Chapter Summaries

Su Ming tested the effects of the kin’s blood on Wade, then explained the history and nature of the Great Old Ones as they searched the ruined city. He left off recounting how a Sorcerer Supreme from the 31st Century had changed the Old Ones’ control over ancient humans and gods.

• Wade drank the kin’s blood, ate an Alien Potato, and reported feeling better after bathing in a pool.
• Su Ming observed that Wade seemed unaffected, then suspected the blood had altered his perception of smell.
• Su Ming led Wade into the ruined city and began explaining the Great Old Ones and their history in the Marvel Universe.
• Su Ming described the Old Ones’ ancient rule, their artifacts and gifts to believers, and began telling how a Sorcerer Supreme from the 31st Century had changed their influence.

Su Ming told Deadpool Earth-616’s history of the Old Ones, their cults, and the Sorcerer Supremes, explaining how the Ancient One made him Sorcerer Supreme in 1929. After revealing that their pool contained an Old One’s blood, he armed Deadpool and told him to shoot the spawn in the head.

• Su Ming recounted how Sise-Neg drove back the Old Ones, made peace with the Ancient Gods, and left some Old Ones sleeping on Earth.
• Su Ming killed Wade after his blood-induced pica made him act strangely, then burned him until he rebooted as a more normal Deadpool.
• Su Ming described ancient cultists and heroes, including Conan and Beowulf, and explained how the Ancient One established the Three Sanctums and chose Deathstroke as Sorcerer Supreme.
• Su Ming explained that the pool had contained an Old One’s blood and that Susan was likely in danger.
• Su Ming handed Deadpool an assortment of weapons and told him to shoot the spawn in the head.

Su Ming deduced that Susan had entered the Negative Zone with Doctor Doom and that they had arrived years before him because of the dimension’s faster timeline. While searching the ruins, he realized the floating landmass was an artificial structure and began looking for its bridge.

• Su Ming concluded that a wizard had taught the True Faerie English and identified Doctor Doom as the likely person who had entered the Negative Zone with Susan.
• Su Ming and Deadpool searched the ruins and confirmed that the city had once been a True Faerie settlement, with the surviving creature living on naturally growing tubers.
• Su Ming explained that Susan and Doom had likely arrived years earlier than he had because time passed faster in the Negative Zone, and he suspected they had destroyed the city.
• Su Ming revealed a metal wall beneath the soil and reasoned that the floating landmass was a ship or city whose bridge lay in its middle layer.

Su Ming and Deadpool explored the underground ruins of an Old Ones' Kin city in the Negative Zone, hoping to find Doom and Susan. They found a warehouse of replacement parts and continued toward the living quarters, with Su Ming suspecting Doom had claimed the city as a safe base.

• Su Ming cut through the metal wall, collected alloy samples, and led Deadpool into the underground network.
• Deadpool joked about feeling like he was underwater as Su Ming warned him to stay alert and searched for signs of the people they sought.
• Su Ming broke through a wall into a warehouse filled with parts, and he and Deadpool reasoned that Doom had occupied the Kin city to keep Negative Zone creatures away.
• Su Ming opened a disguised door, and Cloak confirmed that its concealment and access system used both magic and circuitry.
• Su Ming and Deadpool continued side by side toward the living quarters while Deadpool suggested bringing a boombox on future missions.

Su Ming and Deadpool explored the hidden laboratories and uncovered Doom’s surveillance before finding Doom and Susan. Doom explained that he had gone to the Baxter Building to obtain Reed’s dimensional travel technology, and the group settled in to discuss what had happened.

• Su Ming and Deadpool searched the laboratories, where they found dissected True Faerie corpses and discussed the risks of eating them.
• Deadpool spotted a tiny surveillance bug, and Su Ming recognized it as one of Doom’s cloaked machines.
• Su Ming called out to Doom, who used the bug’s signal to confirm that Su Ming was from Earth and directed them to his location.
• Su Ming and Deadpool entered a hidden room and found Doom with Susan.
• Su Ming offered the group food and asked Doom why he had been present during Reed’s experiment, and Doom said he had been monitoring the Baxter Building to acquire Reed’s dimensional travel technology.

