Chapter Summaries

Daredevil struggled to protect Hell’s Kitchen’s residents as Joker’s poison drove them into violence and Kingpin’s cleanup crew slaughtered them. Joker taunted Daredevil over the public-address system, and a young man charged at him with a grenade before it exploded.

• Daredevil stopped Old Miller from robbing a pharmacy, but hesitated to hurt him and was stabbed before knocking him unconscious.
• Kingpin’s cleanup crew arrived and opened fire on the neighborhood, forcing Daredevil to fight them while trying to protect Old Miller and the violent residents.
• Joker watched the chaos from an unfinished building and broadcast a taunt questioning the purpose of Daredevil’s code.
• Residents armed themselves and surrounded Daredevil, treating him as an outsider despite his attempts to save them.
• A young man pulled the pin on a grenade and charged at Daredevil, and the grenade exploded in the alley.

After three days of violence left Hell's Kitchen in ruins, Daredevil admitted defeat to Joker, who blamed the destruction on people’s own impulses. Joker left for Vought Tower while Daredevil stayed beside a Bible in the mud.

• Daredevil walked through devastated Hell's Kitchen and saw Old Joe and two teenagers dead in the doughnut shop.
• At St. Clinton's Church, Daredevil found Joker seated on the cross and heard him argue that he had merely unleashed the violence already inside people.
• Joker dropped a Bible into the mud, and Daredevil recalled the civilians he had injured while trying to preserve order.
• Daredevil told Joker, "You win," and Joker expressed disappointment that he had given up so soon.
• Joker headed toward Vought Tower, and Daredevil remained at the church as a newspaper bearing Homelander's smile stuck to his leg.

Matthew Murdock met a mysterious surgeon at the Blind Pig and spent the night with her after opening up about his despair. He left for work feeling restored, while the woman revealed she had confirmed his identity as Daredevil.

• Matthew drank alone at the Blind Pig, haunted by the young man killed during Joker's attack and overwhelmed by his senses.
• A woman who said she was a surgeon joined Matthew and described losing a patient when Joker cut the power at St. Mary's Hospital.
• Matthew and the woman went to his apartment and spent the night together.
• The woman told Matthew to return to work and reminded him that giving up would mean Joker had won.
• After Matthew left, the woman revealed insect-like compound eyes and confirmed his identity as Daredevil.

At the Odessa oil field, Bucky Barnes, transformed into Rider No. 1 and acting under orders to eliminate Captain America, fought Steve Rogers and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s response team. The chapter ended with Bucky repeatedly smashing Steve’s head into the ground.

• Bucky Barnes killed Roxxon security personnel and prepared to execute the drilling supervisor before Steve Rogers arrived and knocked away his claw with his shield.
• Steve recognized Bucky and pleaded with him to remember their childhood, but Rider No. 1 identified Steve as a high-threat target and attacked him.
• S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Rapid Response Task Force and three enhanced agents joined the fight, but Rider No. 1’s tentacle whip and flying side kick killed two agents.
• Steve charged Bucky to stop him, but Bucky punched Steve in the abdomen, slammed him into the ground, and crushed his left arm.
• Bucky grabbed Steve by the head and repeatedly smashed his face into the drilling platform.

Rider No. 1 defeated S.H.I.E.L.D.'s forces at the drilling platform and escaped after a Shocker Combatant detonated explosives. At the Triskelion, Nick Fury learned the scale of the losses and Maria Hill blamed the defeat on bad intelligence and Steve Rogers's attempt to reach Bucky.

• Steve Rogers clung to Rider No. 1 and pleaded with Bucky, but Rider No. 1 prepared to crush his head until an incoming shockwave forced him back.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. agents opened fire, and Quaker attacked Rider No. 1 at high speed, but Rider No. 1 snapped his neck and flung his body into an RPG blast.
• Agents pulled the badly injured Steve Rogers from the fight while Rider No. 1 withdrew with the Shocker Combatants.
• A Shocker Combatant blew up the main oil pipeline, and Rider No. 1 used the smoke to escape the devastated drilling platform.
• At the Triskelion, Maria Hill reported Steve Rogers's injuries and the deaths of three New Mad Dog squad members to Nick Fury.
• Hill told Nick Fury that S.H.I.E.L.D. had underestimated Sergeant Barnes and that Steve had lost focus by trying to reunite with family during the battle.

