Chapter Summaries

Steve stalled Zola while secretly freeing himself, but Zola caught his escape attempt and prepared to extract the Super Soldier Serum. Just as Zola was about to drill into Steve, a golden light destroyed the device and an armored figure entered, leaving Steve unconscious.

• Zola insisted that Red Skull was dead and claimed the plan to create an army of German Captains as his own.
• Steve distracted Zola by suggesting Red Skull was hiding in different places around the laboratory while working his hand free.
• Zola revealed his plan to extract Steve’s Super Soldier Serum and use Skrull equipment to create an army.
• Steve tried to smash the camera light on Zola’s television body, but Zola caught his strike and pinned him down.
• A golden light shattered Zola’s device, and a black-and-yellow armored figure entered the laboratory as Steve passed out.

Su Ming and his allies infiltrated Zola’s laboratory, rescued Steve and the other captives, and learned about Hydra’s plans and its S.H.I.E.L.D. moles. Zola escaped by abandoning his robot body, leaving Deathstroke to consider the rescue complete despite the scientist’s surviving digital backups.

• Su Ming’s group located Natasha and found Steve on Zola’s operating table after listening to Zola explain Hydra’s plans and expose S.H.I.E.L.D. moles.
• Deathstroke shot Zola’s robot, freed Steve, and demanded that Zola surrender his technological space in exchange for his life.
• Groot carried Steve, Bucky, and the other rescued captives toward the sewers while Gamora opened the neighboring cells.
• Zola’s screen went dark and his robot collapsed as his Biological Weapons attacked, allowing his core program to escape.
• Deathstroke and the others fought off the Biological Weapons, and Deathstroke explained that Zola could survive through his Internet backups.

Deathstroke explained that he had let Arnim Zola go so the scientist could develop new technology for him, which Deathstroke planned to adapt and distribute on Earth. He took control of Zola’s television robot and left the Adjutant to run the dimension under Zola’s identity.

• Deathstroke told Carol that Zola’s inventions could drive technological progress and that he intended to harvest the scientist’s future research.
• He explained that the Adjutant would convert the dimension’s rune-based technologies into products for Earth.
• Carol realized Deathstroke had arranged for the Guardians to take the Avengers away so he could keep the dimension for himself.
• Deathstroke ordered the Adjutant to take over Zola’s television robot and connect it to the Rune Alien Network.
• The Adjutant completed the takeover and agreed to issue orders as Zola while coordinating with the Wilson Group.

Su Ming and Carol prepared to return to Earth after discovering how Zola marked Skrulls, while Deadpool used a Teleportation Belt to get back to New York and set off for Stark Tower. The chapter left Deadpool sharing a ride with an enthusiastic taxi driver after escaping Cable.

• Su Ming learned that Zola's pheromone-marked Skrulls could be detected by Cyber Bees and ordered the hives moved to the Teleportation Portal.
• Su Ming told Carol that they were protecting humanity rather than Earth, then warned her to keep his identity secret from the Avengers.
• Deadpool gave Midnight Express a five-star review for delivering his uniform and backpack and bringing him back from Greenland to New York.
• Deadpool planned to sell the Symbiotes to Tony and support Vanessa and her sisters, while Venom looked for a chance to escape.
• Deadpool called a taxi toward Stark Tower and fled Cable, who had appeared to summon him.
• The taxi driver sped away from Cable, and Deadpool began chatting with him during the ride.

Deadpool rode through New York with taxi driver Dupinder, gave him violent advice about winning Geeta back, and then stopped to approach Fury about selling the Symbiotes. Venom suddenly attacked Fury, leaving Deadpool staring at the headless, sparking body.

• Deadpool told Dupinder that he was a mercenary named Deadpool, not Spider-Man, but Dupinder remained unimpressed.
• Dupinder explained that Geeta had chosen his Cousin Bandu, and Deadpool advised him to kill Bandu and leave his corpse outside Geeta’s home.
• Deadpool spotted Fury, asked Dupinder to pull over, and ran after him to discuss selling the Symbiotes.
• Venom erupted from Deadpool and bit off Fury’s head, then chewed it.
• Deadpool watched Fury collapse with his head and upper chest gone, sparks spraying from his body.

