Chapter Summaries

Lin Xu fought Dark Strange, who transformed into a powerful Chicken-Cow Monster, and froze it with the Casket of Ancient Winters. After Dark Strange unleashed overwhelming fear and magic, Lin Xu spent his remaining Odinforce on a suicide attack that destroyed Dark Strange and collapsed space, leaving the battle’s survivors’ fates uncertain.

• Dark Strange transformed into a Chicken-Cow Monster, and Lao Wang identified it as a creature afraid of the cold that Agamotto had sealed beneath Mount Vinson.
• Lin Xu froze the monster with the Casket of Ancient Winters, but Dark Strange broke free and recognized Lin Xu as the one he blamed for Christine’s death.
• Dark Strange unleashed fear and Black Magic, destabilizing the Dimension-Sealing Great Formation, while Captain America began dancing under the fear’s influence.
• Lin Xu drew Ego’s Power from Stephen’s Sub-Dimension to create an enhanced Seal of Vishanti, then warned Stephen that his attack might destroy New York.
• Lin Xu summoned the Spirit of Vengeance and poured his remaining Odinforce into the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Blade, destroying Dark Strange with the resulting explosion.
• The blast killed Steve, Xiao Wang, Lao Wang, and the other Strange, while Stephen survived but fell unconscious; collapsing space then swallowed the unconscious Lin Xu.

Tony traveled through a quantum black hole and arrived in Smallville in 1992, where the Kents had taken him in. After Clark accidentally woke him, Tony recognized the family and realized he had landed in a universe where Clark was a child.

• Tony said goodbye to Maria, Howard, Steve, and Carter before activating the Time Watch and traveling through the Quantum Realm.
• A black hole tore at Tony and pulled him inside along with another figure, damaging the Time Watch.
• Nine-year-old Clark returned home and found Martha guarding two unconscious strangers while Joseph was away with a lightning-charged hammer.
• Clark picked up the hammer, triggering a thunderclap that woke Tony.
• Tony learned it was 1992, introduced himself as Howard Potts, and recognized Joseph, Martha, and Clark Kent.

Tony realized his world and the comic-book world existed as stories in each other, and he decided Stan Lee might hold the key to getting home. Meanwhile, Clark’s attempt to lift the spear sent it flying toward Joseph’s house, where Lin Xu awoke after a strange dream.

• Tony searched for his name online, found him listed in a Timely Comics issue, and theorized that quantum information connected the two worlds through their authors.
• Tony discovered Lin Xu lying motionless on Joseph’s sofa and learned that Joseph had found Mjolnir and a spear after their arrival.
• Tony failed to lift Mjolnir and the spear, then joined Joseph and Clark to inspect the crater and the spear hidden under straw.
• Clark grabbed the spear, which shook violently before shooting out of the ground toward Joseph’s house.
• Lin Xu dreamed of barriers stopping a red figure from crossing between images, felt himself being pulled away, and woke on the sofa wondering if he had won.

Lin Xu discovered he had landed in a universe with Tony and a young Clark, then learned Tony had a time watch that might help them return. In a split timeline, Stephen restored New York after it was submerged, but collapsed and wondered about Lin Xu.

• Lin Xu woke in Joseph's home, recognized Tony, and realized the child with them was Clark.
• Lin Xu took Tony away from Clark and learned he had traveled through time with Wade Wilson's time watch.
• Lin Xu asked Tony how to return, and Tony hinted that he had a solution.
• Stephen woke in the ocean, found New York submerged, and used the Eye of Agamotto to reverse time and restore the city and its people.
• Stephen collapsed after restoring New York, and Strange caught him as he wondered what had happened to Lin Xu.

Tony planned to capture quantum information from Stan Lee and recruited Clark as his assistant, while Lin Xu also offered to teach Clark martial arts. Jonathan and Martha worried that the visitors might be gods who would eventually take Clark away, and Clark overheard their fears about him not being their biological child.

• Tony explained that he needed a quantum detector, signal camouflage prototype, ripple amplifier, and an assistant to capture quantum information across the Multiverse barrier.
• Tony chose Clark for his memory and processing power, and Lin Xu volunteered to teach him martial arts.
• Clark agreed to study physics with Tony and martial arts with Lin Xu after Jonathan gave permission.
• Lin Xu gave Clark a gold bar as a welcome gift, while Tony claimed that knowledge mattered more than money.
• Jonathan and Martha discussed whether Lin Xu and Tony were gods seeking to teach Clark, and Jonathan feared Clark might someday leave them.
• Lin Xu and Clark overheard the conversation, and Clark realized that Jonathan and Martha believed he was not their biological child.

