Chapter Summaries

Batman and Chen Mo stopped Joker’s immediate attack at the amusement park, but Joker’s automated backup trapped the remaining hostages in a new countdown challenge. With five minutes left, Batman restrained Joker while Chen Mo rushed to save the crowd.

• Batman discovered that Joker still held the remote while Joker threatened the Ferris wheel hostages and the actress, Ms. Harper.
• Chen Mo rescued a child and disrupted Joker with feedback from the speaker towers, allowing Batman to knock away the remote and Chen Mo to strike Joker’s hand.
• Joker attacked with an acid-spraying razor and escaped through smoke as a balloon filled with laughing gas; Chen Mo shielded Ms. Harper and treated her with Batman’s antidote spray.
• Chen Mo joined Batman in the fight at the haunted house, and they bound Joker after Batman knocked him down.
• Joker’s backup program sealed the exits and started a five-minute countdown; Batman restrained Joker while Chen Mo charged toward the trapped crowd.

Chen Mo and Batman entered the haunted house to rescue two hostages and find Joker’s real controller, but Joker trapped the hostages beside bombs and used images of real suffering—and Helen Morris—to unsettle Chen Mo. The chapter ended with Joker challenging them to laugh at the cruelty projected around them.

• Chen Mo rescued people from the amusement park’s deadly traps while Batman discovered the fountain’s controller was a decoy and the real program was inside the haunted house.
• Joker’s pillar descended underground as two hostages were dragged toward the haunted house, and Chen Mo and Batman rushed after them.
• Chen Mo and Batman followed the tracks into the haunted house and found projections of real people facing hardship.
• Joker appeared restrained beside the hostages, whose chairs were wired to the walls and fitted with blinking bombs, while Batman’s Batarang failed to reach the control box.
• Joker projected Helen Morris’s photograph, noticed Chen Mo’s reaction, and taunted him and Batman with images of suffering as Chen Mo fell silent.

Chen Mo and Batman rescued two hostages from Joker’s linked bombs and pursued him through the haunted house. After Joker revealed that he had turned Chen Mo’s past acts of kindness into part of his torment, Chen Mo argued that people could change the environments that shaped them, leaving Joker’s reaction unresolved.

• Chen Mo used his strength and webbing to expose the bomb wiring, while Batman jammed the traps and freed the hostages.
• Chen Mo and Batman chased Joker through the haunted house after he escaped on a rail cart, and Batman stopped the cart and knocked him loose.
• Joker escaped into another corridor, where Chen Mo found photographs of people he had saved and learned Joker had used a gift of thanks to bait Batman.
• Chen Mo attacked Joker, then stopped to protect a photograph of Teacher Morris before confronting him about people and their environments.
• Chen Mo told Joker that people were shaped by their environments but could also change them, citing teachers, doctors, strangers, and Batman; Joker’s smile briefly froze.

Chen Mo and Batman shut down Joker’s amusement park system and took Joker into custody, though the rescued people remained traumatized and some had died. Chen Mo headed to the east side to help more survivors as Batman escorted Joker away.

• Chen Mo challenged Joker’s claim that the world could only change through suffering, and Joker told a riddle comparing the three men to madmen.
• Batman opened the control room while Chen Mo kept Joker from reaching a switch, and they discovered the shutdown system was linked to traps throughout the park.
• Chen Mo spotted a hidden tripwire, Batman severed it, and Chen Mo flung the overloaded batteries out of the haunted house before the countdown ended.
• Batman and Chen Mo shut down the park, restrained Joker, and left him in Batman’s custody.
• Chen Mo saw police and medical personnel evacuating survivors, then followed Batman’s call to rescue people on the east side.

After surviving the attack on Happy Valley Amusement Park, Chen Mo returned to school, where he stopped a young student from selling drugs outside the gates and faced the grief left by Ms. Morris's death. The new literature teacher, Eileen Walker, began class as Gotham's usual school chaos carried on.

• Chen Mo read updates about the amusement park attack and complained about an unflattering photo of Spider-Man.
• Chen Mo caught a ten-and-a-half-year-old student trying to sell drugs outside the school and arranged for Gordon's people to take him away.
• Chen Mo saw the tributes to Ms. Morris and entered class, where Barbara lent him notes and questioned his excuses for disappearing.
• Eileen Walker introduced herself as the new literature teacher and began taking attendance.
• A school announcement warned students against illegal vending-machine transactions and damaging the metal detector, while Chen Mo struggled not to laugh.

