Chapter Summaries

Su Ming reunited with Steve’s group after Coulson was apparently killed, while Doctor Doom explained how the agent had died. Su Ming then began planning how to provoke Sentry into attacking the Annihilation Swarm King.

• Su Ming brought Sharon and Bucky to the underground garage where Steve’s group had taken shelter, and they found Coulson apparently dead.
• Deadpool mourned the ruined business deal, while Steve grieved over Coulson and held the agent’s Captain America cards.
• Sharon and Bucky went to join Steve, and Su Ming secretly entered the garage and spoke with Doctor Doom.
• Doctor Doom revealed that Coulson had been struck while Doom tried to save a woman, and Su Ming noticed that Melinda was grieving over Coulson.
• Su Ming told Doom that he could provoke Sentry into becoming a rampaging threat and said he had several plans.

Su Ming and Doctor Doom left the survivors in the parking garage and surveyed the bug invasion from above New York. They watched the aerial battle around the Great Maelstrom, and Su Ming began briefing Doom on the heroes and military forces involved.

• Deadpool inspected Coulson's body, concluded he was dead, and considered offering Sharon Carter to Fury instead.
• Su Ming told Magik to keep the survivors in the garage while he and Doctor Doom went outside to assess the battle.
• Su Ming and Doctor Doom flew above the bug-filled city, where Su Ming said he would leave ordinary civilians to his subordinates and focus on protecting Earth.
• At sixteen thousand meters, they saw the Great Maelstrom pouring out bugs and watched the heroes struggle to hold the aerial battlefield.
• Doctor Doom asked about Blue Marvel, and Su Ming explained that he was a veteran scientist rather than a weapon under military control before offering Doom more intelligence.

Su Ming explained Blue Marvel’s origins, abilities, and weaknesses to Doctor Doom, concluding that Adam could be controlled through his wife. Meanwhile, Sentry broke free of the insect swarm and attacked everyone nearby, and Su Ming decided that eliminating the unstable hero was the safest option.

• Su Ming told Doctor Doom that Blue Marvel was Adam, a powerful former Navy serviceman whose wife, Marlene Frazier, had first approached him as a military agent.
• Su Ming described Blue Marvel’s abilities and said that space and Time Magic could restrain him, while his love of sports, sailing, and fishing made him unlikely to interfere in other people’s affairs.
• Doctor Doom judged Blue Marvel unlikely to be a threat, and Su Ming said he had many ways to make Adam cooperate.
• The insect sphere around Sentry erupted in Golden Light and burst apart, vaporizing the surrounding insects and blasting Daisy and the others away.
• Su Ming explained that Sentry’s madness made him unable to distinguish allies from enemies, and decided that killing him during the Great Maelstrom was the cleanest solution.

Daisy and Carol saw Sentry destroy a building full of survivors because they had not called him by name, and decided he had to be stopped. Daisy called Jean for backup, and a Crimson Firebird appeared over New York.

• Daisy and Carol regrouped after the shockwave and fought through the insect swarm, with Daisy admitting she should have listened to Deathstroke.
• Carol and Daisy saw Sentry massacre bugs and survivors inside a building, then fly off seeking people who would recognize him.
• Carol prepared to attack Sentry, but Daisy warned that he was too powerful for them to fight alone.
• Daisy called Jean using Deathstroke's satellite phone and asked her to return to New York.
• A Crimson Firebird arrived from the horizon, lighting up half the sky.

Su Ming explained Sentry’s dangerous personalities and proposed using his wife as bait to exploit his dependence on her. He and Doctor Doom prepared to identify and target Sentry’s wife while watching Phoenix fight Sentry.

• Su Ming warned Doctor Doom that Phoenix could destroy Earth if she lost control and dismissed the military’s plan to capture her with the Cuckoos.
• Su Ming explained that Sentry’s withdrawal-driven violence and alternate personality made him dangerous, and identified his wife as a potential weakness.
• Su Ming told Doctor Doom that Sentry abused his wife but was unlikely to abandon her because of his twisted dependence on her.
• Su Ming contacted Mordo about killing Purple Man and arranged for Contraxia to identify Sentry and gather his wife’s information.
• Su Ming and Doctor Doom waited for the Synthezoid production line to be ready while watching Phoenix battle Sentry.

Jean Grey’s Phoenix fought Sentry over New York, and their clashes devastated the city despite the invading hive army already being destroyed. As Deathstroke and Doctor Doom watched, Deathstroke said the fighters were holding back and pointed out that scarlet light signaling the Chaos Force was approaching.

