Chapter Summaries

Steve attended Slade’s funeral and learned that his godfather had died in a car accident while bringing him hamburgers. Overcome with grief and guilt, Steve clung to Slade’s coffin until he accidentally tore off the corpse’s arm and fainted.

• Steve arrived at the church and learned from Fury that Peggy could not attend the funeral.
• Gin told Steve that Slade’s heart condition had flared up while he was driving to visit Steve, and he died in the resulting crash.
• Steve found the scorched bag of hamburgers Slade had brought for him and broke down beside the coffin, blaming himself.
• Howard and Holloway tried to pull Steve away from Slade’s badly damaged body, but Steve repeatedly threw himself back against the coffin.
• The corpse’s arm broke off in Steve’s grasp, and Steve fainted after seeing the horrified faces around him.

Steve woke from a dream about his own funeral and found Bucky beside him, alive and returned after decades away. Su Ming watched from hiding as Steve accepted the staged funeral, while Howard agreed to arrange more fake deaths for Su Ming’s associates.

• Steve woke in the church and reunited with Bucky, who comforted him after the funeral and said he understood the circumstances surrounding Su Ming’s supposed death.
• Bucky told Steve that he had spent years in China learning qi, then took him home after the burial.
• Su Ming revealed to Howard and Gin that he had staged his funeral and manipulated Steve into believing he was dead.
• Howard complained that Steve blamed himself for Su Ming’s death, while Su Ming insisted Bucky would help Steve recover.
• Howard asked Su Ming for Leech Serum for Maria, and Su Ming agreed in exchange for Howard arranging several more fake funerals.
• Su Ming gave Howard a list of people whose deaths he wanted staged, beginning with Vodka at the end of the month.

After Howard Stark’s car ran over Deadpool, Su Ming stopped Howard from calling the police and discovered the victim was still alive. Deadpool recovered and rejoined Su Ming, while Howard faced the return of his obnoxious companion.

• Howard pulled over after his car struck someone, and Su Ming changed his appearance before going to inspect the body.
• Su Ming tried to stop Howard from reporting the accident, arguing that the victim had staged it, but Howard insisted on taking responsibility.
• Deadpool spoke from his mangled body, reattached his head, and frightened Howard.
• Su Ming asked Howard to fetch a Nitro Bomb, prompting Deadpool to get up and stop the bomb from being used.
• Deadpool joked that Su Ming was dark because he was from DC, then laughed at his own punchline.

Su Ming teased Deadpool while carrying his severed head and body, then agreed to hear his origin story. Using Cable’s Time-Space Belt, they traveled to an unknown time in Kansas, where a couple struggling with infertility drove through the countryside.

• Su Ming carried Deadpool through the woods and mocked him until Wade apologized for his tricks.
• Deadpool told Su Ming that his origin story was about to happen, and Su Ming agreed to go with him.
• Wade gave Su Ming Cable’s Time-Space Belt and explained how to use it.
• In Kansas at an unknown time, a couple drove through golden wheat fields after learning the woman could not have children.
• The man comforted his wife by suggesting they could adopt a child or find an abandoned baby.

The Wilsons adopted an alien baby named Clark Wilson and raised him to become a bank robber, but after his father died in a failed heist, Clark became the mercenary Deadpool. Su Ming objected to Wade’s absurd origin story, and Wade changed the Time-Space Belt settings to search for a darker one.

• A flaming object crashed into a Kansas field, where the Wilsons found an alien baby in an escape pod and decided to adopt him.
• The Wilsons named the child Clark Wilson and trained him in robbery, weapons, and explosives while discovering his powerful Healing Factor.
• After apes ambushed the family during a Federal Reserve heist, Clark’s father died, and Clark escaped with his mother.
• Clark remade his childhood cloak into a bodysuit, named himself Deadpool, and became a mercenary to support his mother.
• Su Ming criticized Wade’s Superman-like origin story, and Wade adjusted the Time-Space Belt to take them to another point in the Timeline.

Wade showed Su Ming an origin story in which Barry Wilson gained powers from a lightning strike and became Deadpool, but Su Ming rejected it. Wade and Su Ming traveled to another Timeline to try a different origin story.

