Chapter Summaries

After gaining enhanced powers, Peter Parker used his speed and strength to humiliate Flash Thompson, then explored his abilities and decided to use them for personal gain. He adopted the name Spider-Man and entered an illegal fighting tournament in Hell's Kitchen.

• Peter caught Gwen Stacy as she fell, then stopped Flash Thompson's punch and crushed his hand before leaving the cafeteria.
• Peter climbed an abandoned building, discovered he could shoot webbing from his wrists, and swung through New York for hours.
• Peter found a poster advertising an underground fighting tournament and decided to compete for the prize money to buy a car.
• Peter bought red-and-blue bodysuits, made a crude mask, and chose the alias Spider-Man.
• Peter registered for the Hell's Kitchen tournament, signed the death waiver, and faced mockery from the other fighters.

Peter defeated Bone Saw in an underground fight, was cheated out of his promised winnings, and chose not to stop a robber fleeing with the club’s money. As Uncle Ben searched for Peter in Queens, Yang Ming received an urgent quest to save him from a fatal shooting, with only fifteen minutes to reach him.

• Peter knocked out Bone Saw in under two minutes and demanded his promised three thousand dollars from the fight club manager.
• The manager paid Peter only one hundred dollars and threatened him with four armed henchmen, so Peter left with the money he had been given.
• Peter let a robber carrying the club’s cash escape in an elevator, saying that catching thieves was not his business.
• Uncle Ben searched Queens Boulevard for Peter and worried because Peter had not come home or answered his phone.
• Yang Ming demonstrated his Observation Haki to Jessica Jones, then received an emergency quest to reach Queens Boulevard and prevent Ben Parker from being fatally shot within fifteen minutes.

Yang Ming raced across New York and saved Uncle Ben from an armed robber. Peter recognized the robber as the thief he had let escape, and Yang Ming confronted him with the responsibility that came with his powers.

• Yang Ming activated the Eight Gates and raced from Hell's Kitchen to Queens to reach Uncle Ben.
• Yang Ming crushed the robber's gun and knocked him unconscious just as he threatened Uncle Ben.
• Peter arrived and recognized the robber as the thief he had earlier allowed to escape, then broke down in guilt and fear.
• Yang Ming asked to speak privately with Peter and told him to remember his fear and use his power responsibly.

Commissioner Loeb ordered a crackdown in the East End to recover the missing ledger and protect himself, while Gordon and Dent planned to use Flass to bring him down. Jack Napier was targeted by Loeb’s men, and Gordon and Dent left the café preparing to pressure Loeb further.

• Loeb learned Falcone would not help recover the missing ledger, so he ordered Flass to stir up the East End and investigate everyone connected to the Docks.
• Jack Napier received an interview invitation from Wayne Enterprises and left Yang Ming’s clinic, unaware that Loeb’s men were following him.
• Gordon and Harvey Dent discussed Loeb’s East End raids and decided that Flass could provide evidence against him.
• Harleen Quinzel entered the café for hot chocolate and greeted Gordon and Dent before they left to put more pressure on Loeb.

Jack Napier’s hopes of working for Wayne Enterprises were crushed when Falcone’s men broke into his home, beat him, and abducted him and his pregnant wife, Janet. Elsewhere, Barbara Kean crashed while escaping a van tailing her and her daughter, Barbara, and the armed pursuers closed in on them.

• Jack told Janet that Wayne Enterprises had invited him to interview for a senior technical consultant position, giving them hope for a better life.
• Five thugs broke into Jack and Janet’s home and demanded information about the people involved in the docks incident.
• When Janet tried to protect Jack, a thug struck her and she fell bleeding; Jack attacked him but was beaten.
• The thugs tore up Jack’s interview notice, then dragged Jack and Janet away before knocking Jack unconscious.
• Barbara Kean realized a black van was following her and took her daughter toward a busy commercial area to escape.
• A dump truck blocked Barbara’s route and her Volvo crashed into a fire hydrant; four armed men emerged from the van and approached her and her daughter.

Barbara Kean and her five-year-old daughter were abducted after masked gunmen forced their Volvo off the road. James Gordon learned of the crash and, with Harvey Dent, realized Loeb likely took them to force Gordon to surrender the Cipher Ledger; Harvey urged him to come to a safehouse and plan a rescue.

