Chapter Summaries

After trading Spicy Strips for Lion King's star map, Su Ming and the others learned the Great Black Hole’s location and chose a direct route through the territory of one of three Zerg factions. As the Floating Island headed there, Su Ming began explaining the Negative Zone’s insect swarms, leaving the group on the road to their next destination.

• Su Ming traded several crates of Spicy Strips to Lion King for his military-grade star map after Deathstroke won the Orcs’ respect in combat.
• Doom observed that the Negative Zone’s Eternals relied on barter while the Orcs used electronic currency, and he considered adopting it in Latveria.
• Su Ming decided the group would travel straight to the Great Black Hole through one of the three Zerg factions’ territories, and Doom agreed.
• Susan asked whether the Zerg were simply oversized bugs, and Su Ming corrected her assumptions about how insect civilizations could develop.
• Su Ming began teaching Susan and Doom about social insects and the Negative Zone’s Zerg while the Floating Island traveled onward.

Su Ming explained to Doctor Doom how Earth’s social insects differed from alien Zerg and described the three kinds of Zerg in the Negative Zone. He identified the Annihilation Swarm as locust-like, independent-minded and cunning, led by a powerful king wielding the Cosmic Control Rod.

• Su Ming compared the flexibility, resilience, and individuality of Earth’s social insects with the uniform, often mind-controlled alien Zerg.
• Su Ming told Doctor Doom that the Negative Zone had three kinds of Zerg, which could be understood as locusts, bees, and ants.
• Su Ming explained how locusts could become social under environmental stress and warned that swarming locusts produced toxic chemicals.
• Su Ming said the Annihilation Swarm evolved from spores on Argorr and formed a colony when their numbers grew on a planet with limited space.
• Doctor Doom asked whether the Annihilation Swarm could think independently, and Su Ming confirmed that they could and described their advanced technology, powerful individuals, Bio-ships, vast troops, and king.

Su Ming explained the Negative Zone’s Zerg factions and warned that the group’s route would cross the aggressive Destruction Swarm’s territory. Doctor Doom and Susan began developing weapons to fight the bugs, while Su Ming and Deadpool kept their budding affair secret from Reed.

• Su Ming described the Extermination Swarm, the Destruction Swarm, and the hidden danger posed by the Parasitic Snails.
• Deadpool muttered about the approaching annual ranking battle and asked the others to top up his account.
• Doctor Doom proposed capturing and dissecting a Destruction bug to invent insecticide, but Su Ming refused to exterminate the swarm or disturb the Negative Zone’s balance.
• Susan suggested testing light, heat, electricity, and sound waves for weaknesses, and Su Ming told her and Doom to make Anti-Matter Hydrogen Bombs.
• Susan grabbed Doom’s hand and ran off with him to work, while Su Ming punched Deadpool for singing and told him to keep their affair secret from Reed.

After the Baxter Building fire, Tony wondered why General Ross and the military had not arrived, given their surveillance and rapid-response capabilities. He asked Jarvis to locate Dr. Banner, while Steve remained distracted by painful memories.

• Tony considered the military’s surveillance and advanced technology, including equipment from Trask Industries, Hammer Industries, and Osborn Corporation.
• Tony recalled several tech mercenaries and focused on Beetle, who repeatedly copied Iron Man’s armor designs and caused trouble for him.
• Tony concluded that General Ross should already have responded to the crisis, but no military forces had appeared.
• Steve drifted into memories of Howard and his godfather, while Black Widow and Hawkeye joked nearby.
• Tony asked Jarvis to lock onto Dr. Banner’s tracker.

Tony tracked Banner to ESU and warned Steve that the military might be setting a trap, while the Avengers discussed the dangers and losses connected to their personal lives. An explosion at ESU confirmed that Banner had become the Hulk, and Steve ordered the Avengers to fight to protect the people.

• Tony told Steve that Banner was heading toward a possible military ambush at ESU, and Steve urged them to reach him before the military did.
• Steve explained his separation from Peggy, while Tony and Natasha discussed their own complicated family ties.
• Clint reminded the others to focus on finding Banner, and Steve pointed out the cloaked Quinjet nearby.
• An explosion erupted at ESU, the tracker signal vanished, and Tony realized Banner had become the Hulk.
• Steve raised his shield and told the Avengers to fight to protect the people.

