Recaps

Luke attacked Apocalypse with a Tenth Metal sword and forced him to recognize the weapon's deadly power. Their battle continued with Apocalypse fighting back, but Luke revealed a magical trick that left hundreds of copies of himself surrounding him.

• Luke struck Apocalypse with the Tenth Metal sword, cutting off his arm and nearly cleaving him in two.
• Apocalypse regenerated his arm and rejected Luke's demand that he respect the laws and will of the new era.
• Apocalypse created a bronze war spear and charged Luke, but Luke split the spear and shattered Apocalypse's chest armor with his sword.
• Luke opened a spatial passage and attacked Apocalypse, who blocked the blade and countered with another spear.
• Apocalypse struck what appeared to be Luke, only for the figure to dissolve into airflow as hundreds of Lukes appeared around him.

Luke fought Apocalypse above Las Vegas, overwhelming him despite the mutant’s many destructive powers. After Apocalypse crashed into the city and struggled to rise, Luke condemned him to execution on the spot.

• Luke used Ikonn’s Form and swung his Tenth Metal sword at Apocalypse, who unleashed lightning, frost, and destructive sound waves.
• The Phoenix abandoned its attempt to escape its lightning cage, while Captain America, Howard, and Mephisto watched the battle from Hell Hotel.
• Apocalypse escaped Luke’s sword strike through a passage in space and fired an energy cannon, while Luke answered with Heat Vision that destroyed nearby skyscrapers.
• Luke struck Apocalypse with an iron fist, sending him through buildings and into a trench, then blamed him for the damage to Las Vegas.
• Apocalypse asked Luke how he would deal with him, and Luke sentenced him to execution before charging forward.

Superman defeated Apocalypse’s desperate attacks and prevented his self-destruction from harming the city by feeding him to the Phoenix. The Phoenix disappeared in the resulting explosion, while Captain America watched in confusion.

• Apocalypse was battered by Superman’s blows and tried to ambush him with a road roller and Sunspot’s explosive energy.
• Apocalypse threatened to destroy the city in a suicide attack, but Superman endured the blast and seized him.
• Superman carried the nearly exploding Apocalypse toward the Phoenix, which panicked and begged him to stay away.
• Superman stuffed Apocalypse into the Phoenix, and the explosion scattered invisible shockwaves through the clouds.
• Superman thanked the Phoenix for its sacrifice, while Captain America wondered where the flaming Phoenix had gone.

After the Phoenix Force saved Las Vegas, Luke absorbed some of its scattered fragments but decided not to pursue becoming its host. As Apocalypse’s followers began to disperse, a Phoenix fragment entered the young Erik, and other potential hosts emerged around the world.

• Luke absorbed a Phoenix Force fragment, regained his strength, and glimpsed the Phoenix’s true form in the White Hot Room.
• Luke left Captain America to coordinate Las Vegas’s recovery and arranged a charity gala at the Hell Hotel.
• Caliban declared that Apocalypse had fallen, while Erik proposed that the Mutants split up and go their separate ways.
• Caliban took charge of the Mutants by offering to secure money and identity documents, and Erik was forced to follow the group.
• A Phoenix fragment entered Erik, while other fragments reached potential hosts, including a Mutant at the school in Westchester and a young man imprisoned in Atlantis.

Luke woke to Howard’s account of an exhausting night with a succubus at Hell Hotel. Meanwhile, Caliban’s group sheltered near a California highway, where Erik had a high fever and Caliban seized a passing doctor for help.

• Luke let Howard into his suite and listened as Howard described spending eight hours with a succubus.
• Howard said he wanted to return to New York and focus on scientific research, but Luke’s mention of female Angels revived his interest.
• At a motel near a California highway, Caliban learned Erik had a high fever and complained that the Mutants had no doctor.
• A couple stopped at the motel, and Caliban ordered the man, who worked at a Los Angeles hospital, to help them.
• Caliban’s men lifted the couple’s car and surrounded the family to prevent them from leaving.

