Recaps

Chen Mo confronted Smithson in his apartment over plans to divert money from the Brooklyn Family Hope Fund, with the Fantastic Four and several villains present as witnesses. Smithson was left exposed before the assembled group as they compared his financial scheme with their own criminal activities.

• Chen Mo ambushed Smithson as he returned home and dragged him into the living room.
• Smithson tried to call security and offered Chen Mo money, but Chen Mo struck him and challenged him about the City Hall discussion.
• Smithson discovered Vulture, Tinkerer, Doctor Octavius, and the Fantastic Four waiting in his apartment.
• Chen Mo said he had brought them to witness Smithson, then turned off a news report about the Brooklyn Family Hope Fund.
• Doctor Octavius, Vulture, and Tinkerer criticized Smithson's scheme as an easy way for the rich to make money.

Chen Mo confronted Smithson with evidence of corruption in the Brooklyn explosion relief fund and said he would spare him for now, hinting at a proposal. Earlier, Tony gave Chen Mo money, a watch, and an unlimited card, then urged him to leave and stop using his powers or being a superhero.

• Chen Mo showed Smithson documents detailing low victim compensation and large administrative budgets, then threatened him over his remarks about the dead.
• Smithson panicked and offered to do whatever Chen Mo wanted; Chen Mo said his proposal would suit Smithson, while Vulture clarified that Chen Mo alone was in charge.
• At Avengers Tower, Tony returned from a federal meeting as news reports fueled debate about registering people with extraordinary powers and restricting superheroes at disaster sites.
• Tony gave Chen Mo cash, a custom watch, and an unlimited card with a separate account.
• Tony told Chen Mo to leave, avoid using his powers, and stop appearing as a superhero so agencies would not put him on a list.

Tony warned Chen Mo to leave before the government could detain or register him, while Chen Mo worried about Tony and left Stark Tower. At a meeting in the Baxter Building, Tony and Steve clashed over a proposed registration act that included detention powers, leaving the heroes divided.

• Tony told Chen Mo to leave and avoid being handed over to S.H.I.E.L.D., and Chen Mo took the cash and watch but left the card behind.
• Chen Mo asked JARVIS to make sure Tony ate healthy food, then left Stark Tower and replied to Peter's dinner message.
• Reed Richards presented a report on the explosion, black-market distribution, regulatory loopholes, and failures involving alien remnants at the Baxter Building meeting.
• Steve objected to the proposal's detention and arrest provisions, while Tony argued that the heroes had to accept responsibility for the deaths and public fear.
• Tony and Steve argued over whether signing would prevent harm or surrender everyone's freedom, and the meeting's divide became clear.

Steve refused to sign the federal oversight agreement, and the government quickly imposed new regulations that led to arrests and public clashes involving heroes, including the Fantastic Four. Tony learned that Chen Mo had left Avengers Tower and chose not to look for him as the Superhuman Registration Act began to divide the city.

• Steve refused to sign the preliminary agreement and left the oversight meeting, prompting headlines that Captain America had defected.
• The federal government established a public safety coordination group, and joint police operations targeted street-level heroes across New York.
• Federal agents detained the Fantastic Four after they rescued technicians and removed an energy device without authorization.
• Tony learned that Chen Mo had left Avengers Tower with the cash envelope and custom watch, while Peter had asked about his whereabouts.
• Tony watched reports of the arrests, declined JARVIS's offer to look for Chen Mo, and ordered three cheeseburgers.

Chen Mo entered the Raft using Peter Parker’s temporary rescue clearance and began freeing prisoners while implanting a control chip in a cyborg. He moved deeper into the detention wing, where Otto Octavius questioned what he was doing.

• Chen Mo used Peter Parker’s temporary authorization card to pass the Raft’s security checkpoints without raising an alarm.
• Chen Mo approached the prisoners and mocked a cyborg who had been arrested for crimes including robbing an armored truck and evading taxes.
• Chen Mo hacked the control panel with Venom and opened the cyborg’s cell.
• Chen Mo implanted a chip in the cyborg’s neck and warned that it would explode if he disobeyed.
• Chen Mo continued into the detention wing as Otto Octavius watched and asked whether Chen knew what he was doing.

