds to kill him, though the guests recognized the danger of his cracking the formula.
• White Ghost emerged from the crowd, took the shrunken Cross, and passed through Apocalypse’s Spatial Cage and the floor.
• Apocalypse attacked White Ghost with divine power, the Reality Stone, and a mental sword, but none of them stopped her.
• White Ghost escaped underground with Cross after giving Apocalypse the middle finger, and the nearby guests denied helping her.

Apocalypse recognized the White Ghost as Ava and learned from Nick Fury that S.H.I.E.L.D. had once employed her while falsely implying it could cure her Quantum Body. Ava had escaped with Cross, and Apocalypse left with her history and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s deception in mind.

• Apocalypse identified the White Ghost as Ava, warned Scott Lang about her powers, and suspected she had taken Cross to use his technology to cure her Quantum Body.
• Hope asked what to do about Cross's research data, and Apocalypse told her and Dr. Pym to destroy the servers after securing the Pym Particle Formula.
• Apocalypse called Nick Fury to request Ava's file and revealed that Ava had escaped with Cross after defeating him.
• Nick Fury explained that Ava had served as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s enforcer, believed its Phase-Shifting Suit meant it could cure her, and defected after discovering it had never sought a cure.
• Apocalypse accused Nick Fury of acting underhandedly, and Fury replied that those at the top could not get things done by following the rules entirely.

Apocalypse worked with Nick Fury to locate Ava and explored ways to contain her Quantum Body. After Dr. Pym said a suitable device would be extremely difficult to build, Apocalypse prepared Scott and Hope to pursue another approach, but Dr. Pym objected to Hope joining the mission.

• Apocalypse told Fury to investigate Bill Foster, who had been helping Ava find a treatment, and Fury agreed to look into him.
• Fury said Falcon was already on his way to Pym Technologies, and Falcon arrived soon afterward.
• Apocalypse asked Dr. Pym about restraining a Quantum Body, and Dr. Pym described a quantum energy field that would take enormous resources and time to build.
• Apocalypse gave Scott files to study and told him he would have to take the field; Hope studied the material with Scott and began to understand it.
• Apocalypse decided Hope would join Scott, but Dr. Pym refused to let his daughter take part in a dangerous mission.

Apocalypse persuaded Dr. Pym to let Hope use the Wasp Suit and joined her and Scott Lang in tracking Professor Bill Foster. They discovered Foster's enormous hidden laboratory and its vast supply of Pym Particles, then found Foster meeting Cross and Ava there.

• Apocalypse convinced Dr. Pym that Hope should take her first steps as a superhero under his protection, and Hope put on her Wasp Suit.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. reported that Professor Bill Foster had left for home, so Apocalypse followed him while Hope and Scott rode on his shoulders in miniature.
• Foster entered a hidden basement laboratory filled with advanced equipment and a huge container of slowly produced Pym Particles.
• Scott warned that miniature bombs made with Pym Particles could let terrorists attack nearly any building and be almost impossible to stop.
• Apocalypse, Hope, and Scott saw Cross and Ava in the laboratory as Foster asked what had happened.

Apocalypse confronted Cross, Ava, and Professor Bill Foster in their hideout after tracking them down. He revealed he could cure Ava, but she refused to trust him and attacked; Scott Lang and Hope then disrupted her quantum state, leaving her hand trapped in Apocalypse’s body.

• Apocalypse appeared in the hideout and blocked the exit by collapsing the stairs.
• Ava attacked Apocalypse while Cross shrank in the Wasp Suit and tried to escape, abandoning Professor Bill Foster.
• Hope turned back at Apocalypse’s command, while he urged Ava to stop and offered to cure her.
• Hope warned Apocalypse that all of Ava’s quantum afterimages were real, but Ava reached into his chest and tried to pull out his heart.
• Apocalypse called for help, and Scott Lang and Hope disrupted Ava’s Phase-Shifting Suit, trapping her hand inside his body and severing it as she returned to normal size.

Apocalypse subdued Ava by having Scott Lang and Hope alter her Phase-Shifting Suit, then healed her severed hand with a Green Recovery Potion. Cross returned after finding himself trapped by an invisible barrier and, determined to make Apocalypse his test subject, enlarged himself and hoisted the Pym Particles container onto his back.

• Apocalypse used himself as bait so Ava briefly became physical, allowing Scott Lang and Hope to alter her suit; the change severed Ava’s hand when it was caught in his chest.
• Apocalypse reattached Ava’s hand with a Green Recovery Potion, caught her when she tried to flee, and had Scott Lang tie her up.
• Cross returned after discovering an invisible barrier prevented his escape, and Hope urged him to stop before he went too far.
• Cross revealed that he had developed defective Pym Particles and discovered the Quantum Realm while exploring how far objects could shrink.
• Cross activated his suit to grow larger, attached the Pym Particles container to his back, and challenged Apocalypse to take the fight upstairs.

Cross used Pym Particles to transform himself and unleash the Nuclear Blast Fist, forcing Apocalypse to divert the attacks away from the people and city behind him. As the blasts tore through the atmosphere and reached space, S.H.I.E.L.D. and other organizations detected the disturbance.

