Chapter Summaries

Pietro coordinated a Hydra-backed congressional motion to sanction Stark Industries, pushing the company into crisis before the White House temporarily halted the measure. Potts struggled to rally support and, overwhelmed, called Tony, whose carefree day ended when he heard her crying.

• Pietro met with John and other Hydra-connected legislators, building a group of more than a hundred people to act against Stark Industries.
• Wanda questioned Pietro's plan, and he explained that he hoped the attack would provoke Tony into acting and turn the United States leadership against him.
• At Congress, Hydra-backed legislators passed a motion to sanction Stark Industries over alleged weapons sales, but the President used his veto to delay it.
• Potts contacted officials and legislators for information and support, but they refused to help her secure enough votes for the next session.
• After breaking down in tears, Potts called Tony, who sat up and gently asked what had happened.

Tony visited Congressman Mark after learning that legislators had turned against Stark Industries, intending to secure their support by offering longer lives through the Eternal Holy Grail. He confronted Mark over his betrayal and pressed him about the people organizing the attack on the company.

• Potts told Tony what had happened, and he promised to handle the crisis before asking No. 1 to locate the legislators and former allies who had betrayed Stark Industries.
• Tony decided to offer the legislators extended lifespans, using the Eternal Holy Grail as a benefit they would find difficult to refuse.
• Tony drove to Mark’s villa and recalled that Mark had once backed Stark Industries but had stayed silent during the congressional attack.
• Mark hurried to greet Tony and invited him inside, though he appeared reluctant to host him.
• Tony accused Mark of playing both sides and mocked him for trying to act as a lapdog to everyone.

Tony tortured Mark until he revealed that Hydra had forced him to betray Stark Industries, then had Mark and a housekeeper killed and the scene cleaned up. At Hydra's base, Pietro learned that all the congressmen who had joined Hydra were missing and feared Tony was behind it.

• Tony confronted Mark, and when Mark denied knowing who was targeting Stark Industries, Tony had a Shadow Ninja cut off two of his fingers.
• Mark confessed that Hydra had threatened his family and forced him to betray Tony.
• Tony ordered the Shadow Ninja to kill Mark, and the housekeeper who had witnessed the scene was also killed as the house was cleaned.
• Pietro learned that the missing congressmen's homes had yielded no evidence and that Hydra members had become suspects in their disappearances.
• A Hydra member reported that all the congressmen who had joined Hydra had gone to Stark Industries after Tony apparently invited them, leaving Pietro uneasy about Tony's intentions.

Tony summoned Congress to Stark Industries and revealed that the company had solved the problem of life and death, claiming humanity could achieve immortality. The lawmakers heard his announcement in stunned silence.

• Congress members gathered at Stark Industries after being summoned, then waited for more than two hours while John and George stirred up resentment against the company.
• Tony arrived and apologized for keeping everyone waiting.
• John Snake sarcastically challenged Tony, who said anyone unwilling to wait could leave, but none of the lawmakers departed.
• Tony announced that Stark Industries had solved the problem of life and death and declared that death would leave humanity behind forever.

Tony offered Congress water from the Cup of Eternity to prove he could grant immortality and restore youth. John drank it and visibly became young again, leaving the others eager for the water.

• Tony presented the water of life and invited someone to drink it.
• John drank the water, then dismissed it as ordinary and accused Tony of deceiving them.
• Tony told John to wait a few minutes while the room watched for an effect.
• John heard his voice grow younger and saw his youthful face reflected in the glass.
• The members of Congress stared at Tony with desire after witnessing John's rejuvenation.

After John demonstrated the Water of Life’s rejuvenating effects, the congressmen desperately sought Tony’s supply. Tony offered it in exchange for exposing his enemies, and the conference room erupted into a deadly brawl that left the Hydra-backed congressmen unconscious and George dead.

• The congressmen begged Tony for the Water of Life after seeing John’s transformation, while John decided to continue Hydra’s mission.
• John warned the crowd about possible side effects, but they turned on him in anger and he fell silent.
• Tony said he would distribute the Water of Life to anyone who helped expose those working against him.
• A congressman attacked George, killing him, and the other congressmen joined the fight against the Hydra-backed group.
• Tony praised Fick Onis and promised him a portion of the Water of Life, prompting the remaining congressmen to resume the violence with lethal intent.

Tony rewarded the congressmen who had killed the Hydra-affiliated officials with the Water of Life, binding them to Stark Industries through its effects. After John aged to dust when his one-hour lifespan ended, Tony left to deal with the remaining Hydra operatives and sought help to uncover their hidden network.

• Tony praised the congressmen and had Potts bring them glasses of the Water of Life.
• The congressmen drank the water and learned they would need another dose every three months to gain youth and longevity.
• Tony revealed that John had received a one-use version that gave him only an hour to live, and John aged rapidly into dust.
• The congressmen accepted their dependence on Stark Industries, while Tony concluded that the company’s influence over two-thirds of Congress left it effectively unthreatened in the United States.
• Tony returned to the Seaside Villa to deal with Hydra operatives and decided he needed help finding the organization’s hidden agents.