Chen Mo freed selected financially desperate prisoners and gathered supervillains for a promised wealth-redistribution scheme. He then opened the high-risk hero detention area and told the Fantastic Four that New York was cracking down on superheroes, leaving Johnny willing to trust Spider-Man despite the danger.

• Chen Mo reviewed prisoners’ files, freed those driven to crime by financial hardship, and returned aggressive inmates to their cells.
• Chen Mo instructed the freed villains to avoid harming civilians and appointed Doctor Octopus their temporary supervisor.
• Chen Mo promised the villains money and pitched a wealth-redistribution scheme aimed at New York’s wealthy.
• Chen Mo used Venom to open the cells holding Reed Richards, Susan, Ben, and Johnny in the high-risk hero detention area.
• Chen Mo explained that New York was dividing superheroes into compliant and disobedient groups, and Johnny argued that Spider-Man could still save something through his strange choices.

Chen Mo led the Fantastic Four and a group of villains out of the detention center, warning the escapees not to harm civilians. As the breakout shifted public opinion and Tony and Peter discovered Chen Mo had used Peter’s authorization, a Doctor Doom decoy attacked downtown, drawing Iron Man into the fight.

• Chen Mo freed the Fantastic Four, recruited them to help keep the escaped villains in line, and threatened to sink anyone who hurt a civilian in cement.
• The detention center’s alarms sounded as Chen Mo led the group out, while Venom replaced the announcements with elevator music.
• News of the mass breakout frightened New Yorkers and changed public calls from rejecting superheroes to asking them for protection.
• Tony and Peter found records showing Chen Mo had used Peter’s authorization to release villains, and Peter questioned whether Chen Mo had planned the breakout all along.
• JARVIS reported an attack near Times Square by a Doctor Doom decoy, and Tony flew out to confront it.
• Iron Man fought the decoy while shielding nearby civilians and directing police to clear the area.

Tony defeated the Decoy Machine and faced a crowd that now looked to superheroes for protection. Suspecting Chen Mo had engineered the crisis to change public opinion, Tony chose to prioritize saving people and warned that more attacks might follow.

• Tony fought the Decoy Machine, rescued a boy hiding in a souvenir shop, and destroyed the machine and its remote-control link.
• The crowd cheered Iron Man while reporters questioned him about the breakout, superhero oversight, Spider-Man, and Captain America.
• Tony suspected Chen Mo had used the villains and the attack to shift public anger away from superheroes, but judged his actions reckless and wrong.
• Tony told the public to avoid suspicious armor and supervillains, said the Avengers would handle high-risk targets, and promised to deal with the two Spider-Men.
• Tony ordered JARVIS to prioritize saving people and recovering the Decoy Machine, then said he believed Chen Mo would act again and admitted he had failed to keep him in line.

After a superhuman fire destroyed Jack and Alice’s home, they stayed in temporary Stark Industries housing while Jack dealt with the losses and prepared Alice for school. Jack remained bitter about the damage caused by superheroes, though Alice still admired Iron Man.

• Jack read news alerts about a superhuman breakout and the previous day’s attack, then reviewed a landlord’s notice about the burned rental.
• Jack recalled that his belongings and Alice’s drawings had been destroyed when an uncontrolled young hero’s powers caused the fire, while the hero received public sympathy.
• Jack made breakfast for Alice, who asked if she could bring her smoke-damaged stuffed rabbit to school.
• Jack told Alice that Stark Industries had provided their temporary housing and urged her to thank the staff who helped them.
• Alice praised Iron Man for saving people and helping them, while Jack admitted that Iron Man looked cool flying.

Jack took a preliminary screening for an NYPD engineering contract designing equipment to restrain Metahumans, even as he recognized the project could feed a system of registration and detention. He entered City Hall wearing the project’s visitor sticker, uncertain whether he was helping protect New York or tightening its control over heroes.

• Jack dropped Alice off at school, and she encouraged him to find a job before going inside for lunch.
• Jack found that an electrical hero had destroyed his car, then rode a delayed bus while reading an email inviting him to an NYPD engineering consultant screening.
• Jack weighed the safer police contract against lucrative gang work and decided the gang job was too dangerous for Alice.
• Jack considered how superhero registration could lead to more delays for civilians and secret detention for Metahumans, but the confirmed lunch voucher gave him enough resolve to continue.
• Jack reached City Hall, picked up a protest sign, showed security his documents, and received a visitor sticker for the NYPD project screening.

