The recent release of the book "Marvel Studios' The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline" requires a lot of analysis. Members of WikiProject:Timeline team are working on editing pages in response to the information revealed in the book. If you wish to contribute, please do not immediately edit these pages, and instead visit the Timeline Discussion.
(Runaways: 2,1 - Gimmie Shelter 2018 events (January 8-9, 2018) placed on timeline. Credit to Marvelus for the writing, I proofread/edited it and wrote the season placement reference.)
*Jonah meets with his daughter, Karolina Dean, who had been the one to text him, in secret. Dean wants to learn who she is, but before they can start talking, an earthquake occurs, and Jonah tells her that "it's starting".<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R201"/>
*Jonah meets with his daughter, Karolina Dean, who had been the one to text him, in secret. Dean wants to learn who she is, but before they can start talking, an earthquake occurs, and Jonah tells her that "it's starting".<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R201"/>
+
*The [[Runaways]] are woken by the earthquake. [[Nico Minoru]] notices [[Karolina Dean]] is missing.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*[[Jonah]] says he wants Dean to meet her family on his side, and teaches Dean how to control her powers without her bracelet, so that she can uses them whenever she wants.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*Dean returns to the [[Hostel]], where the rest of the Runaways are worried, but she assures them she just went for a walk. [[Alex Wilder]] informs them that he is leaving for "work", and reveals that he is working for [[Darius Davis]], to everyone's surprise. Wilder leaves, and Karolina Dean, [[Nico Minoru]] and [[Molly Hernandez]] decide to recover the [[Staff of One]] so thy can destroy the hole from the [[PRIDE Construction Site]].<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*At the [[PRIDE Foundation Facility]], the parents discuss the recent earthquake likely being a foreshock due to Jonah's plans, but decide it is not nothing to worry about quite yet. [[Janet Stein]] informs the team that she has to go, and the Wilders decide to stay monitoring the surveillance feeds and alert the others if their children are found.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*Janet Stein meets with Jonah and brings him all the data [[Victor Stein|Victor]] had about how to build the [[Dematerialization Box]]. Jonah shows Janet that Victor is still alive, held within a capsule while he recovers.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*'''[[Infiltration into the Minoru Mansion]]''': Dean, Minoru, and Hernandez break into [[Minoru Mansion]] in order to retrieve the Staff of One. Unbeknownst to them, [[Robert Minoru]] is inside and starts to follow them.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*[[Geoffrey Wilder|Geoffrey]] and [[Catherine Wilder]] discussing having [[LAPD]] cancel the search for the kids, so they will stop running and be easier to find. Geoffrey gets a call from Janet Stein.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*Alex Wilder goes to Davis' house and offers to help them with the boxes from moving house. Wilder asks for the old computer in the basement, saying he needs some parts.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*At the Hostel, Chase Stein finds a Rolls Royce car. He approaches [[Gert Yorkes]], but she is rude to him. They have a talk heart-to-heart where they decide to properly begin a relationship. Stein comforts his girlfriend, who admits that is hard for her to be calm without her medication. HE kisses her before deciding to fix the Hostel's electricity.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*[[Robert Minoru]] tries to talk to his daughter, who refuses to return to him and Tina. Nico then goes outside of the house to face her mother, who is wielding the Staff of One.
+
<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*A fight breaks out between Tina Minoru and Nico, Dean, and Hernandez. Tina throws Hernandez into their swimming pool and freezes it, leaving her to drown under the ice. Dean tries to help but is knocked down. Nico tells her mother that what she is doing is the reason [[Amy Minoru|Amy]] died, because she is a monster obsessed with power and does not love her family.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202">''[[Radio On|Runaways: 2.02: Radio On]]''</ref>
+
*Tina Minoru frees Hernandez and approaches her daughter, deciding to give her the Staff of One as she needs it more than her, stating her offence that her daughter thinks she does not love her. However, Tina threatens Nico, telling her that if she takes the staff, the next time they see each other their relationship will no longer be as mother and daughter. Nico takes the staff nonetheless, and the trio of friends leave.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*Robert Minoru questions Tina's actions, but Tina says she did not believe Nico would take the staff. Robert worries about Nico's control over the staff, with Tina having had problems with it before and it now being in the hands of a volatile 16-year-old.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*On their way to the [[Hostel]], Hernandez rests while Karolina and Nico argue about losing the fight. Nico proposes to train harder and be more strong and work as a team but Karolina gets mad because of Nico's claims that Karolina got defeated by Tina. Karolina tells her that they are not Superheroes and that they are not good at it as she apologizes for disappointing her girlfriend.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*[[Janet Stein]] brings Geoffrey Wilder the book Catherine used for the sacrifices, saying that it could contain information on Jonah's ancestry. Geoffrey is skeptical that it could work, as it is in another language only Jonah knows.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*Chase tries to reconnect the electricity from the [[Hostel]], but accidentally causes a blackout nearby. He tries to fix it.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*While they are having dinner, [[Darius Davis]] gives [[Alex Wilder]] more money. [[Livvie]] flirts momentarily with Wilder. Then she proceeds to make Alex a new hair style, they talk about his runaway status. Livvie kisses him.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*Some electricians approach the Hostel in order to sort the nearby facility power cut. Yorkes enters the Hostel and instructs [[Old Lace]] to scare the workers, which works. The situation gives Stein enough distraction to steal some batteries from the workers' truck and restore the energy. He then kisses Yorkes.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*Nico Minoru, Karolina Dean, and Molly Hernandez arrive back at the Hostel. Nico tells them that tomorrow they will start training to learn how to use their powers better and work as a team.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*Nico Minoru apologizes to Karolina Dean for lashing out at her for not controlling her powers in the fight with her mother. They go to bed together.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*Gert approaches Molly to comfort her after their experience fighting Tina and seeing a dead body, however, Hernandez rejects her claiming that she wants to be alone. Hernandez escapes from the Hostel using her cap as a mask and proceeds to train herself.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*Meanwhile, Janet Stein starts working on translating he book to see how to build a Dematerialization Box for Jonah, in order to ensure Victor's safety.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*Catherine Wilder tells her husband that [[Flores (LAPD)|Flores]] has told her in order to get the charges removed from their children, they need to frame someone else for [[Destiny Gonzalez]]'s murder, and she has an idea who.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
+
*While Livvie and Alex Wilder say goodbye to each other, Darius Davis calls Geoffrey and tells him that he knows where his son is.<ref name="R2 December 2017-January 2018 Placement"/><ref name="R202"/>
{{Expand}}
{{Expand}}
−
*'''[[Infiltration into the Minoru Mansion]]'''.<ref>''[[Radio On|Runaways: 2.02: Radio On]]''</ref>
====10th====
====10th====
Revision as of 04:47, 8 December 2019
"It's our policy not to comment on ongoing operations."
The specific order and/or accurate dates presented in this article has never been confirmed by Marvel Studios.
They have been inferred by fans and therefore they can be inaccurate, incomplete, or biased.
"Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same... and now, it's here. Or should I say... I am."
Chase of Mike: At the homeless camp where the Runaways are staying, the group are woken when the young man who stole the Fistigons, nicknamed Mike on a Bike, causing problems as he tries using them. The Runaways proceed to chase him out of the camp and to a nearby hill in order to retrieve the gloves. They manage to scare him with the help of Old Lace to make him leave the Fistigons, but Karolina Dean falls into a hole in the hill. As the group go to check on her, they find she is safely flying, and has accidentally discovered an abandoned hostel.[1][2]
The teenagers decide to set up in the buried hostel and start living there.[1][2]
9th
Jonah meets with his daughter, Karolina Dean, who had been the one to text him, in secret. Dean wants to learn who she is, but before they can start talking, an earthquake occurs, and Jonah tells her that "it's starting".[1][2]
Jonah says he wants Dean to meet her family on his side, and teaches Dean how to control her powers without her bracelet, so that she can uses them whenever she wants.[1][3]
Dean returns to the Hostel, where the rest of the Runaways are worried, but she assures them she just went for a walk. Alex Wilder informs them that he is leaving for "work", and reveals that he is working for Darius Davis, to everyone's surprise. Wilder leaves, and Karolina Dean, Nico Minoru and Molly Hernandez decide to recover the Staff of One so thy can destroy the hole from the PRIDE Construction Site.[1][3]
At the PRIDE Foundation Facility, the parents discuss the recent earthquake likely being a foreshock due to Jonah's plans, but decide it is not nothing to worry about quite yet. Janet Stein informs the team that she has to go, and the Wilders decide to stay monitoring the surveillance feeds and alert the others if their children are found.[1][3]
Janet Stein meets with Jonah and brings him all the data Victor had about how to build the Dematerialization Box. Jonah shows Janet that Victor is still alive, held within a capsule while he recovers.[1][3]
Geoffrey and Catherine Wilder discussing having LAPD cancel the search for the kids, so they will stop running and be easier to find. Geoffrey gets a call from Janet Stein.[1][3]
Alex Wilder goes to Davis' house and offers to help them with the boxes from moving house. Wilder asks for the old computer in the basement, saying he needs some parts.[1][3]
At the Hostel, Chase Stein finds a Rolls Royce car. He approaches Gert Yorkes, but she is rude to him. They have a talk heart-to-heart where they decide to properly begin a relationship. Stein comforts his girlfriend, who admits that is hard for her to be calm without her medication. HE kisses her before deciding to fix the Hostel's electricity.[1][3]
Robert Minoru tries to talk to his daughter, who refuses to return to him and Tina. Nico then goes outside of the house to face her mother, who is wielding the Staff of One.
A fight breaks out between Tina Minoru and Nico, Dean, and Hernandez. Tina throws Hernandez into their swimming pool and freezes it, leaving her to drown under the ice. Dean tries to help but is knocked down. Nico tells her mother that what she is doing is the reason Amy died, because she is a monster obsessed with power and does not love her family.[1][3]
Tina Minoru frees Hernandez and approaches her daughter, deciding to give her the Staff of One as she needs it more than her, stating her offence that her daughter thinks she does not love her. However, Tina threatens Nico, telling her that if she takes the staff, the next time they see each other their relationship will no longer be as mother and daughter. Nico takes the staff nonetheless, and the trio of friends leave.[1][3]
Robert Minoru questions Tina's actions, but Tina says she did not believe Nico would take the staff. Robert worries about Nico's control over the staff, with Tina having had problems with it before and it now being in the hands of a volatile 16-year-old.[1][3]
On their way to the Hostel, Hernandez rests while Karolina and Nico argue about losing the fight. Nico proposes to train harder and be more strong and work as a team but Karolina gets mad because of Nico's claims that Karolina got defeated by Tina. Karolina tells her that they are not Superheroes and that they are not good at it as she apologizes for disappointing her girlfriend.[1][3]
Janet Stein brings Geoffrey Wilder the book Catherine used for the sacrifices, saying that it could contain information on Jonah's ancestry. Geoffrey is skeptical that it could work, as it is in another language only Jonah knows.[1][3]
Chase tries to reconnect the electricity from the Hostel, but accidentally causes a blackout nearby. He tries to fix it.[1][3]
While they are having dinner, Darius Davis gives Alex Wilder more money. Livvie flirts momentarily with Wilder. Then she proceeds to make Alex a new hair style, they talk about his runaway status. Livvie kisses him.[1][3]
Some electricians approach the Hostel in order to sort the nearby facility power cut. Yorkes enters the Hostel and instructs Old Lace to scare the workers, which works. The situation gives Stein enough distraction to steal some batteries from the workers' truck and restore the energy. He then kisses Yorkes.[1][3]
Nico Minoru, Karolina Dean, and Molly Hernandez arrive back at the Hostel. Nico tells them that tomorrow they will start training to learn how to use their powers better and work as a team.[1][3]
Nico Minoru apologizes to Karolina Dean for lashing out at her for not controlling her powers in the fight with her mother. They go to bed together.[1][3]
Gert approaches Molly to comfort her after their experience fighting Tina and seeing a dead body, however, Hernandez rejects her claiming that she wants to be alone. Hernandez escapes from the Hostel using her cap as a mask and proceeds to train herself.[1][3]
Meanwhile, Janet Stein starts working on translating he book to see how to build a Dematerialization Box for Jonah, in order to ensure Victor's safety.[1][3]
Catherine Wilder tells her husband that Flores has told her in order to get the charges removed from their children, they need to frame someone else for Destiny Gonzalez's murder, and she has an idea who.[1][3]
While Livvie and Alex Wilder say goodbye to each other, Darius Davis calls Geoffrey and tells him that he knows where his son is.[1][3]
Danny Rand and Ward Meachum follow their current lead on Orson Randall, the sender of the Hancock 0212 shipment, to Jakarta, having previously been to Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur in their pursuit. They cause a mess as they steal a shipment from Randall's warehouse, containing Randall's chi-infused pistols.[11]
In a bar in Hokkaido, Japan, at 4AM local time Ward Meachum asks a man about his employer selling on the black market. The man denies this, but Meachum continues to inquire, asking about Hancock Transport and the body inside, saying he wants to talk to the man who sent it, Orson Randall, whom he knows is the man's boss. The man denies knowledge of Randall, but Meachum says they have had a rough time tracking him through Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and a mess in Jakarta, which causes the man to realize Meachum was involved in the stealing of their missing shipment from Jakarta. As a thug working for the man stands to threaten Meachum, Meachum turns to Danny Rand, sitting nearby. The man tells Rand that Randall wants his property back, and Rand reveals he has it: two special pistols at his side. The man shoots at Rand, but Rand lights up both his fists, his chi restored and now in both hands, and the energy channeled through both weapons, and fires two chi-charged bullets, converging on the man's bullet and knocking it out of the air. He facetiously remarks that the man should not try that again.[17][18]
Scott Lang plays a game with his daughter Cassie, using cardboard boxes to pretend they are crawling through tunnels on a heist. They reach the "treasure", which Cassie had chosen to be a trophy she bought Scott for his birthday, and says she wants to take it into school for show and tell. At the same time, Luis, who is visiting, talks to Scott about a pitch X-Con Security Consultants are preparing for providing security to a company called Karapetyan. Scott and Cassie complete the course, sliding out of the house as their "escape", but when they reach the bottom, Scott's leg goes the fence and his house arrest ankle bracelet sets off an alarm.[22][23][21]
The FBI, led by Scott Lang's parole officer Jimmy Woo (a former ally of Melinda May's[24]), arrive at the house. When Cassie asks why they have to visit, Woo explains to her how Scott broke the Sokovia Accords in Germany and had to make a plea deal to return to the United States of America that required him to spent 2 years under house arrest, showing little understanding of how to talk to children. Cassie's mother, Maggie, then arrives with her boyfriend Jim Paxton to pick her up.[22][21]
Cassie Lang tells Scott she had a good weekend, and he tells her to look forward to next weekend, by which time he will be free, having just 3 days remaining of his sentence.[22][21]
Lang reenters the house, telling himself that managing 3 final days should be easy.[22][21]
After 2 days trying to keep himself busy, Scott Lang falls asleep in the bathtub and has a vivid memory-like dream where he sees a young Hope van Dyne from the perspective of her mother Janet.[22][21]
Intrigued by his vision and thinking it could be important, Lang takes a secret burner phone from its hiding place and calls Hope van Dyne and Hank Pym about the vision. They do not pick up, but he leaves a voicemail. Realizing that he probably sounds stupid as he speaks, he decides to hang up and break the phone.[22][21]
Considering Lang called them 5 minutes after they activated the tunnel, Pym and van Dyne consider that the timing is not coincidence and the opening of the Quantum Realm might have activated a message in Lang's head.[22][21]
Hope van Dyne breaks into Scott Lang's house, shrunken down. Flying up to Lang in the Wasp suit, she tranquilizes him and puts his ankle bracelet on a human-sized ant, who is instructed through Hank Pym's electromagnetic wave control system to repeat Lang's daily routine, so the FBI's suspicions are not aroused when tracking him.[22][21]
Scott Lang wakes in van Dyne's car, which he comes to realize has been shrunken down to drive without being noticed. Van Dyne explains about the ant replicating his routine, and Lang attempts to apologize for his actions in Germany making them fugitives. Van Dyne dismisses this, saying they just want to bring him in because of what he has said was in his head.[22][21]
Hope van Dyne takes Lang to the research laboratory where she and Hank Pym have been developing a tunnel for the Quantum Realm in the hopes of bringing Janet back. After Lang describes his dream in full detail, Hope and Pym deduce that he and Janet have a quantum entanglement because of the time he spent in the Quantum Realm.[22][21]
The trio leave the laboratory, and Pym shrinks the building down to a suitcase size to bring it along in their van. They drive to the restaurant Oui, where Hope van Dyne has arranged a meeting with gangster Sonny Burch to pick up a necessary component for the tunnel.[22][21]
Van Dyne meets with Burch, under the pseudonym of "Susan". However, Burch reveals that he knows who she really is and has arranged a potential purchase of Pym's laboratory for $1,000,000,000. Van Dyne turns down his offer, but Burch then refuses to give over the component.[22][21]
Van Dyne pretends to leave, before donning the Wasp suit and returning to attack. Due to being a tiny target, they are unable to hit her when they start shooting.[22][21]
Wasp follows Burch's men into the restaurant kitchen and swipes a salt shaker at, Uzman, the man carrying the component, enlarging it in front of him to knock him out.[22][21]
Burch's remaining men struggle with Van Dyne's repeated change of size, and she takes them all down, before picking up the component.[22][21]
Van Dyne heads out of the restaurant, but before she can leave, she is attacked by a mysterious figure in a white suit. The figure phases in and out of tangibility, causing Wasp trouble as she tries to fight back. The figure, known as Ghost, manages to take the component for herself.[22][21]
Ant-Man enters the restaurant and aids Wasp in fighting Ghost, but Ghost escapes and makes her way to Pym's van. She pushes her fist through his neck, threatening to make it tangible and kill him if he does not give her the lab, and he reluctantly does so.[22][21]
Lang brings Pym and van Dyne to hide at the X-Con Security Consultants office. There, they develop a plan to get the laboratory back, and Pym realizes that they need a quantum spectrometer to track its radiation. He reluctantly informs them that they will have to get one from his estranged ex-work partner, Bill Foster.[22][21]
Scott Lang, Hank Pym, and Hope van Dyne go to meet Professor Bill Foster at Berkeley University, finding him giving a lecture.[22][21]
The trio sit down with Foster, who discusses how he used to work with Pym on Project G.O.L.I.A.T.H., where he grew up to 21 feet tall - a precursor to Lang's ability now to grow as tall as 65 feet. Their meeting is interrupted when Lang realizes Jimmy Woo and the FBI are outside. They make their way to leave, but not before Foster tells them that they can locate the lab by modifying a defractor from one of the suit's regulators.[22][21]
The FBI question Foster, but he lies to cover the trio.[22][21]
Pym explains to Lang and van Dyne that he removed the defractor from the new suits, but Lang ashamedly admits that he mailed himself his Ant-Man suit before turning himself in, rather than destroying it, angering Pym due to his actions putting it at risk of being stolen.[22][21]
Scott Lang calls Luis, saying he needs Cassie's trophy, as that is where he has hidden the suit. Luis tells him, however, that it is not there, and Scott realizes Cassie has taken it into school for show and tell.[22][21]
Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne go to Cassie's school, Brookemont Elementary, to retrieve the suit. During the infiltration, Scott discovers that his new suit, a work-in-progress, is experiencing problems with the regulator. It enlarges him within a closet, but when van Dyne takes a look at it, it then shrinks him to the size of a small child.[22][21]
Lang dons a child's hoodie from the lost and found, which can fit on his shrunken body, and sneaks through the school until he finds Cassie's classroom. The duo retrieve the suit and get away.[22][21]
Modifying the defractor, the trio are able to locate the lab to a hideout. They break in to steal back the lab and find Ghost, unmasked, inside her Quantum Energy Chamber. When they turn their backs on her, however, she phases out of the chamber and knocks them out, then going outside and knocking out Hank Pym. She ties the trio to chairs.[22][21]
When Ghost wakes the trio, she reveals she is working with Bill Foster, who enters to talk to them with her. She reveals she is Ava Starr, daughter of deceased scientist Elihas Starr, whom Pym had fired and discredited when they had a disagreement during their work together at S.H.I.E.L.D.. She explains that Elihas attempted to continue his work on his own in Argentina, but that because he no longer had his required help, his Quantum Tunnel had collapsed, killing him and causing Ava's molecular disequilibrium. Ava goes on to tell them about how S.H.I.E.L.D. took her in and weaponized her, using her for stealth missions, and Foster states that when S.H.I.E.L.D. collapsed, he took her in. However, they are interrupted when Lang's phone buzzes with an alert.[22][21]
Cassie Lang video calls Scott, saying she left her soccer shoes at his house, but he manages to get her to hang up, claiming he is ill and cannot get up to look. Foster and Starr explain that they hope to extract quantum energy from Janet van Dyne to help repair Starr's molecular structure, despite the risk that it could kill van Dyne.[22][21]
Pym fakes a heart problem, and Hope van Dyne tells Foster that he needs his pills from his Altoids tin. They trick Foster into opening the tin, releasing and enlarging ants, one of which frees them while the others cause commotion. The trio steal back the lab and run away.[22][21]
2nd
After regrowing the lab in the forest, in the early hours of the day, Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne talk. Scott assures Hope that when they find Janet, she will not have forgotten about her, explaining that when he was in prison, Cassie was all he thought about. Luis calls him, saying that they made a mistake on the security plans for Karapetyan and need his help before the pitch in the morning, but Lang explains his situation, and why he cannot leave to visit him Luis person. He reluctantly gives Luis their location in the woods so he can come to them.[22][21]
Luis heads out to to visit Scott Lang, when Sonny Burch breaks into the X-Con Security Consultants office with his men, told by an inside agent in the FBI that he is a known associate of Lang, and asking Luis to tell him where Lang is. Burch says that he will administer a serum to make Luis more susceptible to slipping up and giving honest information, but when the X-Con trio say that this sounds like truth serum, Uzman, the man with the serum, becomes defensive and insists that it is not.[22][21]
Bill Foster sadly informs Ava Starr that she has only roughly 2 weeks to live. Starr suggests that they use Cassie Lang to bait Scott and get back the lab, but Foster refuses to get the innocent girl involved. Starr reluctantly decides to accept to use a different option.[22][21]
Burch injects Luis with Uzman's serum, and Luis begins to speak honestly. When Burch interrogates him on where Lang is, Luis tells a fast story about how Lang came to be where he is currently at from an emotional standpoint. Frustrated, Burch specifies that he needs to know where Lang is literally, and Luis gives the location in the woods. Ghost, who had been phasing herself invisible, reveals herself and gets him to give the specifics of the location, then leaves, slashing Burch's tire to slow him down.[22][21]
Burch calls his FBI agent, Stoltz, to let him know Pym and van Dyne's location and that Scott Lang is with them. He passes on the lead to Jimmy Woo.[22][21]
As dawn arrives, Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne activate the finally completed Quantum Tunnel, but it only works briefly before shutting down. However, with the brief exposure to the Quantum Realm, Janet van Dyne gets a better connection with Scott Lang and takes control of him for a few minutes. She proves it is her to Hope and Pym as she uses the time to help stabilize the tunnel and enter the coordinates to locate her, but she warns them that they only have 2 hours to get her before the Quantum Realm becomes so unstable they will not be able to reach her for another century.[22][21]
Luis calls Lang to warn him about Ghost, Burch, and the FBI knowing Pym and van Dyne's location and hearing that he has left house arrest. Lang passes on the information to Pym and van Dyne to warn them, apologizing for jeopardizing their rescue. He tells them that the FBI will be checking in on his house arrest and that he needs to rush back home, and he leaves to get back in time.[22][21]
Jim Paxton and Maggie and Cassie Lang come to Scott's house to pick up Cassie's soccer shoes. Cassie finds the giant ant in Scott's bath. Jimmy Woo then leads the FBI as they break into the house and demand to see Scott, but Cassie tries to cover for her father, claiming he has been vomiting and they cannot go near him. Woo eventually insists and pushes past her, only to find Scott, who got back just in time and slipped in through the window, shrunken in the Ant-Man suit.[22][21]
Arrest of Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne: Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne hurriedly leave the lab and shrink it down, only to find that the FBI have already surrounded them. Stoltz tells them they are under arrest.[22][21]
While at Lang's house, Jimmy Woo is informed of Pym and van Dyne's arrest. He is pleased and leaves the house, telling Lang he will be back later for the official end of his house arrest sentence.[22][21]
Stoltz grabs Pym's lab but is knocked out by Ghost, who then takes the lab for herself.[22][21]
Cassie Lang sits down with her father, and he thanks her for covering for him. He says that he messes up trying to help people every time, and she suggests that he might need a partner. Scott assumes she is talking about Hope van Dyne, but Cassie explains that she means herself. He assures her that she would be great, but explains that he cannot put her in danger. She tells him that she is sure he can do whatever it is he needs to.[22][21]
Hope van Dyne slips a hairpin she had hidden in her mouth out into her hand and picks the lock on her and Hank Pym's handcuffs. They start to plan a risky escape, but Scott Lang arrives and, controlling trained ants, breaks Pym and van Dyne from FBI custody.[22][21]
Pym explains that he put a tracker on the lab after Ghost stole it, and the trio use the controlled ants to guide the way to find it.[22][21]
Meanwhile, Ghost and Bill Foster prepare to enter the Quantum Realm. Foster advises caution, but Starr explains that she is desperate and cannot wait, having only days left to live.[22][21]
With time running out to save Janet van Dyne, Pym says that he will enter the lab and dive into the Quantum Realm, asking that Hope and Lang protect the lab while he does so. Luis arrives, having been asked by Lang to follow in case they need his help.[22][21]
Scott Lang stands ready to help Pym get to the Quantum Tunnel. Luis talks to Hope van Dyne as they wait, but she takes little interest.[22][21]
Ghost and Foster get the Quantum Tunnel started, but it then fails. They realize that there are ants in the lab pulling wires out from sockets to break it, and, knowing that this means Hank Pym must be nearby, Ghost leaves to find and stop him. She follows a trail of ants leaving the building.[22][21]