Tony sent the evolved Shadowkhan to destroy thirteen HYDRA bases in New York after JARVIS found them online, while promising to secure vibranium for JARVIS's new body. The Shadowkhan eliminated the forces at twelve bases, but Pietro and Wanda escaped the assault on the thirteenth.

• JARVIS told Tony his hardware could not support his advanced processes and asked for a vibranium body, which Tony agreed to arrange.
• JARVIS found thirteen HYDRA bases in New York, and Tony sent the Shadowkhan to attack them.
• The Shadowkhan destroyed the HYDRA forces at twelve bases, overcoming advanced weapons and superhumans.
• At the villa base, the Shadowkhan killed the guards and attacked Pietro and Wanda, whose powers struggled to stop them.
• Pietro took Wanda away at super speed while Tony watched the battle through the Shadowkhan's eyes.

Tony planned a trip to Wakanda to obtain vibranium and meet T'Challa, while Quicksilver and Wanda sought help from S.H.I.E.L.D. after their failed attack on Tony. The chapter ended with Quicksilver asking Nick whether he would provide the people they needed.

• Tony decided to travel to Wakanda for vibranium and a chance to recruit T'Challa, and he brought Natasha along.
• Tony visited Potts before leaving for Wakanda the next day.
• Quicksilver and Wanda emerged from hiding and agreed to seek help because they could not defeat Tony alone.
• Quicksilver persuaded Wanda to approach S.H.I.E.L.D. for help gathering living sacrifices.
• Quicksilver asked Nick to provide a group of people, and Nick listened without answering.

Quicksilver revealed that Doctor Doom could help kill Tony and asked Nick to provide sacrifices to summon him from Hell. Nick agreed to supply 1,868 prisoners, and Quicksilver and his companion stayed at S.H.I.E.L.D. under guard while Nick arranged the transfer.

• Quicksilver told Nick that Doctor Doom, a powerful figure from Hell who held a grudge against Tony, was his trump card.
• Nick asked Hela about Doctor Doom, and she confirmed that he was terrifyingly powerful but said she knew few details.
• Quicksilver said he needed 1,868 people as sacrifices to open a passage to Hell and bring Doctor Doom to Earth.
• Nick agreed to provide prisoners from U.S. prisons and arranged for them to be gathered within a day.
• Quicksilver and his companion agreed to wait at S.H.I.E.L.D., where Nick arranged lodging and ordered staff to keep them from wandering.

Nick, Quicksilver, and Wanda opened the Gate of Hell at a remote military testing ground using a magic circle powered by over a thousand prisoners. A man in a white lab coat and gold-rimmed glasses emerged from the gate.

• Nick took Quicksilver, Wanda, Hela, and Thor with more than a thousand prisoners to a remote military testing ground.
• Quicksilver and Wanda inscribed a magic circle, and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents herded the prisoners into its center.
• Wanda chanted, causing the circle to glow red and the prisoners to explode one after another.
• Wanda opened the Gate of Hell, and Hela silenced the demonic whispers that threatened those nearby.
• Nick demanded an explanation from Quicksilver and Wanda, then watched as a man in a white lab coat stepped out of the gate.

Doctor Doom emerged from Hell and agreed to help Nick and S.H.I.E.L.D. defeat Tony, who had destroyed one of his avatars. After locating Tony in Wakanda, Nick gathered S.H.I.E.L.D.'s superhumans and warned that confronting him could leave them all dead.

• Nick greeted Doctor Doom after he emerged from Hell, while Quicksilver and Wanda clarified that they had released him.
• Doctor Doom recognized Hela, and the two agreed to set aside their past grievance and work together for now.
• Doctor Doom accepted Nick's request to help defeat Tony, then returned with the group to S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Nick mobilized S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence network and located Tony in the Wakanda Kingdom.
• Nick summoned S.H.I.E.L.D.'s superhumans and urged them to fight Tony despite the risk, while the Captain questioned whether the operation could succeed.

Nick secured the team's agreement to launch an operation against Tony, while Tony pursued a vibranium deal in Wakanda and tried to win Black Panther over. A corrupt minister demanded a bribe and Natasha's company in exchange for the requested supply, putting him in danger.

• Nick overcame Johnny's objections and confirmed the operation against Tony, though he admitted to the Captain that he remained uncertain despite Doctor Doom joining them.
• S.H.I.E.L.D., Quicksilver, his sister, and Doctor Doom flew to Wakanda while Tony waited at a hotel and prepared to negotiate for vibranium.
• Tony and Natasha met Jamie, Wakanda's minister of foreign trade, who offered only fifty kilograms of vibranium at first.
• Jamie demanded a one percent kickback and that Natasha join him for dinner in exchange for arranging three hundred kilograms, and death loomed over him.

Tony killed Jamie after Jamie made an insulting remark about Natasha, then fought his way out of the Foreign Trade Department with her. Wakanda police surrounded them, but Tony’s Shadow Ninjas blocked their bullets and attacked the officers.

