Chapter Summaries

Su Ming returned to Faerûn during the Godswar and asked Elminster to study the Spider Totem as a means of traveling across the Infinite Universe with an entire faction. Elminster found a possible way to use it, while Su Ming explained that he wanted to transcend every limit so his friends and family could live well.

• Su Ming entered Faerûn while the gods were occupied by civil war and found Elminster in his mill-like home.
• Su Ming showed Elminster the Spider Totem and explained its connection to the Spider Web and Spider-Verse.
• Elminster sensed that the totem connected to a god and proposed using a divine spell to deceive that god into linking them to its web.
• Su Ming told Elminster that he sought to transcend the future and every possibility so his friends and family could live well.
• Elminster called Su Ming a little crazy, and Su Ming offered him liquor as they sealed their conversation with a toast.

Su Ming and Elminster searched for Karsus's Avatar and planned to modify it to lure a Lolth-worshipping Drow into opening a passage to the Demonweb Pits. After nearly a year of work, they traveled to Icewind Dale to find a guide into the Underdark.

• Su Ming urged Elminster to focus on using his network rather than reminiscing about Mystra.
• Elminster and Su Ming searched his bookshelves for Karsus's Avatar, a forbidden twelfth-level spell from Netheril.
• Elminster proposed modifying the spell so a Drow Priestess of Lolth could be tricked into casting it with power from both the Weave and the Shadow Weave.
• Elminster spent nearly a year modifying the spell with Su Ming, then they left Shadowdale for Icewind Dale.
• Elminster sought a guide into the Underdark and identified a retired Dark Elf legendary ranger living in Ten-Towns with his great cat.

Su Ming and Elminster reached Drizzt's home in Icewind Dale and asked him to guide them into the Underdark for their plan. Drizzt agreed, and Su Ming revealed that Strangle could disguise him as a Drow.

• Su Ming complained about traveling across the dangerous tundra on horseback, so Elminster teleported them to Ten-Towns.
• Elminster led Su Ming to Drizzt's cabin, where Drizzt was butchering a deer with his panther Guenhwyvar nearby.
• Elminster explained that he needed Drizzt to guide them into the Underdark and help them join a powerful Dark Elf family.
• Drizzt agreed to help, but warned that humans would be treated as livestock in the Underdark.
• Elminster said he could transform into a Dark Elf, and Su Ming used Strangle to take on a Drow appearance.
• Elminster questioned whether Su Ming was really human, and Su Ming changed back and insisted he was an ordinary person.

Su Ming, Elminster, and Drizzt traveled through the Underdark to trick Lolth’s Priestesses in Sshamath into opening a passage to the Spider Web. After escaping through it, they set out to seize control of the network.

• The trio entered the Underdark through Mithral Hall and gathered intelligence in Blades Edge City.
• Su Ming killed Duergar robbers and used Strangle to obtain information that helped the group choose Sshamath as its target.
• The trio traveled to Sshamath and posed as male Drow allies of Lolth, persuading the Priestesses to perform a ritual that opened a passage.
• Su Ming defeated the Drow forces and their summoned creatures as the ritualists completed the passage, then the three entered the Spider Web and closed it behind them.
• The trio began moving through the dark, narrow web with the goal of taking control of it.

Su Ming secured Great Weaver’s cooperation, making the Spider Web a multiverse travel network in exchange for spreading Spider Totems to new worlds. Back on Earth, he recruited Elminster to help build a cross-world mage organization called the Council of the Sky.

• Great Weaver offered Su Ming a partnership, and Su Ming accepted while planting Spider Totems as a safeguard against betrayal.
• Su Ming and Elminster parted from Drizzt, then Su Ming took Elminster to Earth and showed him its technology.
• Su Ming learned that Red Skull’s forces had stolen one of the Parker couple’s briefcases and arranged for the Spider Web to pass the news to Steve.
• Su Ming asked Elminster to recruit powerful mages, including the Circle of Eight, and proposed the name Council of the Sky for their organization.

Tony escaped from Howard’s mansion and secretly reunited with Cassandra in Cambridge, where he asked her to elope with him. Cassandra agreed to leave with Tony, despite her reluctance to abandon her family.