Deadpool released Venom and carried Fury’s headless robotic corpse to Dupinder’s taxi, planning to sell it. He and Dupinder set off toward Stark Industries, while Deadpool offered to teach the driver how to clean up after transporting corpses or kidnapping people.

• Deadpool told Venom to leave, and Venom flowed off him and escaped into the sewer.
• Deadpool picked up Fury’s headless corpse and decided to sell it to someone who wanted Fury dead or wanted the body returned.
• Deadpool told Dupinder to open the taxi’s trunk and explained that Fury was a robot, not a human corpse.
• Deadpool and Dupinder searched Fury for gold jewelry, but found none, and Dupinder questioned Deadpool’s remarks about Black people.
• Deadpool walked to the front of the taxi with Dupinder and offered to teach him how to clean traces from the trunk while they drove.

Peter and Jessica searched for another Fury LMD, and Jessica used the robot’s summer clothing to form a deduction. She looked up the history of turtleneck sweaters, leaving their investigation poised to follow that clue.

• Peter and Jessica delivered the decapitated Fury LMD to Coulson, who wanted them to find the remaining fake Furies.
• Peter and Jessica searched Manhattan but had no clear idea where another LMD might be headed.
• Jessica pointed out that Fury’s LMD had worn a turtleneck sweater and leather coat despite the summer heat.
• Jessica explained that the robot’s clothes were probably meant to create an effect rather than keep it warm, but Peter’s guesses frustrated her.
• Jessica borrowed Peter’s phone and searched for the origins and history of the turtleneck sweater.

Jessica inferred that Fury's LMDs were heading to New York television stations because presenters at major technology demonstrations traditionally wore turtlenecks. Her lucky guess was correct: the LMDs were following Zola's plan to reveal aliens on television and provoke chaos, while Alexander Pierce waited anxiously for the operation to begin.

• Jessica showed Peter historical footage of technology presenters wearing turtlenecks and explained that the style signaled a presentation or demonstration.
• Peter realized Fury's LMDs might be heading to a presentation, and Jessica deduced from their locations that they were bound for New York television stations.
• Spider-Man and Jessica set off to stop the LMDs before Jessica had identified which station they were targeting.
• The narration revealed that Zola's LMDs were heading to television stations to expose aliens and create chaos as part of Hydra's plans.
• Alexander Pierce paced at the Triskelion Headquarters and wondered why the plan had not started and the LMDs had not reached the stations.

Steve woke from a nightmare after Tony rescued him, while Deathstroke met Hela in Limbo and set out with Magik and Carol to find Baldr. Steve wanted to warn Coulson about Hydra infiltrators, and Tony revealed that Skye and Bucky were safe.

• Steve woke in Tony's storage room, learned Bucky and Skye were safe, and said he needed to warn Coulson that Hydra spies were inside S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Tony explained that Deathstroke had left him with the Guardians of the Galaxy to monitor the situation and had gone with Captain Marvel.
• Deathstroke met Hela on the castle terrace in Limbo and confirmed that they were allies.
• Magik explained that Baldr was somewhere in Limbo's underground tunnels and that decades had passed since she last watched him.
• Deathstroke, Magik, and Carol headed to find Baldr, and Deathstroke began explaining that Baldr was an unlucky relative of Thor and the All-Father.

Su Ming explained how Loki caused Baldr’s death by exploiting Frigga and Odin’s attempt to protect him from a prophecy. The Evergreen Sword that killed Baldr remained guarded in the Golden Palace treasury, feared as a weapon that could bring Ragnarok.

• Su Ming explained that Baldr was Odin and Frigga’s gifted eldest son, loved by Thor and envied by Loki.
• The three sisters of Destiny warned Frigga and Odin that an object in the Golden Palace would kill Baldr at his birthday banquet.
• Frigga secured promises of safety from the palace’s objects but overlooked a mistletoe sapling in the garden.
• Loki learned of the mistletoe, disguised himself, and gave it to Hodr, the blind God of Darkness, as a weapon for a game.
• Hodr threw the mistletoe at Baldr, and it transformed into Mistilteinn, killing him and becoming the Evergreen Sword.
• The Golden Palace guarded Mistilteinn after a prophecy warned that an enemy would use it to bring the Winter of Swords and Ragnarok.

