Recaps

Chen Mo and Fury oversaw a rapidly expanding global operation while Tony’s researchers developed new technology, until Wakanda stopped a joint force from entering its territory. Chen Mo questioned which version of Wakanda they had encountered.

• Chen Mo marked noncooperating groups for Fury’s forces to deal with, and the global integration plan connected countries’ military and scientific resources.
• Tony’s research team used unlimited materials supplied by Chen Mo to develop a speedster restraint, which briefly trapped Thor before the armor failed.
• Fury’s joint operations force dismantled illegal bases and armed groups around the world under Chen Mo’s orders.
• Fury told Chen Mo that Wakanda had disarmed troops, seized drones, altered a military satellite’s orbit, and warned the forces to leave.
• Chen Mo studied the map coordinates and wondered which version of Wakanda they were facing.

Chen Mo ordered the Avengers to retrieve S.H.I.E.L.D.'s missing personnel in Wakanda, and the World Security Council approved a massive joint military deployment. As the Avengers and the combined forces approached, Wakanda's leaders realized the outside world had brought overwhelming force to its border.

• Chen Mo refused to intervene personally and ordered Fury to send the entire Avengers team to Wakanda.
• Fury obtained unanimous World Security Council approval for the operation.
• Captain America, Tony, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor, Banner, and Loki prepared new equipment for the Avengers' first official mission.
• Three Helicarriers, fighter jets, carrier groups, and joint ground forces mobilized toward Wakanda.
• Wakanda's leader T'Chaka watched the enormous force approach and heard that powerful life-forms were among the incoming Avengers.

T'Chaka discovered that someone had forged a Wakandan border transmission to provoke the joint forces, but Tony admitted they intended to investigate Wakanda regardless. Wakanda raised its energy shield, and Thor charged toward it with Mjolnir as T'Chaka ordered the defenses strengthened.

• T'Chaka learned that an unknown person had forged a border message using Wakanda's communications system to provoke the joint forces.
• T'Chaka contacted the fleet and offered to open Wakanda's borders, but Tony said the forces would still investigate and retrieve missing personnel.
• T'Chaka ordered Wakanda's troops to halt the advance and activate the highest level of border defense, raising a shield over the country.
• Tony noticed the shield's second layer while Steve warned him not to act recklessly.
• Thor ignored Steve's warning, leaped from the transport aircraft, and flew toward the shield with Mjolnir as T'Chaka ordered more power directed into it.

Wakanda’s defense network was hijacked, turning T’Chaka’s surrender order into a command for the warriors to fight to the death. Tony discovered that the attackers were using Wakanda’s energy grid to transmit the joint forces’ coordinates into space, and Chen Mo sensed an unknown presence answering the signal.

• As Thor’s hammer shattered Wakanda’s shield, T’Chaka ordered the forces to surrender, but an unknown code replaced his order with a command to counterattack and self-destruct.
• Tony disabled Wakandan weapons while Steve tried to stop the soldiers, who continued attacking despite the shield’s collapse.
• Tony traced the false orders to hidden code and concluded that someone was manipulating Wakanda to escalate the war.
• Energy columns from Wakanda disrupted communications and sent the joint forces’ coordinates into space, while T’Chaka found an unfamiliar green chip in the palace console.
• Chen Mo sensed an abnormal fluctuation crossing space and wondered if another expert was approaching.

Tony and the joint forces fought green-controlled robots after a traitorous Wakandan faction used the energy network to send intelligence to visitors from another world. Chen Mo and the Ancient One traced the transmission and chose to leave one signal active so they could lead the enemy into revealing itself.

• Tony failed to stop the green code from overriding JARVIS and the joint defense network, while satellites and drones fell under hostile control.
• Silver-black robots and drones emerged beneath Wakanda and attacked the joint forces, overcoming their defenses and injuring Thor.
• T'Chaka confronted the technical officer, who admitted that his faction had opened a passage for advanced visitors in exchange for a chance to save Wakanda.
• The Ancient One explained that the transmission carried coordinates, data, and a key confirming Earth's location, while its source scattered false signals to thwart their tracing.
• Chen Mo told the Ancient One to leave one real signal transmitting so they could make the visitors think they had found him.