Steve Rogers woke in the hospital and learned more about how Hydra had transformed Bucky into the Winter Soldier. Peggy Carter visited him, challenged his belief that he could simply restore Bucky’s memories, and urged him to defeat Bucky before trying to save him.

• Steve remembered the recording of Bucky’s torture and the report describing how Knight Form had turned him into a monster.
• Peggy Carter visited Steve in the hospital, and they reunited after sixty years apart.
• Steve told Peggy that Bucky was alive and that Hydra had controlled him, but Peggy said she knew about the Winter Soldier and questioned whether restoring his memories would help.
• Peggy warned Steve that the world had changed and told him to treat Bucky as an enemy, defeat him, and even be prepared to kill him.
• Peggy left after urging Steve to stay awake and help repair the broken world, and Steve reflected on her words about being more ruthless than a monster.

Doctor Shinigami met Professor Pyg at Hydra’s Wolf’s Lair and revealed a plan to use Locust and Shocker technology to create super soldiers loyal to them rather than Hydra’s leaders. The chapter ended as they prepared to transform Elektra Natchios into Shocker Rider No. 2.

• Doctor Shinigami arrived at the Wolf’s Lair and entered Professor Pyg’s laboratory despite Dr. List’s warning.
• Doctor Shinigami impressed Professor Pyg with surgical advice, then ordered Dr. List to leave the room.
• Doctor Shinigami revealed a vial of Locust reagent and a microchip, proposing to combine them with Shocker’s brainwave control technology.
• Professor Pyg revealed Elektra Natchios in a cryogenic pod and described her altered body and damaged brain.
• Doctor Shinigami and Professor Pyg prepared to modify Elektra into Shocker Rider No. 2, intending to make the soldiers loyal to them instead of Hydra’s leaders.

After Homelander destroyed the Hand’s Black Sky stronghold and took Elektra, the Five Fingers decided to flee Vought’s reach and seize Hell’s Kitchen. They left confident they could overpower its gangs and heroes, unaware of the trouble already brewing there.

• A surviving Hand ninja witnessed the devastation Homelander had inflicted on the Black Beacon and the dead members of the League of Shadows.
• The Five Fingers learned they had lost the Black Sky, Elektra, and their stronghold, and Madame Gao described Homelander’s overwhelming power.
• Murakami questioned why Vought had taken Elektra, while Sowande argued that Vought had simply taken what it wanted.
• Alexandra proposed relocating the Hand to Hell’s Kitchen, where Kingpin had lost control and chaos offered the Beast an opportunity to regain strength.
• The Five Fingers dismissed Joker and Daredevil as insignificant and planned to claim Hell’s Kitchen as compensation for their losses.

Yasuo entered the Red Rattlesnake bar in search of a decent drink, but killed the gang members who threatened him and the captive girls. He left with a bottle of tequila and continued down the road.

• Yasuo reached the Red Rattlesnake near the Tijuana border and went inside to buy liquor.
• The bald gang boss demanded Yasuo’s sword and attacked him after Yasuo refused to engage.
• Yasuo cut the boss in half with a swift, unseen sword strike.
• The gang members opened fire, but Yasuo blocked their bullets with wind and killed them with his blade and a gale.
• Yasuo left money for the bartender, took a bottle of tequila, and walked out of the bar.

Yasuo arrived in San Ricardo Town and met Hector Ayala, a wary mechanic who recognized him as Vought International’s star, the Unforgiven. Hector let Yasuo shelter in his repair shop, and the chapter ended with the two men sharing beer as Hector gave his name.

• Yasuo stopped outside El Repair Shop to ask for water, and Hector warned him that San Ricardo did not welcome outsiders.
• Hector recognized Yasuo as Vought International’s Unforgiven and mocked his disheveled appearance.
• Yasuo stayed calm, and Hector invited him inside to avoid the armed gangs roaming the area.
• Hector gave Yasuo a beer and warned him to put away his superhero act, while Yasuo sensed Hector’s deep hostility toward Vought.
• Yasuo lit Hector’s cigarette with a gust of wind, and Hector relaxed enough to tell him his name was Hector Ayala.