After reporting on the Nevada disaster, Luke returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. and assigned plans for Apocalypse’s remaining followers, Hydra, and the expanding Vampire families. He finished preparing the agency for his eventual journey to the sea of stars and left to attend Steve’s wedding.

• Luke met with the White House about the losses and casualties in Las Vegas, then flew to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.
• Peggy reported that sixteen of Apocalypse’s disciples and followers remained unaccounted for, and Luke ordered them kept under control.
• Luke decided to remove Logan and Victor from teaching duty and send them to deal with Apocalypse’s followers.
• Peggy briefed Luke on Dr. Zola and Baron Strucker’s Hydra alliance, and Luke planned to use them to consolidate Hydra under his control.
• Peggy reported that Serena’s Vampire family had destroyed Ghoul Clan strongholds, and Luke allowed the Corvinus Family to keep expanding under S.H.I.E.L.D.’s watch.
• Peggy realized Luke was preparing for a long journey and promised to manage S.H.I.E.L.D.; Luke left to attend Steve’s wedding.

Steve married Margie at Howard's Long Island estate, where Luke arranged an elaborate celebration. At the reception, Bucky's memories stirred as he watched his best friend marry, and he asked Luke for vodka.

• Luke stopped Steve from holding the wedding at Old Joseph's Bar and arranged the ceremony at Howard's estate.
• Luke told Steve that Howard was recovering from illness and would skip the celebration and banquet.
• Luke described the prominent political, military, and business guests he had invited to make the wedding grand for Margie.
• Steve and Margie exchanged vows and rings before their guests.
• Bucky sat apart from the celebration, drank cocktails, and felt memories surface as he watched Steve and Margie.
• Bucky told Luke that his best friend had married but he did not feel as happy as he expected, then asked for vodka.

Logan and Sabretooth investigated a disappearance near Highway One while Apocalypse’s followers waited for the feverish Erik to recover. When Erik awakened, he revealed his magnetic powers, killed Caliban, and declared himself Magneto, an Apostle of the Phoenix.

• Logan and Sabretooth drove toward California to investigate missing people believed to be connected to Apocalypse’s followers.
• Sabretooth complained that Logan had grown tame because of his relationship with Kayla, while Logan defended his life with her.
• At a motel near Highway One, Caliban threatened a doctor who could not explain why Erik’s fever would not break.
• Erik awakened and used his magnetic powers to make the motel shake and metal objects circle him.
• Erik extracted iron from Caliban’s body, formed a metal pellet, and killed him with it.
• Erik rose through the roof and declared himself an Apostle of the Phoenix and Magneto.

Wolverine and Sabretooth investigated the destroyed motel and agreed to work with Nick Fury to track Apocalypse’s Disciples. At Cahill’s Academy, Charles was struck by a fiery crystal fragment that caused his psychic power to surge out of control, and Emma knocked him unconscious to stop the school-wide shockwave.

• Wolverine and Sabretooth arrived at the ruined motel and learned that witnesses had seen Mutants involved in the destruction.
• Nick Fury introduced himself, explained that the site had suffered a powerful electromagnetic pulse, and asked the brothers to help contain Apocalypse’s Disciples.
• Wolverine and Sabretooth agreed to cooperate with Fury, then split up to follow different trails by scent.
• Raven teased Charles about Ms. Frost’s relationship with Superman, and Charles released psychic power in an attempt to quiet her.
• A fiery crystal fragment crashed into Charles’s mind, causing his psychic ability to erupt uncontrollably and knock Raven unconscious.
• Emma reached Charles and struck his neck, stopping the psychic shockwave and leaving him unconscious.

After becoming an Apostle of the Phoenix, Black Queen Selene traveled to Atlantis to recruit the imprisoned Namor as an ally. She reached the prison and found him alive but gravely injured and powerless.

• Selene accepted a fragment of the Phoenix Force and gained new power as an Apostle.
• Selene decided to seek Namor in Atlantis because she needed Mutant allies.
• Captain Stefan and his submarine crew became infatuated with Selene and helped her reach Atlantis.
• Selene passed the Ocean Legion's inspections and entered Atlantis's underwater prison.
• Selene found Namor imprisoned in a damp cell, unable to stand after his defeat.

