Chapter Summaries

Xu Fan returned to New York and learned about Stark’s palladium poisoning, then found him waiting to die on a rooftop. Xu Fan told Stark that another element could save him and led him to his workshop for answers.

• Xu Fan returned to the New York Sanctum and heard that Kaguya was binge-watching shows while Banner was learning to work with the Hulk.
• Arthur told Xu Fan that Stark had left after his palladium poisoning worsened and that he had been unable to contact Xu Fan.
• Xu Fan located Stark on a skyscraper rooftop and retrieved Howard’s belongings from S.H.I.E.L.D. through White Fury.
• Stark told Xu Fan that J.A.R.V.I.S. had given him at most one month to live.
• Xu Fan said that not every element was unsuitable and opened a portal to his workshop, which Stark followed him through.

Xu Fan brought Stark to his workshop and revealed that Howard had founded S.H.I.E.L.D. and left him a case of belongings. Stark watched Howard’s private message about the Cosmic Cube, where his father entrusted him with continuing the research and called him his pride.

• Xu Fan asked Stark what he knew about Howard and told him that Howard had been one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s founders.
• Xu Fan opened a portal and brought Howard’s case of belongings to Stark, who searched it for something useful.
• Stark found Howard’s videotape and played it with Xu Fan in the darkened workshop.
• Howard explained that his Cosmic Cube research had uncovered a formula for an element unknown on Earth, but he had been unable to continue the project.
• Howard entrusted the research to Stark and told him, “You... are my pride.”

After watching Howard Stark’s recording, Stark understood that his father had loved him and entrusted him with the discovery of a new element. With Xu Fan’s help, Stark reconstructed the element’s structure from the Expo layout and prepared his workshop to create it, though he remained nervous about the experiment’s chances.

• Stark watched Howard’s recording and realized his father had left him both a heartfelt message and the work needed to discover a new element.
• Stark and Xu Fan identified the Expo layout as a clue to the element’s structural formula, and Xu Fan produced a model through a Magic Portal.
• Stark used J.A.R.V.I.S. to simplify the Expo layout and revealed the structure of a powerful, non-radioactive element that could replace palladium in his Arc Reactor.
• Stark asked Xu Fan to help prepare the workshop, and Xu Fan used magic to remodel it and bring in the equipment Stark had purchased.
• Stark grew nervous as the pair prepared to attempt creating the new element.

Xu Fan recognized Whiplash approaching Stark’s seaside villa to take revenge, while Stark worked on creating a new element. Whiplash smashed his way inside, and Stark discovered the intruder wielded technology far ahead of anything the world should have been able to make.

• Xu Fan sensed intense killing intent and identified the approaching man as Whiplash, a human with a chest reactor and energy whips.
• Xu Fan recalled Whiplash’s hatred of Howard and Stark, and how Whiplash planned to expose the Starks and kill Stark in public.
• Whiplash reached Stark’s seaside villa, smashed through the front doors, and began destroying the interior as the alarms sounded.
• J.A.R.V.I.S. alerted Stark to the break-in, but Stark told the AI to stop the intruder while he finished creating the new element.
• Stark saw J.A.R.V.I.S.’s holographic image of Whiplash and realized the reactor powering his whips used technology decades ahead of the world.

Whiplash broke into Stark’s home and attacked him, seeking revenge because he believed Howard had stolen his father’s technology. Xu Fan refused to intervene directly, but gave Stark a Sling Ring, and Stark used its magic to turn Whiplash’s own attack against him.

• Whiplash destroyed Stark’s home defenses and confronted him while Stark was working without an Iron Suit.
• Whiplash claimed Howard had stolen his father’s technology and attacked Stark with an energy whip.
• Stark asked Xu Fan to help, but Xu Fan refused and told him to remember the skills Professor Arthur had taught him.
• Xu Fan gave Stark a Sling Ring, and Stark used it to conjure a magical shield against Whiplash’s whips.
• The shield shattered and knocked Stark down, but it deflected Whiplash’s whips into his left shoulder while Xu Fan flicked away the other whip with his little finger.

Xu Fan gained Cosmic Cube energy after Stark completed the new element, while Stark used magic and his upgraded armor to overcome Whiplash. Whiplash turned to Xu Fan in a final attempt to escape, and Xu Fan unleashed the energy against his whip.