Lin Xu left the Kent family to seek Constantine and find a way to speak with God, while Tony pursued a technological solution. Back in Lin Xu’s main universe, Steve returned to the Avengers Compound and told everyone that Lin had sacrificed himself.

• Lin Xu tested his powers, discovered the Spirit of Vengeance had grown stronger, and decided to seek God through Constantine.
• Lin Xu told Tony and Clark he was leaving, then gave Tony seven gold bars as startup capital and departed after saying goodbye to the Kent family.
• Stephen brought Lao Wang and Captain America back to Lin Xu’s main universe, where Steve asked to be taken to New York.
• The Avengers discussed ways to get back at Lin Xu, but Steve returned and told them that Lin had sacrificed himself.
• Tony reacted to Steve’s news with an anguished outburst.

Lin Xu arrived in Los Angeles looking for John Constantine and fought off two half-breed angels sent to kill him. He met John and proposed becoming friends so John could sacrifice himself for the greater good, then advised him to quit smoking and get a dog.

• Lin Xu reached Los Angeles and noticed the city was crowded with demons and angels.
• Two police officers confronted Lin Xu, but he identified them as half-breed angels; after they opened fire, he killed them and learned they had been sent under orders from their father.
• Lin Xu burned the officers' bodies in their police car and considered the threat posed by Gabriel and the angels.
• John Constantine emerged from hiding and warned Lin Xu that people who claimed they could handle danger often died, but Lin Xu said they should become friends.
• Lin Xu told John he wanted a chance for him to sacrifice himself for the greater good, and John accepted his offered handshake.
• Lin Xu advised John to replace cigarettes with a dog and warned him to watch out for car thieves.

Gabriel imprisoned an angel who had tried to stop his plan, while Lin Xu and Constantine encountered a seemingly impartial angel and two girls who could see Lin Xu’s unusual form. In Kansas, Tony finished stabilizing his workbench with Mjolnir and learned that Clark had lost a math point for writing too many digits of pi.

• Gabriel learned that an angel had provoked the fighting to stop him, then imprisoned the angel and said he would wait for the Spear of Longinus.
• Lin Xu and Constantine visited a convenience store, where Lin Xu recognized the clerk as an angel on rotation who warned John about smoking.
• After the twins passed them, Isabelle told her sister that Lin Xu had been glowing and had three eyes, and Lin Xu called her a psychic.
• Tony used Mjolnir in place of bricks to level his workbench while Jonathan helped him in the warehouse.
• Clark came home with an A in math, and he explained that he had lost a point after writing about 158 digits of pi in a fill-in-the-blank answer.

Lin Xu hired John as an exorcist and joined him and Father Hennessy to investigate an actor suspected of being an ogre at Ravenscar Asylum. When Lin Xu saw the suspect, Anthony, he recognized him and wondered why his “bro” had come to DC instead of staying in Marvel.

• Lin Xu hired John at his exorcism agency and demonstrated that he could separate John’s soul from his body without sending it to Heaven or Hell.
• Father Hennessy asked John for help with Anthony, an Oscar-winning actor suspected of killing two people after playing an ogre.
• Lin Xu insisted on joining the job as John’s boss, and the three decided to investigate Anthony at Ravenscar Asylum.
• Lin Xu used his Heavenly Eye to locate the asylum and opened a Mystic Portal that took them there.
• Hennessy gained the police officer’s permission to enter Anthony’s room, where Lin Xu recognized the man and wondered why his “bro” had come to DC.

Tony began trying to find a way to bring Lin Xu back after learning that Strange had killed him, while Victor von Doom offered to help search for Lin. In another universe, Lin watched John Constantine identify the demon possessing Anthony, who was affiliated with Beelzebub, just as someone demanded entry.

• Tony learned that Lin Xu had left no body behind and began using the Quantum Tunnel to attempt to locate him.
• Victor von Doom contacted Tony, saying he wanted to find Lin and would share technology or magic in return.
• At a psychiatric hospital, Lin saw the ordinary demon possessing Anthony and let John Constantine handle the exorcism.
• John provoked the demon into revealing itself, then tested it with crosses and an ultraviolet flashlight.
• John identified the demon's power as coming from Beelzebub, and someone knocked on the hospital room door.