Namor languished in an Atlantis prison, crippled and consumed by hatred for Superman, until Selene offered him strength and revenge in exchange for signing a contract. After accepting a fragment of the Phoenix Force, Namor learned that his first task was to restrain Superman.

• Namor struggled through imprisonment and dehydration, blaming Superman for his defeat and lost crown.
• Selene visited Namor and claimed she could save him and help him reclaim Atlantis.
• Selene offered Namor the Phoenix Force and used life energy to restore his movement and strength.
• Namor signed Selene's contract and accepted a fragment of the Phoenix Force.
• Selene told Namor to deal with Superman and restrain his movements.

Namor agreed to help Selene distract Superman while she prepared a mass-sacrifice ritual in London, though he demanded time to see the surface first. Back in Washington, Luke learned of the Phoenix Force's effects at Mutant Academy and then heard that Namor had contacted S.H.I.E.L.D. to report Selene's plan.

• Selene persuaded Namor to hold Superman off for about half an hour during her ascension ritual, promising to take him to a safe dimensional world afterward.
• Namor agreed to help Selene but asked to see the world above water and breathe fresh air first.
• Luke reviewed reports that Charles's psychic powers had gone out of control, injuring students at Mutant Academy, while Magneto remained at large after defeating Wolverine and Sabretooth.
• Luke advised sending agents to find Magneto and having Emma help Charles control the Phoenix Force.
• Stryker told Luke that Namor had contacted S.H.I.E.L.D. to report Selene's plan to carry out a mass extermination in London, and Luke asked where Namor was.

Luke met Namor in Boston and praised him for reporting Selene’s plan to massacre London, then asked him to reveal her location. When Selene returned to her hotel, Namor and Luke confronted her and announced her arrest.

• Luke met Namor at a S.H.I.E.L.D.-controlled seafood restaurant in Boston.
• Luke praised Namor for reporting Selene’s planned massacre of London and called his actions heroic.
• Luke asked Namor to tell him where Selene was, offering to have S.H.I.E.L.D. stop pursuing his prison escape.
• Selene waited at a Boston hotel and fantasized about using an ascension ritual to become a god.
• Namor returned to the hotel with Luke, who told Selene she had been exposed and ordered her to come with them.

Luke protected Namor from Mephisto’s claim by marking his soul with Death God power, then confronted Selene over her crimes. Selene sought leniency, and Luke extracted her soul and bound it as both protection and a restraint.

• The Black Queen invoked Namor’s broken soul contract, but Luke used the Death God Scepter to block Hell’s claim and mark Namor’s soul for his Netherworld.
• Luke shattered Mephisto’s flaming face and challenged the Hell Lord to confront him in the mortal world.
• Selene realized Luke was a Death God and, facing charges, asked for leniency rather than trying to defend herself.
• Luke postponed his plan to shoot Selene, but declared that she would pay with her freedom and life.
• Luke invoked Vishanti, pulled Selene’s soul from her body, and placed a Death God mark on it as protection and a shackle.

Luke returned to the Mutant School, gave Emma the main fragment of the Phoenix Force, and subdued the fragment inside Charles. He left the school planning to gather the remaining Phoenix Hosts and bring the Phoenix Force together.

• Luke decided to send Namor back to Atlantis to support the monarchy and use Selene's magical skills for the Magical Congress.
• Luke returned to the Mutant School, where Emma told him that entering Charles's mind had left her exhausted and injured.
• Luke gave Emma the main Phoenix Force fragment, which she absorbed in Diamond Form.
• Luke found Charles unconscious in the underground medical room and entered his mental world to confront the Phoenix fragment.
• Luke struck the flame phoenix with a hand formed from the pure white light of the Vishanti, forcing it to submit.

Luke helped Charles recover after the Phoenix Force overwhelmed him, then arranged for Magneto to join Mutant Academy and compete in the class monitor election. As Erik and Charles clashed at school, Luke received an urgent warning from another universe's Kamar-Taj but chose to delay responding.