• Masked gunmen dragged the unconscious Barbara Kean and her daughter from their wrecked Volvo and took them away in a van.
• James Gordon returned home, found his wife and daughter missing, and repeatedly failed to reach Barbara by phone.
• Harvey Dent told Gordon to watch a news report showing the wrecked Volvo, blood on the airbag, and the daughter’s rag doll inside.
• Harvey reasoned that the empty car meant Barbara and her daughter had been abducted, and Gordon identified Loeb as the likely culprit.
• Harvey warned Gordon not to confront Loeb directly and told him to leave for a safehouse so they could plan a rescue.

James Gordon went alone to trade Koslov’s coded ledger for his kidnapped wife and daughter, while Harvey Dent begged Black Cape to save him. Bruce Wayne learned that Jack Napier had also been taken and had to face two crises at once.

• James Gordon loaded his Remington shotgun, then learned that kidnappers had taken his wife and daughter and demanded Koslov’s ledger at an abandoned meatpacking plant.
• James Gordon took the ledger and shotgun and left to rescue his family alone.
• Harvey Dent realized Gordon was walking into a trap and called Black Cape for help.
• Alfred told Bruce Wayne that thugs had abducted Jack Napier and badly injured Janet, and Bruce prepared to pursue them.
• Harvey Dent’s emergency message reached Bruce, revealing Gordon’s predicament as Bruce learned Jack had been taken to the chemical industrial belt.

Bruce faced a choice between saving James Gordon’s family and Jack Napier, so he asked Yang Ming to rescue Jack while he went after Gordon. Yang Ming accepted and headed into the rain after Bruce sent him Jack’s location.

• Bruce weighed whether to save James Gordon or Jack Napier and called Yang Ming for help.
• Yang Ming returned to his clinic in Gotham, where Selene answered Bruce’s urgent call.
• Bruce told Yang Ming that Loeb’s men had taken Gordon’s wife and daughter to Processing Plant Thirteen and Jack to the chemical district.
• Bruce chose to handle Gordon’s rescue himself and offered Yang Ming Wayne Enterprises’ resources to save Jack.
• Yang Ming agreed, asked Bruce to send Jack’s location, and left the clinic to rescue him.

Bruce and Yang Ming intervened in separate hostage situations, rescuing Jack and Janet at Ace Chemicals and Gordon’s family at Meat Processing Plant Thirteen. Gordon recovered the Cipher Ledger and, resolved to use it against his enemies, escaped with his daughter as Batman vanished into the rain.

• Bruce received the security map for Processing Plant Thirteen and went there to watch over Gordon’s exchange while Gordon entered with the Cipher Ledger.
• At Ace Chemicals, the bearded man tortured Jack and threatened Janet and their unborn child to force Jack to reveal where Clark was hiding.
• Yang Ming killed the dirty cops, freed Janet and Jack, and said he would take the injured Jack back to the clinic.
• At the processing plant, Gordon exchanged the Cipher Ledger for his family, then shot one kidnapper when the gang tried to kill him.
• Batman crashed through the skylight, incapacitated the remaining kidnappers, and returned the ledger to Gordon.
• Gordon freed little Barbara, vowed through his changed resolve to act against his enemies, and hurried to take his wife to the hospital.

Gordon, Harvey, and Batman brought down Loeb and exposed corruption throughout the GCPD, while Bruce forced the mayor to appoint Gordon as police commissioner. Gordon and Harvey recognized that Falcone remained a threat as Batman joined them on the rooftop, marking the start of their fight to change Gotham.

• Gordon and Harvey used Batman's capture of Flass and the evidence he provided to secure Loeb's arrest by state investigators.
• Harvey and Gordon led a crackdown on corrupt GCPD officers, while Loeb and Flass were placed in Blackgate's highest-security solitary confinement.
• Bruce pressured the mayor with a $50 million donation offer and compromising photographs until he appointed Gordon police commissioner.
• Gordon took charge of the GCPD, and Harvey warned that Falcone remained an active threat despite the improvement in the East End.
• Jack thanked Yang Ming and headed to an interview at Wayne Enterprises with Janet, supported by Bruce's promise of a senior consultant position.
• Gordon and Harvey activated the Bat-Signal, and Batman joined them on the rooftop as they united against Gotham's corruption.

