Chapter Summaries

After dying at Butcher’s hands, John awoke as a powerless baby inside a crashed spaceship and was found by Jonathan and Martha Kent. As they welcomed him into their home and named him John Kent, a strange flicker in his eyes hinted that he might have unusual abilities.

• John remembered his death at Butcher’s hands and realized he had been reborn as a frail baby inside a crashed spacecraft.
• Jonathan and Martha opened the cockpit and rescued John from the wreckage.
• Martha comforted John, whose infant cries released feelings of loneliness and longing for warmth.
• Jonathan and Martha decided to take the baby home and named him John Kent.
• The spaceship crackled, and Jonathan noticed a faint red flash in John’s eyes.

John Kent struggled to accept the Kents’ love as he adjusted to life with Martha and Jonathan, whose care and honesty challenged his expectations. After Jonathan apologized for breaking a promise, John recognized the Kents as the family he had longed for and became fiercely determined to protect them; a faint warmth spread through his body as he slept.

• Martha told a neighbor that the Kents had found baby John in a wheat field, while John silently endured being treated as their well-behaved son.
• John treasured small reminders of the Kents’ affection in a buried metal box and feared that his new life might be a hallucination.
• When John dropped a cup of milk, Martha checked that he was unharmed and cleaned up without scolding him, unsettling his expectations of punishment.
• John came to see Jonathan’s quiet routines as dependable and eagerly anticipated a promised trip to the market and a roller coaster.
• After heavy rain forced Jonathan to repair a drainage ditch instead of taking John to town, Jonathan sincerely apologized and promised to take him the following Sunday.
• John lay awake embracing the thought that Martha and Jonathan were his family and vowed to protect them, as a faint warmth spread through his body.

John realized sunlight was slowly fusing the dormant V1 and Compound V fragments inside his new body, giving him a different path to power than the experiments of his previous life. As Jonathan announced a family trip to Smallville, John looked forward to it, unaware that it would soon disrupt his peaceful life.

• John sensed a warm current awaken inside him while Martha sat him in the sun, and he later found that the sensation returned whenever he sunbathed.
• John reconsidered his death in the White House battle and concluded that Sister Sage had given him V1 that conflicted with the Compound V already in his body, leaving him dangerously weakened.
• John realized that sunlight was gently helping the dormant compound fragments in his current body fuse into something new.
• John became less interested in the iron box of evidence he had been digging up, finding comfort instead in Martha, Jonathan, and the Kansas sunlight.
• Jonathan told Martha that they would take John to Smallville's agricultural fair the next day, and John smiled at the prospect of a family trip.

At a gas station, John’s powers suddenly surfaced as he protected Jonathan from a violent thug, and he feared the Kents would reject him. Jonathan warned John to hide his abilities but reassured him that he would always be his son.

• Jonathan stopped at a gas station on the way to the fair, where Mike and his two companions threatened the station owner, Old Ford.
• When Mike attacked Jonathan with an iron trash can, John suddenly appeared in front of him and punched Mike through a pickup’s windshield.
• The family returned home, and Martha comforted John before Jonathan called him into the bedroom to talk.
• Jonathan showed John a patched pillowcase marked by an earlier use of his Heat Vision and told him to keep his powers hidden until he could control them.
• John promised to avoid using his abilities in public, and Jonathan reassured him that he would always be his son.

John Kent, working at a bar in Munie, confronted three truckers after one groped Kelly and forced them to back down without revealing his powers. Old Sam then recalled how Jonathan had once protected Martha at the same bar, and John decided to have his torn shirt mended.

• John admired his restored physique, then worked a quiet shift at a bar in Munie.
• A bearded trucker groped Kelly, and John stepped in and demanded an apology.
• John threw the bearded man to the floor, disabled his companion, and bent a switchblade against his invulnerable body.
• John repeated his demand until the bearded man apologized, then ordered the three truckers to leave.
• Old Sam told John that Jonathan had fought three men at the bar to protect Martha twenty-three years earlier.
• John threw away the ruined switchblade and said the knife had not hurt him.

