Recaps

After witnessing Agent Coulson’s death, Xiang Qian returned to Stark Tower, where Loki arrived with Dr. Erik Selvig. Xiang Qian fought and repeatedly humiliated Loki, leaving him bloodied and sprawled across the damaged living room.

• Xiang Qian watched Agent Coulson die after he told Nick Fury that a Kamar-Taj mage had intervened, Loki had a hidden ally, and the Avengers needed to unite.
• Xiang Qian returned to Stark Tower and saw Loki and Dr. Erik Selvig arrive through a blue portal with equipment.
• Xiang Qian spoke with Tony and provoked Loki, then kicked him down when Loki lunged at him.
• Steve Rogers warned Xiang Qian by phone to avoid Loki, but Xiang Qian hung up and continued fighting him while Tony and S.H.I.E.L.D. watched through security footage.
• Xiang Qian dodged Loki’s illusion-assisted dagger attack, struck him through the window, and broke his nose while offering to take him to a hospital.

Xiang Qian interrogated Loki at Stark Tower and learned that Supergiant had taken the Tesseract into the Hell Dimension to recruit devils against Earth. As a blue glow appeared in Loki’s eyes and a strange curtain of light formed behind Xiang Qian, the confrontation ended on the verge of a new threat.

• Xiang Qian questioned Loki about the Tesseract after learning it could open a passage for Loki’s army to reach Earth.
• Loki revealed that Supergiant, a Kree subordinate of Thanos, had the Tesseract and that Thanos had promised an army in exchange for it.
• Loki told Xiang Qian that Supergiant had entered the Hell Dimension to enlist devils in an invasion that would distract Earth’s defenders.
• Xiang Qian deduced that Supergiant’s plan was meant to keep Kamar-Taj’s mages occupied while the alien army invaded Earth.
• When Xiang Qian asked where Supergiant had gone, a blue glow appeared in Loki’s eyes and a mistlike curtain of light spread behind Xiang Qian.

Xiang Qian foiled Supergiant’s second ambush, took Loki captive, and learned that their attack had weakened the Dimensional Barrier. Wong then warned him that Limbo faced a flood of demons and that Magik was in danger.

• Xiang Qian saw Supergiant emerge from the Space Stone’s blue light and avoided her ambush by using Loki’s reflection to spot her.
• Xiang Qian questioned Supergiant about Thanos and Ebony Maw, resisted her mind control, and used his modified gun to keep her at bay.
• Supergiant dismissed Loki as a disposable pawn, and Xiang Qian distracted her by threatening Dr. Selvig before damaging the equipment on the helipad.
• Xiang Qian forced Loki down the Helicarrier stairwell as a prisoner, then knocked him unconscious when Wong opened a portal to reach him.
• Wong told Xiang Qian that breaches between reality and the Hell Dimension had multiplied and that Limbo faced the greatest danger, putting Magik at risk.

Supergiant used the Tesseract to summon Chitauri engineers to repair the portal device, while Coulson's soul arrived in Limbo and met its ruler, Magik. Magik explained that someone from Kamar-Taj had guided him there to assist her, and Xiang Qian appeared through a portal at Limbo's castle.

• Supergiant opened a small portal with the Tesseract and ordered the Chitauri to bring materials to repair the spatial portal device.
• The Chitauri sent engineers through the portal, and Supergiant left Dr. Selvig with them before retreating to recover.
• Coulson drifted through a void, passed through a glasslike wall, and arrived in Limbo, where he realized he was dead.
• Magik told Coulson that she ruled Limbo and that a mage had guided him there to help manage her territory.
• Magik explained that Hell contained many territories ruled by different Hell Lords and that she could see the memories of the dead.
• Magik and Coulson saw a portal open at the castle, and Xiang Qian stepped through it.

Xiang Qian brought Coulson to Limbo, where Magik granted him authority to judge the dead and manage their souls. Before Coulson could begin his new duties, Xiang Qian revealed that they needed to seal the portals Loki had opened between Hell and Earth.

