Recaps

Thor saved Jane from Sif’s attack and declared that he loved Jane, leaving Sif heartbroken. Yang Ming complained about Thor’s romantic success, then quickly regretted it when Jessica and Retsu turned their dangerous attention on him.

• Sif charged at Jane with a sword, but Thor caught the blade with his bare hand and stopped her.
• Thor told Sif he saw her only as a sister and swore that he loved Jane, who embraced him as Sif collapsed in grief.
• Darcy photographed the scene, Coulson took notes, and Jessica and Unohana watched while Yang Ming fumed over Thor’s romantic luck.
• Jessica and Unohana reacted threateningly to Yang Ming’s complaints about romance, and he nervously changed the subject before turning his attention back to the Asgardians.

Frigga recognized Thor’s transformation and refused to pay the termination fee, instead ordering Thor and Loki to honor their contracts as Yang Ming’s employees. She sealed Loki’s magic and left both siblings in Yang Ming’s care, where Loki began her cleaning work under Jessica’s supervision.

• Frigga secretly examined Thor and realized that his work on Earth had strengthened his body and taught him responsibility.
• Loki demanded that Frigga pay her termination fee and destroy Yang Ming’s clinic, but Frigga refused to pay Asgard’s money.
• Frigga declared that Thor and Loki had to serve out their contracts without Asgard’s help, and Thor celebrated that he could remain with Jane.
• Frigga sealed Loki’s magic and entrusted both siblings to Yang Ming, telling him to discipline them according to Earth’s rules.
• After Frigga and the other Asgardians departed, Yang Ming ordered Loki to scrub ten toilets by noon and assigned Jessica to supervise her.

Steve Rogers awakened after nearly seventy years in a S.H.I.E.L.D. base and struggled to face the unfamiliar world of 2011. After Nick Fury showed him the threats ahead and recruited him for the Avengers Initiative, Steve agreed to return to service and asked for his shield.

• Steve woke in a staged 1940s hospital room, realized the baseball game was old, and smashed through the wall to escape.
• Steve fought past S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and defenses before emerging into modern New York, where Nick Fury told him it was 2011.
• Fury showed Steve footage of Abomination and Yang Ming, explaining that the world faced monsters, aliens, and supernatural threats.
• Fury invited Steve to join the Avengers Initiative, and Steve accepted by asking where his shield was.
• In Hell's Kitchen, Yang Ming sneezed and wondered who was talking about him.

Steve Rogers studied Yang Ming’s file and went to the Yang Clinic to investigate the powerful man and the aliens living there. Watching Thor haul bricks, Loki scrub floors, and Yang Ming keep accounts, Steve found the clinic unlike the dangerous operation Nick Fury had described.

• Steve rejected Fury’s proposed training and decided to visit the Yang Clinic to learn about the people he was meant to protect.
• Yang Ming charged Loki for breaking a mop and ordered her to work overtime cleaning medical waste bins.
• Thor interpreted his unpaid construction work as a divine trial, while Jessica told him Yang Ming simply wanted free labor.
• Steve watched the clinic from an abandoned apartment and saw Thor hauling bricks, Loki cleaning, and Yang Ming drinking tea and using a calculator.
• Steve lowered his binoculars, puzzled by how little the clinic’s occupants resembled the monsters Fury had warned him about.

Yang Ming detected Steve Rogers spying on the Yang Clinic and sent Retsu Unohana to escort him inside. There, Yang Ming revealed he knew Steve’s identity and warned him that Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D., leaving Steve stunned.

• Yang Ming spotted Steve watching the clinic and sent Retsu Unohana to bring him in, while Jessica offered to confront him.
• Retsu Unohana appeared behind Steve in the abandoned apartment and used her killing intent to make him lower his weapon and accept her invitation.
• Steve followed Retsu Unohana to the clinic, where Thor mistook him for a new worker paying off a debt.
• Yang Ming identified Steve as Captain America and said he had come to spy on the clinic instead of continuing his rehabilitation.
• Yang Ming warned Steve that Hydra agents were secretly embedded in S.H.I.E.L.D., shocking him with the claim that Hydra had returned.

Yang Ming told Steve Rogers that Hydra survived World War II by infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. through Dr. Arnim Zola and revealed that Hydra agents were embedded throughout the organization. Steve left determined to investigate and destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. if the claim proved true, while Yang Ming demanded a million dollars from Nick Fury for the intelligence.