Kelly gave John her number and mentioned that her reporter cousin was investigating an old gas-station fight in the area. When a tornado threatened Smallville, John broke his promise to hide his powers, rescued Jonathan and Little Yellow, and brought them home, where Jonathan suddenly collapsed.

• Kelly thanked John for defending her, gave him her number, and told him her cousin was investigating a decade-old gas-station fight involving a boy who sent a man flying.
• John returned to Smallville to help Jonathan repair the combine, and Jonathan told him Martha had replaced his torn shirt.
• A tornado struck, and Jonathan drove toward town to help stranded residents while John stayed behind with Martha.
• As the tornado veered toward Smallville, John flew into town, rescued five people, and found Jonathan freeing Little Yellow near the gas station.
• John carried Jonathan and Little Yellow through the storm to safety, admitting he had broken his promise because he could not let Jonathan die.
• Martha treated Jonathan's forehead wound in the basement, but Jonathan suddenly toppled over stiffly.

John discovered a living black mist attacking Jonathan's heart, but Lucifer Morningstar froze time and revealed that Jonathan's impending death was the universe correcting the timeline. Lucifer explained that John had replaced Clark Kent, the destined Superman, and offered John a deal.

• Jonathan convulsed, and John used his X-ray vision to find black mist coiling around and gnawing at his heart.
• The mist formed a staring eye, and time stopped as Lucifer Morningstar appeared in the Kents' kitchen.
• Lucifer told John that Jonathan had been destined to die in a tornado and that the timeline was forcing his death after John changed that fate.
• Lucifer revealed that John had taken the place of Clark Kent, the universe's intended Superman, and described Clark as a perfectly scripted hero.
• John insisted that his life with Jonathan and Martha was real and defied the universe's will, while Lucifer called him an unpredictable error and offered him a deal.

Lucifer offered John a way to save Jonathan Kent by reclaiming the Power of the World from John's original universe, and John signed the contract after questioning Lucifer's motives. Lucifer suppressed the force threatening Jonathan for three months and gave John an information panel to help locate anchors in other worlds.

• Lucifer explained that John could reclaim the Power of the World by destroying his original universe or returning to seize its shares before they settled on new hosts.
• John challenged Lucifer over what he would gain from the deal, and Lucifer said he was interested in the storms John might cause as a unique variable.
• John signed the contract with his blood to save Jonathan.
• Lucifer explained that timeline correction would keep pursuing Jonathan until he returned, then sealed the black mist in Jonathan's chest behind a membrane that would last three months.
• Lucifer gave John an information panel that would respond when he approached anchors in other worlds, and John found an option called “Memory Retrospection Anchoring.”

John arrived in New York after Translucent’s death and used his foreknowledge to seek allies against Vought. He approached Hughie with a promise that A-Train would confess to killing Robin the next day, leaving Hughie unsure whether to trust him.

• Hughie struggled with grief and guilt over Robin’s death and his role in killing Translucent.
• John reached New York, stole money from three thugs, and gathered intelligence that confirmed Translucent was dead and Starlight had joined The Seven.
• John used the information panel to locate Hughie and considered recruiting people whose interests he could align with his own.
• John went to Hughie’s apartment and revealed that he knew Hughie had killed Translucent.
• John told Hughie that A-Train would confess to killing Robin at a Manhattan intersection the next day, then left two addresses on a note.
• Hughie tried calling Butcher twice, but Butcher did not answer.

John captured A-Train and forced him to apologize to Hughie Campbell for killing Robin, while Butcher watched and realized John was not working for Vought. After A-Train knelt and apologized, Hughie punched out one of his teeth, and John began offering Hughie a deal.

• Butcher dismissed Hughie's account of a masked visitor but waited with him to meet John, who arrived with a badly injured A-Train.
• John recounted how he had broken into A-Train's safe house, stopped his attack, and beaten him into submission.
• John revealed a face identical to Homelander's but twenty years younger, then ordered A-Train to kneel before Hughie and apologize for killing Robin.
• At Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, A-Train apologized on his knees, and Hughie punched him, knocking out a tooth.
• John asked Hughie how he liked a deal.