Doom recounted how he and Susan had been stranded in the Negative Zone, where years of working together brought them close as they searched for a way out. The arrival of Deathstroke and Deadpool offered Susan a chance to leave, but also stirred conflicted feelings about Doom.

• Doom explained that he had entered the Negative Zone with Susan after trying to save Reed's dimensional experiment, and that they survived an attack by octopus-faced creatures by taking shelter in the city's underground control room.
• Doom described how he tried to turn the floating landmass into a ship, while Susan supported their survival by growing food, purifying water, cooking, and cleaning.
• After one and then two years without rescue, Susan accepted that her family was not coming, and by the third year she and Doom had become close friends.
• Before the fourth year, Deathstroke and Deadpool arrived, leaving Susan relieved but troubled by the thought of leaving Doom.
• Deadpool whispered to Su Ming that he thought they might have interrupted something between Susan and Doom, and Su Ming told him to stay quiet.

Su Ming fabricated a story that Tony Stark had hired him and Deadpool to rescue Doom, then told Susan that Reed and Johnny had not tried to save her. Doom agreed to take Susan along and offered Deadpool one million Galleons for the rescue.

• Su Ming claimed Tony Stark had begged him to rescue Doom because he considered Doom a fellow genius and vital to Earth's technological progress.
• Doom believed the story and vowed to repay Iron Man, while Deadpool backed up Su Ming's account.
• Su Ming told Susan that Reed, Johnny, and Ben had not hired anyone to rescue her, leaving her devastated.
• Su Ming suggested Doom could pay Deadpool to take Susan with them, and Doom agreed because she had helped preserve his humanity.
• Deadpool asked for money, and Doom offered him one million Galleons before leading the group toward the exit.

Doctor Doom showed Deathstroke the True Faerie blood powering their city and explained that he could pilot the continent but still needed to find an exit from the Negative Zone. Su Ming agreed to begin their voyage by seeking the Tayanans, while privately plotting Reed’s fate and imagining what might become of the Fantastic Four.

• Doctor Doom dispelled the corridor’s illusions and opened a stone door, revealing the chamber of True Faerie corpses and a cube of golden blood.
• Doctor Doom explained that the blood powered the city and that he had found a way to pilot the continent, but still needed a safe route back to the Main Dimension.
• Su Ming recalled how Reed had turned Earth-616’s Negative Zone into a brutal prison and decided Reed could not be allowed to control this Negative Zone.
• Su Ming imagined arranging Susan’s marriage to Doom and selling Ben to the Grandmaster as a gladiator.
• Su Ming recognized Susan’s force field containing the golden blood and agreed to begin their voyage toward the Tayanans.

Deathstroke reassured Susan that Doctor Doom had brought her along rather than abandoning her, then prompted her to examine how Reed had controlled her choices. Susan recalled her independent life before meeting Reed and recognized that her obedience to him had contributed to the space accident.

• Doctor Doom asked Deathstroke about the Negative Zone, and Deathstroke had Deadpool explain it while Doom joined him in dancing.
• Deathstroke told Susan that Doom could have escaped alone but had chosen to bring her with him.
• Susan explained that Reed and Victor had once worked at military research institutes before Victor fled and Reed helped pursue him.
• Deathstroke questioned whether Susan had let Reed dictate her choices and challenged her to consider her own free will.
• Susan remembered supporting herself and Johnny, helping Ben, and making decisions for them before she met Reed.
• Susan recalled that Reed had persuaded the group to enter the space station despite her objections, leading to the crash and their transformations, and she reconsidered her relationship with him.

Deathstroke reflected on Susan Richards and her children before joining Doom and the others to plan their escape from the Negative Zone. The group set off in search of the Tayanans, whose civilization Deathstroke said had transformed the realm.

• Deathstroke used Susan's relief and inner conflict to calm her, believing the conversation would help steer the Timeline.
• Deathstroke concluded that Franklin and Valeria remained Susan's children across universes because Franklin manipulated events to protect his mother and sister.
• Doom said the Negative Zone was a decaying universe filled with hungry alien monsters and agreed that the group should follow Deathstroke's escape plan.
• Deathstroke told Doom and Deadpool to move the ruined city and search for the Tayanans, warning that his limited information about them was only a rough guide.
• Deadpool suggested throwing a shoe to choose a direction and asked whether the Tayanans had stores that sold hand cream.