• Xu Fan deflected Whiplash's attack, and Stark and Whiplash both fell as the new element was completed.
• The Sign-in Assistant rewarded Xu Fan with Cosmic Cube energy, which flooded into his body.
• Whiplash struggled toward Stark, but Stark used magic to evade his attack and taunted him.
• Stark levitated, retrieved the new element, installed it in his chest reactor, and faced Whiplash in his armor.
• Whiplash tried to use his whip against Xu Fan as a bargaining chip, and Xu Fan's blue energy swallowed it.

Xu Fan defeated Whiplash, helped Stark complete his recovery, and turned his attention to the coming Battle of New York and his responsibilities as Sorcerer Supreme. After returning to the New York Sanctum, he planned to visit Kamar-Taj and considered finding someone to share his duties, then learned that Mr. Banner had been looking for him.

• Xu Fan destroyed Whiplash with a release of cosmic energy, and Stark thanked him for helping resolve his palladium poisoning.
• Xu Fan left Stark's villa and went to the New York Sanctum, leaving Orochimaru to manage Wakanda's aftermath.
• Xu Fan recalled that Loki would bring the Chitauri to Earth and looked forward to acquiring the Mind Stone and Space Stone in the coming Battle of New York.
• Arthur told Xu Fan that Kamar-Taj apprentices wanted him to teach them, and Xu Fan admitted he had neglected that responsibility.
• Xu Fan considered visiting Kamar-Taj and finding someone to share his workload, then Arthur mentioned that Mr. Banner had been looking for him.

Mordo struggled with doubts about Xu Fan’s absence and suitability as Sorcerer Supreme while Kaecilius recruited mages and expanded his influence. Kaecilius offered Mordo a way to challenge Xu Fan before the other mages, but the nature of his promised help remained unknown.

• Xu Fan learned from Arthur that Banner wanted to see him, though Arthur did not know why.
• Arthur told Mordo that Xu Fan would return to Kamar-Taj within a few days, where apprentices were eager for his guidance.
• Mordo investigated the lack of Dark Dimension activity and questioned whether Xu Fan was fit to be Sorcerer Supreme.
• Kaecilius pointed out Mordo’s lost position and influence, then offered to help him defeat Xu Fan before the mages.
• Mordo doubted he could beat Xu Fan, and Kaecilius promised him an unprecedented kind of help.

Doctor Banner asked Xu Fan whether he should use a spell to separate Hulk from himself and send him to the Hell Dimension. Xu Fan left the choice to Banner, who was left fearing Hulk could return as a dangerous demon; a few days later, Xu Fan headed to Kamar-Taj.

• Banner told Xu Fan about a spell that could separate souls and explained that he was considering using it to send Hulk to the Hell Dimension.
• Xu Fan warned Banner that Hulk protected him from mortal danger and that sending Hulk away could expose the world to him in Hell.
• Xu Fan told Banner he would support either choice, and Banner asked whether Hulk could return from the Hell Dimension.
• Xu Fan said Banner knew Hulk best and left, while Banner feared Hulk would find a way back and become a terrifying demon.
• A few days later, Xu Fan left the New York Sanctum and headed to Kamar-Taj.

Xu Fan returned to Kamar-Taj as the new Sorcerer Supreme, where Mordo challenged his right to the title under Kaecilius’s influence. Xu Fan dismissed Mordo’s moral accusations and pointed out that their power would decide the confrontation.

• Xu Fan returned to Kamar-Taj, and the apprentices gathered to celebrate the Sorcerer Supreme who had defeated Dormammu’s magical lifeform and Mephisto.
• Kaecilius urged Mordo to seize his chance, and Mordo struggled to accept that Xu Fan had inherited the Sorcerer Supreme title.
• Xu Fan began addressing the crowd, but Mordo interrupted him and challenged him in front of the mages.
• Kaecilius left to advance his plan to help his master rule Earth and gain immortality.
• Mordo declared Xu Fan unfit to be Sorcerer Supreme, and Xu Fan replied that their power, not Mordo’s moral claims, would decide the matter.

Xu Fan accepted Mordo’s challenge and moved their fight to the Mirror Dimension, where Kaecilius’s hidden scheme unleashed Dormammu’s dark magic on Mordo. After realizing he had been used, Mordo chose to embrace the power anyway, preparing to face Xu Fan.

