Secret Wars #5 through Secret Wars #9

Complete listed story — includes the ending

Secret Wars #5

The following day, a funeral was held for Stephen Strange in Doomstadt, with the cause of his death kept a secret by Doom himself. Once the dusk had fallen, Doom tasked Valeria to use the resources of the Foundation to find the interlopers who had been scattered across the world, denying to provide any more information than that. Once Valeria left, Doom opened a portal below a Molecule Man statue in his garden, walking down a set of stairs to meet the Molecule Man and informed him of Strange's death. The Molecule Man made remembrance of the day when he, Doom and Strange confronted the Beyonders. During Doom's mission to thwart the Beyonders' plan by killing Molecule Men across the Multiverse, they had realized that it was not going to work; the Beyonders had built the Molecule Men too well and killing them early was still causing the Multiverse to die. Changing the plan, they began to capture the Molecule Men, and when they confronted the Beyonders, Doom unleashed the countless Molecule Men he had gathered to kill them; the Molecule Man acted as a conduit to steal the Beyonders' power and give it to Doom. The Molecule Man finished his chat with Doom by informing him that with Strange's death, he had most likely started an unraveling that could take everyone down.

Back on Doomstadt, the Department of Science of the Foundation set out to find the interlopers. Thor had infiltrated the Thors, Black Panther and Namor found themselves in Egyptia, Captain Marvel had been captured by the forces of Bar Sinister, Black Swan had appeared in Doomstadt, Thanos was teleported to the other side of the Shield, and both Star-Lord and Miles Morales had ended up in the Kingdom of Manhattan.

Secret Wars #6

It is three weeks later.

The survivors of the two ships are wanted for the murder of Sheriff Strange, and have been hunted across Battleworld. Two have been caught in the Domain of Apocalypse, and brought before God Emperor Doom while comatose. Based on reports, Valeria identifies the two as "Corbis and a proxy", but Doom pauses her to ask Black Swan, who has come to serve him. She corrects the report: they are Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight, husband-and-wife generals of Thanos. When the Thors struck, the rebels scattered, and now none of them know what the others will do. This is troublesome.

Later, at Foundation, Alex & Bentley have a report for Valeria. Based on her desire to find out what is being hidden from her, they finished their assessment of where God Emperor Doom's power is coming from, and it is somewhere in Doomstadt. Another matter: drone aircraft have been appearing in flocks around the world, and more have been found. Valeria wonders aloud who is building these devices.

At Project 42, two men are debating the best method to assassinate God. One, Reed Richards, points out that as they currently have no idea what will happen to the universe if its god dies, then their debate should shift from "can they kill God" to "should they kill God". The second man, the Maker, refuses this argument, saying that God Emperor Doom is unworthy of the role he has sought. The Maker pulls up footage of an uprising: a vast horde of Doom-deniers, marching on Doomstadt, led by a skull-visaged figure who calls himself "The Prophet". The Maker removes his helmet, revealing that he is a younger alternate-universe version of Reed Richards, and wonders what could ever turn him into such a careworn old man. Reed says that it comes from caring for others, but the Maker cuts him off, pointing to drone footing of the First Family of Battleworld - Doom, his wife Susan Storm, and their children, Franklin and Valeria. This makes Reed pause, but he continues, saying that they need to find out where Doom's power is coming from, and he has a plan.

In Castle Doom, Peter Parker and Miles Morales, the Spider-Men, are tracking down Doom's power. They have got as far as a statue in the garden and get lost. Valeria, who is also looking, directs them to a trapdoor at the base of the statue. From their scanning device, she realizes that they are working for the drone-maker - Reed Richards, who she has never heard of - and says that in exchange for not raising the alarm, she demands two answers: are they from the crashed ship, and did one of the ship people kill Strange. Parker says that there was a second ship, and that no-one from either ship killed Strange. Troubled, Valeria walks away.

On the other side of the trapdoor is a glowing white space and one man - Owen Reese, the Molecule Man. Reese says he can feel the pieces not fitting, how he devoured everything and is still hungry. Miles realizes that he has a three-week-old hamburger in his pocket, and offers it to Reese, who devours it, to Peter's horror. Sated, Reese introduces himself as the font of Doom's power.

Upstairs, Doom is in teleconference with his barons regarding the Prophet. After he accuses them of collusion, they deny it, and encourage him to destroy the uprising. Doom agrees, but says that as a test of loyalty, the barons must supply the forces and lead them.