• Steve rejected Yang Ming's claim that Hydra survived, but Yang Ming explained that the U.S. government recruited Dr. Arnim Zola through Operation Paperclip.
• Yang Ming said Zola used the Strategic Scientific Reserve to rebuild Hydra inside S.H.I.E.L.D. and that Hydra had agents across the organization and the World Security Council.
• Yang Ming revealed that Hydra's Winter Soldier killed Howard Stark and warned Steve that Nick Fury inherited a S.H.I.E.L.D. already deeply infiltrated.
• Steve grieved over the possibility that S.H.I.E.L.D. was Hydra, then vowed to investigate and destroy it if necessary.
• Yang Ming charged Nick Fury one million dollars for the intelligence, and Retsu Unohana escorted Steve out of the clinic.

Yang Ming accepted Tony Stark’s invitation to the Stark Expo, while Peter Parker worried about his friendship with Harry Osborn and the truth about Norman Osborn’s experiments. At Hammer Industries, Ivan Vanko secretly reprogrammed the Iron Soldiers to target Tony Stark.

• Yang Ming agreed to bring his clinic’s crew to the Stark Expo after Tony offered VIP access and a seafood feast.
• Harry Osborn gave Peter Parker two VIP tickets and encouraged him to take Gwen Stacy, leaving Peter torn over Harry’s father’s illegal experiments.
• Justin Hammer praised Ivan Vanko’s Iron Soldiers as a casualty-free army and planned to unveil them at the Stark Expo.
• After Hammer left, Ivan used a USB drive to disable the Iron Soldiers’ friend-or-foe identification and target Tony Stark.

Yang Ming attended the Stark Expo with Jessica, Retsu Unohana, Thor, and Loki as Tony Stark unveiled his Mark VI Armor. The celebration became a massacre when Ivan Vanko sent Hammer’s Iron Soldiers to attack, leaving Tony and Spider-Man fighting to protect the crowd while Yang Ming’s group remained at the VIP dining area.

• Yang Ming brought Jessica, Retsu Unohana, Thor, and Loki to the Stark Expo, where Thor and Loki drew attention at the buffet.
• Peter Parker spotted Yang Ming and Thor, but Harry Osborn pulled Peter into a conversation with Gwen Stacy.
• Tony Stark arrived in his Mark VI Armor and mocked rival energy technology during his presentation.
• Justin Hammer ordered Ivan Vanko to deploy the Iron Soldiers, and Ivan disabled their safety and targeting restrictions.
• The Iron Soldiers attacked Tony and fired into the crowd, while Peter became Spider-Man to save civilians and Tony tried to draw the robots away.
• Yang Ming’s group stayed calmly beside the VIP dining table as more than a dozen Iron Soldiers continued attacking on the ground.

At Stark's expo, Iron Soldiers attacked the guests, and Yang Ming's group fought back while Peter Parker tried to protect civilians. With Peter trapped by missiles and Tony unable to reach him, Tony accepted Yang Ming's costly emergency service offer; the missiles were still closing in when the chapter ended.

• Iron Soldiers opened fire on the VIP dining area, and Yang Ming ordered Thor to carry Loki to safety while Retsu Unohana shielded the table.
• Jessica tore her evening gown for freedom of movement and destroyed the head of an Iron Soldier with her stiletto heel.
• Peter Parker fought flying Iron Soldiers, rescued Harry Osborn and Gwen Stacy, and was trapped in a missile kill zone.
• Tony Stark, damaged and outnumbered in the air, contacted Yang Ming and pleaded for help saving Peter and stopping the robots.
• Yang Ming quoted a ten-million-dollar appearance fee plus a charge for each robot destroyed, and Tony accepted the VIP rush service.

Yang Ming and his allies fought the Iron Soldiers at Flushing Meadows Park while Tony Stark struggled against the aerial units. Natasha Romanoff arrested Justin Hammer, who identified Ivan Vanko as the mastermind.

• Yang Ming intercepted four missiles aimed at Peter Parker and sent them back into the Iron Soldiers.
• Retsu Unohana dismantled three Iron Soldiers and preserved their Reactors and chips, while Jessica destroyed another and complained about her commission.
• Tony Stark called Yang Ming for help as aerial Iron Soldiers damaged his armor, but Yang Ming refused to send assistance without extra payment.
• Justin Hammer tried to flee with bearer bonds and fake passports, but Natasha Romanoff captured him and reported that Vanko was the mastermind.

Ivan Vanko arrived at Flushing Meadows Park in his Heavy Whiplash Armor, but Yang Ming defeated him and captured him. Yang Ming planned to hand Ivan over to someone else rather than keep him at the clinic.

