Chapter Summaries

Su Ming and his allies watched Lucifer battle The Batman Who Laughs in a temporary Hell while Superboy-Prime and Albera disrupted the villain’s plans. The Batman Who Laughs remained alive, and Su Ming waited for him to abandon his giant form and reveal his next move.

• Lucifer dragged The Batman Who Laughs into a temporary Hell and forced him into a giant battle between their opposing powers.
• Su Ming sent Superboy-Prime to attack The Batman Who Laughs from behind, leaving him vulnerable to Lucifer’s Seraphim Blade.
• The Batman Who Laughs tried to break Su Ming’s group into atoms, but Lucifer rejected the attack with his cosmic authority.
• Albera burned the Batman variants The Batman Who Laughs had sent against the group, while Su Ming explained that he was waiting for the villain to change forms.
• Su Ming paid Albera early and told her to hire cleaners because her house was full of maggots.

Lucifer and Deathstroke defeated The Batman Who Laughs, with Saint Killer’s Silver Bullet striking him before Lucifer erased him completely. Deathstroke returned to Earth-0 with Harley and Little Superman, postponing his celebration with Harley to deal with the work of restoring worlds and helping his allies.

• Lucifer rejected The Batman Who Laughs’s offer to join forces and explained that the multiverse would create new crisis figures even if he died.
• The Batman Who Laughs shrank to evade his pursuers, but Harley spotted him and reported his location to Deathstroke.
• Saint Killer fired the Silver Bullet from Sepulk, and it struck The Batman Who Laughs in the forehead.
• Lucifer shattered The Batman Who Laughs at the conceptual level, reducing his corpse to ashes.
• Lucifer sent Deathstroke, Harley, Albera, and Little Superman from Hell to Los Angeles on Earth-0, where Albera left and Harley asked Deathstroke to celebrate with her.
• Deathstroke postponed the date to help William revive his family and Clark rebuild Earth-33, and Little Superman thanked him and promised to help with his plans.

Su Ming arranged for the World Forger to reforge Earth-33 for Superboy-Prime, then returned to Sepulk to plan other favors and projects. He prepared to visit Death's realm to resurrect Saint Killer's wife and daughter while ordering the Adjutant to monitor the Justice League and test a magic-lending system on Constantine.

• Su Ming convinced the World Forger to reforge Earth-33 using material recovered from The Batman Who Laughs's Laughing Multiverse, and asked Superboy-Prime to describe his world.
• Su Ming returned to Sepulk with Harley and learned that William was waiting for help resurrecting his wife and daughter.
• Su Ming ordered the Adjutant to experiment with the Inversion Ball on Constantine and to contact Luthor about a meeting with the Legion of Doom.
• Su Ming told the Adjutant he would visit Death's realm to collect a debt and help Saint Killer resurrect his family.
• Harley asked for Servo-Skulls as Halloween decorations and suggested turning the Mobius Chair into a toilet.

After helping Saint Killer secure a future for his family, Deathstroke accepted a favor from Death and Dream and returned to Earth. He parted from Diana for a while, leaving Harley and Barry to joke about their relationships and the dangers ahead.

• Dream repaired the rift in the sky and made a slide and flower bed to conceal the gate to Hell, while Death thanked Deathstroke for fulfilling their agreement.
• Deathstroke asked Death to owe him a favor, then introduced Saint Killer to Death and Dream so he could seek help for his wife and daughter.
• Deathstroke left the Dreaming with Harley to handle other unfinished business before dawn.
• At the Hall of Justice, Diana asked whether Deathstroke was leaving again, and he said they could keep their relationship as it was.
• Diana took Deathstroke away for time alone, while Harley stayed with Barry and joked about their relationships and the danger of another major event soon.

Su Ming returned to his quiet life on 40K Earth, checked that Kamar-Taj and his other operations were stable, then visited Zheng Xian at Sky Ring. Zheng Xian’s dangerous strength-enhancing inhalant gave Su Ming an idea for how to use it, and the two went to eat hot pot.

