Chapter Summaries

Tony learned that Lin Xu was the dead Asian man buried at Green Shade Cemetery, while Lin Xu met this timeline’s Ancient One, who wanted him to solve Strange’s problem in exchange for Odin’s power. Unable to repeat his earlier method without creating another timeline, Lin Xu left the Ancient One planning to retire and place the responsibility on her other self.

• Tony asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. to investigate Green Shade Cemetery and learned that Lin Xu had died in a car accident the previous year.
• Lin Xu spent two days exploring New York before the Ancient One arrived and asked him to help her retire by solving Strange’s problem.
• Lin Xu explained that repeating his previous plan to save Christine would create another timeline, so he could not use it again.
• The Ancient One closed her portal to Odin without securing a solution, then decided that her other self might already know how to stop Strange.
• The Ancient One grabbed Lin Xu’s hand and declared that both universes were counting on him as Odin cursed at them through the reopened portal.

Lin Xu received Odin’s Divine King’s Decree and was told to take it to Eitri to forge a weapon suited to him. In Brooklyn, Adrian lured Spider-Man to a staged crime scene as part of his plan to clear his name, leaving Spider-Man wary of him.

• Lin Xu explained to Odin that he had killed another universe’s Odin after that Odin tried to take over his body, and Odin approved of his actions.
• Odin reclaimed Gungnir and gave Lin Xu Asgard’s Divine King’s Decree, directing him to take it to Eitri at Nidavellir for a new weapon.
• Adrian staged a gunfight report to draw Spider-Man to Brooklyn, where Spider-Man found the gang members captured and Adrian marking the scene with an eagle emblem.
• Adrian told Spider-Man he had been tracking the gang and warned him to stay out of Brooklyn, claiming he would fight anyone who brought chaos there.
• Adrian declared that he was whatever Brooklyn needed, even a criminal, and Spider-Man stared at him as if he had just seen Batman.

The Ancient One's other self took control of his body through the Dreamwalking Technique and demanded that Lin Xu be returned, so the Ancient One swore to bring him back in a couple of days. At the Avengers Compound, Lin Xu caught up with Tony, while Peter discovered that Liz's father was Adrian Toomes, the Male Hawkman.

• The Ancient One left his body through Astral Projection when his other self tried to take control, then promised to return Lin Xu in a couple of days.
• The Ancient One's other self left, and the Ancient One laughed that he would retire in two days and leave Strange and Lin Xu's training to it.
• Tony studied the Quantum Locator's arrangement module, asked F.R.I.D.A.Y. to keep monitoring the missing Quinjet A-2, and watched Peter's recorded outing.
• Lin Xu appeared in Tony's lab, explained that Adrian Toomes was a Stark Industries employee and Avenger in his universe, and said he had set Adrian straight in this one.
• Adrian agreed to drive Liz to her dance, then greeted Peter at the door and realized he was the boy from the Washington tournament and the party.

Lin Xu returned from the alternate timeline where the Ancient One had died and Strange had become Sorcerer Supreme. Back home, he learned the Ancient One was delaying Dormammu’s invasion, then reunited with Tony Stark, who had bought the surrounding villas and asked where Lin Xu had been.

• The Ancient One sacrificed herself to seal away Shuma-Gorath and left Strange to protect Earth as the new Sorcerer Supreme.
• The Ancient One told Lin Xu that Strange’s fate was fixed, but a future split could create another Strange to help stop Dark Strange and save the sixteen timeline branches.
• The Ancient One sent Lin Xu back to the New York Sanctum, where her physical counterpart welcomed him home and explained that she had delayed Dormammu’s invasion while waiting for him.
• Lin Xu returned to his dusty house, cleaned it with the Winds of Watoomb, and ignored Tony Stark’s repeated calls.
• Tony appeared in his Mark V armor and revealed that he had bought every nearby villa and placed them in Lin Xu’s name.
• Lin Xu and Tony compared their recent travels, and Lin Xu identified Tony’s destination, Deir ez-Zor, from the abbreviation “DE.”

Lin Xu warned Tony that Thanos was preparing to invade Earth and then sought Heimdall’s help reaching Nidavellir to resolve his weapon problem. Heimdall opened the Bifrost, sending Lin Xu on his way.

• Tony searched for the Crimson Desert and Ruby Volcano, then discovered Lin Xu had entered the Avengers Compound through a red micro wormhole.
• Lin Xu warned Tony that Thanos planned to invade Earth for the stone on Vision’s forehead and urged him to prepare the Avengers.
• Tony activated Mark 50 through Mark 60 and planned to contact T’Challa about buying Vibranium.
• Lin Xu used Gungnir to reach Heimdall’s sight and learned that the white-haired guardian was wanted by Loki, who was impersonating Odin.
• Heimdall instructed Lin Xu to turn Gungnir halfway in the ground, and the Bifrost appeared and engulfed him.