• After the Iron Soldiers failed, Ivan put on his Heavy Whiplash Armor and flew toward Flushing Meadows Park.
• Ivan attacked Tony, and Yang Ming agreed to take Ivan in exchange for Tony's approval.
• Yang Ming opened the first three Eight Gates, withstood Ivan's Electric Whips, and smashed apart his armor.
• Yang Ming pulled Ivan from the wreckage, restrained him, and declared him hired as a low-level blacksmith with no wages.
• Thor returned with Loki, and Yang Ming told Jessica that he would hand Ivan over to someone else.

Yang Ming confronted General Thaddeus Ross as the military tried to seize Ivan Vanko and the Iron Soldier wreckage after the Stark Expo attack. He publicly berated Ross until the general collapsed, and the troops withdrew without taking the prisoner or technology.

• General Ross arrived with soldiers and armored vehicles, demanded Ivan Vanko and the armor wreckage, and threatened Yang Ming.
• Jessica, Retsu Unohana, and Thor prepared to fight Ross’s troops, but Tony Stark landed and claimed the wreckage and Ivan as Stark Industries property.
• Yang Ming stopped Tony from handling the confrontation and loudly denounced Ross for the Harlem disaster and his attempt to seize the technology.
• Ross suffered a chest pain and collapsed after Yang Ming’s tirade, so his adjutant ordered the troops to retreat.
• Tony praised Yang Ming and said he would send a recording of the confrontation to New York’s TV stations, while Yang Ming told Jessica to bring Ivan for their delivery.

Yang Ming prepared to travel through the Anywhere Door to Gotham with Jessica, Loki, and Retsu Unohana, while Thor stayed behind with a million dollars and a vacation. The group entered the portal carrying Ivan Vanko, leaving Thor alone in the Clinic.

• Yang Ming opened the Anywhere Door and invited Jessica to join his trip to another universe.
• Yang Ming gave Thor a million dollars and an extended vacation, but ordered Loki to come along as his cleaner and servant.
• Yang Ming invited Retsu Unohana to Gotham, and she chose to accompany him because she missed Selene and Maggie and wanted to protect him.
• Yang Ming carried Ivan Vanko through the portal, followed by Jessica and Retsu Unohana, while a reluctant Loki entered after Thor failed to help her.
• The Anywhere Door contracted and vanished from the Clinic lobby.

Yang Ming returned to Gotham with Jessica, Loki, and the unconscious Ivan Vanko, where Retsu Unohana stopped a fight between the women and Yang Ming learned Batman had vanished from Gotham for three days. Yang Ming suspected Bruce was struggling to understand Ivan’s Micro Arc Reactor and took Ivan through the Anywhere Door to use him as its living instruction manual.

• Jessica arrived at the Clinic and complained about Gotham’s polluted air while Loki welcomed its atmosphere of malice and despair.
• Yang Ming saw Jason Todd and the Kids’ Gang cleaning the street outside the Clinic, then Maggie and Selina greeted him and Retsu Unohana.
• Jessica, Selina, and Loki began arguing, but Retsu Unohana released her killing intent and made them back down.
• Selina told Yang Ming that Gotham’s gangs were active again and Batman had not appeared for three days; Yang Ming said Bruce was losing his hair over a difficult problem.
• Yang Ming sent Selina to show Jessica and Loki their rooms, then carried Ivan through the Anywhere Door to help Bruce understand the Micro Arc Reactor.

Yang Ming brought the injured Ivan Vanko to Bruce Wayne’s laboratory, where Bruce exposed serious flaws in Ivan’s Arc Reactor design. Yang Ming declared Ivan an unpaid Wayne Enterprises laboratory worker, but Bruce refused to involve an uncontrollable lunatic in his research.

• Yang Ming entered the Batcave through a pink door and dumped the unconscious Ivan Vanko into Physics Lab No. 7.
• Ivan woke, recognized his Arc Reactor, and boasted that only Tony Stark could understand his design.
• Bruce analyzed the reactor and showed Ivan that its inefficient circuitry and palladium leakage could waste energy and poison its user.
• Yang Ming announced that Ivan would work without pay for Wayne Enterprises and threatened him if he refused.
• Bruce rejected Ivan as an uncontrollable risk to his research.

Bruce agreed to keep Ivan Vanko confined in the Batcave and hired him to help solve the energy-matrix problem, while Yang Ming warned that Gotham’s criminals were returning to the streets. Bruce revealed plans for a free boarding school for poor children, but Yang Ming confronted him with the enormous costs and security challenges.

