Recaps

Luke investigated the wreckage of a freighter and found blurry images in its black box after learning that a person and a monster had attacked the fleet. Meanwhile, Star-Lord and his companions arrived to search for the Cosmic Beast, only to find the Giant Beast Hunting Group already occupying the area.

• Luke found a freighter’s black box and watched its recording of a fleet being attacked by a person and a giant monster.
• The black box displayed several blurry images, making Luke freeze.
• Star-Lord told Gamora that a powerful being had promised to rescue the crew if they called for help, and Gamora explained that their job was only to find the Cosmic Beast’s trail.
• Star-Lord leaned toward Gamora, who slapped him, and he claimed he had slapped himself to wake up.
• Star-Lord’s crew reached the Cosmic Beast’s last known location and spotted a fleet of ships already there.
• The Giant Beast Hunting Group contacted them and ordered them to leave the area.

Star-Lord’s crew tracked Shadowbane and discovered him fighting Silver Surfer, whose presence caused nausea and weakness in several of them. The Shadow Ninja recognized Shadowbane as a former comrade and summoned Luke, while Gamora realized Luke could expose her past and tried to hide her identity.

• Gamora used the Cosmic Beast sightings to predict the beast’s path, and Star-Lord’s crew left the Giant Beast Hunting Group behind to intercept it.
• The Giant Beast Hunting Group identified Gamora as a former servant of Thanos and followed Star-Lord’s ship, hoping to sell information about her and capture the beast.
• Star-Lord’s crew found Shadowbane battling Silver Surfer, and Shadowbane repeatedly regenerated after Silver Surfer severed his tentacles.
• Rocket, Groot, and Drax suffered nausea and weakness from Shadowbane’s aura, while the Shadow Ninja recognized Shadowbane from their past battles against the Chitauri and urged the crew to help him.
• The Shadow Ninja summoned Luke through the Dark Crystal, and Luke joined the crew after revealing he had also been tracking Shadowbane.
• Gamora recognized Luke as Thanos’s enemy and withdrew to the lower cabin, hoping to conceal her identity until Luke left.

Luke intercepted Silver Surfer and reunited with Shadowbane, then revealed to the stunned Surfer that he was Galactus’s son-in-law. Meanwhile, the Giant Beast Hunting Group captured Star-Lord’s ship, and the Shadow Ninja began cutting through its cables.

• Star-Lord and Gamora watched as Luke went out to meet Silver Surfer, while Luke recalled how Shadowbane had become an independent life-form.
• Silver Surfer mistook Luke for Shadowbane’s ally and tried to escape, but Luke trapped him in the Mirror Dimension and reunited with Shadowbane.
• Luke told Silver Surfer that Galactus was resting at his house with Galacta and described his relationship to Galactus as father-in-law and son-in-law.
• Star-Lord discovered that Luke, Silver Surfer, and Shadowbane had vanished, then the Giant Beast Hunting Group disabled his ship with grappling cables.
• The Shadow Ninja went outside the ship, used dark magic and an enchanted weapon to cut through the cables, and severed one of them.

The Guardians fought the Giant Beast Hunting Group after its traps pinned down their ship, while Star-Lord called Yondu for help. The battle left Gamora rescued but Star-Lord drifting unconscious in space as the Star God Gene awakened and an ominous warship arrived.

• The Giant Beast Hunting Group's boss ordered stronger capture equipment, trapping Star-Lord and the others in an energy net after the Shadow Ninja cut the cables.
• Star-Lord called Yondu for help while Rocket, Groot, and the Shadow Ninja attacked the warships to buy time.
• The Giant Beast Hunting Group sent armored Beast-Capture Mecha aboard, and the Shadow Ninja and Groot fought them as the ship's hull was breached.
• Rocket's laser weapon damaged a mecha, and Star-Lord pulled Gamora from its grip before debris knocked them apart in space.
• Star-Lord began losing consciousness, but his Star God Gene activated and kept him alive as a menacing warship arrived and charged its guns.