Yasuo questioned Hector Ayala about his past, and Hector revealed how the Magia gang murdered his sister and left him for dead. Hector had found a tiger-headed amulet that healed him, and Yasuo identified the soul inside it as a vengeful spirit that had chosen Hector.

• Yasuo told Hector that his steady hands and hidden past suggested he had not always been a mechanic.
• Hector warned Yasuo that being forgotten meant no one came when his family was slaughtered, then described refusing to let the Magia gang use his repair shop to move drugs.
• Hector recounted how the Magia gang attacked his shop, killed his sister Ava, shot him, and left him in a burning garbage pile.
• Hector said he heard a heartbeat in the garbage, found the tiger-headed amulet, and discovered it stopped his wounds from bleeding.
• Yasuo identified the soul inside the amulet as a lonely, angry spirit of revenge that had chosen Hector because his heart was already dead.

Yasuo challenged Hector to stop hiding from the Magia and join him in seeking revenge in Los Angeles. Hector accepted, and the two set off for the City of Angels with the Jade Tiger Amulet and Count Nefaria in their sights.

• Hector demonstrated the Jade Tiger Amulet’s heightened senses and strength, then explained that its bloodthirsty spirit threatened to consume him.
• Hector told Yasuo that the Magia had killed his family and that Tombstone had nearly killed him during a failed attack on one of their outposts.
• Yasuo called Hector a coward for hiding and proposed they go to Los Angeles together to confront the Magia.
• Hector agreed to join Yasuo, named Count Nefaria as his target, and drove them toward Los Angeles in his battered pickup.

Tali Zola stopped intruders from infiltrating Vought International's data systems and discovered they had targeted the company's superhero list rather than Compound V. She left the captured leader to Chatika and Vought's interrogation team.

• Tali learned that intruders had physically connected to Vought's servers in the B-12 cooling control room while Commander Kusanagi was away.
• Tali armed herself and went with Chatika to confront three intruders equipped with advanced technology.
• Tali used an electromagnetic pulse to disable their equipment, then shielded herself from gunfire and had Chatika incapacitate one attacker.
• Tali shot another intruder with her M-300 Claymore and captured the leader, who offered information about AIM's plot against Vought.
• Tali traced the intruders' black box and realized they had come to steal Vought's superhero list, a trap she had written herself.
• Tali ordered Chatika to break the leader's limbs and summoned the cleaners to remove the intruders.

After Tali Zola stopped an attack on Vought’s servers, she uncovered a tracking program and planted altered Compound V data to trace its recipients. The signal led to a huge, hidden structure beneath the Atlantic, while Tali recognized a possible connection to Arnim Zola.

• Tali worried that her violent defense of the server would anger Mr. Rorschach, and Chloe reassured her that he had praised her efficiency.
• Tali discovered that the attackers had tried to steal the superhero genetic map while planting a quantum tracking algorithm in Vought’s system.
• Tali used the Quarian Fleet’s Pilgrim V3.0 defenses to destroy the intruding code and send the attackers a sabotaged Compound V formula as bait.
• Tali tracked the bait signal through seven relays to a deep-sea trench, where scans revealed an enormous artificial structure with Leviathan-class data throughput.
• Tali recalled that Doctor Shinigami of Shocker had found Arnim Zola in Hydra’s historical records and activated him.

Tali corrupted Arnim Zola’s digital systems with pop-up ads and a looping children’s song, then used the chaos to steal Hydra’s asset map. She discovered Zola had sent a command to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, raising questions about Hydra’s presence there.

• Chloe O'Brien examined Zola’s code, and Tali proposed using pop-up ads to torment him.
• Zola opened Vought’s bait file and triggered Tali’s pink-screen assistant, which trapped him in a loop of “Baby Shark” and forced him to act like Zola-chan.
• Tali took control of Zola’s systems and extracted Hydra’s asset inventory while he was distracted.
• Tali found that one of Zola’s commands had been sent to Washington, specifically to the Triskelion.
• Chloe questioned how Zola could contact S.H.I.E.L.D. after Nick Fury had purged Hydra from it.