• Xu Fan accepted Mordo’s challenge and shifted the contest into the Mirror Dimension to keep Kamar-Taj safe.
• Kaecilius’s disciples activated a gigantic hexagram formation that poured Dormammu’s dark magic into the Mirror Dimension, placing Mordo at its center.
• Mordo realized Kaecilius had deceived him and vanished, while the sorcerers and apprentices condemned Mordo and prepared to intervene.
• Mordo recalled that Xu Fan had earned the Vishanti’s approval and understood why ordinary power would not defeat him.
• Mordo’s shock turned to excitement, and he stopped resisting as Dormammu’s dark magic entered his body.

Mordo absorbed Dormammu’s Dark Magic and challenged Xu Fan in the Mirror Dimension, but his attacks failed to overcome the Sorcerer Supreme. After realizing his borrowed power was running out, Mordo gathered it all for one final super-magic attack, leaving the mages trapped in the Mirror Dimension as it began to tremble.

• The mages attacked Mordo after he absorbed Dark Magic, but the power formed a barrier around him, and Xu Fan ordered the others to stand back.
• Mordo lifted the ground and hurled pieces of mountains at Xu Fan, who blasted through them with White Magic.
• Xu Fan explained that Mordo’s borrowed Dark Magic was limited, then dispersed the thunderclouds Mordo summoned.
• Mordo realized his Dark Magic would run out and decided to unleash all of it in a single attack.
• The Mirror Dimension trembled as the mages raised barriers and discovered they could not escape through Sling Rings.

Mordo fused White and Black Magic into a dragon, but Xu Fan destroyed it and defeated him. As the sorcerers acclaimed Xu Fan, Kaecilius’s disciples surrounded them and killed Mordo, revealing that they planned to attack Xu Fan while his magic was depleted.

• Mordo summoned a black dragon by forcibly fusing Black Magic and White Magic, then sent it charging at Xu Fan.
• Xu Fan concentrated his White Magic into a punch and annihilated the dragon, leaving Mordo without magic and defeated.
• The sorcerers condemned Mordo for using black magic and cheered Xu Fan as the rightful Sorcerer Supreme.
• A black hexagram appeared, and more than twenty of Kaecilius’s disciples surrounded Xu Fan and Mordo, planning to exploit Xu Fan’s depleted magic.
• One of Kaecilius’s disciples shot Mordo through the chest with a black beam.

Xu Fan watched Mordo fall after realizing he had been used as Kaecilius’s pawn, then faced Kaecilius’s disciples inside a barrier powered by Dormammu. Though they believed Xu Fan had exhausted his magic, he summoned a half-complete Susanoo, leaving them shocked.

• Mordo realized Kaecilius had made him a pawn for Dormammu, then collapsed from his fatal wound.
• The black hexagram raised a barrier around Xu Fan and Kaecilius’s disciples, blocking the Kamar-Taj sorcerers’ attacks.
• Kaecilius’s disciples revealed that they had signed soul contracts with Dormammu and believed Xu Fan could no longer use magic.
• The disciples combined their power to absorb a vast amount of Dormammu’s dark magic and prepared to kill Xu Fan.
• Xu Fan unleashed his Chakra and manifested a half-complete Susanoo, surprising Kaecilius’s disciples.

Xu Fan faced Kaecilius’s disciples in the Mirror Dimension with a Susanoo armored in Thor’s divine lightning. As the disciples overloaded themselves with Dormammu’s dark magic, most exploded, and their leader created a miniature black hole that began pulling Xu Fan toward it.

• Xu Fan transformed his half-complete Susanoo with Thor’s power and drew its Chakra Katana as Kaecilius’s disciples prepared to fight.
• The disciples agreed to borrow more dark magic from Dormammu, despite the danger of exceeding their bodies’ limits.
• More than a dozen disciples exploded after taking in too much dark magic, leaving only seven survivors.
• The surviving leader gathered the dark magic into a black sphere that expanded into a miniature black hole and began sucking Xu Fan and Susanoo toward it.

Xu Fan destroyed the artificial black hole created by Kaecilius's disciples, overwhelming the mages of Kamar-Taj with the force of his attacks. After containing the black hole's collapse in the Mirror Dimension, he reflected on how devastating a full-strength battle could be in the real world.