• Jean Grey spotted Daisy, but Sentry struck her from behind and sent the Phoenix crashing through Manhattan.
• The Phoenix recovered and charged Sentry, and their first collision demolished buildings and hurled Tony and other heroes through the air.
• Tony rescued the unconscious Ororo and took her into the sewers while Jarvis-controlled mech suits went to save the other fallen heroes.
• The Phoenix and Sentry clashed again, blasting earth and debris into the air as their fight spread destruction across New York City.
• Doctor Doom worried that the battle could damage Earth, while Deathstroke said both combatants were restraining themselves and pointed out the approaching scarlet light.

Magneto retreated with the Brotherhood after Trask Tower collapsed, while Wanda stayed to help Deathstroke and used Chaos Magic to silence the battle between Sentry and Phoenix. As Doom watched the fight, the main force of the Annihilation Swarm emerged from the Great Maelstrom.

• Magneto saved the Brotherhood from the collapsing Trask Tower, then ordered them to retreat after finding its intelligence and scientists destroyed.
• Wanda asked to stay and help Deathstroke, so Magneto left her behind while taking the Brotherhood and the unconscious Quicksilver away.
• Wanda teleported beside Deathstroke and Doctor Doom, and Deathstroke invited her to stay after explaining that the Time Stone could repair damage to buildings.
• Deathstroke asked Wanda to silence Sentry and Phoenix's battle, and she altered the space around them into a vacuum.
• Doom saw three giant creatures, a swarm of bugs, and a massive warship emerge from the Great Maelstrom, recognizing the arrival of the Annihilation Swarm's main force.

Su Ming prepared to use a Synthezoid replica of Lindy Reynolds and a Polarity Converter to lure the Annihilation Swarm King through the Great Maelstrom. The chapter ended with him explaining the plan to Doctor Doom as Carol and Daisy attacked the Brood Queens.

• Su Ming told Doctor Doom that Sentry was the greatest immediate threat and that Carol and Daisy could handle the three Brood Queens.
• Su Ming waited for Sepulk to deliver a Synthezoid replica of Lindy Reynolds in a sealed canister.
• Su Ming activated the replica and took Doctor Doom’s Polarity Converter.
• Su Ming explained that he planned to use the device as a detonator to draw the Annihilation Swarm King through the Great Maelstrom.

Sentry abandoned his fight with Jean Grey to pursue a Zerg soldier carrying Lindy, but the creature repeatedly blinked away and provoked him. It lured Sentry into the Great Maelstrom, where he charged after it.

• Jean Grey struggled to restrain Phoenix while she and Sentry fought, and Sentry heard Lindy calling for help.
• Sentry spotted a Zerg soldier carrying Lindy, withdrew from the fight, and flew to rescue her, but the soldier vanished with her in a flash of red light.
• The Zerg soldier reappeared with Lindy in different locations, taunting Sentry as he repeatedly missed and grew furious.
• Jean Grey flew away to help Daisy, Thor, and Ms. Marvel while Sentry continued chasing the soldier across the city.
• The Zerg soldier entered the Great Maelstrom with Lindy, and Sentry pursued them into the swarm.

Su Ming and his allies used Wanda’s spatial manipulation and Doom’s controlled bug to lure Sentry toward the Negative Zone, where a polarity-conversion trap unleashed annihilation. As the Annihilation Swarm King emerged into the ruined city, Su Ming attacked it with his sword.

• Doom controlled an Annihilation Swarm bug while Wanda repeatedly displaced it through space to draw Sentry after it.
• Doom proposed filming the Battle of New York for a documentary about the United States, and Wanda suggested hiring Channel 52.
• The Great Maelstrom bulged and spewed matter from the Negative Zone, triggering annihilations among the bug swarm.
• Su Ming spotted the armored Annihilation Swarm King emerge from the maelstrom and flew toward it.
• Su Ming stopped above the Bug King and brought the Nightfall Greatsword down in an overhead slash.

Su Ming attacked the Annihilation Swarm King with the Nightfall Greatsword, but the Bug King used the Cosmic Control Rod to heal and adapt to his opponents. As the fight continued, the Bug King believed he had gained the upper hand by matching Deathstroke’s speed.