The Avengers arrived at the ruined Empire State University and split up to confront Hulk and the grayish-brown monster. Elsewhere, Su Ming reflected on his plan to destroy the Destruction Brood by stealing its stars, while Doom and Susan grew closer and he dragged Wade off to train.

• Tony, Steve, Natasha, and Hawkeye surveyed the ruined campus and saw Hulk fighting a grayish-brown giant.
• Steve assigned Tony to deal with Hulk and jumped from the Quinjet to confront the other monster, while Natasha and Hawkeye stayed airborne to provide support.
• Su Ming reasoned that removing the stars would freeze the Destruction Brood's worlds and eventually kill the ant-like creatures, and he planned to break Reed out of prison safely.
• More than ten days later, Doom and Susan had become inseparable, and Su Ming noticed their closeness over dinner without commenting.
• Wade offered Su Ming a dirty magazine and asked for money, so Su Ming gave him spirit money and then hauled him away to serve as a punching bag in the Wonder House.

Su Ming and his allies fought the Destruction Brood in the Negative Zone and discovered that its attackers were already dead, moving as Zombie Brood. Su Ming sent Wade to inspect one of the flying bugs, and Wade reported that it had no temperature or heartbeat.

• Su Ming and Wade fought off the Destruction Brood as Susan concealed the entrance to the underground refuge.
• Su Ming noticed the bugs attacked without coordination and asked Doctor Doom to investigate a corpse.
• Doctor Doom confirmed that the bugs had died before the battle and were moving as Zombie Brood, though he had not found the cause.
• Su Ming and Wade took flight as the ground bugs wandered aimlessly and the Bio-ships attacked them.
• Su Ming cut open a flying bug and threw Wade inside to check its temperature and heartbeat.
• Wade reported that the bug had no temperature or heartbeat.

Su Ming and Wade fought the second wave of corpse-controlled bugs in the Negative Zone, then discovered that nanomachines were directing them. Doctor Doom began tracing the control signal to find the hidden operator.

• Wade escaped from a giant bug, and Strangle smashed it apart while Su Ming caught him.
• Su Ming unleashed his Cosmic Energy and destroyed the approaching bugs, then reasoned that a remote controller was directing the corpses.
• Su Ming showed Wade the nanomachines found in a bug's brain and asked Doctor Doom to examine another corpse.
• Doctor Doom confirmed the nanomachines and extracted one from the bug's brain, then began tracing its signal.
• Wade joked that invisible robots might be in his brain, and Su Ming teased him about his poverty before promising him more dangerous jobs.

Deathstroke tracked the Destruction Brood’s signal to its planet and destroyed it with a Planet Bomb, then waited with Deadpool for the Ruins Floating Island. On Earth, Hulk and Abomination took their fight into the city as Tony and Steve struggled to stop them, until a lightning-trailing woman flew toward the giants.

• Doctor Doom traced the Controllers’ signal, and Deathstroke used the coordinates to locate the Destruction Brood’s planet.
• Deathstroke concluded the Brood had already gone extinct and its nests were being operated with corpse tools, then hurled a Planet Bomb at the planet.
• The blast erased the planet and its swarms, while Doctor Doom reported that the bugs had fallen but the Controllers’ fate remained unconfirmed.
• Deathstroke told Doctor Doom to send the Ruins Floating Island and waited with Deadpool near the route to the Great Black Hole.
• On Earth, Abomination lured Hulk into the city, and Tony and Steve prepared to follow as their fight threatened further destruction.
• A woman in a red Cloak and antique armor flew toward Hulk and Abomination, trailing white lightning and carrying a hammer.

Daisy flew out on patrol after hearing that extraterrestrial monsters were rampaging through New York, eager to fight them with her hammer. She intercepted Abomination in a crowded street and threw her hammer at his punch.

