Infinity (Event)

Builder War[]

Background Information[]

Unbeknownst to most, the Multiverse was dying due to the incursions, where two realities collide with their Earths serving as the focal point. The Illuminati assembled to deal with these incursions in secret, after they had captured a Black Swan.^[5] They reverse engineered the Black Swan's antimatter bomb so they could destroy other incursion worlds, for an incursion can be stopped or prevented by destroying even just one of the Earths.^[6]

Captain Universe sensed that the universe was dying (a symptom of the incursions) and chose a "broken" host, Tamara Devoux, to reflect that.^[7] Her first "children," the Builders, had created "systems" to help shape the universe. Three Builder creations—Ex Nihilo, Abyss, and Aleph—forced the Avengers to expand after they had flung Origin Bombs to Earth from their Garden on Mars. The new Captain Universe, now an Avenger, ordered Ex Nihilo and Abyss to stop and she destroyed their Aleph.^[8]

Meanwhile, the incursions caused a wave of destruction across the Superflow, where the Builders had created structures and stations to fire White Events. The last of these stations fired their last White Events in desperation before they collapsed. On Earth-616, this resulted in the ascension of Nightmask (Adam) (a creation of Ex Nihilo) and Starbrand (Kevin Connor). These were newer Builder systems compared to the Gardeners.^[9]

Recognizing Earth as the "multiversal fracture point," some of the lifeforms from Ex Nihilo's Origin Bombs sent a signal to the Builders in space: "System failure. Multiversal fracture point. World terminal."^[10] The Builders soon began their aggression on the universe. Captain Universe noticed this and told the Avengers that they must get bigger. As per Captain Universe's suggestions, the Avengers recruited Builder systems Ex Nihilo, Abyss, Starbrand, and Nightmask.^[11]

Destruction of Galador[]

The planet Galador became one of the earliest victims of the Builder Armada during the Builders' campaign. Located 60,000 light years away form Earth, it faced ruthless attacks from the Builders' ground forces, the mechanical exterminators called Alephs. Galador was not undefended and its heroes, the Spaceknights, fought bravely against the invaders. A Curator and a Caretaker reported the resistance to their Builder masters, who simply replied that all worlds resist. After Galadorian children Sanno and Kiru had been saved by the Spaceknights, Captain Universe appeared and told the hopeful youths that it was not enough. The Builders arrived with their World Killer; Sanno and Kiru embraced one last time as their planet was destroyed.^[12]

Avengers Leaving the Earth[]

After the attack on Galador, Captain Universe reappeared at the Peak, headquarters of S.W.O.R.D, in a comatose state. S.W.O.R.D. had been busy dealing with a significant influx of potential alien invaders, who were actually nonviolent refugees, and had the Avengers help. Once the Avengers (including Ex Nihilo) were called in about the return of Captain Universe, they were also informed about a Kree open channel distress signal, something they would never normally do. As they watched the footage of a doomed crew from a Kree moon being slaughtered by Alephs and Ex Nihilii, Abigail Brand revealed that the trajectory of the Builders' path of destruction was heading directly to Earth.^[12]

Hours after the distress signal, S.W.O.R.D. picked up military chatter from almost all members and space empires of the Galactic Council. Smasher, a Superguardian of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, confirmed that she had been recalled and noted that the order included all Subguardians to be on standby, meaning heavy losses was expected. After Ex Nihilo and Abyss had confirmed that Earth alone stood no chance against the Builders, the Avengers decided to stand alongside the other worlds in space, though Tony Stark stayed behind.^[12]

War Council on Nomad[]

As the Builders continued to terrorize everything in their path, an assembly was called for war on the Citadel of the Galactic Council, located in the neutral territory of Nomad. Although the former great Skrull Empire had fractured into warring factions, Kl'rt the Super-Skrull managed to convince most of the Skrull warlords to unite under him and presented himself to the Council for admittance. Among the council leaders were Gladiator of the Shi'ar Empire, the Supreme Intelligence and Ronan the Accuser of the Kree Empire, and J'son of the Spartax Empire. Even historical enemies such as the Brood Queen and Annihilus of the Negative Zone had agreed to join forces for the Builder threat was bigger than them all.^[13]