Yondu rescued Star-Lord and his companions from the Giant Beast Hunting Group, whose leader secretly contacted Thanos about Gamora. Yondu’s crew prepared to execute Star-Lord for betraying them, but Star-Lord began defending himself by claiming he had secured a much larger payment for the orb.

• Yondu used his Ravager badge and code to make the Giant Beast Hunting Group let his ship take Star-Lord and his companions.
• The Giant Beast Hunting Group attached a tracker to Yondu’s ship, then offered Thanos Gamora’s location in exchange for a deal.
• Yondu’s crew revived Star-Lord, restrained him, and prepared to torture and kill him for betraying the Ravagers.
• Star-Lord explained that he had given Gamora his spacesuit after they were separated in space, then tried to find an excuse to survive.
• Yondu said the Broker had accused Star-Lord of negotiating around him, and Star-Lord claimed he had done so to secure a hundred-million-credit payment for the orb.

Yondu freed Star-Lord after learning he had earned the Ravagers a hundred million credits, but Star-Lord’s companions broke out and fought their way toward the hangar. The group reached the hangar and sealed its entrance, only for Yondu’s arrow to target Star-Lord as they searched for a ship.

• Yondu cut Star-Lord free, celebrated his hundred-million-credit bounty, and ordered him treated before he met his companions.
• Star-Lord found Gamora and the others, who revealed they had allowed the Ravagers to capture them so Star-Lord could receive medical care; they then escaped the cell and knocked out their guards.
• After the ship’s surveillance cameras exposed their escape, Star-Lord led the group toward the hangar, where they fought through pursuing Ravagers and Star-Lord discovered he felt stronger than before.
• A Shadow Ninja cut through the hangar’s security door, and Groot used Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence to seal the entrance behind them.
• As Star-Lord led the group toward a ship, Yondu’s Yaka Arrow shot toward him.

Star-Lord and the Guardians battled Yondu to escape the Ravagers’ ship, then learned that Gamora’s pursuers served Thanos. With Luke too far away to reach them quickly, they turned back toward Yondu’s ship for help.

• Yondu confronted Star-Lord and the others over the hundred-million credit voucher, but they resisted and fought back against his Yaka Arrow.
• Star-Lord offered Yondu the voucher as a distraction, allowing Drax, Groot, Gamora, and the Shadow Ninja to restrain the Yaka Arrow while Star-Lord knocked Yondu unconscious.
• The group escaped aboard their ship, but Rocket took the Yaka Arrow, which returned to Yondu after he woke and called it back.
• An unfamiliar warship locked onto the group and announced that it had come to escort Gamora home; Gamora revealed that its master was her adoptive father, Thanos.
• The Shadow Ninja messaged Luke for help, but the group had no coordinates, so Star-Lord turned back toward Yondu’s ship as the warship closed in.

Star-Lord and the Guardians joined Yondu’s Ravagers against Ebony Maw’s Chitauri fleet, which seemed helpless against the Ravagers’ firepower. Gamora suspected the apparent rout concealed an ambush and warned the Ravagers, but Blaze dismissed her concern while Yondu fought on the front lines.

• Yondu rallied the Ravagers by claiming someone wanted to steal their credits, and they launched their ships to attack Ebony Maw’s warship and fleet.
• Ebony Maw used telekinesis to maneuver his warship and deployed Chitauri ships carrying cyborg soldiers.
• The Ravagers overwhelmed the Chitauri fleet, destroying its ships while dodging ineffective return fire and taunting the soldiers.
• Gamora suspected the Chitauri were concealing an ambush and urged Star-Lord to call the Ravagers back.
• Star-Lord warned Blaze that the Chitauri might have an ambush, but Blaze scoffed at the warning as Yondu was away fighting.

Yondu and the Ravagers tried to break through the Chitauri encirclement, but Ebony Maw trapped their flagship and sent Cull Obsidian aboard. As the flotilla escaped, Yondu attacked Ebony Maw with his Yaka Arrow, and Ebony Maw sealed the arrow inside compressed wreckage, leaving Yondu unable to control it.

