Chapter Summaries

Su Ming intercepted the Celestials at the edge of the Solar System and bargained to keep their examination focused on Earth. He offered to reveal the Deviants’ location after the inspection and warned that Galactus might consume Earth if its lifeforms failed the test.

• The Celestials discovered their dead traitor, Celestial, with Su Ming waiting beside her corpse and a banner declaring “Act on Heaven’s Behalf.”
• Arishem identified Celestial and questioned how a human had defeated her, while the Exterminator found her body empty of energy and components.
• Su Ming negotiated with Arishem, offering the Deviants’ whereabouts and Celestial’s corpse in exchange for the Celestials stopping at Earth to examine it.
• The Celestials accepted the bargain, and a green giant took Celestial’s corpse away.
• Su Ming told Arishem he would help examine humanity and invoked Galactus as a threat if Earth’s lifeforms failed the test, leaving Arishem uncertain how to respond.

Su Ming persuaded Arishem to let him guide the Celestials' review of humanity and chose New York as their sample. He reinterpreted a man watching adult films on the toilet as evidence of humanity’s efficiency, but Arishem’s next example of humans harming one another left Su Ming preparing another explanation.

• Su Ming offered to guide the Celestials and threatened to summon the Living Tribunal, prompting Arishem to accept him as a fair and impartial Earth guide.
• Su Ming recommended New York as a representative human settlement, and the Celestials projected scenes of its inhabitants for review.
• Arishem judged a man playing on his phone while using the toilet as wasteful, but Su Ming claimed the man was studying.
• Su Ming learned the man was watching Japanese adult films and argued that he was simultaneously contributing to ecology, mechanics, and reproduction.
• Arishem accepted Su Ming’s reasoning that humanity had high time efficiency, then showed him an apparent case of humans harming one another.

Su Ming watched a recording of Kingpin killing his wife, Vanessa, and saw him embrace his ambitions to rule New York’s underworld. Kingpin hired Bullseye to eliminate his rivals and ordered a red-clad Hand ninja to watch him, leaving the assassin’s loyalty under scrutiny.

• Kingpin strangled Vanessa to death while explaining that he considered her a weakness and wanted to avenge their son, Richard.
• Kingpin told Vanessa’s corpse that he had awakened and intended to become a king.
• Kingpin ordered the injured Bullseye to assassinate his enemies and offered him higher pay to unify New York’s underground forces.
• A red-clad ninja told Kingpin that Bullseye had lied about his artery injury.
• Kingpin hired the ninja to watch Bullseye and kill him if he betrayed Kingpin, and she accepted his offer of three hundred thousand per target.

Su Ming convinced Arishem that Kingpin killed his mate as a rational act of evolutionary sacrifice, persuading the Celestials to accept his explanation. The review moved on to whether Earth's mainstream human society could accommodate the Deviants.

• Arishem asked Yin Tama why Kingpin had killed his mate, and Su Ming argued that reason, rather than emotional regression, had guided him.
• Su Ming claimed Kingpin's murder prevented weaker offspring and advanced human evolution through eugenics, and Arishem tacitly accepted his reasoning.
• Su Ming reasoned that the Celestials valued civilizations that preserved their planetary experiments, so he framed human society's continued evolution as valuable to them.
• Arishem and the Celestials accepted that Kingpin had sacrificed for humanity, then began reviewing whether Earth's mainstream humans could accommodate the Deviant race.
• Su Ming returned to his Sleeping Arhat pose and joked about drinking.

Loki awoke restrained in an abandoned factory and tried to stall Ultron, the robot that had captured him, by promising information about humanity. His attempt to get alcohol to buy time backfired when Ultron force-fed him medical alcohol.

• Loki woke restrained to a bed and realized a robot had captured him while Thor was absent.
• Ultron threatened Loki with a chainsaw, then stopped when Loki offered to share information about humanity.
• Loki tried to persuade Ultron to loosen his restraints, but Ultron refused and insisted he speak while lying down.
• Loki asked for alcohol to delay Ultron, but Ultron brought 75% medical alcohol from a first-aid kit.
• Ultron pried open Loki's mouth and force-fed him the bitter medical alcohol.