Chen Mo and the Raft escapees prepared a nonlethal Doctor Doom decoy to provoke Iron Man into a public confrontation. After sending it toward Times Square, Chen Mo left to seek a potential partner.

• Chen Mo, Tinkerer, Doctor Octopus, and Vulture finished assembling a fake Doctor Doom armor designed to cause limited damage and avoid harming people.
• Chen Mo connected Venom to the decoy and sent it to Times Square, expecting Iron Man and possibly Spider-Man to respond.
• The decoy marched off while reciting Chen Mo’s line about human governments; Tinkerer and Doctor Octopus reacted with dismay.
• Chen Mo and Vulture headed to find someone Chen Mo had chosen from a newspaper as a potential partner.

Chen Mo forced Commissioner Smithson to review a Registered Superhuman Rescue Response Fund proposal that would turn hero rescues into a bureaucratic, pay-tiered service. As a suspected Doctor Doom decoy machine attacked Times Square, Chen Mo told Smithson to push the proposal through using the incident as justification.

• Chen Mo presented Smithson with a draft ordinance establishing a fund for registered superhuman rescue response.
• Smithson recognized that the fund could appease supporters of hero registration and proposed ways to allocate and manage its money.
• Reed and Ben condemned a system that would prioritize people who could pay, while Chen Mo said it would expose an existing problem by making it worse and more visible.
• Chen Mo ordered Smithson to push the proposal through and pointed to live coverage of an attack in Times Square.
• Smithson asked whether Chen Mo had caused the attack, and Chen Mo described it as a public safety incident involving a remote Doctor Doom decoy machine.

Chen Mo recruited Smithson to help create a system for registered heroes and secured St. Matthew Charity Church as a base. At the church, the group found relief supplies that records claimed had already been distributed.

• Chen Mo explained to Smithson how the attack and Iron Man’s rescue could drive public support for hero regulation, then ordered him to submit a draft the next day.
• Smithson revealed that St. Matthew Charity Church had underground storage, a medical room, a cold-storage room, and access to a subway maintenance line.
• Chen Mo took Smithson and the others to the church, whose relief program had been suspended amid an investigation into missing donations and falsified recipient lists.
• The priest let the group inside after recognizing Chen Mo and objecting to the presence of released criminals.
• Tinkerer found unopened relief supplies in the storeroom, though the register showed they had all been distributed, and Ben noticed a listed recipient supposedly lived in a cemetery.

Chen Mo confronted a priest over corrupt charity and demanded that God answer for suffering, then lightning struck powerful institutions across Manhattan. He organized the church as a relief and operations hub while planning to expose the Paid Rescue Proposal and make those responsible pay.

• Susan found expired medicine in a relief crate, and the priest blamed administrative confusion.
• Chen Mo rejected the priest’s demand that he repent and accused God and the church of ignoring suffering and exploiting the poor.
• Chen Mo called for divine lightning to strike the wicked, and bolts hit financial firms, government contractors, and public-safety offices across Manhattan.
• Chen Mo assigned Tinkerer, Doctor, Vulture, and the Fantastic Four to secure the church and sort its supplies.
• Chen Mo told Reed that he would let the Paid Rescue Proposal proceed into public view so people could see how it failed, and he told the priest to find the charity ledger.

Steve Rogers captured Paste-Pot Pete, Scythe, and other villains while resisting the Superhuman Registration Act, leading S.H.I.E.L.D. to realize he had support. Meanwhile, Tony Stark’s registered team handled a robbery in a wealthy neighborhood, where Tony defended the act and insisted Steve was wrong.

• Paste-Pot Pete and other low-level villains mocked Captain America until Steve Rogers emerged and subdued them in the warehouse.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. learned that Steve had captured fifteen supervillains in seventy-two hours, and Hill concluded that he was no longer working alone.
• Iron Man, Hulk, Ant-Man, and Tigra stopped exoskeleton-wearing robbers at a private collection gallery in a wealthy neighborhood.
• Tony told Tigra that Steve was wrong about the Registration Act, while Ant-Man noticed the neighborhood’s federal public-safety partner designation.

Jack lost his police job and rushed to Alice’s school after explosions trapped children inside, where he faced a bomber with no police or rescue response. Peter Parker heard the blasts while patrolling and arrived as Spider-Man, leaving the confrontation poised for rescue.

