Recaps

Luke’s expanding S.H.I.E.L.D. operations were interrupted when Namor McKenzie claimed responsibility for a tsunami in Florida and threatened New York over the government’s arrests of Mutants. Luke suspected Sebastian Shaw was behind the diplomatic incident.

• Luke reviewed S.H.I.E.L.D.’s growth and the progress of its laboratories, then admired the Manhattan apartment building he had purchased.
• Stryker called Luke with an emergency, prompting him to cancel his plans with Steve and fly to S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters.
• Carter showed Luke photographs of the tsunami that had devastated Anna Maria Island in Florida.
• Carter explained that Namor McKenzie had admitted causing the tsunami and threatened to strike New York unless the military stopped arresting Mutants.
• After Carter said S.H.I.E.L.D. had been discreetly monitoring young Mutants rather than conducting mass arrests, Luke named Sebastian Shaw as a possible cause.

Luke coordinated S.H.I.E.L.D.’s response to Namor McKenzie and Atlantis, then met with The President after Namor threatened to flood New York and attacked two aircraft carriers. The chapter ended with Luke calmly challenging The President over whether he was being blamed.

• Howard suggested using Leech Serum against Namor, but Carter argued that S.H.I.E.L.D. had to treat Atlantis as a diplomatic issue and seek negotiations.
• Luke asked about the search for the Hellfire Club, and Carter said Silver Fox Kayla might provide a lead on her sister, White Queen Emma.
• Luke suspected Sebastian Shaw of manipulating Namor and decided to focus on locating Namor while he went to meet The President.
• Luke flew to the White House, where The President told him that Namor had attacked two aircraft carriers and threatened to flood New York.
• Luke asked The President whether he was blaming him, leaving the Oval Office tense.

Luke reassured The President that Atlantis would not start a war and explained its ancient origins and Namor McKenzie’s motives. He promised to go to the Atlantic Ocean himself and show the Atlanteans that the Land World could defend itself.

• The President softened his tone and asked Luke where the Atlanteans had come from.
• Luke described Atlantis and Lemuria as ancient civilizations, then recounted how the Celestials shaped the Eternals, Deviants, and humanity and how Atlantis sank.
• Luke told The President that Namor McKenzie was Atlantis’s new king, a mutant driven by hatred of humans’ persecution of mutants.
• Luke explained that S.H.I.E.L.D. had not reported Atlantis because officials had previously dismissed evidence about mutants, and he assured the Chief of Staff that war would not come.
• Luke told The President that New York would not fall and promised to go to the Atlantic Ocean to confront the Atlanteans.

Luke rejected the White House and Pentagon’s pressure to suspend S.H.I.E.L.D.’s plans regarding Mutants, and headed to the Atlantic Second Fleet to secure temporary command. He arrived at the fleet’s aircraft carrier, intending to keep S.H.I.E.L.D. independent of the Army-Navy rivalry as tensions with Atlantis grew.

• Luke considered the government’s interest in Atlantis and rejected the idea that he should change his plans over Namor’s warnings.
• Luke called Colonel Phillips and asked him to seek temporary command of the Second Fleet through General Ingram and Chester Nimitz.
• Luke reflected on the Navy’s rivalry with the Army and suspected Navy leaders might want to see him fail over S.H.I.E.L.D.’s role in the Atlantis dispute.
• Luke told the pilot they had arrived at the Second Fleet and looked down at its aircraft carrier.

Luke took command of the Second Fleet and ordered a torpedo strike near Atlantis in response to Namor’s attack on two American carriers. Namor left Atlantis after hearing the explosions and rose from the sea, furious at the land-dwellers.

• Captain Brock told Luke how Namor and Atlantean warriors had seized the Lincoln and the Stennis, destroyed their aircraft and engines, and left both carriers stranded.
• Luke told Captain Brock he would bring the carriers back and ordered three usable carriers to launch torpedoes at the Strait of Gibraltar.
• Namor argued before Atlantis’s Council of Elders that Atlantis should stop hiding and make the Land World fear its power.
• Namor heard explosions outside the city, escaped the council meeting, and surfaced to find dead fish floating at sea.

