In the distant future, civilization has reached its ultimate Net-based form. An infection in the past caused the automated systems to spiral out of control, resulting in a multi-leveled city structure that grows indefinitely in all directions. Now humanity has lost access to the city's controls and is hunted down to be purged as "illegal" by the defense system known as the Safeguard. In a village, a tribe known as the Electro-Fishers is facing eventual extinction, trapped between the threat of the Safeguard and dwindling food supplies. A girl named Zuru goes on a journey to find food with a group of friends, only to inadvertently trigger a Watchtower which spawns robotic exterminators. Most of her companions are killed, but Zuru and her close friend Tae are saved by a mysterious wanderer, Killy. Killy is brought to the village, where he meets Pop, their leader, who is interested in Killy after learning that he comes from 6000 levels below. Killy reveals that he is on a quest to find someone with the Net Terminal Gene, which would allow accessing the Netsphere and regaining control of the city. Killy solves the village's food problem by passing them a large number of rations. He leaves for an area below the village named the Rotting Shrine, and followed by Zuru and Tae, he finds the spoilt machine-corpse of Cibo, a former scientist from before the disaster. Cibo reveals that she built a shield generator that protects the village from the Safeguard and reveals that it is possible to produce more food rations at a nearby automated factory. Heeding her words, a group of Electro-Fishers including Tae and Zuru travel to the automated factory in search of more rations. Arriving there, Cibo logs into the system and produces a large number of rations, which the Electro-Fishers quickly begin gathering. However, right after she produces a machine for Killy, the system rejects her log-in and starts to mass-produce Exterminators to eliminate the Electro-Fishers. Cibo builds a new body for herself and they all escape through a railway car. During the ride, Killy is knocked unconscious fending off exterminators. Upon arrival, the Electro-Fishers celebrate the new supplies while also mourning the losses during the trip. Cibo secretly wakes Killy up with only Zuru as a witness and leads him down towards the shield generator with the machine. While heading down, Tae takes her gun to the observatory platform and shoots the shield generator, whereupon it is revealed that the real Tae was killed and impersonated by a Safeguard agent back at the factory. Calling herself Sanakan, she proceeds to kill most of the villagers, deeming them illegal residents while destroying the village in the process. Killy notices and runs back up to the village. Cibo travels further down, sets the machine and connects herself to it. The village elders frantically lead the rest to the top of the village, resisting Sanakan using their remaining weapons. Killy enters combat with Sanakan, who after knocking him down notes that he is a body stolen from the Safeguard. Zuru throws the gun to Killy and he manages to shoot Sanakan, but not before she destroys Cibo's body. In the Netsphere, Cibo pleads with the Authority controlling the Safeguard to let the villagers go. She is forbidden to do so, but is instead allowed access to the City's map, revealing an abandoned level safe from Safeguard control where the villagers can migrate to. Cibo, now functioning through her only remaining arm, leads the remaining villagers to an elevator, but a Watchtower spots them and begins spawning exterminators. Killy throws the device which has been keeping him safe from the Safeguard to Zuru, upon which he says that he still wants to find the Net Terminal Gene, which enables human control of the city and all machines, including the Safeguard. Killy seemingly sacrifices himself so that the villagers can escape. Later it is revealed that the Electro-Fishers successfully reached the abandoned level and established a new village there. Zuru's granddaughter reminisces of the times when she used to tell her about Killy, hopeful that Killy is still on his quest, which the final shot of the film confirms.