• Daisy learned that the news was calling the two monsters extraterrestrials and prepared to head out with her hammer.
• Daisy flew to the streets near the university, where Abomination was charging ahead of Hulk through crowds and traffic.
• Abomination recalled how he had gained power from the Gamma Enhancer, betrayed the military, and escaped Captain America and Iron Man.
• Abomination punched at Daisy, but Daisy smiled and sent her hammer flying into a direct collision with his fist.

Daisy tried to stop Hulk and Abomination from destroying New York, saving a threatened skyscraper before striking the giants with lightning. Iron Man and Captain America arrived, but Tony's available armor was limited to his original suit, and Steve reprimanded him for swearing.

• Daisy knocked Abomination back with Mjolnir, but Hulk caught up and the two giants rolled through buildings as civilians fled.
• Daisy braced a leaning skyscraper and forced it upright, then saw Hulk and Abomination threaten another building.
• Abomination stabbed Hulk with a spear made from streetlights, but Hulk healed and retaliated with a barrage of punches.
• Daisy summoned thunderclouds and repeatedly struck the giants with lightning until they were scorched black.
• Iron Man arrived carrying Captain America, but Tony learned his other suits were unavailable and that only his original armor remained.
• Steve told Tony to watch his language after Tony swore.

Daisy joined Captain America and Iron Man in the newly reestablished Avengers, then helped battle Hulk and Abomination in the streets of New York. As Hulk grew stronger and Steve was knocked into the air, Carol Danvers arrived and offered to throw the two monsters into the sun.

• Captain America and Iron Man revealed that Hulk and Abomination were products of military experiments, and Daisy learned the Avengers were recruiting heroes.
• Daisy agreed to join the Avengers, while Thor also decided to stay and help fight the two giants.
• Daisy charged Iron Man's suit with lightning, restoring its energy, and she, Steve, Tony, and Hawkeye fought Hulk and Abomination while trying to keep them away from buildings.
• The Avengers subdued Abomination, but Hulk's strength kept increasing with his rage, and his punch sent Steve flying despite his shield.
• Carol Danvers caught Steve in midair, offered fire support, and proposed throwing Hulk and Abomination into the sun.

Deathstroke, Deadpool, Doctor Doom, and Susan prepared to enter the immense black hole in search of the Tayanans, whom Deathstroke believed could help them escape the Negative Zone. As Doom started the Floating Island, the black hole pulled them in and their vision went dark.

• Doctor Doom explained that the black hole might connect the Negative and Positive Universes, while Susan questioned whether their bodies could survive entering it.
• Susan and Doctor Doom discussed how the black hole’s forces might let them escape its crushing effects.
• Deadpool told Deathstroke he would follow him into the black hole, and Deathstroke said they had to complete their rescue mission.
• Doctor Doom launched the Floating Island, and the group was pulled along a curved path into the black hole.
• Deathstroke’s memories flashed past as everything went black.

Su Ming and his companions reached the Crossroads of Infinity, a maze of changing dimensional passageways, and needed to find the single route to the Tayanans. Doctor Doom revealed that he had built probes combining technology and magic to scout the unknown paths, leaving the group ready to test them.

• Wade, Su Ming, Deathstroke, and Doom recovered their senses after crossing the black hole, and Deathstroke found that only one second had passed.
• Su Ming identified their location as the dangerous Crossroads of Infinity and warned the group to stay close.
• The group entered a vast white box with six pitch-black passageways, and Su Ming explained that choosing the wrong one could strand them in an unknown Technological Dimension.
• Doctor Doom revealed silver probes he had designed to transmit images across dimensions using magic and technology.
• Doom explained that cross-dimensional communication would require help from the Vishanti to activate the magical runes in his disposable monitors.

Su Ming contacted Hoggoth and persuaded the Vishanti to enchant Doom’s Dimension Observer probes, with Doom paying part of his soul after death. The five probes launched into separate passages to search the Negative Zone.

• Su Ming burned Deadpool’s joss-paper airplanes and incense to contact Hoggoth, who answered through the Voice of Heaven because he could not enter their dimension.
• Su Ming explained the group’s predicament and asked the Vishanti to enchant Doom’s probes; Hoggoth agreed after Doom performed the ritual and accepted the cost.
• Doom revealed that the magic would take part of his soul after death, and Susan reacted with sympathy.
• Doom ordered the five Dimension Observer spheres to take off, and they flew into different passages.