• Su Ming relaxed with Gin after Harley returned from Contraxia, and Gin reported that his operations across several universes were running smoothly.
• Su Ming visited Kamar-Taj, where Mordo and Monark reported that only the war in Hell remained a serious disturbance.
• Su Ming flew to Sky Ring and gave Zheng Xian a Batarang that he had confiscated from Batman.
• Zheng Xian showed Su Ming the Strongman Atomized Inhalant, whose strength-enhancing effects could make people go berserk.
• Su Ming suggested testing the inhalant on animals instead of people, and Zheng Xian invited him to hot pot.

Su Ming rejected Zheng Xian’s hint that Deathstroke might take him off-world, then Peter Parker mistook his girlfriends’ urgent invitation to a motel for a plan to scare him with a fake corpse. He confidently climbed into the bathtub with the strange figure, leaving the women disgusted and soaked.

• Su Ming joked with Zheng Xian about an old man who loved fishing, then refused to help Zheng Xian pursue off-world business.
• Peter Parker swung home while chatting at length with Tony, who claimed he played mahjong with women to avoid explaining adult games.
• Peter ate instant noodles, suited up, and headed to a suburban motel where Silk pulled him into the room.
• Gwen called Peter into the bathroom, where he saw a strange corpse soaking in the bathtub.
• Peter assumed the figure was a realistic alien costume and jumped into its lap, while the girls recoiled in disgust.

Peter learned that the alien corpse was harmless after panicking about infection, then joined the girls in investigating it. The Spider Alliance hoped to find the alien’s spaceship and claim it as their own transport, so Peter prepared to examine the body for clues.

• Peter frantically scrubbed himself in the bathroom after learning that the corpse he had fallen onto was an alien.
• Mary and Gwen reassured Peter that they had examined the body and found no dangerous bacteria or viruses.
• The girls explained that they wanted to locate the alien’s means of transport rather than report the corpse to S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers.
• Peter used a map to consider where the spaceship might be and agreed to examine the corpse for clues.
• Marshall handed Peter a magnifying glass, and the girls led him back to the makeshift morgue.

Su Ming and Strangle searched for something interesting to do amid an unusually peaceful universe, then visited Carol’s family in the Savage Land. He asked Carol about recent events in space, leaving the conversation open as Little Joe continued enduring Mary’s brutal training.

• Su Ming parted ways with Old Zheng after they drank together until dawn.
• Su Ming discussed his boredom and concern about the calm universe with Strangle, then decided to visit Carol and ask about the wider galaxy.
• Su Ming and the Cloak traveled to the Savage Land, where he checked with Kaecilius about alien research before heading to Carol’s ranch.
• Su Ming found Mary training Little Joe while Carol watched with the Orange Cat, and he caught up with Carol about her family and the cleared Brood threat.
• Su Ming asked Carol whether anything interesting had happened in the universe lately.

Su Ming questioned Carol about news from space and learned that S.W.O.R.D. remained only a proposal, then found Wade waiting for Spider-Man to play a game. A broadcast of a nuclear explosion in Japan led Su Ming to hire Wade and head there.

• Carol told Su Ming that Star-Lord had formed the Guardians of the Galaxy, whose failed tomb raid ended with Peter hospitalized after a raccoon shot him.
• Carol explained that aliens arrived on Earth every few days and that the Air Force was recruiting some Refugees for its S.W.O.R.D. preparations, though the project had been rejected by the United Nations Security Council.
• Su Ming returned to New York, found Wade at Aphrodite's home, and learned that Wade had been waiting to play Monster Hunter: World with Spider-Man.
• A Japanese broadcast showed a vast golden mushroom cloud from a nuclear explosion, and Wade worried that New York would be bombed.
• Su Ming kicked Wade out the door and hired him for fifty thousand dollars to go to Japan.

Deathstroke and Deadpool investigated the Fukushima nuclear explosion in Roppongi, where residents blamed America but Deathstroke doubted it had any reason to attack Japan. Deadpool suspected a terrorist attack and made another string of obscene jokes before Deathstroke dragged him away.

• Deathstroke asked Deadpool to question people in Roppongi about the nuclear explosion while he listened to diners at an udon restaurant.
• The restaurant's customers blamed America for the attack and speculated that Japan had been punished for seeking economic independence.
• Deathstroke concluded that America was unlikely to have caused the explosion because the attack offered its politicians and military no benefit.
• Deadpool told Deathstroke he suspected a terrorist attack and made an incoherent remark about pointing his butt at outer space.
• Deathstroke stabbed Deadpool with the Owl Dagger, denied ever calling him sweetie, and dragged him into a dark alley.