Luke fought Namor at sea, overpowering him despite Namor’s command of storms and his trident. Namor returned battered but refused to surrender, leaving the battle unresolved.

• Luke ambushed Namor as he surfaced and punched him back into the sea.
• Captain Brock and the sailors watched in shock as Luke demonstrated his strength.
• Namor emerged with Neptune’s Trident and summoned dark clouds, waves, and waterspouts.
• Luke countered Namor’s lightning with Heat Vision and knocked him into the sea again.
• Luke scattered the waterspout, while Namor resurfaced barely able to hold his trident and prepared to keep fighting.

Namor summoned the Kraken with the Proteus Horn after Superman gained the upper hand, hoping to prove his strength and secure his rule over Atlantis. Superman killed the sea monster and turned back to the stunned Namor, leaving the trial unresolved.

• Namor vowed to prove his courage and raised the Trident, but then summoned the Kraken with the Proteus Horn.
• Atlantis's Council of Elders watched the battle and questioned Namor's right to rule if he lost to a land-dweller.
• Superman severed one of the Kraken's tentacles, blocked its attacks, and struck its head beneath the water.
• Superman grabbed a tentacle and used Heat Vision to kill the Kraken, then challenged the stunned Namor.

The Hellfire Club tried to extract Namor after Superman overwhelmed him, but Luke defeated the Atlantean king and took Neptune’s Trident. Sebastian Shaw then used Kenny to rescue Namor and reflected Luke’s Heat Vision, leaving Luke’s next move uncertain.

• Sebastian Shaw rejected the idea of abandoning Namor and ordered Riptide to raise a storm while Kenny carried him into the battle.
• Namor refused the White Queen’s order to retreat and continued fighting Luke with his trident and water attacks.
• Luke overpowered Namor in close combat, seized Neptune’s Trident, and pierced him with it while keeping him barely alive.
• Luke spotted Kenny carrying Sebastian Shaw and fired Heat Vision at them, but Kenny used Shaw as a shield.
• Sebastian absorbed Luke’s Heat Vision and reflected it at him, allowing Sebastian to catch Namor and flee.

Namor returned to Atlantis wounded and found that the Council of Elders had imprisoned Sebastian Shaw and the Hellfire Club, then defied his authority. After killing the nobles who challenged him, he ordered Atlantis to wage war on the Land World.

• Sebastian Shaw fled with Namor aboard a submarine, while Luke killed the abandoned Riptide with Neptune's Trident and kept the weapon.
• Namor woke in Atlantis after four hours of treatment and learned the Council of Elders had confined the Hellfire Club in the Water Prison.
• Namor confronted the nobles in the council hall, denounced their prejudice and traditions, and killed the noble who challenged him.
• Namor massacred the robed nobles as the guards entered the hall, while Sebastian Shaw and the White Queen watched.
• Namor took his throne and ordered Atlantis to make war on the Land World.

At S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Howard examined Namor’s Golden Trident while Carter warned him about its danger and discussed the threat Atlantis posed. At the White House, officials argued over whether to compromise with Atlantis and who should control the intelligence, until Rear Admiral Cavill arrived and announced that war was coming.

• Howard scanned Namor’s Golden Trident and speculated that its engraved characters gathered and directed energy, while Carter warned him not to touch it.
• Carter told Howard that Luke was at the White House, where officials were discussing Atlantis and preparing for a possible war.
• FBI Director Hoover argued that the United States should compromise with Atlantis and end S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Mutant program, but a War Department officer condemned his proposal.
• The Navy and War Department officials argued over S.H.I.E.L.D.’s responsibility for the Atlantis crisis and whether Rear Admiral Cavill had saved the fleet.
• Hoover asked the President to make S.H.I.E.L.D. share its intelligence, but the President defended the agency’s need for secrecy.
• Rear Admiral Cavill entered the Oval Office and told the officials that a war was coming.

Luke met with the President after pushing damaged aircraft carriers back to Norfolk and was appointed supreme commander for the response to Atlantis. He used the crisis to secure greater independence and authority for S.H.I.E.L.D., then presented a detailed plan to expand its operations.