Representatives from hundreds of thousands of worlds gathered, including the Avengers of Earth, but even with all of this, the Council did not believe they could challenge the Builder fleet in direct combat. The Super-Skrull showed the Council footage of the Skrull warlord Dm'yr's victory against a small advance fleet by catching them by surprise, though at the cost of the Skrulls' lives. The Council decided to do a surprise attack of their own at the Corridor, which lay in the Builders' path.^[13]

Battle at the Corridor[]

The allied Council Armada hid among the dense circling asteroid belt of the singularity at the Corridor. The plan was to pin the Builder fleet between the black hole and the allied forces. After lying in wait for three days, they detected the enemy Builder fleet passing by and launched a massive ambush. In the midst of the intense fire fight, Ronan the Accuser alerted the allied armada that the Supreme Intelligence had deduced the identity of the Builders' command vessel, based on the observed movements. The Council Armada focused their attack on the ship and destroyed it.^[13]

However, just as the allied worlds believed that they had won, the actual Builder fleet uncloaked themselves and completely overpowered the Council Armada in a sudden, decisive attack. Within just a minute, the Galactic Council lost a third of their entire fleet and was forced to retreat. Manifold managed to teleport half of the Avengers out of the battlefield, but a ship containing the remaining Avengers was caught in the explosion of a destroyed Shi'ar cruiser. They were captured by the Builders.^[14]

Last Words of a Gardener[]

Scattered, the Shi'ar retreated to the rendezvous point, the agri-world Whaan Prime. With the Avengers' Quincarrier damaged beyond all repair, they boarded the Shi'ar flagship, Lilandra. Smasher noted that all communication networks went dark right after they had retreated. Meanwhile, Gladiator discussed next steps with his councillors but they were interrupted by the sudden appearance of four Builder crafts. Gladiator rallied the Shi'ar, and with help from the Avengers, they defeated the persuit fleet.^[15]

However, in defeat, an Ex Nihilii named Jerran Ko and his Aleph went down to Whaan Prime, a harmless, helpless farming world. While happy to see a garden, Jerran Ko knew the task his creators ordered him to perform and asked his Aleph if it believed in the afterlife. Aleph revealed that it would live on in the code and reminded Jerran Ko to wound the enemy if defeated. Jerran Ko asked the Aleph to tell the others that the days when the Gardeners meant life were better and were now long gone. He commited suicide and poisoned the entire world of Whaan Prime. The Shi'ar and Avengers could only save a few lucky hundreds of thousands of refugees, while everyone else died from disease and decay. It was worse than just death.^[15]

Attack on the Behemoth[]

The broken Galactic Council converged at the ringworld Behemoth, located in trans-galactic space. 100,000,000 refugees and counting were gathered there, having fled their home worlds to escape the Builders. Some of the rufugees came from plague worlds such as Whaam Prime, overloading the already stressed medical teams. Guilty for all the pain and suffering his creators had wrought, Ex Nihilo provided the ringworld with thousands of gardens and encouraged them to continuously yield food. Many refugees tended to these gardens to distract them from what they had lost.^[16]

During the Galactic War Council meeting, J'son and the Supreme Intelligence revealed the true strength of the Builder armada: 17,000 light cruisers, 3000 carriers, 2000 heavy cruisers, 600 worldships, and 12 World Killers. Furthermore, that was only the main fleet and there were smaller ones tearing through clusters at the edge of Council space. Outnumbered, outgunned, and outmatched, the Council debated whether or not to surrender and live or to fight to their almost certain deaths. When Gladiator noted their ignorance of their enemy, Captain America offered the Council to see Ex Nihilo. However, Ex Nihilo was confused as much of what he saw in the war, especially Jerran Ko's suicide, went against everything he had been taught; he believed that there was something wrong. Nevertheless, Ex Nihilo provided the insight that the Builders were efficient, direct, and linear, and the Supreme Intelligence realized that the true target of the Builders was Earth.^[16]