• Luke subdued the Phoenix Force in Charles's mind, and Charles woke with his memories of the incident fragmented.
• Luke comforted Charles, told him Raven was safe, and said a new student would soon join his class.
• Agent Zero, Namor, and the Black Queen delivered the escaped Erik to S.H.I.E.L.D., and Luke advised Emma Frost to involve him in the class monitor election.
• Erik introduced himself as a candidate, faced jeers led by Raven, and spoke louder while viewing Charles as his rival; Charles applauded, but Erik called him a hypocrite.
• Stephen Strange sent Luke an urgent message through Vishanti warning that another universe was in danger, but Luke replied that the Sorcerer Supreme was busy.

Luke dismissed Stephen Strange’s request for help, leaving Strange to face a vision of an impending apocalypse on his own. While Strange sought advice from Old Wang, he learned that Asgard had sealed its passages, matching the first sign in his vision.

• Luke sent Strange the message that the deceased was unavailable and returned to work.
• Strange, alarmed by visions of Earth and Asgard falling, decided to consult Old Wang after Luke refused to help.
• Strange found Old Wang drinking with Thor, who complained that Loki had left him for another version of Thor.
• Strange learned Thor could not enter Asgard because Heimdall said Odin had sealed the passages of the Nine Realms.
• Strange recognized Asgard’s sealed gates as the first step of the catastrophe he had foreseen.

Strange used the Eye of Agamotto to trace Asgard’s history and discovered that Odin had an older brother who was chosen as king before the two turned against each other. After researching through the night, Strange identified the hidden figure as the Serpent, Kur, the God of Fear.

• Strange used the All-Seeing Eye and the Time Stone to search Asgard’s history for the source of the coming crisis.
• Strange witnessed King Bor’s war against Malekith and noticed that Bor stood beside two sons, including a black-haired young man atop the Serpent’s head.
• Strange discovered that Bor had chosen Odin’s older brother as heir, and that the brother later fought Odin after Odin gained Rune Magic.
• The historical vision ended as Odin raised Gungnir over his wounded brother, leaving Strange unsure whether the brother had died.
• Strange searched ancient texts through the night and identified Odin’s concealed older brother as the Serpent, Kur, the God of Fear.

Sin-Cynthia joined forces with Baron Zemo to seek power in Red Skull’s hidden past, uncovering the origins of a lightning-delivered hammer and the prophecy tied to it. In Antarctica, she lifted The Hammer of Skadi and transformed in a burst of power as Odin sighed in Asgard.

• Sin-Cynthia told Baron Zemo she sought a Skull Book bound in Atlantean skin, and he led her to Red Skull’s underground fortress in Egypt.
• Sin-Cynthia found the book and revealed that Red Skull had used its ritual to summon a powerful object from the sky.
• A flashback showed Red Skull tracking the lightning to Antarctica, where he found a hammer embedded in ice and imprisoned the Thule Society to study it.
• In the present, Sin-Cynthia and Baron Zemo broke into the abandoned Antarctic fortress and found the ice-sealed hammer.
• Sin-Cynthia recited the ancient words, lifted The Hammer of Skadi, and appeared in green metal armor as Odin sighed on his throne.

Luke was summoned by Ancient One to intervene in another universe after Vishanti judged the crisis urgent. He arrived amid a battle and faced Krus, the Crusher, as the giant attacked him with a warhammer.

• Luke reviewed the progress of Baron Strucker and Dr. Zola's campaign against rival Hydra factions.
• Ancient One opened a portal and asked Luke to help resolve a severe crisis in another universe on Vishanti's behalf.
• Luke agreed to treat the journey as a business trip and crossed from Universe 1024 through Ancient One's portal.
• Luke arrived in a smoking battlefield, where Krus, the Crusher, roared and swung his warhammer at him.

A hammer empowered by Serpent Kur fell onto Ryker's Island and corrupted Red Tank, who attacked the arriving Superman. Superman subdued him and asked the Thunderbolts to take him to the Avengers.