Chen Mo traced the signal to a different world and took control of the Wakandan transmission system, while the Avengers struggled against the silver-and-black robots. He left the Wakandan conspirators facing his message as the battle continued.

• Chen Mo infiltrated the signal through the Ancient One's magic circle and discovered that a different group from another world was measuring coordinates for a being.
• Chen Mo decided to send the group a location that was partly real while misleading them about their ability to control him.
• In Wakanda, the technical official held T'Chaka at gunpoint as the transmission reached ninety-nine percent, but Chen Mo took over the system and halted it.
• Tony, Steve, Hulk, and Thor fought the silver-and-black robots and drones, with Thor's lightning redirected against him and Tony urging him to use Mjolnir as a hammer.
• Chen Mo spoke through the palace speakers, warning the conspirators to check who stood outside the door, and his grinning face appeared on the screen.

Chen Mo cut off Brainiac’s control of the robot army in Wakanda, allowing the Avengers and their allies to defeat it. After killing the traitors and tracing the intercepted coordinates, Chen Mo reached Brainiac’s spaceship and confronted him through its master computer.

• Chen Mo shut down the uplink and external connections, causing Brainiac’s robots and drones to stop fighting.
• Tony, Thor, Hulk, and the combined forces destroyed the disabled machines and regained control of the battlefield.
• The technical official and other traitors pleaded with T’Chaka, but Chen Mo killed them and searched their memories for information.
• Chen Mo traced the spatial coordinates to Brainiac’s skull-shaped spaceship and erased the Earth data Brainiac had downloaded.
• Chen Mo appeared on Brainiac’s master computer, greeted him, and asked him to open up.

Chen Mo infiltrated Brainiac’s ship, discovered its collection of Justice League members from multiple universes, and escaped with stolen data before Brainiac destroyed the connection. In Wakanda, T'Chaka accepted a global defense cooperation agreement after the allied forces defeated the robot army, though Hulk caused another crash as the meeting ended.

• Brainiac attacked Chen Mo’s Blacklight infection with a decompilation program, but Chen Mo found a storage facility containing Justice League members from different universes.
• Brainiac detached and detonated the infected memory sector, but Chen Mo grabbed ship energy structures, spatial coordinates, and a catalog before being ejected back to the New York Sanctum.
• The Ancient One asked Chen Mo what he had obtained, and he claimed Brainiac had given him the data willingly.
• Tony, Steve, and Hulk helped the allied forces disable the remaining robots and enter the Wakandan palace, where T'Chaka surrendered.
• Fury and the allied representatives presented Wakanda with terms to hand over detained forces, seal its underground arsenal, audit its energy network, and join the global defense system.
• T'Chaka accepted the agreement, but a crash outside interrupted the meeting as Hulk held up broken robot armor and called it an accident.

T'Chaka signed Wakanda into the global defense system, only for Chen Mo to arrive with stolen data revealing a powerful threat that collected superheroes and destroyed worlds. The chapter ended with the group confronting the scale of the danger and the possibility that its forces were numerous.

• T'Chaka signed the agreement, and Fury announced that inspectors would arrive the next day to examine Wakanda's arsenal, documents, and energy nodes.
• Chen Mo appeared at the conference and rebuked T'Chaka for Wakanda's role in exposing Earth's information to the enemy.
• Chen Mo shared data stolen from Green Skull's base, and Tony found plans for advanced combat robots and other technologies.
• Chen Mo revealed stasis pods containing superheroes from dozens of worlds, some alive and some dead.
• Tony examined planetary records showing that the enemy had wiped out entire worlds, and Chen Mo warned that it collected superheroes and destroyed universes.

After reviewing Brainiac’s collection of powerful captives, Chen Mo ordered Earth’s forces to eliminate dangerous organizations before the collector could return. Meanwhile, Tony, Banner, and Reed Richards began designing a super-robot with independent, hack-resistant control modules.