• Xiang Qian reunited with Magik and Coulson, explaining that he had brought Coulson to Limbo because Magik needed an assistant.
• Magik transformed Coulson's spirit and gave him the authority to manage Limbo's departed souls and native creatures.
• Xiang Qian explained that Coulson would judge souls and decide whether they would live freely, be devoured, or enter the Soul Forge; Coulson discovered he could inspect their memories.
• Magik offered Coulson the benefit of directing family, friends, or enemies to Limbo after death, and Coulson agreed to take the job.
• Xiang Qian revealed that Loki and his accomplices had opened many passages from Hell to Earth with the Tesseract, and Coulson agreed to help seal them.

Xiang Qian taught Coulson to sense and wield the power of death in Limbo, giving the newly appointed Chief Judge a way to control its creatures. As Xiang Qian rode ahead on a dragon transformed into a white horse, he left Coulson to organize an army of two hundred thousand Limbo creatures for the coming battle.

• Xiang Qian told Coulson to forget his living instincts and used a Kamar-Taj technique to awaken his spiritual awareness.
• Coulson sensed the aura of death and learned to enlarge, shrink, and control a native creature of Limbo.
• Magik arrived on a dragon that transformed into a white horse, and Xiang Qian ordered it to change back before riding ahead.
• Xiang Qian told Coulson to gather and command Limbo's native creatures, explaining that Magik had summoned them but had left organizing the army to him.
• Coulson saw that two hundred thousand creatures were approaching and was told he could control them individually with the power of death.

Xiang Qian confronted an invasion of demons entering Limbo and fought off Ravi before Blackheart led a full-scale assault. As the demon horde charged, Xiang Qian unleashed waves of magic that began reducing everything around him to dust.

• Xiang Qian recognized the lesser demons pouring into Limbo as prey driven there by a greater threat, then killed thousands with an invisible line of death.
• Ravi, a high-ranking devil from Baphomet's territory, confronted Xiang Qian, who blocked his attacks and cut off two of his arms while the Limbo dragon bit off his legs.
• Ravi escaped by turning his upper body to mist and later re-formed, weakened, while more demons gathered beyond the boundary.
• Blackheart arrived, threatened revenge for his brother and father, and destroyed Xiang Qian's line of death with corrosive black mist.
• Blackheart ordered the invasion forward, and Xiang Qian rose into the air and unleashed expanding magical shockwaves that pulverized demons, lava, and rock.

Xiang Qian defended Limbo from invading demons, defeating Satannish when the Hell Lord crossed the border and challenged him. With Limbo’s forces arriving and the other Hell Lords absent, the invasion stalled, while Xiang Qian teased Coulson about his Captain America-inspired shield.

• Xiang Qian’s magic wiped out nearly all the demons at Limbo’s border, leaving Blackheart and Ravi among the few survivors.
• Satannish crossed into Limbo, declared his intention to claim it, and attacked Xiang Qian with lightning, teleportation, and time control.
• Xiang Qian blocked Satannish’s attacks, restored his perception of time through the Soul Realm, and burned the demon’s eyes and abdomen with golden light.
• Xiang Qian taunted Satannish and called out the absent Hell Lords and Dormammu, while Satannish held back in Limbo and its injuries remained unhealed.
• Hundreds of thousands of Limbo creatures gathered against the invaders as Coulson arrived with a death-powered shield modeled on Captain America’s equipment.
• Coulson told Xiang Qian he had long wanted a Captain America commemorative shield and regretted never asking Steve Rogers for an autograph.

Xiang Qian helped Magik repel an invasion of Limbo, then intercepted the wounded Satannish outside the realm to test his growing strength. After returning to Limbo, he discussed the Soul Realm with Magik before Coulson’s spirit began to flicker as he warned that Loki still had the Tesseract.