• Blaze charged the Ravager flagship's main cannon, but Ebony Maw used telekinesis to dodge its shot and rammed his warship through the flotilla, cutting off its retreat.
• Ebony Maw bound his warship to the Ravager flagship, and Cull Obsidian led Chitauri soldiers through its airlock and attacked the crew.
• Yondu and Kraglin led the Ravager flotilla through the Chitauri Fleet, using the Yaka Arrow to clear a path until Ebony Maw hurled wreckage at them and destroyed a Ravager ship.
• Yondu identified Ebony Maw as the one manipulating the wreckage and launched the Yaka Arrow at him.
• Ebony Maw used a Chitauri as a shield, then compressed the skiff and nearby wreckage around the arrow, trapping it and disrupting Yondu's control.

Yondu and Kraglin fought Ebony Maw until Star-Lord and the Guardians rescued them. Kraglin then revealed that Yondu had protected Star-Lord from his murderous father, leaving Star-Lord struggling to face Yondu.

• Ebony Maw trapped Yondu’s Yaka Arrow, disabled Yondu and Kraglin, and tried to recruit Yondu to serve Thanos, but Yondu refused.
• Star-Lord’s ship blasted Ebony Maw, and Groot brought Yondu and Kraglin aboard.
• Star-Lord confronted Yondu about letting him escape, while Rocket and Drax interrupted their tense conversation.
• Kraglin told Star-Lord that his father had hired the Ravagers to find his children and had murdered more than a thousand of them.
• Kraglin revealed that Yondu had refused to hand Star-Lord over and had kept him aboard the ship to protect him from his father.
• Star-Lord realized that Yondu had saved his life and struggled to face him.

Cull Obsidian and the Chitauri overran the Ravagers' mothership while Gamora persuaded him to leave with her, but he grew suspicious of her explanation and smashed the floor beneath them.

• Blaze warned Yondu that a hammer-wielding attacker had boarded the Ravagers' warship, and Star-Lord flew Yondu back to help.
• Ebony Maw survived Star-Lord's attack but, weakened, called on Supergiant for assistance.
• Cull Obsidian and the Chitauri broke through the Ravagers' defenses and seized the bridge, while Blaze was buried under debris.
• Gamora told Cull Obsidian she wanted to return to Thanos and suggested they leave the warship rather than clear it room by room.
• Cull Obsidian questioned Gamora's route and her claim about Ebony Maw, then raised his hammer and smashed the floor.

Rocket and the others fought Cull Obsidian, who overpowered them despite the Shadow Ninja’s attacks and the arrival of Drax, Groot, Star-Lord, Gamora, and Yondu. Groot ultimately drained Cull Obsidian’s strength while the wounded Shadow Ninja kicked away his hammer, leaving Cull Obsidian helplessly awaiting death.

• Rocket’s bombs buried Cull Obsidian, but he broke free and charged Rocket until the Shadow Ninja intervened.
• The Shadow Ninja wounded Cull Obsidian with his enchanted weapon and black flames, while Drax and Groot joined the fight; Cull Obsidian shattered Groot’s arm and chest and badly injured the Shadow Ninja.
• Cull Obsidian tried to call for support, but Drax wounded his leg, Gamora confronted him, and Star-Lord and Yondu attacked him with gravity devices and the Yaka Arrow.
• Rocket revived Groot with nutrient solution, and Groot wrapped himself around Cull Obsidian and drained his vitality through his wounds.
• Cull Obsidian smashed Groot against a wall and reached for his hammer, but the Shadow Ninja kicked it away; Yondu killed the arriving Chitauri, and Cull Obsidian sank to his knees as his strength faded.

Star-Lord and the others fought Ebony Maw aboard the Ravagers' warship, where the Shadow Ninja was killed and Star-Lord awakened a powerful blue energy within himself. Star-Lord killed Ebony Maw and rescued Gamora, while Yondu led the others back to the mothership.

