Chapter Summaries

Edgar revealed Solomon’s identity and power-copying ability to Homelander, then urged him to stop Solomon from harvesting more Supes. Homelander considered recruiting the original compound V Supes, while Edgar kept Soldier Boy’s location secret and began forming his own plan.

• Edgar called Homelander and revealed that JS was Solomon, who could copy a Supe’s powers and physical attributes by defeating them.
• Homelander realized Solomon had copied his abilities and connected Solomon to past events involving Hughie, Translucent, and other Supes.
• Edgar warned Homelander that the compound V he had leaked might have created Solomon and urged him to prevent Solomon from defeating more Supes.
• Homelander asked whether Edgar knew where Bombsight, Torpedo, and Private Angel were so they could join forces against Solomon.
• Edgar concealed Soldier Boy’s location, ended the call, destroyed the SIM card, and considered using Soldier Boy’s past relationship with Stormfront as an opening.

Homelander told Solomon that Edgar had uncovered his identity and was trying to manipulate him into stopping Solomon’s growth. Solomon confirmed Edgar’s deductions, accepted Homelander’s offer of help, and asked where Ryan was.

• Edgar secretly ordered an agent to free Soldier Boy in Russia and direct his anger toward JS.
• Homelander realized Solomon was JS and decided to warn him rather than follow Edgar’s plan.
• Homelander found Solomon at Translucent’s apartment and reported everything Edgar had deduced.
• Solomon confirmed his identity and power, while Homelander claimed his leaked Compound V had helped create that ability.
• Homelander offered to gather Supes for Solomon to defeat, but Solomon declined and asked where Ryan was.

Solomon accompanied Homelander to Ryan’s safe house, where he secretly used his power to defeat Ryan and acquire his abilities. He discovered that Ryan had extraordinary potential, though his other powers and attributes remained undeveloped.

• Homelander told Solomon that Becca was keeping Ryan isolated, and Solomon agreed to help him speak with her.
• Solomon and Homelander flew to Ryan’s safe house, where Homelander tested Solomon’s speed and felt reassured by his support.
• Before entering the house, Homelander asked Solomon not to harm Ryan, and Solomon revealed that Ryan had already passed out safely.
• Solomon received Ryan’s Flight, Super Hearing, Super Vision, Laser Eyes, and Super Smell, and each acquired ability upgraded.
• Solomon found that Ryan’s energy attribute was level 4 and realized Ryan could gain far more power as he grew and awakened his other abilities.

Ryan awakened his Laser Eyes and passed out, prompting Homelander to demand that Becca let him take Ryan away for training. Solomon challenged Becca’s plan to keep Ryan isolated and began proposing a compromise, but the chapter ended before he explained it.

• Ryan collapsed unconscious, and Homelander used Super Vision to check that he was unharmed.
• Solomon told Becca that Ryan had awakened his Laser Eyes and passed out from the strain.
• Homelander demanded that Becca let him take Ryan so he could teach him to control his powers, but Becca refused.
• Homelander and Becca argued over Ryan’s safety and whether he should grow up isolated or live with his father.
• Solomon warned Becca that keeping Ryan confined could harm him and put them both at risk, then offered a compromise that would not separate her from Ryan.

Solomon proposed that Becca and Homelander share custody of Ryan while Ryan received professional instruction, and Becca agreed after Solomon promised she could live with Butcher. As Solomon and Homelander left the safe house, Solomon explained that Homelander’s extreme temperament made him unfit to teach Ryan.

• Solomon proposed that Becca and Homelander take turns caring for Ryan, with professionals handling his education and powers training.
• Becca refused to let Homelander teach Ryan, and Solomon promised that Homelander would have no role in his instruction.
• Solomon offered to let Becca see or live with Butcher, provided neither parent taught Ryan hateful ideas or ran away with him.
• Becca accepted the conditions and requested a home outside New York and secrecy about Ryan’s identity; Solomon agreed to help them move.
• Outside the safe house, Homelander challenged Solomon’s restrictions, and Solomon reminded him that he had considered forcing Ryan to awaken his powers by pushing him off a roof.

Solomon persuaded Homelander to train himself and let go of his need for approval, then laid out a gradual plan for Homelander to eventually raise Ryan. Homelander accepted the plan and realized he and Butcher could cooperate because they wanted different things from Becca and Ryan.