• Barry Wilson made sugar and corpse-dissolving solution in the laboratory, then was struck by lightning while trying to drink the distilled water.
• Barry survived with decaying skin and discovered that rapidly spouting nonsense connected him to a dimension that granted him powers.
• Barry made a red-and-black uniform and named himself Deadpool, intending to become an Anti-Hero.
• Su Ming watched Deadpool remake his uniform in a hospital ward and told Wade that the origin story was no good.
• Wade and Su Ming set the pointer to 7052 and vanished in flashes of light.

Su Ming accompanied Wade through the Time-Space Belt as Wade tried out imagined origin stories for Deadpool, but Su Ming warned him against copying DC heroes and rejected his increasingly absurd Marvel-inspired versions. The pair kept jumping through time while Su Ming decided he would have to create Wade’s origin story himself.

• Su Ming told Wade that Batwoman had been infected with the Batman Who Laughs Virus and Joker Toxin, prompting Wade to flee the dark DC timeline.
• Wade showed Su Ming an imagined origin in which a weak, bookish boy was bitten by a spider and became a disfigured mercenary named Deadpool.
• Su Ming criticized Wade for using Peter’s name and threatened to stop helping him, so Wade agreed to change the story again.
• Wade and Su Ming jumped through time to inspect Wade’s Hulk, Thor, Panther, and other Deadpool origin ideas.
• Su Ming concluded that Wade could not invent a suitable origin alone and decided to handle it himself.

Su Ming and Wade traveled to Hydra’s Norway base, where Su Ming met his operative Dotty and asked about the organization’s genetic research. Dotty revealed the branch had newborns available, and Su Ming planned to select a child likely to develop cancer around age thirty.

• Wade proposed more absurd origins for himself, so Su Ming impaled and battered him before taking control of the story.
• Su Ming and Wade arrived at a guarded Hydra castle in Norway in 1980, disguised as Red Skull and Baron Zemo.
• Su Ming revealed his identity to Dotty with their code phrase, and Wade joked about their relationship before being sent to guard the door.
• Dotty told Su Ming that Hydra’s India branch focused on genetic engineering while her Norway branch conducted basic eugenics and biochemical weapons research.
• Su Ming asked Dotty for a newborn likely to develop cancer around age thirty, and she suggested retrieving defective infants from the crematorium.

Su Ming, Dotty, and Wade rescued a dying baby from Hydra’s furnace, but all three treated him with different healing substances. The child began undergoing a violent transformation, and Su Ming recognized him as their target.

• Wade teased Dotty about being one of Su Ming’s many future wives before the group headed to Hydra’s incinerator.
• Su Ming and Dotty stopped Hydra soldiers from burning the last baby, who had been struck and left near death.
• Su Ming injected the baby with Leech Serum, Dotty gave him Infinity Formula, and Wade exposed him to his healing blood.
• The baby convulsed as the three substances took effect, and Su Ming declared that they had found their target.

Su Ming arranged loving adoptive parents for Wade and returned to Kamar-Taj, where he reviewed years of intelligence and found the world largely stable. The chapter left him waiting as S.H.I.E.L.D. expanded, covert conflicts continued, and threats beyond Earth remained unresolved.

• Su Ming told Wade that his many orphaned lives had made him determined to give Wade loving parents, and Wade thanked him for the sacrifice.
• Wade offered Su Ming his Plot Rationality Gem to help create an origin story, but Su Ming declined because Infinity Stones could damage the Timeline across universes.
• Su Ming returned to Kamar-Taj, transferred Leonid to Hamill for Mage training, and learned that Steve and Bucky had become Nomad and were wandering South Africa while Peggy searched for them.
• Howard renamed the agency S.H.I.E.L.D., placed it under the United Nations while balancing its demands against those of the United States, and expanded its reach as Hydra members benefited from its growth.
• Su Ming reviewed the Spider Web's reports, noted ongoing conflicts among Hydra, Leviathan, the Kree, and Skrulls, then practiced against a wooden dummy in Kamar-Taj's courtyard.

Hank Pym struggled with recurring nightmares and the phantom of his dead fiancée, seeking refuge among ants while working as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s chief scientific adviser. On a flight to a physicists' conference, he and Howard discussed Doctor Vanko's expulsion and the stalled new-element reactor research.