• Su Ming told Howard that Tony had secretly run away after eating breakfast, prompting Howard to send a field team to Cambridge.
• Cassandra went to the apartment she had shared with Tony to collect her belongings while her bodyguards searched it.
• Tony used a portable invisibility device to appear in the bathroom, and Cassandra embraced and kissed him.
• Tony explained that he had escaped Howard’s mansion by drugging his parents, using a remote-controlled Mouse to obtain cash, and flying to England in a jet.
• Tony asked Cassandra to elope with him, and she decided to go with him despite her family ties.

Tony and Cassandra’s idyllic trip to New Zealand unraveled when Cassandra admitted her family had arranged their first meeting to get information about Howard. Tony grew angry and doubted whether their relationship and the attacks around her family were genuine, until Howard arrived with armed bodyguards and called Cassandra a terrorist.

• Tony and Cassandra went boating, and Tony confessed that he had been wondering whether Howard was right to suspect Cassandra had deliberately seduced him.
• Cassandra admitted that her family had arranged her first meeting with Tony so she could question him about his father, but said she had later truly fallen in love with him.
• Tony became furious and questioned whether Cassandra’s family had staged the attack on her family and was monitoring them in New Zealand.
• Tony accused Cassandra of using him against Howard and told her to return to her family, while she insisted that she loved him.
• Black helicopters landed nearby, and Howard approached with armed bodyguards, calling Cassandra a terrorist and ordering Tony to come to him.

Howard tried to separate Tony from Cassandra and take her into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, but Hydra ambushed the pier and seized her. Tony remained pinned behind Howard’s failing energy shield as Cassandra was carried away.

• Howard arrived with armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, accused Cassandra of being a dangerous spy, and ordered Tony to leave her behind.
• Howard pulled Tony away from Cassandra, shoved her to the ground, and ordered snipers to prepare while dragging Tony toward a helicopter.
• Hydra launched an ambush on the pier, and Howard protected Tony with a portable energy shield as the attack devastated the area.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. agents exchanged fire with Hydra while Hydra soldiers formed a protective ring around Cassandra and began withdrawing with her.
• Tony pleaded for his father to let him save Cassandra, but Howard held him down as the energy shield developed gaps and Hydra carried Cassandra away.

After Hydra abducted Cassandra in an ambush, Howard dealt with the casualties and sent the traumatized Tony to safety. Deathstroke revealed that he had secretly shielded Howard and Tony from the gunfire, while the story left Cassandra in Hydra’s hands.

• Hydra escaped with Cassandra after its ambush disabled S.H.I.E.L.D.’s helicopters, leaving one agent dead and more than thirty wounded.
• Howard gave Dugan three million dollars for the casualties and ordered Coulson and Sitwell to take Tony home, promoting them to full agents.
• Tony remained in shock, murmuring Cassandra’s name as Coulson and Sitwell carried him away.
• Howard handled the aftermath with the police and discussed the attack with Dugan while waiting at the dock.
• Deathstroke appeared and explained that he had secretly protected Howard and Tony from the bullets.

Deathstroke and Howard pursued Hydra after Cassandra was taken, while Cassandra discovered that her parents were safe and that Hydra’s leader planned to marry her to Tony. Mr. Jude revealed that he was Tony’s real father and declared Cassandra his son’s wife.

• Su Ming said he could track Hydra’s forces beneath the ocean, and Howard joined him while Dugan left.
• Deathstroke used his Cloak to take Howard away in a flash of Black Light.
• Cassandra was held in a Hydra base, where guards dressed her up and brought her to meet their leader.
• Cassandra found her parents dining with a stranger, who approved her marriage to Tony and said S.H.I.E.L.D. had disrupted their original wedding plan.
• The stranger introduced himself as Mr. Jude, Tony’s real father, and called Cassandra his son’s wife.

Cassandra learned that Tony was Jude’s biological son and heard how Jude had lost him after Amanda gave birth. Jude welcomed Cassandra as his future daughter-in-law and planned to reunite with Anthony, while still viewing Howard and Maria as enemies.