• Chen Mo showed the leaders Brainiac’s collection, including stronger versions of familiar heroes and villains, and warned that the Crime Syndicate was only an ordinary example among the beings he had captured.
• Chen Mo ordered a three-day crackdown on Hydra, the Ten Rings, the Hand, and other dangerous organizations, and Fury sent twelve joint task forces into action with Wakandan support.
• At S.H.I.E.L.D.’s research base, Reed Richards proposed building robots with independent control modules that could not be remotely taken over through a central system.
• Tony, Banner, and Reed began the super-robot project, and Tony proposed starting with a fifty-meter model made from Vibranium.

Fury used Chen Mo’s authorization to raid S.H.I.E.L.D. bases while Tony, Reed, and Banner argued over the design of a giant mech. Odin sent Asgardian troops, equipment, and dwarf craftsmen to Earth, leaving the mech packed with weapons and mixed technology but still untested.

• Fury invoked Chen Mo’s authorization to silence the World Security Council and ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. teams to raid resistant bases and seize supplies.
• Tony, Reed, and Banner disagreed over the mech’s control system and energy distribution at the Pacific experimental base.
• Thor told Odin that Earth was building a weapon against invaders, and Odin decided to send Asgardian forces and dwarf craftsmen to Earth.
• Odin ordered that Asgard’s emblem be added to the mech, and the Bifrost brought troops, equipment, and craftsmen to the base.
• Tony revised the mech’s energy plan and enlarged its main cannon as Earth and Asgardian technology were combined in the unfinished machine.

Asgardian soldiers and craftsmen overwhelmed the Pacific experimental base, driving up Fury’s expenses and leaving the Avengers feeling outmatched. Fury confronted Thor about the cost of the Asgardians’ support just as Chen Mo arrived and caught Thor and Loki with the liquor.

• Asgardian soldiers and dwarf craftsmen crowded the base, took over its facilities, and consumed supplies, prompting Fury to review a bill showing costs far over budget.
• Steve, Clint, and Natasha reflected on how their usual skills seemed less useful alongside the new technology and powerful allies.
• Thor brought Asgardian liquor for the warriors, and Steve took a gulp before coughing from its strength while Loki mocked the mortals.
• Fury confronted Thor about the expense of feeding the Asgardian contingent, and Thor wondered if they had to bring their own food.
• The base alarm sounded, and Chen Mo entered the lounge, accused Thor and Loki of feasting behind his back, and made Loki retreat behind Thor.

Chen Mo visited the Pacific Ocean base, where Fury and Tony argued with him over the costs of building the super-mecha. As construction continued, the Avengers relaxed in the lounge, and Tony said the mecha could be ready for testing in three days.

• Chen Mo drank half a barrel of Asgardian liquor and complained that it tasted watered down.
• Fury presented Chen Mo with a bill showing the project was 670 percent over budget, citing food costs and stolen reserve alloys.
• Tony demanded that Chen Mo cover the extra expenses, but Chen Mo argued with Tony and Fury until both gave up on collecting.
• Tony said the mecha could begin testing in three days if the Asgardians stopped dismantling the base's pipes.
• Clint asked whether the mecha would still need an archer on its head, and Tony joked about strapping him to a missile.
• Loki stayed quietly in the corner while the Avengers spent the day chatting as engineers assembled the mecha.

Earth’s first interstellar-class war mecha entered trial operation, but its faulty threat detection caused it to fire at the test range and turn toward the assembly area. Chen Mo left his avatar on Earth and traveled to the Justice League universe, where he arrived in a gray zone between two clashing cosmic forces.

• Tony announced that the super mecha had entered trial operation as Earth, Asgardian, and dwarven crews celebrated its assembly.
• The mecha mistook the test range for a threat and fired, then turned its weapon toward the assembly area until Chen Mo blocked its optical lens.
• Chen Mo decided Earth’s defenses were strong enough without him and told Tony that he was leaving while his avatar would remain behind.
• Chen Mo opened a dimensional rift to the Justice League universe and stepped through after warning Tony to point the mecha’s cannon outward during tests.
• Chen Mo arrived in a lifeless gray buffer zone between a radiant band of higher-order energy and a pitch-black abyss.

Chen Mo encountered the World Forger while preparing to enter the DC universe, so he sent a clone instead of his true body. The clone landed in a rain-soaked cyberpunk city, where someone threatened to harvest his organs.

