Chapter Summaries

Loki and Thor discovered that Donald’s Dream Body had become corrupted and that every prisoner in Asgard’s prison was dead. Beneath the Atlantic, a man made from Thor’s negative traits killed Jörmungandr and drained its blood and magic to prepare to bring Ragnarök to Asgard.

• Loki told Thor how he had entered the bottle’s Dreamland centuries earlier and found Donald begging Odin to let him live in the real human world.
• Loki and Thor found the bottle filled with blood-red mist and realized Donald’s Dreamland had changed.
• Thor illuminated the prison and found every cell empty; the Dark Elf who had spoken to them crumbled to dust when Thor touched him.
• Beneath the Atlantic, the man who identified himself as Thor’s cruelty, cowardice, madness, and fear told Jörmungandr he would bring Ragnarök to Asgard.
• The man attacked Jörmungandr, pierced its eye, and drained its blood and magic until the serpent shriveled and died.

Donald rejected Thor’s offer to return to Asgard and attacked Heimdall, killing him before entering Asgard. Loki and Thor realized Heimdall was dead, and Thor took Loki to seek help reaching Asgard.

• Thor offered to make amends and bring Donald back to Asgard, but Donald refused and vowed to destroy it.
• Heimdall attacked Donald in the passage to Asgard, and Donald killed him after a fierce fight.
• Donald kicked Heimdall’s head off the Bifrost and entered Asgard as black mist.
• Loki sensed that Heimdall was dead, and Thor took Loki to New York to find someone who could help them reach Asgard.

Donald trapped Asgard in a shared dream, where he appeared to slaughter its inhabitants and drain their power. He planned to strip the gods of their divinity in revenge for Odin’s treatment of him, while sparing their lives in reality to honor the person who helped him.

• Thor, Loki, and Doctor Strange arrived in Asgard and saw what appeared to be Donald standing amid flames and Sif’s corpse.
• Thor attacked Donald, declaring that only one of them would survive, while Loki left to search for Frigga and other survivors.
• Doctor Strange sensed something was wrong, used the Eye of Agamotto, and discovered that Asgard’s inhabitants were asleep inside a dream created by Donald.
• Doctor Strange found that Donald had made the inhabitants experience their deaths in the dream and absorbed their power, while Frigga resisted the blood-red threads in Odin’s temple.
• Donald told Doctor Strange that he had spared Asgard’s people in reality and intended to drain their power, stripping them of their godhood as a form of Ragnarok.

Brad entered the Dream Dimension with Donald to investigate whether his soul had been tampered with, while Apocalypse traced the War Horseman’s collapse to the Dream Dimension and threatened Nightmare. The chapter left Brad’s soul under examination and Nightmare bewildered by Apocalypse’s warning.

• Brad had Donald bring him into the Dream Dimension, where its lawless nature began dissolving his body and programmed consciousness.
• Brad ordered Donald to examine his soul as the Dream Dimension’s mist attacked him, while his bodies in the Home Universe collapsed into their nutrient pods.
• Number One reassured Deadpool that Brad was confident and that the situation was under control, prompting Deadpool to relax and eat.
• Apocalypse saw the War Horseman near death, used the Pyramid’s inscriptions to discover the Dream Dimension was involved, and threatened Nightmare.
• Nightmare heard Apocalypse’s warning and wondered why trouble had found him despite keeping to himself.

Donald extracted a wisp of purple smoke from Brad's dissolving soul as Brad activated a backup plan to mature his havoc body through Ahmed's expanding Life Stele. Number Four stopped Ahmed's growth, while Brad regained his strength and formed armor from the excess energy.

• Donald sealed the purple smoke taken from Brad's soul inside a glass vial, and Brad activated his backup plan.
• Brad awakened his havoc body and sent Ahmed into a dying universe to absorb cosmic radiation, causing Ahmed's Life Stele to grow to nearly Earth-sized proportions.
• The energy from Ahmed's growth rapidly matured Brad's havoc body, whose released power threatened to destroy the Main Camp base.
• Number Four merged with the nanotech divine body and altered the Life Stele's data, stopping its expansion and beginning to shrink it.
• The energy flowing back to Brad restored his soul, and he shaped the excess golden light into armor as a white-haired girl watched from beyond the red mist.

Brad questioned the powerful white-haired girl who had helped him, and Nightmare arrived to explain his role in the Dream Dimension and the omniverse. The chapter ended with Brad overwhelmed by the revelation that Nightmare existed across countless worlds under different names.