• Cassandra studied Jude and realized how closely he resembled Tony, while Mrs. Jasper reassured her that her parents supported her relationship with Tony.
• Jude recounted how Amanda had wounded him during childbirth, how Valentina saved him with an experimental Infinity Formula, and how Amanda entrusted their newborn son to Valentina.
• Jude explained that Howard had taken the child from the Hungarian orphanage before Jude could retrieve him, and that the boy had grown up as Tony Stark.
• Jude told Cassandra that Tony’s real name was Anthony Jude and that he hoped his son would join Hydra and stand against Howard.
• Cassandra welcomed the prospect of being with Anthony, and Jude urged her to study physics and engineering before proposing that they discuss the marriage after dinner.

Su Ming and Howard decided how to deal with Jude and Cassandra’s family while keeping Tony from learning the truth about his adoption. Howard then told Tony he had changed his mind and would arrange his marriage to Cassandra, unaware that the plan was part of a scheme to make her family disappear.

• Su Ming and Howard overheard Jude accuse Howard of stealing technology, and Howard admitted Jude was Tony’s biological father.
• Howard insisted Cassandra was innocent and should be spared, but he worried that killing Jude and Cassandra’s parents would turn Tony against him.
• Su Ming and Howard agreed to fake their own deaths and use Monark’s magic to make Cassandra’s family disappear and arrange Jude and Dr. Jasper’s husband’s deaths.
• Tony mourned Cassandra by completing his Internet network and deciding that every domain name would begin with “WWW.”
• Howard told Tony he would let him marry Cassandra, and Tony happily agreed to start working at Stark Industries and give up drugs.

Tony expected Howard and Maria to arrange his future with Cassandra, but the next day he sat through their funeral after they died in a car explosion. At the funeral, Fury accepted Coulson and Sitwell’s promotion order, took them under his command, and sent them to Baghdad.

• Howard told Tony that he and Maria would meet Cassandra’s parents without the young couple, and Maria comforted Tony before they left.
• Tony waited eagerly for his parents to return with good news, but the next day he attended their funeral and drank in shock.
• Sitwell told Coulson that Howard’s fatal crash had involved a Hydra family, and Coulson warned him to stop discussing it at the funeral.
• Coulson directed Sitwell to Fury, who accepted their promotion order and told them to claim they had been following him since the previous year.
• Coulson gave Fury a box of prosthetic eyes, and Fury assigned both men to go undercover in Baghdad by three that afternoon.

Tony believed the Jaspers had murdered Howard and Maria, and he resolved to take over Stark Industries and seek revenge. Jean Wilson attended the funeral to discuss terms with him, while Su Ming took Howard to Hawaii, where Maria and the Jaspers were waiting.

• Fury left the funeral without approaching Tony and focused on finding a way to take power within S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Tony concluded that chemical accelerants proved his parents had been murdered, blamed the Jaspers and Hydra, and decided to avenge them through Stark Industries.
• Jean Wilson introduced herself to Tony as the chairman of Wilson Enterprises, warned that his parents' deaths were no accident, and began discussing terms with him.
• Su Ming restrained Howard and defended Jean's meeting with Tony, arguing that Tony might need help with Stark Industries and Obadiah.
• Su Ming flew Howard to Hawaii, where Maria, the Jaspers, Erskine, and Tesla were gathered.

Su Ming welcomed the captured Jasper couple into his hidden Retirement Club, where they were forced to accept a new life among retired heroes and scientists. At a celebratory feast, Su Ming asked Holloway to watch Hydra and discussed the risks of raising children to become Vigilantes.

• Su Ming told the Jaspers they had to grow fruit to earn food and clothing, then explained that their daughter was safe and their Hydra relatives were dead.
• Dr. Erskine confirmed that Su Ming had never demanded scientific work from him, and the Jaspers accepted their imprisonment and joined the Retirement Club feast.
• Su Ming gave Holloway a pistol and Silk Pouch and asked him to keep an eye on Hydra, while Holloway agreed and reminisced about fighting alongside Su Ming.
• Su Ming questioned Holloway about encouraging his son to become a Vigilante, and Holloway explained that he wanted his son to learn to protect himself against future crises.
• Su Ming and Holloway wagered on which fruit Howard would choose, and Su Ming revealed that he had arranged for Lorraine to steer Howard toward raspberries.