• Coulson mourned the possible loss of his Captain America cards, and Xiang Qian explained that Limbo’s conflicts depended on powerful individuals rather than weapons.
• Xiang Qian announced that Magik had sealed the rifts to Earth, and Magik arrived as the invading demons tried to leave Limbo.
• Magik’s mist tore through the retreating invaders, and she led Limbo’s army against Blackheart, Ravi, and the remaining demons; Satannish and Blackheart escaped.
• Xiang Qian waited outside Limbo and challenged the wounded Satannish to serve as a sparring partner so he could test his growing power.
• After the slaughter ended, Xiang Qian returned to Magik and said he had found a balance point for maintaining the Soul Realm.
• Coulson urged Xiang Qian to help reclaim the Tesseract from Loki, then his spirit began to shake and flicker.

Coulson learned that his body had been revived and chose to return to the human world, agreeing to alert Kamar-Taj about objects connected to the Hell Dimension. Xiang Qian sent him back with a magical mark and concealed a lingering link to Limbo, intending to use him to investigate a dangerous shadow within S.H.I.E.L.D.

• Magik explained that Coulson's revived body was calling his soul back, and Coulson revealed that he knew only the name Project T.A.H.I.T.I.
• Xiang Qian offered Coulson a way to return to life if he cooperated with Kamar-Taj, and Coulson agreed to report Hell Dimension-related discoveries without betraying S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets.
• Xiang Qian marked Coulson's soul while Magik contained the deathly aura within it, then sent him back to the human world.
• Magik accused Xiang Qian of deceiving Coulson by leaving the deathly aura in his soul, and Xiang Qian admitted he wanted Coulson as an observer inside S.H.I.E.L.D.

Xiang Qian returned to New York with Loki’s scepter to help shut down the alien invasion, but learned that the World Security Council had launched a nuclear missile at Manhattan. Tony redirected the missile through Xiang Qian’s portal into the wormhole, and the daring maneuver was broadcast around the world.

• Xiang Qian learned that Wanda and Pietro had been found unconscious in Kamar-Taj’s restricted chamber after entering it while the sanctuary was largely unguarded.
• Xiang Qian reached Manhattan and learned from Tony that the Avengers needed Loki’s scepter to neutralize the Tesseract’s energy field.
• Zheng Xian told Xiang Qian that the World Security Council had launched a nuclear missile toward Manhattan, prompting Xiang Qian to warn Tony and the Avengers.
• Tony proposed sending the missile through the wormhole, and Xiang Qian opened a portal facing it while Thor and Johnny Storm cleared a path.
• Tony carried the missile through Xiang Qian’s portal and into the wormhole as reporters captured the event for the world.

Xiang Qian closed the wormhole, rescued Tony, and claimed the Tesseract for Thor to return to Asgard. After leaving Loki and Supergiant with the Avengers, Xiang Qian stored the Mind Stone at Kamar-Taj and rushed to fly to London.

• Xiang Qian broke the Tesseract device’s energy barrier, closed the wormhole, and released Tony from the blue mist that had carried him back from space.
• Xiang Qian argued that the Tesseract belonged to its original owner, then told Thor that Loki was in Kamar-Taj and opened a portal that dropped Loki onto the rooftop.
• Xiang Qian handed the Tesseract to Thor, who agreed to take it back to Asgard, while Captain Rogers supported keeping it away from people on Earth.
• Black Widow and Hawkeye brought the restrained Supergiant to the rooftop as the Avengers gathered, and Xiang Qian left through a portal.
• Xiang Qian placed the Mind Stone in Kamar-Taj’s restricted chamber, returned to New York, and ordered his jet crew to prepare for an immediate flight to London.

Xiang Qian exposed Peggy Carter’s secret that the elderly Mr. Grant was Steve Rogers, then learned that Grant had traveled back in time and helped arrange Xiang Qian’s childhood fostering by the Starks. Their conversation ended with Xiang Qian deducing that Grant had used technology to travel through time, while Grant remained unwilling to explain how.