Su Ming and the others learned how the Tayanans had restored life to the Negative Zone and lost the Cosmic Control Rod, then set out to find their homeworld near the Annihilation Domain and a way back to the Main Dimension. After several days of travel, Doom’s robot detected another gigantic flying continent approaching them head-on.

• Deathstroke told the group how the Tayanans used the Cosmic Control Rod and spores to restore planets before their ship crashed and the Rod disappeared.
• Deathstroke explained that the Tayanans withdrew toward the Annihilation Domain, while the civilizations they had created later fought across the Negative Zone.
• Su Ming proposed finding the Tayanans to learn how to return to the Main Dimension, and Susan worried that humans might not survive using their technology.
• Doom kept the Floating Island moving horizontally and deployed a cloaked surveillance robot to monitor their surroundings.
• After several days of uneventful travel, Doom’s robot warned him that a gigantic flying continent was approaching the Floating Island head-on.

Su Ming and Doctor Doom investigated a drifting island of ancient Greek-style buildings in the Negative Zone, finding it deserted despite signs of old Beast activity. As they reached the temple at the mountain’s summit, Strangle detected the scent of corpses.

• Su Ming ordered the group to change course and investigate the island with A'Du, while Wade stayed behind with Invisible Woman.
• Doctor Doom and Su Ming flew from the ruins to the approaching island and found no living creatures or signs of recent activity.
• Su Ming spotted old Beast traces in the forest, and Doctor Doom suggested they inspect the temple at the mountain’s peak.
• Strangle alerted Su Ming that it smelled corpses near the summit temple.

Deathstroke and Doctor Doom explored a temple in the Negative Zone and discovered that its dead inhabitants were Eternals. They found no survivors or usable memories among the corpses, and Deathstroke concluded that everyone had died of fright before they headed toward the city below.

• Deathstroke and Doctor Doom entered a dark temple and found a lone statue unlike the gods of the Greek pantheon.
• Deathstroke suspected the temple belonged to an Eternal city, and Doctor Doom confirmed that the corpses inside were Eternals.
• Deathstroke explained how Eternals had become the origins of several pantheons and examined the corpses for usable brains.
• Doctor Doom found no signs of illness or poisoning, while Deathstroke determined that the corpses were too decayed to reveal their memories.
• Deathstroke observed that the corpses' pupils showed they had all died of fright and proposed searching the city below for survivors and a star chart.

Su Ming and Doctor Doom discovered that the Eternals had been frightened to death by an incomprehensible presence and searched the Floating Island for survivors. Doom's robots found several mad Survivors hiding in a tomb, and the two headed there to question them.

• Su Ming examined a corpse and explained that the Eternals had died from extreme terror, while Doctor Doom confirmed the bodies had rolled-back eyes.
• Su Ming suggested that the Eternals had seen an incomprehensible Old Ones' vision, and Doom decided to prepare sedatives and magic against it.
• Doctor Doom released his Micro-Robots to search the Floating Island for survivors.
• Doom's robots found more gnawed corpses and located several mad Survivors in an underground tomb.
• Su Ming and Doctor Doom flew toward the tomb, hoping to gain intelligence about the Negative Zone and the city's history.

Deathstroke and Doctor Doom found three Eternals driven mad by True Faeries' blood, endlessly eating corpses in the tomb. Deathstroke removed their brains to provide information for Strangle, then left the island marked for a possible return.

• Deathstroke and Doctor Doom reached the deepest burial chamber and found three bloated Eternals eating corpses.
• Deathstroke explained that the Eternals had lost their minds and could no longer use Cosmic Energy, then approached them for their heads.
• Deathstroke cut open one Eternal's skull and took its brain, but the brainless creature kept eating and remained alive.
• Deathstroke removed the other two Eternals' brains and decided not to kill them.
• Deathstroke asked Doctor Doom to mark the island with magic, and the two withdrew from the tomb.

Su Ming had Strangle read the memories of three transformed Eternals, whose rational recollections ended when they went mad. As Strangle ate the brains, Doom remained unmoved and recalled the brutal childhood and ruthless path that had made him ruler of Latveria.