Cassandra blamed the Starks for her parents’ deaths and planned to destroy Stark Industries, while Su Ming took Howard to Contraxia and revealed his vast reach across space and the Spider Web. The chapter left Howard bewildered by the existence of parallel worlds and Su Ming’s ambitions beyond the Single Universe.

• Cassandra decided to avenge her parents by selling Jasper Industries, rebuilding it as a shadow corporation, and studying physics to create weapons against the Starks.
• Su Ming took Howard into space aboard a fleet and brought him to Contraxia, whose sun had gone out and whose surface was freezing.
• Howard questioned how Su Ming had obtained a space fleet, and Su Ming explained that he had acquired alien technology through trade and force.
• Su Ming showed Howard a carved toothpick that pulled him into the Spider Totem, where he saw a dark world filled with Spider Webs.
• After Howard returned, Su Ming told him that he controlled time and passageways and that the Single Universe was only the beginning.

Su Ming took control of a frozen planet by promising free trade and ordered Howard to build a heating settlement called New London. The Stark Giant Reactor began warming the city, though Su Ming regretted that its tower produced no black smoke.

• Su Ming told Howard he would save the planet in exchange for ownership and planned to use food, water, and low taxes to draw its people into his trade port.
• Su Ming ordered Rogal Dorn and the Imperial Fists to contact the natives, while Howard planned a nuclear reactor and Su Ming named the first settlement New London.
• The desperate inhabitants accepted Su Ming’s terms, and he issued harsh work and rationing orders as Howard organized the city’s construction.
• Howard completed the heating tower, and the aliens celebrated when the Stark Giant Reactor began melting the surrounding ice.
• Su Ming watched the reactor tower and complained that its smokestack produced no black smoke.

Su Ming turned the heated settlement into a base for Wilson Enterprises and planned to use a returning star to make the surrounding wasteland barely habitable. Meanwhile, Fury manipulated S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new director into driving Doctor Pym away, advancing his own plan to take control of the agency.

• Su Ming hired the Aliens to build a spaceport and explained to Howard that he planned to keep the city warm while leaving the surrounding planet dangerously cold.
• Su Ming asked Howard to use technology to monitor his Mages, then gave Dorn instructions and flew away.
• Doctor Pym refused the new director's demand for his Pym Particles, resigned from S.H.I.E.L.D., and left the conference room.
• Fury secretly helped Pym escape with a hard drive containing backup research data, while concealing his own ambitions to gain the support of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s scientists.
• Fury revealed that he had fabricated evidence about the Pym Particles to provoke the new director into targeting Pym, and prepared to accuse Pym of fleeing with stolen S.H.I.E.L.D. property.

After S.H.I.E.L.D. threatened Hank Pym, Janet proposed using a company and powerful investors to protect them. Pym revived an artificial-intelligence project he had developed with Howard Stark, and Tony Stark agreed to invest in Pym Technologies in exchange for a stake.

• Pym returned home frightened after his meeting with Fury and told Janet about the danger facing him.
• Janet argued that they should establish a company and attract major conglomerates to make it harder for S.H.I.E.L.D. to target them.
• Pym remembered the Ultron Program, a robot project he had worked on with Howard Stark, and Janet took him to pitch it to Tony Stark.
• Pym reconstructed the missing data for the AI, named Ophelia, and showed it to Tony, who recognized his father's work.
• Pym refused to sell Ophelia but offered to create an identical AI butler for Stark Industries, and Tony signed a deal investing one billion dollars for 20% of Pym Technologies.

Steve and Bucky visited Howard and Maria Stark’s grave at Arlington Cemetery, where Steve worried that he would outlive everyone close to him. Fury arrived by helicopter, brought them aboard with S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Melinda, and asked them to help save the United States from a major threat.

• Steve and Bucky searched Arlington Cemetery for Howard’s grave and laid dandelions at the headstone.
• Steve questioned whether he had been a good friend and family member, and Bucky promised to stay by his side.
• Steve and Bucky saluted Howard’s grave before leaving for New York to pursue Red Skull.
• Fury arrived by helicopter and invited Steve and Bucky aboard, introducing the pilot as Cavalry, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent named Melinda.
• Fury explained that he had anticipated their visit to Howard’s grave and said he had not told Agent Carter where Steve was.
• Fury asked Steve and Bucky to help save the United States from a major problem.