Chapter Summaries

After being rescued from Shocker’s facility, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers were brought to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, where they argued over Bucky Barnes and the mysterious Kamen Rider. Nick Fury ordered Steve to find the Rider and assess whether he could be an ally, leaving Steve facing the question of whether he could fight Bucky.

• Tony and Steve waited in an industrial wasteland until a S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft arrived and brought them to the Triskelion.
• Tony and Steve told Nick Fury about Bucky and the black-clad Kamen Rider, whom Steve described as a former Shocker experiment.
• Tony called Bucky a killing machine and demanded that he and the Rider be treated as threats, while Steve insisted Bucky could still be saved.
• Fury ordered Steve to find the Kamen Rider, learn about him, and assess whether he could work with S.H.I.E.L.D.
• After Tony left, Fury asked Steve whether he could bring himself to fight his old comrade.

After losing to Bucky, Tony Stark redesigned his armor around speed and agility and began planning a suitcase-transforming suit. At the Smithsonian, Peggy Carter urged Steve Rogers to stop letting guilt and anger keep him from acting, leaving him with guidance on how to handle Tony and his responsibilities.

• Tony Stark reviewed footage of his defeat in Jacksonville and decided the Mark 3 was too bulky and slow.
• Tony discarded the Mark IV hydraulic-drive design and began creating a slimmer, faster armor that would respond like an extension of his body.
• Tony conceived Project Mark V, a suit of armor that could transform from a suitcase and cover him without robotic dressing arms.
• Steve Rogers visited the Smithsonian display honoring Bucky and lamented that he could not save him or reconcile with Tony.
• Peggy Carter found Steve and told him to incapacitate a mindless soldier first, then guide Tony's anger instead of being consumed by it.

Steve Rogers reunited with Dum Dum Dugan and decided to rebuild the Howling Commandos to rescue Bucky and fight threats like Shocker. Dugan brought a list of potential recruits, and Steve set out to recruit them immediately.

• Steve criticized a recruit's flashy Krav Maga moves and encountered Nick Fury, who directed him to a visitor in Area B3.
• Steve found Dum Dum Dugan waiting with a Thompson submachine gun, and the two old comrades embraced and shared drinks.
• Steve told Dugan that Bucky was alive, and Dugan urged him to bring Bucky back and take on Hydra or Shocker.
• Steve proposed rebuilding the Howling Commandos independently of S.H.I.E.L.D. to fight for Bucky.
• Dugan showed Steve a list of prospective recruits, and Steve agreed to begin recruiting them at once.

Joker ambushed Madame Gao and the Hand at a Fisk Construction site, using traps and chemical weapons to disrupt their takeover. Madame Gao ordered a retreat, but Joker’s clown-masked allies closed in as Daredevil watched from nearby.

• Madame Gao led the Hand into Fisk Construction’s No. 4 site and ordered them to claim it for the Hand.
• Joker revealed himself on the tower crane and taunted Madame Gao over the loudspeaker.
• Joker trapped three ninjas beneath a falling bucket of cement, then used acid-filled balloons against the Hand’s attackers.
• Madame Gao ordered the Hand to retreat after realizing Joker was a dangerous and unpredictable opponent.
• Joker fired a flare as clown-masked thugs surrounded the site, while Daredevil watched from a nearby rooftop.

Daredevil fought the Joker Gang and The Hand ninjas at Joker’s construction site, but Madame Gao ordered the ninjas to retreat before their strength was exposed. After they vanished into smoke and dust, Daredevil confronted Joker about the chaos, and Joker hinted that Daredevil had seemed in better spirits lately.

• Joker’s thugs and The Hand ninjas clashed at the construction site while Joker narrated the fight from a crane.
• Daredevil joined the battle and noticed the ninjas’ unusually slow heartbeats.
• Madame Gao canceled the mission when police sirens approached and the risk of attracting a powerful hero increased.
• The ninjas used smoke bombs to escape, leaving behind empty uniforms that dissolved into dust.
• Daredevil demanded answers from Joker, who denied stirring up trouble and asked whether Daredevil had found a new way to let off steam.