With Ghost led away, Hank Pym enters the lab and confronts Bill Foster. He controls giant ants to corner Foster and force him to back away. Pym retrieves a specialized Quantum Realm suit. Foster apologizes for causing problems, explaining he simply wanted to help Starr, but Pym promises he will help find a cure once he has rescued his wife. Foster wishes him luck.[22][21]
Ghost finds Lang at the end of the ant trail and attacks him. He attempts to shrink, but is unable to due to the faulty regulator.[22][21]
Hank Pym prepares to enter the Quantum Tunnel.[22][21]
Ghost catches Lang and kicks him to the ground.[22][21]
Pym uses the ship to enter the Quantum Realm through the tunnel he and van Dyne built.[22][21]
As soon as Pym has gone, van Dyne has Lang control an ant to remotely shrink the lab. Lang explains to Ghost that they intentionally led her away from the building and shrinks to escape as she angrily watches van Dyne leave with the building.[22][21]
Lang mounts a flying ant to meet van Dyne and Luis, but as van Dyne begins to drive, she is stopped by Sonny Burch and his men in a convoy of cars. She maneuvers the van to slip past them and begins to drive away as fast as she can, with Burch's convoy in chase. When the first car tries to crash into Luis and van Dyne, van Dyne shrinks the van so the car swerves off the road.[22][21]
When one of Burch's cars catches them, Hope van Dyne shrinks the van again so it can drive under the chasing car. Van Dyne then grows the van again from underneath the vehicle, pushing it up and flipping it to the side.[22][21]
Van Dyne keeps driving, luring the cars to Lombard Street, and uses its winding design to cause a chasing car to crash as they are unable to turn fast enough when she shrinks the van. The car behind then crashes into it and flips over onto the street, sending bricks flying, which cause Luis to panic as, while shrunken, they seem huge.[22][21]
Hank Pym loses signal due to the chaos of the lab's movements. He gets stuck in a tardigrade field and as his ship recalibrates, he observes the beauty of the Quantum Realm. However, the tardigrades, relatively giant to the size of the ship, begin to close in. The ship restarts just before they can cause problems, and he continues traveling through the realm.[22][21]
Scott Lang catches up with Hope van Dyne and Luis. Van Dyne asks him to take the van's steering wheel as she climbs to the back of the van to deal with Burch's men.[22][21]
Wasp fires a shrinking disk at the motorbike of a motorcyclist working for Burch, shrinking it under him and causing him to fall. She shoots another at another motorcyclist but misses, instead accidentally shrinking a car belonging to the Watcher Informant.[22][21]
Ghost catches up with the ongoing chase and steals a motorbike from one of Burch's men.[22][21]
Wasp picks up Luis' Hello KittyPEZ dispenser and throws it at more of Burch's motorcyclist men. She fires a growing disk at it to enlarge it, and the giant dispenser takes out two men.[22][21]
Ghost phases into the trio's van and kicks Wasp out of the back door, onto the road. She then steals the lab. She then escapes and breaks into a nearby truck, smashing the window to take the lab in with her and causing the driver to leap from his vehicle in fear.[22][21]
Wasp finds Ghost's truck and shrinks to get through the broken window, then tries to steal the lab back. Ant-Man leaves the van and gets to Ghost's truck, but ends up on the windscreen as Ghost turns on the wipers. The fight continues between Wasp and Ghost, but Ant-Man manages to grow himself to giant size, punching Ghost through the windscreen. Wasp takes the opportunity to steal back the lab.[22][21]
Ghost phases to get to the back of the van and apprehend Wasp. However, Sonny Burch catches up with them and rams the truck, causing Wasp to fall and drop the lab, and Burch reaches out of his window to catch it. He drives away, as Ant-Man returns to normal size, unable to control his faulty regulator.[22][21]
Ant-Man grows giant again and gets control of the van, putting his foot on the back of the vehicle and beginning to skate it in the direction he wants.[22][21]
Hank Pym reaches the quantum void and engages thrusters to reach Janet van Dyne's coordinates. He breaks through into a colorful section of the Quantum Realm and lands on a surface he finds.[22][21]
Luis realizes he has the remote to grow the lab and that he needs to get it to Ant-Man and Wasp so Hank Pym can safely return. He lets them know, and they tell him that since the van is ruined, he needs to open the Hot Wheels case to grow one of the cars and drive the remote to them.[22][21]
Luis gets away in the car, and Sonny Burch realizes he has the remote, chasing him. When they start to chase him, Luis shrinks the car to avoid the bullets, before regrowing. He asks for help and Wasp goes to take out the men after him as Ant-Man goes to retrieve the lab.[22][21]
Wasp breaks into a car chasing Luis and repeatedly shrinks and regrows to cause the men inside's punches to miss her and hit each other. The driver loses control and veers off the road, and Wasp flies out, joining Luis in his car.[22][21]
Ant-Man, still giant, catches up with Sonny Burch and kicks his van off-road. Burch gets out, carrying the lab, and hurries into an alley, where Ant-Man is unable to follow him as he cannot fit and finds himself unable to shrink due to the faulty regulator.[22][21]
Ant-Man runs around the buildings to find Burch and discovers that he has boarded a ferry, still carrying the lab. He eventually manages to shrink back to ant size and summons nearby flying ants, but they are repeatedly eaten by seagulls who swoop in. He eventually boards one, whom he names Ant-tonio Banderas, and flies out over the harbor, but Ant-tonio is eaten by another gull and he falls into the water.[22][21]
Growing back to giant size, Ant-Man swims the remaining distance to the ferry and then stands up on the seafloor beside the ferry. He reaches out and plucks the lab from Burch's fingers.[22][21]
Hank Pym walks through the Quantum Realm to find Janet van Dyne. The timer he is using to keep track of the time until van Dyne is no longer able to be found runs out, and Pym begins to succumb to the effects of the Quantum Realm, hearing increasingly loud voices and feeling like he is losing his mind.[22][21]
Falling unconscious, Pym begins to have a vision, in which Hope van Dyne, Scott Lang, and Bill Foster ask him why he has failed. A hooded figure with a blade behind their shoulder starts to walk towards him and puts its fingers to his temples, and he is jolted back to consciousness.[22][21]
Pym finds himself back in the Quantum Realm and the figure in front of him takes off their helmet - a Wasp helmet - revealing herself to be Janet van Dyne. The couple are reunited after 31 years and emotionally embrace.[22][21]
The couple return to the ship and Pym asks van Dyne how she managed to clear his mind by touching his head. Van Dyne explains that since 1987, her exposure to the Quantum Realm has led to a mix of adaptation and evolution. The ship is unable to find the lab's coordinates and warns Pym not to ascend yet, and Pym tells his wife what is happening in San Francisco.[22][21]
Ant-Man, giant-sized and dubbed "Giant-Man" by the news, wades back to the harbor pier with the lab, but becomes fatigued by the time spent enlarged.[22][21]
Jimmy Woo sees Giant-Man on the news and, believing Scott Lang must have left house arrest, leaves to apprehend him.[22][21]
Kurt and Dave see the news and rush out to the harbor to help.[22][21]
Giant-Man puts the lab back on land but, just as Hope van Dyne and Luis arrive at the harbor, he falls asleep in the water and sinks to the seabed. Van Dyne sends Luis to pick up the lab as she dives into the water to save Lang.[22][21]
Luis runs to the lab, remote in-hand, but Ghost arrives and kicks him out of the way. She takes the remote and grows the lab on the harbor.[22][21]
Notified that the lab has been regrown and thinking it is safe to return, Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne launch the ship and begin their ascent out of the Quantum Realm.[22][21]
Hope van Dyne is unable to wake Scott Lang, so amends his regulator, allowing him to shrink to ant size. She picks him up in her hand and swims him to the surface.[22][21]
Van Dyne drops Lang off on the pier and he wakes. She kisses him.[22][21]
Sonny Burch's men catch Luis and prepare to shoot him. However, before they can, Kurt and Dave electrocute them with Tazers.[22][21]
Bill Foster catches up with the lab and enters to try to dissuade Ava Starr from going after van Dyne. He tells her what Pym told him: that van Dyne will be able to help cure her, but Starr refuses to take the risk, desperate to rid herself of her pain. She enters a Quantum Energy Chamber and, using the coordinates locked onto van Dyne, begins to siphon quantum energy from her.[22][21]
Ant-Man and Wasp fight Ghost outside the Quantum Tunnel
Ant-Man and Wasp enter the lab and start pulling the plugs on Starr's chamber. Starr goes to fight back, but the duo together manage to keep her occupied. Wasp falls onto the Quantum Tunnel ramp just as Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne return, and Ant-Man turns giant to scoop Wasp to safety.[22][21]
Janet van Dyne exits the ship and Hope is overjoyed. The mother and daughter have a tearful reunion. Hope then embraces her father as Janet talks to Scott Lang, joking about how, in a sense, they have already met.[22][21]
Janet van Dyne turns to Ava Starr and places her hands on the side of Starr's head. Saying she thinks she can help, her hands glow as she transfers quantum healing particles to Starr. Starr's molecular disequilibrium settles, as her phasing becomes more controlled and her pain is relieved.[22][21]
Luis runs into the building and warns the group that the police are coming.[22][21]
Kurt and Dave explain to police that they have apprehended Sonny Burch, Uzman, and another of Burch's men for them. The three criminals readily confess to their crimes, injected by Kurt and Dave with Uzman's truth serum.[22][21]
Scott Lang tells the group at the lab that he has an idea for how to avoid the police.[22][21]
Jimmy Woo catches what he believes to be Giant-Man. However, Lang has set up the enlarged, empty Ant-Man suit. It shrinks down and Woo turns to see the lab shrinking in the distance, realizing he has made a mistake and fallen for a distraction. Lang controls an ant to pick up the suit and makes his way to reuinte with the group.[22][21]
Bill Foster offers to go with Ava Starr as she runs from the police, but she says she does not want him join her as a fugitive. He refuses to leave her on her own, and she hugs him to thank him for taking care of her.[22][21]
Woo and his FBI agents rush back to Scott Lang's house to catch him out for having left the house. However, when they get there, they find him simply playing the electric drums, claiming to have been in the house the whole time.[22][21]
Still suspicious, Woo nonetheless proceeds with the official end of Lang's house arrest sentence, removing his ankle monitor.[22][21]
Kurt and Dave receive calls at X-Con Security Consultants as they are reported on the news for their help in apprehending Sonny Burch and his men. Kurt arranges a meeting for Monday. Luis picks up a call coming into the X-Con office and finds that it is Karapetyan, their most desired customers, asking to meet them next Thursday morning. The X-Con group celebrate.[29][21]
Hank Pym takes Janet van Dyne to a beach. He reveals to her that he shrunk their house down and has taken it with them, regrowing it on the sand for a relaxing and comfortable time together.[29][21]
Leo Fitz is busy working, desperate to find a way to compress gravitonium so as to close the Fear Dimension for good. He and Jemma Simmons discuss what their wishes would be if the dimension were for wishes instead, and Simmons mentions potentially having a honeymoon. The astronaut manifestation suddenly attacks and kills an agent helping them, before Simmons shoots it and it reduces to wisps of smoke.[22][46]
Yo-Yo Rodriguez tests the new robotic arms that Alphonso Mackenzie and Leo Fitz have worked on for her. She is desperate to get fighting again, but Mackenzie tells her that it will take time, but in the meantime, the team will protect her.[22][46]
Fitz tries to ask Deke Shaw about gravitonium but he is distant, thinking about Fitz and Simmons being his grandparents. When they get his attention, he explains that he does not now much about the material. Fitz and Simmons leave to look for Franklin Hall's notes for further insight, and Daisy Johnson gets a location on General Hale's phone, believing her to have slipped up.[22][46]
Capture of Hale: Hale is driving when suddenly her car hits an invisible ramp. The car drives unwittingly into a cloaked Zephyr One, and the agents throw a gas canister into the vehicle to render her unconscious. Phil Coulson thanks Piper for her help in giving them Hale's phone number, saying it can be the first step for her redemption.[22][46]
Deke Shaw finds Fitz and tries to help him, but is suddenly knocked out by the man, who is not Fitz as they know him, but the Doctor from the Framework.[22][46]
Coulson interrogates Hale, and she says that she is trying to prevent human extinction.[22][46]
Fitz returns to the control room having not found any physical notes from Dr. Hall. He asks Johnson if she found any digital copies, but she has not, and he becomes anxious, frustrated, and stressed. The monitor then shows two cameras suddenly go out downstairs and Johnson leaves to check the floor herself.[22][46]
Fitz desperately tries to work out what to do, but is interrupted by the Doctor. Fitz is terrified to see him, believing him to be a manifestation from the Fear Dimension.[22][46]
Yo-Yo Rodriguez tells Alphonso Mackenzie that she wants to help, but Mackenzie insists on just moving her hospital bed to a safer floor. Before they can act, what appears to be one of Hale's Sleeper Mechs enters with a gun.[22][46]
The "Doctor" taunts Leo Fitz
Fitz struggles as the Doctor taunts him, saying that he is here to do what Fitz is not willing to and that plans are already in motion. Fitz hears a gunshot and Simmons calling him and leaves to check on her.[22][46]
Hale tells Coulson that she is willing to make the tough decisions to save the world, and invites him to come with her to see what they are up against, but he refuses. Hale reveals that she let them track her and is in control of her situation.[22][46]
Piper tells Melinda May that they cannot move the Sleeper Mech that was serving as Hale's driver, as it is too heavy, almost like a statue. May goes to the car, realizing who it is, and calls the driver out as Carl Creel, asking him to get out. Creel reveals that he has bombs strapped to him, and they need to listen to Hale or else he will detonate.[22][46]
A jet sent by Hale docks on Zephyr One, and Piper apologizes to May and Coulson for leading them into another trap, but Coulson says it is his fault this time. The jet opens and Coulson is surprised when he is met by Anton Ivanov.[22][46]
Fitz arrives downstairs and asks Simmons, Mackenzie, and Rodriguez about the Sleeper Mech who attacked. The trio explain that when they took it down it did not disappear, not being a manifestation but in fact a real reactivated android. Fitz panics, saying that the Doctor must have sent it.[22][46]
Ivanov tells Coulson that in his new android body, he has strength he never had before. He explains that if Creel detonates the bombs, he and Ivanov will survive, but the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents will all be killed.[22][46]
Fitz, Simmons, Mackenzie, and Rodriguez realize that since the Doctor was in charge of Inhuman experimentation in the Framework, he will be after Daisy Johnson. Fitz leaves to find her.[22][46]
Johnson takes a look at the cameras but finds nothing wrong. While distracted, she is attacked by one of the Doctor's Sleeper Mechs and knocked out.[22][46]
Phil Coulson and Melinda May are taken before Hale, Creel, and Ivanov. They explain that Ivanov was behind Glenn Talbot being shot, not Daisy Johnson, but Hale says that they have proof Ivanov was programmed by S.H.I.E.L.D. originally. She says Coulson has to come with her to prevent harm to the agents. Coulson agrees, to May's dismay, and she tries to convince him not to go. Coulson insists nonetheless.[22][46]
The "Doctor" prepares Quake for surgery
Daisy Johnson wakes and finds herself pinned down to an operating table. The Doctor greets her and tells her to get comfortable as he begins a surgery to remove her inhibitor, explaining that he wants to restore her powers.[22][46]
Coulson gets into Hale's jet and she launches it. He mocks Ivanov, telling him he knows that Ivanov is now a subordinate of Hale and not the powerful leader he likes to think he is.[22][46]
Johnson pleads with the Doctor not to operate, desperate not to regain her powers in case it causes the destruction of the Earth. Leo Fitz interrupts, telling the Doctor to stop.[22][46]
Alphonso Mackenzie stands guard for Yo-Yo Rodriguez. She tells him not to worry since she is safe, because they know she lives past 2018 from having spoken to her 2091 self. Mackenzie points out that they are trying to prevent that future and hoping it is not cemented, so she might still die, but Rodriguez comments that if she does, then at least that would mean they have broken the time loop. Jemma Simmons gets back to them, but is concerned when she finds that Fitz and Johnson have returned. She leaves to find them.[22][46]
Simmons confronts Fitz
The Doctor tells Fitz he is removing Johnson's inhibitor, and Fitz is horrified. The two Fitzes argue, and Daisy Johnson becomes confused. Simmons enters and suddenly Fitz stops seeing the Doctor, and does not understand, but Simmons explains to him what she has worked out: the Doctor was never there. He was not an anomaly from the Fear Dimension, but a result of a psychic split Fitz is experiencing following his time in the Framework, with the Doctor personality taking control over the day and having got Fitz to separate Johnson from the others.[22][46]
Upset, Fitz begins to slip back into his dangerous Doctor mindset, and says that this personality simply has the will to do what Fitz does not: to risk Johnson's paralysis and the destruction of the Earth in order to restore Johnson's powers so she can compress the gravitonium and they can close the rift that endangers the planet. He refuses to deactivate the Sleeper Mechs that arrive and hold Simmons, as well as the now-arriving Deke Shaw, at bay, and removes the inhibitor. Johnson mutters that she will never forgive him.[22][46]
Fitz gives instructions to Daisy Johnson, having her use her powers to compress the gravitonium into the device he has made, then dropping it into the rift and closing it for good.[22][46]
As soon as the rift is closed, the Sleeper Mechs power down and Fitz surrenders himself.[22][46]
Jemma Simmons visits Leo Fitz outside his cell in the Lighthouse and tries to reassure him that it was not him, but Fitz is not convinced, explaining that while he feels bad about it, even in his right mind he does not regret what he did, believing it to have been the best option. Simmons is saddened by his words, and the couple admit that they do not know what comes next for their relationship.[22][46]
Deke Shaw goes to see Simmons and comforts her. As they talk, he reveals to her that he knows about their relationship and that it persists, because it is the relationship his mother would tell him about when she discussed her parents - because Fitz and Simmons are his grandparents. Overwhelmed by the revelations and emotions of the day, Simmons vomits.[22][46]
General Hale uses the Phase Harmonic Teleportation Device to visit Qovas. She tells him that her plan to get him gravitonium is nearly complete. Qovas is skeptical and gives her a vial of odium, saying that if she fails, she should die in a blaze of vicious glory, but she promises to succeed. the meeting concludes with Qovas telling her, "Hail HYDRA".[22][46]
Coulson wakes in the academy and, as with Glenn Talbot 6 months prior, finds cereal and is approached by Ruby Hale, only for her to ignore him. Unlike Talbot, however, he is unfazed.[22][47]
General Hale approaches Coulson in his room and tells him that Ruby is her daughter.[22][47]
Just like with Talbot, Hale takes Coulson to see the Phase Harmonic Teleportation Device. She sets the longitude, latitude, and altitude destination and forces him to touch it as they are teleported to see Qovas.[22][47]
Coulson meets Qovas, and the alien explains to him that he is helping humanity survive an oncoming alien threat, for a small price.[22][47]
Hale and Coulson return to the academy and she explains that Qovas' deal is in return for gravitonium and Inhumans, and that this is why she needs his help. Hale says, however, that she wished to change the deal with the Confederacy.[22][47]
As they walk through the academy, General Hale reveals to Phil Coulson that they are working on a project initiated by Daniel Whitehall, and Coulson reveals that he was the one to kill him. Hale explains that the project is intended to create not just a super soldier like Captain America, but someone of immense power, and that Ruby was created to be the subject of the project. However, she says that Ruby is too emotionally volatile, and that she believes Daisy Johnson is a better fit. Hale tells him that the project is called "Project Destroyer of Worlds", and suddenly Coulson panics, realizing this is the origin of Johnson's nickname in the future, and thus the beginning of the events leading to the destruction of the planet.[22][47]
Desperate to do anything he can to stop Hale's plans, Coulson confesses the truth of where he and his team were for the 7 months in which they were missing, telling her about going to the future and what he saw. Hale believes his story to be ludicrous and locks him back up in his room.[22][47]
Ruby Hale visits Coulson in his room and asks how, if the "Destroyer of Worlds" caused the planet to fall apart, she fails in the future. Coulson explains to her that she, in fact, was not the Destroyer of Worlds, and Hale surmises that it is in fact Daisy Johnson. She asks where Johnson is, wanting to take her out, but Coulson says he will not talk. Hale shows him what happened to the last person who said that - bringing out Glenn Talbot, who is haggard and exhausted, broken by Hale's six months of torture.[22][47]
Daisy Johnson and Melinda May realize through General Hale's connections that she works for HYDRA. May realizes that with Leo Fitz still struggling with his HYDRA persona, they can ask him how Hale might think.[22][47]
May visits Fitz and asks for his help, explaining that she wants him to embrace the HYDRA side.[22][47]
Mackenzie and Simmons affix Rodriguez's new robotic arms
Alphonso Mackenzie and Jemma Simmons operate on Yo-Yo Rodriguez to affix her new robotic arms. He tries to comfort Simmons, saying that he knows through having been changed by the Framework himself that at Fitz's heart is his good self. The arms begin to work, and Mackenzie informs Simmons of Rodriguez's assertion that she cannot be killed, which interests Simmons.[22][47]
Fitz tells May that he believes Hale is building a weapon, but that to work out why she needs Coulson, he will need resources and access outside of his cell. Johnson bursts in and says that this is not an option as he cannot be trusted. May tells Johnson to remember that he is on their side, but Johnson says not to defend him. Fitz states that he cannot apologize because in doing what he did, he saved the lives of the town of River's End, as well as potentially many more if the rift had continued to grow. She says that they do not turn on each other, but Fitz points out that she has done it herself. Johnson storms out, saying that they will find another way.[22][47]
Johnson tells May that she is flying to take Robin Hinton out of hiding so she can ask the girl what she knows.[22][47]
Jemma Simmons enters Leo Fitz's cell and hands him his multipurpose tool, as well as an almost identical, but older-looking one. She explains that the older one is from Deke Shaw, who got it from his grandfather: Fitz. Fitz is not pleased to find out that Shaw, whom he finds irritating, is his grandson, but Simmons reminds him that this means they have to live into the future, and are thus invincible.[22][47]
Phil Coulson sits in isolation without food or a bed to sleep in. Hale hopes it will make him more ready to give them information.[22][50]
Having obtained gravitonium, Hale offers Carl Creel the chance to experience the new material. Ruby Hale suggests that they offer Coulson something in exchange for help learning about how gravitonium works, but her mother says that they tried already and now they just need to torture him.[22][50]
Creel touches the gravitonium, but is suddenly yanked in by it and thrust into the air. He tells Hale that he believes the material is in some way alive.[22][50]
Alphonso Mackenzie visits Yo-Yo Rodriguez, who is testing out her new robotic arms on a punching bag. He advises that she take care with the new arms and in general, considering her gung-ho attitude.[22][50]
Leo Fitz takes another look at Deke Shaw now that he knows he is his grandson, and is vocal in how he is disappointed that of all the people in 2091, Shaw had to be his descendant. Shaw admits that Fitz's actions with closing the rift made him respect him more, as it reminded him of the tough decisions he and others had to make in 2091 to survive.[22][50]
Jemma Simmons asks Shaw how much he knows about her and Fitz's lives, and he tells her that he knows they survive to live in the Lighthouse. Now knowing that, like Rodriguez, she and Fitz cannot be killed, she asks him to not say any more about her future.[22][50]
Simmons talks to Johnson and May
Simmons tries to convince Daisy Johnson to let Fitz help because his aid can be much more clear and immediate, but she refuses. She says that Zephyr One is leaving to pick up Robin Hinton and that Mackenzie is under orders to keep Fitz locked up. Simmons leaves and Johnson tells Melinda May that once they find Phil Coulson, she will relinquish her new leadership position.[22][50]
Simmons questions Yo-Yo Rodriguez about her feeling that she cannot die. Rodriguez worries Simmons is doubting her but Simmons explains that she agrees with her and informs her about Shaw being her and Fitz's grandson and thus the proof that they also survive. With Johnson not listening, she decides that they must get Fitz out themselves to start acting, saying that while Alphonso Mackenzie is the only person with control over Fitz's cell door, she knows how to get around him.[22][50]
Hale visits Creel
General Hale visits Carl Creel in his room. Creel explains that since touching the gravitonium, he has felt that he is going mad with voices in his head. She says that they will be conducting another test soon, and it is his decision whether he continues with their plan or not.[22][50]
Zephyr One lands at the Retreat, where the Hintons have been staying, and Polly and Robin are brought aboard. Polly explains that Robin has not been doing well for a couple of weeks.[22][50]
Daisy Johnson tries to talk to Robin Hinton and reassures her about how sometimes it takes time to get used to powers, but that she will eventually. Hinton, however, is unresponsive.[22][50]
Yo-Yo Rodriguez talks to Mackenzie
Yo-Yo Rodriguez asks Alphonso Mackenzie to release Fitz, but he refuses, saying to ask Coulson when he gets back, but Rodriguez says this is too late. When she continues to suggest that she is happy to act recklessly, Mackenzie becomes frustrated with her, and asks if she has perhaps considered that the only reason she survives is because he is advising caution right now.[22][50]
Carl Creel hears the voices in his head talking about Coulson, and decides to leave to find him.[22][50]
Creel attacks Coulson, saying that the voices in his head want him dead, but Coulson informs him of what Hale has done to Glenn Talbot. Creel is not sure who to believe, but when Coulson's Sleeper Mech guard returns, he is forced to make a decision, and snaps its head off, telling Coulson that he will trust him for now, but kill him if he is lying.[22][50]
Polly Hinton gives Daisy Johnson Robin's last drawing - one of her own death - and wonders what it could mean. Johnson lies and says she is not sure. Robin, meanwhile, gets up and walks over to Melinda May, calling her "mom". She hugs her and proudly says that she told her Flint would get her back home. Polly is left hurt by her daughter ignoring her.[22][50]
Creel and Coulson find Glenn Talbot, who is still muttering to himself and slightly mad. They convince him to come with them, and Coulson asks him to quieten down.[22][50]
Jemma Simmons tells him that of the four beakers, three contain water while one contains a phosphoric acid compound, and that she will drink a random three to prove her invincibility, as despite the odds, all three will be water because she cannot be killed. Simmons drinks the first and second beakers, both water. Mackenzie threatens to shoot Simmons non-fatally to stop her from drinking more, but Simmons calls his bluff and drinks a third beaker. However, when she does, she collapses and starts writhing on the floor.[22][50]
Fitz rushes to Simmons
Desperate to save his wife, Fitz begs to be released so he can help, and Mackenzie relents. However, as soon as Fitz is out, Rodriguez uses her super speed to push Mackenzie into the cell and lock it, and Simmons reveals that she was faking, having drank water again. Fitz is relieved, having not been warned about the stunt, but Simmons reveals that she was not entirely lying, having genuinely filled one beaker with acid.[22][50]
Rodriguez apologizes to Mackenzie and turns to pick up his gun. However, not in full control of her new arms, she accidentally pulls the trigger and fires a bullet. The group realize none of them have been hit and, believing that the hypothesis that they cannot be killed has been proved between the beaker test and the luck with the bullet, the trio prepare to set off.[22][50]
May talks to Robin Hinton and asks if the reason she stopped drawing was because of the sad things she was seeing. Hinton shrugs, but resumes drawing. She mentions that Coulson "can all put the pieces together", as she did in 2091, but that he will die, which May is sad to hear. She notices, however, that Hinton has drawn Coulson and Talbot standing together in front of a mountain range.[22][50]