Meanwhile, on the Builders' command vessel, the captured Avengers were visited by Ex Nihila, the Builders' aide. Ex Nihila decided to bring the Kree-human hybrid Captain Marvel to her Builder masters, who explained to Carol that they were not destroyers by nature and in fact much of the universe was cultivated by them, either directly or through their systems. Among the captured Avengers were several of these systems: Starbrand, Nightmask, and Abyss, whom the Builders and the Ex Nihilii were surprised to see as they had thought all the Abyssi had died out. Even more surprising was the still-comatose Captain Universe among them, the Builders' Great Mother. The Builders' interrogation was interrupted by a messenger linking to J'son of Spartax.^[16]

Behind the backs of the Council, J'son pleaded to the Builders for a truce and asked the Builders what they wanted. The Builders revealed that they simply want to perserve the universe, which could only be done by destroying the Earth. J'son offered to give the Builders Earth and end the war, but the Builders did not even see it as a war, only a cleansing. They thanked J'son for giving them the Council's location, as the signal was tracked. Realizing what he had done, J'son tried to warn the other Council members, but it was too late. The Builders sent two ships to crash into the ringworld, obliterating the sanctuary. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees escaping from now-dead worlds, over 40,000,000 died.^[16][17]

Battle Over Hala[]

The catastrophic loss at the Behemoth greatly diminished the hope in the universe. It was a message, and one that the Builders would repeat to all worlds in their path in the weeks that followed: "You cannot run from us." "There is no place in this universe you can hide."^[17]

In a surprising turn, the Builders offered terms to the remaining resistant worlds. They may live, so long as they completely and utterly submitted to the Builders. Proud, ancient worlds decided to pick life and surrendered. The Centaurians of Centauri-IV and the Kymellians of Kymellia were the first to bend the knee, and then a hundred more desperate worlds followed. When the Builder Armada closed in on Hala, the Supreme Intelligence conceded that they could not win.^[17]

Upon Hala's surrender, Ronan the Accuser and his forces were recalled despite his wish to stay and fight. The Kree had represented a fourth of the remaining Council Armada, turning an already hopeless situation critical. The Spartax Empire also withdrew shortly after; before leaving the Behemoth ruins, J'son informed the remaining Council members and the Avengers that the Builders were keeping the Avengers lost from the Corridor battle as prisoners, which he knew from his failed negotiation with them. For the rest of the Council, Captain America devised a plan to defeat the Builders at Hala.^[17]

The following day, Ronan and the Kree fleet returned to Hala to publicly lay down arms in front of a single Builder. The Builders thought themselves as great teachers to humble entire empires with merely a single member. However, just as the ceremony finished, the Council fleet arrived at Hala to attack the Builder fleet gathered there. As Captain America expected, the Builders counterattacked; the Council fleet was merely a diversion and bait to lure away the bulk of the Builders' attack vessels, leaving behind only their command ship and their World Killers. The teleporting Avenger Manifold sent an elite team of Avengers and Shi'ar Imperial Guard members to take control of one of the World Killers and used it to fire against the others. Thor and the Skrulls soon captured another World Killer and caused massive damage to the Builders' fleet.^[17]

With the World Killers turned against them and the command ship damaged to the point that it could not escape, the Builders bitterly called a retreat for the majority of their forces, except for their third wing. Before teleporting away, the Builders ordered Ex Nihila to scuttle the ship and join the third wing in battle, asked her to make her death "mean something," and then abandoned her.^[17] Manifold transported a rescue team to the Builders' main vessel and freed the captured Avengers. They were discovered by Ex Nihila, but instead of attacking them, she decided to turn away and left them alone.^[18] The now-freed Starbrand, who had accidentally gotten his power from a defective White Event, resolved to use the Brand's power and destroyed the leftover Builder forces. For the first time ever, the Council defeated and scattered the Builder armada.^[17]