• Ebony Maw tore open the warship and attacked Star-Lord, Yondu, Groot, and the Shadow Ninja as they struggled to fight him in space.
• The Shadow Ninja used Yondu's Yaka Arrow to close in on Ebony Maw, but Ebony Maw activated the ship's engines and destroyed him with their particle streams.
• Gamora warned that Supergiant and her fleet might arrive, but Ebony Maw took control of the warship, captured the others, and tortured Star-Lord with needles.
• Gamora blamed herself for Star-Lord's suffering, but Star-Lord urged her not to listen to Ebony Maw and unleashed blue energy that broke his restraints.
• Star-Lord overwhelmed Ebony Maw, killed him, freed Gamora, and kissed her, while Yondu took Rocket and the others back to the mothership.

Yondu and Star-Lord helped the Ravagers escape the Chitauri, but Supergiant trapped their ships with a fleet and tried to force them to surrender Gamora. As Supergiant prepared to capture them, her crew detected unidentified objects approaching from several directions.

• Yondu discovered the Ravager warship’s engines were broken and ordered his crew to evacuate in other ships.
• Star-Lord stayed behind with Rocket, Gamora, and the others to cover the Ravagers’ retreat, using his new powers to destroy Chitauri craft.
• After the group escaped, Gamora told Star-Lord she was conflicted about Thanos, who had killed her parents and raised her.
• Spatial fluctuations brought dozens of warships around the group, and Gamora recognized them as Supergiant’s forces.
• Supergiant ordered her fleet to capture Gamora and considered using her to recruit Star-Lord, while Star-Lord’s group debated how to escape.
• Supergiant’s subordinate reported unidentified objects approaching from several directions.

Luke arrived with Silver Surfer and rescued Star-Lord, Gamora, and their companions by destroying Supergiant’s fleet. He secretly manipulated Supergiant into believing she needed to report Gamora’s betrayal to Thanos in person, then reunited with the group as Yondu prepared to leave.

• Supergiant ordered her fleet to retreat when she learned Luke and another powerful figure were approaching, while Star-Lord and his companions watched the ships turn away.
• Luke attacked the fleet, summoned Dark Giants to destroy its ships, and detected Supergiant trying to read his mind as her warship escaped through a wormhole.
• Luke captured Supergiant’s psychic probe, planted the idea that she should report Gamora’s betrayal to Thanos in person, and let her escape believing she had severed the probe herself.
• The Dark Giants destroyed the remaining fleet, and Luke allowed Shadowbane to collect the wreckage before Silver Surfer joined him.
• Luke reunited with Rocket and the others, gave Rocket an Energy Crystal, and learned that Star-Lord had awakened his powers.
• Luke introduced Silver Surfer and explained that he had created the Cosmic Beast; after a transmission from Yondu arrived, Star-Lord went to say goodbye.

Luke spoke with Yondu, prompting Yondu and Star-Lord to reconcile and acknowledge their bond as family. As Ego approached, Star-Lord chose to meet his biological father before Luke confronted him.

• Luke introduced himself to Yondu as Earth's lord, and Yondu thanked him for destroying the Kree Empire and credited him with protecting Star-Lord.
• Yondu confessed that he felt guilty for delivering children to Ego, and Luke argued that Yondu had saved Star-Lord from the same fate.
• Star-Lord asked whether Yondu had saved him only to atone, and Yondu explained how he had come to treat him as family.
• Star-Lord thanked Yondu and called him Dad, and Yondu urged him to treasure his family before ending their call.
• The Silver Surfer spotted Ego approaching, and Luke told Star-Lord that his biological father was on the way.
• Star-Lord decided to meet Ego before he died, while Luke offered to face him and discussed arranging a fleet contact for the Guardians.

Luke, Silver Surfer, and Star-Lord met Ego as he arrived in his living-planet form, and Star-Lord asked to speak with his father alone. Ego lied about why he had abandoned Star-Lord’s mother and murdered his other children, persuading Star-Lord to consider visiting his planet while Luke questioned Ego’s claims and considered how to deal with him.

• Luke explained that Ego was the planet itself, while Rocket and Yondu discussed Ego’s power and lack of an army.
• Ego recognized Star-Lord as his son and realized his Celestial Power had awakened; Luke suspected Ego might have lied about the source of that power and considered asking Galactus to deal with him.
• Star-Lord confronted Ego about murdering his other children and abandoning his mother, and Ego claimed he had killed his offspring to spare himself the pain of watching them die.
• Ego blamed the Kree Empire for keeping him from returning to Earth, and Star-Lord began to believe his explanation.
• Ego told Star-Lord he had searched for him and promised he would have cared for him regardless of his powers, then invited him to visit his planet.