In 2154, Earth is overpopulated, diseased, and heavily polluted from ecocide. The planet's citizens live in extreme poverty. In contrast, the rich and powerful live on Elysium, an orbiting space station just outside Earth's atmosphere, with luxuries including Med-Bays, medical devices that can heal any disease or condition. Spider, a hacker living in Los Angeles, runs a space shuttle operation to smuggle people into Elysium. Elysium Defense Secretary Delacourt is in charge of preventing illegal entry to Elysium. She orders hired killer Kruger to shoot down Spider's space shuttles. Elysium President Patel reprimands Delacourt for her unorthodox methods, threatening to terminate her position for any more unauthorized actions. Patel then discharges Kruger. In retaliation, Delacourt offers Armadyne Corp CEO John Carlyle defense contracts for life if he creates a program allowing Delacourt to conduct a coup and install herself as president. Carlyle writes the program and stores it inside his brain. On Earth, parolee Max Da Costa works for Armadyne Corp when he is accidentally exposed to a lethal dose of radiation. He is only given medication for the side effects and told he has five days to live after being fired by Carlyle. Max and his friend Julio approach Spider to bargain: if Max successfully steals information from an Elysium citizen, Spider will give Max a shuttle ride to Elysium to use a Med-Bay to cure his condition. Max demands that the target be his former boss, Carlyle. Due to his declining health, Spider provides Max with a powerful exoskeleton via surgery. Max and Julio shoot down Carlyle's shuttle to Elysium; Carlyle is fatally injured in a shootout against his security robots. Max and Julio successfully extract the program from his brain, but the data becomes unexpectedly scrambled, locked behind a security program. Delacourt sends Kruger and a black ops team to retrieve it. Kruger kills Julio, but an injured Max escapes with the copy of the program, while Carlyle's death destroys any possibility of further retrieval from his brain. Max seeks help from his childhood friend and nurse, Frey, whose daughter has leukemia. After she patches him up, Max goes to Spider. He realizes that the data in Max's head is a program that can reboot the entire Elysium mainframe. Delacourt locks down all flights up to Elysium, leaving Spider unable to take Max. Max angrily leaves, though not before Spider discreetly places a tracking device on him. After Kruger kidnaps Frey and her daughter, Max approaches him and offers him the data for the use of a Med-Bay. Kruger accepts, and Delacourt lifts the lockdown so the group can travel to Elysium. During the flight, Kruger and Max fight over the data, and a grenade explodes in Kruger's face, damaging the ship. The ship then crashes on Elysium; Max is arrested and taken to Delacourt, who orders a team to extract the data. Max escapes and heads to the armory to save Frey, who has been turned over to Kruger's men. Kruger is revived by a Med-Bay and confronted by Delacourt, whom he fatally wounds. He orders his men to start killing the politicians on the station while he dons a more advanced exoskeleton suit to hunt down Max, planning to initiate the protocol himself. Spider lands on Elysium and finds Max. Max wants Spider to have his men protect Frey and get her daughter to a Med-Bay to be healed. They reach the computer core, where they are confronted by Kruger. Max and Kruger engage in combat, which ends with Max managing to disable Kruger's connection to his suit; Kruger responds by attempting to kill them both with a grenade, but Max throws him over the ledge as the grenade explodes, killing Kruger. Spider connects Max to the computer, but the data transfer will kill Max if he downloads it. Max says his goodbyes to Frey and initiates the download, killing him. The Elysium computer reboots, allowing Frey to heal her daughter. The robot police arrive but cannot arrest Spider, as everyone on Earth is now considered a citizen of Elysium. Medical shuttles loaded with Med-Bays are dispatched to Earth to heal everyone who needs help.

In 2293, retired Starfleet officers James T. Kirk, Montgomery Scott, and Pavel Chekov attend the maiden voyage of the USS Enterprise -B. During the shakedown cruise, the starship is pressed into a rescue mission to save two El-Aurian refugee ships that a massive energy ribbon has snared. Enterprise saves some of the refugees before their ships are destroyed, but becomes trapped by the ribbon, and Kirk goes to a control room to help the ship escape. While Enterprise is freed, Kirk is presumed lost in space and dead after the trailing end of the ribbon tears open the ship's hull. In 2371, the crew of the USS Enterprise -D is in a holodeck computer simulation, celebrating the promotion of shipmate Worf to lieutenant commander. Captain Jean-Luc Picard learns his brother and nephew have been killed in a fire, and is distraught that the Picard family line will end with him. Enterprise receives a distress call from a stellar observatory, where an El-Aurian, Dr. Tolian Soran, launches a probe at the nearby star. The probe causes the star to implode, creating a shockwave that destroys its planetary system. Soran kidnaps Enterprise engineer Geordi La Forge and is transported off the station by a Klingon Bird of Prey belonging to the Duras sisters. Enterprise crewmember Guinan tells Picard that she and Soran were among the El-Aurians rescued in 2293. Soran—who lost his family when their homeworld was destroyed—is obsessed with returning to the energy ribbon to reach the "Nexus", an extra-dimensional realm of wish fulfillment outside normal space-time. Picard and Data determine that Soran, unable to safely fly a ship directly into the ribbon, is altering its path by removing the gravitational effects of nearby stars. Soran plans to destroy another star to bring the ribbon to the planet Veridian III, consequently killing millions on a nearby inhabited planet. Upon entering the Veridian system, Picard offers himself to the Duras sisters in exchange for La Forge but insists on being transported to Soran directly. La Forge is returned to Enterprise, but unwittingly exposes the ship's defense details through the transmitter