Ultron captured Loki and tried to learn about magic and humanity’s origins from his drunken ramblings. Thor and Wade arrived at the factory to rescue him, with Jen and Daisy bringing them there and Daisy carrying a hammer.

• Ultron found Loki unconscious in its abandoned factory after someone threw him through a window with a tag identifying him as an Asgardian prince; it also discovered an enormous axe beside him after searching outside.
• Ultron tied up Loki, drew his blood, and questioned him after getting him drunk, recording his confused account of gods, humanity, magic, and souls.
• Thor and Wade reached the factory and attacked Ultron, after Thor learned from a letter that Loki had been kidnapped.
• Wade had gathered weapons, and Jen drove him and Thor to the factory while Daisy came along with a hammer for self-defense.

Ultron killed Thor and incapacitated Wade, then pursued Daisy and Jen after they fled the factory. As Daisy stood to defend her unconscious teacher, her hammer unleashed lightning that struck both her and Ultron.

• Daisy returned Wade's forgotten backpack, and Wade rushed back into the factory after seeing Ultron overpower Thor.
• Ultron killed Thor with a crushing punch and threw Wade aside after he attacked with a steel pipe.
• Daisy escaped in the car with Jen, but Ultron pursued them and crashed their vehicle by punching through its roof.
• Daisy crawled from the wreck and chose to protect her unconscious teacher rather than flee from Ultron.
• Daisy raised a fallen hammer, which began crackling with electricity before a massive bolt of lightning engulfed her and Ultron.

Daisy transformed into the God of Thunder, defeated Ultron, and rescued Jane from the burning car. Deadpool told her how to revive Thor and teased her about rescuing Wade, leaving Daisy flying back to the factory with Jane.

• Daisy transformed into an armored God of Thunder and smashed Ultron into a crater, where it self-destructed.
• Deadpool appeared and urged Daisy to rescue Jane and return to the factory to revive Thor with an axe.
• Daisy freed Jane from the wrecked car and asked Deadpool how to save Wade, but rejected his answer about kissing him.
• Daisy flew toward the factory with Jane while Deadpool blew up the burning car and vanished.

Su Ming explained humanity’s unusual compatibility to Arishem and described how Odin controlled Mjolnir and Asgard’s inheritance. Arishem continued examining human relationships and upbringing, while Su Ming misled him with explanations of Steve and Bucky’s bond and Erik Simon Payne’s abuse.

• Su Ming watched Thor return War Axe, reconcile with Loki, and speak with Daisy, satisfied that his plan had worked.
• Su Ming explained that Odin had arranged for Daisy to wield Mjolnir and that the All-Father, not the hammer, decided who received divine power.
• Su Ming outlined Odin’s role as Asgard’s link to Yggdrasil and the future steps Thor would need to take to inherit that role.
• Arishem judged humanity highly compatible with energy and power, and Su Ming prompted him to examine another subject.
• Arishem questioned Steve and Bucky’s relationship, and Su Ming described their bond as a noble connection between kindred souls.
• Arishem suspected Erik Simon Payne’s parents had failed to care for him, and Su Ming claimed their abuse had successfully made him a powerful warrior.

Su Ming convinced Judge Arishem that humanity’s violence and depravity were forms of natural selection and evidence of evolution, earning Earth’s approval to ascend with the universe. Arishem then demanded to take several humans, including Steve and Bucky, away for experiments.

• Arishem showed Su Ming scenes of radioactive waste dumping and police killing a Black jogger, and Su Ming explained them as harmless performance art and natural selection.
• Arishem presented more scenes of human cruelty, and Su Ming reframed the campus belle, cannibal philanthropist, Mutants researcher, and Chameleon politician as products of social progress and evolution.
• Arishem proposed testing Chameleon against the Brood, and Su Ming offered to deliver him personally to avoid alarming Earth.
• After more than ten hours of discussion, Arishem declared humanity and Earth’s other lifeforms qualified to ascend alongside the universe.
• Arishem selected Steve and Bucky, Daisy and Thor, Wade and Elektra, Punisher and Daredevil, and others to be taken away for experiments.