Deathstroke and his companions searched Limbo for Baldr, while Hela recounted how Loki had prevented Baldr’s resurrection. They found Baldr alive but mentally corrupted, and Su Ming ordered Magik to prepare a ritual to restore his reason.

• Hela told Deathstroke and Carol that Frigga had failed to bring Baldr back because Loki arranged for the giant Coal to be the sole being who did not weep.
• Deathstroke asked how Baldr had escaped the Underworld, and Hela said he had disappeared after she left him to fend for himself.
• Magik led the group to Baldr, whom they found filthy, mute, and terrified after years underground in Limbo.
• Hela suggested sacrificing one of Baldr’s eyes to the evil god behind the dimension in hopes of restoring his normal thoughts.
• Su Ming took out an ice cream scoop and ordered Magik to prepare the sacrificial ritual.

Loki and Thor discussed how to honor Odin before Loki showed Thor signs of danger on Nidavellir. After an explosion revealed that someone had robbed the Asgardian Vault, Thor vowed to fight for Asgard.

• Thor challenged Loki to honor Odin with drinking and fighting, but Loki dismissed the tradition and asked about Odin's last words.
• Loki showed Thor a vision of a boiling river near Mount Ymir on Nidavellir, where fish were dying and an ancient bridge had collapsed.
• Thor wondered whether the disaster was connected to the Serpent, while Loki said they could only wait for Hela to make progress.
• An explosion shook the Golden Palace, and a guard reported that the vault had been breached.
• Loki and Thor found the vault blasted open, its treasures stolen and blue flames spreading through the ruins.
• Thor returned surviving treasures to their places and declared that Asgard would fight, even if Ragnarök came.

Su Ming warned Carol that she might be Earth's main defense against The Serpent while he left for Asgard, then faced the arrival of an Old One's avatar with Hela. Meanwhile, Steve exposed Hydra's infiltration to the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., and Tony learned that Thor had left Earth with Asgardians.

• Su Ming explained The Serpent's threat to Carol and sent her through Hela's portal to the Himalayan Mountains, urging her to protect humanity.
• Hela said she had sent Tyr and Fenrir to the Underworld so Tyr could sever its connection to Yggdrasil, then admitted she feared the dead souls might overwhelm her realm.
• An Old One's avatar descended, and Su Ming used Tenth Metal to resist its mental pressure while warning Hela not to bite her tongue.
• Steve told Coulson and the others that Alexander Pierce, Crossbones, and their squads were Hydra agents, and proposed intercepting S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Life-Model Decoys, retaking Triskelion, and stopping the Helicarriers and Skrulls.
• Jarvis told Tony that Thor had left Earth with a group of armored women and the equipment he had bought.

Steve questioned Wade about joining the Avengers, but Wade’s reckless plans and cardboard-box disguise convinced the team he was no help. Meanwhile, Thor and Loki discovered that several powerful artifacts had vanished from the Golden Palace, and Loki realized they needed to hurry to Yggdrasil.

• Steve asked Wade how he would handle missions to retake S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and hunt Skrulls, and Wade proposed nuclear destruction and sexually humiliating the Skrull Queen.
• Bucky suggested sending Wade to search for LMDs, but Wade demonstrated his supposed robot-countering technique by hiding under a cardboard box.
• Thor and Loki reviewed the artifacts missing from the Golden Palace, including Surtur's Crown, the Infinity Gauntlet replica, the Obelisk, and the Evergreen Sword.
• Heimdall said nobody had crossed the Bifrost, and Loki suddenly urged Thor to hurry to Yggdrasil.

Thor and Loki discovered that Yggdrasil had brought Fimbulwinter to Asgard and was drawing the Nine Realms into its cycle, while their means of stopping it had been stolen. In Vanaheim, Gin prepared to evacuate the realm into the Spectre Universe, leaving Gullveig to hope for her sister Frigga and hear Gin name Deathstroke as the one to pray to.