installed in his VISOR device. The Duras sisters attack, and Enterprise sustains critical damage before destroying the Bird of Prey by triggering its cloaking device, and firing photon torpedoes when its shields drop. When La Forge reports that the starship is about to suffer a warp-core breach as a result of the attack, Commander William Riker evacuates everyone to the forward saucer section of the starship, which separates from the engineering section just before the breach occurs. The resulting shockwave sends the saucer-section crashing onto the surface of Veridian III. Picard fails to stop Soran from launching another probe. The Veridian star's resulting destruction alters the ribbon's course, and Picard and Soran enter the Nexus before the shockwave destroys Veridian III. Picard is surrounded by an idealized family, but realizes it is an illusion. He is met by an "echo" of Guinan left behind in the Nexus. Guinan sends him to meet James T. Kirk, who is safe in the Nexus. Though Kirk is initially entranced by the opportunity the Nexus offers to atone for past regrets, he realizes it lacks danger and excitement. Having learned that they can travel whenever and wherever desired through the Nexus, Picard convinces Kirk to return with him to Veridian III, shortly before Soran launches the probe. Working together, Kirk and Picard distract Soran long enough for Picard to lock the probe in place; it explodes on the launchpad and kills Soran. Kirk is fatally injured in the effort, and Picard buries him at the site. Three Federation starships arrive to retrieve the Enterprise survivors from Veridian III. Picard muses that, given the ship's legacy, the Enterprise -D will not be the last vessel to carry the name.

In the future, humanity is preparing to launch an attack on the homeworld of an alien race, called the Formics, that had attacked Earth and killed millions. The Formic invasion was stopped by Mazer Rackham, who crashed his fighter jet into the Formic queenship at the apparent cost of his life. Over the course of 50 years, gifted children are trained by the International Fleet to become commanders of a new fleet for a counterattack. Cadet Andrew "Ender" Wiggin draws the attention of Colonel Hyrum Graff and Major Gwen Anderson because of his aptitude in simulated space combat so is recruited into Battle School. In the school he is placed with other cadets his age, but Graff treats him as extraordinary, thereby subjecting him to ostracism. The cadets are placed in squads and perform training games in a zero-gravity "Battle Room". Ender quickly adapts to the games, devising new strategies older students had not contemplated. However, Ender is also annoyed that the leaders do not let students read their emails, as they believe it will distract them. Graff reassigns Ender to Salamander Army, led by Commander Bonzo Madrid. Bonzo, disgusted that the replacement he asked for is an untrained student, forbids Ender from training with the rest of the squad. Cadet Petra Arkanian takes him under her wing and trains him privately, much to Bonzo's chagrin. In the next match, Bonzo forbids Ender from participating in a battle between the Salamander Army and another team. However, seeing the team losing and Petra in trouble, Ender comes to her aid and helps Salamander Army win, regardless of the fact that he has disobeyed orders. Ender plays a computerized "mind game" set in a fantasy world, which presents difficult choices to the player. In one situation, Ender creates an outside-the-box solution to overcome a seemingly unsolvable problem. Later, he encounters a Formic in the game, and then simulated images involving his psychotic brother, Peter, and compassionate sister, Valentine. Anderson notes these unusual additions to the game are seemingly altered by Ender's interaction with it. Graff promotes Ender to lead his own squad, which is made up of misfit students. They are put in increasingly difficult battles. In a surprise match against two other teams, including Bonzo's Salamander Army, Ender devises a novel strategy of sacrificing part of his team to achieve a goal, impressing Graff. After the match, Bonzo attacks Ender out of rage, but Ender fights back, resulting in Bonzo hitting his head and sustaining a serious injury. Bonzo is then briefly seen in the infirmary receiving emergency surgery, leaving his ultimate fate ambiguous. Distraught, Ender quits Battle School, but Graff has Valentine convince him to continue. The group's training is rigorous, and Anderson expresses concern over this, but Graff notes they have run out of time. Graff takes Ender to humanity's forward base on a former Formic planet near their homeworld to meet with Rackham, who explains that the Formics share a hive-mind mentality and how he exploited it to win the battle. Ender finds that his former squad members are also there to help him train in computerized simulations of large fleet combat; Rackham puts special emphasis on the fleet's Molecular Detachment (MD) Device that is capable of disintegrating matter. Ender's final test is monitored by several fleet commanders. As the simulation starts, Ender finds his fleet over the Formic homeworld, vastly outnumbered. He orders most of his fleet to sacrifice themselves to protect the MD long enough to fire on the homeworld. The resulting chain reaction burns the entire planet. The simulation ends, and Ender believes the test is over. The commanders restart the video screens, showing that Ender's fleet was in a live mission, destroying the Formic homeworld. Despite Graff congratulating him, Ender becomes livid, having been tricked into killing a race that had never re-attacked Earth. While asleep, Ender is awoken by the Formic Queen and is directed to a Formic structure nearby as being similar to the ruined castle from the game. She acknowledges Ender's role in the genocide and moves to kill him, but when he shows remorse, she spares his life. The dying Queen gives Ender a Queen egg that she has been protecting. With the war ended, Ender is promoted to Admiral, given a small ship, and left to his own devices. In a letter to Valentine, he confides that he is going into deep space, determined to find a suitable planet to start a new Formic colony with the Queen egg.