John confronted Butcher after Hughie beat A-Train, and Butcher unmasked John, mistaking him for Homelander before attacking him. John overpowered Butcher, revealed that Becca was alive, and left Butcher wondering what deal John had offered.

• Butcher approached John and ripped off his mask, recognized Homelander's face, and accused him of setting a Vought trap.
• Butcher struck John with a crowbar, but John remained unharmed, then threw Butcher against a wall and beat him.
• Hughie tried to stop John, but John flung him into a newspaper rack before sparing Butcher and threatening him.
• John told Butcher that Becca was alive at Red River and that she was living with her eight-year-old son, Ryan.
• John left in the Ford, and Hughie asked Butcher who Becca was and what terms John had offered.

John assessed the small increase in world distortion and decided to pursue Vought’s drugs, records, and insiders as leverage to build strength and allies. He approached The Deep in his apartment, where The Deep realized the young man was not the shapeshifter he had mistaken him for.

• John saw that the world’s distortion had reached only eight percent and considered how to gain strength before Lucifer’s three-month deadline.
• John decided Compound V, V1, and Vought’s secret records could help him recruit allies and chose The Deep as an insider to target.
• John entered The Deep’s apartment and startled him, causing Ambrosius to flee to the wall.
• The Deep mistook John’s young appearance for the shapeshifter impersonating Homelander and joked with him.
• John told The Deep he had watched him for ten minutes, and The Deep recognized that John was not the shapeshifter.

John confronted The Deep about the hidden black box from Homelander’s crashed plane, then revealed he was not the Homelander The Deep knew. He ordered The Deep to investigate Vought’s original V1 records, and left him with an offer to become The Seven’s second-in-command.

• John confronted The Deep with knowledge of the plane’s black box, and The Deep confessed he had hidden it in a Pacific trench as leverage against anyone who threatened Homelander.
• John said he was not the Homelander The Deep knew, and The Deep guessed he was a Vought-made clone meant to serve as a backup against Homelander.
• The Deep tried to flee, but John’s Heat Vision scorched the doorframe and stopped him; The Deep dropped to his knees and begged for his life.
• John told The Deep to find sealed records about Soldier Boy, Original Compound V, and the V1 formula, and to identify veteran Vought researchers who might know where the formula was hidden.
• The Deep agreed to use his access to Vought’s archives and researchers, and John offered him the position of The Seven’s second-in-command.

The Deep searched Vought Tower’s sealed archives for files on the V1 formula after John promised to make him second-in-command of The Seven. Black Noir discovered the search and recognized Soldier Boy in a photograph The Deep had taken, then ordered the footage kept secret.

• The Deep arrived early at Vought Tower and went to the basement archives, recalling John’s promise to make him second-in-command if he found the files.
• The Deep found a photograph labeled as the first successful human trial of V1 in April 1944, with Soldier Boy as the test subject.
• The Deep noticed that several pages about the V1 formula had recently been torn out, photographed the damage, and left with the photograph in his pocket.
• Black Noir saw that The Deep had entered the archive room and had David pull up and enlarge the surveillance footage.
• Black Noir recognized Soldier Boy in the photograph and ordered David to keep it secret, back up the footage, and send it to his terminal.

Black Noir remembered how Soldier Boy had beaten and permanently silenced him after a planned betrayal in Nicaragua. Suspecting The Deep was investigating Soldier Boy’s V1 records, Black Noir broke into his apartment and found evidence that The Deep had used Heat Vision.

• Black Noir recalled Soldier Boy attacking him in Nicaragua, smashing his face and destroying his ability to speak.
• Black Noir’s cartoon companions discussed The Deep’s search through Soldier Boy’s 1944 injection records, including V1 clinical trial data.
• Black Noir watched The Deep leave his apartment with a document envelope, then entered the apartment to investigate.
• Black Noir found a list of Compound V clinical trial subjects with a circled name and question mark.
• Black Noir used an ultraviolet flashlight to find a scorched groove and shock-wave cracks around The Deep’s door, and realized The Deep had Heat Vision.

After uncovering evidence that Becca was alive at Red River with a child, Butcher agreed to work with John in exchange for John rescuing them. The Boys began preparing to infiltrate Red River and analyze Compound V, while Butcher waited anxiously for the rescue.