Luke stopped Ego from absorbing Star-Lord, then helped Uncle Galactus destroy Ego and uncover his plan to seed more than a thousand inhabited planets. Uncle Galactus left to investigate the universe with Eternity, while Luke returned to Star-Lord and the others.

• Luke warned Star-Lord against trusting Ego, then burned Ego's tentacles and freed Star-Lord from his grasp.
• Luke transformed into a gigantic demon god and shattered most of Ego's planetary body, exposing the brain at its core.
• Ego begged Luke for mercy, but Luke said Uncle Galactus would deal with him because he had violated the rules of balance.
• Uncle Galactus arrived, destroyed Ego's consciousness, and explained that Ego's brain had belonged to a young Celestial.
• Uncle Galactus extracted the locations of Ego's seeds and sent Silver Surfer to remove them from more than a thousand planets.
• Uncle Galactus left to check the universe with Eternity, while Luke opened a portal back to Star-Lord and his companions.

After Ego’s death, Luke helped Yondu seek a return to the Ravager Alliance and rescued Mantis. When Mantis revealed Rocket feared his short lifespan, Luke offered the Guardians a contract that bound their lives and shared their lifespans, and they agreed to sign it.

• Luke offered to explain how Ego had deceived Yondu so Yondu could rejoin the Ravager Alliance, and Yondu left to return to his companions.
• Luke destroyed Ego’s powerless egg-shaped ship, rescued Mantis, and brought her aboard with Star-Lord.
• Star-Lord’s remarks about his long lifespan prompted Mantis to reveal Rocket’s fear of dying soon, and Rocket admitted the truth to his companions.
• Luke created a contract that shared the signers’ lifespans and tied their lives together, and Star-Lord persuaded the others to sign it without the Shadow Ninjas.
• Luke suggested adding Mantis to the contract, and Gamora agreed after hearing Mantis could read the minds of people they negotiated with.

Luke checked on Hela’s improving treatment, took her out for a walk, and helped her reconnect with life on Midgard. He then used the Infinity Stones to begin inscribing higher-order rules into the Shadow World, while Galactus and Eternity discussed helping him and the need for trials.

• Luke reviewed the Trading Station’s transactions, then learned that Hela’s treatment was progressing well, though pictures of Odin still unsettled her.
• Hela asked Luke to take her outside; after the doctor approved, they walked around Midgard and talked about her past, her anger, and the chance to reconcile with Odin.
• Luke told Thor and the others about Hela’s condition, then returned home and found that his system had updated into the Shadow World System.
• Luke used the AllSpark to extract fragments of six higher-order rules from the Infinity Stones and inscribe them into the Shadow World, replenishing the stones with dark energy afterward.
• Eternity observed the rules flowing toward the Shadow World as Galactus approved of Luke’s progress and said he would provide rules of balance; Eternity insisted Luke would have to pass their trials before receiving their rules.

Luke reunited with Galacta, then transported Megatron and his forces through the Shadow World to Transformers World so Megatron could return to Cybertron. As Megatron’s fleet arrived, a Chinese military meeting was interrupted by an alarm announcing nearly two hundred unidentified spacecraft approaching.

• Luke met Galacta after she returned from helping Shuri design Wakanda’s armor, and they heard Megatron had arrived.
• The secretary of defense suspected the people supplying the United States’ Trading Station goods were Muspelheim survivors seeking revenge on Asgard, but the president had him detained to protect their cooperation.
• Luke gathered Megatron’s forces at Far Moon Base and carried them through the Shadow World to Transformers World.
• Megatron sent a squadron ahead to scout the passage, while Luke recognized that he wanted to make a triumphant return in front of Optimus Prime.
• At a meeting in China, officials discussed their Dark Energy Cannons and the retreat of Decepticon ships before an alarm reported nearly two hundred unidentified spacecraft approaching.