Ahmed ibn Fahdlan is a court poet of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Muqtadir of Baghdad until his amorous encounter with the wife of an influential noble gets him exiled as an "ambassador" to the Volga Bulgars. Traveling with his father's old friend, Melchisidek, his caravan is saved from Tatar raiders by the appearance of Norsemen. He takes refuge at their settlement on the Volga River, and communications are established through Melchisidek and Herger, one of the Norsemen, who happens to speak Latin. From Herger, both learn that the celebration being held by the Norsemen is in fact the precursor to a funeral for their recently deceased king. Herger also introduces them to one of the king's sons, Buliwyf. Ahmed and Melchisidek witness a fight in which Buliwyf kills his brother in self-defense, which establishes Buliwyf as heir apparent. That is followed by the funeral of the dead king, who is traditionally cremated on a Viking ship, set adrift with a female slave who offers to sacrifice herself and accompany him to Valhalla, the Norse afterlife (or " heaven "). The next day, the young Prince Wulfgar enters the camp to request Buliwyf's aid; his father, King Hrothgar, has asked for assistance, as his lands in the far north are under attack from an ancient evil so frightening that even the bravest warriors dare not name it. A völva (wisewoman) identifies this as the "angel of death" and says that the mission will be successful but only if thirteen warriors face this danger, and the thirteenth must not be a Norseman. Ahmed is automatically and unwillingly recruited. Ahmed is initially treated indifferently by the Norsemen, but they mock his smaller Arabian horse. However, he earns a measure of respect with a demonstration of horsemanship, his ability to write, and by quickly learning their language as he starts mentally translating it into Arabic. Buliwyf, already himself a polyglot, asks Ahmed to teach him the Arabic script, which cements their mutual goodwill. Buliwyf sees Ahmed's analytic ways as an asset to their quest. Reaching Hrothgar's kingdom, they confirm that their foe is indeed the ancient " Wendol ", fiends who come with the mist to kill and take human heads. While the group searches through a raided cabin, they find a Venus figurine, which is said to represent the " Mother of the Wendol ". On the first night, the warriors Hyglak and Ragnar die. After a string of clashes, Buliwyf's band determines that the Wendol are human cannibals, who are clad to appear like bears, live like bears, and think of themselves as bears. The warriors' numbers dwindling, having also lost Skeld, Halga, Roneth, and Rethel, and their positions all but indefensible, they consult another völva of the village. She tells them to track the Wendol to their lair and destroy their leaders, specifically the " Mother of the Wendol ", and their warlord, who wears "the horns of power". Buliwyf and the remaining warriors infiltrate the Wendol caves and kill the Mother but not before Buliwyf is scratched deeply across the shoulder by a claw attached to her hand, dipped in poison. Ahmed and the last of the Norse warriors escape the caves but without the injured Helfdane, who opts to stay behind and fight. They return to the village to prepare for a last stand. Buliwyf staggers outside before the battle and inspires the warriors with a Viking prayer for the honored dead who will enter Valhalla. Buliwyf succeeds in killing the Wendol warlord, defeats them, and succumbs to the poison. Ahmed witnesses Buliwyf's royal funeral alongside the four surviving members of the 13 (Herger, Weath, Edgtho, and Haltaf) before returning to his homeland, grateful to the Norsemen for helping him to "become a man and a useful servant of God".