• Chen Mo saw the World Forger examining him but taking no action, and decided not to enter the DC universe with his true body.
• Chen Mo severed his true body's connection to the DC universe and hid in the interspace.
• Chen Mo created a clone and kicked it through several planar barriers toward a nearby world.
• The clone crashed into a damaged city under corrosive acid rain and found himself surrounded by mechanical infrastructure.
• A person pressed a corrosive chainsaw to the clone's neck and demanded his valuable organs.

Chen Mo arrived in Night City, where he killed three Bloods corpse collectors and absorbed their bodies and memories. He learned that Nite Owl and Lex Luthor ruled this cybernetic Gotham, and the Bloods were on their way.

• Chen Mo killed the chainsaw-wielding Bloods collector with a single blow and used Blacklight matter to kill his two companions.
• Chen Mo absorbed the three corpses and received their memories.
• Chen Mo learned that Bruce Wayne had died as a child and that Thomas Wayne had become Nite Owl, dividing control of the city with Lex Luthor.
• Chen Mo learned that corporations controlled daily life in Night City, where debtors became factory workers or cybernetic laborers and the Bloods harvested corpses.
• Chen Mo recognized Night City as a cybernetic Gotham with no heroes, and alarms sounded as the Bloods arrived.

Buck led a heavily armed Bloods gang to confront Chen Mo for killing three corpse collectors, but Chen Mo slaughtered Buck’s men with Blacklight while leaving Buck alive. Chen Mo called himself an environmentalist, and Buck wondered whether that was an organization or company.

• Buck learned that a young man with no cyberware had killed three Bloods corpse collectors and drove out with his gang to retaliate.
• Buck confronted Chen Mo in the rain and felt terror despite his scans detecting no threat.
• Chen Mo asked whether Buck’s armored vehicle had paid its parking fee.
• Chen Mo unleashed black-and-red strands that killed Buck’s dozen subordinates, while Buck remained standing.
• Chen Mo told Buck he was an environmentalist passing through, and Buck asked whether that was an organization or company.

Chen Mo killed Buck the Butcher and learned that Night City was controlled by Nite Owl and Lex Luthor, while street gangs exploited the slums. After silencing locals who blamed him for provoking the Bloods, he reached the inner city and set his sights on Nite Owl’s tower.

• Buck injected himself with a drug and attacked Chen Mo with a power axe, but Chen Mo caught it with a black-and-red hand, crushed it, and killed Buck.
• Chen Mo absorbed Buck’s memories and learned how the gangs and the corporations divided control of Night City.
• Residents blamed Chen Mo for killing Buck and feared the Bloods would retaliate, so Chen Mo impaled the ringleaders and warned the crowd to be quiet.
• Chen Mo left the slums and reached an elevated roadway in Night City’s inner city, where he disrupted some surveillance feeds.
• Chen Mo chose Nite Owl’s central tower as his starting point and vanished toward it.

Lex Luthor ordered his Obsidian troops to capture Chen Mo alive, while Nite Owl watched to see what the newcomer could do. After Chen Mo killed the troops that surrounded him in the inner city, V introduced herself and offered help on behalf of the Joker Gang.

• Lex Luthor classified Chen Mo as a maximum-threat specimen and ordered the Obsidian elites to bring him back alive.
• Nite Owl watched the footage and decided to see whether Lex could capture Chen Mo.
• Chen Mo walked through the inner city, where he saw its cybernetic advertisements, poverty, and a hovercar passenger urinating on pedestrians.
• The Obsidian troops surrounded Chen Mo and demanded that he surrender for examination.
• Chen Mo used Blacklight to kill the troops, and V emerged from an alley and offered help from the Joker Gang.

V rescued Chen Mo from Luthor’s forces and led him through Night City’s sewers to the Joker Gang’s underground base. Chen Mo entered the gang’s headquarters, intrigued by V and the city’s unusual factions.

• V warned Chen Mo that Luthor’s drones and armored vehicles were approaching, then led him into a sewer escape route.
• As they traveled underground, V explained that the Joker Gang opposed Nite Owl and had saved Chen Mo because both factions wanted to control him.
• Chen Mo noticed V’s name matched that of a Cyberpunk 2077 protagonist and wondered whether the worlds were connected.
• V brought Chen Mo to a sealed underground weapons factory that served as the Joker Gang’s base.
• V welcomed Chen Mo into the Joker Gang’s headquarters, and he followed her inside.