• Luke pushed two damaged aircraft carriers back into Norfolk, earning widespread praise and increased fame.
• At the Oval Office meeting, the President and Pentagon generals discussed the threat posed by Namor McKenzie and Atlantis.
• Luke deflected responsibility for military planning, then proposed that Edgar Hoover take over S.H.I.E.L.D.; Hoover instead praised Luke and S.H.I.E.L.D.
• The President appointed Luke to lead the war plan against Atlantis and transferred Pentagon command authority to him.
• Luke proposed separating S.H.I.E.L.D. from the Pentagon and expanding its personnel, then outlined twenty-three detailed policies.

Luke secured the President’s approval for his expansive S.H.I.E.L.D. proposals, then visited Rogers in Brooklyn and invited him to join S.H.I.E.L.D. and return to action. Rogers accepted and joined Luke’s Invasion Team.

• Luke repeated and expanded his S.H.I.E.L.D. proposals until the President and generals approved his demands.
• Luke flew to Old Joseph Tavern in Brooklyn, where he greeted Old Joseph and reunited with Rogers.
• Rogers told Luke about his dreams of their youth, Bucky’s fall, and his loneliness after waking from the war.
• Luke urged Rogers to leave his uneventful office life and return to the battlefield with S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Rogers accepted Luke’s invitation, and Luke welcomed him to the Invasion Team.

After Atlantis’s existence became public, Namor consolidated his rule and considered ways to defeat Superman, while Sebastian proposed searching for the legendary Apocalypse. At S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Howard unveiled a miniature nuclear reactor and named the first nuclear submarine the Nautilus.

• Nations reacted to Atlantis’s emergence, while England failed to obtain useful intelligence and the ancient eastern nation dismissed the Atlanteans as a threat.
• Namor suppressed rebels in Poseidonia and discussed using war to unite Atlantis and strengthen his authority with Sebastian.
• Namor asked Sebastian how they could defeat Superman, and Sebastian suggested finding the sleeping Apocalypse to learn how to break mutant limits.
• Howard showed Luke and Captain America his miniature nuclear reactor, explaining that he had shifted from fusion research to a reactor for a nuclear submarine.
• Howard named the submarine Nautilus after Captain Nemo, then went to sleep while Luke considered how close the work brought them to the Arc Reactor.

Luke prepared nuclear submarine designs for the Atomic Energy Commission and planned to use Atlantis as leverage against the government while preparing for war. At Boston Harbor, Silver Fox met her estranged sister Emma, the White Queen, after Emma summoned her.

• Luke sent Howard's nuclear reactor model, blueprints, and calculations to the Atomic Energy Commission.
• Luke told Rogers that Atlantis was the priority and hinted that he had prepared a gift for Sebastian Shaw.
• Silver Fox used her ability to make a taxi driver forget seeing her and traveled to Warehouse Four in Boston Harbor.
• Silver Fox confronted Emma, the White Queen, who mocked her for serving humanity and betraying her own kind.
• Emma said she had expected Silver Fox to be happier to see her sister after years apart.

White Queen Emma warned her sister, Silver Fox Kayla, to leave S.H.I.E.L.D. before Atlantis invaded, but Kayla refused. Luke then planned to leak their meeting to drive a wedge between Emma and Sebastian Shaw.

• Emma recalled how her unstable telepathy and troubled childhood led her to leave home and join the Hellfire Club.
• Emma asked Kayla to leave S.H.I.E.L.D. before Atlantis launched its invasion, but Kayla declined.
• Emma left disappointed that Kayla had not joined her side.
• Carter reported the sisters' meeting to Luke and showed him the secretly taken photos.
• Luke ordered Carter to leak the meeting report through exposed Soviet agents to make Sebastian Shaw suspect Emma.
• Rogers criticized Luke and other tactical thinkers for their dirty hearts.

White Queen returned to Poseidonia as Atlantis prepared for war, then grew suspicious of Sebastian Shaw’s attempts to keep her close. Shaw had learned that she met her sister Silver Fox and identified her as a traitor, but decided to wait before acting against her.