• Brad provoked the girl into revealing her immense power, and she knocked him repeatedly on the forehead while Donald remained far away.
• Nightmare appeared, freed Brad from the girl's restraints, and apologized for his daughter's behavior.
• Brad asked whether Nightmare ruled the Dreamland, and Nightmare said he was its nominal ruler but could not accept the title of supreme demon god.
• Nightmare explained that he could not die as long as imagination existed and described how universes, multiverses, and the omniverse related to one another.
• Nightmare told Brad that he was known in the Marvel multiverse as Nightmare and had other identities in different universes, leaving Brad and his hive mind stunned.

Brad learned that Nightmare had helped him to avoid Apocalypse’s anger and earn a favor, while Apocalypse revealed his love for War Horseman. He showed War Horseman memories of his brutal childhood, leaving the story with the blue-skinned child imprisoned and tormented by a tribe.

• The Brads, Deadpool, and Number One Brad erupted with excitement after learning about the omniverse, but Brad told them to focus on their own universe.
• Brad asked Nightmare why he had helped, and Nightmare admitted he feared Apocalypse and wanted Brad’s favor because someone had tampered with Brad’s soul using dream power.
• Brad realized Nightmare would not reveal who had altered his soul, accepted that he owed Nightmare a favor, and left with Donald.
• War Horseman woke with a healed, strengthened soul and control over technology across half the Solar System, then asked Apocalypse whether he had known War Horseman’s origin.
• Apocalypse said he knew War Horseman was an offshoot consciousness but loved him as a mutant, and used psychic power to show him memories of his past.
• The memories showed the nameless blue-skinned child surviving on a dying grassland before hunters took him to their tribe, where children abused him as prey.

The War Horseman received Apocalypse’s history, his inscription technology, and every mutant ability he had recorded. With Primordial Brad’s approval, he chose to remain in the parallel universe and protect its mutants, then declared himself Brad’s fourth divine form.

• Apocalypse’s memories revealed how he escaped captivity, gathered mutants, and led them to conquer Egypt before discovering his origins through inscription technology.
• After Apocalypse fell into despair, human slaves attacked the Pyramid, and the Four Horsemen sacrificed themselves to bury him and the Golden Platform underground.
• Apocalypse gave the War Horseman his inscription technology and asked him to stay and protect the mutants; the War Horseman agreed as Apocalypse turned to ice.
• The War Horseman transmitted the inscription technology to Primordial Brad, who approved his decision to remain in the parallel universe.
• With support from the base, Supercomputer World, and Number Four, the War Horseman gathered Apocalypse’s recorded abilities and declared himself Brad’s fourth divine form.

Brad mastered the first series of self-energy magic and began rapidly refining the second series of environmental magic. After becoming the most powerful practitioner of the first series, he surpassed the Home Universe’s Kamar-Taj magic traditions in just minutes.

• A lab-coated Brad explained that this universe’s Apocalypse gained mutant abilities through mutual love, while Number One learned that Mass Transcendence still ranked ahead of him and left the Main Camp base in anger.
• Brad sensed self-energy, tore open space with a burst of power, and destroyed his eyes before regrowing them with ultimate gene transformation.
• Brad reinforced his eyes and perfected the Forbidden Magic, using it to make the moon vanish before restoring it and mitigating the resulting effects on Earth.
• Brad had the Main Camp base accelerate time inside his room and mastered every spell based on self-energy use within three seconds of normal time.
• Brad began studying environmental energy magic, upgraded the Magic Shield hundreds of times, and mastered the Home Universe’s Kamar-Taj spells by the third minute.

Brad acquired magical power from several Dimension Demon Gods, then left Carter behind after learning she wanted to pursue Jean Grey. On Earth-10011, he merged with his other self and joined Karla Sofen to track a Hydra agent to a Canadian base, where they prepared to attack.

• Brad signed contracts with Nightmare, Mephisto, Cyttorak, Chthon, the Vishanti, and Dormammu, gaining their magical power and authority.
• Brad decided to postpone approaching the Eye Demon and accelerate the Original Sin Virus infection on Earth-10011.
• Brad learned Carter wanted to stay and compete with Logan for Jean Grey's affections, then left for Earth-10011.
• Brad merged with superhero Brad, and Karla Sofen alerted him that their Hydra target had returned to the base.
• Brad and Karla followed the Hydra agent to the Canadian base, where Brad planted Stark's miniature computer beside a concealed signal device.

Kara pushed to attack Hydra’s base, and Brad encouraged her while secretly using the original sin virus to find a suitable recruit. He transformed the volatile Hydra agent Robert Hunter into a superhuman and named him Nitroman.