• Solomon told Homelander that he needed to master his obsessions and develop his abilities if he wanted to become truly strong.
• Homelander accepted Solomon's offer to teach him, despite struggling to give up his pride and craving for validation.
• Homelander questioned whether Butcher and Becca should live with Ryan, and Solomon explained that time and friction might eventually allow Homelander to raise his son.
• Solomon urged Homelander to improve himself, build a genuine reputation, and follow the plan without rushing.
• Homelander realized that he and Butcher could work together because Butcher wanted Becca and Homelander wanted Ryan, and Solomon tacitly approved.

Solomon arranged for Homelander to visit Godolkin University and planned to find Thomas Godolkin at Elmira Adult Rehabilitation Center to obtain his abilities and research knowledge. A-Train apologized for attacking Solomon, who offered him a chance to keep his place in The Seven if he continued improving his speed.

• Solomon told Homelander to speak with Butcher and arranged for them to visit Godolkin University to fill vacancies in The Seven.
• Solomon gave Homelander authority to choose new members, provided he gathered everyone on campus.
• Solomon identified Doug Brightbill as the body controlled by Thomas Godolkin and planned to visit the rehabilitation center to secure Godolkin's abilities and harvest other Supes' powers.
• A-Train waited outside Solomon's apartment, apologized for attacking him under Edgar's orders, and pleaded for forgiveness.
• Solomon told A-Train he had spared him because of his hard work and promised him a place in The Seven if he kept improving his speed.

Solomon promised to save A-Train by replacing his failing heart, then defeated Blue Hawk and gained an ability that made his organs universally compatible for transplantation. He arranged for Blue Hawk’s organs to be secretly harvested and brought Solomon’s clones to Vought’s new private laboratory to examine the company’s Compound V research.

• Solomon told A-Train he would arrange a heart transplant and warned him not to waste the chance to keep training.
• A-Train thanked Solomon and vowed to become the fastest Supe in the world.
• Solomon sent a clone to capture Blue Hawk, then gained the Organ Compatibility ability after defeating him.
• Solomon instructed Ashley to bring Blue Hawk to Vought secretly, reserve his heart for A-Train, and identify other Supes who needed organ transplants.
• Ashley showed Solomon the new laboratory and its Compound V research archive, but Solomon declined her offer of a chief scientist’s guidance.

The Clones analyzed Vought’s Compound V research and began manufacturing the drug while mastering their newly acquired abilities. The next morning, Solomon visited the Elmira Adult Rehabilitation Center, reviewed the files on its forty imprisoned Supes, and asked to inspect them one by one.

• Ashley handed the laboratory over to Solomon’s people and agreed that future research reports would go directly to him.
• The Clones analyzed Compound V’s risks and identified Temporary Compound V as a possible lead for improving genetic compatibility.
• The Clones began their first Compound V manufacturing experiments while the others mastered their newly acquired abilities overnight.
• Solomon arrived at the Elmira Adult Rehabilitation Center and asked Emissary for complete files on the Supes held there.
• Solomon reviewed the forty files, judged that only a handful of the prisoners had useful abilities, and told Emissary to take him to inspect them.

Solomon harvested abilities from the rehabilitation center’s imprisoned Supes and unlocked the World Traversal Function after reaching 100 recorded abilities. He planned to finish his business and travel to another world, while the emissary invited him to review the center’s experiment data.

• Solomon used blood manipulation to knock out the first Supe, and the emissary recognized the ability and asked to discuss it privately.
• Solomon agreed to the emissary’s request and incapacitated the imprisoned Supes one by one as the emissary watched.
• After defeating the twenty-second Supe, Solomon unlocked the World Traversal Function, which allowed him to visit another world for up to 200 days at the cost of abilities.
• Solomon harvested the remaining eighteen Supes and assessed several useful abilities, including energy ball, saliva healing, metal skin, bone spikes, and enhanced echolocation.
• Solomon decided to use weak abilities to extend future travel and planned to seek stronger powers at Godolkin University.
• The emissary asked Solomon whether he wanted to review the rehabilitation center’s ability experiment data and containment results.