Lin Xu arrived at Nidavellir with an Asgardian royal decree and asked Eitri to forge a weapon from two pieces of Uru metal, including Gungnir. On Earth, warnings and reports connected Lin Xu to a gathering crisis, while Nick Fury prepared for an extraterrestrial threat and left S.H.I.E.L.D. in Coulson’s hands.

• Lin Xu arrived at Nidavellir, where the dwarf guards welcomed him and escorted him to King Eitri.
• Lin Xu gave Eitri the Tyrant's Butcher Blade and Gungnir, then presented a design for a Three-Pointed Double-Edged Blade.
• Captain America received a call saying Tony needed the team as Wanda and Sam continued evacuating civilians in North Africa.
• Nick Fury told Coulson he would lead S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel into space and appointed Coulson director with level-ten clearance.
• Daisy reported Wakanda's Vibranium shipment to Happy and the Winter Soldier, the Prophet's signal in Lin Xu Park, and Hawkeye's disappearance.
• Nick Fury linked the reports to Lin Xu and concluded that Lin Xu had begun interfering with the future for the first time.

Lin Xu planned to use Ego’s divine power to strengthen Strange against Dark Strange, and the Ancient One sent him to rescue the Guardians of the Galaxy. Lin Xu destroyed the pursuing ships and landed atop the Guardians’ ship as they prepared to jump.

• Aiweng told Lin Xu that Ego had once attacked Nidavellir and now lived about 6,000 light-years away.
• Lin Xu proposed feeding Ego’s divine power to Strange, and the Ancient One agreed while preparing a Sub-Dimension for Strange.
• The Ancient One sent Lin Xu to save the Guardians of the Galaxy and told him to wait for her signal when Ego came looking for them.
• Rocket, Star-Lord, Drax, and Gamora joked while fleeing unmanned spacecraft through an asteroid belt.
• Lin Xu and a swarm of red-cloaked figures destroyed the pursuing spacecraft, and Drax revealed Lin Xu was standing atop the Guardians’ ship.

Lin Xu joined Star-Lord and the others on Berhert, claiming to be Peter Quill’s granduncle and revealing that another person was looking for him. Ego arrived to meet his son, while Lin Xu recognized something unusual about Drax’s soul and body.

• Rocket and Star-Lord landed their damaged ship on Berhert, where the crew argued over who should speak to the person waiting outside.
• Lin Xu came through a Mystic Portal, embraced Star-Lord, and claimed to be his granduncle, a younger cousin of Jason Quill.
• Lin Xu told Star-Lord he had searched for him after Meredith’s death and recognized him after seeing his victory over Ronan.
• Lin Xu noticed that Drax’s body seemed younger than his soul, then warned Star-Lord that someone else was looking for him.
• Ego landed nearby after tracking down his son and recalled seeing a powerful Asgardian rescue him.

Lin Xu confronted Ego after Ego reunited with Star-Lord, then used the Eye of Agamotto to investigate Drax and discovered that Drax’s body contained Arthur Sampson Douglas’s soul. Arthur revealed that he had been resurrected to kill Thanos, leaving Lin Xu alarmed by the collision of different Marvel storylines.

• Ego introduced himself to Star-Lord as his father, but Lin Xu punched him and demanded that he acknowledge Lin Xu as Peter’s uncle.
• Lin Xu called Drax aside to question him about his past, then used the Eye of Agamotto’s Desire to Know and saw Mephisto hand a human soul to a mysterious, time-linked figure.
• Lin Xu suspected the figure was Kronos and used Astral Projection on Drax, revealing the soul of an Earth human inside him.
• The soul identified himself as Arthur Sampson Douglas and explained that he had been killed with his family, then resurrected on the condition that he kill his benefactor’s grandson.

Lin Xu questioned Nebula about Thanos, learned his home planet and motive, and promised Rocket a trip to Nidavellir. On Earth, Captain America reunited with the Avengers as they prepared to face the mastermind behind Loki, and Coulson arrived at the compound.

• Lin Xu pulled Douglas's soul back into Drax's body, then questioned Nebula and learned that Thanos came from the sixth planet of the Chiheluo Galaxy and sought universal balance.
• Lin Xu told Nebula that the Reality Stone was with the Collector and promised Rocket he would take him to Nidavellir.
• Rocket stayed behind to repair the ship while Lin Xu and the others went with Ego to his planet.
• Captain America, Sam, and Wanda arrived at the Avengers Compound, where Tony returned Captain America's shield and told them to help draw up a battle plan.
• Rhodey explained that Thanos was behind Loki's attack on New York and wanted Loki's Scepter, now embedded in Vision's forehead.
• Coulson arrived at the compound, surprising Captain America and Hawkeye.