Federal Marshal William O'Niel is assigned to a tour of duty at the titanium ore mining outpost Con-Am 27, operated by the company Con-Amalgamated on the Jovian moon of Io. Conditions on Io are difficult; gravity is 1/6 that of Earth's with no breathable atmosphere, and spacesuits are cumbersome with limited air. Shifts are long but significant bonuses are paid. The general manager, Mark Sheppard, boasts that productivity has broken all records since he took over. Carol, O'Niel's wife, feels she cannot raise their son Paul on Io and leaves with him to the Jupiter space station to await a shuttle back to Earth. Cane, a miner, enters an elevator without his spacesuit during a psychotic episode and dies from decompression. Tarlow, another miner, suffers an attack of stimulant psychosis — he sees spiders and rips open his spacesuit — resulting in death by explosive decompression. With the reluctant assistance of Dr. Lazarus, O'Niel investigates the deaths. Another incident involves a worker, Sagan, who takes a prostitute hostage and threatens to kill her with a knife. O'Niel attempts to calm the man while Montone, his sergeant, sneaks in via the air duct and kills Sagan with a shotgun. O'Niel and Lazarus discover that Sagan had traces of polydichloric euthimal, a powerful amphetamine -type drug in his bloodstream, which would allow a miner to work continuously for days at a time until they burn out and turn psychotic after approximately ten months of use. O'Niel uncovers a drug distribution ring run by Sheppard and sanctioned by now repentant Montone. Using surveillance cameras, O'Niel finds and captures Nicholas Spota, one of Sheppard's dealers, who is murdered before he can be questioned. Montone is found garrotted. In a meat locker, O'Niel finds the latest shipment of drugs, which was shipped from the space station. He is attacked there by another dealer, Russell Yario. O'Niel, wearing an anti-garrotting collar, knocks him out, then destroys the shipment of drugs. When Sheppard finds out, he threatens O'Niel and contacts his drug distributor, asking him to send in professional hitmen. O'Niel is prepared, having hacked into Sheppard's communications. O'Niel waits for the arrival of the hitmen on a supply shuttle from the other side of Jupiter. Realizing what is coming and with only Dr. Lazarus willing to help him, O'Niel sends a message to his family promising to return to Earth when his "job is done". O'Niel ambushes the assassins one by one. Lazarus helps him kill the first by trapping him in a pressurized corridor; O'Niel activates a bomb, causing an explosive decompression that kills the man. The second is killed in a glass greenhouse structure of the outpost when O'Niel tricks him into shooting a window, causing it to break open and blow him out to his death. O'Niel is then confronted and attacked by Sheppard's inside man — one of his own deputies, Sgt. Ballard. The two fight outside the outpost near the satellite structure until O'Niel pulls Ballard's oxygen hose, suffocating him as he pushes him into an electrical generation station, vaporizing him on impact. O'Niel then confronts the surprised Sheppard inside the outpost's recreation bar, knocking him out with one punch. It is implied Sheppard will now be brought to justice or murdered by his own associates. O'Niel, however, has already contacted his superiors about Sheppard's associates, some of whom are Con-Am executives, and shortly before his departure receives a communication that warrants have been issued for their arrests. O'Niel bids farewell to Lazarus and leaves on the shuttle to join his wife and son on the journey back to Earth.

The Norwegian resistance sabotage the Vemork Norsk Hydro plant in the town of Rjukan in the county of Telemark, Norway, which the Nazis are using to produce heavy water, which could be used in the manufacture of an atomic bomb. Rolf Pedersen, a Norwegian physics professor, who, though originally content to wait out the war, is soon pulled into the struggle by local resistance leader Knut Straud (based on Knut Haukelid). Rolf's ex-wife Anna also becomes involved in the effort, and her relationship with Rolf reignites. Rolf and Knut sneak out of Norway on a passenger steamship to Britain that they hijack so they can deliver microfilmed plans of the hydroelectric plant to the British, who are impressed by the information. Then the two return to Norway by parachute to plan a commando raid against the plant. When a British plane carrying a force of Royal Engineers to undertake the raid is shot down over Norway by the Germans, Pedersen and Straud lead a small force of Norwegian saboteurs into the plant. The raid is successful, but the Germans quickly replace and repair the equipment. A Quisling (traitor) saboteur worms his way into the resistance group, after they debate whether to shoot him or not. He ends up escaping and betraying them, so that a German plane blows up their safe house. When the Nazis and the saboteur pursue Rolf and Knut, Rolf and the saboteur end up alone, and Rolf kills him. When Rolf and Knut learn of German plans to ship steel drums of heavy water to Germany, they sabotage the ferry carrying the drums, and it sinks in the deepest part of a fjord. Rolf himself ends up on the ferry when he sees a resistance comrade's widow and her young child getting aboard; Rolf improvises a "game" whereby all the children on board practise with lifejackets at the stern of the ship. Thus, when the ferry sinks, the children, and Rolf and the widow, are able to escape. Knut and Anna, in a small boat, come and help rescue passengers.