• Jamie suggested Tony could do as he pleased as long as Natasha was involved, and Tony killed him with telekinesis.
• Jamie’s secretary discovered his body, and Tony killed two officers who rushed into the office before leaving with Natasha.
• Wakanda police surrounded the building and opened fire on Tony and Natasha as they emerged.
• Shadow Ninjas rose from the ground and deflected the bullets with their swords.
• The police resumed firing, but the Shadow Ninjas held their line, and Tony ordered them to kill.
• The Shadow Ninjas charged the police and began slaughtering them.

Tony and Natasha’s massacre of Wakandan police enraged the royal family, and T'Challa set out to confront Tony. On the hotel rooftop, Tony declared that he wanted both vibranium and T'Challa, insisting he had come to recruit him and that he stood above the law.

• Wakanda’s king ordered a response to the massacre, and a minister persuaded him to send T'Challa instead of the army.
• T'Challa learned Tony’s identity, promised his father he would bring back the killer’s head, and left the palace in his Black Panther Suit.
• Natasha warned Tony that his actions could make obtaining vibranium difficult, but Tony said he would take it if necessary and was waiting for someone.
• T'Challa reached the hotel rooftop, where Tony revealed that he wanted vibranium and intended to recruit him.
• Tony defended the massacre by saying the victim deserved to die because Tony had decided it, and claimed he stood above the law.

Tony defeated T'Challa and offered him a chance to join him, then threatened Wakanda to force T'Challa to choose between his own escape and the lives of his people. T'Challa chose to save himself, leaving Tony's coercion successful for the moment.

• T'Challa declared that everyone in Wakanda had to obey the law, and Tony argued that people with enough power would break it.
• T'Challa prepared to attack Tony, but Tony blocked his punch with Telekinesis, slowed him with gravity, and blasted him onto the hotel rooftop.
• Tony invited T'Challa to join him and offered to let him leave and rest before accepting defeat.
• Tony said he would kill ten thousand Wakandans if T'Challa left, with the number doubling for each day he delayed returning.
• T'Challa weighed his own life against the lives of Wakandans and chose to save himself, just as Tony had intended.

T'Challa returned to the palace after promising to avenge Wakanda's victims, while Nick and the Captain arrived seeking Wakanda's help against Tony. After learning Tony was the man behind both their troubles, Nick and Wakanda agreed to join forces and began planning how to deal with him.

• Tony let T'Challa leave, believing his choice to sacrifice lives meant Tony had already won, then sent the Shadow Eater Corps to feast.
• Nick, the Captain, Doctor Doom, and S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel arrived in Wakanda, and Nick arranged to meet the royal family.
• Nick and the Captain joined the old king and T'Challa in the palace hall, where T'Challa recounted his encounter with Tony.
• Nick revealed that Tony was the reason he had come to Wakanda and warned that Tony was powerful and unpredictable.
• Nick, the Captain, T'Challa, and the old king agreed to work together against Tony and began discussing their plans.

Nick and T'Challa arranged to lure Tony into the wilderness and prepare Wakandan forces and superhumans to fight him. Harry arrived at Tony’s hotel with an offer to discuss selling vibranium, and Tony agreed to hear him out despite Natasha’s suspicions.

• Nick and T'Challa settled on a plan to lure Tony out of the city with a vibranium deal and ambush him in the wilderness.
• Doctor Doom asked Hela about Tony’s strength, and her answer made Doom take the coming fight seriously and join the planning.
• Harry, newly appointed minister of the Foreign Trade Department, went to Tony’s hotel under the old king’s orders to lure him out of the city.
• Harry told Natasha he had come to discuss Tony’s request for three hundred kilograms of vibranium, and Natasha suspected a trap.
• Tony told Natasha to let Harry in so he could hear the proposal.

Harry led Tony from the hotel to a remote Wakandan vibranium mine, where Tony suspected Nick had set a trap. Tony entered the gorge alone, leaving Harry behind as the ambush site awaited him.

• Harry invited Tony to inspect three hundred kilograms of vibranium at a mine outside the city, and Tony agreed despite Natasha warning that it was a trap.
• Tony told Natasha to stay at the hotel because he expected to encounter familiar faces and recognized Nick's usual ambush strategy.
• Harry escorted Tony in a convoy to a secluded mining site a hundred kilometers from the city, and Tony warned that he would spare Harry only if vibranium was there.
• At the gorge entrance, Tony stopped Harry from accompanying him and walked into the mine alone.

Tony entered the Wakandan mining canyon, where T'Challa and S.H.I.E.L.D. had prepared an ambush. Their explosives and gunfire failed to hurt him, leaving Nick to order everyone to prepare for battle.

• Tony entered the mining area and followed a supervisor toward the vibranium warehouse while a drone tracked him.
• T'Challa told Nick and the others that he had planted three hundred kilograms of explosives in the warehouse, while Doctor Doom warned that Tony might already sense the ambush.
• Nick ordered the explosives detonated when Tony entered the warehouse, and T'Challa pressed the detonator, engulfing the camp in flames.
• Nick ordered the Wakandan soldiers to fire on the warehouse, but Tony emerged unharmed and stopped the bullets with an invisible barrier.
• Tony snapped his fingers and sent the bullets flying back toward the ambushers, prompting Nick to declare the operation failed and order everyone to prepare for battle.