Zod's initial interest in the hellish creatures faded quickly once he realized they lacked cells or genes; their structure was beyond his comprehension. Guarding the Ancient One, however, he could keep any intruders, even minor threats, at bay.
With the strength of the Heavenly Father level bolstered by dragon power, Zod still saw this new energy as a tool for dealing with mystic threats rather than a defining aspect of his power. Suddenly, he felt the dimension tremble as mystical circles materialized around the Ancient One, who floated above the ground.
"It's ready," she announced, and with that, they stepped through the portal back to Kamar-Taj. The Ancient One held a crystal ball, inside of which was a scaled-down model of the hell dimension fragment they'd visited. With a subtle twist, both the crystal and the model vanished.
"Then I'll take my leave, Master," Zod said.
"Zod," the Ancient One called out with a hint of hesitation. "My time is running short..."
Zod paused but didn't turn around. A moment later, he was gone, leaving the Ancient One deep in thought.
Almost immediately, Zod received an alert from the Black Queen. Despite Stark Industries' recent bankruptcy, Tony Stark had reestablished himself, forming "New Stark Industries" and focusing on clean energy and technology instead of weapons. However, the Black Queen had detected a UFO moving at Mach 2 over Tony's villa. Satellite imagery confirmed it was a new model of Stark's Iron Man suit.
"Keep a close eye on him. He might decide to go off to Afghanistan on some justice mission," Zod instructed.
Tony, motivated by what he'd seen of the Ten Rings' actions in Afghanistan, had developed the Mark 3 Iron Man suit, incorporating gold-titanium alloy reinforced with secondary adamantium purchased from Blade Industries. Though Stark Industries had collapsed, Tony's wealth from weapon patents enabled him to buy the costly material.
As Tony suited up in his villa and took off, Jarvis soon warned him, "Sir, we're being locked onto."
"No one should be able to lock onto me, Jarvis," Tony responded, just as two military jets appeared in pursuit.
"This is U.S. airspace. Unidentified flying object, land immediately!" The message crackled over his comms.
"Okay, I surrender!" Tony raised his hands in frustration, allowing the jets to escort him to an airbase.
When Tony landed, the colonel inspecting him thought he'd stumbled upon a Chinese knockoff of Zod's war machine. Then Tony raised his mask and asked for Colonel Rhodes, much to everyone's surprise.
Over at S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury received the news with admiration, noting Stark's ingenuity in keeping up with Zod's advancements. Hydra, too, was thrilled by the news, viewing Tony's suit as an opportunity to diversify their super-soldier projects beyond Zod's machines. The U.S. government, wary of Zod's growing monopoly, was keen to stake its own claim on this new frontier of technology, seeing Stark's advancements as a potential counterbalance.