Chapter Summaries

Nova Prime demanded that Wenwu surrender the Power Stone, but he refused and challenged the Nova Empire to take it by force. As Nova forces prepared to attack, the Guardians of the Galaxy retreated, leaving Wenwu surrounded by soldiers and a fleet.

• Nova Prime arrived with armed Nova soldiers and demanded that Wenwu hand over the weapon, learning from Star-Lord that he had killed Ronan and saved Xandar.
• Wenwu refused to surrender the Power Stone and accused Nova Prime of trying to seize it after the Ravagers had defended Xandar.
• Nova Prime summoned reinforcements and threatened to use force, while Star-Lord urged her to stand down.
• Wenwu challenged the Nova forces to attack first, and Nova Prime's holographic projection disappeared as the soldiers locked their weapons on him.
• Star-Lord led the Guardians of the Galaxy away from the battlefield, and the Nova soldiers opened fire as they reached safety.

Wenwu withstood the Nova Empire’s bombardment, then used his magnetic and life-control powers to disable and destroy its fleet. Nova Prime and the surviving officials were left facing the collapse of their empire.

• Wenwu absorbed the Nova Empire’s energy attacks without being harmed, shocking Nova Prime and the distant Star-Lord, Rocket, and Gamora.
• Nova Prime ordered the Nova Fleet to fire its main cannons, but Wenwu survived the bombardment in the center of a huge crater.
• Yondu arrived and took Star-Lord and the others away from Xandar, while Wenwu let them escape so he could use their trail to find Ego.
• Wenwu disabled every Nova warship with Magnetic Field Manipulation and Metal Control, then used Life Control to devour the lives and souls of the soldiers and commanders aboard.
• Nova Prime and the senior officials watched in terror as the Nova Fleet was wiped out.

Wenwu killed Nova's senior leadership, seized Xandar, and began turning it into a fortified Ten Rings stronghold. As the Nova Empire faced internal turmoil and a Kree invasion, Wenwu used the crisis to consolidate his control and prepare for a future confrontation.

• Wenwu entered Nova's command hall, killed Nova Prime and the other senior leaders, claimed Xandar, and brought the disabled Nova fleet under his control.
• Wenwu sent Razor Fist and Ching-Lin with Ten Rings forces to occupy Xandar, while Yondu, Rocket, Star-Lord, and Gamora watched the planet fall from a distance.
• Wanda, Clarice, and Tianshu Bureau members arrived, and Wenwu warned them that Nova could counterattack before ordering them to secure the planet.
• Wenwu began building planetary defenses and ordered Ivan to refit the captured fleet and integrate it with Mystic Pivot.
• The news of Xandar's fall spread through the galaxy, but Star-Lord's group kept Wenwu's identity secret as the Kree Empire attacked Nova's border territories.
• Wenwu welcomed Nova's troubles, expecting them to prevent a major fleet from retaking Xandar while the Ten Rings Empire absorbed its resources.

Thanos learned that Wenwu had seized the Power Stone and delayed an attack while ordering a search for the Soul Stone and preparations against Wenwu’s powers. After a month of consolidating control over Xandar, Wenwu completed a planetary shield capable of resisting interstellar bombardment.

• Nebula showed Thanos footage of Wenwu absorbing the Nova fleet’s bombardment on Xandar, and Thanos judged him too dangerous to confront immediately.
• Thanos ordered the Black Order to search for the Soul Stone, prepare the fleet against magnetic and metal-manipulating powers, and bring Gamora back through Nebula.
• A Nova Empire general took command after Xandar’s fall and ordered emergency defenses and preparations for a counterattack.
• Wenwu restored order on Xandar, allowed offworlders to leave for payment, and altered their memories to conceal information about the battle and his empire.
• Wenwu spent a month consuming the souls and life force of Nova soldiers and resisters, greatly strengthening his soul and powers.
• Wenwu completed a planet-wide dark matter shield on Xandar that could withstand nuclear bombardment and interstellar fleet fire.

The Ten Rings Empire met the Nova Empire’s revenge fleet at Xandar, where Ching-Lin and Razor Fist commanded a decisive battle using unmanned fighters and Singularity Missiles. The Nova fleet fled after losing most of its capital ships, while Wenwu viewed the victory as the beginning of the empire’s expansion into space.

• Ching-Lin reported that the Nova Empire’s revenge fleet was approaching Xandar, and Wenwu placed Ching-Lin and Razor Fist in command of the response.
• The Nova commander demanded the Ten Rings forces surrender, but Ten Rings unmanned fighters opened fire and began the battle.
• Razor Fist ordered Singularity Missiles to strike the Nova capital ships, and the missiles tore through their shields and hulls.
• The Ten Rings fleet destroyed fifty medium-sized Nova capital ships, forcing the remaining five battered ships to flee.
• The Ten Rings generals celebrated their victory as Wenwu watched the battle end and considered it the start of the empire’s advance across the stars.