• Hank Pym woke from a recurring nightmare of his fiancée being killed in Budapest and shrank down to spend time with his ant colony.
• Hank reflected on his costly life as Ant-Man and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s shortage of scientists before leaving for a conference in Arizona.
• Hank boarded Howard's plane, where he saw his fiancée's phantom and declined champagne before eating a burger.
• Hank asked Howard whether Doctor Vanko was a Leviathan spy, and Howard admitted he had expelled him without evidence rather than killing him.
• Howard told Hank that their new-element reactor theory was complete, but progress had stalled without Doctor Vanko.

Hank Pym’s disastrous conference presentation ended with him being thrown out, but he met Janet Van Dyne and found relief from the phantom haunting him. Su Ming revealed that he had arranged the illusion to help steal Pym Particles, giving him a scientific key to opening the Door through time and space.

• Hank Pym presented his proposal about using giant ants to generate electricity, but he could not answer the scientists’ questions without exposing Pym Particles.
• Doctor Chalman ordered security to remove Pym from the forum after mistaking his struggle with his fiancée’s phantom for madness.
• Janet Van Dyne approached Pym outside the venue, and her father, Doctor Vernon Van Dyne, was also thrown out of the conference.
• Janet invited Pym to dinner, and he noticed that the phantom disappeared whenever he was with her.
• Su Ming and Magic Prince watched Pym and Janet leave, and Su Ming explained that he had used an illusion curse to confuse Pym and steal Pym Particles from his basement.

Howard covered up Nathaniel Richards's departure by arranging a fake death, while Su Ming and Monark followed Hank Pym to watch him meet Janet. At dinner, Janet confirmed Pym was Ant-Man and openly flirted with him.

• Nathaniel Richards left Earth with his alien queen, and Howard concealed his disappearance as a Level Nine S.H.I.E.L.D. secret by faking his death.
• Howard learned that Reed had been taken by the military and worried that Tony might face the same fate.
• Su Ming explained that Doctor Zola had apparently transferred his mind into a computer, while Tesla had been recruited to help research Pym Particles.
• Su Ming and Monark followed Pym and Doctor Dean to a restaurant, where Strangle hid beneath Pym's table to listen.
• Doctor Dean discussed his Gamma Ray research with Pym, who described studying how subatomic particles affected cells.
• Janet asked Pym about his personal life and interests, then hinted that she was attracted to his love of insects and ants.

Hank Pym’s grief kept him from accepting Janet’s wish to become a superhero, but after Janet discovered her father murdered, Nick Fury and Natasha intercepted the killers and seized their stolen documents. The documents implicated the Army Special Intelligence Branch, and Fury ordered the operation erased from the record.

• Hank Pym repeatedly avoided Janet’s hints that she wanted to partner with Ant-Man because he feared losing her as he had lost his former fiancée.
• Janet found Dr. Dean dead in his basement while a group of men in black suits escaped with items from the laboratory.
• Nick Fury and Natasha followed the men, deciding to intercept them on the outskirts of New York.
• Fury destroyed the convoy’s lead car with a rocket launcher, and Natasha killed the attackers and captured the vehicle carrying the stolen documents.
• Fury identified the dead men as military personnel from the Army Special Intelligence Branch, killed a wounded survivor, and ordered Natasha to move the documents before he planted bombs to destroy the scene.

Natasha and Fury stole Dr. Dean’s Gamma Ray research and returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. while an unseen figure watched them. Pym investigated Dr. Dean’s death, identified a dangerous acid-based monster, and prepared to tell Janet his secrets as they set out to find it.

• Natasha drove Fury away from the scene in the Ghost Car while he examined the stolen Gamma Ray documents and recognized their value to S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Fury and Natasha concluded that military agents had been searching for Dr. Dean’s research, then returned to base with the documents as a shadow watched them.
• Janet told Pym that her father was dead and his laboratory had been ransacked, and Pym comforted her as she cried herself to sleep.
• Pym examined Dr. Dean’s body and laboratory, found green slime near a concealed sewer opening, and concluded that an acid-based lifeform had killed the doctor.
• Pym told Janet they needed to find the monster to develop a neutralizing solution, and Janet agreed to help avenge her father.
• Pym embraced Janet and said he needed to share secrets that no one else knew.