Liberation of Hala[]

Thanks to intel gathered by the Shi'ar, the Council learned that the Builders had lost all of their World Killers in the recent attack, meaning they could no longer destroy planets on a whim. However, the Council only had half of their fleet remaining. The Brood Queen birthed many new Brood drones to serve. Meanwhile, Annihilus gathered a new Annihation Wave and Mentor confirmed to Gladiator that they could convert three Stargates to access the Negative Zone. Captain America suggested to use the recent victory to talk to the Builders.^[18]

On Hala, the sole Builder emissary stayed as he knew the Builder loss was only temporary. To prove it to the Accuser Ronan, he asked the Supreme Intelligence to calculate the chances of Builder victory against the Council armada, which was 83.2%, and the chances of the Builders retaining control over the Kree Empire, which was 70.1%. The lone Builder declared Hala his. Soon after, he received a message from Gladiator to discuss a parley. The Council seemingly agreed to surrender to the Builders.^[18]

After the emissary had discussed with his fellow Builders, the Builders agreed to drop their interference on the communication networks so they could broadcast the surrender to the universe. The Builder on Hala ordered Ronan to gather all Kree of any political, societal, and militiary importance to witness "the finest day in the history of the Kree Empire." When the Council diplomat, Thor, arrived, he threw Mjolnir to the heavens to appear unarmed. The universe watched as Thor knelt before the Builder, who agreed to spare all worlds except for Earth; however, the universe also watched as Thor recalled his mighty hammer and slayed the Builder in front of him. Before dying, the Builder warned that their resistance would result in everything dying. Thor and Ronan rallied the Accuser Corps and the liberated Kree Empire rejoined the war.^[4]

Last Gambit[]

Against the will of the Supreme Intelligence, who knew that the Council was still outmatched and preferred to survive by remaining subservient to the Builders, Ronan led the Kree Empire's armies into battle once more. Ronan's Accusers launched a surprise attack on Kymellia III, destroying the Alephs there and freeing the Kymellians, who rejoined the war. Meanwhile, the surviving Spaceknights from Galador helped liberate Centauri IV from the Builders, and the Skrull warlords managed to save Korm Prime but with a heavy cost to themselves. However, none of them paid as heavily as the Shi'ar.^[19]

The Shi'ar forces and the Avengers fought alongside each other at the hottest battlefields: Rigel, Formuhaut, and Chize. Across all of them, they suffered heavy casualties; Formuhaut was a stalemate but they were not going to hold, and they lost the battle for Chize. Despite the successive outbreaks of victory, the Council was losing momentum and it became apparent that they were still going to lose. As one last resort, they reluctantly opened a portal to the Negative Zone via a Stargate and unleashed the Annihilation Wave, which had ravaged the universe previously. Annihilus commanded his drones to kill all Builders, but a Builder noted the simple hive-mind nature of the drones and manipulated them into wiping each other out. With the Annihilation Wave decimated, the Council ran out of options and Gladiator prepared to meet his end head-on, barring some unforeseen miracle.^[19]

Captain Universe's Return[]

Back when Abyss was freed during the battle at Hala and Ex Nihila decided to abandon her post, Ex Nihila telepathically communicated with last Abyss: "Come find us." Abyss had informed her brother Ex Nihilo of this when they reunited and they ventured away from Builder War to find Ex Nihila. Abyss' psychic link to Ex Nihila enabled them to track her to a faraway planet where they were greeted by the Ex Nihilii, who had left their Builder masters.^[18]