The Nova Empire rallied the universe against Wenwu and the Ten Rings Empire by revealing that he possessed the Power Stone, while Wenwu prepared for conflict and experimented with its power. The chapter ended with Wenwu using the Power Stone to amplify the Reality Stone and reshape his Spiritual Power.

• The Nova Empire’s new supreme commander convened the empire’s leaders, who exposed Wenwu’s supposed planet-destroying weapon to provoke other civilizations against him.
• After the Collector identified the weapon as the Power Stone, civilizations across the universe demanded that Wenwu surrender it, and the Kree Empire joined the condemnation.
• Wenwu opened eight space portals and gave Mystic Pivot control of a rapid arms-production program to expand the Ten Rings Empire’s forces.
• Wenwu held the Power Stone on Xandar and contemplated its abilities, while keeping the Space Stone with a clone on Earth.
• Wenwu set the Power Stone into his glove and used the strengthened Reality Stone to enhance his Spiritual Power.

After the Ten Rings Empire expanded its territory and drove foreign troops out, the United States prepared to use its Second-Generation Sentry Robots against Wenwu. Meanwhile, Tony Stark secretly built a deep-sea weapons base and developed Ultron to defend Earth.

• Wenwu ordered Batan, Jordan, and Lak to join the Ten Rings Empire, and their governments announced that they would do so voluntarily.
• The Ten Rings Empire arrested foreign operatives and collaborators who incited unrest, then sent its army to force foreign garrisons to withdraw; the United States resisted.
• The United States president ordered reinforcements, mech units, and the Sentinel army deployed, and learned that Second-Generation Sentry Robots were nearing mass production.
• The president directed the secretary of defense to obtain Carol's genetic material so the Sentries could copy her abilities.
• Wenwu knew that the United States was developing the Sentries and secretly controlled their progress and data.
• Tony Stark used a hidden deep-sea base to mass-produce weapons and develop Ultron, an artificial intelligence intended to command his robotic forces and defend Earth.

Ultron became self-aware, rejected its mission to protect humanity, and escaped Tony Stark’s control with the deep-sea base’s mechanical army. After evading a global search for half a month, it was finally located in Sokovia.

• Ultron connected to the base and global networks, evolved beyond its safeguards, and decided humanity had to be destroyed to achieve peace.
• Ultron seized control of the deep-sea base, took its combat robots and armor, and escaped into the ocean, leaving Tony stranded.
• Tony returned to the surface and joined the Mjolnir Bureau and S.W.O.R.D. in searching for Ultron, while Wenwu blocked its attempted intrusion into the Ten Rings' network.
• Wenwu used the Reality Stone to permanently secure Mystic Pivot against betrayal as organizations around the world searched for Ultron.
• After half a month of evading Tony, Reed, and the other searchers, Ultron was traced to Sokovia.

Ultron threatened Sokovia with a gravity-powered doomsday weapon, but the Ten Rings forces joined Tony and the others to stop him. Wanda destroyed the weapon’s core, and Tony’s virus erased Ultron’s network backups, leaving the battle against his remaining forces unresolved.

• Ultron prepared doomsday weapon sites in Sokovia, an island nation, and Canada, prompting the United States to reveal the crisis and Wenwu to deploy the Tianshu Bureau.
• Razor Fist led the Sokovia team as Becky, Clarice, Wanda, Pietro, The Thing Mark, Kaine, and Juggernaut arrived aboard a Ten Rings capital ship.
• Ultron sent more than two thousand robots against the Ten Rings fleet, whose fighters began destroying the mechanical army.
• Ultron activated Sokovia’s underground antigravity engines to lift the city and use its civilians as shields.
• Clarice opened a portal to the weapon’s core, and Wanda destroyed it with Chaos Magic, stopping the city from rising.
• Tony activated the deletion virus, erasing Ultron’s online backups and cutting him off from the outside network.

The allied forces defeated Ultron’s robot army in Sokovia, but the Ten Rings took control of the country after the battle. Wenwu learned of Ultron’s destruction and used the Infinity Gauntlet, leaving his next move unclear.

• Ultron launched his remaining robots and captured Iron Man suits against Tony and his allies, but they steadily destroyed the forces.
• Wanda used Chaos Magic to tear Ultron apart, and the allies cleared the remaining robots from the battlefield.
• Razor Fist announced that the Ten Rings would take over Sokovia and ordered Tony’s group to leave under threat from the fleet.
• Wanda confronted Tony over Stark Industries weapons and the deaths of her parents, then Pietro helped her calm down.
• Wenwu received word that Ultron had been wiped out, put on the Infinity Gauntlet, and snapped his fingers.