Solomon accompanied Emissary to his secluded residence, where he discovered the burned body Emissary claimed was his father. After promising to assess whether Blood Manipulation could heal the injuries, Solomon began reading the body's memories.

• Solomon declined to inspect the rehabilitation center and asked Emissary to take him home so they could discuss Blood Manipulation.
• During the drive, Emissary explained his theories about Blood Manipulation and revealed his obsession with using it to restore his ruined body.
• Solomon claimed he had healed a civilian's burns, prompting Emissary to reveal that his father had been severely burned and bedridden for decades.
• Emissary brought Solomon to a hidden cottage and showed him Godolkin's charred body inside a life-support pod.
• Solomon placed his hand on Godolkin's head and began reading his memories.

Solomon read Godolkin and Doug Brightbill’s memories, killed Godolkin’s main body, then killed Doug and burned the hidden room to erase the evidence. He gained mental suppression and upgraded biological immortality, leaving with Godolkin’s research experience but without the complete Original Compound V formula.

• Emissary tried to control Solomon and then attack him, but Solomon immobilized him and restrained him while reading his memories.
• Solomon learned that Godolkin knew only fragments of Frederick Vought’s Original Compound V formula, though his research experience could aid Solomon’s work.
• Solomon sealed Godolkin’s medical pod and destroyed his body, gaining mental suppression and upgrading biological immortality to level 2.
• Godolkin’s death freed Doug Brightbill from possession, but Solomon killed Doug after acknowledging that he knew Doug had been a victim.
• Solomon set the hidden room on fire, erased the evidence, and checked his updated superpower panel.

Solomon accepted a mission to eliminate the Supe terrorist Flame of Truth and used it as the first operation in Vought’s new partnership with the Department of Defense. He arrived in Damascus and watched as the target building suddenly exploded.

• Solomon considered whether suppressing a Supe’s consciousness would count as defeating them and noted his improved attributes and resistance to genetic threats.
• Ashley told Solomon that the Department of Defense had located Flame of Truth, while Maeve refused the mission, Starlight was too weak, and Homelander could not be reached.
• Solomon agreed to handle the terrorist and ordered Ashley to call a meeting of The Seven to replace popularity rankings with strength and effectiveness.
• Solomon flew to Damascus, where Department of Defense officials watched him arrive and Ashley introduced him as Second-Generation Translucent.
• Solomon hovered over the residential building without moving, and it suddenly erupted in a violent explosion.

Solomon acquired Flame of Truth’s Energy Burst ability after demonstrating his power to Department of Defense officials, while Ashley pledged her loyalty and negotiated further cooperation. Aboard a freighter bound for the United States, Kenji was attacked by a group of stowaways, and their leader invited him to work together.

• Solomon forced Flame of Truth to kill himself, terrifying the officials watching through the drone feed.
• The Department of Defense official praised Vought, and Ashley promised cooperation and presented proposals for expanded partnership.
• Solomon examined his newly acquired Energy Burst ability and considered the destructive potential of his Level 4 energy attribute.
• Solomon spotted a freighter carrying stowaways toward the United States and observed a confrontation in its cargo hold.
• A Black man used a gust of wind to slam Kenji into a bulkhead, and the opposing group's leader invited Kenji to cooperate.

Kenji learned that the Shining Light mission in New York might be a deliberate suicide mission, but he privately resolved to pursue it alone. At Vought Tower, Solomon joined The Seven’s meeting, where Homelander kept the captain’s seat and received no response to his greeting.

• The lead man persuaded Kenji to cooperate by offering help finding his missing sister, then warned that headquarters had unexpectedly redirected the Supes to New York.
• Kenji revealed that his orders were to cause a major disturbance in New York, and the lead man urged the group to hide and sever contact with Shining Light.
• The other Supes agreed to defect, while Kenji secretly decided to leave them and contact Shining Light personnel on his own.
• At Vought Tower, Starlight took the first seat on the right after her popularity ratings rose, while Maeve and A-Train sat behind her.
• Solomon entered with Homelander and took a seat on the left; Homelander hurried to claim the captain’s chair, then greeted the silent room and missed The Deep.