The Gardeners gathered around the last Abyss and explained to Ex Nihilo that all of their Abyssi had died and the Builders had recalled them following the creation of the newuniversal superstructure. In turn, Ex Nihilo revealed that he did not stop creating life, making it apparent that the Abyssi's deaths were tied to the Ex Nihilii being forbidden from creating life-giving gardens, their entire purpose of existing. No longer willing to be expendable servants for the Builders at best, or killers of worlds at worst, Abyss and the Ex Nihilii banded together and restored Captain Universe, bringing forth a miracle.^[20]

Finally awake from her comatose state, Captain Universe boarded the Builders' command vessel and asked her first children why and when did death become their way, as they had always revered life before. The Builders explained that all universes in the Multiverse were dying (from the incursions) and the only way to stop this was to destroy the "axis point" that was Earth. Still, Captain Universe would not let her children do that and killed one of the Builders, who did not believe that she was going to stop them. The other Builders retaliated and she was forced to kill the rest of them. One Builder survived and departed Earth-616 to another universe. Before doing so, he activated the "black band command" to have the Alephs destroy everything.^[19]

Incursion on Earth[]

Back on Earth, another incursion started where the Earths of Reality-616 and Reality-13131 began to collide, threatening to destroy both realities unless one of the Earths was destroyed. With the Avengers off fighting the Builders in space, Earth had been under attack by the Mad Titan Thanos and his army, including the Black Order, but the threat of the incursion was far greater than any of that. The Illuminati assembled once more to the site of the incursion: the Twelve Apostles, Australia.^[17]

As the Illuminati discussed destroying the other Earth, a seemingly friendly Aleph suddenly appeared from the other universe and requested them to come with it. They arrived at the World Killer of the other universe where they met that universe's Builders, as well as its peculiarly red Ex Nihilii, one of whom extracted Ebony Maw's Mind Web from Doctor Strange's head. The Illuminati learned that the Builders used to freely travel across the Multiverse through the Superflow, the space between universes, but the incursions collapsed it and the Builders pledged to stop the end of everything.^[21]

The other universe's Builders informed the Illuminati that the local Builders of Earth-616 had been defeated. They knew this from a captured Builder, who was actually the same Builder who withdrew from Earth-616 to escape Captain Universe; he had landed in this universe due to its extreme proximity as the result of the incursion. Before sending the Illuminati home to their universe, the Builders revealed that they planned to destroy all Earths to preserve the Multiverse, but their World Killers were too big to travel through the incursion point, so they urged the Illuminati to destroy their own Earth. When the Illuminati returned home, they watched as the Builders' World Killer destroyed the other Earth, ending the incursion.^[21]

Avenger Worlds[]

With the Builders gone, the World Killers destroyed or captured, and the Ex Nihilii defected, only the Alephs remained of the Builders' once-great military. Inspired by the Avengers and the public slaying of a Builder at Hala, the rest of the universe rebelled against the Builders' leftover forces. Once the Avengers and Shi'ar helped liberate the planet Dockrum VII, its grateful people decided to erect a giant "A" symbol as a monument to their saviors. Before Captain America could protest, Oracle of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard reminded him that the Galactic Council by itself fell apart; every victory they had against the Builders to turn the tide was thanks to the Avengers and Captain America's strategies. Dockrum VII was free and was now an Avengers World.^[22]

World after world raised the Avengers banner as they retook the universe from the Builders' Alephs, and at the end, they were all Avenger Worlds. However, the Council's great celebration was cut short when Gladiator got word from the reestablished universal communication network that Earth had fallen under attack by the ruthless Thanos. To repay the Avengers for defeating the Builders, the Galactic Council was more than willing to devote a portion of their armada to reclaim Earth from the Mad Titan.^[22]

The Council offered what they could spare, took Titan, and made their way to Earth, but Thanos' fleet was greater than anticipated while the Council's fleet was extremely battle weary from the Builder War. Furthermore, Thanos' forces controlled the formidable defense station known as the Peak. Gladiator, Ronan, Super-Skrull, and Annihilus personally helped the war heroes take back the Peak, Ronan executed Black Dwarf of the Black Order, and the Council fleet broke through the enemy barricade, enabling the Avengers to go save their own world.^[23]