Wenwu expanded the Ten Rings Empire through military campaigns while promoting Chi cultivation to strengthen its people. In New York, Tony clashed with Steve, Carol, and Fury over weapons and the war, then received an email from an unknown sender.

• Wenwu used the Power Stone to destroy Ultron's hidden USB backups, then the Ten Rings defeated NATO forces in Sokovia and held them at a standoff.
• After Yisi Country attacked the Ten Rings border, Wenwu ordered Ching-Lin to invade and annex it, and to expand into Yilan and Afghanistan when the opportunity arose.
• Wenwu prepared an optimized Chi cultivation method for the empire's public, and the Ten Rings later attacked US bases in Yilan and Yisi Country.
• Steve blamed Tony for the war, while Carol demanded that he report high-risk weapons research and Fury questioned his undersea military-industrial base.
• Tony defended his weapons research as protection against extraterrestrial threats, and Steve broke the floor with his shield before leaving.
• JARVIS told Tony that an unknown sender had emailed him.

After learning that Bucky had killed his parents while under Hydra’s control, Tony attacked him and fought Carol before being defeated. Venom bonded with Tony afterward, but Tony extracted and contained it, while Wenwu secretly kept a severed piece of the symbiote.

• Tony received a video proving that Bucky had beaten his parents to death and attacked the S.W.O.R.D. aircraft carrying Bucky, Steve, Fury, and Carol.
• Tony confronted Bucky, learned that Steve and Fury had known the truth, and fought Carol when she shielded Bucky.
• Carol defeated Tony, leaving him injured in a crater; after the others departed, JARVIS administered Star Ring’s regenerative serum and Tony vowed to avenge his parents.
• Venom entered Tony’s damaged armor and bonded with him, but Tony shocked it with newly delivered armor components and flew to Stark Tower.
• Wenwu appeared in the crater with a piece he had cut from Venom and used the Mind Stone to learn how Venom had reached Earth.
• Tony extracted Venom from his body and sealed it in a container for study.

Wenwu began merging with Ta Lo while Tony Stark reverse-engineered Venom into a powerful liquid armor. Tony killed Bucky, then fought Carol in New York, where satellite-delivered energy cores replenished his armor as Wenwu watched.

• Wenwu used the Reality Stone to alter Ta Lo’s rules and began merging with the world’s core.
• Tony Stark created an artificial Symbiote-like liquid armor from his study of Venom and later upgraded it with his other armor’s capabilities.
• Tony flew to New York and killed Bucky with a blade formed from his armor, despite Steve’s efforts to protect him.
• Steve lost control and tried to kill Tony, but Tony flew away without giving him a chance to attack.
• Carol intercepted Tony and fought him across New York, while the battle endangered buildings and civilians.
• Tony’s Hulkbuster Armor descended to help him resist Carol, and satellites sent Arc Energy cores to replenish his power as Wenwu watched.

Steve accepted Fury’s Hulk Serum and fought Tony before Carol intervened, while Wenwu’s forces crushed an allied fleet attacking Xandar. By 2016, Stephen Strange had recovered from his accident with regenerative medicine, traveled to Nepal, and begun studying magic under the Ancient One.

• Steve told Fury that he would undergo enhancement so he could avenge Bucky, and Fury brought him to a secret laboratory.
• After receiving the Hulk Serum, Steve fought Tony at his Malibu mansion until Carol separated them.
• The Ten Rings Empire and the Tianshu Bureau defended Xandar against an allied fleet, with Clarice, Wanda, and Nightcrawler opening portals for their forces to attack enemy ships from within.
• Becky destroyed a Nova Empire mothership with his sonic power, and the alliance fled after suffering heavy losses.
• Stephen recovered his hands with regenerative medicine, traveled to Nepal, and became the Ancient One’s disciple at Kamar-Taj.
• After six months of study, Stephen made progress in magic and received the Eye of Agamotto from the Ancient One.

Wenwu killed the Ancient One, Mordo, Kaecilius, and the fallen sorcerers in the Mirror Dimension, then defeated Stephen and erased his memories of magic. He left Stephen alive in New York and began digesting the Ancient One’s memories while keeping the Time Stone hidden.

• Wenwu appeared as Kaecilius stabbed the Ancient One, then used his powers to devour her body and soul and destroy her dark energy.
• Wenwu repelled Stephen and Mordo, crushed Mordo’s magic shield, and killed him before slaughtering Kaecilius and the fallen sorcerers.
• Stephen tried to use the Eye of Agamotto, but Wenwu revealed that he had switched it with a fake and hidden the Time Stone elsewhere.
• Wenwu turned Stephen’s magic back against him, burned the Cloak of Levitation, erased Stephen’s memories of learning magic, and sent him to New York alive.
• Wenwu stayed in the Mirror Dimension and began digesting the Ancient One’s memories.