Su Ming investigated the nuclear blast in Fukushima and used surveillance footage to identify the likely culprit as a crocodile-skinned alien. He left the chapter with the suspect identified but not yet caught.

• Su Ming and Deadpool flew to Fukushima and examined the blast site, where Su Ming concluded that an experimental device had caused the unusually radioactive explosion.
• Deadpool suspected A.I.M., but Su Ming dismissed the guess and said he would check surveillance footage.
• Su Ming had Adjutant scan footage from Japan and spotted a dark humanoid approaching the nuclear power plant.
• Adjutant retrieved clearer footage from multiple angles, revealing that the suspect was a broad-shouldered alien with crocodile-like skin.
• Su Ming acknowledged Deadpool's correct guess that the culprit was an alien and wondered why Daisy had covered Carol's shift.

Daisy investigated a crashed Shi'ar spacecraft and deduced that two aliens had left it for a nearby town. She flew off to look for them, leaving the ship temporarily buried by the reservoir.

• Daisy found no answer when she called into the spacecraft, so she broke open its hatch and entered.
• She discovered flowers and keepsakes inside the ship, but no occupants or weapons.
• Daisy examined the cockpit and recorded clues suggesting that two aliens of very different sizes had departed together.
• She reasoned that the aliens were likely heading toward a nearby town, where their size would make them noticeable.
• Daisy buried the spacecraft beside the reservoir and flew toward the nearest town to search for the aliens.

Peter and the girls found no clues in the corpse’s autopsy and planned to continue investigating the next day. Meanwhile, Deathstroke asked Daisy about missing aliens, and she revealed that she had found an abandoned spaceship beneath a reservoir.

• Peter told MJ, Gwen, Mary Jane, Liz, and Cynthia that he could determine neither the corpse’s cause of death nor what he had done while alive.
• Mary Jane suggested hiding the body and bringing professional equipment to investigate after school; Liz offered to pay for a rental car.
• Daisy arrived in town and encountered Deathstroke and Deadpool, who joked until Su Ming cut him apart and silenced him.
• Deathstroke asked Daisy whether she had noticed aliens entering Earth or gone missing, explaining that the New York Sanctum’s oversight had weakened after its resident master changed.
• Daisy said she had caught some alien stowaways and handed them to the Avengers, then revealed that she had found a hidden spaceship beneath the reservoir with its aliens missing.

Su Ming and Daisy traced the Aliens to a motel, where evidence revealed that Peter had taken something from them. Su Ming figured out where the Aliens were hiding and prepared to pursue them.

• Su Ming and Daisy compared their information and began searching local hotels after losing track of the Aliens in the sewers.
• Su Ming questioned a motel owner, who said two costumed guests had stayed in room 302 and that one had been carried inside motionless.
• Su Ming and Daisy entered room 302 and found that the Aliens had already left.
• Su Ming discovered alien DNA and signs that someone had dragged something through the bathroom's rear ventilation window.
• Su Ming concluded that Peter had stolen something from the Aliens and told Daisy he knew where to find them.

Su Ming, Deathstroke, and Deadpool tracked Peter and the Spider Alliance kids to a warehouse where they had hidden an alien corpse. They found the dissected body frozen in an old freezer, and Strangle began probing it for memories.

• Deadpool revealed that Peter had taken the alien to another room, and Strangle traced Peter’s scent through water trails.
• Su Ming, Deathstroke, and Deadpool followed the trail to a warehouse whose freshly picked lock and footprints showed that the kids had entered.
• The group found signs of an improvised workroom but no body, and Deathstroke deduced that Peter had hidden it in a repaired freezer.
• Su Ming opened the freezer and found an unfamiliar alien with a stitched Y-shaped incision across its chest.
• Deathstroke lifted the corpse free of the ice, and Strangle sent tentacles into its ears to read its memories.

Su Ming learned from the dead Alien that it had come to Earth with a male partner from the Broken Land, who planned to attack humanity after receiving a prophecy. The group considered whether the prophecy was fabricated or tied to a god, but Su Ming suspected there might be hidden circumstances behind the invasion.