• Bruce ordered Alfred to confine Ivan on level seven, then paid Yang Ming fifty million dollars for bringing him to Gotham.
• Yang Ming warned Bruce that Gotham’s gangs were becoming active again now that Superman was gone and Batman had stopped patrolling.
• Bruce asked about the children at Yang Ming’s Clinic, including Jason Todd’s Kids’ Gang, and announced that Wayne Enterprises had begun building a free boarding school for Gotham’s poor children and orphans.
• Yang Ming recalled telling Bruce that poverty and lack of education fed Gotham’s gangs, and realized Bruce intended to address the city’s problems at their roots.
• Yang Ming calculated the school’s food expenses for hundreds of thousands of children and warned Bruce that construction, staffing, and security would make the plan enormously expensive.

Bruce Wayne proposed funding free education and medical care for Gotham’s poor children by shifting Wayne Enterprises toward Arc Reactor energy, then chose Yang Ming to lead the first school. Yang Ming resisted, but Bruce revealed he had bought the land containing Yang’s clinic and planned a 3,000-student pilot school there.

• Yang Ming and Lucius Fox warned Bruce that his plan to cover all expenses for hundreds of thousands of students would bankrupt Wayne Enterprises.
• Bruce said the Arc Reactor would let Wayne Enterprises enter the new-energy market and attract investment, subsidies, and industrial orders to fund the program.
• Yang Ming accepted Bruce’s business plan but asked who would run the school, and Bruce silently fixed his gaze on him.
• Bruce told Yang Ming he had bought Lake Street and three surrounding blocks, including the land beneath Yang’s clinic, for the first boarding school.
• Bruce proposed a first phase of 3,000 students, and Yang Ming protested that Gotham’s children could make the school dangerous.

Yang Ming agreed to become principal of Bruce Wayne’s East End school after Bruce granted him absolute control over its management and teaching. Yang Ming secured hotel accommodations for his household and Jason Todd’s children, while Bruce returned to the New Element Deduction Project and ordered Ivan Vanko to keep working.

• Yang Ming accused Bruce of using his reputation and strength to protect the planned school from Gotham’s gangs, then agreed to become principal on the condition that he have dictatorial authority over the school.
• Bruce accepted Yang Ming’s demand and promised to keep Wayne Enterprises and the School Board from interfering, as long as the students stayed alive and were redirected from gang life.
• Yang Ming negotiated relocation for his household and Jason Todd’s children, and Bruce offered them the Wayne Royal Hotel with all expenses charged to Wayne Enterprises.
• Yang Ming opened the Anywhere Door and left to tell everyone to pack for the hotel.
• Lucius Fox questioned Bruce’s decision, but Bruce defended Yang Ming and ordered Lucius to prepare a preliminary model for the New Element Deduction Project by eight the next morning.
• Bruce ordered Ivan Vanko to fix the reactor’s peripheral conduction circuits before dawn, and Ivan left with a mechanical arm.

Yang Ming told the clinic residents that Wayne Enterprises was demolishing the clinic to build a free boarding school, and he moved everyone to the Wayne Royal Hotel. Jason remained wary of the plan but accepted hotel key cards for the children, while Yang Ming noticed an advertisement for the Flying Graysons and anticipated another child’s tragedy.

• Yang Ming announced that everyone had half an hour to pack and move to the Wayne Royal Hotel, then explained that Wayne Enterprises had bought Lake Street and planned to replace the clinic with a free boarding school.
• Jason questioned Wayne’s motives and accused the project of being a publicity stunt, so Yang Ming took him aside and explained the school’s rules and his reasons for helping the children.
• Yang Ming gave Jason hotel key cards and asked him to bring the younger children for one night before deciding whether to join the school.
• The clinic’s residents and children boarded a Wayne Enterprises truck and left the East End for downtown Gotham City.
• Yang Ming saw a billboard announcing Haly’s Circus and the Flying Graysons, and thought another child was about to suffer a tragedy.

Yang Ming brought Gotham’s East End orphans to the Wayne Royal Hotel and revealed plans to build a school on the Clinic’s former site. He left Jason with the first student roster to complete by morning, giving the boy responsibility for the children’s future.

• Yang Ming brought the mud-covered children to the Wayne Royal Hotel, where Maggie showed them how to secure their rooms and Jason investigated the hotel’s heavy security.
• Yang Ming told his staff that Wayne Enterprises would fund a school and assigned Selene to watch Gotham’s crime bosses while Retsu Unohana planned medical examinations for the children.
• At dinner, Jason urged the children to eat and secretly pocketed food in case they were sent back to the streets.
• Yang Ming caught Jason with the food but gave him a tablet and ordered him to compile every child’s name, age, health, drug history, and relatives by morning.
• Jason accepted the assignment, called Gap-Tooth and Skinny to help, and ordered them to wake the others.