Chen Mo and Barbara shared a lighthearted lunch after class while the news reported that Joker was under more reliable supervision than Arkham. Meanwhile, Wade Wilson accepted an unlimited-bounty contract to capture Spider-Man in Gotham and prepared to leave.

• Chen Mo explained that the protagonist in Ms. Walker’s lesson stayed in the trapped room because other people were still inside, and Barbara helped connect his answer to responsibility.
• Barbara traded her apple for Chen Mo’s pudding at lunch, and the two joked about Gotham and Batman.
• The evening news reported that Commissioner Gordon had placed Joker under supervision more reliable than Arkham’s regular wards.
• Wade Wilson received a contract from an account associated with the Mallory family to track and capture Spider-Man in Gotham for an unlimited bounty.
• Wade accepted the contract, packed his weapons and rubber ducks, and set off for Gotham.

Chen Mo waited in his Gotham attic for a response to his Wayne Enterprises job application while caring for his dog, Bruce. Just as a black Bentley arrived and he thought Bruce Wayne might be there to hire him, the system sent him to the Marvel Universe, leaving Bruce alone.

• Chen Mo woke in his leaking attic, fed Bruce crumbs of stale bread, and worked on his Batman comic while worrying that Wayne Enterprises had not replied to his application.
• Chen Mo spotted a black Bentley outside and hurried to tidy the attic, believing Bruce Wayne had come to see him.
• The system announced that Chen Mo’s phase had ended and awarded him an immediate passage to the Marvel Universe.
• Chen Mo tried to delay the transfer and bring Bruce, his manuscript payment, and a coin, but he vanished before he could finish speaking.
• Bruce sniffed the empty spot and whimpered as the attic fell quiet.

Penguin searched a dilapidated attic for Chen Mo on Joker’s orders, but found only his drafts and dog, Bruce. Bruce Wayne arrived after Chen Mo had vanished, took the dog with him, and warned Penguin to keep his people away while Penguin promised to stall Joker.

• Penguin and his men broke into Chen Mo’s attic, where Bruce the dog fought them off.
• Penguin found Chen Mo’s Batman comic drafts and learned that Chen Mo had disappeared without leaving signs of a struggle.
• Bruce Wayne arrived and confronted Penguin, who revealed that Joker had sent him to find the comic artist.
• Bruce examined the attic and picked up the dog Bruce, finding a strip of Chen Mo’s trousers in its mouth and scuff marks on the floor.
• Bruce told Penguin to keep his men away from the attic, and Penguin agreed to stall Joker while Chen Mo remained missing.

Chen Mo arrived in New York and stopped a carjacker, but the crowd treated him with suspicion rather than gratitude. A massive alien spacecraft then appeared over the city, leaving Chen Mo wishing he could return to Gotham.

• Chen Mo woke in a New York alley, found that his phone worked but he had no money, and put on his Spider-Man mask.
• Chen Mo swung out of the alley and stopped a carjacker from crashing a stolen sedan into a roadside stall.
• Chen Mo webbed up the robber and hung him from a lamppost as bystanders filmed and criticized masked heroes.
• Chen Mo felt his Spider-Sense flare and saw an enormous alien spacecraft descend over New York, shattering glass and sending the crowds fleeing.

Chen Mo, an outsider Spider-Man in New York, rescued civilians as an alien invasion sent debris and explosions through the city. He spotted a mysterious blue shield and, unsure which Marvel timeline he was in, swung toward the next cries for help.

• Chen Mo saved people from a taxi, a falling billboard, a window, and a burning bus while introducing himself as Spider-Man Two.
• He continued rescuing civilians from wreckage and traffic, despite growing injuries and a scorched coat.
• Chen Mo noticed a pale blue protective shield over a building and wondered which Marvel timeline he had entered.
• He avoided falling wreckage, then caught a glass curtain wall, righted an overturned ambulance, and cleared a path for fleeing civilians.
• Chen Mo suspected the city was caught in a larger battle and swung toward the next scream.

Chen Mo struggled to rescue civilians in New York as an alien attack filled the city with falling wreckage and fighting Iron Man suits. After S.H.I.E.L.D. arrived, Nick Fury ordered him to Fifth Avenue to help evacuate residents.