Deke Shaw rambles to Daisy Johnson about ow hard it has been for him adjusting to living in a different time period, but she ignores him. May hands her the drawing and they scan it, cross-referencing the scan with a terrain map and finding a match to the shape of the drawn mountains.[22][50]
As Coulson, Creel, and Talbot make their way to escape, Creel begins to go mad with the incessant voices he hears. Talbot's struggle to stay quiet leads to a Sleeper Mech hearing them.[22][50]
An alarm is set off in the HYDRA Preparatory Academy alerting General Hale to the trio's escape. She finds Ruby and sends her after them, saying they need Creel alive.[22][50]
As the alarm sounds throughout the academy, Coulson, Creel, and Talbot are attacked by Sleeper Mechs. When Coulson is punched in the chest, his weakened heart stops. Creel touches one of the deactivated Sleeper Mechs, turning himself to metal and conducting its electricity to jumpstart Coulson's heart, reviving him.[22][50]
Melinda May and Polly Hinton talk about Robin. Polly admits that she has noticed she is not in Robin's drawings of the future, so knows she will likely die soon, but May assures her that will not happen. Robin spots calls to her mother to come and sit with her, and Polly is pleased that her daughter still wants to call her "mommy" despite ignoring her earlier.[22][50]
Coulson, Talbot, and Creel believe they are trapped, but Coulson has an idea. He takes Talbot with him as Creel stays behind to fight and buy them time.[22][50]
Creel is met by Ruby Hale and fights her. She throws a ring blade at him and he uses the stick he is carrying to turn his chest to wood, allowing it to lodge in the material rather than kill him. Her mother enters and sends Ruby after Coulson and Talbot.[22][50]
Ruby Hale finds the Phase Harmonic Teleportation Device and activates it, teleporting herself to the two men's location. She starts to follow their footprints left in the snow.[22][51]
Ruby Hale catches up with the men and throws a ring blade, missing, but having it return to her immediately. Before she can attack further, Agent Johnson arrives and quakes Hale aside. Coulson is concerned about her having her powers back, but relieved for the rescue, and Melinda May helps him and Talbot back to the plane.[22][51]
Ruby Hale expresses her excitement to be meeting Quake, but says that while she has a fascination with Johnson, she does not want to be her, she wants to beat her. They engage in a fight and Deke Shaw, despite being told to leave, lingers in case Johnson needs help. Ruby manages to cut Johnson, but she quakes the young girl away again. However, General Hale arrives on the scene and opens fire, and Shaw is shot.[22][51]
Johnson gets Shaw back to the plane and they take off. Coulson helps her administer emergency first aid to Shaw to keep him alive until they can get him proper medical help back at the Lighthouse.[22][51]
Piper goes to deliver Leo Fitz a meal in his cell, only to find Alphonso Mackenzie. He gives her the code to let him out and tells her what happened.[22][51]
Fitz, Simmons, and Rodriguez approach the compound in Herefordshire. Rodriguez worries about potential radiation, but Fitz confirms there is no radiation danger, and they advance.[22][51]
Johnson scolds Shaw for being reckless, but he starts coughing blood and the team rush to get him help as they land back at the Lighthouse.[22][51]
The team wheel Shaw to be operated, and Piper agrees to use her medical training to help, with Mackenzie offering to operate by her instructions due to his stead hand.[22][51]
Back at the HYDRA Preparatory Academy, General Hale reprimands Ruby for disobeying her orders in nearly killing Carl Creel as well as for failing in her mission. She locks her in her room, considering her a liability.[22][51]
The trio of agents in England
The trio in England move in on the base. Fitz reads an encrypted radio signal and realizes there are vehicles incoming. They hide as trucks arrive with Sleeper Mechs, and notice that they are led by Anton Ivanov.[22][51]
Piper and Mackenzie work to save Shaw. Coulson and Talbot watch on, and Coulson tells him what his team encountered in the future, as well as the fact that he will die soon. Talbot is disappointed that Coulson does not have good news, so Coulson reassures him that they are trying their best to cause a better future.[22][51]
Melinda May takes Phil Coulson aside and angrily asks why he handed himself over so readily, saying that he is giving up too easily. Coulson objects, but May says that he is not the only person affected by his death, as the people who love him also should be involved in his decision-making. She admits that she is one of them - that she loves him, which leaves him speechless, then leaves.[22][51]
Werner von Strucker finds Ruby Hale's room and remembers seeing someone unlock it before, replicating the code to get in. He tells her he has finally worked out his father's work on the Particle Infusion Chamber and that they should escape so as to use it.[22][51]
Infiltration into the HYDRA Herefordshire Facility: The England trio enter the compound and follow the signals of the Sleeper Mechs. They overhear Ivanov, down the corridor, calling General Hale to say that the chamber is ready. Leo Fitz detonates remote explosions nearby to lure Ivanov and the androids away, and the trio enter the corridor Ivanov was guarding, finding a secret entrance to a laboratory. Inside, Fitz finds the Particle Infusion Chamber.[22][51]
Candice Lee asks Hale if Ivanov can be trusted. She says that their interests align, since Ivanov wants to enter the chamber and she wants to know what it will do to him.[22][51]
Hale notices Ruby's unlocked room and enters, surprised to find her daughter still inside. Ruby starts to cry, telling her mother that she has tried to do everything she ever asked of her but feels it is impossible. General Hale hugs her, upset by her words, and Ruby says that she is her one weakness. However, she then adds that she knows she is also her mother's weakness, revealing that she has tricked her. She flips her mother over and knocks her down, locking the door behind her as she escapes.[22][51]
Strucker shoots two of Hale's men, then tells the others to prepare the gravitonium for transport. Ruby Hale catches up with him and tells him they are free and clear.[22][51]
Daisy Johnson visits Glenn Talbot, who is momentarily alarmed, remembering how he was shot by someone who looked like her. He comes to his senses, recalling that it was not actually her, and she asks him if he wants anything. Talbot says he wants to contact his wife and son, but Johnson believes this too risky. He becomes upset and frustrated, saying that he abandoned his family and is desperate to talk to them, and Johnson says that she might be able to find a secure channel. She asks him to tell her everything he remembers about Hale.[22][51]
Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons look at the technology in the laboratory. Yo-Yo Rodriguez reveals what she learned from her 2091 self: that trying to save Coulson is what leads to the end of the world, and they need to let him die. Before they can discuss it further, the door begins to rattle as the Sleeper Mechs return. They make a plan to open the door momentarily as Rodriguez uses her super speed to take the androids out, but when they try, Rodriguez finds herself incapable of action and screams in pain.[22][51]
Piper discuss Alphonso Mackenzie's concerns about Rodriguez with him as they operate on Deke Shaw. Shaw suddenly starts bleeding from an artery, but the two together manage to staunch the bleeding, before sewing it up.[22][51]
Yo-Yo Rodriguez explains that when she ran, her arms malfunctioned and felt like they were being ripped off, and Fitz tells her they are not calibrated for such speed, with Simmons realizing the electrical signals are overloading her nervous system. The group prepare cover for the Sleeper Mechs' inevitable break-in and say they will draw the soldiers away from the exits as Rodriguez makes her way to the Quinjet to call for backup. The androids break in and start shooting, and Rodriguez snakes around them while they are occupied, escaping. Simmons tells Fitz that she is happy that their honeymoon involves protecting England rather than just a holiday, and they leave their cover to fire back, but Simmons' gun jams and they find themselves running low on ammunition.[22][51]
Simmons asks Fitz for a reminder that time cannot be changed so she can feel safe as they are being fired at. However, when he starts to recount the theory, she realizes that it is in fact not helping.[22][51]
Rodriguez realizes that Ivanov was controlling all the androids, so in killing him, she took them all out.[22][51]
Deke Shaw wakes, delirious from painkillers. With no self-control, he blabs about how he fancies Daisy Johnson and wants to kiss her. Mackenzie puts him back to sleep just as Johnson enters and lets them know that they have found a signal from Hale's androids.[22][51]
Leo Fitz concludes that they are safe, since whatever caused the mechs to fail, they are now deactivated. However, Ruby Hale and Werner von Strucker then enter, threatening them with a gun. Von Strucker realizes that they have destroyed a component for the chamber and need it repaired, so Hale threatens to slice Jemma Simmons' throat with her ring blade unless they fix it. Fitz reluctantly agrees.[22][51]
Daisy Johnson informs Talbot that she has found a way to get him a line to talk to his family very briefly. He calls and his wife, Carla, picks up. However, unbeknown to him, Candice Lee has found her and forces her to read the set of conditioning words from a card to her husband. Due to Hale having conditioned him during the 6 months she had him in prison, the words trigger him to comply to HYDRA's will.[22][51]
With his HYDRA conditioning activated, Glenn Talbot mutters to himself confusedly that he has to complete his programmed mission.[22][52]
Talbot goes to disable security feeds, thus allowing him to roam the Lighthouse without hindrance. Alphonso Mackenzie catches him and questions what he is doing, but Talbot explains that he is simply confused from his 6 months imprisoned by Hale, and Mackenzie shows him sympathy, letting him go.[22][52]
Scott Lang spends another weekend with his daughter, Cassie. Hope van Dyne joins them and the trio get into one of Hank Pym's shrinking cars, shrinking it so they can use a laptop as if, relative to them, it were the size of a cinema screen. They watch Them!, and Cassie tells van Dyne she wants to be her father's partner, but explains that he wanted to work with her instead, which makes van Dyne smile. A moth flies onto the laptop screen and Scott turns on the car headlights to scare it away, but instead accidentally attracts it to the vehicle, causing the moth to bother them as they laugh together.[29][21]
Ruby Hale continues to threaten Jemma Simmons' life to motivate Leo Fitz, having spent several hours working on fixing the Particle Infusion Chamber, but not yet sorted the problem. Fitz is stressed, worried for Simmons and yet wanting to stall the chamber's completion. He requests that Hale let Simmons go, stating that he needs her help. Releasing Simmons, Hale admires their relationship, and Fitz responds to remind her that everyone she loves will die if they go ahead with making her the Destroyer of Worlds. Hale shows little care for this, remarking that there are not many people left who she cares about. Werner von Strucker returns to the room, having found Anton Ivanov's dead body, which gives Fitz and Simmons some hope that Yo-Yo Rodriguez escaped. They tell Hale that the remainder of the process will take some time, but Hale simply threatens that if they do not hurry, she will begin to dismember them, like she did to Rodriguez.[22][52]
21st
Having stumbled through the night in agony from her uncalibrated prosthetic arms, Rodriguez finally reaches the Quinjet as morning arrives in Herefordshire. She stumbles on-board for protection from the Sleeper Mechs hunting her.[22][52]
Phil Coulson tries to talk to Melinda May about her confession of love for him the day before, but she rejects the conversation, walking away.[22][52]
Daisy Johnson tells the agents the plan to fly to General Hale's base in the Appalachian Mountains. Coulson praises her leadership in his absence.[22][52]
Candice Lee informs General Hale that Ivanov is dead. When Hale asks if Carl Creel's state has improved, Lee informs her that in actuality, Creel has worsened significantly.[22][52]
With morning arriving at the Appalachian Mountain base, Hale goes to see Creel and finds him losing control, unable to deal with the arguing of Franklin Hall and Ian Quinn's consciousnesses within the gravitonium he absorbed. Creel goes so far as to use his abilities to turn his skin into cement then proceed to bang his head against the wall, hoping to rid himself of the voices.[22][52]
Coulson and Mackenzie talk with Deke Shaw. Mackenzie mentions that Shaw admitted his feelings for Johnson the night before when on painkillers. When Shaw denies these feelings, Coulson adds that Shaw has made it all-too-obvious, and they are all aware. Shaw asks for advice in showing his feelings, but both agents point out their current relationship issues. He then decides his best option is "lemons", confusing the agents. Seeing this, he explains how, in the future, people would leave lemons on the bed of the person they fancy to express their feelings. Asking if this is something people also did in 2018, the other two lie, saying it is, looking forward to seeing his actions.[22][52]
Talbot enters Robin Hinton's empty room, looking to examine her drawings for HYDRA while under conditioning. He finds the drawings and begins to look through.[22][52]
Johnson and May enter a Containment Module as the Zephyr One passes over the Appalachian Mountains. They have Agent Thomas fire a missile down to the HYDRA Preparatory Academy as their Containment Module is jettisoned. Moments after the missile blows a hole in the base's ceiling, the Module lowers through the hole and into the building.[22][52]
As May and Johnson go to accost General Hale, they are surprised when Hale hands herself over. At first, they do not trust Hale's willingness, but Hale explains that she wants to go with them to save Ruby, scared that her daughter will make a reckless decision.[22][52]
Realising he has to stop Polly Hinton from reporting his intrusion, Talbot panics and attacks her. He chokes Polly until she passes out, and tells Robin to come with him. Robin replies that she already saw this was going to happen.[22][52]
Johnson, May, and General Hale land in Herefordshire, England, to apprehend Ruby Hale and Werner von Strucker. General Hale asks Johnson to refrain from attacking her daughter if at all possible, and Johnson agrees. Despite this, Johnson takes the opportunity to criticize Hale's parenting, blaming her for the way Ruby turned out.[22][52]
Von Strucker tells Ruby Hale that a S.H.I.E.L.D. plane has just landed nearby. Hale goes to start dismembering Fitz and Simmons to hurry their final modifications, but Fitz quickly tells her that they have finished the machine, and she need not attack them. While they claim they have no way of transferring the gravitonium into the machine, von Strucker uses a tube and tap to move it over into the chamber.[22][52]
Deke Shaw goes to talk to Alphonso Mackenzie and Phil Coulson as they monitor the security feeds. As he arrives, they notice the security feed of the Hintons' room has been paused. Reactivating it, they see that the Hintons' door has been left open.[22][52]
Arriving at the Hintons' room, they find Polly Hinton on the floor. Coulson goes over to her and checks her breathing, finding that she is only unconscious. Mackenzie recalls his encounter with Glenn Talbot at the security feeds several hours prior, and realizes that Talbot must have paused the feed to allow him to go after Robin. Coulson also comes to the realization that this makes sense, with General Hale having had plenty of time during her 6 months with Talbot in her custody to have conditioned him.[22][52]
With S.H.I.E.L.D. moments away from stopping her, Ruby Hale hurries to enter the Particle Infusion Chamber and become the Destroyer of Worlds. She kisses von Strucker, the chamber closes, and the gravitonium-infusion begins. While happy at first, as the process continues, she begins to scream.[22][52]
S.H.I.E.L.D. and General Hale, now inside the HYDRA Herefordshire Facility, hear Ruby's screams, and Hale runs to get to her daughter before it is too late. She orders Leo Fitz to shut down the machine, and von Strucker lowers his gun, allowing Fitz to do so. The process is stopped at only 8% infusion, and the chamber opens. Ruby leaves the machine floating from the gravitonium in her body.[22][52]
Ruby Hale struggles to deal with the voices in her head from the gravitonium. Werner von Strucker crouches to comfort her, but without control over her powers, Hale accidentally uses the gravitonium to crush his skull, killing him. On seeing what she has done, she begins to further lose control.[22][52]
Coulson and Mackenzie find Talbot at the Lighthouse's hangar door, with Robin Hinton by his side. They confront him, and Talbot becomes confused, trying to distinguish between his actual thoughts and conditioning. Deciding he is unsafe, he holds his gun to his head, considering killing himself and ending the threat he poses.[22][52]
Ruby Hale continues to struggle with the voices, but Daisy Johnson begins to talk to her. She is kind and encouraging, trying to tell Hale that it is alright to not be comfortable with her powers yet.[22][52]
Melinda May arrives at the building as Yo-Yo Rodriguez also returns from the Quinjet. When Rodriguez sees May and hears the screams, she asks what is happening, but May simply replies that Johnson is handling the situation.[22][52]
Talbot tells Mackenzie and Coulson that he cannot trust his thoughts. While he holds the gun to his head, Mackenzie ushers Robin Hinton away from Talbot and to safety. Coulson resorts to using Talbot's trigger words to attempt to control him. Talbot manages to resist, so Coulson changes the orders to be more in line with HYDRA's motivations; he asks Talbot to turn the gun on him. As he does so, Mackenzie returns with an I.C.E.R. to quickly incapacitate Talbot, ending the risk.[22][52]
Ruby Hale begins to user her powers to crush Daisy Johnson. As she struggles to breathe, General Hale gets involved. Ruby tells her mother that she has always felt inadequate, and that she made her feel like she was a disappointment. General Hale is saddened to hear this, telling her daughter that all she ever wanted was for Ruby to meet her full potential.[22][52]
Just as Ruby Hale is beginning to calm down, Elena Rodriguez enters the room. She exclaims as she recognizes Hale as the person who sliced off her arms, and hearing this, Hale slips back into a distressed, frenzied, and dangerous state.[22][52]
Seeing the potential outcome of Ruby Hale losing control and becoming the Destroyer of Worlds, Rodriguez makes a quick decision. Using her super-speed, she runs and steals Ruby's Ring Blades, using them to then slice the teenager's throat and kill her. Returning to her position, everyone is left in shock as Ruby suddenly falls, her neck bleeding as she dies quickly.[22][52]
Ruby Hale's dead body begins to rise into the air as the gravitonium inside tries to escape its host. The substance is then expelled from her in a burst of energy that knocks everyone in the vicinity to the ground.[22][52]
Simmons, Fitz, and May arrive as Johnson and Rodriguez get back up. They find that in the aftermath of the blast, General Hale managed to escape. When Simmons asks what happened to Ruby, Johnson angrily says that she had the situation under control before Rodriguez killed her, but Rodriguez claims her actions have just saved the world.[22][52]
22nd
General Hale uses the Phase Harmonic Teleportation Device to visit Qovas. She tells him that S.H.I.E.L.D. still have the gravitonium he wants, but that she can tell him where they are hiding. He asks if she wants them to be killed, and, mourning for Ruby, she says that she now has no reason to stop him.[22][52]
Quill enters Groot's room in the Benatar and complains that he needs to tidy up after himself and stop wasting his time playing video games. Groot rudely tells him to go away, and Quill takes a moment to feel sorry for Yondu Udonta, who diedalmost 4 years earlier, realizing what Yondu had to put up with when raising him.[22][53][54]
As they travel with the remainder of the Asgardians in the Statesman, Loki tells Thor that he cannot help but wonder how he might be received when they return to Earth, considering the intentions of his visit in 2012. Thor, however, assures him everything is going to be fine. Unbeknown to them, a much larger ship has been following them: the Sanctuary II. The ship suddenly appears before the Asgardians', blocking its path.[22][58]
The Asgardians send a distress call as Thanos and the Black Order board the Statesman, breaking it apart with the help of the Power Stone. They go about slaughtering half of its passengers, allowing the other half to escape, in accordance with Thanos' ethos. Thor and Heimdall are defeated and left helpless on the ground.[22][56]
Thanos walks to Thor and picks him up by the head. He threatens Loki, telling him that if he does not hand over the Tesseract, containing the Space Stone, then he will use the Power Stone to brutally murder Thor. While Thor insists that the Tesseract was destroyed along with Asgard, Loki reveals the truth: that he stole it before awakening Surtur. As he breaks the illusion he is conjuring to hide it, he distracts Thanos for long enough that the Hulk can attack him.[22][56]
At first taken by surprise, Thanos nonetheless gathers himself in the duel and begins to overpower the Hulk with targeted and skilful attacks. He beats Hulk down until he is unable to fight. Seeing that Banner is about to be killed, Heimdall uses the last of his strength to summon dark magic and channel the Bifrost to transport Hulk back to Earth. Noticing Heimdall because of this action, and feeling owed a life, Thanos impales Thor's best friend, killing him.[22][56]
Ebony Maw gives Thanos the Tesseract. The Titan takes the cube and breaks it in his hand, revealing the Infinity Stone it encased, then places the Stone into the Infinity Gauntlet. Loki steps out again, pretending to offer his services to Thanos in order to get close to him, then swiftly moves with a knife to attack the Titan. Thanos, however, uses the newly acquired powers of the Space Stone to immobilize Loki's arm, and proceeds to grab Loki by the neck. As the life is choked out of him, Loki spitefully tells Thanos that he will never be a god, but the strangling eventually kills Loki, and Thanos throws his body aside. He uses the Power Stone to set off a chain of explosions on the ship, then he and the Black Order use the Space Stone to teleport away. Thor is left cradling his dead brother's body as the ship collapses around him.[22][56]
Just as Doctor Strange and Wong are about to leave the New York Sanctum, Bruce Banner crashes through the ceiling. Worried that they might be under attack, Strange and Wong run to where Banner has landed, only to find him shocked and in fear. Banner simply warns them, "Thanos is coming."[22][56]
Pepper Potts and Tony Stark are out running in New York City and discuss their upcoming wedding. Stark tells Potts that he had a dream in which they had a child called Morgan, and wondered if it might be a sign that she is pregnant, but she denies this. They are suddenly interrupted when Doctor Strange opens a portal next to them and steps out to tell Stark that they need his help, and the universe is at stake. Stark is not sure whether to trust Strange until Bruce Banner steps out from behind the sorcerer, reuniting with his friend after 3 years in space. Stark is stunned, but agrees to go through the portal with them to the Sanctum.[22][56]
Stark is brought up-to-date as Wong, Strange, and Banner explain about the Infinity Stones and Thanos. The group realize they need to contact Vision, who has the Mind Stone embedded in his head, but Stark explains that he has been off-the-radar for a fortnight, and that the only way to find him might well be calling Steve Rogers. When Banner is confused by why this might be a problem, Stark explains what happened in 2016, when the Avengers were broken by the conflict between him and Rogers. However, Banner still insists that Stark should put the grudge aside considering the stakes at play, and Stark reluctantly gets out the burner flip-phone Rogers had left him.[22][56]
At that moment, winds become stronger in the area and a commotion is heard from outside. The group leave the Sanctum and find that a strange "Q"-shaped spaceship has arrived over Greenwich Village and people are running in fear.[22][56]
On the way to the Museum of Modern Art on a field trip, Peter Parker looks out of the window of the Midtown School of Science and Technology bus and spots the Q-Ship. Realizing he has to get involved in helping citizens as Spider-Man, Parker asks Ned Leeds to create a distraction so people don't notice him leaving the vehicle. When he sees the ship, Leeds is shocked and exclaims to the rest of the bus, naturally creating a distraction anyway, and Parker jumps out of the window, donning the Spider-Man suit.[22][56]
Black Order members Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian are beamed down from the Q-Ship outside the Sanctum Santorum and demand the Time Stone from Doctor Strange. Strange refuses to give in and prepares to defend the stone with his life if necessary. Stark encourages Banner to transform into the Hulk and help in a fight against Cull Obsidian, but when he tries, he is surprised to find himself incapable of the transformation. Stark activates his nanotech Mark L armor and Strange and Wong engage two mandala shields, and a battle ensues.[22][56]
Iron Man and Cull Obsidian fight, but Iron Man begins to lose due to the alien's immense strength. As Cull Obsidian swings at Stark, however, Spider-Man arrives and stops his fist.[22][56]
Meanwhile, Ebony Maw engages the sorcerers in battle as he attempts to steal the Time Stone, meeting their magical attacks with his own. He binds Strange to the wall but is unable to touch the Eye of Agamotto without being burned, since Strange has cast a spell preventing anyone else from taking it so long as he survives. The Cloak of Levitation allows him to escape from the bindings, but Maw gives chase.[22][56]
Spider-Man goes after Ebony Maw to stop him from getting to Strange again. However, the Q-Ship's beam activates and catches Strange, lifting him up to the ship. Parker worries as he finds himself inescapably also caught in the beam.[22][56]
Wong helps Iron Man fight Cull Obsidian and conjures a portal to drop Cull Obsidian through, closing it off as the alien reaches back through, thus severing his arm and leaving him stranded in a snowy environment.[22][56]
As Ebony Maw brings an immobilized Strange into the Q-Ship, Spider-Man clings onto the side of the ship, desperately trying not to fall from such a great height. He communicates with Iron Man to tell him he is running out of breath in the thinner, high-altitude air, and Stark has F.R.I.D.A.Y. send the Iron Spider armor from the New Avengers Facility up to Parker. It wraps itself around him and gives him breathing capability just in time to stop him falling to his death. However, as Stark arrives at the ship, he engages a parachute in Spider-Man's suit to safely take him back to Earth, not wanting to endanger the teenager further.[22][56]
As Stark cuts a hole in the ship to get inside, Pepper Potts calls him, worried he is on-board the ship. He reluctantly confirms her fears, just as the ship reaches too high an altitude and his signal is lost, as well as his connection to F.R.I.D.A.Y.. Meanwhile, unbeknown to him, Parker has managed to grab hold of the Q-Ship and stow away inside.[22][56]
On the ground, Wong tells Banner that he has to return to the Sanctum in Strange's absence, so as to protect it from any potential threats. Banner finds Stark's flip-phone and calls Steve Rogers to warn him about Vision.[22][56]
Aboard the Benatar, the Guardians of the Galaxy travel across space to answer the distress call sent by the Asgardian ship. However, on arrival, they are shocked to find the Statesman in ruins and debris floating in all directions. As they look at the wreckage, an unconscious Thor floats in front of them and hits their windscreen.[22][56]
After bringing him inside, Mantis uses her powers to wake Thor so the Guardians can question him. Thor jolts awake and is surprised by his surroundings, but proceeds to explain what has transpired, telling them of the attack on Xandar, the destruction of his ship, the deaths of his best friend, his brother, and half his people, and Thanos' acquisition of two Infinity Stones. He tells the Guardians that he needs to leave and travel to Nidavellir in an escape pod, hoping to forge a new Uru weapon capable of killing Thanos, and warns them that they should check the Reality Stone is still safely in the possession of the Collector on Knowhere. Interested in the weaponry, Rocket Raccoon decides to go with Thor to the Dwarven forge, and brings Groot along.[22][56]
In the Lighthouse, Glenn Talbot is trying to sleep. However, he finds his rest disturbed by a set of coordinates repeating in his head that he does not understand.[22][59]
After several days spent apart, with Deke letting his arm heal, Fitz, Mackenzie, and Simmons working on giving the Quinjet space capabilities with gravitonium, May and Johnson working on saving Coulson, and Johnson and Coulson preparing to deal with the remaining gravitonium, Coulson's team finally come together for the first time since Yo-Yo Rodriguez killed Ruby Hale. They convene to discuss the finalized plan to slingshot the remaining gravitonium into the Sun, but when General Hale is mentioned, Mackenzie asks for someone to explain how they lost her in Herefordshire. This sparks an argument about the morality of Rodriguez's decision, with her standing by her decision to kill Ruby Hale as necessary for saving the world and Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons backing her up, but the others believing it was not justified. Coulson dismisses them to pursue their own individual tasks, thus breaking up the argument.[22][59]
Knowing that Coulson would object to their actions, May takes Daisy Johnson aside to talk in secret about their pursuit of a cure for his affliction. She tells Johnson that Tony Caine says he has found something to help, and that when she delivers Polly and Robin Hinton to him, she should ask him for what he has found.[22][59]