Builder War Epilogue[]

In the aftermath of the Builder War, the Ex Nihilii gathered around Whaan Prime to mourn Jerran Ko. Newly reformed, they went around the universe to rejuvenate the worlds ravaged by the Builders and returned to their original purpose as a force of life. Elsewhere, the Galactic Council went back to their worlds; Gladiator expanded the Imperial Guard and the Skrull Empire was united once more, with Kl'rt being crowned emperor. However, Annihilus captured the Stargates from the war that linked to the Negative Zone and turned Praxis-2 into Annihilation World.^[25]

Meanwhile, after Thanos' defeat on Earth, the Illuminati returned to their captured Black Swan, who offered them her counsel. Thanks to her incursion sensor, she knew about the recent incursion and laughed at the Builder involvement. As the Builders were one of the factions in the incursions, she possessed great knowledge of them. The Black Swan revealed that the Builders were hindered by the collapse of the Superflow, which was why it took them so long to get to Earth in the Builder War. To the Black Swan, the Builders were just dogs and there were even greater threats, such as the Mapmakers and the Black Priests. Worse was coming.^[24]

Thanos' Invasion[]

When the Avengers departed Earth in order to face the Builders, an ancient and powerful race with the objective of destroying Earth, Thanos and his Black Order took advantage of the absence of Earth's Mightiest Heroes from the planet in order to raze it.^[12]

Thanos' army invaded Earth, and the Black Order confronted the Illuminati, as one of Thanos's minions had gathered the information they had on the Infinity Gems. Black Panther managed to force Black Dwarf to withdraw, while Doctor Strange was embarked in a mental fight against Ebony Maw. Beast and the X-Men fought Corvus Glaive and Supergiant. Proxima Midnight confronted Namor in the ruins of an Atlantis where its inhabitants were annihilated by an attack from Wakanda, part of a conflict caused by Namor's attack on Wakanda during the conflict between the Avengers and the X-Men. However, the Black Order left their different locations as soon as they discovered the Illuminati didn't have the Infinity Gems. Black Bolt was visited by Glaive in order to demand a tribute, the heads of Inhuman younglings between the ages of sixteen and twenty-two, or face the annihilation of Earth's inhabitants. Meanwhile, the Avengers allied themselves with the Galactic Council and their first battle against the Builders proved a disaster, as numerous Avengers were captured in the process. Back on Earth, Black Bolt used the Inhuman Codex to discover Thanos used the tribute demand as a cover for his true mission, to kill his secret Inhuman-descendant son whose identity and location were unknown even to his father.^[15]

When the Illuminati headed to numerous locations around the world where Thanos' son might have been, Doctor Strange found the boy in a secret Inhuman town in Greenland. But as he had been under the influence of Ebony Maw, Maw remained in the location and forced Strange to forget about the discovery, and to leave, now freed from Maw's control.^[26] In Attilan, Black Bolt is confronted by Thanos himself, and the Inhuman city is destroyed during the battle. During the destruction of Attilan, Black Bolt took the opportunity to activate an Inhuman Bomb which spread the Terrigen Mists upon the entire face of Earth.^[17] As millions of Inhuman descendants suffer from Terrigenesis across Earth, including Thanos' son, Thane, Thanos defeated Black Bolt in combat in the ruins of Attilan.^[4]

After the Avengers won the Builder War, the Galactic Council informed the Avengers that Earth had fallen to Thanos' invasion. In Greenland, Maw posed as an ally and offered Thane a suit to control his powers, but also captured him in a containment field, followed by Maw alerting Thanos about the discovery of his descendant. Thanos and the rest of the Black Order arrived to Wakanda, following Namor's declaration that the Infinity Gems were there when he was forced to surrender by Proxima Midnight, and found in Necropolis the Illuminati's hidden headquarters, along with the antimatter bombs, which they planned to use to destroy Earth by activating them using Black Bolt. After the Black Order except Supergiant departed Wakanda to go to Greenland, the Illuminati arrived with the help of Maximus and Lockjaw and started fighting back Thanos' army. Meanwhile, the Avengers and their numerous allies begun approaching Earth.^[22]

