In Earth-2149, Ash awakens after death in what seems like heaven, only to find the afterlife breached by a ravenous force. The Sentry, sent there by the Watcher in Marvel Zombies Return, starts consuming every being in sight. Ash and the Sentry are hurled into another reality once again, a shift triggered by the Watcher. Along this journey, Ash receives a chilling prophecy: > an army of the dead will rise. < The warning makes clear that this new world is doomed, even as Ash fights to understand his place within it.
This alternate Marvel Universe, known as Earth-2149, throws Ash into a chaotic crossfire beginning with a clash between Daredevil and Thunderball. He initially mistakes Daredevil for a villain and, after letting Thunderball escape, tries to warn the Avengers about a Deadite invasion. The team is distracted by Ash’s odd bravado and flirtations with the female members, and Scarlet Witch eventually teleports him away while Edwin Jarvis alerts the team to the disturbance that has just rippled through their chamber.
When Ash finally spots the now-infected Avengers, Spider-Man arrives to carry him away with a message from Colonel America. In a tense moment, Spider-Man pretends to want to devour Ash to keep him calm, then scoops him up and departs—an act that ends abruptly when he checks on Aunt May and Mary Jane. The prequel Marvel Zombies: Dead Days later reveals Spider-Man’s ultimate fate within this plague as he becomes fully consumed, turning on those he loves.
Ash then crosses paths with the Punisher, who hands him a bag of spare weapons and fights through the chaos, allegedly taking out major enemies like Kingpin, Hammerhead, and the Owl. On the ground, Thunderball is slain by the Punisher while the zombified Wrecking Crew members close in, forcing the Punisher into a deadly standoff. Ash also meets Dazzler, who leads him to Doctor Strange’s headquarters. In an eerie symmetry, another version of Ash in this reality has chosen to fight the undead, only to be felled by a zombie Howard the Duck—who is himself toppled by the main Ash and the Scarlet Witch.
Inside Strange’s mansion, Ash, Dazzler, and the Scarlet Witch search for the Necronomicon, suspecting a Deadite invasion. Finding no Necronomicon there, the trio journeys to Latveria, where Doctor Doom’s castle is under siege from the invading Dead Days forces. Doom captures Ash for his foolish behavior, and Ash then steals a Doombot’s armor, disguising himself as Doom to wander Doomstadt.
During his wanderings, Ash frees the Enchantress, who is being kept prisoner by Doom. The illusion drops, revealing that Enchantress is a zombie, and she bites Dazzler’s finger before Doom blasts both women to termination. The zombie push through the castle forces Scarlet Witch and Doom rally to safety as the city fights to escape the curse.
Ash and his allies locate the Necronomicon, only to learn that the book cannot stop the zombie plague because the zombies are not Deadites. The book confirms the prophecy: the army will rise and the world will fall, but these events may not be causally linked beyond occurring at the same time. Acting on Ash’s direction, the Necronomicon conjures the dead as Deadites to divert the onslaught while Doom transports Ash to a parallel world of his choosing and ferries the survivors to a safe haven.
The siege around Doom intensifies as the zombies close in. The Necronomicon is revealed to be comic relief for the infected, and Wolverine’s zombified form uses the book as toilet paper. The group travels through numerous alternate worlds, and Ash materializes in a realm inhabited by Marvel werewolf–led communities, only to be pursued once more. Somehow, Ash manages to escape this world and returns to his own Earth, setting the stage for the events that unfold in the next Army of Darkness chapter, From The Ashes.