Deke Shaw talks to his future grandparents, Fitz and Simmons, about the possibility that if they change the future, he will stop existing. Shaw, however, suggests once again that the multiverse theory may be true, and he is from an alternate universe - that this would make him safe if, indeed, the future of this universe is different.[22][59]
Coulson visits Talbot, and Talbot tells him about the coordinates. He says that he has realized why his HYDRA programming had led him to the hangar - he was broadcasting the location of the Lighthouse to Hale. Coulson is shocked as he realizes this means they could be under attack by Qovas and the Remorath.[22][59]
Coulson's team realize that the Remorath above have cut off all their communication signals to the outside world. In reaction to the threat, the Lighthouse programming automatically triggers "Project: Reclamation" - the project for which it was built, giving options for extra protection against a threat or catastrophic event. Another video of Rick Stoner begins, walking them through the options for defense. As Stoner lists the options, Coulson decides that the one most befitting their situation is "nuclear attack", prematurely selecting it before Stoner then states that there was, in fact, another option specifically for alien invasion. The nuclear attack selection locks the building down, with Stoner informing them that they are locked in for 15 years. Coulson tries to stay calm despite his mistake. He takes the tannoy to hesitantly inform the other agents of the situation they are in, adding that all being well, there should be a way out of their predicament.[22][59]
Qovas contacts Coulson with a live feed from his ship. Coulson tries to stay defiant and despite Qovas' threats, he insists that him and his agents are safe, and that as soon as the government find out about the ship, they are likely to shoot it down.[22][59]
Talking properly for the first time in days, Yo-Yo Rodriguez tries to explain her actions to Alphonso Mackenzie, knowing that he is angry at what she did. He tells her that he, too, has had violent urges, but that as part of S.H.I.E.L.D., they should know better than to lose control and act on them.[22][59]
Rodriguez comes across Melinda May, who guesses what Mackenzie told her. Understanding Rodriguez's position after having had to kill Katya Belyakov 10 years prior, she says that it will change people's perception of her, but that all she can do is to learn to live with her actions.[22][59]
The two agents get back to the control room, and Phil Coulson says he is worried as to why Daisy Johnson has not yet returned. May confesses the truth to him, that she had ordered Johnson to go dark while she performed their secret side-mission that might help save him. On hearing this, Rodriguez begins to panic, saying that she thinks she killed Ruby Hale for nothing.[22][59]
Rodriguez tells Coulson about what her future self said in 2091, warning that they need to let him die. May argues that since Robin Hinton said Coulson will "put the pieces back together", they need to save him. However, the argument is interrupted when Coulson realizes that through the Phase Harmonic Teleportation Device, the alien attackers are able to go wherever they want, and could arrive any moment.[22][59]
The Remorath marauders use the Phase Harmonic Teleportation Device to teleport into the building.[22][59]
The marauders materialize in the Lighthouse and the lights in the corridors go out. They begin to stab agents they find, and Deke Shaw dives into a ventilation shaft to hide.[22][59]
Energy fluctuations occur throughout the Lighthouse as a result of the Remorath's presence. Shaw gets back to the control room through the ventilation shafts.[22][59]
Shaw explains that he knows the Remorath from 2091, warning the agents about their tendency to successfully hunt down everyone they target. Phil Coulson sends Yo-Yo Rodriguez to get Glenn Talbot to safety, and via video call, Leo Fitz lets the agents know that there is an analogue override in the building that will be able to get to get them out of the Project Reclamation lock-down. Shaw asks why Daisy Johnson cannot help them, then realizes that she never returned. When he asks why, Coulson bitterly tells him to ask May.[22][59]
Johnson talks to Tony Caine after he has finished getting the Hintons settled in safely. He mentions that Robin drew him a picture of a blue alien lady, and remarks how strange it is dealing with aliens, asking her if she has seen the weird alien events happening in New York, to which she replies that she is unable to watch the news these days as it bothers her. He moves on to telling her what he has found for Coulson, explaining that his research took him back to John Garrett's work, and that he has found what kept Garrett alive during the Deathlok programme: Centipede Serum, which he has the last remaining unit of. He hands her the unit but explains that the serum is missing a healing component designed and developed by the Nazis, and that the only clue he has to its source, a name, could not be found on any map. When Johnson looks at the name, however, she sees that it is "Jiaying", and realizes that HYDRA used her mother's healing ability to complete the serum.[22][59]
Rodriguez gets to Talbot's cell and asks him to put on handcuffs. He is reluctant to, claiming that he can be trusted to cooperate and wants to make up for his actions, but she tells him that while she trusts him, they cannot know for sure that he is not still under HYDRA conditioning. She asks that he follow her lead.[22][59]
Fitz makes his way to Floor 17, where the analogue override is held, accompanied by another agent. The lights begin to flicker and Fitz's walkie-talkie stops working, making them realize that Remorath marauders must be nearby. Fitz's fellow agent then walks ahead but is ambushed by a marauder, killed on the spot. Fitz runs and comes across Deke Shaw, who had gone to find him as he was afraid that if Fitz died, he would never exist. Shaw uses a fire extinguisher to ward off the marauder and the two of them run to the override room. However, when they get there, Fitz is horrified to find that the override has been ripped apart, meaning they no longer have any way out.[22][59]
Coulson explains to May and Mackenzie about the override being destroyed. Agent Kim offers to go to the armory for them and Coulson decides that they have to take a stand and defend the control room. He instructs Yo-Yo Rodriguez to pick up any weaponry she can and take Talbot to them. Deke Shaw works on fixing an elevator to allow Simmons, Piper, and Davis to transport the gravitonium to the control room. Fitz warns them that the aliens have technology like EMPs that affects technology, and informs Coulson that they need to find combustible items to use as sources of light if they are going to be able to see the attackers.[22][59]
Rodriguez and Glenn Talbot encounter two Remorath marauders and hide, waiting for an opportunity to get past.[22][59]
Shaw and Fitz get into the fixed elevator. Shaw begins to panic, not wanting to die without having seen the wider world.[22][59]
Piper, Davis, and Simmons barricade themselves in the lab and prepare to fight. The door begins to rattle and they raise their guns, but it is only Rodriguez and Talbot. They enter and inform Simmons that their route to the control room has been cut off, and Simmons tells Fitz on the walkie-talkie that she will have to make her stand where she is, in the lab. Rodriguez heads out with Davis and Piper to hunt their attackers, leaving Simmons and Talbot as the last line of defense.[22][59]
Alphonso Mackenzie joins Leo Fitz and Deke Shaw at the elevator exit as they get out. A marauder arrives in their corridor and Mackenzie shoots him, but he is unfazed. He is joined by two further marauders, who chase the agents as they run for safety.[22][59]
Rodriguez, Piper, and Davis struggle with the darkness in the building as they cannot see if there are marauders nearby. They shoot down the corridor in case but find nothing. However, Rodriguez uses her super-speed to scout ahead and reports back that there are several that they are about to encounter. She insists on leading the way, telling the two agents that she cannot be killed.[22][59]
Coulson uses the walkie-talkies to let Simmons know that he and the others are surrounded in the control room, and so she and Rodriguez should not try to get to them. Simmons is unable to warn Rodriguez, however, as she has left and Simmons is unable to exit the lab without being swarmed by attackers. Talbot picks up an I.C.E.R. to prepare to help her if any Remorath get in, but then finds the Particle Infusion Chamber chamber in the lab. Believing he can help if he is infused with the gravitonium, but knowing Simmons will not let him, he I.C.E.-es her and enters the machine.[22][59]
Fitz gets back to the control room with a combustible cocktail he has made. He and May light fires and the team prepares for the Remorath's attack. The doors begin to shake as they try to get in, but they suddenly go quiet. The team become suspicious, then realize the Remorath are heading upwards as noises resume from above. The marauders enter from an upper floor door and the team being to shoot at their attackers.[22][59]
Yo-Yo Rodriguez, Piper, and Davis meanwhile shoot at the marauders attacking the lab, but realize they are swarmed from all sides. Rodriguez attempts to contact Simmons but gets no response from the walkie-talkie and becomes concerned. Piper begins reminding Rodriguez that she need not be worried because the technology around them is just not working, when suddenly the lab doors are blown open. They watch as a marauder who has been knocked to the ground by the blast is dragged out of view, followed by their blood splattering across the hall. Glenn Talbot emerges, empowered by the gravitonium infused in his body.[22][59]
In the control room, the team run out of ammunition, with no success in having taken down the seemingly bulletproof Remorath. They begin to fight hand-to-hand, but Coulson finds himself quickly knocked to the ground. Dazed, he notices the control room door opening despite the lock-down, and is surprised to see Glenn Talbot enter. Talbot uses his newly acquired ability of manipulating the effects of gravity on people and objects to lift the marauders into the air and then crush them as they float, crumpling their bodies inwards on themselves and killing them all swiftly.[22][59]
Rodriguez runs into the lab and helps Jemma Simmons off the floor. They find the Particle Infusion Chamber with the reading marking it "100%", and realize, to their dismay, what Talbot has done.[22][59]
Talbot proudly proclaims to the agents in the control room that he has fixed things as he promised. He then uses his powers to break the ceiling of the Lighthouse and detach the portion of the floor Coulson is lying on, standing on it with him as he lifts the piece of floor up into the air and through the ceiling. The remaining agents are astonished, but the electricity comes back online and the breaking of the lock-down and lack of contamination in the scans of the atmosphere trigger a new Rick Stoner recording informing them that Project: Reclamation is over.[22][59]
Knowing she needs her mother's DNA to acquire the necessary healing component of the Centipede Serum, Daisy Johnson visits Jiaying's grave and begins to dig up the body.[22][59]
Arriving at Qovas' docking station, Talbot and Coulson are met by Remorath who declare them prisoners. Coulson asks Talbot what his plan is, and he says that they are going to show the aliens his position of authority over them to force them to leave, again saying he will "fix" things, which concerns Coulson.[22][60]
The team at the Lighthouse discuss their concern about Talbot. Simmons informs them that Talbot took in all of the gravitonium, and mentions the fact that it has catastrophic consequences, having driven Ruby Hale insane with just 8%, highlighting that with Talbot's brain injury this could cause him a major psychotic break. Melinda May declares that they need to find him and Coulson, but Leo Fitz points out that the building has only just come back online and it could be hours before the systems are fully functional. Rodriguez asks where Alphonso Mackenzie is, and Piper explains he has gone to check for any remaining Remorath.[22][60]
Mackenzie scouts the hallways and finds one remaining marauder. The alien ingests the same odium liquid the team encountered in 2091, giving him a burst of adrenaline and making rabid and super resilient. Mackenzie shoots at him, but the bullets are once again ineffective, and he has to engage the alien hand-to-hand. He manages to outsmart the alien and beat him down with his Shotgun-Axe, but before he can kill him, May arrives and tells him to stop, as they need the marauder alive to attempt to acquire any information they can about what Coulson and Talbot are facing. Mackenzie knocks him out instead.[22][60]
Talbot and Coulson are taken before Qovas, and Talbot claims the ship for himself. Qovas dismisses his claim, but Talbot uses his new powers to crush one of the Remorath the same way he had in the Lighthouse. Realizing that Talbot has the power to end their lives in an instant, Qovas and his marauders reluctantly kneel before him as he demands.[22][60]
Yo-Yo Rodriguez finds Mackenzie and asks if he is okay. However, when she tries to further the conversation to talk again about forgiving her, he explains that May and Simmons are waiting for him and walks away.[22][60]
May, Mackenzie, and Simmons interrogate the marauder they found, keeping him chained to the floor and ceiling. He rants about the liquid he consumed, telling them it is called the odium, and exclaiming that it gives them the powers of the gods. He grows increasingly rabid, shaking and straining in his chains until one chain breaks, but as he does so, the odium finishes taking effect and his heart stops, dying with odium dripping out of his mouth. Simmons explains that to understand the odium better, she would have to dissect him, and the other two encourage her to do so.[22][60]
Glenn Talbot expresses his pride in his work, but Phil Coulson warns him that they need to plan more thoroughly and not make rash decisions. Talbot says he is saving the world, but Qovas calmly tells him that he is being ignorant, as the Confederacy will not stand for his actions, noting that HYDRA were never so foolish. This prompts Coulson to realize that Hale must be how Qovas found out their location, and requests to be taken to see her.[22][60]
Coulson visits Hale, and finds her repentant, having spent time alone wallowing in her grief. She explains that she has always been too angry, and never stopped to consider her love for Ruby until it was too late - that she blindly carried out HYDRA's agenda to the point where it got her daughter killed, and that makes it her fault. Coulson expresses his condolences, but asks for her help, telling her of Talbot undergoing Project Destroyer of Worlds.[22][60]
Coulson takes Hale back to Talbot and Qovas, and she tells them what she knows of the Confederacy. He is reluctant to trust his captor, but she apologizes for her treatment of him, and Coulson tells him they need her knowledge. Hale tells Talbot that now he is laced with the gravitonium, he is the only one who can save them all, and he decides to listen. She reveals that HYDRA's deal with the Confederacy was for them to protect the Earth from attack in return for Inhumans and gravitonium, the latter of which Qovas adds is a very valuable substance due to its exceptional powers that can be used to bend space and build and destroy empires. The humans decide they have to meet with the Confederacy to make a new arrangement, which Qovas argues is against Confederacy protocol, noting they would also have nothing to bargain with. Coulson, however, argues that Talbot himself is their bargaining chip due to the gravitonium in his body.[22][60]
In the Lighthouse, Leo Fitz worries that it could take hours to get the power working again, but it suddenly switches back on, as Deke Shaw steps out from behind the monitors and explains that he fixed it, as it was what he was good at in the future. The team receive a transmission from Daisy Johnson, who explains that she has been trying to contact for 30 minutes to let them know she is arriving. Shaw tells her why they were unable to pick up, explaining about the attack they underwent.[22][60]
Yo-Yo Rodriguez goes to meet Johnson when she arrives, wanting to confront her for keeping her mission secret and, in her opinion, abandoning them.[22][60]
Johnson enters and Rodriguez demands to know what is in the bag she is carrying. When Johnson refuses, she uses her super-speed to grab the bag for herself and finds the skeleton within. She asks Johnson what is wrong with her, and Johnson hits her, starting a fight. Rodriguez uses her super-speed to repeatedly punch Johnson, but Johnson takes advantage of the moment in which Rodriguez returns to her starting point, hitting her with a quake before she can run again. Melinda May arrives and breaks up the fight, informing them that they have picked up a signal of a spaceship outside of the atmosphere, believing it to be Qovas' ship, and that once the artificial gravity is installed on Zephyr One, they will be flying up to board it. She tells Rodriguez that they will continue working to help Coulson, and she can either help or leave.[22][60]
Glenn Talbot, having trimmed his shaggy hair and beard, dons robes to prepare for the visit to the Confederacy. Coulson reminds him to be careful, but he insists he knows what he is doing. Qovas takes him to the Phase Harmonic Teleportation Device, and they teleport to the Confederacy meeting.[22][60]
The Confederacy are surprised by Talbot's presence, and Qovas explains that he is there to renegotiate the terms of Earth's protection. The aliens are reluctant to listen, but Talbot confidently claims he is much more than the amateurs they have dealt with in the past, calling himself "Earth's mightiest hero".[22][60]
Deke Shaw goes to see Daisy Johnson. She comments on the lemons she found in her bed, believing it to be a prank, and Shaw, embarrassed that his attempt at showing affection went wrong, deflects it by saying it was probably Fitz. He says he has been meaning to tell her something since they became closer, and she tells him not to get close to her, as people close to her die, mentioning her mother and Lincoln Campbell. Shaw asks who Campbell is, and she explains his sacrifice and how much she loved him, saying she sometimes wonders if she still does. She asks what he was going to say, and he tells her of their discovery: that Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons are his grandparents.[22][60]
Talbot asks to be added to the Confederacy, but is told that there can never be more than six members. He uses his powers to engulf Confederacy member Crixon with the gravitonium from his body, proving his might, and arrogantly proclaims that he has just freed a space for himself in the group.[22][60]
Alphonso Mackenzie works on Zephyr One, and Leo Fitz arrives to insert the gravitonium into the ship's system to use for artificial gravity once they head to space. Fitz tries to apologize to Mackenzie for complying with locking him up before, but Mackenzie refuses to accept his support of Yo-Yo Rodriguez killing Ruby Hale, telling him that the things he was saying about the predetermined future led Rodriguez down the wrong path. Fitz stands up for himself, saying that sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice a life for the sake of many, and that Hale was just too dangerous, but Mackenzie tells him he needs to take a look at his actions and think about what kind of person he wants to be, because lately he has been morally questionable.[22][60]
Wanda Maximoff and Vision are staying in a bedroom in Edinburgh together, with Vision having mastered his phasing abilities to make himself appear human. Vision feels a pain from the Mind Stone in his forehead. He has Maximoff use her powers, which stem from the stone, to connect with the stone and see if she can feel anything, but she tells him that all she feels is him. They share a kiss.[22][56]
Jemma Simmons is dissecting the Remorath marauder's heart when Daisy Johnson enters, showing her the Centipede Serum she has acquired and delivering the bag with Jiaying's skeleton. Simmons is reluctant to help, saying that the morality of what they are doing needs to be considered, but Johnson tells her that if she wants Phil Coulson to survive, which she affirms that she obviously does, this has to be her top priority.[22][60]
Three Confederacy members leave via the Phase Harmonic Teleportation Device, so that Qovas, Glenn Talbot, and the Kree representative, who announces himself to be Taryan of the house Kasius - the father of the Kree noblemen the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had to face in 2091. He reveals that the Confederacy never intended to honor their agreement of protection, nor did they have the ability to, as is being exemplified as they speak; Taryan explains that an alien far beyond the Confederacy's might, known as Thanos, is currently leading his forces in an assault on the planet. Talbot insists that he must face Thanos, but Taryan says he is nowhere near capable enough, but that there might be a way to strengthen him so he can face the Titan.[22][60]
Maximoff and Vision go for a walk through the Edinburgh streets, and Vision suggests that this time, after 2 years of only meeting for a couple of weeks at a time, they stay together for longer and start to settle. However, before they can make a decision, Maximoff notices a television in a shop behind Vision broadcasting the news of the attack on Greenwich village and the disappearance of Tony Stark. Turning to look, Vision recognizes that the aliens who attacked New York are the threat that the Mind Stone is warning him of. He tells her will have to leave, but is suddenly ambushed as Corvus Glaive, another of Thanos' Black Order, steps out from a street corner and stabs him through the chest with a glaive.[22][56]
The injury stops Vision's ability to phase and he reverts to his android form. The Black Order's Proxima Midnight arrives and hits Maximoff with a blast from her spear to get her out of the way, as Glaive begins trying to prise the gem from Vision's head. Maximoff gets back up and uses her powers to throw balls of energy at the aliens and knock them aside, then telekinetically pull Vision away from them and fly to a nearby square.[22][56]
Maximoff starts to use her abilities to help heal Vision's wound, but the Black Order catch up with them and manage to separate the couple, with Corvus Glaive fighting Vision and Proxima Midnight fighting Maximoff. Vision begins to shoot a beam from the Mind Stone, but Corvus Glaive uses his glaive's abilities to fire at back at him. He again tries to prise the stone from Vision's head, but Maximoff overpowers Proxima Midnight and flies to his aid, blasting him aside with another ball of energy.[22][56]
Maximoff begins to fly herself and Vision away, but Proxima Midnight fires a blast from her spear that knocks them out of the sky, tumbling into Edinburgh Waverley railway station. Vision lies helpless on the floor as the aliens return, and Maximoff prepares to defend him, outnumbered. However, when a train passes by, Maximoff is relieved when from behind it appears Steve Rogers, who has arrived with Sam Wilson and Natasha Romanoff on Bruce Banner's warning to help defend the couple.[22][56]
Proxima Midnight throws her spear at Rogers, but his fast reflexes allow him to simply catch it. Wilson then takes advantage of the alien's surprise and ambushes her, kicking her through a shop window then firing small missiles at Corvus Glaive, occupying him as he tries to deflect them, and allowing Romanoff a window to attack him. Rogers throws the spear to her and she catches it, then thrusts it into Corvus Glaive's side, knocking him down and kicking the glaive from his hand. Proxima Midnight summons the spear back to her hand to attack Romanoff, but Rogers rolls in front of her, picking up the glaive and parrying. He works with Rogers to overpower Proxima Midnight, and Wilson returns to kick her down again. She scuttles to Corvus Glaive's side, and Romanoff threatens to kill them, but before they can act, a transportation beam from a Q-Ship overhead lifts the aliens away to safety.[22][56]
General Hale and Phil Coulson look out at space from Qovas' ship, when Talbot and Qovas return through the Phase Harmonic Teleportation Device. Talbot passes on Taryan's news of "Thanos" and says that the only option they have left is for him to make himself "invincible", which he will do by tapping into an untapped deposit of gravitonium under the Earth's surface. Coulson tries to talk him down, warning of how dangerous the gravitonium is and that it could cause him to lose control, but Talbot accuses him of always doubting him and says he trusts the Confederacy member who told him about the deposit, revealing him to have been called "Kasius". Coulson pleads with Talbot to stop, explaining that the Kree ruling the remnants of humanity in the future was a Kasius, and that Talbot is being played, but Talbot tells him he is in charge now and is Earth's last hope, forcing Coulson to kneel before him under threat of crushing him just like the Remorath he killed.[22][60]
Zephyr One reaches the outer atmosphere and engages its newly installed artificial gravity, then twisting to fly vertically, using thrusters to escape the atmosphere and reach outer space. Piper and Alphonso Mackenzie help them through communication devices from the control room of the Lighthouse, and the agents get through to space, turning on cloaking as they turn in the direction of Qovas' ship.[22][60]
Sam Wilson pilots the Quinjet as the group take off from Edinburgh with Maximoff and Vision in tow. Romanoff scolds the couple for taking the risk of dropping out of contact just to appreciate more alone time, and Maximoff apologizes. When Wilson asks Rogers where they should fly to, Rogers replies, "Home," the New Avengers Facility in New York.[22][56]
Jemma Simmons congratulates Leo Fitz on the success of his work on Zephyr One allowing the team to reach space, but he shows no happiness, still bothered by Mackenzie's words. He addresses the Centipede Serum with her, asking if she really thinks it could work as he is concerned. She simply replies that the less they think about it the better.[22][60]
May gets up to prepare with Johnson to infiltrate Qovas' ship, and Davis pilots them onto the spaceship's hull, docking so the agents can board.[22][60]
Glenn Talbot reports that he can hear Ian Quinn's consciousness in the gravitonium, and that Quinn is saying his team originally found gravitonium at the bottom of a mine. A Remorath then reports that an unseen object has breached their hull, and Talbot realizes it is S.H.I.E.L.D., using cloaking. He turns on Coulson, accusing him of contacting the team behind his back. When he asks General Hale if she had a part in it, Hale claims to have known that Coulson was making contact, and that she attempted to dissuade him. Coulson again states that this is a lie, but Talbot refuses to believe him, feeling he has been betrayed.[22][60]
Johnson and May get to the control room, and Talbot uses his powers to lift Coulson into the air, threatening to kill him if she attacks. May exclaims that they are here to save him, not attack, and Johnson tries to calm him down, but Talbot refuses to trust them. Hale speaks up for Johnson, however, saying that after the way she treated Ruby, she trusts her.[22][60]
Hale attempts to activate Talbot's HYDRA conditioning to stop him. He lowers Coulson back to the floor, seemingly under her control, but then reveals himself to be free of the conditioning's effects and turns on her. He says that she is traitor and uses his powers to crush her, just like the Remorath he killed.[22][60]
Horrified, Johnson starts to quake Talbot to take him down, but is surprised when it has little effect on him as he uses his abilities to keep himself grounded. He then uses his powers to throw her quickly into the ceiling, knocking her out. May and Coulson are forced to surrender, and Talbot calls them prisoners of war, requesting that Qovas treat them accordingly. He tells Coulson that he has finally realized S.H.I.E.L.D. were always the enemy.[22][60]
Taryan has Agent Johnson delivered to him, remarking that he looks forward to taking her back home with him.[22][60]
Johnson wakes in a dark unfamiliar room, and meets Taryan. He introduces himself, mentioning that he is master of the House Kasius, worrying her. Taryan explains that he believes Inhumans deserve "something better" than the way humans treat them, but Johnson suspects she knows his true motives, having seen Kasius' Inhuman trade in 2091. She asks where her friends are, but he says not to worry, as they are her past, and he is now her "future".[22][61]
Qovas tells Coulson and May they will be kept as prisoners, but they insist that they will be taking him down soon enough. He considers their threat meaningless given their imprisonment, but warns them nonetheless that if they try anything, he will release ionizer missiles on the Lighthouse. He leaves and reunites with Glenn Talbot, who says that he knows someone who may be able to help them acquire gravitonium.[22][61]
Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons review the Centipede Serum and its potential to save Coulson. Fitz suggests that the 2091 Rodriguez's comment about the Earth's destruction came about from trying to save Coulson could be reframed with the assertion that if they do not just "try", but actually succeed, then perhaps that breaks the chain of events. Simmons is glad to hear this optimistic view, pointing out that Fitz has always believed time cannot be changed, but Fitz suggests it is time to take bold risks.[22][61]
Deke Shaw and Agents Davis and Kim talk as they run maintenance on Zephyr One, with Shaw being amazed as Davis tells him how he survived Aida's attack. Glenn Talbot then suddenly enters through the floor, boarding the plane, and on seeing Kim, he uses his powers to kill him without a second thought. Shaw and Davis hide for safety as Talbot, along with two Remorath marauders, heads for the Quinjet.[22][61]
Talbot gets to the Quinjet, using his powers to fly it himself instead of using the jet's power. He detaches it from Zephyr One and heads back to Earth.[22][61]
Mackenzie wonders why the Quinjet's tracker is not showing up, but Yo-Yo Rodriguez realizes that if Talbot is not using the jet's power, then the tracker would not be activated. Mackenzie decides to try and force the tracker to work by remote.[22][61]