• Chen Mo rescued a bus passenger, then dodged falling spacecraft debris and redirected a metal panel away from the crowd.
• Chen Mo saw Iron Man and a swarm of Iron Man Armors battling alien aircraft, with some suits rescuing people and others malfunctioning or attacking their allies.
• Thor, Hulk, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Vision, and Human Torch joined the fighting and rescue efforts as Chen Mo saved civilians and helped move a fire truck.
• Chen Mo rescued people from damaged buildings, freed firefighters, and repeatedly answered calls from New Yorkers who treated him as a public utility.
• Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents established evacuation measures, then used a loudspeaker to order Chen Mo to Fifth Avenue.

Chen Mo helped New York’s heroes rescue civilians and contain falling wreckage during a citywide disaster while complaining about his sudden move from Gotham to a far more catastrophic world. After holding a collapsing pedestrian bridge until everyone escaped, he concluded that superheroes had no employment contracts.

• Chen Mo rescued civilians from a falling building wall and complained that Marvel’s disasters dwarfed what he had faced in Gotham.
• Chen Mo noticed another red-and-blue figure rescuing pedestrians, then stopped an attacking craft and lamented his ruined jacket.
• Iron Man called on Chen Mo to help divert spaceship wreckage away from a hospital while rogue suits attacked them.
• Chen Mo, Iron Man, Thor, and other heroes moved the wreckage as Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hulk, and S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel protected and evacuated people.
• Chen Mo and another hero held a collapsing pedestrian bridge while The Thing, Hulk, Iron Man, and S.H.I.E.L.D. helped evacuate the patients and staff.
• After the bridge was stabilized, Chen Mo declared that superheroes had no employment contracts.

As the battle for New York escalated and the city began to collapse, Chen Mo and the heroes rescued civilians while rogue Iron Man suits and alien forces attacked. Fury ordered the surviving heroes to converge on the main ship, and Star-Lord’s damaged ship arrived as Earth itself became unsafe.

• Chen Mo webbed a rogue Iron Man suit away from an evacuation line, and Captain America disabled it with his shield.
• Chen Mo diverted another falling armor suit, while Hulk, Storm, Wolverine, the Thing, and Human Torch fought alien craft and rescued people.
• Widespread foundation fractures and a brightening blue sky signaled that New York and the rest of Earth were in danger of collapse.
• Miles Morales landed on an alien spaceship’s hull and swung across it as an explosion engulfed the view.
• Kingpin’s men and several supervillains, including Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Electro, Scorpion, and Rhino, took advantage of the chaos to loot and fight.
• Fury ordered the evacuation moved to aerial platforms and summoned the remaining heroes to the main ship; Star-Lord’s damaged ship arrived above the rooftops.

As Earth collapsed into white-blue light, Chen Mo and the remaining heroes fought to rescue people before the Life Raft took them away. The Life Raft escaped with the survivors, leaving Earth swallowed by the light.

• Groot, Rocket, and the heroes rescued people across a collapsing New York as the ground split open with blue-white light.
• Chen Mo saved bus passengers and stopped Green Goblin from bombing evacuees, while Iron Man intervened to keep Green Goblin away.
• An unmanned Iron Man Armor seized Chen Mo and carried him toward the Life Raft despite his attempts to keep saving people.
• Iron Man and the other heroes fought to protect the Life Raft as Storm, Thor, Hulk, and the others helped the survivors board.
• Captain America pulled Black Widow inside, and the hatch closed as the Life Raft reached its limit.
• The Life Raft escaped as Earth collapsed and vanished into white-blue light.

After Earth vanished, Chen Mo found himself among familiar superheroes who all knew him, though he could not remember them. As the Life Raft came under attack from a beam of light, it was engulfed, and Chen Mo was teleported again by the Time Variance Authority.

• Chen Mo surveyed the battered heroes aboard the Life Raft after Earth disappeared, with no civilians or other survivors aboard.
• Tony, Captain America, Peter Parker, and others treated Chen Mo as a familiar ally, leaving him confused when he did not recognize them.
• The Life Raft was struck by an approaching energy beam, and its systems reported failing shields and unstable propulsion.
• Chen Mo and Peter Parker's Spider-Senses erupted as the beam engulfed the ship and silenced everything.
• The Time Variance Authority announced a timeline disruption and teleported Chen Mo again.