V brought Chen Mo to the Joker Gang’s base, where the gang questioned his motives and learned that he had fought the Luthor Corporation’s Obsidian Troops. Chen Mo agreed to join them, and Joker welcomed him to the gang.

• V led Chen Mo into the Joker Gang’s base, where the members challenged her decision to bring in a stranger.
• V said Chen Mo had defeated an Obsidian Troops squad, and Chen Mo revealed the Blacklight matter beneath his skin to prove he was not ordinary.
• Chen Mo told the gang he had killed the soldiers because they had tried to capture him, not to rescue anyone.
• V explained that Chen Mo could help the gang challenge Nite Owl and Luthor, and Chen Mo agreed to join.
• Joker returned to the base, welcomed Chen Mo to the Joker Gang, and offered to show him his cooking skills.

Chen Mo shared a meal with Joker, V, and Harley Quinn as Joker described the failed rebels and the corporations ruling the city. Joker asked Chen Mo to help overthrow Nite Owl and Luthor, but Chen Mo demanded to know why he should help.

• Chen Mo ate the stew while Harley Quinn joked about the scalpel she had used to cut the meat.
• Joker told Chen Mo that earlier rebels had been killed by Nite Owl and Luthor, and Harley Quinn described how their corpses and abilities were exploited.
• Joker explained why he wanted someone to challenge the corporations, while Chen Mo listened without agreeing to help.
• Joker asked Chen Mo to join them in smashing Nite Owl's and Luthor's thrones.
• Chen Mo stabbed a rusty knife into the table near Joker's fingers and asked why he should help.

Joker revealed that a mysterious man with a black-crystal communicator had contacted him and predicted Chen Mo’s arrival in Night City. Joker proposed that he and Chen Mo work together to defeat Nite Owl and Luthor while tracking the man down.

• Joker admitted that he had no right to ask Chen Mo to join his operation without offering anything in return.
• Joker identified Chen Mo’s quarry as a man who communicated through a black-crystal device and laughed after conversations.
• Joker said the mysterious man had contacted him twice, knew his true identity and plans, and promised to solve his problems if he brought Chen Mo to him.
• Joker told Chen Mo that he had refused the offer and wanted to cooperate instead.
• Joker proposed helping Chen Mo find the mysterious man if Chen Mo helped destroy Nite Owl and Luthor, and Chen Mo agreed the proposal was interesting.

Chen Mo agreed to help Joker bring down Nite Owl and Luthor, but his overwhelming power made Joker’s carefully prepared uprising plan seem unnecessary. Chen Mo chose to support Joker’s approach while warning the group not to betray him, and Joker ended the discussion worried that Chen Mo might consume the world.

• Joker laid out a phased plan to disable Nite Owl’s surveillance, destroy data centers, and attack Luthor Corporation’s energy core.
• Chen Mo argued he could kill or brainwash Nite Owl and Luthor instantly, or take control of the planet with Blacklight.
• Joker insisted that killing the rulers would not free the city because new corporations would replace them.
• Chen Mo agreed to help break the strongest defenses but said Joker and his people would have to handle the rest themselves.
• Chen Mo warned that he would kill anyone who plotted behind his back, and Joker decided preventing Chen Mo from eating the world was now the priority.

Chen Mo joined the Joker Gang’s assault on a Nite Owl surveillance hub and easily broke through its defenses. In the data center, a black crystal addressed Chen Mo and revealed that the attack had been anticipated.

• Chen Mo reviewed the Joker Gang’s map of surveillance nodes and learned that destroying the District Nine transit hub could disrupt Nite Owl’s surveillance for twenty to thirty minutes.
• Chen Mo used telekinetic force to inspect the hub, then joined V, Joker, Harley Quinn, and the Joker Gang members on the assault.
• Chen Mo disabled the scanners with Blacklight and kicked down the hub’s blast door, killing the guards before the gang could engage.
• Chen Mo and the gang entered the data center, where a black crystal appeared on the central screen and addressed him.
• The servers activated and the data center’s walls unfolded as the black crystal said it had been waiting for Chen Mo.