Phil Coulson and Melinda May discuss Talbot in their cell. Coulson says he feels responsible, with Talbot having entered the machine for their sake. May points out the absurdity that they have now come to care for Talbot, having detested him when they first met 4 years prior, but Coulson states that this is an example of how people do change, and that they still need to try to help. He begins to scan their cell wall with his prosthetic hand.[22][61]
Having returned to Earth, Talbot visits his old bodyguard Carl Creel in hospital. He tells Creel that he has come into contact with gravitonium and has learned how to silence the voices it inflicts, saying he can silence them for him as well.[22][61]
Daisy Johnson talks with Taryan in the dark room. He says he sympathizes with the fact that "lesser" humans hunted her, but she tells him that despite having experienced some discrimination, humans should not be generalized by this. When he replies that she will come with him willingly or not, she tries to attack him but is surprised to find herself incapable of using her powers. Taryan reveals that she is not in fact conscious, and is currently being taken by Remorath to be delivered to him, with a device planted on her forehead to allow her unconscious self to converse with him ahead of them meeting physically.[22][61]
Alphonso Mackenzie goes to Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons, and they tell him that they might have found a way to revive Coulson's necrotic tissue. He is pleased, but informs them that Glenn Talbot is killing people, asking if they can find a way to reverse the process he underwent.[22][61]
Coulson continues to scan the wall and begins to construct a plan for an attempted escape. However, before he can take any action, the door opens and he and May find Deke Shaw at the entrance, knocking out the guard and letting them out. The agents are grateful, but tell him that they need to find Johnson next.[22][61]
Talbot offers to help Creel, extending his hand and asking for Creel to "join" him. Creel is cautious, but eventually does so, and the gravitonium in Talbot extends from his fingers to envelop him. Creel happily says that he has found peace, but Talbot then proceeds to use the gravitonium to absorb him entirely, effectively killing his old bodyguard.[22][61]
31st
Soon after midnight, Alphonso Mackenzie and Yo-Yo Rodriguez review the security footage from the hospital of Talbot killing Creel. He tells her that while Creel had killed his friend, Isabelle Hartley, once he had understood that Creel was not in his right mind and got to know the man, he had forgiven him and found him to be a good person. Mackenzie finds new determination to take down Talbot, and Rodriguez suggests that it might unfortunately be necessary to kill him. He replies that if that is the case, he will be the one to do it.[22][61]
On their way to Knowhere, Gamora looks at her switchblade and reminisces sadly on the day her mother died, when Thanosmassacred her people and abducted her. When Peter Quill returns to the cockpit, she tells him she needs to ask a favor. She states that she knows they will soon encounter Thanos whatever happens, and that if he gets a hold of her, she needs him to kill her. Quill is confused, but she says that she knows something vital that Thanos cannot find out about, and that if he gets hold of her alive he will almost certainly manage to force it out of her. She makes him swear, on his mother, that he will kill her if the time comes, and Quill reluctantly, solemnly, eventually agrees. She kisses him, but they are interrupted by the sound of a crunch beside them. They turn and find Drax, who informs them he has been standing there for an hour, claiming that he has mastered the ability of moving so slowly that he is invisible to the eye. Quill and Gamora exchange quizzical looks, telling him that they can see him perfectly well, but he insists his movement is imperceptible - until Mantis enters and greets him, disappointing him bitterly.[22][56]
Taryan tells Johnson that the device on her forehead, the Astralscope, is projecting her consciousness. She insists that she will get out of the situation, but Taryan mocks her, saying she has already lost track of how long she has been there and that without water, food, and sleep, she will be physically too weak to put up a fight. However, Johnson retorts by telling him that she knows his sons will die as cowards, and proceeds to use her force of will to wake herself up. The Astralscope on her head is broken and she returns to consciousness, kicking the two Remorath marauders carrying her to the ground and turning and tackling a third, then quaking them.[22][61]
Fitz and Simmons talk as they finish the Centipede Serum modifications to save Coulson. They consider how to stop Glenn Talbot, and Simmons suggests that drinking the odium might stop him, but that it would be too difficult to make him drink and even then it might not be strong enough. She posits that the Centipede Serum could perhaps be used to deliver the odium straight into his cells instead.[22][61]
Drax is overcome with his desire for revenge and moves to attack Thanos. Quill tries to stop him, but when he insists, Mantis rushes over and puts him to sleep. Her action, however, causes Drax to keel over and cause a loud thud as he hits the floor, alerting Thanos to their presence.[22][56]
Ignoring Quill's attempts to construct a plan, Gamora rushes to make her attack. She manages to surprise Thanos and stab him both with Godslayer and her switchblade. Thanos falls to the ground and dies, and Gamora cries, feeling a swell of mixed emotion at killing the man who was so cruel to her and yet treated her with care nonetheless.[22][56]
Gamora is shocked to suddenly hear Thanos' voice coming from behind her, despite his dead body at her feet. The reality around them begins to crumble into red dust, revealing the fiery ruins of the Collector's Museum as Thanos removes the effects of the Reality Stone on the area, which he has already acquired and has been using to alter the apparent reality around the Guardians to lure them in, including the rake version of himself that Gamora killed.[22][56]
Drax and Mantis move to attack Thanos, but the Titan simply uses the Reality Stone to temporarily turn Drax to stone blocks and Mantis into ribbon-like pieces. He grabs hold of Gamora, and Quill rushes to her defence, holding his Quad Blaster to Thanos and demanding he let her go.[22][56]
Gamora reminds Quill that he has no hope of harming Thanos, but that he promised he would kill her if Thanos got hold of her. Quill is distraught and Thanos taunts him, urging him to try and believing he is incapable. Holding to his solemn promise, Quill eventually summons the courage to painfully pull the trigger and end his girlfriend's life, only for Thanos to use the Reality Stone to turn the blast into bubbles, rendering the shot useless. He smiles as he opens a portal with the Space Stone and takes Gamora away with him.[22][56]
Drax and Mantis reform following Thanos' departure, and the team are left shell-shocked in the ruins of the museum.[22][56]
Deke Shaw, Phil Coulson, and Melinda May wander the corridors of Qovas' ship, not knowing where to go. The agents ask Shaw to translate the Kree language, but he reveals that he does not know it, only being able to count from 0 to 5. He decides on a direction to take them, but they stumble upon two Remorath. May prepares to fight, but Daisy Johnson arrives in time to help, quaking the aliens. Shaw wants to now leave the ship, but Coulson warns that they have to deal with Qovas first, otherwise the ionizer missiles could destroy River's End.[22][61]
Yo-Yo Rodriguez and Alphonso Mackenzie discuss Talbot and consider where he might have headed. Rodriguez tells him that before going into the machine, Talbot had kept repeating that he wanted to "fix" things. She speculates that he could be trying to prove that he is still a good man, and Mackenzie realizes that there is a high chance he specifically wants to prove he is a good father, and could have returned home.[22][61]
Inside the facility, James Rhodes is on a holographic conference call with Thaddeus Ross when the five heroes enter, with Maximoff and Wilson helping the injured Vision. Ross tells Rhodes to arrest the fugitives, but he ends the call to greet his old friends. Rhodes shows no hostility to the group, many of whom he had fought with, happily reuniting with them. He pokes fun at their tattered clothes, but Bruce Banner emerges from a nearby room, telling them he thinks they look great and awkwardly revealing that he has returned after his 3-year disappearance. Romanoff gives a wry smile back and greets him.[22][56]
The heroes discuss what to do about the Mind Stone in Vision's forehead. While Vision insists that the stone should be destroyed, Wanda Maximoff, the only one with the power to do it, refuses since it would kill her lover. Rogers agrees, saying they do not trade lives when making decisions, and Banner notes that the stone might be removable, but that it will not be easy given its complex connections within the android's neural network. He says he cannot do it alone with just the facility's resources, but Rogers suggests that if anywhere can help, it would be Wakanda.[22][56]
Carla and George Talbot are watching the WHiH World News coverage of the attack on Greenwich Village when the phone rings. Carla goes to take the call and when there is a knock at the door, George is left to answer. When he opens it, he is surprised to find his father.[22][61]
Glenn Talbot enters his home and Carla is cautious, concerned by his attire and attitude. Glenn demonstrates his powers to George, exciting him as he uses them to levitate his LEGO. Carla encourages George to leave the room so she can talk to him, and explains to Glenn that S.H.I.E.L.D. told her about his transformation. He becomes angry with her trust of the organization over him, and uses his powers to throw her against the wall.[22][61]
Qovas finds out about the agents' escapes and orders for Quake to be taken alive, but the others to be killed, using their own human weapons to dishonor them.[22][61]
Melinda May suggests that Phil Coulson and Daisy Johnson return home on Zephyr One while she and Deke Shaw deal with the missiles. Coulson refuses but May is insistent, when suddenly they are attacked by a Remorath marauder shooting at them. Coulson activates his energy shield to protect them and in the heat of the moment, decides to pull May into a kiss, after years of tension between them. Johnson is taken aback to see them kissing, but quakes the attacking alien away. Coulson heads off with her as May asked, while May leaves with Shaw, smirking to herself.[22][61]
George Talbot pleads with his father to let his mother go, but Glenn insists that Carla cannot be trusted. He suddenly hears cars outside and lets Carla drop to the floor as he heads out to confront the arriving agents.[22][61]
Alphonso Mackenzie and Yo-Yo Rodriguez step out with two other agents and hold guns to Talbot, insisting they do not want to hurt him, only to talk. Talbot, however, insists that S.H.I.E.L.D. declared "war" on him when they tried to stop him, and uses his powers to lift the S.H.I.E.L.D. SUVs into the air, before crashing them down.[22][61]
The two agents accompanying Mackenzie and Rodriguez begin firing at Talbot, but he uses his abilities to control the bullets, stopping them mid-air before hurling them back at the agents. They dive for cover, but one of the accompanying agents is caught by one of the bullets.[22][61]
Two Remorath marauders move to activate the ionizer missiles, but Deke Shaw steps out to talk to them, luring them away from the control panel and around a corner, where Melinda May is waiting. She and Shaw together manage to defeat the aliens, strangling them until they pass out. May steals their weapons and instructs Shaw to find the target coordinates of the Lighthouse so they can transfer them to the Phase Harmonic Teleportation Device as their teleport destination. Shaw also finds the launch codes and asks May if he should deactivate the missiles, but she says instead to give them a new target.[22][61]
George Talbot steps out from the house, telling his father that he is no hero and is causing hurt. Rodriguez attempts to use her super-speed to get George to safety, but finds that the gravity field Glenn is generating is too strong, repelling her. Glenn assures his son that he will prove himself a hero once he gets more resources, and tells him to keep watching the news as he starts to levitate, then flies away.[22][61]
Coulson and Johnson board Zephyr One, but notice the flickering of the lights indicating Remorath marauders in the proximity. They contact Agent Davis, but he reports back that he is under attack, and they rush to his aid. Together, Johnson and Coulson take out the aliens on-board, with Coulson shoving one through a window, and reunite with Davis. Johnson points out that the broken glass has caused Coulson to bleed. He dismisses it and instructs Davis to start flying, explaining how May and Shaw will be getting back.[22][61]
Deke Shaw relays the coordinate symbols to Melinda May to programme into the Phase Harmonic Teleportation Device. As she prepares to put in the final symbols, Qovas arrives and tells her he will kill her before she ever leaves the ship. Using the stolen Remorath weapons, she engages Qovas in a fight. Shaw runs between the control panel and device to finish inputting the symbols while she fights.[22][61]
Johnson helps bandage Coulson's bleeding hand and teases him about kissing May, as Davis starts the plane's engine.[22][61]
May keeps Qovas occupied as Shaw finishes inputting the symbols. Qovas gets free of her and taunts her as he presses the button to fire the ionizer missiles to destroy River's End, but May and Shaw make it to the Phase Harmonic Teleportation Device and smile as they explain that they changed the target, before teleporting away to safety. Qovas realizes his mistake as the missiles turn back towards him, and his ship is exploded with him on-board.[22][61]
Coulson and Johnson watch from Zephyr One as Qovas' ship is destroyed, desperately hoping May and Shaw made it to safety. Jemma Simmons video calls them and May and Shaw run to the camera, showing themselves to be alive and well. Simmons tells them that Mackenzie and Rodriguez have just returned as well, informing them about Talbot killing Carl Creel. She hangs up, and Coulson begins to say that he feels they need to stop being careful with how they treat Talbot, when Johnson notices his hand has started bleeding profusely. He looks at it and is confused, then suddenly begins to go feint. Coulson collapses, and Johnson desperately tries to help him, telling Davis to contact for a medical team to meet them when they get back.[22][61]
Having been contacted by Steve Rogers to warn them of the threat to the world, T'Challa checks with Okoye that Wakandan forces have been alerted that a fight is coming, having permitted the Avengers to come to them for help. She informs him that the King's Guard, Dora Milaje, and remaining Border Tribe have been notified, and he asks her to send word to the Jabari Tribe as well. They walk to Bucky Barnes as he farms in the fields, delivering him a new vibraniummetal arm to replace the one destroyed by Tony Stark and allow him to fight, letting him know that a fight is on its way.[22][56]
With Coulson safely delivered to the medical bay, Melinda May goes to visit him, finding him under general anesthesia.[22][61]
The team of agents gather to talk. Jemma Simmons informs them that Coulson will not die yet, but that his condition is worsening faster and faster. Leo Fitz updates them on dealing with Talbot, explaining that he and Simmons have worked out that if they use the odium to inject him with Centipede Serum, they can kill him - a necessary action at this point. However, Daisy Johnson interjects, explaining worriedly that the Centipede Serum they have is the last remaining sample in the world. The team come to the horrible realization of their situation: either they save Coulson but risk the world, or they save the world and condemn Coulson to death.[22][61]
Deke Shaw stands outside as the team debate what to do. Piper arrives and lets him know that there has been no improvement with Coulson.[22][62]
Yo-Yo Rodriguez reminds the team that this is the exact circumstance her 2091 self warned her about, and that as much as it pains her, letting Coulson die is necessary and the right thing to do especially considering he does not want saving. Fitz agrees, but Johnson says that since they cannot get close to Talbot, there is no way they can get the serum into his body anyway. Fitz mentions that it would work if Talbot absorbed one of them, and Rodriguez says she would be willing to if necessary. May asks about what would happen if it did not work, pointing out that Coulson would have died for nothing, and Johnson brings up Robin's mention of how Coulson will "bring all the pieces together", but Rodriguez argues that Robin's comments are disjointed and that this is not proof of anything. Johnson says that he would be able to talk Talbot down if he was revived, and decides to make the call herself. She reaches for the serum, but Rodriguez uses her super-speed to retrieve it. She clutches it and says that they are being clouded by their emotions, putting it simply that he is just one man against billions, and the risk is far too great. She cries that she is being made the bad guy, and that despite seeing the dystopian future, none of them are willing to listen to her. Alphonso Mackenzie intervenes and says that they need to vote, but at that moment, May smashes the odium on the ground, making it impossible to use the serum on Talbot. Rodriguez falls to her knees, desperately sad, feeling that they just doomed the world. Fitz reluctantly says he and Simmons will prepare the remedy, remarking that the others should prepare for the end of the world.[22][62]
The broken pieces of Qovas' ship hurtle through space after the ship's destruction.[22][62]
Talbot again asks Robin Hinton where the gravitonium well is. She refuses, so Talbot has Polly taken away by the Remorath, saying Robin will not see her again until he gets what he wants. He holds up a globe and asks her again to mark the location.[22][62]
Ebony Maw suspends Doctor Strange in the air, telling him that he needs to take the Time Stone before the planned rendezvous on Titan. He telekinetically presses magic needle-like shards into Strange's face to torture him.[22][56]
After hours aboard the Q-Ship, Iron Man finds Strange and Maw. He overlooks them secretly from above, trying to plan, but is startled when he is tapped on the shoulder. He turns around, only to find the Cloak of Levitation. However, at that moment, Spider-Man descends from the ceiling behind him, revealing himself to have stayed on the ship. Stark is angry, having wanted him to stay away for his own safety, but Parker insists he thought it through, feeling it was useless being Spider-Man if there was no New York left to protect. Stark calms down somewhat and accepts their situation, then asking Parker if he has any ideas for how to rescue Strange. Parker asks if Stark has seen Aliens, getting an idea inspired by the movie.[22][56]
Maw continues to torture Strange, but senses someone else's presence. He turns to find Iron Man behind him, and begins to threaten to use his powers. However, Stark fires a missile into the ship wall, with the vacuum immediately sucking Maw out into space. Strange is sucked to the hole as well, but the Cloak of Levitation catches him. He slips and continues to fall, but Spider-Man shoots a web to catch him. He himself is sucked by the vacuum, but when he reaches the hole, the Iron Spider Armor activates four back legs to stop them from slipping out into space. The legs thrust the duo back inside momentarily, and Stark administers synthetic material to safely close the hole.[22][56]
Ebony Maw dies from exposure to the vacuum of space.[22][56]
Stark and Strange argue as Stark tells him he should have listened to his advice back during the attack on Greenwich Village, but Strange says he does not work for him. He asks who Parker is, and Parker introduces himself to the sorcerer. Strange turns back to Stark to ask if they can turn the ship around to head back to Earth, but Stark tells him that it might be best to let the ship continue on to Titan. Strange feels Stark does not understand the seriousness of the situation, but Stark says that he is the one who does not understand, since the force behind Loki and the Chitauri's attack on New York in 2012 has worried him for 6 years and while he does not know what to do about him, Thanos, now he has arrived, he feels that at least in going to Titan they can gain the advantage of catching him by surprise. Strange agrees, but warns Stark that if he has to let him or Parker die to protect the Time Stone, he will. Stark respects Strange's moral steadfastness, and tells Parker he is now an Avenger, jokingly making a knighting motion and causing Parker to swell with pride.[22][56]
Yo-Yo Rodriguez dejectedly tells Alphonso Mackenzie that he is going to die due to their inability to make the tough choice and let Coulson die. Mackenzie speaks of his faith, saying simply that he will answer for his choices in life in heaven and receive the deserving judgment, but Rodriguez says it is not God she fears.[22][62]
Having been reluctantly informed by Robin Hinton that the gravitonium well was in Chicago, Talbot descends on the city in a piece of Qovas' ship, recklessly crashing into buildings.[22][62]
Yo-Yo Rodriguez visits Phil Coulson and tells him that she wants him to know she never was arguing for him to die, but simply for the saving of the world. He is understanding, telling her he would have taken her side as well.[22][62]
Daisy Johnson comes across Deke Shaw and thanks him for helping out. He reveals that he will be heading off to travel soon, hoping to see some of the world before it cracks or he blinks out of existence, and tells Johnson that he has never seen so much love, care, and loyalty among a group as he has with the agents. Piper then arrives and informs Johnson that they have found out Talbot is in Chicago.[22][62]
Phil Coulson reminds Jemma Simmons of his carving into walls after resurrection and John Garrett's insanity after taking the Centipede Serum, saying that they should have learned to let nature take its course. May enters and tries to convince him to take the serum, leaving it next to him to self-administer before leaving.[22][62]
Talbot uses his powers to float down into the streets of Chicago. He then controls a column of rock, lifting it out of the ground to retrieve a small piece of gravitonium from deep underground, then lets the rock fall back down, scaring onlookers.[22][62]
Original Timeline
Phil Coulson decides not to take the Centipede Serum yet, as it does not feel right to him in case there is still a chance for it to be used to stop Talbot.[22][63]
New Timeline
Phil Coulson resolves not to take the Centipede Serum, slipping the serum instead into the Quake Gauntlets without her knowing, hoping to force Johnson to let him die and instead use it against Talbot. Unknown to him, in doing this he fulfils Robin Hinton's prophecy that he can "put the pieces back together", through his self-sacrifice causing a subtle divergence in the timeline.[22][62]
Daisy Johnson admits to the team that she let her emotions get the better of her, and feels she cannot lead the team. Instead, she suggests that Alphonso Mackenzie take charge due to his big heart and cool head, and everyone else agrees. Coulson then enters, seemingly revitalized by the serum, expressing his approval. He hands Johnson her suit and asks Mackenzie what they will be doing next, to which he replies, "We save lives."[22][63]
On-board the Sanctuary II, Thanos hands Gamora food, but she throws it aside. She says she hated his chair, the room, the ship - her entire life with him. Thanos says he knows, having been constantly reminded for the almost 20 years she spent with him. He claims that he saved her, and that Zen-Whoberi was on the brink of collapse until he saved the Zehoberei people, with the murder of half the population having simply been necessary to bring about a peace and prosperity he claims they now live in, calling it "salvation". Thanos explains that he believes he is the only being with the will strong enough to act on the fact that life needs culling and correcting, since otherwise finite resources will run dry and cause everyone's extinction. He says that she, too, shared that will for a time, and that this was why he entrusted her with finding the Soul Stone. Gamora pretends to be apologetic, saying she is sorry she did not find it, but Thanos says that he knows she did, and is disappointed that she lied.[22][63]
Thanos takes Gamora to see Nebula, whom he has imprisoned, suspended mid-air with her cybernetic parts separated. He explains that she sneaked on-board to try to kill him recently, but that he had caught her and cycled through her memory files, finding one particular memory of importance. Playing it to her, Gamora sees that Thanos found a discussion between the sisters in which Gamora had told Nebula she secretly had found a map to the Soul Stone and burned it. Thanos demands that Gamora tell him where the stone is, and uses the Infinity Stones he has acquired to control Nebula's parts, forcing them to separate further and further and causing her agony until Gamora eventually gives in, unable to stand it any longer. She reluctantly informs him that it is on the planet Vormir.[22][63]
The Chicago Police Department tell Glenn Talbot to stand down, but worry that there is not much they are able to do. However, at that moment the citizens' phones ring with an announcement from S.H.I.E.L.D., read by Alphonso Mackenzie. He tells them they have an aircraft for civilian evacuation, that they will clear buildings in danger of collapse, and not to engage Talbot as they will handle it.[22][63]
Alphonso Mackenzie, Leo Fitz, and Melinda May run up a damaged building's staircase to find any survivors and get them to safety.[22][63]
Davis flies Johnson and Coulson to engage Talbot.[22][63]
Mackenzie, Fitz, and May are helping people at the top of the building, where Talbot's ship crashed, and find Robin Hinton, crying. She tells them about her mother being taken, and Mackenzie goes to find her.[22][63]
Mackenzie climbs up into Talbot's ship to search for Polly Hinton.[22][63]
Quake and Phil Coulson land, and Johnson tells Coulson to come with her so he can talk Talbot down. However, Coulson reveals that he is unable to, as he can barely stand, having in fact not taken the Centipede Serum. He tells her that she needs to be confident in her own abilities, having been trained by him, and says she needs to talk to Talbot herself - and if it is ineffective, to take him down. She leaves the Quinjet and angrily shouts at him to return to Zephyr One and take the serum, exclaiming that the agents fought to give him it, and he cannot just refuse.[63] An onlooker films her leaving the jet and shouting.[22][64]
Mackenzie walks through the ship tunnels and hears Hinton stuck behind a heavy door. He uses the Shotgun-Axe to begin to prise the door open.[22][63]
Daisy Johnson admits to the team that she let her emotions get the better of her, and feels she cannot lead the team. Instead, she suggests that Alphonso Mackenzie take charge due to his big heart and cool head, and everyone else agrees. Coulson then enters, seemingly revitalized by the serum, expressing his approval. He hands Johnson her suit and asks Mackenzie what they will be doing next, to which he replies, "We save lives."[22][62]
On-board the Sanctuary II, Thanos hands Gamora food, but she throws it aside. She says she hated his chair, the room, the ship - her entire life with him. Thanos says he knows, having been constantly reminded for the almost 20 years she spent with him. He claims that he saved her, and that Zen-Whoberi was on the brink of collapse until he saved the Zehoberei people, with the murder of half the population having simply been necessary to bring about a peace and prosperity he claims they now live in, calling it "salvation". Thanos explains that he believes he is the only being with the will strong enough to act on the fact that life needs culling and correcting, since otherwise finite resources will run dry and cause everyone's extinction. He says that she, too, shared that will for a time, and that this was why he entrusted her with finding the Soul Stone. Gamora pretends to be apologetic, saying she is sorry she did not find it, but Thanos says that he knows she did, and is disappointed that she lied.[22][56]
Thanos takes Gamora to see Nebula, whom he has imprisoned, suspended mid-air with her cybernetic parts separated. He explains that she sneaked on-board to try to kill him recently, but that he had caught her and cycled through her memory files, finding one particular memory of importance. Playing it to her, Gamora sees that Thanos found a discussion between the sisters in which Gamora had told Nebula she secretly had found a map to the Soul Stone and burned it. Thanos demands that Gamora tell him where the stone is, and uses the Infinity Stones he has acquired to control Nebula's parts, forcing them to separate further and further and causing her agony until Gamora eventually gives in, unable to stand it any longer. She reluctantly informs him that it is on the planet Vormir.[22][56]
The Chicago Police Department tell Glenn Talbot to stand down, but worry that there is not much they are able to do. However, at that moment the citizens' phones ring with an announcement from S.H.I.E.L.D., read by Alphonso Mackenzie. He tells them they have an aircraft for civilian evacuation, that they will clear buildings in danger of collapse, and not to engage Talbot as they will handle it.[22][62]
Alphonso Mackenzie, Leo Fitz, and Melinda May run up a damaged building's staircase to find any survivors and get them to safety.[22][62]
Davis flies Johnson and Coulson to engage Talbot.[22][62]
Mackenzie, Fitz, and May are helping people at the top of the building, where Talbot's ship crashed, and find Robin Hinton, crying. She tells them about her mother being taken, and Mackenzie goes to find her.[22][62]
Mackenzie climbs up into Talbot's ship to search for Polly Hinton.[22][62]