• White Queen returned to Poseidonia and reflected on Atlantis’s military strength and Sebastian Shaw’s extreme plans for Mutants.
• Nova summoned White Queen to Shaw, and she read Nova’s mind but found no sign that anything was wrong.
• Shaw urged White Queen to be cautious and invited her to bring her Mutant sister into the Hellfire Club; White Queen suspected he was trying to reassure her.
• After White Queen left, Shaw revealed that Hydra had provided evidence of her meeting with Silver Fox and called her a traitor within the Hellfire Club.
• Shaw decided not to move against White Queen yet and reaffirmed his ambition to succeed where Hydra, the Red Skull, and the Third Reich had failed.

Luke explained Project Paperclip and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s ties to former Hydra members to a troubled Rogers, arguing that power and moral ideals could coexist. After Rogers left, Luke confronted Dr. Zola and said he wanted to join Hydra.

• Rogers questioned Luke about recruiting former Hydra members, and Luke explained the government’s motives and Project Paperclip’s history of recruiting Nazi scientists.
• Luke told Rogers that S.H.I.E.L.D. had also benefited from Hydra and urged him to separate personal principles from political realities.
• Rogers doubted whether he was suited to being Captain America, then left after Luke invited him to dinner.
• Luke revealed that he knew Hydra was using Project Paperclip to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D., and Dr. Zola insisted that he had switched sides.
• Luke praised Hydra’s organization and infiltration network, then told Dr. Zola that he wanted to join.

Luke told Dr. Zola he sincerely wanted to join Hydra, arguing that its changing loyalties and freedom from national interests aligned with his own goals. Dr. Zola stopped denying his connection to Hydra and admitted he had joined in hopes of attaining immortality of the mind.

• Dr. Zola dismissed Luke’s offer to join Hydra as a joke and claimed he had left the organization and found redemption in S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Luke explained that he wanted to free himself from the White House and the Pentagon, and said Hydra’s belief that the future had no flags appealed to him.
• Luke argued that Hydra’s infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. made him a valuable recruit and suggested that he, as Superman, was a more convincing figure to worship than the Inhuman God.
• Dr. Zola suspected Luke had access to secret Hydra intelligence, then conceded that Luke’s argument about his godlike abilities made sense.
• Dr. Zola admitted that Red Skull had promised the Inhuman God could grant immortality, and said he had joined Hydra seeking immortality of the mind.

Luke persuaded Dr. Zola that Hydra’s belief in the Inhuman God’s immortality was unfounded, then proposed taking control of Hydra by bringing it together with S.H.I.E.L.D. as “Hydra-Shield.” Dr. Zola was left questioning whether Luke intended to become Hydra’s sole leader.

• Luke told Dr. Zola that the Inhuman God could not grant immortality and asked why Hydra believed the claim.
• Dr. Zola explained that Hydra’s Far Star Project sent people and animals through a portal to the exiled Inhuman God, who had survived for thousands of years.
• Luke offered to help Hydra achieve its ambitions, then said its power should be concentrated by dealing with leaders such as Baron Strucker and Viper.
• Dr. Zola objected that Luke’s plan to become Hydra’s sole leader would cause S.H.I.E.L.D. to swallow the organization.
• Luke proposed combining the organizations as “Hydra-Shield” and becoming its first Director.

Luke enlisted Dr. Zola’s help in pursuing a S.H.I.E.L.D.-Hydra alliance, then advised The President after Atlantis attacked cities along the Atlantic coast. He explained that atomic bombs would likely not reach Atlantis’s Royal City and described how the Atlantean army relied on coastal fortresses.

• Luke proposed a Hydra-Shield merger, and Dr. Zola agreed while offering Baron Strucker’s location and warning of his dealings with Atlantis and the Hellfire Club.
• Luke and Dr. Zola toasted their new partnership, and Luke’s mission to become Hydra’s sole leader updated with the reward of unlocking the Kryptonian Spaceship.
• One week later, Atlantean forces attacked Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, and New York, while U.S. forces suffered defeats at sea.
• The President asked Rear Admiral Cavill for a plan, and Luke cautioned that atomic bombs would probably not harm Poseidonia, Atlantis’s Royal City.
• Luke told The President that Atlanteans could not remain on land for long and had to return to coastal fortresses to replenish their weapons and water.

