Recaps

As the Nine Realms converged, Xiang Qian guarded a weak point in Odin’s seal and confronted Hela when she emerged from Niflheim. Their standoff ended with the Bifrost unexpectedly descending onto a distant dock, giving Hela a possible route back to Asgard.

• Kamar-Taj mages contained supernatural disturbances across London while Xiang Qian monitored an uncovered area near Greenwich Observatory, where Jane Foster and her assistants entered an abandoned warehouse with a group of children.
• A surge of energy shattered the Mirror Dimension, but a larger Mirror Dimension protected the mages and contained the scattered otherworldly forces.
• Hela emerged from the mist, and Xiang Qian blocked her path while explaining that Kamar-Taj expected her to try breaking Odin’s seal during the convergence.
• Hela refused Xiang Qian’s offer to avoid a fight and put on her antlered battle helm as he formed rune shields.
• The Bifrost descended onto the distant river freight dock, and Hela mocked the Asgardians for opening it.

During the Nine Realms convergence, Xiang Qian guarded a spatial overlap in London and confronted Hela as she escaped her seal. The Bifrost then appeared at a nearby dock, giving Hela a possible route back to Asgard.

• Kamar-Taj mages contained London’s anomalies while Jane Foster and a group of children entered an abandoned warehouse near a spatial overlap point.
• A violent surge shattered the Mirror Dimension, but a larger hidden Mirror Dimension protected the mages and contained the debris.
• Hela emerged from the icy mist, and Xiang Qian blocked her path as she sought to return to Asgard.
• Xiang Qian explained that Hela remained weakened by Odin’s soul seal and could not reach Asgard without the Bifrost, while Hela insisted on trying.
• The Bifrost descended onto the distant river cargo dock, and Hela remarked that some Asgardians apparently lacked brains.

Xiang Qian investigated Jane Foster’s disappearance and found a spatial rift leading to a barren world. There he discovered Malekith and the Dark Elves searching for the Aether, identifying them as the threat his teacher had warned him about.

• Xiang Qian questioned Daisy Lewis and Ian about what Jane Foster had experienced inside the warehouse, then learned that Jane had vanished for several minutes before the Bifrost arrived.
• Xiang Qian located and stabilized the spatial rift connected to Jane’s disappearance, then crossed into a barren world beyond the Nine Realms.
• Xiang Qian hid in subspace as a black spacecraft arrived and masked figures searched the wasteland.
• Malekith told the Dark Elves to find the Aether so they could rebuild their homeland, but their search found nothing.
• Xiang Qian realized that Malekith and the Dark Elves were the variable his teacher had warned him would obstruct him during the overlap of the Nine Realms.

Xiang Qian used the Mirror Dimension to hide Convergence damage around Greenwich, then met Odin, who was pretending to suffer from amnesia, at a London nursing home. After Xiang Qian threatened to expose him in humiliating ways, Odin dropped the act, and Xiang Qian demanded to know what he intended to do to Earth and humanity.

• Xiang Qian copied the damaged facilities around Greenwich Observatory into the Mirror Dimension and restored their appearance while concealing the destruction from ordinary people.
• Xiang Qian learned that his work along the Thames had tied him to London until the peak of the Convergence passed.
• Xiang Qian met Odin at a London nursing home after Ancient One notified him of Odin's arrival.
• Xiang Qian sent the nursing home's director away, created a soundproof barrier, and threatened to test Odin's supposed madness by making him eat excrement or streak through winter streets.
• Odin abandoned his vacant act and warned Xiang Qian not to treat an old man harshly.
• Xiang Qian demanded that Odin explain how he intended to treat Earth and humanity.

Xiang Qian exposed Odin’s scheme to be exiled to Earth and demanded compensation for the danger his arrival posed to Midgard. Odin offered to teach him Rune magic and revealed that the Aether, also called the Philosopher’s Stone, could provide a path to power beyond the Destroyer Armor.

• Xiang Qian challenged Odin’s grief and exposed that he had deliberately allowed Loki to exile him.
• Odin admitted he had steered Loki into sending him to Midgard rather than another realm.
• Xiang Qian explained that Odin’s death on Earth could direct Hela’s vengeance there and condemned Odin for bringing danger to an ally’s world.
• Odin offered Kamar-Taj all of his Rune magic as compensation, knowing Xiang Qian wanted to improve the Destroyer Armor.
• Odin said the Aether was also known as the Philosopher’s Stone, and Xiang Qian asked if it was the Reality Stone.