Bruce Wayne left the Batcave’s fusion research to visit Jack and Janet Napier after their daughter Evelyn was born. He became Evelyn’s godfather and left determined to protect her and build a better future for Gotham’s children, while the reactor and East End school remained urgent goals.

• Bruce pushed Ivan Vanko to keep working on the fusion reactor after his improvised repairs reduced palladium toxicity by four percent.
• Alfred delivered news that Jack and Janet Napier’s daughter, Evelyn, had been born, and urged Bruce to visit them.
• Bruce overcame his hesitation and went to Gotham General Hospital to congratulate Jack and Janet and meet Evelyn.
• Bruce asked Jack to let him be Evelyn’s godfather, and Jack eagerly accepted.
• Bruce promised to protect Evelyn and every child in Gotham, then told Jack to prepare to lead the Chemical Division.

Wayne Enterprises began building a free school and clinic on Lake Street, while the Court of Owls learned the excavation threatened its hidden labyrinth and Talon chambers. The Court ordered the site destroyed and Yang Ming killed, then awakened three elite Talons for the attack.

• Iron Teeth and his gang arrived to demand a security fee, but fled after seeing three criminals grotesquely hung at the construction gate and recognizing Yang Ming's warning.
• The Court of Owls discussed Bruce Wayne's school project and learned its deep foundations could uncover a dormancy chamber and an emergency entrance within three days.
• The chief judge ordered three elite Talons to infiltrate the site, plant explosives, and destroy the construction project without killing Bruce Wayne.
• The Court targeted Yang Ming, ordering the Talons to bring back his head and display it on Wayne Tower.
• Three coffins opened in the underground labyrinth, and the elite Talons awoke.

Yang Ming put Jason Todd in charge of disciplining the street children while Wayne Enterprises’ drilling disturbed the Court of Owls’ underground chamber. That night, a Talon assassin infiltrated the Wayne Royal Hotel to kill Yang Ming, who stopped the poisoned dagger with two fingers and revealed he had sensed the assassin from a kilometer away.

• Jason Todd delivered Yang Ming a detailed report on thirty-eight street children, and Yang Ming made him responsible for keeping them in line.
• Wayne Enterprises’ construction crew drilled deep beneath Lake Street, shaking the Court of Owls’ suspended-animation chamber and provoking a masked Court member.
• During a torrential downpour, two Talon assassins headed for the construction site while another climbed the Wayne Royal Hotel’s exterior.
• The elite Talon assassin cut through Yang Ming’s bedroom window and thrust a poisoned dagger toward his throat.
• Yang Ming caught the dagger between two blackened fingers, said his observation haki had detected the assassin from a kilometer away, and demanded to know why he had not used the front door.

Yang Ming captured a Talon sent by the Court of Owls and learned that other Talons were planting bombs at his Lake Street construction site. He left Retsu Unohana to examine the captive and used a portal to go help Batman before the bombs detonated.

• Yang Ming stopped a Talon's assassination attempt and kicked him through a wall, where Retsu Unohana immobilized him after he regenerated from severe injuries.
• Yang Ming recognized the attacker as a Talon of the Court of Owls and prevented him from biting down on a poison capsule.
• Two Talons planted timed bombs on load-bearing columns at the Lake Street construction site, where Batman confronted them.
• Batman fought the regenerating Talons, suffered a shoulder wound, and realized the bombs could destroy nearby underground utility networks.
• Selene warned Yang Ming that Batman was struggling at the construction site, so Yang Ming left the captive with Retsu Unohana and opened a portal to the site.

Yang Ming saved Bruce Wayne from two regenerating Talons and revealed that the Court of Owls had attacked Bruce’s school project. After learning the Court might have killed his great-grandfather, Bruce joined Yang Ming in planning to dig into its underground lair.

• Yang Ming emerged through a Space Door and killed the two Talons attacking Bruce, then sent the bombs through another door to detonate offshore.
• Bruce examined a Talon and asked Yang Ming about the attackers, and Yang Ming identified them as Talons serving the Court of Owls.
• Yang Ming explained that the Court had targeted Bruce’s free school because educating Gotham’s poor threatened its control, and said another Talon had tried to kill him at the Royal Hotel.
• Yang Ming told Bruce that his great-grandfather Alan Wayne had discovered the Court’s labyrinth and been killed by its Talons.
• Bruce asked where the Court’s entrance was, and Yang Ming proposed bringing in a powerful Tunnel Boring Machine to dig down into its lair.