• Jack packed his belongings after being laid off and learned the police department claimed ownership of his Restraint Gun research.
• Jack rushed toward Alice’s school when explosions sounded and found the building damaged, the children trapped, and emergency help delayed.
• Jack recognized the bomber’s anger and learned Alice was in a second-floor classroom beyond the collapsed stairs.
• Peter Parker left a convenience store after hearing the explosions and swung toward the school as Spider-Man.
• Spider-Man descended through the smoke, and the crowd recognized him as he arrived at the school.

Peter and Patriot rescued children from a school explosion, then faced a government arrest attempt that the rescued families and other locals helped stop. Shaken by the authorities targeting heroes who protected them, Peter agreed to meet Chen Mo at the Broken Ladder Tavern.

• Peter stopped a would-be bomber, then teamed up with Patriot to rescue the children trapped in the burning school, including Alice, and returned her to Jack.
• Jack recognized the restraint gun aimed at Peter as his own design and confronted the helicopter crew; Alice and other locals gathered around Jack and the heroes.
• A commander ordered the helicopters to abort their arrest operation after the crowd and its phones made firing on civilians a political risk.
• Peter remained troubled by the Superhero Registration Act and accepted Chen Mo's invitation to meet at the Broken Ladder Tavern.
• Chen Mo waited at the tavern and admitted he wanted to recruit Spider-Man because of his reputation and how easy he was to fool.

Peter met Chen Mo at the Broken Ladder Tavern after Spider-Man helped save a school, while people in the bar watched news footage of civilians standing up to armed helicopters. Chen Mo said it was time and opened the private-room door, leaving Peter poised to learn what he had arranged.

• Peter entered the Broken Ladder Tavern in a fake beard, and Jiubao recognized him as the minor Chen Mo had described.
• Peter joined Chen Mo in a private room and noticed unseen companions behind a frosted-glass partition.
• Peter and Chen Mo joked about whether a Transformers child would need a birth certificate or a license plate, while a voice behind the glass told Reed not to take notes.
• Tavern patrons described the costs of medical care and property damage from superhero fights as news footage showed civilians protecting Spider-Man and Patriot from armed helicopters.
• Chen Mo watched the crowd fall silent, said it was about time, and opened the private-room door.

Chen Mo argued to the tavern that ordinary people’s suffering came from policies and businesses that left them waiting for help, not from superheroes who tried to save them. Matt Murdock joined him and explained how television, politicians, and insurers redirected public anger toward superheroes.

• Chen Mo muted the television and criticized authorities for arriving at the school explosion with guns aimed at Spider-Man and Patriot instead of helping sooner.
• Chen Mo challenged the tavern patrons to blame systemic cuts, denied claims, and unaffordable care rather than superheroes, prompting a mechanic to recount how his mother died while an ambulance asked about insurance.
• Chen Mo condemned hero registration and paid rescue services, and patrons laid bills and notices on the tables as evidence of their hardships.
• Reed Richards told the Fantastic Four that visible superpowered threats and rescue fees could expose how public safety was being turned into a business.
• Matt Murdock entered the tavern and told the patrons that media, politicians, and insurance companies directed their anger toward superheroes.

Chen Mo rallied the Broken Ladder Tavern around creating an independent Superhero Alliance that served ordinary people rather than corporate or government interests. He stopped Peter from publicly joining him, warning that exposure would endanger Peter’s identity and loved ones, while the crowd embraced Chen Mo’s cause.

• Chen Mo rejected handing heroes over to the government or corporations and called for an independent alliance that could hold heroes accountable without letting capital control them.
• Chen Mo declared that he chose the people of his street over Captain America and Iron Man, urging the crowd to recognize their enemies and build their own Superhero Alliance.
• The patrons of the Broken Ladder Tavern erupted in support, shouting about the failures of the system and celebrating their defiance.
• Peter prepared to reveal himself and stand with Chen Mo, but Chen Mo pulled him back and warned that the authorities would target his school, home, and loved ones.
• Chen Mo warned Peter to keep his identity secret and stay alive, predicting that Tony Stark might soon try to recruit him for the pro-registration side.
• Matt told Chen Mo that he would gain many enemies, and Chen Mo welcomed it as a sign that he was headed in the right direction.