Xiang Qian watched Thor battle Malekith while helping Dr. Selvig, Jane Foster, Daisy, and Ian fend off Dark Elves and examining their locator technology. When Thor vanished through a locator rod into an unknown part of the World Tree, Xiang Qian headed toward Malekith and the growing dark storm.

• Xiang Qian ended negotiations with Odin, withdrew the Kamar-Taj sorcerers, and watched Thor charge into battle against Malekith and the Dark Elves.
• Xiang Qian observed the Reality Stone’s power and judged that Malekith lacked the strength to use it fully.
• Dr. Selvig, Jane Foster, Daisy, and Ian arrived with locator rods, and Xiang Qian took one after explaining how their technology worked.
• Xiang Qian used magical threads to kill the Dark Elf soldiers pursuing the group, then accepted Selvig’s control console from Ian.
• Thor caught a locator rod swept into the dark storm and vanished to an unknown destination, while Xiang Qian walked toward Malekith and the expanding storm.

Xiang Qian confronted Malekith at the peak of the Convergence and blocked the Aether’s dark energy from spreading through the Nine Realms. He separated Malekith from the Aether, and the Convergence passed with Malekith’s plan defeated.

• Malekith attacked Xiang Qian with a strand of the Aether, but Xiang Qian blocked it with a golden shield and endured the blast.
• As the Convergence connected the Nine Realms, Xiang Qian formed a magical fire net that stopped the dark energy from entering the spatial passages.
• Malekith tried to break through the net, while Xiang Qian threatened to hold him off until Odin arrived.
• Malekith drew all the Aether particles from his body and sent them toward the passages, leaving himself unguarded.
• Xiang Qian pushed Malekith into a subspace and displaced him hundreds of millions of kilometers from the Aether.
• The peak of the Convergence passed, leaving Malekith unable to control the Aether and certain that his plan had failed.

Xiang Qian contained the Reality Stone and the dark storm by using Odin’s runes to forge Dark Energy Armor. Thor then killed Malekith with a hammer strike, while Xiang Qian left him believing he had saved the Nine Realms.

• The Reality Stone drained Xiang Qian’s energy as the uncontrolled dark storm threatened London and Western Europe.
• Xiang Qian used Odin’s runes to form a magical structure and absorb the dark storm, creating Dark Energy Armor.
• Thor arrived, mistook Xiang Qian for Odin, and asked about the runes before offering to help.
• Xiang Qian tossed Malekith out of a subspace, and Thor killed the exhausted Dark Elf king with his hammer.
• Xiang Qian sarcastically praised Thor for saving the Nine Realms and disappeared.

Xiang Qian returned after Ancient One’s death and received her final lesson about time and Rune inscriptions. With Chthon’s dark magic invading Kamar-Taj, Xiang Qian prioritized defending it and left the remaining Sanctums to Doctor Strange.

• Kaecilius and the dark Zealots attacked the London Sanctum during the Convergence, and Kaecilius killed Ancient One.
• Xiang Qian arrived in the Soul Realm after Ancient One had finished giving Stephen Strange her final lesson, then questioned her about the Reality Stone and Odin’s Rune inscriptions.
• Ancient One taught Xiang Qian that existence was the world’s origin and that time connected the metaphysical and physical, then departed the Soul Realm.
• Xiang Qian returned to Earth and realized that Kaecilius’s remaining plan involved keeping him away from the other Sanctums.
• Chthon’s activated marker on Wanda brought his projection to Earth, and dark magic plunged Kamar-Taj into chaos.
• Xiang Qian returned to defend Kamar-Taj and entrusted Doctor Strange with protecting the other Sanctums.

Xiang Qian returned to Kamar-Taj and found Wanda’s dark magic engulfing the sanctuary, with Pietro and several mages unconscious. He entered the blood mist to reach Wanda, but his magical incarnation failed against Chthon’s power, so he began seeking a more direct way through.

• Wong explained that Wanda’s blood mist disoriented and exhausted anyone who entered, and that it had actively pushed Pietro out while he tried to protect his sister.
• Xiang Qian warned Jean that Chthon’s activated coordinate might affect Magik and asked her to check on her in Limbo.
• Xiang Qian entered the blood mist and found that its dark magic was corroding his soul and physical body.
• Xiang Qian activated his magical incarnation, but it could not absorb any of the blood mist’s dark magic.
• Xiang Qian used runes to test possible spells as he continued toward Wanda’s residence, then decided to try a simpler, more direct method.