Quake and Phil Coulson land, and Johnson tells Coulson to come with her so he can talk Talbot down. However, Coulson reveals that he is unable to, as he can barely stand, having in fact not taken the Centipede Serum. He tells her that she needs to be confident in her own abilities, having been trained by him, and says she needs to talk to Talbot herself - and if it is ineffective, to take him down. She leaves the Quinjet and angrily shouts at him to return to Zephyr One and take the serum, exclaiming that the agents fought to give him it, and he cannot just refuse.[62] An onlooker films her leaving the jet and shouting.[22][63]
Mackenzie walks through the ship tunnels and hears Hinton stuck behind a heavy door. He uses the Shotgun-Axe to begin to prise the door open.[22][62]
Fitz reenters the room, having taken a civilian to safety, and May explains where Mackenzie has gone. Fitz becomes worried, reminding her that Polly Hinton and Mackenzie have both been said not to make it into the future.[22][62]
Mackenzie gets Hinton free, but before they can leave they are confronted in the corridor by two Remorath marauders.[22][63]
Quake runs at Talbot and thrusts herself at him with her powers, tackling him to the ground. She tells him that whether he realizes or not, he is himself becoming the "enemy" he is so bent on taking down.[22][63]
Mackenzie and Hinton find themselves cornered by the Remorath. The fight eventually ends in their deaths.[22][63]
Mackenzie gets Hinton free, but before they can leave they are confronted in the corridor by two Remorath marauders.[22][62]
Quake runs at Talbot and thrusts herself at him with her powers, tackling him to the ground. She tells him that whether he realizes or not, he is himself becoming the "enemy" he is so bent on taking down.[22][62]
Mackenzie and Hinton find themselves cornered by the Remorath, but Melinda May and Leo Fitz arrive, hoping to prevent the prophesied deaths. They ambush the aliens from behind and kill them, saving their friends.[22][62]
Agent Davis docks the Quinjet back on Zephyr One. He realizes Coulson has collapsed again in the back and rushes to help him.[22][63]
Quake tells Glenn Talbot that he is already the hero he wants to be, as anyone who signs up to help protect the world despite the potential great loss it can entail already is one. Talbot rejects this, however, saying that this is also what General Hale and Phil Coulson said to him. He grabs hold of her and begins to fly into the air.[22][63]
Agent Davis docks the Quinjet back on Zephyr One. He realizes Coulson has collapsed again in the back and rushes to help him.[22][62]
Quake tells Glenn Talbot that he is already the hero he wants to be, as anyone who signs up to help protect the world despite the potential great loss it can entail already is one. Talbot rejects this, however, saying that this is also what General Hale and Phil Coulson said to him. He grabs hold of her and begins to fly into the air.[22][62]
May, Mackenzie, and Fitz emerge from Talbot's ship with Polly Hinton, stepping back into the building. Robin is delighted to see her mother safe and runs to hug her.[22][62]
After flying high into the air, Talbot then descends fast towards the ground with Quake in his arms, building momentum and crashing her into the ground.[22][63]
The impact of Talbot and Quake's crash causes the nearby area to shake.[22][63]
After flying high into the air, Talbot then descends fast towards the ground with Quake in his arms, building momentum and crashing her into the ground.[22][62]
The impact of Talbot and Quake's crash causes the nearby area to shake. In the building where the agents are with the Hintons, rocks fall from the ceiling onto Leo Fitz, burying him.[22][62]
Zephyr One is shaken by the impact. Rodriguez begins to desperately administer chest compressions on Coulson to try to revive him.[22][63]
In the crater in the ground formed by their impact, Talbot grabs hold of the winded Quake again and begins to use his powers to attempt to absorb her, saying that it will be easier to get through to the gravitonium in the ground once he can use her absorbed powers to quake the ground apart.[22][63]
Simmons runs to find the Centipede Serum to administer it to Coulson and save his life, retrieving it from its container.[22][63]
Zephyr One is shaken by the impact. Rodriguez begins to desperately administer chest compressions on Coulson to try to revive him.[22][62]
In the crater in the ground formed by their impact, Talbot grabs hold of the winded Quake again and begins to use his powers to attempt to absorb her, saying that it will be easier to get through to the gravitonium in the ground once he can use her absorbed powers to quake the ground apart.[22][62]
Simmons runs to find the Centipede Serum to administer it to Coulson and save his life, but finds the container it was held in empty.[22][62]
As Robin and Polly Hinton descend the stairs to safety, Robin stops in her tracks and tells her mother that she can sense something being different in the timeline.[22][62]
Quake tries to escape Talbot's hold, but is incapable.[22][63]
Quake tries to escape Talbot's hold, but is incapable. However, at that moment she spots the Centipede Serum syringe slotted into her Quake Gauntlets - the difference in the timeline that Hinton had sensed.[22][62]
Jemma Simmons runs back to help try to resuscitate Coulson, while Yo-Yo Rodriguez starts to use super-speed for her chest compressions.[22][62]
Johnson takes a moment to consider what to do, knowing that if she uses the serum on herself, she can stop Talbot from absorbing her and cracking the world apart, but that this would mean it cannot be used to save Coulson. In the urgency of the situation, she comes to realize that the world has to be considered more important, and that Coulson has forced her hand since the serum will likely go to waste anyway, absorbed by Talbot if she does not use it. She steels herself and slips it from her gauntlet, injecting it into her neck.[22][62]
Rodriguez continues to administer chest compressions.[22][62]
Glenn Talbot uses his gravitonium to absorb Quake, killing her and taking on her powers in the process.[22][63]
With the additional power from the Centipede Serum, Quake breaks free of Glenn Talbot. When he runs back at her to attack again, she slides onto her back, and the moment he is directly over her, she fires a quake boosted massively by the serum directly upwards. Talbot is sent flying by the massive blast, faster than the speed of sound up into the sky and through the atmosphere.[22][62]
Phil Coulson is finally resuscitated from Rodriguez's efforts, to her and Simmons' great relief.[22][62]
May pulls another rock from the pile over Fitz and they are relieved to find him alive under the rubble. They continue to move the rocks to get him out.[22][62]
Talbot prepares to use the combination of his gravitonium and newly-acquired quake powers to break through the ground and tap into the gravitonium well deep under the surface of the Earth.[22][62]
Glenn Talbot uses his powers to break through the ground, but unintentionally causes a massive seismic event of Richter scale 12.8 that causes Planet Earth to begin to crack into pieces.[22][63]
Johnson lies in the crater in the ground, physically and emotionally exhausted, having saved the world but at the cost of killing Talbot and taking Coulson's last shot at survival. Talbot, meanwhile, floats into space, dying from exposure to the vacuum.[22][62]
May and Mackenzie lift the last of the rock off Leo Fitz, but see that his side has been punctured by a sheet of metal and he is rapidly losing blood. Fitz explains that he cannot feel his legs anymore, leading them to realize his spinal cord has been damaged. He starts to become delirious from the blood loss, shaking and not fully aware of his situation. Mackenzie crouches by his side and tries to talk to him to keep him conscious, scared that Fitz is dying. Fitz starts to repeat himself, losing all awareness as he succumbs to the blood loss. Mackenzie holds his hand as Fitz passes away on the floor, devastating him and May.[22][62]
Thor surprises Rocket Raccoon when he understands Groot's language, having learned it on Asgard. He sits down and Rocket realizes he is mourning his brother, walking to the back of their ship to speak to him. He tries to reassure Thor, but Thor ends up lamenting his numerous recent losses: Loki, Hela, Odin, Frigga, and Heimdall. He tries to steel himself and turn his mourning into motivation for the task at hand, killing Thanos, and insists he is capable, but when Rocket asks what would happen if Thor is wrong, he momentarily chokes on his words, overcome with grief as he asks what more he could possibly lose, before getting up to prepare for their arrival in Nidavellir. Rocket hands Thor a cybernetic eye he stole from a man on Contraxia, wanting to help him for the coming challenges by giving him his full vision back. Thor places it in his empty eye socket and regains full vision as they arrive at Nidavellir. However, Thor is concerned to see that Nidavellir is not lifeless and colorful, but dark and seemingly empty.[22][63]
Thor, Rocket, and Groot land on Nidavellir and look around the apparently abandoned forges. They come across a mold for the Infinity Gauntlet and become concerned, but before they can do anything they are ambushed by Eitri, the king of the dwarves. When he sees it is Thor who has come, he exclaims that Asgard was supposed to protect Nidavellir, but never came. Thor explains that Asgard is gone, and Eitri sadly tells Thor that Thanos came to Nidavellir and threatened the lives of all 300 dwarves if they did not forge him the Infinity Gauntlet to harness the power of the Infinity Stones, yet when they did, he still slaughtered all the other dwarves except him, melting metal around his hands so he can never forge something for anyone else. Thor tries to encourage him, saying there are still ways he can help and asking to work with them so he can kill Thanos.[22][63]
Thor surprises Rocket Raccoon when he understands Groot's language, having learned it on Asgard. He sits down and Rocket realizes he is mourning his brother, walking to the back of their ship to speak to him. He tries to reassure Thor, but Thor ends up lamenting his numerous recent losses: Loki, Hela, Odin, Frigga, and Heimdall. He tries to steel himself and turn his mourning into motivation for the task at hand, killing Thanos, and insists he is capable, but when Rocket asks what would happen if Thor is wrong, he momentarily chokes on his words, overcome with grief as he asks what more he could possibly lose, before getting up to prepare for their arrival in Nidavellir. Rocket hands Thor a cybernetic eye he stole from a man on Contraxia, wanting to help him for the coming challenges by giving him his full vision back. Thor places it in his empty eye socket and regains full vision as they arrive at Nidavellir. However, Thor is concerned to see that Nidavellir is not lifeless and colorful, but dark and seemingly empty.[22][56]
Thor, Rocket, and Groot land on Nidavellir and look around the apparently abandoned forges. They come across a mold for the Infinity Gauntlet and become concerned, but before they can do anything they are ambushed by Eitri, the king of the dwarves. When he sees it is Thor who has come, he exclaims that Asgard was supposed to protect Nidavellir, but never came. Thor explains that Asgard is gone, and Eitri sadly tells Thor that Thanos came to Nidavellir and threatened the lives of all 300 dwarves if they did not forge him the Infinity Gauntlet to harness the power of the Infinity Stones, yet when they did, he still slaughtered all the other dwarves except him, melting metal around his hands so he can never forge something for anyone else. Thor tries to encourage him, saying there are still ways he can help and asking to work with them so he can kill Thanos.[22][56]
Jemma Simmons is tending to Phil Coulson when Alphonso Mackenzie returns to Zephyr One and comes to the medical ward to deliver the tragic news of Fitz's death. She smiles at seeing her friend alive, but her face falls as she comes to realize what he has come to say.[22][62]
A Chitauri guard pieces Nebula back together following her torture at Thanos' hands. However, she intentionally pops a piece of her head out to lure him in front of her. The moment he does, she grabs him and snaps his neck. She limps to a transmitter and send a message to Mantis on the Benatar, saying to get the Guardians of the Galaxy to come and meet her on Titan.[22][63]
On Zephyr One, Jemma Simmons lets the agents know that two more cities have gone dark as the world continues to fall apart. Robin Hinton wanders through the plane as Melinda May flies it back to the Lighthouse, and an agent asks where her mother is, but Simmons sadly explains that Polly did not make it. Robin walks up to May, who asks her to go downstairs, but Robin mutters that it will be okay, they survive "the crash" May is confused, but suddenly Zephyr One hits a gravity storm and crashes to the surface of the planet. While the agents make it to the Lighthouse, the plane remains on the surface of the broken planet for the following decades.[22][64]
A Chitauri guard pieces Nebula back together following her torture at Thanos' hands. However, she intentionally pops a piece of her head out to lure him in front of her. The moment he does, she grabs him and snaps his neck. She limps to a transmitter and send a message to Mantis on the Benatar, saying to get the Guardians of the Galaxy to come and meet her on Titan.[22][62]
Simmons takes Fitz's multipurpose tool, which she had used to show Fitz that Deke Shaw was their grandson as he had the same tool, from his old cell in the Lighthouse.[22][62]
Melinda May hammers the White Monolith apart in the Lighthouse control room to prevent it from ever being used again.[22][62]
As many remaining humans as possible are taken to the Lighthouse and Earth finishes falling apart. Rumors eventually spread that the planet's destroyer was the InhumanQuake.[22][64]
For the continuation of the original timeline, see here.
New Timeline
The Q-Ship arrives at Titan, and Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Spider-Man realize they have to park it on the planet. Stark and Parker each place their arms in the controls of the ship, individually meant for either of Thanos' arms, and work together to attempt to direct the ship to a safe landing. Strange conjures a magical shield to protect them, and while the ship breaks, they land safely.[22][56]
Once they have landed, Spider-Man tries to tell the others that something is coming, entering the ship. He is too late, however, as a grenade goes off by their feet and they are ambushed by Star-Lord, Drax the Destroyer, and Mantis, who believe them to be working for Thanos. Drax throws knives at Strange, who blocks them with a conjured shield and has the Cloak of Levitation wrap itself around Drax. Star-Lord and Iron Man shoot at each other, both missing, and Star-Lord activates a Gravity Mine, pinning Iron Man to the ship's frame. Spider-Man webs Mantis' arms to her side but is kicked away by Star-Lord, who then wraps him in a bola. He holds his Quad Blaster to Spider-Man's head as Iron Man frees himself form the Gravity Mine and stand on Drax, threatening him with his repulsor.[22][56]
Quill demands to know where Gamora is, but Stark explains that he has no idea who that is. However, when Quill elaborates and says he is after Thanos, both sides realize there has been a misunderstanding, as they assumed each other were working for the Titan. Parker explains that they are the Avengers, which the Guardians of the Galaxy recognize as the team Thor told them about. Stark and Strange are surprised to find out they know Thor, and Strange asks were he is now.[22][56]
Eitri shows Thor and Rocket Raccoon the the mold for a "king's weapon", the greatest in Asgard, that could even potentially summon the Bifrost Bridge - "Stormbreaker". He explains that they will have to restart the forge to make it.[22][56]
Peter Quill explains that Titan is 8 degrees off its axis and its gravitational pull is massively variable, wondering what happened. The two teams discuss plans, with Tony Stark saying that they need to use their advantage of Thanos coming to them, hoping to lure him in and take the Infinity Gauntlet. Drax does not pay attention, Quill explains that their team is used to just acting spontaneously, and when Mantis incorrectly says that they "kick names, take ass", Stark becomes exasperated. He tells them they need to coalesce, but Quill interrupts again, with the Guardians of the Galaxy getting sidetracked talking about the dance-off with Ronan the Accuser, and Quill insisting on making the plans himself. Mantis stops them to let them know that Doctor Strange is doing something odd, and they rush to help him as he levitates, using the Time Stone with his face flitting around uncontrollably. He breaks out of it and tells them he had been using the stone to view 14,000,605 potential futures, yet had only seen one in which they won.[22][56]
Agent Davis puts up the finished remembrance plaque in Zephyr One.[22][62]
After making preparations, Thanos uses the Space Stone to teleport him and Gamora to Vormir. They traverse the planet's surface to get to the mountain where the Soul Stone is kept.[22][56]
Gamora and Thanos reach the top of the mountain, where a cloaked wraith-like figure greets them. He warns that the stone extracts a "terrible price". Thanos states that he is prepared, but the figures claims that everyone says that but goes on to find they are wrong, lowering himself to the ground and stepping into the light, revealing his face to them - Red Skull, Captain America's former enemy who, when he took hold of the Tesseract in 1945, was sent by it to Vormir to stand guard of the Soul Stone.[22][56]
Red Skull takes them to a precipice while explaining his predicament and how, from this, he knows the lore of the Soul Stone. He informs them that the stone holds a special place among the Infinity Stones, possessing a kind of wisdom and requiring a sacrifice to ensure the seeker understands its power before taking it: a "soul for a Soul", the loss of that which the seeker loves.[22][56]
Gamora begins to mock Thanos, believing he has finally failed, ultimately due to his lack of benevolence, as he loves no one. Thanos turns to her and begins to shed tears, which she believes to be because of his failure, but Red Skull informs her that he is not crying for himself. She comes to the horrified realization that Thanos might in fact genuinely care for her, and tries to tell him that surely his treatment of her could never have come from a place of love. He ignores her, knowing that his adoptive daughter truly is the one person in his life he had grown to love, and states that he has to persist nonetheless. She grabs her switchblade and tries to kill herself first, but he uses the Reality Stone to turn it merely to bubbles, rendering it useless.[22][56]
After a simple but heartfelt apology, Thanos grabs hold of Gamora and cries as he drags her to the edge of the precipice. Unable to break free, she is thrown by him from the cliff and falls to her death.[22][56]
Thanos wakes, transported to a pool on Vormir, with the Soul Stone in his hand - gifted it in return for his sacrifice.[22][56]
Sam Wilson pilots the Quinjet, following Steve Rogers' instructions, to take the team of heroes into Wakanda, flying through the specified entry point in the Wakandan dome.[22][56]
Shuri takes a look at Vision to see what she can do, and says she can reprogram his synapses to work collectively to safely remove the Mind Stone from the android's forehead, but that she will need as much time as they can buy her.[22][56]
Okoye's Kimoyo Beads alert her that something has entered the atmosphere. Above Wakanda, a Q-Ship begins to release Outrider Dropships onto the country. They begin to fall to the ground, but the one that hits the dome are broken on impact with the protective shield. However, the others crash down outside the dome, and Vision insists that it is too late, and they need to destroy the stone now, despite the fact that it will kill him. The others tell him to return to the operating table and T'Challa states that they will hold off the attackers, ordering to evacuate the city, engage all defences, and get Rogers a shield.[22][56]
Thor attaches a rope to Rocket Raccoon's escape pod and has him fire the engines. He then digs his feet into one of the rings of Nidavellir and has Rocket drive the ship while he holds onto the rope, thus forcing the ring to start to rotate. This movement breaks the ice freezing the center of the rings, and they collectively start to spin again, restarting the heart of the planet's dying star. However, the mechanism at the center of the rings which focuses the heat to use for forging breaks, forcing the iris of the forge to close. Knowing that if they do not get the axe then he will most likely die anyway, Thor risks diving to the center of the rings to attempt to hold the iris open for the necessary few minutes.[22][56]
The Wakandan army travels to the edge of the dome to prepare for the attackers. Bruce Banner wears the Hulkbuster 2.0 armor to allow him to fight, since the Hulk persona is refusing to come out.[22][56]
T'Challa thanks M'Baku for coming to their aid, then he, Rogers, and Romanoff walk to the very edge to talk with Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian, who have come forwards to threaten them. They claim that Corvus Glaive died from his injuries in Edinburgh and say that the heroes will pay for his death with their own lives as they make their assault for the Mind Stone. Proxima Midnight then orders the opening of the dropships, and an army of rabid Outriders is unleashed.[22][56]
T'Challa leads a chant as the Wakandan forces prepare for the fight. Outriders hurl themselves at the dome, many of them dying as they attempt to push through the energy barrier, and Okoye is shocked to see their total lack of fear of death in their drive to serve. Some begin to make it through, and the heroes begin to fire - Barnes shooting, Banner firing repulsors, and Falcon shooting and firing missiles, and War Machine dropping grenades. Nonetheless, the forces persist.[22][56]
A number of Outriders begin to run around the outskirts of the dome to get to the back of the city. Banner reminds the heroes that if they get through the dome at the back of the city, they will have direct access to Vision, so T'Challa makes the reluctant decision to open a sliver of the barrier so that the aliens will take the easy route in and not go around the back. He shouts "Wakanda forever" to rally his forces and begins a charge, leading with Rogers as they take on the aliens. Battle breaks out, and T'Challa uses Kimoyo Beads to check in with Shuri. She explains that she has barely begun her work, and he urges her to work quicker.[22][56]
Despite Eitri's warnings, Thor proceeds to attempt to hold the forge iris open for the necessary amount of time. He manages to open it for long enough to melt the Uru metal so that Eitri can forge Stormbreaker, but passes out from the physical exertion and immense heat. He falls and tumbles to the forge floor, and Rocket Raccoon worries that he is dying. Eitri states that Thor needs the axe to revive him, but cannot find a handle, so Groot, who has paid little attention until then, finally steps up to help. He grows his arm to bring the metal pieces together, then severs it, leaving the wood as a handle. Thor's hand twitches as, barely conscious, he attempts to summon the newly-forged weapon.[22][56]
The battle continues in Wakanda, with the heroes continuing to battle the Outrider forces. Cull Obsidian and Proxima Midnight enter the fray, and Obsidian throws his axe at War Machine, knocking him out of the sky. Black Panther and Steve Rogers start to become overrun by the aliens, and several attack the Hulkbuster armor at once, knocking Banner to the ground as they claw at it.[22][56]
At that moment, a Bifrost Bridge beam opens onto the Wakandan fields, and an axe crackling with lightning flies out of it, wiping out the Outriders overpowering the heroes. The axe, Stormbreaker, returns to its new owner, Thor, as he, Rocket, and Groot are revealed to the combatants when the Bifrost beam disappears, standing ready to battle having just come from Nidavellir. Thor calls out to Thanos' forces, demanding that they bring him the Titan, and leaps into the air before crashing down and striking the ground with Stormbreaker, causing a burst of lightning that strikes all the Outriders in his vicinity.[22][56]
Thanos gets to Titan and is greeted by Doctor Strange. The rest of the heroes hide, waiting to ambush. Thanos laments Ebony Maw's death, but says that he did his job in getting the Time Stone to him. He explains that they are on the wreckage of his home planet, and uses the Reality Stone to show what it looked like before its ruin, showing its beauty. Thanos recounts, however, that like most planets it became unsustainable as there were too many people and not enough resources. He tells Strange how he offered the solution of random, dispassionate genocide of a portion of the population, but that they had called him mad, and then as he had predicted, the population all died out as a result. Thanos states that once he has all six Infinity Stones and snaps his fingers, he will make the hardest choice that others do not have the will to make and be mercifully saving the populations of planets across the universe by killing a random half. Strange then stands and conjures a shield, preparing to fight, and stating that Thanos will find their will just as strong as his.[22][56]
Thanos realizes that others are present, but before he can react, Iron Man flies a column of rock from above down onto the Titan to crush him. Thanos uses the Power Stone to break free of the rock, then uses the Reality Stone to turn the rock fragments into bat-like winged creatures, which attack Stark. Spider-Man webs his eyes to blind him and Drax the Destroyer slides at him to swipe with his knives at Thanos' legs. Strange opens a portal to attack Thanos from the other side, using a magic eldritch sword to assault him and forcing him to try to ward off enemies on both sides. He knocks Drax aside and pulls the webbing from his eyes, but Strange conjures magic platforms to allow Star-Lord to step up to Thanos' shoulder, placing a Gravity Mine on his back and then escaping through a portal Strange conjures. The mine detonates and Thanos is pulled to the ground, and Strange sends the Cloak of Levitation to wrap around Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet hand so he cannot close his fist - necessary to activate the Infinity Stones.[22][56]
Strange conjures a series of portals so Spider-Man can attack Thanos from one side and exit through the other, before appearing on another side and exiting again, but on his fourth attack, Thanos catches him by the neck, slamming him to the ground. He then throws the teenager at Strange, bowling him over.[22][56]
Thanos tears the Cloak of Levitation from his hand, but is hit by explosions from Iron Man, returning after losing the bat-like creatures. However, he uses the Infinity Gauntlet to absorb the explosions and fire them back in a beam of fire at Stark. Spider-Man returns and webs the gauntlet to stop him, though Thanos punches him away.[22][56]
Before he can reactivate the gauntlet, Thanos is suddenly crashed into by an escape ship - a Chitauri one stolen by Nebula, who leaps from it and starts to attack him with her sword. She asks where Gamora is, but he bats her away.[22][56]
Doctor Strange conjures a crimson binding spell, wrapping it around Thanos' gauntlet arm to keep his palm open again, and Drax returns, kicking his leg out from under him. Quill flies back to attack again and activates another Gravity Mine, pulling Thanos' other arm to the floor, Spider-Man comes back to wrap webs around the Titan and tie him down, and Iron Man heads for the gauntlet, pulling at it to try to get it off. Finally, Strange opens a portal over Thanos' head allowing Mantis to drop onto him and attempt to put him to sleep. She is not able to, but manages, with great effort, to keep him docile.[22][56]
With the combined efforts of the group, they keep Thanos restrained and Spider-Man moves to help Iron Man pull at the gauntlet, knowing Mantis will not be able to hold him for long. Peter Quill arrives and asks Thanos where Gamora is, but he does not reply. However, Mantis tells him that Thanos is grieving, and Nebula realizes what has happened. She mournfully tells him that he left for Vormir with Gamora and has returned without. Seeing Quill losing control, Tony Stark begs him to try to keep calm so they can finish removing the gauntlet, but Quill angrily asks the Titan if it is true. Thanos admits it and Quill is enraged. Unable to control himself, he starts to hit him with his Quad Blaster. Stark tries to restrain him, but Mantis is incapable of holding Thanos' head against the hits and her effect is lost on him. He returns to full vitality just as Spider-Man is about to pull the gauntlet off, yanking it from Parker's grasp and hurling him from his back. Spider-Man catches her and uses the Iron Spider Armor to cushion their fall. Thanos kicks Drax off, knocking him into Quill and Nebula, then tugs on the eldritch binding whip to pull Strange off the ground and throw him, freed of the heroes' restraint.[22][56]
Iron Man shoots at Thanos but he swipes him away, and when Drax, Nebula, and Quill get up to attack again, he hits them with a burst from the Power Stone. Iron Man attacks once again but Thanos headbutts him then engages the Power Stone to control one of Titan's moons. The stone's power allows Thanos to cracks the whole moon into pieces, then pulling those pieces down from the sky, plummeting towards the heroes to kill them.[22][56]
The battle continues in Wakanda. Cull Obsidian uses his weaponry to attack Wakandan soldiers, but Black Panther unleashes a build-up of kinetic energy in a burst to knock him down. Rocket Raccoon shoots at Outriders, and Bucky Barnes picks him up so they can fire in opposite directions, spinning to wipe out the aliens getting close to them. Once the imminent threat is dealt with, Barnes puts him back down, and Rocket asks how much it would cost him to buy Barnes' gun. Barnes says it is not for sale, so Rocket asks how much his bionic arm is. Barnes ignores him but Rocket, with his love of cybernetic parts, mischievously mutters to himself that he will get it at some point.[22][56]
As they fight, Steve Rogers comments on Thor's new haircut, and Thor responds that Rogers has copied him in growing a beard. He introduces Rogers to Groot, who, as ever, says, "I am Groot." Believing him to be introducing himself, Rogers replies in turn, "I am Steve Rogers."[22][56]