Lin Xu and John discovered that a demon possessing Anthony had been sent by a black-robed servant of Darkseid to target Lin Xu. After tracing the demon’s past, Lin Xu stopped before the forbidden technique revealed more, then collected payment from Hennessy for the exorcism.

• John explained that Beelzebub’s power had appeared outside its usual connection to Sabbac, while Lin Xu trapped the demon crawling out of Anthony.
• The demon threatened that its master would settle accounts with the Old Gods, then burned to ash before Lin Xu could question it.
• Lin Xu used the Tears of Oshtur to view the past and saw a black-robed figure order the demon to lie low in Los Angeles and later appeal to Darkseid for help eliminating him.
• Lin Xu recognized Darkseid as the figure behind the attack, while John warned that Lin Xu was now in serious trouble.
• Lin Xu demanded payment from Hennessy for the exorcism, and John joined him in collecting a commission, leaving Hennessy with only $28.50.

After Anthony’s demon was driven out, Lin Xu went with John to Papa Midnite’s bar to ask about a man in black robes. Lin Xu entered in full divine gear and killed a fallen angel who threatened him, leaving the bar’s angels and demons terrified.

• Hennessy confirmed that the demon had been driven out of Anthony, and the group left the hospital room as Anthony lay unconscious.
• Lin Xu asked John to take him to Papa Midnite’s bar, and Hennessy explained John’s history with Papa Midnite before accepting Lin Xu’s 14 dollars to guide them.
• Hennessy left at the entrance, while Lin Xu sensed the many angels and demons inside and entered in his Crimson Cloak, Hoggoth’s Bone Armor, and other divine gear.
• Lin Xu’s power caused the bar’s angels and demons pain, and he confronted an angel whose wings were turning black.
• Lin Xu kicked and impaled the angel after it threatened him, killing it and leaving its abandoned corpse on his weapon.

Lin Xu questioned Papa Midnite about a black-robed woman and learned she had stolen some of Beelzebub’s power from the Rock of Eternity, then introduced himself as Vishanti. At Kent Farm, Tony struggled to teach Clark calculus and later read a 1991 comic about the Infinity Gauntlet.

• Lin Xu showed Papa Midnite the black-robed figure, but Papa Midnite could not identify her.
• A demon said the woman had stolen some of Hell’s power from the Rock of Eternity thirty years earlier, and Lin Xu learned it was Beelzebub’s power and that she called herself a Fury.
• Lin Xu warned the demon he would be staying in Los Angeles and named himself Vishanti before leaving with Constantine.
• Tony tutored Clark in calculus, but Clark could repeat the lessons without applying them to new problems, leaving Tony determined to improve his thinking skills.
• Tony read The Infinity Gauntlet and was surprised by its portrayal of Thanos and Iron Man’s death.

Tony searched for this world’s superheroes and the Interstellar Research Institute, while Bruce Wayne traveled to Los Angeles to pray for his parents. At Notre-Dame Cathedral, Gabriel gave Bruce the address of the Kamar-Taj Exorcism Agency, and Bruce asked Alfred to take him there.

• Tony found that Barry Allen and Arthur Curry were children, then looked up Bruce Wayne and searched for the Interstellar Research Institute, 61982.
• Bruce Wayne and Alfred arrived in Los Angeles, and Alfred gave Bruce a cross before they went to Notre-Dame Cathedral.
• A worshipper recognized Alfred as a former agent and let Bruce enter the prayer hall alone.
• Gabriel told Bruce that his prayers were insincere and gave him the address of the Kamar-Taj Exorcism Agency as his lifeline.
• Bruce handed the address to Alfred and asked him to take him to the agency.

Lin Xu met Bruce Wayne, who sought advice on changing Gotham, and proposed strategies for using Wayne Capital to reshape the city and address its underlying problems. Lin Xu declined to teach Bruce himself but offered to introduce him to someone.

• Lin Xu made bobo chicken with Hennessy, and John joined them for dinner after being sent out of the kitchen for smoking.
• Bruce Wayne arrived at Lin Xu's office in a custom Rolls-Royce Silver Spur with Alfred.
• Lin Xu recognized Bruce and used Telepathy, but Bruce's dark mind overwhelmed his mental power.
• Bruce said he wanted to change Gotham, and Lin Xu argued that charity and public safety treated symptoms rather than causes.
• Lin Xu outlined four strategies for Gotham, then said education and employment were the root problems.
• Bruce asked Lin Xu to teach him, but Lin Xu said he could introduce him to someone instead.