• Luke Cage prepared Red Tank and the Thunderbolts for a new mission at Ryker's Island.
• A blazing object crashed into the island, nearly sinking it, and Red Tank found a hammer at the impact site.
• Red Tank lifted the hammer, became possessed by Serpent Kur's influence, and attacked Superman.
• Superman blocked Red Tank's blows, severed his hand, and struck him twice with the hammer, sending him into the Hudson River.
• Superman left the corrupted hammer behind and asked who could take him to the Avengers.

Luke returned to New York, defeated Red Tank on Ryker’s Island, and received a welcome from Kamar-Taj’s mages. After hearing about Serpent Kur’s hammer-wielding followers and the prophecies of Ragnarok and Thor’s death, Luke planned to meet the Avengers and discuss what to do next.

• Luke Cage watched the damage on Ryker’s Island and asked Superman who he was.
• Strange and Mordo arrived with Kamar-Taj’s mages and welcomed Luke as the Sorcerer Supreme.
• Luke accepted the Eye of Agamotto from Strange and said he would meet the Avengers to discuss a plan.
• Luke explained that Odin had sealed Serpent Kur beneath the sea after prophecies foretold Ragnarok and Thor’s death.
• Strange warned Luke that Serpent Kur’s eight hammers had found their owners, but Luke said they were nothing to fear.

Luke brought Strange to Avengers headquarters and warned the Avengers that Serpent Kur's divine hammers would turn their hosts into servants of Fear God-force. He revealed that Bruce Banner was in danger in Brazil, leaving the Avengers to confront the threat.

• Strange brought Luke to Avengers headquarters, where Luke explained that Kamar-Taj would keep the Shatterer of Stone Hammer because its Fear God-force could corrupt ordinary people.
• Maria Hill escorted Luke and Strange to a meeting with Iron Man, Captain America Bucky, and the other Avengers after S.H.I.E.L.D. could not identify Luke in its database.
• Luke identified the eight divine hammers and explained that Serpent Kur's awakening had sent them around the world to find hosts.
• Luke warned the Avengers to send someone to Brazil because a divine hammer had found Bruce Banner and would soon transform him like Red Tank.
• When Tony Stark questioned Luke's certainty, Luke said he knew because he was the Sorcerer Supreme.

Luke identified the Hammer of the Breaker of Worlds as a threat and warned the Avengers that more Hammer Worthy would emerge. Bruce Banner found the hammer and became an enraged Hulk, while Sin-Cynthia descended into the deep sea with Skadi’s hammer to summon Kur.

• Luke told the Avengers he was the Sorcerer Supreme, then learned Hulk had appeared in São Paulo and urged S.H.I.E.L.D. to prepare for more Hammer Worthy.
• Bruce Banner found a blazing crater near his campsite and became fixated on the black iron hammer inside it.
• Bruce grabbed the hammer, received the name Null, Breaker of Worlds, and transformed into Hulk as rage overwhelmed him.
• Hulk leaped toward São Paulo and rampaged through the city, causing heavy casualties.
• Sin-Cynthia dove into the deep sea with the Hammer of Skadi and called for the return of Kur.

S.H.I.E.L.D. struggled to contain the worldwide destruction caused by Serpent Kur’s Hammer Worthy, while Luke learned that Thor had returned to Kamar-Taj after fleeing Asgard. Luke decided to confront Odin in Asgard before dealing with Serpent Kur’s followers.

• Bucky briefed S.H.I.E.L.D. leaders on the Hammer Worthy attacks spreading across the world and activated the Helicarrier to support the response.
• Sam questioned why Thor was not helping, and Bucky explained that Asgard had closed the Bifrost and could not be reached.
• Maria Hill asked for the Sorcerer Supreme’s aid, but Bucky said Luke would appear when he was needed most.
• Luke found Thor asleep and out of shape in a Kamar-Taj residence, and Strange explained that Thor had returned after Loki went back to Asgard.
• Luke told Strange to wake Thor and announced that he would go to Asgard to confront Odin before dealing with Serpent Kur’s followers.