In Central City, Doc Savage and The Spirit confront Wu Cheng of the Blackhawks, who is holding the latter’s sidekick Ebony prisoner. Doc challenges the mercenary for possession of the casket containing his father’s body. Suddenly lights flash on and the corrupt Inspector Dolan, leading a team of police announces he is arresting The Spirit and Doc Savage. Doc advises The Spirit to raise his hands—and when the masked hero does, he is suddenly snatched away by a rope ladder dangling form one of Doc’s craft flying overhead….
In Gotham City, gang boss Red Duggan, surveying the wreckage of his casino, destroyed by the Bat-Man, vows to destroy the vigilante. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne enlists his butler Alfred as his aide in his crime fighting mission. Bruce receives a call from Anton Colossi, inviting Bruce to join him and his partners in a lucrative opportunity in Hidalgo. Bruce politely declines. In Neolantis, Colossi turns his attentions back to the recaptured Johnny Littlejohn, and Colossi’s mother promises to use some unpleasant brain surgery to extract the stolen knowledge from his head….
Central City: the Blackhawks force Ebony to unearth the stolen casket, hoping to discover, finally, what it contains….
Gotham: Bruce Wayne drops by Clark Savage Sr.’s hotel room for a courtesy call but the allegedly dead philanthropist turns him away. Later that night, in his guise as the Bat-Man, he returns via a high window but is spotted by armed thugs who open fire on him from the street below….
In prison, Doc Savage chats with his cell mates, trying to discover what makes people turn bad….
John Sunlight speaks with Anton Colossi on the phone, he declines his minion’s request to meet the rest of the secretive Golden Tree organization, explaining that anonymity is part of their strategy for global domination. Meanwhile, Colossi watches Savage Sr.’s hotel from across the way. Inside as Bat-Man fights off the gunmen, Colossi’s Hidalgan warrior blows a dart into the vigilante’s back, drugging him, and is in turn shot down by the Bat as he is about to break down Savage’s door. Savage emerges from his room to stop the hoods from unmasking Bat-Man; they turns their guns on the old man—who draws a pistol and calmly shoots down all of his would-be captors. The warrior attack him and punches him in the face, distorting his features, which reform into the face of Richard Benson, the Avenger. Overpowering his enemy, Benson determines that Bat-Man is only drugged, not dead and carries him off….
Meanwhile, across from the Central City jail, The Spirit and Doc’s aide Renny who rescued him earlier try to sort out matters, when a Blackhawk jet fires a missile directly at Doc Savage’s cell. Inside, Doc grabs his cellmates and leaps just as the missile explodes….
In a secluded area outside of Gotham, the Avengers reveals that he was sent there to impersonate Savage so he could contact Bat-Man and pass along Doc’s request for assistance in Hidalgo. He refuses and swings off into the night, contacting Alfred and telling him to call Anton Colossi to set up a meeting….