• Kara told Brad the Avengers had ordered them to watch Hydra’s base, but she urged him to help her attack it instead.
• Brad validated Kara’s desire to prove herself, intensifying the original sin virus inside her as she drafted a reckless plan.
• Brad used the virus spreading through the Hydra base to locate Robert Hunter, an explosive-tempered Hydra agent who had argued with his superior.
• Robert charged into Brad and kicked at him, so Brad shattered Robert’s knee and lifted him into the air.
• Brad healed Robert’s knee, altered him with genetic, technological, and magical modifications, and named him Nitroman.

Kara attacked a Hydra base without authorization, where Robert’s explosive power nearly killed her and Brad was severely burned saving her. After Kara woke in the hospital, Iron Man expelled her from the Avengers, and Tony played a recording as the others questioned his decision.

• Kara stormed the Hydra base alone and fought through its soldiers while Brad went in another direction.
• Robert caught Kara’s punch, taunted her, and struck her down, but Kara retaliated by projecting a micro black hole into his waist.
• Robert unleashed an explosion equivalent to 250 tons of TNT, and Brad arrived in time to push Kara clear before taking the blast’s full force himself.
• Kara woke in the hospital and learned that Brad was critically injured and might not survive.
• Iron Man expelled Kara from the Avengers over her unauthorized actions, and she left Avengers Tower in silence.
• Captain America questioned Tony’s harsh decision, so Tony played a recording.

The Avengers reviewed evidence of Kara's disobedience and cruelty toward Bu Lai, then voted to admit him as a full member under the codename Speed. Tony revealed that Bu Lai could recover from his severe injuries, leaving the team discussing his unusual healing and metabolism.

• Tony played a recording of Kara insulting Bu Lai and rushing into the Hydra Base against orders, then showed footage of Bu Lai following her inside.
• Captain America and the other Avengers condemned Kara's actions, while Hawkeye challenged Tony over the communicators' audio-recording function.
• Tony showed the team Bu Lai's burned body and proposed admitting him as a full Avenger under the codename Speed; the team voted in favor.
• Hank Pym asked whether Bu Lai would recover, and Tony explained that his accelerated metabolism and cellular response made him heal faster when badly injured.
• Hawkeye wondered whether Bu Lai's rapid healing meant he would age faster, prompting Tony to explain his physiology.

Brad revealed that he had secretly manipulated the Blood Cross crisis and recruited his Blood Cross Universe counterpart, Veteran Brad, to serve his plans. Veteran Brad reached the Avengers' base, where Tony remained frozen with his finger poised over the World-Ending Button because Brad had disrupted his perception of time.

• Brad returned his primary consciousness to the Main Camp and joined the symbiote research project, while his Earth-10011 counterpart feigned a grave injury.
• Brad's researchers replicated a complete symbiote after symbiote gene fragments spread through the Blood Cross Universe, while Brad secretly preserved a harmless form of Blood Cross.
• Primordial Brad revealed that he had contacted Veteran Brad, earned his trust, and guided him toward New York while he remained on the moon.
• Veteran Brad secretly visited the Avengers' base before returning Nick Fury to the Baxter Building and found Tony Stark poised to press the World-Ending Button.
• Brad's virus manipulation disrupted Tony's perception of time, leaving him motionless inside what he believed was the single second before he had to act.

Old Soldier bonded with a cloned symbiote and chose to join Brad’s agents rather than return to the Blood Cross Universe. On Earth-10011, Bu Lai learned that a dangerous Hydra supercriminal named Robert Hunter could detonate and reconstruct himself, while the Avengers remained unsure how powerful his explosions could become.

• Old Soldier bonded with the cloned symbiote, demonstrated its ability to reshape his body into a blade, and gained physical capabilities slightly beyond Captain America's.
• Old Soldier told Brad he wished to follow him, and Deadpool welcomed him to Brad’s agent squad.
• Brad explained to the other Brads that he had kept Old Soldier as a potential ally, then prepared to modify the Eye Demon Flesh using symbiote traits and magical runes.
• After recovering, Bu Lai learned he had been accepted as a full Avengers member and was assigned Captain Marvel, Mar-Vell, as his mentor.
• Mar-Vell briefed Bu Lai on Robert Hunter, a former Hydra researcher who could create massive explosions, survive them by reforming from smoke, and choose when to reconstruct his body.
• Mar-Vell warned that Robert’s blasts grew stronger the longer he charged them, and the Avengers did not know how powerful a fully charged explosion could be.