Chen Mo infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Helicarrier to search for hidden files about an island while his allies joked about naming their new group the English Translation Alliance. Meanwhile, Sandman and the Thing launched a disruptive attack outside New York City Hall as the heroes prepared for a major confrontation.

• Chen Mo clung to a passenger jet and jumped onto S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Helicarrier after Reed guided him toward a maintenance hatch.
• Human Torch proposed calling the group the English Translation Alliance, and Chen Mo said he would decide whether to keep Johnny on the roster after the mission.
• Chen Mo crawled along the Helicarrier’s hull toward the hatch to search for concealed island records while Reed worked on the electronic lock.
• Peter told Chen Mo that he and the others were preparing to ambush Captain America’s group, and Chen Mo hoped neither side would kill anyone.
• Sandman burst through the street outside City Hall and shoved police cars aside as the Thing joined him and grabbed an armored vehicle.

The Thing and Human Torch fought Rhino and Sandman outside City Hall while Susan Storm slipped inside to access its archive server. The battle drew police and public attention as Susan reached the office where she could physically connect Reed’s data reader.

• Rhino charged around the corner, crashed into a stone pillar, and blamed the slippery ground covered by Sandman’s yellow sand.
• Human Torch arrived and attacked Sandman, while The Thing caught a displaced police car and threw Rhino into construction barriers.
• Rhino pretended to be hurt at The Thing’s suggestion, and Sandman raised a dust cloud to hide the fighters from cameras.
• Police cars and armored vehicles arrived as alarms sounded inside City Hall.
• Susan Storm slipped past security guards with Reed’s data reader and headed toward the archive server.
• Reed guided Susan to the server, while Human Torch distracted her over the communications channel until she told him to switch channels.

Susan uncovered files showing how the government planned to commercialize hero response and manipulate public opinion, and she argued that any registration system should be defined by heroes under public and legal oversight. Meanwhile, Chen Mo infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.'s archives to find information about the island, but Black Widow caught him before he could access the files.

• Susan copied government files documenting superhero collateral damage and concluded that registration had to be shaped by heroes, with public oversight and legal scrutiny.
• Susan breached an offline archive and found plans to commercialize hero response, incorporate unregistered heroes, divert community protests, and assess Spider-Man 2's influence.
• The crowd condemned the registered heroes for fighting at a chemical plant while Sandman, Rhino, Human Torch, and The Thing staged a chaotic battle outside City Hall.
• Susan told the others to withdraw after copying the files, while Chen Mo reached S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Strategic Archives Management Center.
• Chen Mo bypassed the archive guards and began hacking an offline terminal, but footsteps approached before Reed could clear the final authorization layer.
• Black Widow sat among the filing cabinets, spotted Chen Mo on the ceiling, and left him staring at her.

Chen Mo met Natasha Romanoff in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s archives, where she gave him evidence about the island where he had been held and offered to join his alliance. They left together in a fighter with a case full of intelligence, while Chen Mo welcomed Black Widow aboard.

• Chen Mo found Natasha waiting in the archives, and she handed him a storage drive containing evidence about the island and its experiments.
• Natasha explained that Captain America’s investigation had been blocked and that she had secretly saved files as the island’s records were erased.
• Natasha described her support for hero accountability without government control and said she wanted to join Chen Mo’s alliance.
• Natasha revealed a case of intelligence on officials, military experiments, compensation funds, and contractors, including files she had placed at meeting attendees’ homes.
• Natasha led Chen Mo out of the archives to a waiting fighter, and Chen Mo welcomed her into the alliance.

Natasha took Chen Mo and a box of documents from the Helicarrier in a small fighter jet, leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. to treat her departure as a defection. In Washington, officials and media figures pushed back against the growing support for superhero autonomy, while public debate spread beyond the internet and a poll claiming 78 percent favored metahuman registration appeared on television.

• Natasha and Chen Mo boarded a prepared fighter jet and flew away from the Helicarrier with the documents.
• In Washington, officials argued over what Natasha had taken and worried that she had joined Black Spider and his growing coalition.
• People repeated arguments for superhero autonomy and community oversight in online posts, breakfast shops, and taxis despite efforts to suppress the discussion.
• News networks and the Daily Bugle portrayed masked heroes as dangerous and called for them to be controlled.
• A poll claiming that 78 percent of Americans supported metahuman registration circulated on television without explaining its sample or wording.