After the call ends, Mister Sinister, baron for the domain of Bar Sinister, turn to his newest friend, a corrupted Captain Marvel, and asks for advice. After she punches him a few times, which he seems to draw pleasure from, he resolves to be "naughty", a course she approves of.

At sea, Namor and Black Panther have made the journey to the Hidden Isle of Agamotto, Stephen Strange's base. Namor marvels that they have not killed each other, but Black Panther says it would be pointless: they are kings of ashes and dead men; there is nothing for them to fight over. They are able to pass the first door with the Eye of Agamotto, and are able to disarm the security golems using and old Illuminati passcode. Once inside, a recording of Stephen Strange hopes that is death has not been in vain. To whoever got in, he bequeaths two objects. The first is the Siege Courageous, a means of instant teleportation anywhere in the world. The second is an Infinity Gauntlet which grants the wearer unlimited power, but only in one area: Doomstadt. With these two objects, one could assassinate God.

At Castle Doom, Franklin Richards is being put to bed by his mother. He asks her to tell him about the Fantastic Four, so she complies: Once upon a time, four explorers took a spaceship ride. They were Sue & Johnny Storm, their father Franklin Storm, and their friend Ben Grimm. Empowered by the journey, they brought wonder to their world, until their world ended, and a new world began. This new world of constant battle killed Franklin Storm, but Victor von Doom used his great power to conquer it, bringing peace. Johnny Storm left his family to become the Sun and drive out the night. Ben Grim left also. Franklin says his mother never says what happened to Ben Grimm, and Susan says she will, once he is older.

At the Shield, on the detention level, Thanos is face-to-face with Ben Grimm, who sacrificed himself to become part of the the thing that holds back the monsters. Thanos says that the world is not as he believes it to be, that Doom lied because he feared Grimm's power. He asks what Grimm intends to do about it.

On the sudden border of the world, a vast swathe of the Shield rises up in the shape of a man, and marches north on Doomstadt...

Secret Wars #7

With his ragtag army of Doom-deniers ready for battle, the Prophet marches them up to the base of Doomgard and orders them to attack. The Prophet reveals himself as Maximus the Mad as his troops charge into battle against the forces of Doom's loyalist barons.

Within Doom's castle, Black Swan asks if Doom wishes her to join his army and repel the Prophet's rebels. Doom tells her to stay and watch the battle with him, as he sits in judgement of those who dare stand against him. Susan comforts him, urging him not to take it personally and assuring him this will end no different than the other times. Valeria interjects and says she's wrong, stating that she feels this is something more. Doom agrees, and orders her to summon his Thors.

On the battlefield, Maximus charges into the front lines, urging his followers to believe in him and embrace the end, as he is torn to shreds by Baron Pryor's goblin hordes. In Baron Sinister's camp, Captain Marvel comments that the army of the prophet is breaking, and they don't have much time. Sinister tells her to give him the order, which she does, prompting his clones to switch sides and turn on the Goblin Queen's army. Captain Marvel and Sinister take down Madelyne, who questions why Sinister would betray them now. Sinsiter scornfully replies that he did it because he can't stand her tacky outfit, before killing her. Sinister's celebration is cut short by the arrival of Apocalypse and his armies. Holocaust decapitates Sinister and brings him before Apocalypse, who revels in in the battle and comments that Sinister has once again lost his head. Sinister retorts that Apocalypse has lost all decorum, but comments that he is not the only one who is late, as the Thors have now arrived.

Within the Great Hall of the Thors, a brawl erupts. Thor of Earth-616 attempts to convince the others that Doom is no god and has in fact deceived them. The Thors are divided on whether to believe her or not, but those who do outnumber those who remain faithful to Doom. A few remain to contain Doom's loyalists while the rest travel to the field of battle. Doom's family watches on in disbelief as the Thors attack the barons defending the castle, and Doom comments that he has been betrayed again.

The decapitated head of Sinister begs Apocalypse for mercy, who responds that if Apocalypse must bow before Doom then there will be no quarter given to traitors such as him and the Thors. He tells Sinister his condition can not possibly get worse, only for the Maestro to arrive, prompting Sinister to comment that he believes it can. The Maestro glides above the battlefield on a rusty Helicarrier and deploys his Worldbreakers, an army of Hulks.