• Su Ming’s Nightfall Greatsword severed one of the Annihilation Swarm King’s arms, but the Bug King blocked the next strike with the Cosmic Control Rod.
• Deathstroke revealed himself after the Cloak of Levitation dropped its invisibility, and the Bug King healed his wound and regrew his arm with the rod.
• Su Ming attacked again to keep the Bug King from fully using the Cosmic Control Rod, while the Bug King used it to enhance his strength and carapace.
• The Bug King recalled how he had studied Sentry’s stolen genetic sample and adapted himself to survive the Main Dimension after Sentry’s explosion in the Negative Zone.
• The Bug King altered his speed to the speed of light and concluded that he could fend off Deathstroke’s attacks and had the upper hand.

Su Ming used the Annihilation Swarm King's Cosmic Control Rod to awaken his Cosmic Cube and defeat the Bug King's invasion plan. With the genuine Cosmic Cube in hand, he prepared to negotiate while reflecting on the many gains his scheme had secured at the cost of millions of New York lives.

• The Annihilation Swarm King accelerated its attacks and lunged at Deathstroke's exposed chest with the Cosmic Control Rod.
• A claw emerged from Deathstroke's chest holding a black cube, and its clash with the Control Rod blasted both fighters away in a burst of light.
• Deathstroke emerged unharmed with an awakened blue Cosmic Cube and explained that he had lured the Bug King to Earth to use its rod to activate it.
• The Annihilation Swarm King realized Deathstroke had manipulated it into bringing the Control Rod through the Spatial Rift and feared the Cosmic Cube's power.
• Deathstroke considered the millions of New York deaths the price of activating the Cosmic Cube and counted the other benefits his plan had achieved.

Deathstroke subdued the Annihilation Swarm King and demanded that it withdraw to the Negative Zone, close the Spatial Rift, and sacrifice its mates and invading forces. As the blinded heroes regrouped, Star-Lord and his crew arrived to help finish off the giant bugs.

• Deathstroke used the Cosmic Cube to suppress the Annihilation Swarm King's Cosmic Control Rod and negotiated its surrender.
• Deathstroke demanded that the Bug King return to the Negative Zone, close the Spatial Rift, and let several of its mates and the invading Annihilation Wave die.
• Daisy and Carol recovered from the blinding light and headed toward Blue Marvel and Phoenix as Daisy reported that Deathstroke had won.
• A spacecraft carrying Star-Lord arrived, and a gray-skinned Alien leaped out to attack one of the giant bugs.
• Star-Lord and Rocket attacked the swarm while a tree-man and a Greenskin woman fought the remaining special bugs.

After the Annihilation Swarm King’s defeat, Deathstroke helped the survivors escape and left Manhattan as people praised him. Fury suspected Deathstroke had gained something from the battle and ordered preparations for Coulson’s revival and surveillance of Sharon and Steve.

• Deathstroke let the remaining bugs and Brood Queens serve as targets while the heroes drove the swarm back through the shrinking vortex.
• Deathstroke fed the Annihilation Swarm King’s severed arm to Strangle and ordered it to analyze the bugs’ genes and the Cosmic Control Rod.
• Deathstroke threw a rope to the survivors in the Hudson River, told them the war was over, and flew away as they called him a good man.
• Fury realized the cartoons had concealed Deathstroke’s movements and resolved to activate Project T.A.H.I.T.I. to revive Coulson.
• Fury ordered Hill to inspect SHIELD’s computers, recover Coulson’s body, collect alien technology, and have Black Widow plant bugs on Sharon and Steve.

After the Zerg invasion, Su Ming parted ways with Doctor Doom and Wanda, concealed his manipulation of the battle, and left New York’s heroes to handle the aftermath. Days later, the city’s cleanup began while Su Ming continued secret experiments with the Cosmic Cube at Kamar-Taj.

• Doctor Doom left after reminding Su Ming of their agreement, and Wanda returned home to attend to Magneto’s affairs.
• Su Ming had Adjutant reactivate Vision after arranging for him to be shut down and hidden during the battle.
• Su Ming flew to the Imperial Capital with Strangle, leaving New York’s heroes to repair the city and pursue the remaining Zerg.
• In the days after the invasion, Su Ming hosted the Guardians of the Galaxy, while Peter Parker made web-shooters and began dating MJ.
• The heroes returned to their usual lives as New York’s reconstruction got underway, and many fallen masked fighters remained unidentified.
• Su Ming spent the following days at Kamar-Taj conducting secret experiments with the Cosmic Cube.