Xiang Qian used the Reality Stone to push through Chthon’s dark magic and reach the sealed door to Wanda’s residence, where he discovered that probability manipulation—not dark magic—kept it shut. He left the door unopened but realized the power might explain events from Wanda’s past and the source of her mutant abilities.

• The Reality Stone stirred the blood mist, revealing a phantom of Chthon that began melting Xiang Qian’s magical incarnation.
• Xiang Qian advanced through the blood mist with the Reality Stone and reached the entrance to Wanda’s residence.
• Xiang Qian found that the door was sealed by an unknown force that altered reality, rather than by dark magic.
• Xiang Qian studied the Reality Stone’s laws and identified probability manipulation as the force keeping the door closed.
• Xiang Qian wondered whether probability manipulation had made the missile that struck the Maximoff home a dud, and what power Wanda’s mutant genes gave her.

Xiang Qian entered Wanda’s consciousness, found her true self trapped in a memory of the Stark Industries missile that killed her parents, and brought her to the safety of his own Soul Realm. As he reassured Wanda, an unidentified spacecraft attacked Kamar-Taj, where Wong diverted a laser blast before a huge attacker struck at him.

• Xiang Qian turned the sealed door into bubbles and confronted the Chthon-controlled Wanda, using the Reality Stone to restrain the dark magic.
• Xiang Qian entered Wanda’s newly forming Soul Realm and recognized that Chthon had opened a domain within her soul.
• Xiang Qian found Wanda beneath rubble in a memory of the Stark Industries missile and awakened her by taking her hand.
• Xiang Qian brought Wanda into his Soul Realm and reassured her that the dark magic was temporarily restrained.
• A ring-shaped spacecraft fired on Kamar-Taj, and Wong opened a portal to divert its second laser blast.
• A massive figure lunged at Wong with a pickaxe-shaped warhammer.

Wong and the Kamar-Taj sorcerers fought an alien assault while Xiang Qian helped Wanda confront Chthon inside the Soul Realm. Wanda drove Chthon out as the realm collapsed, leaving her dark magic coordinate’s fate unresolved.

• Wong dodged a giant attacker’s hammer and countered, but his magical blade barely scratched the creature.
• Aliens attacked Kamar-Taj, and the sorcerers fought back as Wong realized the invaders were targeting Xiang Qian and Wanda in the side hall.
• Several halls were torn from the ground and crashed down onto the side hall while the sorcerers were unable to intervene.
• Inside the Soul Realm, Xiang Qian explained that Chthon was using Wanda’s soul to build a realm and planned to destroy it despite the danger to her.
• Wanda struggled to summon the will to expel Chthon, so Xiang Qian used her memories of the missile attack in Sokovia to intensify her fear and resolve.
• The Reality Stone destabilized Chthon’s Soul Realm, and Wanda ordered him to leave forever, causing his black shadow to shatter.

Xiang Qian stabilized Wanda after she expelled Chthon’s projection, then returned with her to the battlefield and turned the tide against the Chitauri. Ebony Maw demanded the Reality and Mind Stones in exchange for Earth’s safety, but Xiang Qian refused and prepared to meet the threat with force.

• Wanda’s soul and consciousness collapsed after she expelled Chthon’s projection, so Xiang Qian used his Soul Realm to repair her soul and stabilize her.
• Wanda awakened and asked about her injuries; Xiang Qian explained that she would need to open her own Soul Realm to heal completely and reassured her that her consciousness could keep her soul stable.
• Wanda returned to the material world as the hall collapsed, and Xiang Qian used the Reality Stone to turn rubble and Chitauri weapons into harmless particles.
• Xiang Qian transformed the hulking creature attacking Wong into a toy, then confronted Ebony Maw, who offered to spare Kamar-Taj in exchange for the Reality and Mind Stones.
• Ebony Maw threatened to destroy cities across Earth, but Xiang Qian rejected his demand and warned that he would kill the invaders if they harmed anyone.

Xiang Qian forced Ebony Maw to retreat, then reached the Hong Kong Sanctuary as Dormammu invaded. Stephen Strange trapped Dormammu in a time loop until it agreed to leave Earth, but after Strange reversed the disaster, two black-armored figures emerged from the shadows.