Su Ming rejected Arishem’s plan to take humans from Earth for experiments and called Wanda and the Orange Cat to enact Plan B. The Orange Cat swallowed Arishem and the other Celestials, then headed back toward Earth, where a fishbowl-helmeted man tried to greet it.

• Arishem insisted it had authority to take humans for experiments, and Su Ming decided to stop it rather than let Wanda pay a steep price.
• Wanda appeared beside Su Ming and trapped Judge Arishem in a net of scarlet energy as the Celestials attacked them.
• Su Ming and Wanda dodged the Celestials’ attacks around Arishem’s neck, and Su Ming’s shoulder was atomized while shielding Wanda.
• The Orange Cat swallowed everyone on the battlefield along with a chunk of space, then headed toward Earth.
• A man in a fishbowl helmet flew out to meet the Orange Cat, which struck him across the face with its tail.

Su Ming and Wanda hid inside Chewie’s stomach-pocket dimension after the Celestials swallowed them, while Su Ming explained his plans to stop the Celestials from treating their universe as a garden. They prepared to act on Wade’s signal, with Cloak returning to Su Ming as Deadpool took position.

• Su Ming and Wanda concealed themselves among the garbage drifting inside Chewie’s stomach-pocket dimension while the Celestials investigated their surroundings.
• Su Ming explained that he opposed the Celestials’ treatment of other life as experimental subjects and could not risk fighting them inside the unstable pocket dimension.
• Su Ming distracted the Celestials by hurling an alien corpse away, then moved with Wanda to another hiding place.
• Su Ming revealed that Cloak had been guiding his cousin and that a tracking banner on a Celestial corpse had been part of his plans to locate the Celestials’ base.
• Su Ming explained his reasons for opposing the Celestials, and Wanda asked about the multiple Wades he had called his cousins.
• Cloak flew back to Su Ming, who caught it and told Wanda to get ready because Deadpool was in position.

Su Ming and Wanda ambushed a Celestial researcher and were swallowed by a vortex that brought them to Deadpool and Chewie near a blue planet. Deadpool prepared to fight the green Celestial while Su Ming remained anchored to its neck.

• Su Ming and Wanda hid near the Celestial researchers and learned that the Celestials they faced were replica robots weaker than the originals.
• Su Ming chose the green Collector as their target, then attacked it with Wanda as Judge and Exterminator searched elsewhere.
• Su Ming's strike staggered Collector, and a vortex swallowed the Celestial and both humans.
• Deadpool tried to make Chewie vomit, and the Flerken succeeded after clawing and licking its paw.
• Chewie's vomit released Collector near Deadpool, who readied his blades and announced a fight while Su Ming battled from the Celestial's neck.

Su Ming, Wanda, and Deadpool fought the Collector, a Celestial replica, and Wanda bound it with the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak. With the Celestial immobilized, Su Ming attacked its eyes, but the resulting explosion badly injured him as Strangle began repairing his body.

• Su Ming healed from the Collector's first attack with Strangle's help and discussed finding a way to destroy the Celestial from within with Deadpool.
• Deadpool attacked the Collector's legs while Su Ming flew toward its eyes, dodging its energy beams.
• Su Ming ordered Wanda to slow the Collector, and Wanda used the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to bind it against a dimensional rift.
• Su Ming sliced through the Collector's eyes, triggering an explosion that hurled him toward Mars and tore through his body.
• Strangle stuffed Su Ming's intestines back into his abdomen and rebuilt his armor as he charged the Collector again.

Wanda persuaded Cyttorak to intervene, and he immobilized the Celestial Collector. Su Ming abandoned his plan to take an eye and began hacking at Collector’s neck with the Nightfall Greatsword.

• Su Ming reflected on how Demon Gods used powerful artifacts and bargains to manipulate people, and noted that Cyttorak had taken an unusual interest in Wanda.
• Cyttorak opened a Dimensional Portal and bound Collector, preventing the Celestial from moving its limbs.
• Su Ming’s attempt to attack Collector’s eye failed when it exploded, leaving him burdened by blood loss and pain.
• Su Ming flew beneath Collector’s chin and repeatedly struck its neck with the Nightfall Greatsword.