To relieve his boredom, Emperor Ming the Merciless of the planet Mongo begins Earth 's destruction by remotely causing natural disasters. On Earth, football star Gregory "Flash" Gordon boards a small plane and meets travel agent Dale Arden. Mid-flight, the cockpit is hit by a meteor and the pilots die. Flash takes control and manages to crash land into a greenhouse owned by former NASA scientist, Dr. Hans Zarkov. Zarkov believes that the disasters are being caused by extraterrestrials pushing the Moon towards Earth. He has secretly constructed a spacecraft to investigate the attacks. Unable to do it alone, Zarkov lures Flash and Dale aboard. He flies with them to Mongo, where they are captured by Ming's troops. After looking at the trio, Ming is smitten with Dale and orders Flash executed. At the last minute, Ming's daughter, Princess Aura, saves Flash, with whom she fell in love at first sight. While they escape, Zarkov is brainwashed by Klytus, the head of the secret police. Aura and Flash flee to Arboria, kingdom of Prince Barin. Locked in Ming's bedchamber, Dale escapes, and Zarkov is sent to intercept her. However, Zarkov reveals he resisted the brainwashing, and escapes Mingo City with Dale. They are quickly captured by Prince Vultan 's hawkmen and taken to Sky City. Aura and Flash arrive at Arboria. Aura asks the Prince to keep Flash safe. A distrustful Barin, in love with Aura, agrees not to kill Flash, but then forces him to play a deadly game of chance. With the odds stacked against him, Flash uses this opportunity to escape. Barin follows him, and they are both captured by the hawkmen. Aura returns and is taken prisoner and tortured by Klytus and General Kala for her treason. Meanwhile, Ming prepares his wedding to Dale. Flash and Barin are taken to Sky City, where Flash and Dale are briefly reunited. Flash is forced to fight Barin in a death match. However, Flash instead saves Barin's life, causing Barin to join him. Klytus arrives, and Flash and Barin kill him. Knowing this will bring retribution, Vultan and the hawkmen evacuate, leaving Barin, Flash, Dale and Zarkov behind. Ming's ship arrives and captures Barin, Zarkov and Dale. Impressed with Flash, Ming offers him lordship over Earth in exchange for loyalty. Flash refuses and Ming gives the order to destroy Vultan's kingdom along with Flash. Finding a rocket cycle, Flash escapes before Sky City is destroyed. Flash contacts Vultan, and they plot an attack on Mingo City. To defend the city, General Kala dispatches the war rocket Ajax, which is quickly seized by the hawkmen. Meanwhile, Princess Aura overpowers her guard and frees Barin and Zarkov from the execution chamber. Flash and the hawkmen attack Mingo City in Ajax and Kala activates the defenses as Ming's and Dale's wedding begins. Mingo City's lightning field can only be penetrated by flying Ajax into it at a suicidal speed. Flash volunteers to stay at the helm to ensure success and enable the hawkmen to invade the city. Barin and Zarkov enter the control room and confront Kala. In the ensuing fight, Barin shoots and kills her. After fighting through Ming's guards, Barin also manages to deactivate the lightning field before Ajax hits it. Flash flies the rocket ship into the city's wedding hall and impales Ming. Flash offers to spare his life if he stops the attack on Earth. Ming refuses and attempts to use his power ring on Flash, but it falters and nothing happens. He then aims the ring at himself and is seemingly vaporized by its remaining power. A victory celebration ensues. Barin and Aura become the new leaders in Ming's place. Barin names Vultan the general of their armies. Flash, Dale and Zarkov discuss returning to Earth. Zarkov says he does not know how they will get back, but they will try. Meanwhile, Ming's ring is picked up by an unseen person. Ming's evil laugh is heard closely after.