Scarlet Witch watches the battlefield and notices a disturbance in the ground at the border. Outrider Threshers - bladed, wheeled vehicles that can tunnel through ground, dig under the Wakandan dome and come up on the other side, crashing through the field and killing Wakandan soldiers. Seeing that she is needed on the field, Scarlet Witch reluctantly leaves Vision and joins the fray, using her powers to telekinetically lift the Threshers into the air and drop them on a horde of Outriders.[22][56]
Having successfully lured Maximoff out onto the field, Proxima Midnight contacts Corvus Glaive, who in fact survived the fight in Edinburgh, and tells him it is safe for him to attack Vision. He kills a guard and Ayo attacks him to defend Shuri. However, he overpowers her, and Shuri is forced to close her unfinished work on Vision abruptly. She fires at Corvus Glaive with Vibranium Gauntlets but he defeats her. Vision takes advantage of the moment to hide, then ambushes Corvus Glaive, falling with him out of a window.[22][56]
Scarlet Witch attempts to return to Vision, but is knocked into a ditch by Proxima Midnight. Before she can kill Maximoff, however, Black Widow and Okoye arrive and engage her in a fight.[22][56]
Vision struggles against Corvus Glaive, and Cull Obsidian arrives to help take him down. However, Bruce Banner gets to them in the Hulkbuster 2.0. Cull Obsidian activates Banner's repulsors to fly them away, so as to allow Corvus Glaive to still attack Vision.[22][56]
Banner contacts the others to ask for them to help Vision and is attacked by Cull Obsidian. He begs Hulk to come out and help, but the Hulk persona still refuses. He is forced to fight the giant alien himself. Cull Obsidian cuts off one of the Hulkbuster 2.0's forearms, but Banner manages to attach it to his hand, then firing the hand upward, taking Cull Obsidian to the ceiling of the dome. Dragging along the dome ceiling, the energy in its resistance heats the armor gauntlet until it explodes, killing the alien.[22][56]
The fight in the ditch continues, but when a Thresher rolls over and Black Widow is forced to duck, Proxima Midnight takes advantage of her compromised position and kicks her down. She then grabs Okoye and tosses her aside.[22][56]
Corvus Glaive stabs Vision, but Steve Rogers arrives and tackles him out of the way. He shouts at the android to leave.[22][56]
Proxima Midnight moves to kill Black Widow, but Scarlet Witch gets back up and uses her powers to telekinetically lift the alien up and into the path of a Thresher, killing her.[22][56]
Rogers duels with Corvus Glaive, knocking his glaive out of his hands, but the alien manages to pin him to the ground, starting to strangle him. However, Vision, having in fact not left, picks up the dropped glaive and thrusts it through Corvus Glaive's back, killing the last of the Black Order.[22][56]
Vision and Steve fight Corvus Glaive. The women fight Proxima Midnight and Scarlet Witch kills her. Vision kills Corvus Glaive.[22][56]
With Titan's variable gravity and the impact of the pieces of moon, the gravity fluctuates and the Guardians of the Galaxy are sent flying. Spider-Man manages to catch the trio with webbing.[22][56]
Doctor Strange floats down to confront Thanos. He conjures fiery tendrils to attack the Titan, but Thanos dodges them and fires back with a blast from the Power Stone. Strange protects himself by trying to force Thanos into the Mirror Dimension, but he uses the gauntlet to shatter the dimensional wall, engaging the Space Stone to turn it into a black hole-like void, which he hurtles back at the sorcerer. Strange manages to turn the void into harmless butterflies. The sorcerer casts a duplication spell, conjuring multiple forms of himself to surround Thanos, and casting Eldritch whips from all of them to bind him, but Thanos uses the gauntlet to dismiss the copies, force Strange's astral form back into his body, and pull him into his grasp. Suspicious that Strange never invoked the Time Stone, he takes the sorcerer's necklace and crushes the eye in his hand, proving it to be a fake. He ends the duel, throwing him to the floor and moving to kill, but Iron Man returns and attaches part of an Iron Man gauntlet to Thanos' palm, again attempting to prevent him from closing his fist.[22][56]
Iron Man lands and confronts the Titan, who reveals that he already knows who Stark is. Stark fires missiles at Thanos, who absorbs the explosions, but not before Stark can attack him with the butt of the thrusters on his feet. He then hits Thanos with battering ram-like weapons formed by the nanotech in his arms, knocking him back momentarily, but Thanos retaliates by ripping off his helmet. Stark's suit reforms a new helmet but Thanos then punches him back before firing a Power Stone beam. Stark forms a nanotech shield, just about protecting himself, and slips around the side of the beam, kicking Thanos' arm to the ground and growing nanotech roots to pin his hand down. He wallops Thanos with another generated heavy arm weapon and manages to draw blood from his enemy.[22][56]
Thanos looks at the blood on his hand. He mocks Stark for going to all that effort for merely a drop of blood and retaliates, lifting his hand from under Stark's foot and tossing him. He then pins Stark to the ground and starts to pummel him with punches, breaking his helmet. He then picks Stark up only to blasts him with the Power Stone. Stark gets up and fires repulsor beams back at Thanos as his nanotech reassembles the damaged parts of the suit, but Thanos deflects the blast with the gauntlet. He walks up to Stark and bashes the armor off his helmet, and Stark makes a desperate grab for Thanos' arm to stop a second hit. He manages to hold him off for a second as he manifests a nanotech blade, then swings to stab the Titan, only for Thanos to evade the strike. He snaps the blade off and turns it on Stark, thrusting and impaling him his own weapon.[22][56]
Melinda May pours drinks for a farewell gathering for Phil Coulson. Knowing he does not have long to live, the team meet to say a formal goodbye and leave him to retire in peace for his final days. Coulson asks that the team cheer up a little, saying that the event is a celebration and not a funeral.[22][62]
Tony Stark struggles as Thanos pushes him by the hilt of the blade, slumping to the ground. The Titan tells him he has earned his respect, and prepares to kill Stark when Doctor Strange shouts for him to stop. Thanos turns to him, curious.[22][56]
Jemma Simmons descends Zephyr One's ladder to join the team for Coulson's farewell, sad about Leo Fitz's death, but composed, reassured in the knowledge that a slightly younger Fitz is still out there, frozen with Enoch out in space. The team talk about how homely the plane has been for them, joking that they nonetheless miss the Bus, and Simmons comments how they have come a long way since they used that plane. Coulson's voice cracks with emotion, but he manages to begin a speech, telling the others that while he has lived a life surrounded by heroes, none have been more heroic than his team, due to their courage in signing up to protect people despite the losses they know they will encounter. He says never to lose sight of their heroism, and Daisy Johnson adds that they should never forget those they have lost.[22][62]
Strange tells Thanos that if he spares Stark's life, he will give him the Time Stone. Thanos suspects a trick, but Strange assures him otherwise. Stark calls out to Strange to tell him not to trade the stone for his life - as Strange had previously told him he would not do - knowing that it is paramount that they keep the stone safe, but Strange proceeds nonetheless. He summons the stone from its magical hiding place among the stars and floats it over to the Titan, who outstretches his hand and receives it.[22][56]
Alphonso Mackenzie agrees with Johnson, stating that remembrance is their reason for putting up the plaque in the Zephyr One cockpit, to commemorate their leader. Coulson says it is okay to remember, but that they have to move on, but Simmons interjects, telling him he is wrong - that they have to hold those they have lost in their hearts, even once they have said goodbye.[22][62]
Thanos places the Time Stone into the Infinity Gauntlet, and happily comments that he has "one to go". Star-Lord recovers and opens fire on Thanos, flying towards him as he shoots, but Thanos opens a portal with the Space Stone and escapes. Quill crashes to the ground and desperately asks where he has gone. Tony Stark covers his wound with synthetic to staunch the bleeding, and Quill desperately asks the others if they just lost. Stark asks Strange why he would give the stone away, but Strange simply replies, "We're in the endgame now."[22][56]
M'Baku chants as he continues to fight Outriders in Wakanda, and Thor uses Stormbreaker to fly through an Outrider Dropship, destroying it. Wanda Maximoff rushes to Vision to check he is okay, when he suddenly feels a searing pain from the Mind Stone. Knowing what this means, he warns her, "He's here." Wind starts to blow through the trees from the slow forming of a portal, and Steve Rogers alerts the team, telling them to regather and that they have incoming.[22][56]
Phil Coulson tells Jemma Simmons that he is sad he did not get the chance to say goodbye to Leo Fitz, but asks that they tell him when they find and unfreeze him. Simmons says he will be sad he missed the memorial, but Coulson jokes that he is not dead yet, and asks that they drink.[22][62]
Agent Davis wipes Coulson's remembrance plaque.[22][62]
Thanos' portal into Wakanda opens and he steps out, observing the heroes awaiting him. The group stand ready in defiance, and Bruce Banner confirms for Rogers that this is Thanos himself. Rogers is the first to act, leading them as they begin an assault.[22][56]
Thanos begins to walk forwards, and Banner in the Hulkbuster 2.0 is the first to attack. He leaps at the Titan, but Thanos uses the gauntlet to make him intangible, causing him to tumble through him and into the rocks behind, where Thanos then makes him tangible again, trapping him. Steve Rogers runs at him, but Thanos uses the gauntlet to repel him. Black Panther jumps to attack, but Thanos catches him by the neck and punches him into the ground. Falcon flies in and fires at Thanos, but Thanos blasts his wings and he tumbles to the ground.[22][56]
Simmons hands Coulson Fitz's postcard of the Lighthouse to remind him of the team's success in working through problems despite the odds, and Coulson notes that Fitz, in his frozen status, will have no idea that he has already solved the problem of saving the world by the time he wakes. Simmons says he will be delighted to find out that time is in fact fluid, and Coulson assures them he has every confidence that Fitz will be found. Simmons affirms that they are all confident, and she hugs him.[22][62]
Vision tells Wanda Maximoff that they are out of time, and she must destroy the stone, despite the fact that it will kill him. Distraught, she tells him she cannot, but he reminds her that half the universe is at stake, reassuring her that she can never hurt him. Her lip trembles with emotion as she reluctantly starts to use her powers and, with deep anguish, she connects with the Mind Stone to begin its destruction.[22][56]
Coulson raises a toast to the team of agents and they drink together. Yo-Yo Rodriguez is next to walk over and hug him goodbye.[22][62]
Coulson walks over to Alphonso Mackenzie, officially appointed by him as the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Mackenzie tells him he will call him for advice, but Coulson says he will not need it, and that regardless, he is throwing his phone away. They embrace.[22][62]
Thanos blocks an attack from War Machine and uses the gauntlet to crush him in his suit, then tossing him aside. Bucky Barnes charges at Thanos, but Thanos repels him with a burst from the Reality Stone. Okoye hurls her spear, but he stops it mid-flight and repels her as well, then uses the gauntlet to manipulate the earth around Natasha Romanoff as she runs at him, pinning her to the forest floor. Groot extends his roots to entrap Thanos, but he simply breaks free.[22][56]
Wanda Maximoff reluctantly activates her other hand's powers as well, connecting it to the Mind Stone to accelerate its destruction.[22][56]
Steve Rogers, having recovered, slides to get in front of Thanos and attack again.[22][56]
Maximoff cries as she continues to kill her lover.[22][56]
Steve hits Thanos' leg with his shield and stands up to face the Titan, punching him with an uppercut.[22][56]
Rogers summons all his strength and grabs the hand on which Thanos is wearing the Infinity Gauntlet. Thanos is surprised by the man's strength and pushes harder, but Rogers yells as he persists. The Titan overcomes his moment of bewilderment and punches Rogers to the ground with his other hand.[22][56]
Phil Coulson approaches Daisy Johnson last. She asks how long Simmons predicted he had left, and he informs her that he has days, perhaps weeks if he is lucky. Coulson tells her that he has left her a letter on her bunk to tell her how proud she is of him - saying that he is incredibly proud of what she has grown to be. She hugs him tightly and cries, telling the man who had come to be like a father to her that she loves him, and Coulson tells her, the daughter he never had, that he loves her too. Johnson eventually lets go and jokingly thanks him for, in giving her Zephyr One, gifting her a spaceship.[22][62]
Thanos advances to Maximoff. She disconnects one hand from Vision to fire backwards at him and slow him while continuing to destroy the Mind Stone. Thanos pushes against the beam and Vision assures that it is alright. He tells her he loves her as the stone begins to crack. Vision starts to fracture and the stone shatters in his forehead.[22][56]
Coulson picks up his bag. He opens the Zephyr One ramp and dons his shades, walking down it and stepping out onto a sandy beach.[22][62]
The shatter of the Mind Stone causes a blast that knocks Wanda Maximoff back and hits Thanos. Once it has subsided, Thanos catches his breath and walks over to Maximoff, sympathizing with her and saying he understands loss. She angrily says that he could never, but he tells her that today he has experienced incredible loss. However, the Titan tells her that now is not the time to mourn, and engages the Time Stone to bring back Vision.[22][56]
Thanos begins to turn the vicinity back in its existence and Vision is reformed, the Mind Stone returned to being intact. Maximoff realizes what is happening and screams "no!", rushing to stop it, but Thanos swipes her away. He grabs Vision by the neck and chokes him, then begins to press on Vision's forehead to pluck the stone out. He succeeds, pulling it from the android's head.[22][56]
Vision goes limp and dies, losing his color and turning grey. Thanos discards his body and moves the final Infinity Stone to the gauntlet. The Mind Stone embeds into the Infinity Gauntlet.[22][56]
On a rooftop in San Francisco, Hank Pym bemoans his fall from respected science to working out the back of Scott Lang's van. Janet van Dyne jokes that their new Quantum Tunnel in the back of the van has flair. Scott Lang presses a button in the van to get the controls online, and Pym fiddles with settings.[22][21]
Coulson looks out on the beach in Tahiti, where the agents have dropped him off for his retirement due to its personal value to him. Melinda May, who has opted to stay with him until his passing and make the most of their new relationship, steps up to stand beside him. They joke about what they want to do with their time and take each other's hands.[22][62]
Thanos enjoys the feeling of the power of the six stones coursing through his veins. However, as he prepares to act, he is caught off-guard by a lightning blast. Thor flies at Thanos, Stormbreaker in hand, ready to kill his enemy. The Titan gets back up and fires back at Thor with a blast from the gauntlet, but Thor throws the axe at the beam and it overpowers Thanos' hurried shot. The Uru weapon lodges itself in Thanos' chest, as Thor had aimed, and the Asgardian lands, walking to him and grabbing him by the head. Thor revels in getting his revenge for Heimdall, reminding Thanos that he had told him he would die for his murder, and pushes the axe in further, causing Thanos to scream. Thanos then, however, begins to mutter. Knowing that Thor has made a mistake in aiming for his chest to enjoy the moment of revenge, Thanos mocks him, telling him that he should in fact have gone for the head as he is still capable of moving his hand.[22][56]
Daisy Johnson accepts moving on from Coulson and addresses their new director, Alphonso Mackenzie. She asks him where they will go next, and the team look ahead to their future.[22][62]
Hope van Dyne tells Lang how to use the collection unit they have prepared to pick up healing particles from the Quantum Realm so they can help Ghost. Janet warns him to avoid tardigrades in the Quantum Realm, and to make sure not to get sucked into a time vortex, as they will not be able to save him.[22][21]
Time stops for Thanos and he finds himself in the Soulworld. He finds a manifestation of Gamora in the orange environment, looking as she did the day he took her. She asks, "Did you do it?", and he replies that he did. When she then asks, "What did it cost?", Thanos sadly replies, "Everything". His consciousness returns to the physical world.[22][56]
Lang shrinks through the Quantum Tunnel. Hank Pym checks in with him by walkie-talkie, and Lang delays responding just to prank them, before letting them know he is fine.[22][21]
Thor looks in horror at Thanos and asks him what he has just done. Thanos, however, simply uses the Space Stone to open a portal away and falls back into it to escape, Stormbreaker dropping out of his chest as he goes. Steve Rogers catches up with Thor and asks where Thanos has gone. Thor simply stands silently, stunned. Rogers suddenly hears the voice of Bucky Barnes, calling out his name.[22][56]
In the Quantum Realm, Scott Lang decouples the container as Hope van Dyne had instructed. The container sucks in healing particles to take back to Ghost.[22][21]
Nick Fury and Maria Hill drive through Atlanta, and Hill informs Fury that they have still not heard from Tony Stark. She gets a signal from a satellite telling her that there are multiple bogies over Wakanda, and Fury begins to instruct her to contact Cameron Klein when, all of a sudden, a car in front of them swerves out of control.[22][56]
Mantis abruptly turns to dust where she stands, blowing away on the wind. Stark and the others are stunned at her sudden death, and fear that they know what has caused it.[22][56]
Rogers turns to see Barnes, and as he watches, his best friend dissolves to dust - first his arm, but ultimately his entire body, dying on the spot. Rogers approaches where Barnes was standing and touches the dust remains on the ground, bewildered by and terrified of what just happened - the halving of the universe's population from Thanos' snap taking effect.[22][56]
Hope van Dyne prepares to bring Scott Lang back out of the Quantum Realm, and begins to count down. However, the countdown is suddenly cut off and Lang hears static. He initially believes that the trio are teasing him in response to his prank, but as the static continues, he comes to realize that something terrible has happened. On the rooftop in San Francisco, Hank Pym, Janet van Dyne, and Hope van Dyne's dust remains fall slowly to the ground, all three killed in the effect of Thanos' snap. Lang panics, trapped in the Quantum Realm.[21] He would spend only five hours in the Realm from his perspective, but would remain stuck for 5 years before release, causing the world to believe him to be a victim of Thanos' snap.[22][65]
Tony Stark realizes Peter Quill is struggling and tries to give him encouragement, asking him to remain "steady". Quill, however, sadly realizes the full impact of his mistake as he himself turns to dust.[22][56]
Half of the Wakandan soldiers are turned to dust, scattered to the wind, as M'Baku looks around in horror and confusion.[22][56]
Doctor Strange calls out to Stark, who turns to him. Strange tells him that "there was no other way", and he crumbles to dust as well. Stark then hears a voice by his side calling feebly, "Mr. Stark..."[22][56]
Fury and Hill leave their car and check the one that swerved, and Hill is bewildered to find that there appears to be no one inside. Fury looks to a nearby building and sees a helicopter lose control and crash into it, and, uneasy, declares the situation to be a "code red". When he turns back to Hill, however, he finds her crumbling to dust. Hill dies and Fury rushes back to the car as another passer-by turns to dust beside him. He reaches into his bag and finds the Transmitter Pager left for him 23 years prior, deciding he is desperate enough that it is time to call in the friend he said he would only contact in emergencies. He activates it, but finds himself to be turning to dust as well, to his dismay. Fury dies and the pager falls to the ground, but begins its call to his powerful friend: Carol Danvers.[22][56][66]
On his homestead, Clint Barton, still on house arrest, has a picnic with his family and gives archery lessons to his daughter Lila. When Lila goes to retrieve an arrow, Clint turns his back on her momentarily, but when he turns back around, she, Laura, Cooper, and Nathaniel have all vanished.[22][65]
At the Midtown School of Science and Technology, the school band was playing music in the gymnasium when suddenly many of the members turn to dust, including people sitting on the benches. The surviving witnesses of the catastrophe are alarmed, while the scene is recorded by someone with a cell phone.[22][67]
T'Challa rushes to help Okoye up from the ground and grabs her hand, only for his hand to disappear in her grasp as the king crumbles to dust. Okoye is left aghast and distressed.[22][56]
Tony turns around and his heart sinks, devastated as his worst fear comes true. Peter Parker, who was the one who called, stumbles towards him and mutters, "I don't feel so good..." Stark falls into denial and tells him that he is alright, but Parker confusedly says he does not understand what is happening. The teenager falls into Stark's arms and grabs hold of him, falling to the ground in weakness as he repeatedly states that he does not want to go, not ready to die. Parker apologizes to Stark, feeling he let him down, as he turns to dust in Stark's arms. Stark stares at the dust scattering before his eyes in disbelief.[22][56]
Groot cries out to Rocket Raccoon. Rocket is upset to watch as his best friend turns to dust before him.[22][56]
Wanda Maximoff kneels over Vision's dead body, mourning his loss. When she starts turning to dust, she embraces the end to her pain as she crumbles and dies.[22][56]
Sam Wilson turns to dust on the forest floor. As Okoye walks around, stunned, James Rhodes is left calling out for Wilson, receiving no response.[22][56]
On Titan, Nebula stands and comments incredulously, "He did it." Tony Stark leans his head into his hands in utter defeat, unable to bear the realization of what has happened or the guilt that despite all his efforts over the years, he was unable to stop the ultimate threat and his worst nightmares have come true.[22][56]
Steve Rogers finds Vision's body. The remaining heroes gather around, and Rhodes asks what is happening. Rogers slumps as he starts to comprehend the weight of what has occurred, and he mutters, "Oh God..."[22][56]
Thanos arrives from Wakanda on a planet with a large and peaceful farm, and sits down on the porch of his new farmhouse. Despite his loss of Gamora, Thanos also reflects on the fact that he has achieved everything he set out to do, and as he watches the sunrise, he smiles.[22][56]
In Scott Lang's house, the television airs an Emergency Alert System broadcast following the sudden inexplicable deaths of half of the planet's population. The enlarged ant instructed to follow Scott Lang's house arrest routine, meanwhile, continues to play the electric drums, blissfully oblivious of the predicament of the universe.[22][21]
June
1st
Stark and Nebula fix the damage to the Benatar to ensure the ship can leave Titan.[65]
On the way back to their headquarters, the Avengers pass by Atlanta to check on Fury and retrieve his dropped pager.[66]
21st
Banner, Romanoff, Rogers, and Rhodes check the inert pager
In the New Avengers Facility, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff watch the global missing numbers increase, confirming their fears that Thanos achieved exactly what he intended. James Rhodes lets them know that Fury's pager has stopped beeping. Rogers and Romanoff say to reboot it, trusting that Fury knew what he was doing, but when Romanoff turns around she finds that its recipient, Carol Danvers, has already arrived and is standing behind them. She asks where Fury is.[68][66]
On his farm, Thanos, seeing the only remaining purpose of the Infinity Stones' existence is the allure of their power, decides to use the power of the Gauntlet to destroy the Stones, crushing the Soulworld and causing intense damage to his body.[65]
22nd
Rescue of Tony Stark: After 22 days of travel, during which Stark and Nebula bonded, the fuel of the Benatar ends and the oxygen tanks reach critical levels. Thinking he will die stranded in deep space, Stark uses a wrecked helmet to record a farewell message to Pepper Potts, and retreats to the co-pilot chair to get some sleep. He is awakened by the arrival of Carol Danvers outside the ship, sent by Rocket Raccoon and the Avengers to save anyone left stranded on the Benatar. She brings it back to Earth, where Stark is brought into medical care.[65]
23rd
Using Nebula's information on her adoptive father and readouts of an energy wave similar to the moment Thanos snapped his fingers, the Avengers discover where Thanos is hidden.[65]
Ambush on Thanos: The Avengers fly the Benatar to the Garden. Danvers, Banner, and Rhodes beat Thanos in his hut and Thor slices the arm donning the Gauntlet, revealing the Stones are no longer there. Captain America and Black Widow enter the hut, inquiring about their location, and Thanos reveals the Stones were destroyed, ensuring that he could not be tempted to use them again and that the Snap could not be undone. The Avengers initially believed Thanos to be lying, but Nebula knew that her adoptive father was not a liar. Thanos thanked her and finally admitted that perhaps he had treated her too harshly. Before he could say any more, an enraged Thor decapitated Thanos with Stormbreaker, killing the Mad Titan and avenging all of his victims.[65]
↑ 1.001.011.021.031.041.051.061.071.081.091.101.111.121.131.141.151.161.171.181.191.201.211.221.231.241.251.26Runaways: Season 2 begins with a scene set a little over "24 hours" after the end of Season 1, which was December 24, 2017 (see 2017 references), making it December 25, 2017. The show then proceeds the following day, December 26, 2017. However, there is an undefined gap between Alex Wilder returning to the group with sleeping bags and burner phones and the group being woken by Mike on a Bike one morning soon after. While the group are in the same clothes, they do not have changes of clothes yet while they are on the run. The season continues from there, with the main events of Episode 4 - Old School 3 days later said to be a "Thursday", and it is during the school term, making it at least Thursday, January 11, 2018 and thus the Mike on a Bike scene at least Monday, January 8, 2018, so minimum 13 days passing between Wilder returning to the group and Mike on a Bike turning up. this is a stretch, with it implied that the Mike on a Bike scene is very shortly after Wilder returning, but is just about possible. However, a further week - if Old School needed to be Thursday, January 18th instead, would be highly implausible, and any more weeks would be near-impossible. In Episode 5 - Rock Bottom, the following day, Chase Stein and Wilder joke about their time since running away, and refer to "one Thursday in there". This suggests at least three Thursdays since their running away, which supports it being at least Friday, January 12, 2018 - and again, likely not much later. 2 days later, in Episode 7 - Last Rites, Nico Minoru says that life was normal "2 months ago", making it currently between 1 and 2 months since December 8, 2017 (see 2017 references), again supporting at least a 13-day span in that undefined break in Gimmie Shelter and making it at least Sunday, January 14, 2018, and definitely no later than Sunday, February 4, 2018 (which would involve a 34-day span in the Gimmie Shelter gap, nearly impossible). In Gimmie Shelter, Darius Davis says on December 26, 2017 that his son is due in "2 weeks". His wife Tamar leaves hospital with his son in Past Life, approximately 9 days after the Mike on a Bike scene. Therefore, with that being no earlier than Monday, January 8, 2018 as established, this should be no earlier than roughly Wednesday, January 16, 2018, 3 weeks after Davis' comment. This is acceptable if you assume Davis was rounding down from a little over 2 weeks, and Tamar had to stay for a couple of days, but any later would not work. This confirms that the Mike on a Bike scene should be no later than Monday, January 8, 2018, as well as no earlier, which was confirmed above. In Hostile Takeover, it is said to be "Wednesday". However, it seems to only be about 8 days since Gert Yorkes stated in Old School that it was "Thursday". So, to make this work, 5 extra off-screen days need to pass in the time between Old School and Hostile Takeover, so have been added where possible, taking Hostile Takeover to Wednesday, January 24, 2018. The events of Season 2 following the Mike on a Bike scene in Gimmie Shelter therefore take place January 8-28, 2018. Scenes in Gimmie Shelter between Wilder returning to the group and Mike on a Bike are placed in the most appropriate dates between December 26, 2017 and January 8, 2018. In Past Life, Alex Wilder's phone says "10/07/2018 01:54am", but it is daytime so it is clearly incorrect anyway, and the date does not match with it being mere weeks since December 2017, as well as confirmation from Jeph Loeb that it is set before Avengers: Infinity War (1, 2), so before May 2018. The song Bubblin by Anderson .Paak is also played in-universe in Past Life, suggesting it is at least May 2018, after the song's release, but this must also be taken as simply an error. Finally, Leslie Dean is shown to be a few months pregnant in the season. While this would imply a few months at least since Jonah was healed by Andre Compton's sacrifice, this is impossible, so it must be taken that either the baby was conceived at a time before Jonah had fallen into a fully scaled state, or the gestation period is faster due to being half-alien.