Peter Parker made his first attempt at fighting crime, stopping a convenience-store robbery before fleeing from George Stacy and the police. The next morning, Peter learned that George was Gwen Stacy’s father, while Yang Ming watched the news and recognized Peter’s first step as a hero.

• Peter Parker stopped a convenience-store robber with his webbing, but George Stacy arrived and ordered him to surrender.
• Peter fled as George and the other officers opened fire, prompting George to launch a citywide search for Spider-Man.
• At school, Peter learned from Gwen Stacy that her father was George Stacy and that George had vowed to arrest Spider-Man.
• Peter panicked at the thought of having resisted arrest in front of Gwen’s father and hurried to hide in the bathroom.
• Yang Ming watched footage of Spider-Man on the news and quietly approved of Peter taking his first step.

Bruce Banner hid in Rio de Janeiro while secretly seeking a way to control his mutation, but a drop of his blood in a soda shipment exposed him to General Ross. As Ross sent Emil Blonsky to capture him, Banner agreed to send a blood sample to Mr. Blue and began drawing it.

• Bruce Banner maintained a low profile in Rocinha and exchanged messages with Mr. Blue about suppressing his rapidly dividing cells.
• Banner cut his finger while repairing a bottling machine, and a tiny drop of his blood contaminated a Guarana soda bottle bound for the United States.
• General Ross traced the contaminated soda to Banner's workplace and ordered Emil Blonsky to capture him alive in Brazil.
• Banner agreed to send Mr. Blue a blood sample and drew blood from his vein.

General Ross’s forces cornered Banner in a Rio de Janeiro workshop, triggering his transformation into the Hulk and a devastating fight. Hulk escaped into the night, while injured Blonsky became obsessed with gaining the same power and vowed to catch him.

• Banner spotted Ross’s soldiers approaching, grabbed his hard drive and escape supplies, and fled across the slum rooftops as Blonsky pursued him.
• Blonsky cornered Banner in an underground soda workshop, where Banner’s rising heart rate triggered his transformation into the Hulk.
• Hulk shrugged off gunfire and tore through the soldiers, workers, and workshop equipment, while Blonsky watched with growing fascination.
• Blonsky attacked Hulk again, and Hulk hurled a forklift at him before smashing through the roof and escaping.
• Ross’s reinforcements rescued Blonsky from the wreckage, and Blonsky vowed to catch Banner whatever the cost.

Peter’s attempt to rescue Roman destroys the ledger that could have exposed Kingpin’s drug network, and Frank nearly kills Peter before Matt intervenes. Peter recognizes the consequences of his ignorance and asks how to make amends, but Frank and Matt explain that the lost evidence leaves Kingpin beyond their reach for now.

• Roman dissolves the coded ledger with acid, and Frank shoots him dead before Peter can stop it.
• Frank points his gun at Peter and blames him for destroying the evidence, but Matt disarms Frank and prevents him from killing Peter.
• Peter vomits and breaks down as he realizes his actions cost them their chance to expose Kingpin.
• Matt tells Peter that his assumptions and ignorance have endangered people, and Peter resolves to take responsibility and asks to catch Kingpin.
• Frank and Matt warn Peter that Kingpin’s legal and political protection makes a direct arrest attempt dangerous, and Frank says the destroyed ledger has erased their trail.

After the Punisher, Daredevil, and Peter escaped the destroyed drug lab, the police identified their involvement and George Stacy vowed to arrest the vigilantes. Kingpin blamed them for crippling his operation and threatening his mayoral ambitions, then sought the Hand’s help to crush them.

• Matt and Frank ordered Peter to leave the basement, and Matt urged him to stay alive as they escaped through a hidden passage.
• George Stacy investigated the laundry massacre, identified Roman Garcia and the destroyed drug operation, and recognized evidence linking Punisher, Daredevil, and Spider-Man to the scene.
• George publicly denied that vigilantes were heroes and announced a police operation to arrest the masked criminals.
• Brett told Kingpin that Roman was dead and the destroyed operation had cost him about forty-five million dollars, endangering his mayoral campaign.
• Kingpin learned that Bullseye was still incapacitated and asked Brett to offer Alexandra control of half the docks in exchange for the Hand’s Black Sky.