Su Ming and Deadpool carved up the Celestial Collector, taking its head while Cyttorak claimed its torso. Afterward, Su Ming asked Wanda to contact Set about helping dispose of more Celestials.

• Su Ming and Deadpool continued cutting into the Collector while chatting, and Deadpool took a piece of its armor to sell to Green Goblin.
• Su Ming gave Wanda chunks of the Celestial's metal to take home as gifts for her family.
• Su Ming severed the Collector's head with Godslayer and stored it in his waist pouch.
• Cyttorak's crimson threads dragged the Collector's ruined torso into the rift and consumed it, while Su Ming kept its limbs.
• Su Ming asked Wanda to contact Serpent God Set and find out whether he wanted to wrap more Celestials in snakes.

Su Ming and his allies destroyed two of the replicated Celestial Second Progenitors with help from Set and Hoggoth. Hoggoth took the Exterminator’s staff and left Su Ming to continue the battle, while warning him about the consequences of his choices.

• Wanda’s incantation opened a passage to the Sea of Snakes, where Set’s serpents dragged the Calculator in and crushed it before Wanda closed the connection.
• Su Ming suspected Wanda had paid a price for summoning Set, then called Hoggoth using offerings and an improvised ritual.
• Hoggoth said the Vishanti would not wage war against Set and Cyttorak, but hinted that someone else had already interfered.
• Su Ming asked Wanda’s Orange Cat to spit out the Exterminator, and Hoggoth swallowed the purple Celestial and took its staff.
• Hoggoth demanded that Su Ming provide ten evil souls for the prison in the Splitting Domain, then criticized him for confronting the Celestials as Herald of Galactus rather than as Sorcerer Supreme.

Su Ming and Wade confronted three Celestial replicas after the machines adapted by grouping together. Wade tried to use a fake cosmic cop ID as his trump card, but the Celestials destroyed it along with his left hand, leaving him grieving.

• Su Ming told Wanda to summon more demon gods while the Orange Cat released the Sampler, the Analyzer, and the Replicator together.
• Wade volunteered to fight all three Celestials alone and claimed he had brought a trump card.
• Wade showed Su Ming a supposed OAA-issued cosmic cop ID, which Su Ming suspected was fake.
• Wade charged the Celestials with the ID raised, insisting it was genuine and appealing to his unseen audience.
• Su Ming dragged Wade aside and suggested he had imagined the ID's existence, but a Celestial beam blasted Wade's hand and the card into atoms.
• Wade mourned his destroyed left hand, calling it one of his first girlfriends.

Su Ming and Wade broke the Celestials’ formation and weakened the yellow Celestial while Wanda struggled to summon a demon god. With no help forthcoming, Su Ming prepared to ram the damaged giant again and finish it off.

• Su Ming sent Wade beneath the Celestials’ feet while he drew their eye beams into the center of their triangular formation.
• A Celestial’s beam severed the orange Celestial’s arm after Su Ming disrupted their formation.
• Su Ming and Wade focused their attacks on the yellow Celestial as Wanda’s summoning spell made no progress.
• Wade distracted the Celestials beneath their feet while Su Ming carved a deep collar around the yellow Celestial’s neck.
• Su Ming struck the yellow Celestial’s head with Cosmic Energy, breaking half its neck, then recovered with Strangle’s help and flew in for another attack.

Su Ming and Wade defeated the remaining Celestial replicas, leaving only Judge Arishem as their target. After Wanda’s allies refused to help, Su Ming told her to have Chewie release Arishem and return everyone to the correct time and space while he faced the Judge alone.

• Su Ming attacked the wounded orange Celestial while Wade fought from atop the blue Celestial’s head, and they destroyed both machines.
• Su Ming refused Wade’s request for a break, warning that the group had to finish before anyone noticed the missing Celestial administrators.
• Wanda asked why the demon gods had refused to help, and Su Ming explained that their motives varied and discussed his suspicions about Hoggoth’s deal for souls.
• Wade reunited with the small hand growing from his wrist and stayed quiet as the others discussed Death and the Vishanti.
• Su Ming told Wanda to have Chewie spit out Judge Arishem and send her group back to the correct time and space while he rested briefly before fighting the Judge alone.