↑ 2.02.12.2Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named R201
↑ 11.011.1In A Duel of Iron, on April 15, 2018 (see 2018 references) at 15:00 Eastern U.S. time (April 16, 2018 04:00 Hokkaido Japan), Ward Meachum refers to following the lead on Orson Randall "from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur", then "Jakarta". These events are therefore between the evening of October 27, 2017 (see other references) and April 15, 2018 15:00. Approximating by equally distributing them at ¼, ½, and ¾ through that period, Hong Kong can be estimated to December 9, 2017, Kuala Lumpur to January 20, 2018, and Jakarta to March 4, 2018.
Saturday Week 1 - End of Episode 15 - Rise and Shine events.
Sunday Week 1 - Episode 16 - Inside Voices events, Episode 17 - The Honeymoon events, beginning of Episode 18 - All Roads Lead... events.
Monday Week 2 - End of Episode 18 - All Roads Lead... events.
Wednesday Week 3 - Beginning of Avengers: Infinity War events/Episode 19 - Option Two events, Episode 20 - The One Who Will Save Us All events, beginning of Episode 21 - The Force of Gravity events.
Thursday Week 3 - End of Episode 21 - The Force of Gravity events, Episode 22 - The End events/End of Avengers: Infinity War events/Ant-Man and the Wasp credits scenes.
Now it needs to be established which weeks in the timeline this applies to. First, there is a latest possible date for the events of Avengers: Infinity War. The Wednesday of Avengers: Infinity War is still during school time, as Peter Parker is on a school field trip. Spider-Man: Far From Home establishes that Parker restarted junior year after returning in the Blip, making him a junior at the time of the Snap. With Parker beginning sophomore year in Spider-Man: Homecoming in September 2016, he would finish junior year in June 2018. This means that the Wednesday of Avengers: Infinity War should be before Tuesday, June 26, 2018, when New York high schools finished for summer (1, 2, 3). If necessary, it can be assumed that either Parker's school finished 1 day later than most, or the New York high schools in the MCU finished 1 day later than those in the real world, making Wednesday, June 27, 2018 the absolute latest that Avengers: Infinity War could begin. The earliest possible date is January 2018, as all these events must take place in 2018. This is evidenced by many things:
Avengers: Infinity War takes place 2 years after the main events of Captain America: Civil War, which are firmly placed in June 2016 (see 2016 references).
In Avengers: Infinity War, Vision says, "Wanda, for 2 years, we've stolen these moments, trying to see if this could work."
Later, Rhodes says to Rogers, Romanoff, and Wilson, "You guys really look like crap. Must've been a rough couple years."
Avengers: Infinity War takes place 4 years after the main events of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which are placed in October 2014 (see 2014 references).
Avengers: Infinity War takes place 6 years after the events of The Avengers, which are firmly placed in May 2012 (see 2012 references).
In Avengers: Infinity War, Tony says to Doctor Strange, "It's you who doesn't understand that Thanos has been inside my head for 6 years, since he sent an army to New York - and now he's back!"
Ant-Man and the Wasp takes place 2 years after the main events of Captain America: Civil War, which are firmly placed in June 2016.
In Ant-Man and the Wasp, Lang is finishing a house arrest sentence. Jimmy Woo says, "As a part of his joint plea deal with Homeland Security and the German government, he was allowed to return to the U.S., provided he served 2 years under house arrest."
Later, Lang says to van Dyne, "Give me a break, I haven't driven in 2 years."
At the end of his sentence, Scott asks Woo, "Are my 2 years up already?"
The Captain Marvel mid-credits scene, 3 weeks after Avengers: Infinity War, is 23 years after the main events of the film, which are firmly placed in June 1995.
Avengers: Infinity War takes place 5 years before Avengers: Endgame, which takes place 9 years after 2014 (so 2023).
In Avengers: Endgame, it is shown that the events are "five years later" after 3 weeks after Avengers: Infinity War. It is further confirmed that Guardians of the Galaxy takes place in "2014" on-screen. In these scenes, Ebony Maw says Nebula is from "9 years" in the future, making it 2023.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season 5, Episodes 14-22 take place in 2018.
In Episode 8 - The Last Day, a flashforward is shown with events that, as shown in Episode 22 - The End, would take place on the Thursday of Avengers: Infinity War, and the on-screen text specifically says "2018".
The agents return to the present day in Episode 11 - All the Comforts of Home. Later that day, Yo-Yo Rodriguez has her arms sliced off. The agents perform surgery on her amputated arms, and she begins to heal. 2 days later, in Episode 12 - The Real Deal, the monitor by her bed shows "12-06-2017", making it December 6, 2017 (see 2017 references for reasons this is a firm placement). By Episode 14 - The Devil Complex, the skin on Rodriguez's arm stumps has healed over, which takes 4 weeks to 2 months (1, 2). With Rodriguez having lost her arms and had surgery performed on them on December 4, 2017, earliest that The Devil Complex can take place is January 2018, thus meaning that from Episode 14 onward, it is 2018.
In Episode 15 - Rise and Shine, events set at the time of Season 3, Episode 17 - The Team and Episode 18 - The Singularity in April 2016 are shown on-screen to have been "2 years ago".
In Episode 16 - Inside Voices, events set immediately after Season 1, Episode 22 - Beginning of the End in January 2014 are shown on-screen to have been "four years ago".
So, all of these events take place in the first half of 2018. However, there is contradictory evidence for when exactly in the first 6 months of the year. Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp, The Punisher, and Jessica Jones would suggest closer to June 2018, while Thor: Ragnarok, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Spider-Man: Far From Home would suggest closer to January 2018. Scott Lang's 2-year house arrest coming to an end would imply that it has been 24 months since the end of the main events of Captain America: Civil War. In that film, Lang is arrested on June 24, 2016 (a firmly established date - see 2016 references). Steve Rogers breaks him out of the Raft 2 days later, on June 26, 2016, and very soon after (as shown in Avengers: Infinity War Prelude), Lang returns home after making his deal. The exact date that the sentence would end depends on a few factors, such as when the sentence counts as beginning from, if it counts from his initial imprisonment then whether each day spent in prison counts as double towards his sentence, and if time could be/was removed. At the earliest, the house arrest would finish on June 20, 2018. At the latest, June 27, 2018. The arrest finishes on a Wednesday, and at the very shortest, the events of Avengers: Infinity War start 1 week later (as at least one more weekend is shown to occur before the end of the film) on the following Wednesday. The very last day that the events of Avengers: Infinity War can possibly begin is Wednesday, June 27, 2018, so the latest Lang's house arrest could end would also be the earliest: Wednesday, June 20, 2018. This would also line up well with the references to the time between previous films and Avengers: Infinity War, with them placing it ideally closer to mid-2018 than early. However, there are several things in Thor: Ragnarok, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Spider-Man: Far From Home suggesting it is much earlier in the year.
Firstly, Thor: Ragnarok is firmly set in 2017 (see 2017 references). At the very latest, it takes place in November-December 2017, before All the Comforts of Home on December 4, 2017, which features a reference to the events of the film. There is a jump in time between the end of the main events of the film and the film's mid-credits scene, which is set mere minutes before the opening of Avengers: Infinity War. However, the gap should be minimal, for several reasons:
The film finishes with Thor deciding to head back to Earth. Only in the mid-credits scene do he and Loki seem to actually begin discussing the problems with bringing Loki back to the planet. This would imply that it is very soon after the decision was made.
Thor's hair is exactly the same in Avengers: Infinity War as it is in Thor: Ragnarok, including the streak on the side from the Watcher Informant's poor cutting. While it's possible that Asgardian hair grows slower than humans', it nonetheless implies very little time has passed.
The Statesman has a few hundred Asgardians on board that need food and water and other general living standards, and the ship itself is highly unlikely to have enough on board to sustain a few hundred people for very long. It is possible that they could have gone a little longer if one assumes they stopped at other places for resources on the way and/or that Asgardians need less sustenance than humans, but nonetheless, the longer the gap, the more and more assumptions have to me made.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Episode 12 - The Real Deal is firmly set on December 6, 2017, as given by the "12-06-2017" date on Rodriguez's monitor, and which lines up with all the other evidence as mentioned above. Episode 13 - Principia takes place shortly after and, as is evidenced by the "12-17-2017" date and Coulson's mention of "tidings of comfort of joy", it is Christmas. When Episode 14 - The Devil Complex begins, it is heavily implied to be merely another several days later:
In Episode 12 - The Real Deal, the team discover that Coulson is dying. For them, it has been only a few days since Coulson made the deal with Ghost Rider, yet it has become quite bad. They do not know when he will die, but considering it took just a few days to get this bad, it would be strange for it to take several further months to kill him.
In Episode 13 - Principia, Fitz says in December 2017, "The, uh, the gravitonium device that we used to seal the rift is barely strong enough. It's duct tape on the Hoover Dam. It's not gonna hold." Coulson asks, "How much time before the dam starts leaking?", and he says, "Well, uh, it's hard to calculate that precisely, but, based on the increased frequency of transit, electromagnetic waves, I'd say that our days were numbered." While he clearly does not know exactly how long they have, the implication is absolutely no more than a couple of weeks.
In Episode 14 - The Devil Complex, Simmons says she would like to have a honeymoon with Fitz, implying they recently married. In Episode 17 - The Honeymoon, Simmons jokes about this being their honeymoon, implying they recently got married.
In Episode 14 - The Devil Complex, Mackenzie is testing Rodriguez's newly made robotic arms. They got the arms from Hale's mechs in Principia. Considering how fast they usually work, it really should not take them very long to make the arms.
In Episode 14 - The Devil Complex, Mackenzie says to Rodriguez, "Your arms aren't fully healed yet. What you need is time." Rodriguez replies, "My arms may not work, but my eyes do. At least let me sit in Control, keep an eye out for anomalies." Mackenzie says, "Maybe, but you have to allow yourself to heal. We'll handle the fighting for now." As well as this, Rodriguez is still in her hospital-esque bed for a lot of the episode. This implies that she is still healing and still needs to be taken care of, which should not be for more than a couple of months absolute maximum.
In Episode 14 - The Devil Complex, Deke Shaw is still a bit dazed about having worked out that Fitz and Simmons are his grandparents.
In Episode 14 - The Devil Complex, Fitz says, "Well, I've temporarily plugged the dam, but it could burst at any minute, releasing more of these anomalies into the base." The phrasing implies the temporary plugging was recent.
In Episode 14 - The Devil Complex, snow is shown on the ground, suggesting it is still winter.
In Episode 15 - Rise and Shine, Coulson says to Hale, "Listen, my team wasn't hiding all these months. We traveled to the future." From this, it can be taken that it has only been "months" since May 12, 2017, when the agents were sent to the future. While it has to now be 2018, it should not be later than early 2018. As well as this, this piece of dialogue suggests that the amount of time that his team have been back in the present is negligible, because he is generalizing the whole time since May 12, 2017 as the time that they were not around, but in the future.
In Missing Pieces, Enoch says he was going to protect Fitz for the next "73 years, 261 days". The team are in 2091, so if they left the future as early as possible, December 31, 2091, then since Fitz wakes 4 days prior, the latest he can possibly have woken is December 27, 2091. Even if Fitz were to wake as late as possible, the latest this scene could be is then April 10, 2018. Except the scene is implied to after The End, since it should be after the split in the timeline (seemingly not possible to have happened in the original timeline), suggesting The End should be no later than April 10, 2018.
In Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson, Enoch says he is planning to orbit Jupiter with Fitz for the next "72 years, 312 days", which should end before he takes Fitz to the Lighthouse. Fitz wakes no later than December 27, 2091, so the latest Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson could possibly be is February 18, 2019. However, it is 13 months on from The End (Coulson and May "got more [time] than [they] thought [they] would", so Coulson lived roughly the "weeks" Simmons mentions he might have if he is lucky in The End, and Missing Pieces ends on the 1-year anniversary of Coulson's death, the same day Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson is set - plus it is mentioned that Fitz died "over a year ago"), so The End would have to finish in January 2018.
In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Betty Brant says, "Even though we had blipped away halfway through the school year and had already taken midterms." This would make it approximately January/February. There is wiggle room for it to loosely mean "halfway", just "in the bulk of", "not at the beginning or end of", but it should still be no later than May 2018, so it is not in the final several weeks of term. This essentially confirms that Lang did not serve a full 24 months, as Avengers: Infinity War cannot be as late as June 2018 following this comment.
Furthermore, The Punisher: Season 2, which firmly places itself in April-May 2018 (see other references). Jeph Loeb stated in July 2018, "The short answer is that the stories that you're seeing, unless otherwise noted, all happen before [...] what is affectionately referred to as "The Thanos Snap". And we'll continue to be in that place until we find out what happens in Avengers 4," referring to all Marvel Cinematic Universe television released before April 26, 2019. This would place The Punisher: Season 2 (released in January 2019) before Avengers: Infinity War (save for the "three months later" epilogue of The Whirlwind, which is August 2018, so has to be after Avengers: Infinity War no matter what), thereby making Avengers: Infinity War set in at least May 2018. However, this is also the only answer Loeb could feasibly give, and he does not explicitly cover every single season, nor specifically The Punisher: Season 2 (saying only that the shows will be set before "for the most part" on a prior occasion), so it is possible that the one season being set after Avengers: Infinity War is not a hard contradiction to Loeb's comments, but April 2018 would be no more than 3 months maximum after Thanos snaps his fingers, and to see no acknowledgement of this in the world so shortly after is highly unlikely. Placing the Snap in May 2018, all pushing and pulling factors considered, makes sense as a compromise anyway, so the Snap should indeed be placed after the main events of The Punisher: Season 2. Thursday, May 17, 2018 would make the most sense (mere hours after the end of the main events), as it is as early as possible, to be as far away as possible from the end of school term in conjunction with the "halfway" Spider-Man: Far From Home line. A final complication comes from Jessica Jones: Season 3. Most evidence would place it in November-December 2018, but this would be just about 6 months post-Snap, with zero acknowledgement of such a monumental, worldwide long-lasting trauma effect. Ultimately, the best-fitting placement is April-May 2018 instead (see other references), allowing it to be pre-Snap. However, in that case, the season ends on May 27, 2018, making the earliest the Snap can be Thursday, May 31, 2018. So, using this earliest possible placement (as any later would contradict Spider-Man: Far From Home, and late May is already much closer to the later evidence than the earlier), Avengers: Infinity War and its related events can be placed on May 30-31, 2018, with the main events of The Devil Complex to All Roads Lead... therefore being May 17-21, 2018. A laptop early in Ant-Man and the Wasp has the date "4/30/2018". With the idea of Lang's house arrest being 24 months thrown out, so Ant-Man and the Wasp's placement flexible - and the events of Avengers: Infinity War being mid-to-late May 2018, late April-early May 2018 for the main events of Ant-Man and the Wasp would make sense. The main events of Ant-Man and the Wasp begin on a Sunday, with Cassie saying, "I had a fun weekend." Scott has 3 days remaining of his house arrest sentence, and the sentence finishes right after the climax, making that Wednesday. Working back, Scott's dream in the bath is Monday night, meaning the house arrest montage spans Sunday and Monday. April 30, 2018 is a Monday, so this aligns for the main events to be Sunday, April 29, 2018 to Wednesday, May 2, 2018.
↑Deke Shaw is shot in the arm in Episode 17 - The Honeymoon, the day before the end of All Roads Lead.... Following this, he wears a sling until the beginning of Episode 21 - The Force of Gravity. This should mean that several weeks pass between him being shot and having the sling taken off. However, the only possible gap in time is between All Roads Lead... and Option Two, and the show treats it very much like it has been merely hours when Option Two begins. This would in total mean that Deke had the sling for barely over 1 day, which is impossible. Stretching the gap between All Roads Lead... and Option Two, it really can be no more than about 5 days, considering the agents' actions, discussions, and behavior. However, even if we consider that the surgery on Shaw was very successful and he healed very fast and took off the sling very prematurely - as soon as he could, to help him be more able in the times of crisis that were occurring, it really cannot be shorter than about 2 weeks of recovery time, which would involve a 13-day gap between All Roads Lead... and Option Two. Overall, a 9-day jump is necessary, giving 10 days of recovery time before taking off the sling. It absolutely cannot be any longer, yet it absolutely cannot be shorter. So, with Option Two being the Wednesday of Avengers: Infinity War, the main events of All Roads Lead... end on the previous week's Monday. Working backwards, All Roads Lead... begins the day before (Sunday), and Episode 16 - Inside Voices and 17 - The Honeymoon are earlier that Sunday. In Inside Voices, Ruby Hale says, "Why not talk to Coulson [...] I think after 2 days in isolation," which places the "24 hours ago" portion of Episode 15 - Rise and Shine as being 2 days prior, Friday, thus meaning that Rise and Shine spans the Thursday-Saturday almost 2 weeks before Avengers: Infinity War. The exact dates assigned to these days are May 17-21, 2018 (see other references).
↑ 29.029.129.229.3In Ant-Man and the Wasp, a montage after Scott Lang is released from house arrest on May 2, 2018 (see other references) includes four scenes before the mid-credits scene set on May 31, 2018 (see other references). Firstly, Scott goes to Maggie Lang's house and hugs Cassie. While this can be interpreted as the first thing he does after release, he has changed clothes and asks Cassie "You ready?", implying he is picking her up. On Sunday, April 29, 2018, when Cassie says, "I had a fun weekend, Daddy," Scott replies, "Me too, Peanut. Just wait till next weekend." So, this should not be until the weekend after Scott's release, making it Saturday, May 5, 2018. Following this is Luis securing the Karapetyan deal. With news from the San Francisco chase playing and the group being busy receiving calls, it appears to be shortly after May 2, 2018. While the trio missed their Karapetyan meeting on May 2nd, Karapetyan would presumably not wait too long to get in contact. Since Kurt is arranging a meeting for "Monday", this would suggest it is not currently Sunday or Monday. Tuesday, May 8, 2018 is too far from the main events of the film, so the other option, to be taken, is Saturday, May 5, 2018, hours after Scott picks up Cassie. He is in the same clothes. Presumably she is just not with him at that moment. Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne then go to the beach, then Hope van Dyne sits with Scott and Cassie in a car to watch Them!. These can be distributed between May 5th and May 31st, making the Them! scene approximately May 22nd. However, this is not a weekend, and Scott seems to only have Cassie on weekends. The closest weekend day is May 20th. Then, placing the beach scene halfway between May 5th daytime and May 20th evening would put it around the morning of May 13th.
↑In Avengers: Infinity War, Thor says on Wednesday, May 30, 2018 that Xandar was attacked "last week". The middle of the previous week would be Wednesday, 23, 2018.
↑ 63.0063.0163.0263.0363.0463.0563.0663.0763.0863.0963.1063.1163.1263.1363.1463.1563.1663.1763.1863.1963.2063.2163.2263.2363.2463.2563.2663.2763.2863.2963.3063.31In The End, the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. manage to change the timeline so that instead of the world cracking apart as it did originally, in the new timeline, the world is saved. While there are no obvious changes in the timeline until Melinda May and Leo Fitz save Alphonso Mackenzie and Polly Hinton, the change Robin Hinton senses in the episode is shown to be the fact that the Centipede Serum was slipped into Quake's gauntlets by Phil Coulson. This means that the timelines in fact diverge just before Coulson hands Quake her suit, and also fits with Robin Hinton's comment in The Last Day that Coulson would "bring all the pieces together", being his action that changes the timeline. For a short while after, events play out almost identically, with the only difference being that, without anyone except Coulson knowing, the serum is in fact in Quake's gauntlets. Coulson still does not, at least initially, take the serum in the original timeline as Quake was filmed in that timeline shouting at him in an identical manner to how she shouts at him in the new timeline for not taking it. The first sign of the timeline change, however, is Mackenzie and Hinton being saved, and then events begin to significantly diverge, being completely different once Quake finds the serum. While we are shown very little of 2018 of the original timeline outside of The Last Day, we can assume that events are almost identical until Mackenzie and Hinton are saved. This includes the scenes in Avengers: Infinity War where Thanos talks to Gamora on the Sanctuary II and takes her to see Nebula, which occur concurrently with the events of The End between the divergence point and the beginning of actual significant signs of divergence. The gaps in the original timeline can then be put together - the serum was left on Zephyr One, Mackenzie and Hinton died in the ship, Quake was absorbed by Talbot, Talbot destroyed the world, and finally what Yo-Yo Rodriguez alludes to in Past Life - as the world burned, May and Fitz got back to Zephyr One with Robin Hinton, but without Polly Hinton or Alphonso Mackenzie. They reached to grab them from the first of the surface to pull them on-board, but Mackenzie was not there. This is then followed by the "2018" scene of The Last Day. There is also one thing we know from the original timeline that can be assumed for the new timeline, since events are occurring almost identically at the given point - that someone is filming when Quake leaves the Quinjet and shouts at Coulson (explained in The Last Day). It is unclear what happened to Coulson in the original timeline. The serum is left on Zephyr One, but he does not appear to survive past 2018 anyway. Still, wherever events are unclear, they are excluded from the events descriptions.
↑In Avengers: Endgame, it is shown that Carol Danvers can fly Tony Stark back from space in less than a day (as they get him back before the end of his 1-day oxygen supply, and it has been 22 days after Thanos' Snap when he is rescued and it is still only 23 not long after he returns). Therefore, her arrival on Earth, shortly preceding her trip to space to rescue him, can be dated to the day before her rescue, 21 days after Thanos' Snap.
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