The sequel to The Present and the conclusion of the Time's Arrow trilogy narrates the struggle of the X-Men and Spider-Man to stop the time-traveling madman Kang the Conqueror from destroying the multiverse and time as they know it.

This gripping new anthology has over a dozen original tales starring the top-selling mutant heroes, the uncanny X-Men, dealing with their greatest foes, as well as the day-to-day trials of being mutants - trying to protect the world they've sworn to protect, a world that hates them for what they are!

The alien shapeshifters called the Chitauri were defeated by the Ultimates in a decisive battle, but suspicious activity leads the Ultimates to believe that not all of the aliens were destroyed in that cataclysmic attack. Stark Industries has developed means of quickly and easily detecting Chitauri DNA, but the federal government refuses to adopt the technology, claiming that if the tech is widely available, the Chitauri will find a way to fool it. Frustrated by the government’s seeming unwillingness to protect its own people, Captain America takes matters into his own hands.

Cyclops and Emma Frost re-form the team with the express purpose of "astonishing" the world. But when breaking news regarding the mutant gene unexpectedly hits the airwaves, will it derail their new plans before they even get started? As demand for the "mutant cure" reaches near-riot levels, the X-Men go head-to-head with the enigmatic Ord, with an unexpected ally - and some unexpected adversaries - tipping the scales!

When a baddie drops out of a sky-high window (Did he jump - heh heh - or was he pushed?), Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson wants Spider-Man to take the rap. Has the wall-crawler come to the end of his rope? Does his life hang by a slender thread? To swing clear of this one, he's got to snoop on an international oil conference. There's blackmail! Radioactivity! And a welcoming committee of death-dealing arch-villains!