Daredevil confronted Joker at the construction site, where Joker admitted he had fabricated a treasure rumor to lure Kingpin and used an electric shock device against him. Daredevil knocked Joker unconscious and left him for the police, but Joker was still secretly laughing as they carried him away.

• Joker explained that he had posted a false rumor about an eternal-life treasure to lure Kingpin, and Daredevil angrily challenged him over the deaths and injuries.
• Joker shocked Daredevil with an electric device and taunted him by comparing him unfavorably to a richer hero with better equipment.
• Daredevil struck Joker's leg with his billy club, but Joker's attempt to trigger another trap failed when his remote malfunctioned.
• Daredevil knocked Joker unconscious with a blow to the back of his neck as police arrived and surrounded the construction site.
• Daredevil left Joker to the officers, who loaded him into a prison van without noticing that his mouth twitched as if he were laughing.

Joker revealed that he had let Daredevil capture him so he could be brought into the police station, where his gang broke out and unleashed a riot. As Joker armed himself to attack Sergeant Brett, chaos engulfed the station.

• Joker taunted a young detective during interrogation, then told Sergeant Brett that he had allowed Daredevil to catch him so he could enter the station.
• A Joker Gang member killed the young detective with a pen and attacked Brett with a stolen shotgun; Brett shot him, but the blast knocked Brett down.
• The Joker Gang escaped after Brett discovered that the inmates had swallowed and later retrieved the cell keys.
• Joker’s men freed him from the iron chair and rushed out to attack the station staff.
• Joker disarmed Brett, lit a cigarette, and picked up the shotgun, saying he would paint the walls red.

After settling in for the night, Matthew Murdock heard a massacre unfolding at the 15th Precinct and rushed there as Daredevil. He found the station destroyed by Joker’s laughing toxin and watched Sergeant Brett die, leaving him surrounded by the consequences of Joker’s latest attack.

• Matthew finished stitching his wounds and tried to sleep after Joker had been captured and the strange ninja organization had retreated.
• Matthew heard manic laughter and gunfire coming from the 15th Precinct, put on his mask, and rushed there.
• Daredevil found the police station filled with laughing victims and corpses, including officers, arrested rioters, and civilians.
• Daredevil heard Sergeant Brett’s failing heartbeat and found him beside a young trainee detective pinned to a wall.
• Brett conveyed that Joker’s men had released green gas and that hidden capsules had turned the precinct into a gas chamber.
• Daredevil tried to comfort Brett, but Brett died laughing as the remaining survivors gasped among the bodies.

After Sergeant Brett’s death, Daredevil pursued Joker with brutal resolve, tracking him from Turk Barrett’s gun shop to the Old Clinton Hotel. Joker’s recording revealed a factory producing canned happiness and threatened Luke Cage, leading Daredevil toward an abandoned chemical plant as a smiley-face firework lit the sky and laughter filled the night.

• Daredevil attacked Turk Barrett’s gun shop and forced Turk to reveal that Joker planned to broadcast from the Old Clinton Hotel’s tower.
• Daredevil found Joker’s prerecorded message at the tower, where Joker showed an assembly line producing cans of green liquid and named Luke Cage as a potential spokesperson.
• Daredevil identified the factory as an abandoned chemical plant once owned by Kingpin and heard laughter coming from its direction.
• A smiley-face firework rose above the chemical plant as Daredevil stood in the rain, listening to crowds laugh uncontrollably.

Joker attacked Luke Cage at his Harlem bar, but conventional weapons could not harm him. Joker poisoned Luke with neurotoxin and had him locked inside a chemical-waste truck, then headed for the Happy Factory.

• Luke Cage defended his bar from Joker Gang members and shrugged off a Minigun and their attacks.
• Joker confronted Luke, shot him at point-blank range, and watched the bullet shatter harmlessly.
• Luke broke Joker's arm, but Joker sprayed concentrated green neurotoxin into Luke's nose and mouth.
• The poison left Luke convulsing and laughing uncontrollably as Joker's men chained him up.
• Joker had Luke dragged into a garbage truck filled with chemical waste and ordered its lid welded shut.
• Joker set off for the Happy Factory and taunted Little Red Riding Hood about Luke being pickled.