In 2018, Jonathan E. is the team captain and veteran star of the Houston Rollerball team. Mr. Bartholomew, chairman of the Energy Corporation — one of a series of corporations that now govern society — and team sponsor, offers Jonathan a lavish retirement package if he will announce his retirement during an upcoming television special detailing his career. Jonathan refuses, and requests to see his former wife Ella, who had been taken from him some years earlier by a corporate executive who wanted her for himself. Jonathan goes to a library, where he finds that all books have been digitized and edited to suit the corporations, and are now stored on supercomputers at large protected corporate locations. Jonathan's friend and former coach Cletus, now an Energy executive, warns him that the Executive Committee is afraid of him, though he cannot find out why. Rollerball soon degrades into senseless violence as the rules are changed to force Jonathan out. The semi-final match between Houston and Tokyo is played with no penalties and limited substitutions in the hope Jonathan will be injured and forced out. The brutality of the match kills several players on both teams and leaves Jonathan's best friend and teammate Moonpie brain-dead, though Houston wins the game. In a teleconference, the Executive Committee decides that the final match will be played with no penalties, no substitutions, and no time limit in the hope that Jonathan will be killed during the game. Jonathan's popularity and longevity as a player threaten the underlying agenda of Rollerball: to demonstrate the futility of individualism. Jonathan makes his way to Geneva to access the world's repository of all human knowledge, a central supercomputer known as "Zero," only to find its memory corrupted. Afterwards, Jonathan receives a visit from his former wife Ella, who has been sent to convince him to retire and to make it clear that the coming game will be "to the death". Jonathan realizes his wife's visit was set up by the Executives, and erases a long-cherished movie of the two of them, stating, "I just wanted you on my side". Jonathan decides that despite the dangers, he will play in the championship game against New York. The final match devolves into a brutal gladiatorial fight. Jonathan is soon the only Houston player left on the track, while a skater and a biker remain from New York. After a violent struggle in front of Mr. Bartholomew's box, Jonathan kills the skater and takes the ball. The biker charges, and Jonathan knocks him off the bike and pins him down. Refusing to kill his fallen opponent, Jonathan gets to his feet and makes his way to the goal, slamming the ball home and scoring the game's only point. Jonathan then takes a victory lap as the crowd chants his name, first softly, then slowly rising to a roar while Mr. Bartholomew hastily exits the stands.

Billionaire New Yorker Damian Hale is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He finds a business card directing him to Professor Albright, who informs him about a medical procedure called "shedding", in which one's consciousness is transferred into a new body. Damian agrees to the procedure and follows Albright's instructions to stage his own public death. Albright then transfers him into a new, younger body, and prescribes medication to alleviate the vivid hallucinations which he claims are side effects of the procedure. Damian starts a new life in New Orleans under the incognito name of Edward Kidner and is quickly befriended by his neighbor Anton. He later forgets to take his medicine and has hallucinations of a woman and child. Damian (as Edward) questions Albright, who dismisses it, but accidentally mentions details of the hallucinations that Damian had not disclosed. Albright then arranges for Damian to take a vacation in Hawaii, but Damian, convinced the hallucinations are a real memory, identifies a landmark he saw in his vision and heads to a farmhouse outside of St. Louis. There, he finds the woman, Madeline, who reacts to him as her apparently deceased husband Mark. Damian plays along as Mark, though he is shocked to learn that Mark may have sold himself to Albright, in order to pay for their daughter Anna's life-saving treatment. Damian and Madeline are suddenly attacked by Albright's men, including Anton. Damian fatally wounds Anton and kills his accomplices, then flees with Madeline to pick up Anna from school. At a nearby motel, Damian then uses a laptop to research additional details regarding "shedding", and discovers that a man named Dr. Francis Jensen, now deceased, was the pioneer researcher in the field of transhumanism. In a video, Damian notices a tic Jensen shares with Albright, then sees Albright sitting next to Jensen, deducing that Jensen may have shed his consciousness into Albright's body. Damian then finds Jensen's wife, Phyllis, in a nursing home, but she has Alzheimer's and remembers nothing. Damian lures Jensen (Albright) to the facility, where he reveals that the pills are meant to fully eliminate the original personalities of the bodies used in the shedding procedure, telling Damian that without the pills, Damian's consciousness will die, and Mark's will re-emerge. Jensen later escapes when more killers arrive. Damian is almost overpowered, but Madeline wounds the attacker, who proves to be Anton in a new body. Anton reveals that he has shed multiple times. While Damian confiscates Anton's