• Xiang Qian told Peggy Carter that S.H.I.E.L.D. had found Steve Rogers, and revealed he had identified Grant by observing the identical souls of Steve and the elderly man in her kitchen.
• Peggy admitted Grant was Steve Rogers, who had lived as Mr. Grant for more than sixty years, and Grant greeted Xiang Qian with irritation before discussing the Battle of New York and events in his future.
• Xiang Qian accused Grant of influencing Peggy and Howard to foster him as a child, but Grant said he had only prompted an outcome he already knew would happen.
• Xiang Qian explained that Grant’s intervention had created a causal loop, and Grant avoided clarifying how he had traveled back in time.
• Xiang Qian used Grant’s microexpressions to deduce that the time-travel method involved technology, and reminded Grant that he had put Xiang Qian with the Starks in the first place.

Xiang Qian questioned Grant about time travel and learned that Grant had been unable to prevent Howard’s death. He then confronted Ancient One, who revealed that Howard’s death was crucial to Iron Man’s emergence and that she had stopped Steve Rogers from changing it.

• Xiang Qian deduced that Grant had traveled through time using Dr. Pym’s quantum technology, then teased Grant about his past and Peggy Carter’s memories of his wartime fame.
• Grant admitted he had considered preventing Howard’s death but could not, and said he had hurt Tony in other ways too.
• Xiang Qian returned to Kamar-Taj and asked Ancient One why she had stopped Steve Rogers from saving Howard.
• Ancient One explained that Howard’s death was crucial to the timeline because the world needed Iron Man, and described the painful necessity of choosing that outcome.

Xiang Qian learned that the Ancient One intended to die to remove the threat of Dormammu and refused her renewed offer to become Sorcerer Supreme. After Wanda’s dark magic awakened and she unconsciously attacked him psychically, Xiang Qian suspected she might have another power and asked whether she had mutant relatives.

• The Ancient One told Xiang Qian that Stephen Strange was destined to succeed her and that she planned to die, while asking Xiang Qian to help Strange at a critical moment.
• Xiang Qian rejected the Ancient One’s offer to become Sorcerer Supreme, and they joked that she should live a few more years.
• Wong told Xiang Qian that Wanda and Pietro had awakened with dangerous abilities, so Xiang Qian found Wanda wielding scarlet dark magic while Wong contained Pietro in a spatial maze.
• Wanda refused Xiang Qian’s suggestion to seal her dark magic, and her emotional outbursts produced faint psychic attacks that rippled against Xiang Qian’s Soul Realm.
• Xiang Qian connected Wanda’s psychic attacks with Pietro’s superhuman speed and asked whether she had unusual relatives, such as mutants.

Xiang Qian drew blood from Wanda and Pietro to test for mutant genes, then sealed Wanda’s magic and confined Pietro in a magically reinforced room until he could control his speed. He left Wanda eager to learn dark magic and directed her toward his teacher, the Sorcerer Supreme.

• Xiang Qian persuaded Wanda to let him draw blood, sealed the scarlet magic in her hands, and gave her milk and pastries.
• Wong brought the bound Pietro to Wanda, and Xiang Qian drew Pietro’s blood after restricting his movements when he woke.
• Xiang Qian warned Pietro about the danger of uncontrolled super-speed and trapped him in a magically altered room to practice safely.
• Xiang Qian showed Wanda how to pass through the room’s magical boundary, while Pietro hurt his nose running into a wall.
• Wanda could not summon her magic after leaving the room, so Xiang Qian offered to take her to the Sorcerer Supreme for guidance.

Xiang Qian examined the Mind Stone and discovered that it could amplify psychic power and connect him to minds across Earth, while suspecting it had drawn Wanda and Pietro to the forbidden chamber. He decided to seal the Stone at Kamar-Taj and called Mystique Raven to impersonate him while he was away.