The Autobots and China prepared to repel a suddenly appearing Decepticon fleet, while Megatron explained to Luke that he was testing Optimus Prime and their rival ideals. As the battle began, both sides revealed new dark-energy technology, and the clash remained unresolved.

• A fleet emerged through a spatial gate near Earth, and Optimus Prime and China's leader agreed that the Autobots would attack the gate with their new equipment and a Type-II Destruction Bomb.
• Megatron told Luke he intended to test Optimus Prime and let the Autobots and Decepticons develop according to their opposing ideals.
• Optimus Prime led the Autobots into space, where they faced nearly a thousand starships and activated equipment that formed black energy barriers around them.
• Earth-based Dark Energy Cannons struck the fleet, and Luke controlled the spreading dark energy while Megatron ordered damaged Starship Giants to withdraw and the remaining ships to transform.
• Optimus Prime warned the Autobots that the Decepticons had grown more resistant to dark power, then Ironhide and the others fired dark-energy weapons that made the enemy ships tremble.

The Autobots fought Megatron’s Starship Giants and tried to destroy the portal, but Luke stopped the Destruction Bomb from detonating and revealed the attack was a test. Megatron challenged Optimus Prime to compete in reviving the Cybertronian Race, and Optimus accepted.

• The Autobots and Earth forces attacked the Starship Giants, while Arcee and her sisters damaged their shields before Star Rock drove them back and Ironhide rescued them.
• Optimus Prime led the Autobots toward the portal as Bumblebee volunteered to distract Star Rock, but Star Rock captured him.
• Optimus Prime charged through the Starship Giants and tried to throw the Destruction Bomb through the portal, where Megatron stopped it as its countdown reached zero.
• Luke emerged from the portal, controlled the bomb’s dark energy to prevent its explosion, and stopped the fighting.
• Megatron explained that the battle had been a test of the Autobots’ progress and proposed competing with Optimus Prime to see whose ideals could revive the Cybertronian Race faster.
• Optimus Prime accepted Megatron’s challenge, saying their actions would prove which approach was better for Cybertron.

Luke discussed the Xia Dynasty’s dark-energy weapons with Galacta, while Surtur prepared to use his Flame Demons and crown to gain the Eternal Flame and destroy Asgard. Supergiant reached Thanos’s warship, and Luke told Odin where to find Thanos before Odin urged him to act at once.

• Luke told Galacta that the Xia Dynasty had used a Dark Crystal to develop weapons powered by what they called dark power, and he reflected that Thanos was the last unresolved story he knew.
• Surtur prepared an army of Flame Demons and ordered them to deliver his crown to Asgard, intending to retrieve the Eternal Flame and destroy Asgard while Odin was away.
• Supergiant reached Thanos’s warship and boarded it with several subordinates, while Luke sensed that a big fish was about to take the bait.
• Luke opened a portal connecting Transformers World to the Trading Station and showed the Xia Dynasty’s leader around after leaders from other countries declined his invitations.
• Luke told Odin that Supergiant had reached Thanos, and Odin blamed Thanos for influencing Loki and possibly Hela before insisting that they go find him.

Supergiant returned to Thanos to report Gamora’s betrayal, but Luke and Odin confronted her and learned Thanos had already escaped. Luke offered to help Odin enlist the Nova Empire to track Thanos, who headed for a frost-covered planet, while an envoy on Earth brought Zha Hamiao a helmet found beneath lava.

• Supergiant boarded Thanos’s warship, where the Chitauri commander detained her and Thanos’s projection revealed that her mind had been influenced.
• Luke and Odin arrived through a portal, and Supergiant attacked Luke before he destroyed her mind with a stronger psychic blast.
• Thanos revealed he was not aboard the warship, and a search by Luke found no trace of him.
• Luke told Odin that Supergiant had managed Thanos’s intelligence network and offered to bring him to the Nova Empire’s Supreme for help tracking Thanos.
• Thanos received word that his forces had reached a frost-covered planet.
• Jell brought Zha Hamiao an enormous helmet that had floated up from underground lava at a United States production site.