Professor Pyg operated on Elektra to turn her into Shocker Rider No. 2 while Doctor Shinigami oversaw the procedure. When Vought’s alien technology infected Zola’s terminal and exposed their location, Shinigami ordered the laboratory moved.

• Professor Pyg surgically modified Elektra, while Doctor Shinigami insisted that she retain enough independent consciousness for tactical missions.
• Vought’s virus transformed Zola’s communications screen and voice, forcing him to sing “Baby Shark” and reveal that Vought had attacked his system.
• Zola identified Vought International as the source of the alien technology after admitting he had tried to steal its compound formula.
• Doctor Shinigami refused to connect to Zola’s infected system, destroyed the terminal, and said he would restore Zola from a backup.
• Professor Pyg suggested implanting the song in Elektra’s chip, and Doctor Shinigami ordered the laboratory moved because Zola had exposed their address.

Tony Stark tested his heavily armed Mark 3 armor against militants in Afghanistan, destroying their forces with little effort. As he flew away, the easy victory left him more anxious and already planning stronger weapons to fight Barnes.

• Tony Stark completed his Mark 3 - Heavy Armor Variant and ordered JARVIS to find live targets using Stark Industries weapons.
• JARVIS directed Tony to Kunar Province, Afghanistan, where the Sons of Liberty had raided a village.
• Tony landed in the village square and ignored the militants’ gunfire as it bounced off his armor.
• Tony destroyed the militants’ truck with his anti-tank cannon, then fired missiles at 47 armed targets.
• Tony killed the leader, Bakar, with a point-blank pulse cannon shot.
• Tony flew away dissatisfied with the test and began imagining faster, stronger weapons for the Mark IV.

Tony Stark tracked Barnes to a hostage-filled bank in Jacksonville and attacked the Shocker Combatants with the Mark 3. Steve Rogers intervened to stop Tony from bombing the vault, but Tony blasted him aside after learning Steve wanted to save Bucky.

• Tony ordered JARVIS to redesign the Mark IV for a sudden burst of speed and learned that Barnes had been spotted at a bank in Jacksonville.
• Tony entered the bank in the Mark 3 and killed several Shocker Combatants while searching for Barnes.
• Steve Rogers deflected an RPG aimed at Tony and challenged him over his violent tactics.
• Tony mocked Steve and aimed the Mark 3's weapons at the vault despite Steve's warning about the hostages inside.
• Steve told Tony that Bucky was being controlled and should be captured alive, and Tony blasted Steve into a bank counter.

Tony Stark and Steve Rogers clashed over how to deal with Bucky Barnes, who emerged from the bank vault carrying a biohazard-marked case. Bucky escaped through a breach while his Shocker Combatants overwhelmed the two men, leaving Tony in pursuit and Steve devastated after Bucky cast aside his shield.

• Tony and Steve argued over Tony's plan to destroy the bank and everyone inside to kill the monster he believed was responsible for his grievance.
• Bucky emerged from the vault with a biohazard-marked briefcase, ignoring Steve's pleas and Tony's threat to burn him to ashes.
• Bucky summoned Shocker Combatants, who attacked Tony and Steve as Bucky calmly walked toward a breach in the bank.
• Steve hurled his shield at Bucky, but Bucky dodged, caught it, and tossed it into the rubble.
• Tony broke free of the Combatants and blasted through a wall toward Bucky, while Steve struggled against three attackers.

Tony Stark and Steve Rogers fought Shocker Rider No. 1 outside the First National Bank, but the powerful Rider crippled Tony’s armor and sent both men crashing into a convenience store. As Rider No. 1 approached with a bone blade, Tony’s ejection protocol failed, leaving their fate uncertain.

• Neon Knight and Elastic Ball attacked four Shocker Combatants but were quickly defeated.
• Tony Stark blasted through the bank wall in the Mark 3 and fired on the Shocker Combatants, while Steve Rogers followed and tried to stop him.
• Tony confronted Steve and aimed for Bucky, blaming him for his parents’ deaths.
• Rider No. 1 struck Tony’s Mark 3 and sent it crashing into a 7-Eleven, then knocked Steve into the rubble as he charged to intervene.
• Tony’s damaged armor failed to fire its repulsor, and JARVIS reported that the ejection protocol had failed as Rider No. 1 approached with a bone blade.