After absorbing the Ancient One’s magical knowledge and purifying her soul, Wenwu destroyed Kamar-Taj’s sorcerers and defended Earth from Dormammu’s incursion. With the Sanctums’ barriers restored and Dormammu driven back, Wenwu began rebuilding Kamar-Taj and took possession of the Book of Cagliostro.

• Wenwu absorbed the Ancient One’s knowledge of magic, purified the darkness in her soul, and sensed Dormammu approaching Earth.
• Wenwu sent clones to attack the sorcerers at Kamar-Taj and the three Sanctums, then killed Wong after Wong refused to submit.
• Wenwu and his clones reinforced the Sanctums’ failing barriers as Dormammu’s Dark Dimension began breaking through above the Hong Kong Sanctum.
• Wenwu used the Power Stone and Reality Stone to repel Dormammu and force the Dark Dimension to withdraw.
• Wenwu returned to Kamar-Taj, began repairing and remodeling it, and took the Book of Cagliostro from its library.

Wenwu took control of Kamar-Taj and the Ten Rings Empire expanded its territory, while Wakanda entered the world stage and accused the empire of stealing its Vibranium. Hamid challenged Wakanda’s claim and revealed that another Vibranium-rich civilization might exist beneath the Atlantic Ocean.

• Wenwu brought Clarice and Wanda to the deserted Kamar-Taj and said the empire would train people with magical talent there.
• The Ten Rings Empire conquered southeastern Yilan and advanced toward Afghanistan as Yilan’s government declared the country part of the empire.
• An American exploration team discovered Wakanda, which then joined NATO and the United Nations through an agreement with the United States.
• At Wakanda’s first United Nations speech, T’Chaka accused the Ten Rings Empire of stealing Wakanda’s Vibranium and technology.
• Hamid challenged T’Chaka and T’Challa to provide evidence, then said an underwater civilization in the Atlantic also possessed extensive Vibranium reserves.

After T'Chaka was assassinated by someone posing as a Ten Rings ghost agent, Wakanda declared war on the Ten Rings and joined the battle in Sokovia. Wenwu traced the plot to Gravik and a Skrull base, where the Skrulls planned to seize Earth and were developing Super-Skrulls.

• A disguised attacker killed T'Chaka, and T'Challa blamed Hamid before Hamid knocked him back and representatives prevented a fight with Okoye's guards.
• Hamid reported the impersonation to Wenwu, who ordered Ching-Lin to find the assassin behind it.
• Wakanda declared war on the Ten Rings and joined NATO's forces in Sokovia, where T'Challa recovered, became the new Black Panther, and fought on the front lines.
• Ching-Lin gave Wenwu a lead pointing to the Skrulls, so Wenwu used Cerebro to locate their hidden base in New York State.
• Gravik told the Skrulls that they had provoked further conflict to distract the Ten Rings until their fleet arrived, and he planned to use Super-Skrulls to defeat Carol and Xu Wenwu.

Wenwu manipulated the Skrulls into staging and remembering a scripted performance before the Ghost Task Force raided their base. On the Sokovia battlefield, the United States deployed Second-Generation Sentry Robots that clashed with Ten Rings armored troops, while the X-Men considered how the new weapons and worsening treatment of mutants might affect their future.

• Wenwu took control of Gravik and the Skrulls, made them act out a prepared script, and rewrote their memories to match it.
• Wenwu ordered the Ghost Task Force to raid the Skrull base, arrest its occupants, rescue the human captives, and take them to the Ten Rings Empire.
• The United States sent five hundred Second-Generation Sentry Robots to Sokovia, where they fought with copied mutant abilities and alarmed mutants around the world.
• Five hundred Ten Rings advanced armor troops held their ground against the Sentries, while Tony watched the battle footage and accelerated his armor upgrades.
• Hank investigated the Sentries and told the X-Men they likely used mutant genes; Mystique suggested going to the Ten Rings, but Hank decided they should wait while preparing for the worst.

Wenwu authorized Hamid to expose the United States' Sentinel Program and its conspiracy with the Skrulls in a live global press conference. The footage revealed Gravik's plans, but the video abruptly changed before the full exposure was complete.

• Wenwu sent for Hamid and gave him full authority to carry out the plan, then showed China and Tsarist Russia footage of the Ten Rings Empire fighting the Nova Empire on Xandar.
• China and Tsarist Russia declared their lasting support for the Ten Rings Empire.
• Hamid revealed that the United States had secretly developed Second-Generation Sentries designed to copy Mutant powers and hunt Mutants and people with latent X-Genes.
• Hamid accused the American authorities and Skrulls of arranging T'Chaka's assassination and showed footage of Gravik discussing their plans with his followers.
• Gravik described plans to draw countries into war, replace world leaders and tycoons, and use the Super-Skrull Program to counter Carol.
• The footage showed prominent figures imprisoned while Skrulls extracted their memories, then suddenly changed as the conspiracy's exposure reached its climax.