The Joker failed to cut through Luke Cage’s skin and went looking for the ninjas’ blades, while Daredevil learned that Luke was supposedly sold to them at warehouse 13. The Joker revealed he had fabricated the story to lure Daredevil toward the docks and rallied Hell’s Kitchen’s gangs for a fight.

• The Joker tried saws, a scalpel, and a revolver on Luke Cage, then decided to seek out the ninjas’ sharp blades at warehouse 13.
• Daredevil tortured a clown-masked thug, who claimed the Joker had sold Luke Cage to the ninjas for experiments.
• Daredevil knocked the thug unconscious and raced toward the dock district.
• The Joker watched Daredevil on a monitor and revealed that the sale story was a lie meant to fool him.
• The Joker rallied the remaining gangs by claiming the ninjas had stolen their Christmas presents and called for a bonfire party at the docks.

Daredevil attacked the Hand’s warehouse to find the person he was seeking, but a mob of gangsters stormed in and turned the fight into a blood-soaked riot. As the Hand’s shipment burned and the violence escalated, Daredevil found himself unable to stop the chaos.

• Madame Gao ordered the Hand to load its Stark Industries weapons shipment and dismiss rumors that it had taken Luke Cage.
• Daredevil crashed into the warehouse and demanded that Madame Gao hand over the person he was looking for.
• Madame Gao ordered the ninjas to kill Daredevil, and he fought them with lethal force.
• A one-eyed gang leader drove a spiked dump truck through the doors, bringing hundreds of gangsters into the warehouse.
• The gangsters attacked the ninjas and set the weapons shipment on fire, while Daredevil shouted for everyone to stop.

Joker watched his planned gang battle collapse into a massacre when the Punisher arrived and attacked everyone in the warehouse. As Daredevil fought Frank Castle, Joker triggered four tons of explosives beneath the warehouse.

• Joker watched the mobsters and Hand ninjas fight through cameras while Daredevil tried to stop the violence.
• The Punisher entered the warehouse and opened fire on mobsters and ninjas alike, scattering the survivors.
• Daredevil confronted Frank and tried to stop him, but Frank attacked him and insisted the warehouse held only criminals and corpses.
• Joker realized he had forgotten to invite the Punisher and watched his gang members and cameras get wiped out.
• Joker decided to bring the finale forward and pressed the button detonating the explosives beneath the warehouse.

Daredevil and Frank survived the dock explosion, and Frank revealed he had come to find Luke Cage, who had saved his daughter’s friend. After Daredevil told him Luke had been taken west to a chemical plant, Frank headed there to rescue him and warned Daredevil not to interfere.

• Daredevil pulled Frank through the warehouse wall into the sea just before the explosives destroyed the dock and everyone inside.
• Daredevil confronted Frank about killing people, and Frank condemned Daredevil’s approach to stopping criminals.
• Frank asked about Luke Cage and showed Daredevil a photograph of Luke with a little girl, explaining that he owed Luke a life.
• Daredevil told Frank that a man dressed in purple had taken Luke west in a modified garbage truck full of chemical waste.
• Frank headed toward Kingpin’s former territory to find Luke, and Daredevil followed despite Frank’s warning that he would kill him if he got in the way.

Tifa reflected on Kara’s growing compassion and unusual ability to hear people’s hearts as she accompanied her to an interview with Lynn. Kara’s answers earned her a future public identity and job, but her question about whether Lynn was afraid went unanswered.

• Tifa recalled Kara heating an old woman’s coffee, wanting to help someone whose heart had stopped, and recognizing Homelander’s anger and fear beneath his smile.
• Lynn told Tifa to join Kara during the interview so she could serve as a familiar anchor.
• Kara told Lynn that the city needed quiet and that she wanted to see where Tifa grew up because it made Tifa’s heartbeat slow down.
• Kara said Homelander was unhappy and very afraid, and Lynn praised her answers and promised her a public identity and well-paid job.
• Kara asked Lynn whether he was afraid too, but Lynn left without answering.