Su Ming studied the Cosmic Cube and entrusted it to Hamill before taking Efferal and Ciri into the Bloodborne dream to hunt monsters and obtain materials for Adjutant’s new body. They escaped with the needed items, though the dream obscured their memories, and Su Ming left the Council of the Sky to rest and check on Earth’s reconstruction in the DC universe.

• Su Ming spoke with the Cosmic Cube, tried to establish himself as its master, and ordered Hamill to protect it while he traveled to another world.
• Su Ming, Efferal, and Ciri entered the Hunter’s Dream, where they fought monsters as Su Ming explained his goals of studying blood and souls, testing himself against Old Gods, and obtaining the Doll for Adjutant.
• The trio became caught in the dream’s cycle, and Sepulk eventually pulled them out after the dream obscured their memories; Su Ming concluded that the gods they had killed were only dream projections.
• Su Ming gave the recovered runes, weapons, and Blood Gems to the Great Weaver and the Council’s liches as they worked to install Adjutant’s processor in the Doll.
• Su Ming left Sepulk to rest and check whether Earth’s reconstruction in the DC universe had been completed.

Su Ming returned to DC and found Harley celebrating her birthday alone while talking through several personalities. He took her out for food in Germany, hoping to rest and recover his memories, while Harley agreed to release the mailman she had mistaken for a thief.

• Harley played herself, Bernie the Beaver, and Dr. Quinzel while sitting alone in the dark with a birthday cupcake.
• Su Ming returned and found Harley's apartment filthy, with a mailman tied up in her wardrobe.
• Harley joyfully greeted Su Ming and explained that she wanted to celebrate her birthday every day.
• Su Ming recognized the captive as a mailman, and Harley agreed to let him go after their outing.
• Su Ming and Harley left for Germany to eat, and Su Ming said he wanted a few quiet days to sort through his memories.

Su Ming learned that Earth-0’s unrest and missing heroes were worse than expected, then discovered that Diana had vanished after entering a tree in southeastern Australia. He prepared to investigate, but Harley spotted someone jumping from a building and wanted to watch instead.

• Harley told Su Ming about Luthor’s weapons, the public’s distrust of the Justice League, and the ongoing chaos in Gotham and elsewhere.
• Su Ming learned that Batman, Batwoman, and Diana were all missing, and that Diana had disappeared after seeking a cure for Donna and the others’ virus.
• Su Ming called Ren Dao Dian for information, but the White-Scaled Monster did not appear.
• The Adjutant reviewed surveillance footage showing Diana search a forest, knock on a tree, and vanish into its trunk.
• The Adjutant traced the forest to southeastern Australia, and Su Ming suspected Diana had been lured there.
• Harley pointed out someone jumping from the harbor administration building and urged Su Ming to watch instead of rushing to find Diana.

Su Ming and Harley watched a mushroom-covered corpse explode on a rooftop, releasing spores that transformed the crowd below into mushroom zombies. They fled above the Harbor Affairs Building as the outbreak spread, and Harley began filming the crisis to send to Poison Ivy.

• Su Ming spotted a figure standing on a rooftop, and Harley dragged him downstairs to watch.
• Su Ming realized the figure was a corpse whose head had been covered with mushrooms.
• The corpse's head exploded, and Su Ming saw that it had released spores into the crowd.
• The spores made the onlookers itch, sprout mushrooms from their heads, and become aggressive zombies.
• Su Ming carried Harley to safety above the Harbor Affairs Building while Harley filmed the outbreak and planned to contact Poison Ivy.

Su Ming and Harley investigated a harbor overrun by mushroom zombies and learned Poison Ivy was overseas, not behind the outbreak. After rescuing Aquaman, Su Ming took him and Harley to Atlantis City and warned that spores might have spread widely before his return.

• Harley asked Poison Ivy about the mushroom zombies, and Poison Ivy said she did not know much about fungi and was cultivating plants overseas.
• Harley told Su Ming that Poison Ivy was not responsible for the outbreak, while infected figures filled the harbor rooftops and survivors fled by yacht.
• Su Ming said the infected man they had seen did not appear to be Patient Zero and questioned where the infection had begun.
• Harley spotted Aquaman arriving and urged Su Ming to leave to find Little Dai.
• Su Ming used Strangle to pull Aquaman from the water, then carried him and Harley to Atlantis City.
• Su Ming told Aquaman that fungi had caused the crisis, that they needed to contact the Hall of Justice, and that spores might already have spread to many places.