• Su Ming ordered Strangle to read the three Eternals' memories cautiously, and Strangle found that their rational memories ended with a catastrophic upheaval.
• Doom watched Strangle chew the heads and remembered how famine in Latveria had led three villagers to try to eat him when he was a child.
• Doom manipulated the villagers into killing one another, then escaped his bonds and killed the last man, leaving himself and Valeria alive.
• Doom recalled using his intelligence to learn languages, gain an education in the United States, and secretly develop his skills before fleeing the military.
• Doom returned to Latveria, overthrew the king with Doom Bots and the Rebels, drove out foreign forces, and became the country's dictator.
• Doom watched Strangle calmly and found the Symbiote's feeding oddly adorable.

Su Ming and Doom learned about Olympia’s Eternal inhabitants and used their memories to plan a route through the Negative Zone toward the Tayanans. They set out for Blastaar’s kingdom, while Tony remained in the Main Dimension worrying about contacting Captain America.

• Su Ming explained Olympia’s history and learned from the Eternals’ memories about civilizations and locations in the Negative Zone.
• Doom agreed with Su Ming’s plan to visit the Balurrians and negotiate with Blastaar, also known as the Lion King.
• Su Ming described Blastaar’s unstable kingdom and cautious rule, concluding that he would be open to negotiation rather than immediately attacking them.
• Su Ming, Doom, Susan, and Wade traveled aboard the True Faeries’ city, taking several weeks to avoid attracting monsters.
• Su Ming trained and encouraged Doom and Susan’s relationship during the journey, while Tony worried about contacting Captain America in the Main Dimension.

Tony called Steve to report that Bruce Banner had returned and was helping people at the Baxter Building while the Spatial Rift continued to expand. Fury then revealed that Ultron had stolen Jim Hammond, splitting S.H.I.E.L.D.’s attention as Steve agreed to help with the rift.

• Tony told Steve that Banner was at the Baxter Building and asked how to keep the military from finding him.
• Steve advised Tony to get Banner out before the troops arrived, and Tony asked Steve to find people who could help with the expanding Spatial Rift.
• Fury questioned Steve and Reed Richards about what had happened, while Natasha listened and learned that Deathstroke had appeared.
• An agent told Fury that Ultron had stolen the sleeping Jim Hammond, so Fury left to handle the theft and ordered Reed to remain in his Helicarrier quarters.
• Steve agreed to help deal with the Spatial Rift and asked Fury to provide manpower.

Tony negotiated with Bruce Banner, who refused to return to Mexico because he hoped Mr. Blue could cure his condition. Tony let Banner leave and returned to the rescue effort, where another fight had broken out.

• Tony asked Banner to return to Mexico, but Banner said he was tired of hiding and wanted to live in society.
• Banner explained that he planned to meet Mr. Blue and undergo an experiment to remove the radiation from his blood.
• After the crash victim died, Banner said he would leave peacefully, and Tony gave him a business card and agreed to mislead the military.
• Banner disappeared into a dark alley, and Tony ordered Jarvis to continue the rescue operation and analyze how to close the Spatial Rift.
• Tony headed toward another alley to deal with the fighting nearby.

Tony broke up a chaotic fight among several masked figures and learned that Moon Knight, Shang-Chi, Gambit, Luke Cage, and the Punisher had been involved for different reasons. After the Punisher and Luke left, Tony proposed rebuilding the Avengers as an independent organization, and Steve, Natasha, and Hawkeye heard his plan.

• Tony interrupted the alley fight, stopped the combatants, and blocked the Punisher from leaving while he questioned them.
• Moon Knight accepted Tony’s claim that the Punisher might be innocent and vanished using a flash device.
• Shang-Chi and Gambit explained their presence and left, while Luke Cage said Daredevil had sent him to watch over the Punisher.
• The Punisher left a disposable phone with Tony, then rode away to pursue Jigsaw as Luke followed him on foot.
• Tony proposed rebuilding the Avengers as an independent organization, and Steve warned against letting S.H.I.E.L.D. or world powers control it.
• Tony offered his old house as a base and his money to fund the Avengers, while Natasha supported the idea.