Nick found a blurry NASA photograph that supported the Prophet’s claim about Christine Palmer’s birth. On Ego’s planet, Lin Xu attacked Ego’s avatar and exposed his role in Peter’s mother’s cancer, leaving Peter demanding the truth.

• Natasha took the NASA file Coulson delivered and concealed his resurrection from Captain America and the others.
• Nick connected a 1986 photograph of a possible spaceship near Pluto to Christine Palmer’s birth in 1987.
• Lin Xu recognized Ego’s ship as a living spore and learned from the Ancient One to keep Ego occupied while she took Strange to the planet’s core.
• After the group reached Ego’s planet, Lin Xu trapped and struck Ego’s avatar with the Crimson Cloak.
• Lin Xu accused Ego of being Mantis’s father and of putting cancer cells in Peter’s mother.
• Peter confronted Ego about the accusations, and Ego began to answer before abruptly demanding to know who had entered.

Lin Xu and the Guardians confronted Ego, while the Ancient One began draining his power from inside the planet. Mantis helped hold Ego in place as Lin Xu revealed that Ego was Peter’s father and explained his plan to kill him.

• Star-Lord shot Ego’s avatar, and Drax attacked Ego before being thrown away.
• Lin Xu used Hoggoth’s Hoary Hosts and the Flame of Vengeance to restrain Ego while the Ancient One worked inside the planet.
• Mantis joined Lin Xu and held Ego’s mind, though she warned she could only keep him trapped briefly.
• Lin Xu explained that the planet itself was Ego’s true body and that someone was already inside working to destroy him.
• Gamora realized Lin Xu had come to kill Ego, and Lin Xu admitted he was not Peter’s great-uncle, though he claimed to be from Peter’s grandfather’s generation.
• Lin Xu told Peter that Steve Rogers had dated Peter’s grandmother, leaving Peter baffled.

Lin Xu helped Star-Lord sense divine power by sending his soul out of his body, while Rocket repaired the ship and discovered Nebula had sabotaged its interception system. On a planet ravaged by Thanos, Captain Marvel attacked him but was driven off, and Thanos left still searching for Gamora and the stone.

• Lin Xu used Astral Projection on Star-Lord, whose soul learned to draw on divine power as Gamora watched.
• Rocket finished repairing the ship, then saw that the interception had failed and accused Nebula, who mocked him as a fox.
• Ebony Maw declared Thanos’s victory over the survivors of a planet, but an old man challenged Thanos’s claim that slaughter brought balance.
• Captain Marvel arrived and attacked Thanos, but Proxima Midnight struck her with the Solar Poison Ray, giving Thanos and his followers time to escape.
• Thanos recalled his past injury from Odin and ordered Ebony Maw to keep seeking news of Gamora and the stone.

Lin Xu and the Guardians defeated Ego and escaped the collapsing planet, then encountered Yondu’s Ravagers on Herbert Star. On Earth, Tony assigned Peter Parker and Adrian Toomes to work together on search and rescue.

• Lin Xu used Gaze of Shuma-Gorath to make Ego mistake Star-Lord for the thief of his divine power, and Star-Lord kept him occupied as his power dwindled.
• Ancient One drained Ego’s divine power, Ego blamed Peter before his avatar vanished, and the Living Planet began to collapse.
• Lin Xu opened a portal to Herbert Star, where Yondu’s Ravagers were confronting Rocket and Groot; Yondu changed his mind about handing over Star-Lord, and Nebula shot Taserface.
• At the Avengers Compound, Tony told Peter Parker to focus on rescuing civilians and introduced Adrian Toomes as his partner.

Lin Xu traveled to Nidavellir, where Rocket studied forging and Eitri reforged Gungnir’s spearhead with the Tyrant’s Butcher Blade into a new divine weapon. Lin Xu returned to Kamar-Taj with the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Blade, but the Ancient One warned that his slow progress left him likely to die if he faced his enemy in a year.

• Yondu and Star-Lord went to apologize to the Sovereign, while Rocket and Groot accompanied Lin Xu to Nidavellir.
• Rocket became fascinated by Nidavellir’s forging and Rune techniques, and decided to overhaul the ship after his studies.
• Eitri melted Gungnir’s spearhead and the Tyrant’s Butcher Blade, then forged them into a weapon powered by Lin Xu’s divine power.
• Lin Xu learned that the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Blade could summon the Bifrost, change form, and grant Favorable Weather and Good Harvests.
• Rocket chose to remain in Nidavellir to study, while Lin Xu returned to Kamar-Taj and the Ancient One warned him that he was progressing too slowly to survive a fight in a year.

