Synopsis
A series of disasters befalls a few major cities: a lightning storm suddenly appears in New York City and a tsunami hits Manhattan. Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman attempt to make it back into the Baxter Building, while the Thing attempts to hold off a whale that crashed through a window. Yellowjacket breaks out of Tony Stark's mansion looking for the Wasp. In the flooded streets of New York City, Bruce Banner appears to have drowned only to turn into the Hulk. Spider-Man attempts to help in rescue efforts. As Beast and Nightcrawler are caught in the tsunami, Angel carries an unconscious Dazzler from underwater to the top of a building. Iron Man rescues Captain America, reporting that many people have died and that he does not know where the rest of the Ultimates are. The Invisible Woman uses a massive force field to push all the water back out of the city without affecting civilians or buildings, but this puts her in a coma. In Latveria, Doctor Doom leaves his castle and discovers that everyone except him has been frozen. Professor X states that millions have died and telepathically informs many of the world's superheroes that Magneto is responsible for the destruction, having made use of a doomsday attack that Xavier knew he had but never believed he would use. Magneto is then revealed to be in a floating citadel with Thor's hammer Mjolnir.[2]
In the aftermath, the Human Torch is missing. Mister Fantastic searches for Namor, whom he believes to be responsible for the widespread destruction. Dazzler, Beast, and Nightcrawler are dead, and the rest of the X-Men begin searching for survivors. Hulk arrives and peacefully assists Spider-Man in rescue efforts. At the Triskelion, Iron Man arrives with an unconscious Captain America, who is put on life support. Hawkeye helps Yellowjacket search for the Wasp, but they discover the Blob eating her corpse. Enraged, the giant-sized Hank Pym bites off the Blob's head. Back at the Baxter Building, the Thing watches over a comatose Invisible Woman, whose powers lash out at him. Meanwhile, Doctor Doom and Zarda confront Reed Richards, and forge a plan to retrieve Nick Fury from the Supreme Power universe. Upon finding Valkyrie's lifeless body, Thor enters Valhalla to reclaim her soul. He is then confronted by Hela, who forces Thor to battle Hela's army of fallen warriors to reach Valkyrie. Captain America appears in Valhalla, implying that he has died. Meanwhile at Xavier's Institute for Gifted Children, Magneto confronts Professor X and tells him that the deaths of Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch have spurred him to exterminate the entire human race. When Professor X states that his motives have made him similar to Osama bin Laden, Pol Pot, and Adolf Hitler, Magneto kills Professor X and leaves.[3]
As the X-Men mourn their dead, Jean Grey telepathically learns of Professor X's death and informs the others. At Magneto's citadel, a Jamie Madrox clone arrives with a bomb strapped to his chest accusing Magneto of turning on his own kind, but Magneto is not dissuaded from his genocidal path. In Valhalla, Thor sacrifices himself to save Valkyrie and Captain America from Hela. Captain America then wakes up, now healed, and announces that Thor is dead. A horde of Jamie Madrox's duplicates—one of many suicide-bomber hordes dispatched by Magneto to blow up targets all over the world—attack the Triskelion just as Yellowjacket arrives. He instructs Iron Man to take Wasp's body and find a file titled "The Jocasta Project". He then carries all the Madrox clones out to sea where he allows himself to be blown up with them. Captain America orders the Ultimates to gather all the remaining heroes and lead them in an assault on Magneto's citadel.[4]
Kitty Pryde leaves to search for Spider-Man, who was caught in an explosion inside the Sanctum Sanctorum, the home of Doctor Strange. She and Spider-Woman find his mask, and assume he is dead.[5]
When Dormammu appears, Strange confronts him. Dormammu, who is channeling the Human Torch's flame, kills Doctor Strange. Meanwhile in the Supreme Power universe, Richards, Doom, Zarda, and Arcanna approach the exiled Nick Fury. Fury reveals that he knew of Magneto's plan and forces Doctor Doom to reveal that he is responsible for the Scarlet Witch's death. Doom explains that he killed her in an attempt to overthrow humanity himself, but never expected Magneto to seek vengeance upon the world. Mister Fantastic and Zarda are outraged that Doom instigated Magneto's mass murder. Back in the Ultimate Universe, the Ultimates and Wolverine confront Magneto at his citadel. Angel also arrives and is immediately killed by Sabretooth. Hawkeye blinds Sabretooth by shooting him through the eye. Magneto's arm is cut off by Valkyrie who is trying to reclaim Thor's hammer. Magneto slashes Valkyrie's throat, but this does not kill her. Captain America attacks Magneto. In response, Magneto collapses the ceiling on them, trapping them in the rubble. He flees and cauterizes his arm with his magnetic abilities. He is confronted by Cyclops, Phoenix, Wolverine, Storm, Hawkeye, and Iron Man.[6]
After controlling Cyclops' visor and Iron Man's lasers into hitting Wolverine, Magneto kills Wolverine by ripping the adamantium from his bones and affecting his cells in such a way that he cannot regenerate. Nick Fury arrives with Mister Fantastic, Doctor Doom, and Zarda, and implements his contingency plan. Using Jean's telepathy, Fury transmits his memories to Magneto, showing him that the existence of mutants was the result of a misguided genetic super-soldier experiment (the decades-ago merging of Nick Fury's super-soldier blood and the DNA of Wolverine, thereafter alternately known as "Mutant Zero") and not the "divine calling" that Magneto had long thought it was. Disillusioned, Magneto reverses the damage he had done to Earth's magnetic poles. Despite insisting that Professor X would have forgiven him, Cyclops disintegrates Magneto's head with his optic blast at Magneto's request. The heroes destroy the citadel and leave. Eight days later, the world has begun to recover from the devastation. Cyclops gives a speech in Washington D.C. before a crowd of anti-mutant protesters. He acknowledges Magneto's crimes, but pleads for peace between humans and mutants. He also announces that Congress is currently voting on a bill that will require all mutants to turn themselves in to the U.S. government or be shot on sight. However, Cyclops is fatally shot in the head by an unknown assassin. Meanwhile, Thing travels to Latveria and kills Doctor Doom after being informed by Reed Richards that in every one of millions of alternate scenarios he can come up with, the world suffers greatly under Doom's rule unless he is killed. At Mount Wundagore, Quicksilver is revealed to be alive and reveals that he had assassinated Cyclops. He then takes Magneto's helmet and swears to carry on his father's dream, all while in the presence of an unknown mastermind – a woman whose identity is hidden in the shadows.[7]