Janet learned that Hank was Ant-Man and became the Wasp to investigate her father's fatal Gamma Ray experiment. Meanwhile, a breach connected to the Cosmos Dimension opened over New York, and Su Ming reluctantly prepared to respond after Strangle urged him to go.

• Janet revealed that she had figured out Hank was Ant-Man, and Hank transformed her into the Wasp with wings and a custom suit.
• Janet mourned her father and joined Hank in investigating what his Gamma Ray experiment had drawn in from the universe.
• Su Ming hosted a hotpot meal with the Kamar-Taj sorcerers while reflecting on his many responsibilities.
• Little Wong reported that something had breached Earth's defensive barrier through a portal in New York connected to the Cosmos Dimension.
• Su Ming learned the dimension was inhabited by liquid creatures resembling slugs, but Strangle insisted on returning to New York to feed.

Su Ming investigated Dr. Dean’s death and concluded that Gamma-mutated worms had escaped into the sewers, then watched several parties pursue the case. The chapter ended when he spotted a rainbow descending into the wilderness outside the city.

• Su Ming found Dr. Dean’s shattered corpse and identified the killers as shape-changing Gamma Worms that had escaped through a drain.
• Su Ming and Wong left the laboratory and watched government agents retrieve documents before Dean’s daughter discovered the body.
• Fury followed the agents, seized the documents, and drove away with Natasha.
• Wong reported that Doctor Pym had entered the laboratory, so Su Ming put a tracking spell on him and followed him home.
• Su Ming watched Pym modify Wasp before the pair shrank and entered the sewers, then saw a rainbow fall outside the city.

Su Ming welcomed Thor, Loki, and their Asgardian companions to Earth after Thor admitted he knew nothing about the enemy they were pursuing. He hosted them at Kamar-Taj with barrels of wine and fatty pork, intending to get them drunk and question them.

• Su Ming asked Little Wong about diplomatic notices and followed the Bifrost’s landing site with him.
• Thor, Loki, the Warriors Three, and Sif arrived on Earth, and Thor admitted he did not know their enemy’s identity, location, or plan.
• Su Ming offered to investigate the enemy and invited the Asgardians to a banquet at Kamar-Taj.
• Su Ming and the Asgardians drank from barrels while Gin spoke with Sif and Loki secretly used magic to avoid drinking his wine.
• Su Ming served the guests fatty pork dishes and signaled Little Wong to bring Thor raw fatty intestines as he prepared to question the increasingly intoxicated Asgardians.

Su Ming got the drunken Thor to recount the events behind his pursuit of a mysterious criminal. Thor described finding murdered North American gods and losing a battle against a powerful, pale figure wielding a black sword.

• Thor drunkenly recalled leading Asgardian warriors against Frost Giants raiding a village in Iceland eleven hundred years earlier.
• Thor said he found a god’s severed head washed ashore, recognized the victim as a North American god, and set out to hunt the killer.
• Thor described finding two more headless gods beside the Vana River and confronting a noseless, pale figure surrounded by black smoke.
• Thor said the figure wielded an enormous black sword, proved stronger than Surtur, and defeated him before Thor fell asleep.
• Sif looked incredulous, Gin grew thoughtful, and Loki secretly smiled as he listened.

Su Ming identified Gorr the God Butcher as the likely threat behind Thor’s warning and set out to investigate. He also persuaded Monark to join him after discovering that the women at the hot spring belonged to an Onmyōji Family and had placed a tracking mark on him.

• Sif thanked Su Ming for Kamar-Taj’s hospitality and left to look after the drunken Thor and Loki.
• Gin told Su Ming that Odin had killed Dag, the God of Murder, and Su Ming suspected Gorr the God Butcher was the current threat.
• Su Ming told Gin he would investigate Gorr and flew away from Kamar-Taj.
• Su Ming found Monark at a Japanese hot spring and explained that the women there were connected to an Onmyōji Family.
• Su Ming revealed that the Cloak of Levitation had detected a tracking mark on Monark and took him to investigate.