Daredevil and the Punisher argued over their opposing ideas of justice before fighting off Joker Gang members and learning the location of the Happy Factory. Joker then taunted Daredevil over the radio, revealing that a friend was trapped in a pool and running out of time.

• Daredevil and the Punisher confronted each other over the deaths caused by Joker and the Punisher’s lethal methods.
• Three Joker Gang SUVs attacked them in an alley, and the two men disabled the vehicles and subdued the gang members.
• The Punisher interrogated a thug, learned that the Happy Factory was in Zone B of Kingpin’s old abandoned chemical plant, and killed him.
• Daredevil objected to the killing, but the Punisher gave him the thug’s walkie-talkie.
• Joker broadcast a taunt saying Daredevil’s friend was trapped in a pool and urging him to hurry.

Hannibal manipulated Misty Knight into abandoning her faith in procedural justice and pushing toward an illegal raid on Rattlesnake’s warehouse. That night, she rejected a direct shootout and searched police surveillance feeds for an excuse to break in.

• Hannibal served Misty Knight meat and argued that following procedure while Rattlesnake’s crimes continued was itself a betrayal of justice.
• Misty Knight ate the meal and left Hannibal’s clinic with renewed resolve, while Hannibal replayed their recorded conversation and reported that she had taken the bait.
• Hannibal told an unidentified caller that Misty Knight would soon enter their trap, then decided to find more prey for his dwindling supply of ingredients.
• At home, Misty Knight considered taking her unregistered revolver to Rattlesnake’s warehouse and killing the criminals, but she rejected the idea of becoming a vigilante.
• Misty Knight accessed NYPD surveillance feeds around the warehouse to search for a pretext to force her way inside, then removed her badge and threw it into the wastebasket.

Daredevil and the Punisher searched an abandoned factory for Luke Cage and found evidence of Joker’s torture and drug experiments. They discovered Luke transformed into a drug-controlled giant, and the Punisher aimed his shotgun at him as Daredevil tried to stop the confrontation.

• The Punisher and Daredevil entered the factory and followed signs of repeated dragging toward a hidden prison.
• They found empty cells and a modified dental chair, then read Joker’s blackboard describing his attempts to torture and “marinate” a tough guy.
• The Punisher smashed the blackboard, and he and Daredevil watched Joker’s recording taunting them and promising a gift in the backyard.
• A heavy figure burst through a wall, and Daredevil recognized the drug-altered Luke Cage, whose heartbeat showed that he was still alive.
• Daredevil tried to stop the Punisher from shooting Luke, but the Punisher said Luke could not be left to live in that condition as Luke’s body swelled further.

Punisher and Daredevil fought the monstrously enhanced Luke Cage, discovering that the canister on his back could be damaged but only seemed to drive him into greater frenzy. As Luke seized Daredevil, the chapter left his fate uncertain.

• Punisher and Daredevil attacked Luke, but bullets, clubs, and kicks failed to hurt him, and Luke struck Punisher through a wall.
• Punisher used flashbangs and smoke to cover their movements, but Luke twisted his rifle apart and knocked him down again.
• Daredevil spotted Luke’s canister, and Punisher’s grenade severed its tubes and made Luke bleed.
• Luke’s veins swelled as the remaining fluid pumped through the canister, so Punisher dragged Daredevil toward the exit.
• Daredevil broke free and called Luke by name; Luke briefly showed pain before lunging and lifting Daredevil above his head.

Daredevil and the Punisher fought the mutated Luke Cage, but Luke overwhelmed them and snapped Daredevil’s spine. The Punisher, out of ammunition and facing Luke alone, threw his last block of plastic explosive at him.

• Daredevil tried to reach the humanity he believed remained in Luke, while the Punisher fired armor-piercing rounds that failed to injure him.
• Luke slammed Daredevil into the factory floor, pinned him, and struck the Punisher into a pile of steel drums.
• Luke seized Daredevil by the shoulder and waist and twisted until Daredevil stopped struggling and apologized for failing to save him.
• Luke snapped Daredevil’s spine and released his limp body as the Punisher searched his empty gear for a weapon.
• The Punisher pulled out his last block of plastic explosive, armed its detonator, and threw it at Luke’s feet.