After breaking thrown the barrier settled by Thanos' army around Earth with the help of the Galactic Council, the Avengers managed to arrive to Thanos' location and fight him and what was left of his Black Order and free Thane, the son of Thanos, who his father had captured. When the Illuminati arrived to Necropolis and the room where the antimatter bombs were, they found themselves against Thanos' general Supergiant, who defeated them by mentally controlling Black Bolt. When Supergiant activated the bombs, Maximus appeared with the trigger. He triggered the bombs, but also used Lockjaw to transport the antimatter bomb along with Supergiant to a distant uninhabited planet where she died in the explosion. Back in the battle of the Avengers against Thanos, Ebony Maw double-crossed the Mad Titan and freed Thane to let him fight his father. Thanos, Proxima Midnight, and Corvus Glaive's glaive were trapped by Thane in an amber construct which left them in a state of "living death."^[25]

The following days, the Avengers helped rebuild the damage caused by Thanos' invasion around the Earth. Iron Man convinced the Avengers to let him keep Thanos, as he would supposedly take care of him, but secretly placed him in the Necropolis, where he and the rest of the Illumianti went about planning for the universe's coming end.^[25]

• Prelude to Infinity:
  • Avengers (Vol. 5) #14–17
  • New Avengers (Vol. 3) #8
• Free Comic Book Day 2013 (Infinity) #1
• Infinity: Against the Tide: Infinite Comic #1
• Infinity: Against the Tide: Infinite Comic #2
• Captain Marvel (Vol. 7) #15
• Captain Marvel (Vol. 7) #16
• Thunderbolts (Vol. 2) #14
• Thunderbolts (Vol. 2) #15
• Thunderbolts (Vol. 2) #16
• Thunderbolts (Vol. 2) #17
• Thunderbolts (Vol. 2) #18
• Avengers Assemble (Vol. 2) #18
• Avengers Assemble (Vol. 2) #19
• Avengers Assemble (Vol. 2) #20
• Infinity: The Hunt #1
• Infinity: The Hunt #2
• Infinity: The Hunt #3
• Infinity: The Hunt #4
• Mighty Avengers (Vol. 2) #1
• Mighty Avengers (Vol. 2) #2
• Mighty Avengers (Vol. 2) #3
• Nova (Vol. 5) #8
• Nova (Vol. 5) #9
• Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #3
• Superior Spider-Man Team-Up #4
• Infinity: Heist #1
• Infinity: Heist #2
• Infinity: Heist #3
• Infinity: Heist #4
• Fearless Defenders #10
• Secret Avengers (Vol. 2) #10
• Secret Avengers (Vol. 2) #11
• Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 3) #8
• Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 3) #9
• Wolverine and the X-Men Annual #1

• Infinity is an unusual event, as it is, for the most part, two different events that are told concurrently.
  • Builders:
    • The Builder half is directly tied to Jonathan Hickman's Avengers and New Avengers runs, which are concluded with Secret Wars (2015).
    • The Builder War is teased at the start of Hickman's run: The Light. The War. The Fall.^[1]
  • Thanos:
    • The Thanos half is largely irrelevant to Hickman's Avengers and New Avengers, so it can be read on its own.
    • This is the introduction of the Black Order.
    • The Thanos half leads to Inhumanity, the aftermath of the second Terrigen Bomb, as many secret latent Inhuman descendants undergo Terrigenesis around the world. This was part of a significant push from Marvel to promote Inhumans with "Nuhumans" (e.g. Kamala Khan).
    • The Thanos half is the inspiration for much of Avengers: Infinity War.