• Strangle read the dead female Alien's memories, and Su Ming learned she had died from an Earth cold virus.
• Su Ming told Daisy, Wade, and Thor that the female Alien had been the pilot's intelligence-support partner and that her husband was a powerful Alien who had come to destroy Earth.
• Su Ming explained that the Aliens came from the Broken Land, where the High Priest of the Omnipotent Prophet had issued a prophecy that Earthlings would destroy their homeland.
• Thor suggested the male Alien might be a brainwashed holy warrior, while Su Ming questioned how the priest had learned of Earth.
• Su Ming raised the possibility that a real minor god might be behind the attack and warned that the situation could involve hidden circumstances.

At Avengers headquarters, Steve and Tony argued over whether the Avengers should go to Japan after a nuclear explosion, while Fury favored keeping the organization out of the crisis. The debate ended when Coulson reported a second nuclear explosion at Chernobyl and warned that Russia was going to war with the United States.

• Steve urged the Avengers to go to Japan to investigate the dirty bomb and help civilians evacuate, while Tony argued they should stay in the United States and provide aid remotely.
• Bucky, Falcon, Ant-Man, and Wasp backed Steve, while Banner and Vision supported Tony, and Fury advocated a secret, limited investigation by S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Fury considered the proposed Superhero Registration Act and wondered who Deathstroke was, while Natasha secretly gathered information for Spider Web.
• Steve decided to go to Japan with Bucky, Sam, Ant-Man, and Wasp, and asked Fury to lend him a plane.
• Coulson contacted Fury and reported a second nuclear explosion at Chernobyl, warning that Russia was going to war with the United States.

After a second nuclear explosion at Chernobyl, Su Ming deduced that Ord was trying to provoke nuclear powers into World War III and flew to warn Zheng Xian that China might be his next target. Zheng Xian mobilized defenses, while Su Ming cautioned him that Ord’s conspicuous appearance on camera might be a trap.

• Su Ming learned that a second nuclear explosion had occurred at Chernobyl, and the Polar Bears blamed the United States and prepared for war.
• Su Ming, Daisy, and Deadpool concluded that Ord was exploiting old hostilities and targeting nuclear facilities to provoke a global conflict.
• Su Ming contacted Zheng Xian and warned him that Ord might attack China next to push the United States and China into war.
• Zheng Xian deployed troops to defend China’s nuclear facilities and mobilized Mutant organizations to search for Ord.
• Su Ming sent Zheng Xian a surveillance screenshot from Japan and advised him not to announce a public manhunt, suspecting Ord wanted to lure them into a trap.

Su Ming and Zheng Xian suspected Ord was deliberately provoking international conflict and anti-Mutant sentiment, while Ord’s attack was blamed on the United States at a press conference. With war looming, Su Ming planned to find and kill Ord before he reached another nuclear plant, and Zheng Xian waited for the hunt to begin.

• Su Ming told Zheng Xian that Ord’s conspicuous attacks and careful escapes suggested a deliberate plan, prompting Zheng Xian to order a crackdown on leaked information and outside signals.
• Su Ming showed Zheng Xian a broadcast in which officials from Little Crow, Second Hair, and Big Hair accused the United States of supporting terrorism and threatened retaliation, using footage of Ord wearing Stars and Stripes underwear as evidence.
• Zheng Xian said Leviathan might be seeking war, while Su Ming warned that the United States would not pay compensation and Ord might be trying to provoke a war between Superhumans and ordinary people.
• Su Ming said he would find and kill Ord before he could target another nuclear plant, and Zheng Xian hoped any fight would happen over the East China Sea.

The United States rejected compensation and considered targeting Mutants, while Magneto feared a global crackdown and sent Wanda to seek Deathstroke’s help. Su Ming learned that Ord had been cornered at the Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant and set out with Deadpool and Daisy.

• The U.S. Senate unanimously rejected compensation and debated purging Mutants, revealing its members’ interest in exploiting their genetic power.
• Magneto concluded that the Brotherhood was in danger as governments blamed Mutants for the attacks.
• Raven offered to contact Charles, but Magneto doubted the X-Men could help.
• Wanda suggested asking Mr. Wilson for help, and Magneto agreed she should seek him through Kamar-Taj.
• Zheng Xian told Su Ming that Ord had been cornered at the Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant, and Su Ming departed with Deadpool and Daisy.