• Xiang Qian touched the Mind Stone and used it to perceive life across Earth, drawing the attention of Professor Xavier and Jean.
• Xiang Qian discussed mutant immigration, gene-suppressing drugs, and the risks mutants faced with Professor Xavier.
• Xiang Qian ended his connection to the Stone, suspected it had influenced Wanda and Pietro, and decided to keep it sealed at Kamar-Taj away from Jean.
• Xiang Qian sent Wanda and Pietro's blood for genetic testing and asked Mystique Raven to impersonate him in public while he was away.
• Xiang Qian warned Mystique Raven that her phone contained spyware and would soon overload, so she threw it into a trash can.

Xiang Qian arranged for Mystique Raven to impersonate him while he traveled to Asgard, then confronted Nick Fury at the princes’ farewell over S.H.I.E.L.D.’s role in the invasion. After revealing the demons unleashed through Hell portals, Xiang Qian left Earth with Thor and Loki to negotiate on Kamar-Taj’s behalf.

• Xiang Qian hired Mystique Raven to play him for several weeks, and he sent Jiaying and Skye back to Afterlife without revealing his departure.
• At the farewell ceremony, Thor confirmed he was waiting for a guest of Asgard, and Xiang Qian appeared and announced that Kamar-Taj would negotiate with Asgard about Loki’s invasion.
• Nick Fury challenged Kamar-Taj’s claim to responsibility for Earth, so Xiang Qian opened a portal and showed the crowd hundreds of demon corpses.
• Xiang Qian blamed S.H.I.E.L.D.’s reckless handling of the Tesseract for the invasion, and Tony backed him as the two playboys silenced Nick Fury.
• Xiang Qian removed the demon corpses, then departed with Thor and Loki as the Tesseract’s light flared.

Xiang Qian studied the Tesseract in Asgard while earning access to its instruments by defeating warriors in arena contests. Odin then warned him that fate was accelerating toward a more chaotic future, and Xiang Qian affirmed that he would resist any attempt by Eternity and Death to take away his sense of self.

• Xiang Qian found no anomalies in the Tesseract's radiation data, but Thor interrupted his experiments to take him to meet the day's challengers.
• Xiang Qian explained that the arena contests helped demonstrate Kamar-Taj's strength and earn Asgard's recognition, and he spent the night feasting with Asgardian beauties instead of returning to his experiments.
• Odin visited Xiang Qian the next morning and questioned his interest in studying the Space Stone.
• Xiang Qian told Odin that his battle with Galactus had sharpened his senses, allowing him to perceive Odin's worry about his future and Asgard's fate.
• Odin described his failed attempt to prevent Ragnarok and warned that fate was accelerating as the world grew more chaotic.
• Xiang Qian said he would not let Eternity or Death take away his sense of self, and Odin hoped he would succeed.

Xiang Qian entered Niflheim at Odin’s request to learn whether Hela would abandon her vendetta, but Hela attacked him instead. Their battle began in earnest after her sword lights shattered his Mirror Dimension.

• Odin sent Xiang Qian to Niflheim to meet Hela and learn her intentions as his seal weakened.
• Xiang Qian found Niflheim’s orderly wandering souls and encountered Hela, who asked why he had come.
• Xiang Qian told Hela that Odin wanted to know whether she had changed her mind, and he predicted that she had not.
• Hela struck Xiang Qian with sword light, but he reappeared after the attack passed through him.
• Hela surrounded Xiang Qian with sword lights until they shattered his subspace, and he unleashed golden magic that began breaking her blades.

Xiang Qian battled Hela in Niflheim, revealing magic powerful enough to convert the realm’s deathly energy and establishing himself as a future God of Magic. Hela explained that Odin sealed her because Asgard had chosen her to rule, but Odin’s intervention restored the seal and left her wounded.