• Thor and Loki realized that Fimbulwinter had engulfed Asgard and found Yggdrasil frozen and withered.
• Loki explained that Yggdrasil was helping their enemies appear and vanish, while the weapons that could kill it had been stolen.
• Thor asked whether they could stop Yggdrasil’s suicide by killing it, but Loki said Gungnir’s final blow could not be used that way.
• Heimdall led Asgard’s people toward Thor and Loki with torches as the city prepared to face the endless winter.
• Gin told Gullveig that the Spectre Universe would shelter Vanaheim as a leaf of Yggdrasil, but Asgard could not be saved.
• Gin arranged the evacuation with the Adjutant and told Gullveig to pray to Deathstroke.

Efferal led Daisy and the Battle Sisters across the Sahara to find the Skrulls holding abducted humans, using her psychic abilities to locate their underground prison. Daisy opened a passage into the compound, and Efferal led the Sisters in an assault.

• Efferal explained that her psychic power could locate living beings and said Deathstroke had revealed how the Skrulls used abducted humans to make their disguises more convincing.
• Efferal described the plan to find the captives and use their identities to expose Skrull imposters, then led the Battle Sisters to a hidden prison beneath the Sahara.
• Efferal asked Daisy to open a way underground because the Skrulls held hostages there.
• Daisy struck the sand with Mjolnir, blasting open a tunnel as Efferal stabilized the sand and ordered the Sisters to purge the Skrulls.

In Limbo, Hela and Deathstroke sought Baldr’s help, and Hela tried to persuade him to claim Odin’s throne by revealing Loki’s role in his death. Baldr forgave Loki and Hodr, leaving Hela’s appeal for power unanswered.

• Deathstroke tested Baldr’s sanity, while Hela kept him from provoking a fight and spoke with him alone.
• Hela told Baldr that Odin had died of old age and urged him to return to Asgard and inherit the throne.
• Baldr mourned Odin’s death and rejected Hela’s attempt to turn him against Loki and Thor.
• Hela revealed that Loki had given Hodr the mistletoe used to kill Baldr and that Odin had punished Hodr by sending him to fight Surtur.
• Baldr forgave Loki and Hodr, believing Loki had been young and Hodr had meant no harm.

Hela visited Baldr to turn him against Loki, presenting Loki’s conduct as evidence that he was unfit to rule Asgard. Baldr agreed that Loki had acted wrongly, leaving Hela’s attempt to sow distrust underway.

• Hela reminded Baldr that Loki held Gungnir and ruled Asgard, while keeping Odin’s plan for the spear and Loki’s expected sacrifice to The Serpent secret.
• Baldr rejected Hela’s accusations without evidence and argued that people should give others the benefit of the doubt.
• Hela brought up Sif, describing how Loki had cut off her golden hair while she slept after she had been promised to Thor.
• Baldr condemned Loki’s treatment of Sif as dishonorable and wrong.

Hela manipulated Baldr into believing Loki had dishonored Thor, convincing him to return to Asgard and stop Thor from marrying a mortal. Deathstroke and Magik waited outside the cave as Baldr prepared to leave with Hela.

• Hela reminded Baldr that Loki had killed Thor's goats, and Baldr condemned the act as dishonorable.
• Hela told Baldr that Loki had led Thor toward marrying a human woman, and Baldr decided to return to Asgard to prevent the marriage.
• Hela gave Baldr his gold armor, and he thanked her for changing since they last met.
• Deathstroke explained to Magik that Hela's torment and companionship had made her the only one who could persuade Baldr.
• Deathstroke asked Magik whether she had memorized her lines as Baldr and Hela came out of the cave.

Su Ming and Magik staged his death to manipulate Baldr into judging the world in black and white, while Hela escorted Baldr away. Su Ming and Magik then followed them to continue their plan around Ragnarök.

• Su Ming, Magik, and Hela acted out a scene that convinced Baldr that Su Ming had plotted to turn Thor’s descendants half-human.
• Baldr condemned the supposed scheme and Magik’s attack on her teacher as dishonorable, so Magik stabbed Su Ming and made him appear dead.
• Baldr refused to take Magik to Asgard, then asked Hela to bring him to Earth for Odin’s funeral.
• After Baldr and Hela departed, Su Ming and Magik revealed themselves and discussed following the prophecy rather than opposing Ragnarök.
• Magik opened a portal, and Su Ming stepped through so they could follow Baldr and Hela.