Bruce considered Lin Xu’s advice and prepared to pursue political control while meeting another contact, as Gabriel decided to visit Lin Xu. In the main Marvel universe, Adrian brought Lin Xu’s clothes to the Avengers Compound, where Doctor Doom urged Tony to send them both into the Quantum Realm to search for Lin Xu.

• Bruce asked Alfred to pursue political reform and speak with Falcone while he went to meet the person Lin Xu had introduced.
• Constantine split his payment with Lin Xu, and Gabriel observed the exchange before deciding to meet Lin Xu.
• Adrian brought Lin Xu’s clothes to the Avengers Compound and learned that Tony was arguing with Thaddeus Ross over Lin Xu’s shares.
• Doctor Doom told Tony that he and Adrian should enter the Quantum Realm to find Lin Xu, and Adrian interrupted to ask whether his boss was still alive.

Lin Xu played Go with Constantine and then Gabriel, who visited to question him about his origins and views on humanity. Lin Xu compared the human world to a game of Go, leaving Gabriel contemplative and Constantine wondering who the players were.

• Lin Xu used an offline copy of F.R.I.D.A.Y. to beat Constantine at Go ten times and win his forty dollars.
• Gabriel played Lin Xu to a triple ko draw, then offered him a Cherubim Feather that could grant intelligence to inanimate objects.
• Lin Xu suspected Gabriel had noticed F.R.I.D.A.Y. and tried to provoke him, but Gabriel said he had come to ask questions.
• Gabriel asked about Lin Xu's power, origins, and whether he would change the human world, and Lin Xu compared humanity to the balanced Go game.
• Gabriel left looking dazed, and Lin Xu told Constantine that God and Lucifer were the players, joking that the loser had opened a bar.

Lin Xu hid Gabriel’s seraph feather, but it vanished while he slept, and he woke to discover the Spirit of Vengeance was gone too. He confronted Gabriel at Notre-Dame Cathedral, where the angels mistook him for Vishanti and bowed to him.

• Lin Xu concealed the seraph feather in Hoggoth’s Bone Armor, then fell asleep while practicing Telepathy.
• Tony sent Doom and Adrian into the Quantum Realm with Lin Xu’s old clothes as a tracker, and Doom used the quantum information to help Adrian call out to Lin Xu.
• Adrian became delirious in the Quantum Realm, so Doom brought him back to 2023, where Peter Parker recognized Adrian as Toomes and Doom demanded Tony’s help.
• Lin Xu woke, found the feather and Spirit of Vengeance missing, and opened a Mystic Portal to Notre-Dame Cathedral to confront Gabriel.
• The angels greeted Lin Xu as Vishanti, and he discovered that he had grown wings.

After the Vishanti’s magic transformed the Spirit of Vengeance and a cherub’s feather into his power, Lin Xu gained a six-winged angelic body and discovered its authority over other angels. Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne found Clark Kent in Smallville and brought him to Kent Farm to seek help with Gotham, where Tony refused him.

• While unconscious, Lin Xu’s magical protections fought the Spirit of Vengeance and the cherub’s feather, and the Book of White Magic converted both into his power.
• Lin Xu beat Gabriel, tested his new wings, and discovered his metal attribute let him strip angels below archangel rank of their status.
• At Smallville School, Bruce Wayne found Clark Kent and said an exorcism-agency owner named Angke had sent him to Clark’s teacher for answers.
• Clark left with Bruce, peppered him with questions about Angke and demons, and rode with him to Kent Farm.
• Bruce introduced himself to Tony and asked for help with Gotham, but Tony refused.

Bruce Wayne tried to persuade Tony, who was staying with the Kents as Howard Potts, to teach him after discovering that Jonathan could move Mjolnir while Bruce could not. Tony agreed to consider helping if Bruce retrieved item 61982 from S.T.A.R. Labs, while Lin Xu went to Midnight Daddy’s Bar to inspect its angels and demons.

• Tony sent Clark back to his room, then refused Bruce’s handshake and introduced himself as Mr. Potts.
• Bruce mistook Tony’s directions to Jonathan for mistreatment and challenged him to move Mjolnir, but the hammer would not budge for Bruce.
• Jonathan easily slid Mjolnir across the workbench, convincing Bruce that Tony might be able to help him.
• Tony agreed to consider teaching Bruce if he obtained item 61982 from S.T.A.R. Labs.
• Lin Xu entered Midnight Daddy’s Bar, ordered the angels, demons, mixed-bloods, impure-bloods, and humans into separate groups, then struck an impure-blood who stood in the wrong place.