Clark Kent learned that a newly discovered Kryptonian spacecraft lay beneath the ice on Ellesmere Island, and the S-Key he carried led him to it. There, Jor-El revealed Clark’s origins and urged him to become a guide and symbol of hope, leaving Clark ready to take up the blue suit and scarlet cape.

• Clark watched news of Gotham’s reforms before a report revealed a suspected spacecraft beneath Ellesmere Island’s ice, causing the S-Key in his pocket to heat up.
• Clark quit his diner job and traveled with Krypto to the Arctic expedition site, where he used Heat Vision to cut through the ice to the ship.
• Clark inserted the S-Key into the spacecraft and entered its newly opened hatch with Krypto.
• Clark activated the ship’s central console, and a projection of Jor-El explained Krypton’s destruction, Clark’s natural birth, and his purpose on Earth.
• Jor-El revealed a blue suit with a scarlet cape, and Clark reached out to touch it.

Lois Lane broke into an ancient Kryptonian spaceship in the Arctic, where Clark Kent saved her from a defense robot and carried her to safety. Lois vowed to find him as Clark flew the ship to Antarctica and resolved to protect humanity.

• Lois Lane slipped past the U.S. Army and entered the buried spaceship, where a Kryptonian defense guard attacked her and wounded her leg.
• Clark Kent destroyed the guard and used his Heat Vision to seal Lois’s wound.
• Clark rescued Lois and her camera from the ship, then left her outside the military camp as the spaceship erupted from the ice and flew away.
• Lois found a photograph of Clark and vowed to track him down.
• Clark landed the spaceship in Antarctica and told Jor-El he was ready to protect humanity and give it hope.

The Hand sent two assassination squads after Yang Ming, Jessica Jones, Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Punisher, believing the attack would be an easy slaughter. Yang Ming and Jessica headed out to confront their attackers while Matt, Peter, and Frank killed the squad that ambushed their safehouse, and Matt identified the Hand as Kingpin’s likely hire.

• Hand leaders dispatched forty ninjas in two groups to kill Yang Ming and his allies.
• Jessica warned Yang Ming about suspicious watchers near the clinic, and Yang Ming used Observation Haki to detect the Hand surrounding it.
• Yang Ming invited Jessica to join him in collecting their attackers’ consultation fees.
• The Hand’s second squad attacked Matt, Peter, and Frank at Frank’s warehouse safehouse.
• Frank, Matt, and Peter killed all twenty ninjas, and Matt identified them as members of the Hand hired by Kingpin.

Yang Ming and Jessica Jones ambushed a Hand ninja squad sent by Kingpin and wiped out nearly all of them. Yang Ming spared their leader to carry a threat back to Kingpin, leaving his promised attack on Fisk Tower ahead.

• Yang Ming used Observation Haki to detect twenty Hand ninjas waiting in the alley, and Jessica Jones asked which ones she could fight.
• Jessica shrugged off the ninjas’ poisoned shuriken, killed one attacker, and drew the squad’s attention while they surrounded Yang Ming.
• Yang Ming opened the first Eight Gate and used Armament Haki to kill or incapacitate the ninjas who attacked him, while Jessica finished off two more.
• Yang Ming overwhelmed the surviving elite ninja with Conqueror’s Haki and ordered him to warn Kingpin that he would come to Fisk Tower to kill him.
• Yang Ming let the elite ninja escape so Kingpin would live in fear, then left the alley with Jessica.

Peter trained with Frank Castle and Matt Murdock while Hell’s Kitchen remained quiet. In Harlem, General Thaddeus Ross captured Bruce Banner after he took an antidote, and Emil Blonsky transformed himself into Abomination using Banner’s gamma blood.

• Peter continued combat training with Frank Castle and Matt Murdock, improving his tactics and stealth.
• Bruce Banner demanded that Professor Samuel Stern destroy the cloned gamma blood and took Stern’s antidote to suppress his transformation.
• General Thaddeus Ross raided the laboratory, arrested Banner, and ordered the gamma blood samples seized while Betty Ross was restrained.
• Emil Blonsky killed the soldiers left behind, forced Stern to inject him with concentrated gamma blood, and mutated into Abomination.