Brad planned to use Captain Marvel, Mar-Vell, as a flashpoint for the original sin virus while helping him and Frank hunt Nitroman, Robert. Brad built the Weather Wand to clear tourists from Hawaii, and Robert realized the Avengers were closing in on him.

• Brad joined Mar-Vell and Frank in pursuing Robert, who had fled to Hawaii after stealing funds from Hydra.
• Brad built the Weather Wand and demonstrated that it could change the weather, while Mar-Vell marveled at his technical skill.
• Brad began planning a supercomputer-universe project powered by a Void Quantum Computer and resources from parallel universes.
• Frank used the Weather Wand to bring an unseasonal snowstorm to Hawaii, prompting tourists to leave.
• Robert tried to buy a plane ticket but found all flights sold out and realized the Avengers were trying to isolate him.

Robert Hunter fought through Hydra’s ambush and then battled Brad, Mar-Vell, and Frank, who used a rainstorm to neutralize his explosive powers. Robert surrendered and was taken into custody after the rain stopped.

• Robert fought his way through Hydra assassins in the hotel and killed the attackers who confronted him.
• Brad attacked Robert, posing as a newly debuted superhero seeking revenge, and repeatedly struck him at super speed.
• Brad kicked Robert high into the sky, where Robert detonated himself without harming anyone on the ground.
• Frank used the Weather Wand to drench the smoke and dust, leaving Robert unable to form a body or escape.
• Robert begged to surrender, and Mar-Vell signaled Frank to stop the rain so Robert could be taken away.

After S.H.I.E.L.D. found evidence that Nitroman’s genes had been modified with Kree technology and reacted unusually with Mar-Vell’s cells, Tony Stark and Nick Fury began questioning Mar-Vell’s true purpose. As Tony grew suspicious of the Captain and the Kree Empire, Bu Lai observed that the Suspicious was nearing the moment when they could begin.

• Tony Stark visited Nick Fury, who showed him Dapa’s report on Kree gene-tuning traces in Nitroman’s tissue.
• Nick told Tony that only the two of them and Dapa knew of the findings, and Tony agreed the matter should remain secret.
• Tony and Nick discussed investigating whether Mar-Vell knew about the connection between his cells and Nitroman’s genes.
• Nick burned the report while Tony considered whether Mar-Vell had been monitoring Bu Lai and whether Nitroman’s capture had carried a message from the Kree Empire.
• Bu Lai watched Tony’s suspicion intensify and said the Suspicious would grow even more suspicious as the time to begin approached.

Brad used Richard Rider’s trial and his own encounter with Jennifer Walters to advance his original-sin plan, then secured a temporary contract with the Eye Demon. After the Eye Demon Flesh altered Earth-10011’s spacetime, Brad claimed the contracts of every Dimension Demon God had made him stronger than all Sorcerers Supreme combined.

• Richard Rider accepted responsibility for his crime at the hearing, while Brad testified and received comfort from Jennifer Walters afterward.
• Jennifer Walters took Brad to a bar, and the two spent the night together at a hotel.
• Brad identified Jennifer as the planned embodiment of lust and prepared the Eye Demon Flesh for his scheme.
• Brad offered the Eye Demon a business deal, and the Elder God accepted a temporary contract and marked him.
• The modified Eye Demon Flesh spread through Earth-10011’s spacetime, alerting the retired Ancient One to the change.
• Brad declared that he had signed contracts with every Dimension Demon God and had become stronger than all Sorcerers Supreme combined.

Brad sealed Earth-10011’s Ancient One and unleashed an infection that rewrote the universe’s living essences and memories. On Earth, Mar-Vell rushed to Negative Zone Prison 42, where an explosion triggered a collision between the Negative Zone and positive space, sweeping Earth into the resulting space-time turbulence.

• The Ancient One of Earth-10011 discovered black flesh at the center of the universe’s alternate space, infecting points of light that represented living beings.
• Brad stopped the Ancient One from destroying the flesh, bound and split her soul, and sealed her in Limbo and the Dream Dimension.
• Brad fed collected human negative emotions to the flesh, strengthening its links to the universe’s points of light.
• Iron Man confronted Mar-Vell about the Kree Empire, and Brad showed Mar-Vell a file that sent him rushing to Negative Zone Prison 42 to question Nitroman.
• An explosion destroyed the prison’s spatial stabilizer, causing the Negative Zone and positive space to collide as Brad activated the infection.
• The infection transformed beings and civilizations across Earth-10011, while Earth was swept into space-time turbulence and its inhabitants’ life essences changed.