After waking in New York with his suit ruined, Chen Mo stole replacement clothes and was arrested by ICE because he had no legal records. He trusted the agents despite growing suspicions, but they took him to a covert facility where a man in an SUV arranged for someone to deal with him.

• Chen Mo woke in a New York alley, changed into clothes stolen from a drying rack, and left wearing an oversized hoodie, sweatpants, and mismatched slippers.
• Three ICE agents stopped Chen Mo, found no record of his identity or legal status, and took him into custody.
• Chen Mo chose not to resist, hoping the authorities could help him establish a legal identity, while telling a young agent that he had come to America to work.
• Chen Mo noticed the vehicle was not heading to a normal processing center and grew wary as his Spider-Sense warned him.
• The agents brought Chen Mo to an unmarked building guarded by men in suits, while a man in a black SUV watched him enter.
• The man in the SUV called someone and said a new arrival had come, describing Chen Mo as easy to deal with before driving away.

Chen Mo was taken from an unmarked building to a private dock after officials examined and labeled him A-17, while he discovered that the children around him were being treated as commodities. He was transported with several children toward an island facility, still restraining himself despite his growing distrust.

• Chen Mo entered a room with several silent children and joked with them, but a black-haired girl warned him that talkative children were taken away separately.
• White-coated staff inspected Chen Mo and marked his file with a red asterisk beside A-17.
• Two guards took Chen Mo from the room, and he smiled faintly at the frightened children without explaining what would happen.
• Chen Mo was placed in an enclosed vehicle with several children whose wrists were bound with zip ties, then driven to a private dock.
• Chen Mo boarded a boat that carried him away from New York toward an island with an abandoned-sanatorium appearance and a research building.

Chen Mo infiltrated the island, subdued its staff, and freed the children while investigating the secret operation. As a black substance spread over his body and formed a suit, he faced the remaining enemies and prepared to continue.

• Chen Mo was taken to the island’s main building, where researchers noted his abnormal readings and discussed a black substance in a sealed chamber.
• A masked legislator entered Chen Mo’s padded room, but Chen Mo crippled him, took his clothes, and used webbing to capture guards and staff across the island.
• Chen Mo took over the broadcasting room, warned the remaining staff to surrender, and went to the room where the children were held.
• The children asked Chen Mo whether he would kill their captors, and he promised they would remember what happened for a long time.
• A black liquid spread over Chen Mo’s body as the children watched, forming a suit while he prepared to confront the remaining staff.

Steve Rogers diverted to a private island after receiving reports of missing minors and suspected alien research, where he found Chen Mo guarding a group of rescued children. Chen Mo recognized Steve as the good guy who had appeared earlier and realized the timeline explained how Steve had known his name; the two began discussing Chen Mo’s identity and the island’s survivors.

• Steve Rogers changed course toward the island after learning that children might be trapped there and that an underground laboratory was involved in alien research.
• Steve found the island covered in webs, with criminals incapacitated and children gathered by the dock behind Chen Mo, who was trying to repair an escape boat.
• Chen Mo recognized Steve and realized that their earlier encounter had occurred because he had landed at an earlier point in time.
• Steve asked whether the children were safe, and Chen Mo said they and the island’s criminals were alive, though the children were in poor condition.
• Chen Mo admitted that he was Spider-Man from another universe, and Steve questioned his claim after comparing him with the Spider-Man he knew.

After rescuing children from an illegal laboratory on an island, Chen Mo agreed to go with Steve to the Avengers Compound for an examination, provided the children stayed protected and the lab’s evidence was preserved. The Quinjet left for the Compound with Chen Mo still hoping its meal service would be worth the checkup.

• Chen Mo learned that the Quinjet had no food, while Fury ordered Steve to bring him to S.H.I.E.L.D. for quarantine assessment.
• Steve ignored Fury’s order, contacted Tony, and arranged for Chen Mo to go to Avengers Tower for food and an examination.
• Steve secured the island, reassured the children, and stopped two escaped staff members with his shield.
• Chen Mo agreed to accompany Steve after setting conditions that the children be protected, there be no glass room, and the laboratory evidence be preserved.
• Medical personnel evacuated the children, and Chen Mo boarded the Quinjet with Steve for the Avengers Compound.