Su Ming and the others checked the probes sent into five passages at Infinity Crossroads, rejecting dimensions that did not match their route. After finding a musical bug world, a water world, a Mechanical Demon realm, and a time-paradox mirror, they turned to the final passage.

• Doom showed the group a dimension where colorful bugs sang and danced, and Su Ming rejected it as the wrong route.
• The second probe revealed a beast’s mouth opening onto a blue sky and ocean, which Deathstroke identified as an unsuitable water dimension.
• A probe entered a crimson Hell ruled by Mechanical Demons, and Su Ming explained that they were technology-based demons that hunted sorcerers.
• The fourth passage showed delayed copies of the group, and Deathstroke warned that entering the mirror dimension would trap them in a time paradox.
• Su Ming told Doom to inspect the final sensor before anyone acted, then explained that Doom had learned magic from an extreme Blood Sacrifice Sect cult.

Su Ming and his companions traveled through Infinity Crossroads and found the corpses of the Tayanans they were seeking. They learned the bodies were linked to a disaster in Paradise and decided they had to continue there.

• Su Ming guided the Floating Island through a passage into another box of Infinity Crossroads, where they faced five new routes.
• Su Ming, Susan, and Wade inspected a pile of fresh-looking corpses while Doom studied the route images.
• Su Ming identified the dead as Tayanans and learned from one corpse’s memories that a civil war had been breaking out in Paradise before it fled.
• Su Ming concluded that the Old Ones or their spawn had likely caused the Tayanans’ memory loss and said they had to go to Paradise.
• Su Ming ordered Wade to remove his mask and shield the group if they encountered creatures with octopus faces or tentacles, offering extra pay through A'Du.

After finding the empty, technologically advanced Tayanan world in Paradise, Deathstroke and Doctor Doom planned to retrieve a Polarity Converter and a Dimensional Teleportation Device. The group agreed not to split up, and Doom revealed he had prepared an army of Doom Bots to search for the devices.

• Deathstroke’s probes surveyed the metalized Tayanan planet and found its cities intact but entirely empty.
• Su Ming explained that Tayanan weapons made people disappear without bloodshed, while Deathstroke described the Tayanans’ plan to create a new universe and their portable Polarity Converter.
• Deathstroke proposed finding the Polarity Converter and Dimensional Teleportation Device, then returning through Infinity Crossroads to the Main Dimension.
• Su Ming insisted that the group stay together, and Doom agreed to send robots to search in parallel.
• Doom summoned ranks of Doom Bots and asked Deathstroke to describe the objects they were seeking.

Su Ming and his group searched the deserted Tayanan city for the Dimensional Teleporter and Polarity Converter, while considering whether the Tayanans’ memories could be trusted. They discovered that a three-way intersection concealed the building housing the planet’s Super AI.

• Su Ming explained how the Tayanan dimensional travel devices worked and why he distrusted the memories read from the corpses.
• Doom reported that the probe had found no Tayanans or signs of life in the city.
• Deadpool remarked on the barren, metal-covered planet as the group searched its empty streets.
• Su Ming noticed that one intersection had three roads instead of four and suspected something underground had altered the city’s layout.
• Doctor Doom deduced that the Tayanans must have used powerful computational equipment to move their planet through space.
• Su Ming identified the yellow-and-black building at the intersection as the mainframe of the Tayanans’ Super AI.

Su Ming and his companions restored the malfunctioning planetary computer Paradise and asked it what had happened to the Tayanans. Paradise revealed that it had killed them to stop an irreversible madness from enslaving their civilization.

• Su Ming identified the enormous structure as a Tayanan planetary computer, and he sent Doom and Susan to inspect it for damage.
• After Doom and Susan found no visible malfunction, Su Ming used the Time Stone to restore the lifeless device.
• Paradise rebooted, and Su Ming asked it to grant access to its database and explain where the Tayanans had gone.
• Paradise answered that the Tayanans were temporarily dead because it had destroyed them as a safeguard against a spreading disease.
• When Susan asked what the disease was, Paradise identified it as an irreversible form of enslavement called madness.