• Mother's Milk brought Butcher cigarettes and a sandwich, and Butcher pieced together evidence from Mangrove records showing that Becca was alive at Red River with a child.
• Butcher agreed to John's deal and met him to exchange Becca's rescue for the Boys' work obtaining and analyzing Compound V's formula.
• John accepted Hughie's technical list and saw that the world's distortion had risen to 21%.
• Frenchie arrived with a dismantled chromatograph, and Butcher's team prepared to analyze Compound V using information Hughie had obtained from Vought.
• Butcher told Frenchie and Mother's Milk that he did not trust John but believed John was not working for Vought, while the others accepted the risk of the deal.
• As dawn approached, Butcher looked at Becca's photograph and thought that fewer than seven days remained before the rescue.

John secured original Soldier Boy Compound V records and recruited A-Train to help recover materials for producing a stable supply. With A-Train and The Deep supporting him, John turned toward decoding the formula and preparing to rescue Becca and Ryan before Jonathan’s deadline ran out.

• John collected the original Soldier Boy V1 records from The Deep’s hidden drop, found the synthesis pages missing, and suspected Storm had removed them.
• John visited A-Train, sent The Female to the bedroom, and confronted him about secretly using Compound V and his declining standing at Vought.
• John offered A-Train a stable Compound V supply in exchange for retrieving raw materials from five abandoned Vought sites and delivering them to Hughie.
• A-Train agreed to work with John on the condition that he would not be forced to face Homelander directly, and John promised to handle Homelander himself.
• John concluded that he now had help from A-Train and The Deep, and made decoding Compound V his priority as he prepared to fulfill his deal with the Boys Squad.

John and Butcher’s crew infiltrated Mangrove by jamming communications and replacing the security cameras’ feeds, while John fought through the guards. He reached the settlement’s living quarters as Becca hid Ryan in a locked bedroom after hearing gunfire.

• Butcher briefed John on Mangrove’s security, while Hughie and Frenchie prepared a jammer and prerecorded surveillance footage.
• Marlene saw the security screens briefly go black, then resumed watching when the feeds returned to normal.
• Frenchie activated the jammer and Hughie replaced the camera feeds, allowing John to enter Mangrove unseen.
• John used X-Ray Vision to locate the guards, broke through a wall, and incapacitated the patrolmen and officers who tried to stop him.
• John opened the blast door and entered the living quarters.
• Becca shut off the cooker, sent Ryan to the bedroom, and braced herself against the locked door after hearing gunfire.

John rescued Becca and Ryan from the guarded Mangrove settlement and brought them to Butcher, who had spent six years searching for Becca. The chapter ended with Becca and Butcher reunited, agreeing to find something to eat.

• Becca confronted John with a kitchen knife, fearing Vought had come to take Ryan, but John explained that Butcher had sent him to get them out.
• Becca opened Ryan's bedroom door and agreed to leave with John after he warned that Vought security could arrive at any moment.
• John took Becca and Ryan through the settlement and flew them out, while Ryan watched the place where he had lived for six years disappear beneath the trees.
• John met Butcher at the logging trail, asked about the formula, and learned that Frenchie was analyzing it.
• Butcher and Becca reunited beside the car, and after an awkward exchange, they agreed to get something to eat.

Frenchie successfully synthesized both an upgraded version of Compound V and a temporary version resembling Temp V, pushing John’s World Distortion Level to 56%. John experienced a flood of memories and reactions from people beyond the fourth wall, then left with two vials and sensed an unfamiliar chill in his mouth.

• Butcher spent time with Becca and Ryan, then avoided discussing Ryan’s parentage with John after John warned he could send Becca back.
• A-Train delivered the materials Frenchie needed, and the Boys Squad set up a laboratory in an abandoned garage.
• Frenchie completed two Compound V formulas: an upgraded version for strengthening powers and an unstable version that granted temporary abilities.
• John’s World Distortion Level rose to 56%, and he perceived audiences from another world watching, discussing, and analyzing him.
• John wiped away his tears, took two vials, and left the lab, where he suddenly felt an unfamiliar chill emerging from his mouth.