Homelander and Solomon introduced sweeping reforms to the Seven, tying rank, membership, and authority to strength while imposing penalties for refusing missions. Starlight questioned the morality of the rules, and Solomon told her that only defeating Homelander and becoming captain would let her veto unjust orders.

• Homelander agreed the Seven needed an overhaul and announced reforms, assuring Solomon that his criticism did not include him.
• Ashley presented rules that made combat strength determine rankings and authority, allowed public challenges to Homelander's captaincy, and created a reserve hero who could challenge the lowest-ranked member.
• Ashley added penalties for refusing assigned missions, including lost pay and expulsion from the Seven.
• Maeve recognized that the mission rules might offer her a chance to leave the Seven.
• Starlight asked whether members would have to kill innocent civilians, and Ashley said issued missions had to be carried out while claiming targets would be criminals.
• Solomon told Starlight that she could veto unjust missions only by becoming strong enough to defeat Homelander and take the captaincy.

Solomon explained that Starlight could protect people by gaining power, while Homelander warned the Seven about upcoming recruitment and the threat of being replaced. When Maeve tried to leave, Solomon challenged her, pinned her to the conference table, and broke both her arms, telling her she was partly responsible for the reform meeting.

• Solomon told Starlight that rising to the top would let her decide the rules, and Homelander teased her about wanting his captaincy.
• Homelander announced that he and Solomon would visit Godolkin University to select a replacement for the Deep and recruit reserve heroes, warning Starlight and A-Train to keep up.
• Solomon challenged Maeve, but she conceded and tried to leave the conference room.
• Solomon appeared behind Maeve, pinned her head to the table, and broke both her arms when she resisted.
• Solomon told Maeve that she was half the reason the reform meeting had taken place.

Solomon forced Maeve to accept his authority, then promised to let The Seven pursue hero work under strict rules and oversight. After the meeting, Homelander told Solomon he had prepared a gift and brought him to watch a freighter approach a New York harbor.

• Solomon pinned Maeve down, ordered Ashley to deduct her salary, and made Maeve acknowledge that she would obey mission orders.
• Solomon secretly cut off the blood supply to Maeve’s brain, causing her to faint, and gained Hand-to-Hand Combat Mastery.
• Solomon told Starlight that The Seven could protect ordinary people if they followed rules, wore recording equipment, and avoided negative publicity.
• Solomon ordered Ashley to create procedures and reward-and-punishment rules for charitable rescue work, and Homelander dismissed the meeting.
• Homelander told Solomon he had failed to find Butcher, and Solomon said they could wait for him to appear.
• Homelander led Solomon to the sky above a New York port, where they watched a freighter approach the harbor.

Homelander brought Solomon to a freighter carrying a squad of Supe terrorists as ready-made opponents, but singled out Kenji to survive. When Homelander and Solomon confronted the squad at the pier, Kenji killed every other Supe and vanished into New York.

• Homelander told Solomon that he had arranged for a group of overseas Supe terrorists to be brought to New York for Solomon to defeat, and asked him to spare the Asian man, Kenji.
• Solomon recognized Kenji as Kimiko's younger brother, who had been separated from her for years.
• The Supe leader ordered the squad to leave the freighter, scatter, and hide after landing in New York.
• Homelander and Solomon descended at the pier and blocked the squad's escape, while Homelander immobilized them with an invisible force.
• Kenji lifted the restrained Supes into the air, crushed them beneath the overturned freighter, and disappeared into New York.

Solomon acquired more than a dozen Supe abilities after immobilizing the Supes, then brought Homelander to Vought Tower to teach him hand-to-hand combat. Their sparring left Homelander humiliated, and he launched another punch at Solomon.

• Solomon's cheat granted him abilities including Wind Pressure, Beast Transformation, Hair Control, and upgraded Telekinesis after he controlled the Supes.
• Homelander realized Solomon could immobilize Supes and nervously asked whether the ability could control him too.
• Solomon invited Homelander back to Vought Tower and revealed that his gift was teaching him close-quarters fighting.
• Homelander rejected the idea of learning combat techniques, so Solomon challenged him to spar without using Laser Eyes.
• Homelander charged Solomon, but Solomon dodged his punches, struck his abdomen, and kicked him down onto one knee.
• Humiliated and angry, Homelander rose and threw another punch at Solomon, who did not dodge.