Luke reassured the President that the United States could resist Atlantis and handed him a proposal for a World Security Council. Three days later, as Atlanteans prepared to land at Boston, Luke deployed Captain America and the Invasion Team to delay them while Howard completed a crucial task.

• Luke explained how air strikes, carrier groups, and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s refitted submarines could counter Atlantis's coastal fortresses, while keeping his Golden Trident secret.
• The President invited Luke to make a request, and Luke presented a thick proposal for establishing a World Security Council.
• Three days later, Luke observed Atlantean forces assembling in fortified positions at Boston Harbor and ordered the Navy's carrier formation to respond.
• Luke assigned Captain America to lead mechanized forces and National Guard troops in stopping the landing and buying Howard time to finish the final step.

Luke visited the New York Sanctum to meet the Ancient One, who had agreed to cooperate with him. She explained that Kamar-Taj could not help with the looming war between Atlantis and the Land World because the Hell Dimension was invading and the Sanctum had to defend its spacetime nodes.

• Luke arrived at the New York Sanctum and was welcomed inside by a mage while the Ancient One trapped his driver in a repeating time branch.
• Luke toured the Sanctum, saw its mages and Holy Knight Order members, and noticed magical artifacts including the Cloak of Levitation.
• The Ancient One met Luke in the Sanctum and asked why he was not at the front line as war between Atlantis and the Land World approached.
• Luke learned that the Sanctum could not intervene because it had to focus on the Hell Dimension's invasion and protect its spacetime nodes.

Luke tried to persuade the Ancient One to support his plan for preventing crises through preparation, but she remained skeptical and challenged his confidence about the war with Atlantis. They agreed to a bet, and the Ancient One revealed that Luke had become a promising magical talent and could study at Kamar-Taj; she then asked what performance he had planned.

• Luke told the Ancient One that he wanted to demonstrate how preparation could handle a grave crisis, but she argued that preventing every danger could cause worse consequences.
• The Ancient One explained that she understood Luke wanted to strengthen his influence by tying Kamar-Taj to the mundane world and S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Luke invited the Ancient One to watch his plan unfold during the war with Atlantis and promised not to intervene until Namor lost his temper and threatened everyone.
• Luke and the Ancient One made a bet, with Luke asking for a chance to learn magic if his theory proved persuasive.
• The Ancient One said Luke had gone from having almost no magical affinity to possessing the talent of a great sorcerer, and she welcomed him to study at Kamar-Taj.
• Luke declined the possibility of becoming the next Sorcerer Supreme, and the Ancient One asked what performance he intended to show her.

Luke showed the Ancient One the battle for Boston and said Captain America had just entered the field. Rogers took command of the American forces, broke through the Atlantean advance, and left the Legion Commander stunned by his strength.

• Luke asked the Ancient One to watch Boston through the World Window, where Atlantean forces overwhelmed the US Army.
• Rogers arrived and told a senior officer that Luke would not come because he had more important things to do.
• Rogers took command, ordered the troops to regroup, and led a counterattack that raised their morale.
• Rogers stopped an Orca Corps warrior and defeated him, then destroyed a Small Mobile Fortress with blasts from his eyes.
• Rogers fought off the Atlantean barrage, used a fallen spear against charging warriors, and knocked down the Legion Commander with his shield.

Luke and Ancient One watched the battles in Boston and Philadelphia as the U.S. forces fought Atlantis. Stryker briefed the mutant squad on its mission to use Kayla to control the Seahorse Legion’s commander.

• Captain America used his twenty-four layers of enhancement to break through the Orca Corps, allowing the U.S. forces to counterattack in Boston.
• Ancient One explained that Atlantis’s main battle was in New York and identified the Seahorse Legion attacking Philadelphia as the next threat.
• Sabretooth challenged Wolverine to a killing contest, while Wolverine focused on Silver Fox Kayla and Sabretooth warned him not to trust women.
• Stryker told the mutant squad that the Seahorse Legion coordinated its flying boats through mental links and ordered Kayla to control its hidden commander.