Lin Xu returned to Kamar-Taj with a miniature Quantum Tunnel after visiting an alternate timeline, then Wong reminded him of his promised restaurant meal. At Lin Xu’s Nine Sun Restaurant, Wong received a first-tier card granting him free meals for life.

• Lin Xu explained to the Ancient One that he needed a complete Quantum Tunnel to travel to another universe and gain time to convert divine power.
• Lin Xu traveled to Tony’s cabin in 2023, took Tony’s Quantum Tunnel, and told him that Ultron had destroyed the universe in another timeline.
• Lin Xu returned to Kamar-Taj with the miniature Quantum Tunnel, where Wong confronted him about his forgotten promise to buy him a meal.
• Lin Xu took Wong to his Nine Sun Restaurant in Chinatown and asked manager Wang Haotian to give him a first-tier card.
• Wang Haotian confirmed that Wong would receive the same treatment as Tony Stark, including free meals for life.

Lin Xu exposed Wang Haotian as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and recruited him with a higher salary, while Hydra’s remaining contacts shifted their allegiance to a new agency. He then visited the Avengers Compound with a Quantum Tunnel and discussed using it to travel to the past with Tony.

• Lin Xu tested Wang Haotian’s loyalty, discovered he worked for S.H.I.E.L.D., and persuaded him to stay as his manager for an annual salary of two million.
• Wang Haotian secretly sent a message saying he had gained Lin Xu’s trust, but a S.H.I.E.L.D. director ordered the contact to go silent and transferred him to the Extraterrestrial Joint Defense Agency.
• Lao Wang praised the meal when Lin Xu asked for his feedback, and Lin Xu later went to the Avengers Compound through a Mystic Portal.
• Lin Xu greeted the Avengers, gave several of them nicknames, and pulled Tony aside to show him the Quantum Tunnel.
• Tony explained that the Quantum Tunnel could reach a parallel universe on a different timeline, and Lin Xu proposed traveling to 1970 to become Tony’s godfather.

Lin Xu traveled to 1991 to meet Howard Stark, hoping to become his butler and warn him about the future. Howard recognized Tony in Lin Xu’s photo as the man he had met decades earlier, and Lin Xu confirmed that Peggy Carter was still alive.

• Lin Xu learned that Nick Fury had led the Howling Commandos before Captain America and realized he had arrived in a universe resembling the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
• Lin Xu traveled to June 1991, six months before Howard Stark’s expected death in a car accident.
• Lin Xu entered Howard Stark’s office and asked to be hired as his butler and to bring on an assistant.
• Lin Xu showed Howard a photo of Tony, and Howard recognized him as Howard Potts, the man he had met at a New Jersey base decades earlier.
• Howard realized Tony was his son and asked about his future and granddaughter Morgan Stark.
• Lin Xu asked about Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter, and Howard told him that Carter was still alive.

Lin Xu became Howard's personal butler while Nick Fury investigated a suspected mole inside S.H.I.E.L.D. The chapter ended with Steve reacting in shock when Carter told him Howard had hired a butler named Lin Xu.

• Lin Xu told Howard he had come to this universe seeking time to grow stronger, and Howard hired him as the Stark family's personal butler.
• Coulson reported that suspected S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had suspicious access patterns and that investigators could not approach Carter's estate.
• Nick Fury connected Carter, Howard, and the newly arrived butler as he considered whether Carter had discovered corruption within S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Steve spoke with Sharon and Carter about the serum research, his search for Bucky, and his regret over Howard and Tony.
• Carter told Steve that Howard had hired an Asian butler named Lin Xu, and Steve abruptly asked who he was.

Lin Xu arrived at Howard and Maria Stark’s Malibu home and met Tony, who rejected Lin Xu’s claim that he was his uncle. Howard and Lin Xu laughed it off, and Lin Xu remained confident that he could eventually win Tony over.

• Howard introduced Lin Xu to Maria as the new person taking over JARVIS’s work and showed him to a room.
• Lin Xu ate dinner with Howard and Maria, then met Tony when he came home looking for food.
• Lin Xu called Tony his nephew and said that becoming the family’s butler made him an elder in Tony’s generation.
• Tony refused to call Lin Xu uncle, took a hamburger from the microwave, and went upstairs.
• Howard asked whether Tony would ever willingly accept Lin Xu as his uncle, and Lin Xu said he definitely would.