pills, Anton taunts Madeline to ask her "husband" why he cannot answer personal questions about their life. Madeline then confronts "Mark" over his lack of knowledge of their personal details, causing Damian to reveal the entire story. He takes her and Anna to his old friend Martin O'Neill and convinces Martin to arrange for Madeline and Anna to flee to the Caribbean. When he and Madeline discover Anna playing with Martin's previously deceased child Tony, Martin admits that he allowed Tony to also use shedding and that Jensen's men are coming. Damian then reveals shedding's secret to Martin, who reacts in shock and disgust. Damian distracts Jensen's men while Martin helps the others to flee. Damian again fatally injures Anton, but the other thugs realize that Damian is alone and turn back, recapturing Madeline and Anna. Damian then purposely stops taking his medicine to experience more of Mark's memories, which reveal that Jensen has a lab in an abandoned warehouse. Jensen captures him and starts to shed Anton into Mark's body. Damian, remembering that metal interferes with the process, hides a bullet casing in his mouth, causing the Shedding Machine to malfunction, preventing the transfer of Anton's consciousness. Masquerading as Anton, Damian then rescues the others. Although Jensen tries to claim that Damian needs him to survive, Martin was able to reverse-engineer the pills and give Damian the formula, allowing Damian to safely torch Jensen to death with a flamethrower. After killing Jensen, he has Martin complete Madeline and Anna's escape to the Caribbean. Damian later visits his estranged daughter Claire but does not reveal his presence inside Mark, simply giving her a letter that reconciles Claire with her father. Damian then travels to the Caribbean and fully stops taking his medicine. The real Mark then slowly re-emerges and finds a video message from Damian thanking him for the time that he gave to him. The story concludes with Mark finally reuniting with his family.

Joe Moore runs a ring of professional thieves, which includes Bobby Blane, Donnie "Pinky" Pincus and Joe's wife Fran. During a robbery of a New York City jewelry store, Joe takes off his mask in a successful effort to distract the store's last remaining employee, allowing his face to be captured by a security camera; he is unable to retrieve the video evidence before they have to flee. As both the picture and a witness can identify him, Joe retires from crime and plans to disappear on his sailboat with Fran. This does not sit well with Joe's fence, Mickey Bergman, who runs a garment business as a front. Having accrued significant expenses in setting up another robbery, Bergman decides to withhold the payment of the jewelry heist from Joe and his crew, so that they go through with the next job – robbing an airplane carrying a large shipment of gold. Bergman further insists that his nephew, Jimmy Silk, be a part of the crew. Joe accepts, but a series of shifting loyalties changes the complexity of their task, including Jimmy's interest in Fran, along with Bergman and Jimmy's belief that Joe's skills are declining. While setting up an element needed for the robbery, they are stopped by a passing police officer. While Joe and Bobby talk the officer into leaving, an agitated Jimmy draws his gun but is stopped by Pinky. Joe forces the team out of finishing the job by leading Jimmy to believe that Pinky did not destroy the getaway car, covered in the team's fingerprints. The deceit is discovered and Bergman forces them to finish the job. The plane robbery is a series of misdirects. Pinky poses as a guard while Joe, Bobby and Jimmy pose as airport security personnel. They stop the jet, pretending to be responding to an emergency. They fill a van with what they take from the plane, then move the van to a rented garage on the airport grounds, where they re-brand it and call for a tow truck to have it hauled away. Jimmy betrays the others to steal the gold and Fran. He knocks out Joe and tells Fran he knows Joe has changed the plan. He and Fran take the van, but Jimmy finds out that the hidden compartments are filled with metal washers. Joe avoids arrest and returns to the plane in disguise. He and Bobby remove a shipment of goods they had booked on board the same Swiss flight, which they insist now must be driven to its destination due to the plane's delay. Inside the shipment is the stolen gold, which Joe and Bobby melt into numerous 7-foot-long rods. Bergman apprehends Pinky, who is walking his niece to school. Pinky discloses the plan in order to save his niece, but he tips off Joe with a code word during a phone call and is killed. Bergman and his crew arrive at Joe's sailboat along with Jimmy and Fran, where they hold Joe at gunpoint. They assume that the boat's golden railings are the gold. Fran leaves with Jimmy, pleading with Bergman to let Joe go. Just as Bergman discovers that the railings are not the gold, a hidden Bobby opens fire. They kill Bergman's men, then Joe kills Bergman. Bobby gives Joe the address to send his share. Joe waits to meet Fran with a truck filled with black-painted rods, but Fran, having switched sides, holds up Joe with Jimmy, taking that truck. Joe gets into a second truck to leave. A black bar in the truck scrapes the garage door, revealing gold underneath. Joe lifts a tarp in the truck bed, revealing the gold rods. He covers the rods with a tarpaulin and drives away.