Within their secret base, the two Reeds prepare for the next facet of their plan. While the Prophet's army and the other rebels distract Doom, they together with Starlord will slip past them and reach the Molecule Man. Commenting that Maximus' mob won't be enough of a distraction for long, the Maker instructs Mister Fantastic to unleash his secret plans. Reed contacts Black Panther and gives him the signal. Panther blows up a section of the Shield separating the denizens of the Deadlands from the rest of Battleworld. Panther tells them to travel through the Siege Courageous and be granted a second chance at life, in return for striking down Doom. The zombies are initially reticent, but after Namor impales one of them, they answer the call, shouting "glory and honor".

Secret Wars #8

While the battle in Doomstadt waged on, the two Reed Richards were transported by Star-Lord to Castle Doom. The Thing from the Shield joined the brawl, and easily destroyed anything in his way. Franklin von Doom opposed him using his Galactus, and The Thing decided to surrender after learning the kid he was fighting was the son of Sue Storm. When God Emperor Doom joined the battle against the recently-arrived Annihilation Wave, Valeria convinced her mother to run away in order to show her something.

As the two Reeds looked for Doom's power source, Star-Lord remained behind repairing their ship, and he was confronted by Black Swan. The ensuing fight, during which Quill is easily overpowered, took the two of them to Doom's throne room, below Yggdrasill. Star-Lord used a splint of Groot on the magical tree, which engulfed it entirely, and turned Yggdrasill into a giant Groot that destroyed the castle from the inside out. Valeria and Sue witnessed the fall of their home from the castle garden, and they encounter the two Reeds trying to access to the Molecule Man's chamber.

Back in the battlefield, Thanos unsuccessfully confronted Doom, and was easily killed. In the moment right after that, the Siege Courageous opened up and a horde of zombies came out. After the zombies, Namor and Black Panther, who had the Infinity Gauntlet, came out proclaiming this to be the end of Doom's reign.

Secret Wars #9

Doctor Doom tried to convince T'Challa and Namor to stop fighting by promising them to rebuild Wakanda and Atlantis, but they refused the offer and struck Doom down. Victor quickly regenerated from his own corpse and after dealing an energy blast at T'Challa and Namor which only killed the latter, continued fighting.

While Doom and Black Panther use their power against each other, Mister Fantastic and the Maker visited the Molecule Man. Owen once asked his visitors if they had brought him anything to eat, but they had not. The Maker quickly betrayed his counterpart and trapped him in a temporal bubble, claiming that he could not tolerate the kind of weakness Reed has shown. His plan is cut short as the Molecule Man sliced him and freed Mr. Fantastic.

Black Panther's battle against Doom came to an end after Victor crushed the Infinity Gauntlet. After subduing T'Challa, he realizes the fight had merely been a distraction. Doom quickly teleported to the Molecule Man's statue and delved into his chamber, and tried to destroy Richards with a snap of his fingers. He was surprised when his power did not work, and the Molecule Man asked him if he had brought him something to eat, to which Doom replied he did not. Thus, Owen claimed that Reed and Doom were in equal ground. Mister Fantastic and Doom engage in a furious combat, with Reed claiming that even though Victor did good, he could have done better, and because he was too afraid of losing Battleworld, he held it too tight. Doom accused Richards of believing he could have done better had he had Doom's power, and when Reed conceded he did, so did Doom. On the grounds that both agreed, the Molecule Man gave the power of the Beyonders to Reed, destroying Battleworld in the process. While the inhabitants were trying to outrun their imminent demise, the Black Panther held tight to the Reality Gem of his Infinity Gauntlet as the world went white. When everything came back, T'Challa reappeared in the returned Marvel Universe.

Eight months later, Miles Morales appeared to be an inhabitant of the Marvel Universe instead of the destroyed Ultimate Universe. The young hero recalled when he and Peter Parker were leaving the Molecule Man's chamber in Battleworld, and Owen had stated he owed Miles one for the burger.

In another side of the universe, the returned Future Foundation was created and charting the reborn Multiverse. Reed Richards used the power of the Beyonders to rebuilt realities with the help of his son Franklin Richards and the Molecule Man. Reed told Sue that he had learned that the difference between living and dying was managing fear, and not being so afraid of losing the things you loved that you held them too tight. Reed used to believe in entropy, but he now believed in expansion and resilience, in that everything lives.

Meanwhile, in Latveria, Doctor Doom had returned to his castle. He took off his mask and noticed his scars were gone, and proceeded to laugh.