• The mages of Kamar-Taj tried to break Kaecilius's hexagram barrier and rescue Xu Fan, but their attacks failed.
• Xu Fan used Susanoo's lightning-charged Chakra Katana to strike the black hole, shattering the barrier and killing more of Kaecilius's disciples.
• The shockwave from Xu Fan's attack swept through the Kamar-Taj mages, while they realized how far his power exceeded theirs.
• Xu Fan split the black hole with Susanoo's Chakra Katana, then used Chaos Magic to shield the mages as he upgraded Susanoo to its complete form.
• The black hole's collapse destroyed Kaecilius's remaining disciples and split apart the Mirror Dimension's land, leaving Xu Fan to consider the devastation a battle like this could cause in the real world.

Kaecilius destroyed the London and Shanghai Sanctums, weakening Dormammu’s restraints and allowing monsters to enter Earth and converge on New York. Fury tried to rally Earth’s defenders, but Xu Fan remained unreachable as the monsters headed toward the city.

• Kaecilius killed the London Sanctum Guardian by surprise, then destroyed the London Sanctum with his disciples.
• Kaecilius and his disciples breached and destroyed the Shanghai Sanctum in less than five minutes.
• Dormammu tore open a rift and sent dark creatures through vortices above London and Shanghai.
• Fury saw the invasion on a live feed and learned the monsters were gathering toward New York, about fifteen minutes away.
• Coulson failed to contact Xu Fan, so Fury ordered him to find Captain Rogers and called General Ross for help.
• Orochimaru and Kakashi discovered the disaster at the same time in Wakanda and the Land of Fire.

Orochimaru and Kakashi prepared their forces as demons threatened their world, while Odin learned that Dormammu was attacking Midgard and sent Thor and his companions to New York. At the New York Sanctum, the defenders remained isolated and still could not reach Xu Fan as the demon army prepared to attack.

• Orochimaru activated Wakanda’s defenses and assembled its army, while Kakashi gathered the Land of Fire’s ninjas and collected weapons from one of Orochimaru’s bases.
• Odin discovered that the London and Shanghai Sanctums had fallen and told Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three that New York was Midgard’s last defense against Dormammu.
• Odin used his divine power to open a passage to Earth, sending Thor and the others to New York despite losing his ability to fight or bring them back.
• Kaecilius delayed attacking the New York Sanctum because Kaguya was there and its sorcerers were strong, while Dormammu’s army prepared to strike.
• Arthur and Anna failed to contact Xu Fan, and Anna warned that the battle would begin in at most eight minutes.

Arthur gathered Stark, Doctor Banner, and Kaguya at the New York Sanctum to defend it from Dormammu’s forces while Xu Fan was absent. As Captain America began organizing defenses and civilian evacuations, Loki unexpectedly arrived on Earth.

• Doctor Banner, Stark, and Kaguya arrived at the Sanctum Sanctorum to join Arthur’s defense.
• Arthur explained that Dormammu’s forces had taken the London and Shanghai Sanctums and were targeting New York.
• Kaguya asked whether they could defeat Dormammu directly, and Arthur said their goal was to stop his descent.
• Stark contacted Coulson, gave him the New York Sanctum’s coordinates, and urged S.H.I.E.L.D. to help defend it.
• Captain America arrived and ordered the group to establish a defensive line and evacuate civilians.
• Loki, who was supposed to have perished in the Abyss of Myriad Calamities, suddenly appeared on Earth.

Steve Rogers, Stark, Banner, and the Sanctum sorcerers tried to defend the New York Sanctum as Dormammu’s demons attacked its White Magic barrier. Hulk, Stark, Rhodes, and the sorcerers fought back, but Kaecilius arrived with his disciples and attacked them from behind.

• Rogers told Stark and Banner that S.H.I.E.L.D., the military, and General Ross's forces were gathering to support New York.
• Arthur rallied the sorcerers to defend the Sanctum as civilians remained in the city and Dormammu's demons converged on the White Magic barrier.
• The demons hurled themselves at the barrier, concentrating their attack and threatening to overwhelm it.
• Arthur urged Banner to turn his anger into strength, and Banner transformed into Hulk and attacked the demons.
• Anna and the sorcerers joined the fight as Stark and Rhodes used their suits and weapons against the demon army.
• Kaecilius led his disciples through a portal and attacked the Sanctum sorcerers, and Arthur recognized him.