• Cross grew to a hundred meters tall, but Apocalypse swatted him into the spatial barrier and then began contracting the Spatial Cage around him.
• Cross returned to normal size while growing so dense that he sank into the concrete, then unleashed the Nuclear Blast Fist and shattered the cage.
• Apocalypse warped space to redirect Cross's nuclear-energy attacks skyward, protecting Hope, Scott Lang, Ava, Bill Foster, and the city behind him.
• Cross repeatedly punched at Apocalypse, devastating the surrounding area as Apocalypse struggled to contain and divert each blast.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. detected the disturbance, and Nick Fury reacted to the apparent nuclear blast in the command room.

Apocalypse protected the city from Cross’s nuclear-powered attacks and learned that Cross used Pym Particles to trigger fusion within his body. After realizing the technique might be replicable, Apocalypse delayed killing Cross to consider using it himself.

• Nick Fury identified the energy disturbances as man-made, and S.H.I.E.L.D. began evacuating the city as crowds headed toward the battle zone.
• Cross tried to strike the ground with a Nuclear Blast Fist, so Apocalypse moved everyone into the sky and shielded the city with a spatial barrier.
• Cross’s blast devastated the suburbs, but the barrier stopped the inferno from reaching the city.
• Cross kept attacking and claimed he could throw more than ten thousand Nuclear Blast Fists, prompting Apocalypse to ask how he generated them.
• Hope explained that Cross used Pym Particles to alter atomic spacing and create nuclear fusion inside his body.
• After hearing how little matter nuclear reactions could convert into energy, Apocalypse considered learning to use the same technique and held back from killing Cross.

Apocalypse fought Cross, whose Nuclear Blast Fist proved powerful enough to force him back and endanger the city below. Apocalypse survived their clash, but Cross remained alive and the battle continued.

• Apocalypse sent Hope, Scott Lang, Bill Foster, and Ava down to the city, where his spatial barrier could protect them.
• Cross explained how he had developed the Nuclear Blast Fist and challenged Apocalypse to settle their fight.
• Apocalypse tested Cross's durability with increasingly powerful blows, then accepted Cross's demand for a direct clash.
• Cross secretly unleashed a tenfold Nuclear Blast Fist against Apocalypse's Infinite Divine Fist, forcing Apocalypse back several kilometers and terrifying observers on Earth.
• Apocalypse revealed that he had survived by raising a shield of divine power, while Cross recognized that his trap had failed and demanded another clash.

Apocalypse studied Cross's Nuclear Blast Fist and discovered how Pym Particles enabled its explosive power. After using the Reality Stone and Aether to analyze them, he managed to produce Pym Particles with divine power alone, then asked Cross what he thought of his Nuclear Blast Fist.

• Apocalypse fought Cross with ordinary punches and figured out that his Nuclear Blast Fist compressed matter in his dantian until it released immense energy.
• Apocalypse collected Cross's blood and used the Reality Stone to separate and study its Pym Particles.
• Cross mocked Apocalypse for trying to analyze Pym Particles without understanding physics, but Apocalypse used the Aether to create a huge mass of them.
• Apocalypse repeatedly expanded and compressed the Pym Particles until he understood their structure, then absorbed the Aether's energy.
• Apocalypse produced a drop of Pym Particles using divine power alone and asked Cross what he thought of his Nuclear Blast Fist.

Apocalypse mastered Cross’s Nuclear Blast Fist and overwhelmed him, but Cross unleashed a thousandfold attack that devastated the moon before disappearing into the Quantum Realm. Apocalypse went to Hank Pym, determined to pursue Cross and make sure he could not threaten Earth again.

• Apocalypse copied Cross’s Nuclear Blast Fist and battered him with increasingly powerful attacks until Cross’s body began to crack and turn metallic.
• Cross spoke about his childhood fascination with the moon, then released a thousandfold Nuclear Blast Fist that blasted vast amounts of rock and dust from the lunar surface.
• After the attack drained him and pierced his body, Cross vanished by shrinking into the Quantum Realm as Apocalypse’s Infinite Divine Fist struck empty air.
• Apocalypse searched for Cross with his mental power, found no trace of him, and concluded he had entered the Quantum Realm.
• Apocalypse went to find Hank Pym, intending to enter the Quantum Realm and confirm Cross’s death.

After defeating Cross and lifting the city’s spatial barrier, Apocalypse prepared to enter the Quantum Realm with Dr. Pym, Ava, and Scott Lang to find Hope’s mother. He reassured Hope that he would bring her mother back, leaving Hope behind to wait with S.H.I.E.L.D.’s support.

• S.H.I.E.L.D. agents told the city that Apocalypse had won, and Apocalypse left Nick Fury to handle the aftermath.
• Dr. Pym explained that Cross’s metallic skin came from iron produced by his forced nuclear fusion, and Apocalypse expelled the excess iron from his own body.
• Apocalypse created Pym Particles with his bare hands and asked Dr. Pym to build a Quantum Chamber for the trip.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. supplied equipment, and Dr. Pym completed a reinforced Quantum Chamber with extra Pym Particles.
• Apocalypse chose Dr. Pym, Ava, and Scott to accompany him into the Quantum Realm, while Hope stayed behind to wait for her mother.