• Hela used her immortal body to trade injuries with Xiang Qian, but his magical threads cut through her and forced her to freeze and shatter them.
• As Hela waited for Xiang Qian’s magic to run out, he drew deathly energy from Niflheim into himself and converted it into magical power.
• Hela recognized Xiang Qian as a mage who had crossed the final threshold and claimed Odin feared her because Asgard had chosen her as its destined ruler.
• Odin’s presence shook Niflheim, and Xiang Qian left after Odin opened the seal, while Hela vowed to wait for Odin’s death.
• Hela lunged for the closing seal, but Odin’s Gungnir struck her and left her wounded as the seal stabilized.

Xiang Qian challenged Odin’s plan for dealing with Hela and then left Asgard for Earth. Heimdall sent him hurtling billions of miles away after Xiang Qian teased him about Jane Foster and Sif.

• Xiang Qian told Odin that sparing Hela would deepen her resentment and argued that Asgard’s blessing made her a genuine threat.
• Odin admitted Hela was bound to Asgard but said her ambitions would bring disaster, and Xiang Qian mocked his attempt to pressure her into submission.
• Xiang Qian proposed that Odin let Hela kill him, joking that the plan had only a twenty percent chance of working.
• Xiang Qian decided to return to Earth after the Tesseract experiments reached a bottleneck and boarded the Bifrost.
• Xiang Qian teased Heimdall about watching Jane Foster and Sif, so Heimdall activated the Bifrost and sent him billions of miles away.

Xiang Qian tested his Bifrost replication magic in the desert, retrieving Chang'e 1 fragments from the moon and confirming that he could precisely interfere with the Asgardian device. After encountering two drug smugglers, he killed Benito but spared Marcos when he learned Marcos was a mutant supporting other mutants; the chapter left Marcos alive and facing Xiang Qian’s judgment.

• Xiang Qian used a magic array to retrieve fragments of Chang'e 1 from the moon and reported them to Zheng Xian.
• Xiang Qian encountered Marcos and Benito in the desert and discovered their bag contained drugs.
• Benito drew a gun at Xiang Qian, who disassembled it with spatial magic and buried Benito in sand.
• Xiang Qian questioned Marcos, then shot Benito after deciding he was not a good person.
• Marcos revealed that he was a mutant who sold drugs partly to support other mutants, so Xiang Qian spared him.

Xiang Qian forced Marcos to help him approach the drug cartel, then recruited John Proudstar for his tracking ability. John remembered that the X-Men had once offered him a way to contact them, but he had forgotten their address; the chapter ended with Lorna warning that the Sentinels had found their sanctuary.

• Xiang Qian made Marcos carry the cocaine and wait with him for the cartel’s contact, but John Proudstar arrived instead.
• John revealed that he had come to find Marcos after Lorna worried about his involvement with drug dealers, and Xiang Qian interrogated two captured cartel men for information about their boss.
• Xiang Qian proposed robbing the cartel and asked John to use his mutant tracking ability to find its warehouses and vaults.
• Xiang Qian recognized John as a former X-Men ally, prompting John to recall that the X-Men had offered him a way to contact them, though he could not remember where to go.
• John answered Lorna’s call and learned that the Sentinels had found their sanctuary.

Xiang Qian offered to help John and Marcos deal with the Sentinel Task Force in exchange for their help finding a drug gang’s hidden money. He called Professor Xavier, who promised the X-Men would come rescue innocent mutants, leaving John and Marcos stunned that Xiang Qian had the X-Men’s number.

• Xiang Qian explained that he needed untraceable cash and offered John five percent of the drug cartel’s hidden wealth if John helped locate its warehouse and vault.
• John agreed to help Xiang Qian if he dealt with the Sentinel Task Force, though Marcos doubted Xiang Qian could do anything.
• Xiang Qian used his Electronic Bracelet to call Professor Xavier and asked him to help the mutants targeted by the Sentinels.
• Professor Xavier agreed to rescue innocent mutants while refusing to protect mutants who had committed crimes.
• John and Marcos were astonished that Xiang Qian had called the X-Men, and Xiang Qian urged John to keep driving toward their companions.