• Xiang Qian threatened Ebony Maw with the Reality Stone, and Ebony Maw withdrew with the transformed creature aboard his spacecraft.
• Xiang Qian and Wong opened a portal to the Hong Kong Sanctuary, where Dormammu's Dark Dimension was swallowing the city and Kaecilius confronted Stephen Strange and Mordo.
• Stephen Strange entered the spatial rift and used the Time Stone to trap Dormammu in a loop of repeated deaths until Dormammu agreed to leave Earth and take its followers.
• Xiang Qian learned that Strange had died more than a thousand times in the loop, and Strange used the Time Stone to restore the Sanctuary, nearby buildings, and people's memories.
• As Strange worked, Xiang Qian watched a shadow, from which a man and a woman in black soft armor emerged.

Xiang Qian and the others repelled Ebony Maw’s agents, then Mordo broke with Kamar-Taj over whether mages should ever set aside their principles to protect Earth. Stephen Strange accepted that his life might no longer center on surgery and learned that he was expected to become Sorcerer Supreme and guard the Time Stone.

• Xiang Qian identified the departing man and woman as agents of the warlord behind the Battle of New York, and they left Kamar-Taj by airship without fighting.
• Xiang Qian and Mordo argued over good and evil, the use of powerful magic, and whether protecting Earth justified making exceptions to established principles.
• Mordo declared that he would watch mages who crossed the rules, then left Kamar-Taj through a portal as Wong, Strange, and Xiang Qian watched.
• Xiang Qian asked Strange whether he wanted to return to surgery, and Strange realized he no longer rejected his trembling hands or the other possibilities open to him.
• Xiang Qian told Strange that he was the likely Sorcerer Supreme and that his foremost duty was to protect the Eye of Agamotto and its Time Stone from those seeking the Infinity Stones.

Xiang Qian suspected the Mind Stone had launched a mental attack, but after examining it he found no sign of unusual activity. He then discovered that Wanda’s Probability Manipulation had created telepathy between them, leaving Strange temporarily silenced by Xiang Qian’s spell.

• Xiang Qian warned Strange that the Infinity Stones could cause dangerous backlash and revealed he had suffered a powerful mental attack.
• Xiang Qian, Wong, and Strange returned to Kamar-Taj, where Xiang Qian examined the Mind Stone and found no detectable abnormalities.
• Wanda greeted the group, and Xiang Qian realized he could hear her thoughts as she worried about him.
• Xiang Qian guided Wanda through her memories of fighting Chthon and identified her Probability Manipulation as the source of their telepathy.
• Xiang Qian confirmed the psychic attack had been Wanda’s worry and left Strange unable to speak while he complained silently.

Loki searched for Odin at a London nursing home and learned from Xiang Qian that Odin had chosen to retire on Earth. Xiang Qian left Loki in charge of gathering intelligence on the Celestials, threatening to expose his impersonation if he failed.

• Loki arrived at the nursing home to visit Odin and discovered that he was missing.
• Xiang Qian confronted Loki, questioned him about his visit, and revealed that Odin had asked him to help prevent a threat to Asgard.
• Xiang Qian explained that Odin had settled on Earth and intended to retire rather than return as All-Father.
• Xiang Qian ordered Loki to collect information about the Celestials, with Asgard focusing on intelligence from the non-magical world.
• Loki reluctantly agreed after Xiang Qian threatened to expose him as Odin's impersonator.

Xiang Qian returned to Kamar-Taj and learned from Magik that several powerful Hell Lords had vanished, leaving their territories ownerless and Hell on the brink of conflict. He decided to investigate Hell himself, while Jean teased him about Wanda worrying over his dangerous psychic attack.

• Xiang Qian returned to Kamar-Taj and found Wanda, Magik, and Jean waiting for him, then learned Magik had sensed Dark Magic calling to her.
• Xiang Qian explained how Wanda had driven away Chthon’s projection and clarified that the method could not yet be used to remove Magik’s Dark Magic coordinate.
• Magik told Xiang Qian that Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Thog, and Satannish had disappeared, leaving their territories ownerless and other Hell Lords eyeing them.
• Xiang Qian concluded that Hell was in chaos and decided to go there to investigate the disappearances.
• Jean warned Xiang Qian that Wanda might worry about his powerful psychic attack, leaving him sweating over her teasing.

Xiang Qian led Jean and Magik through the sealed passage between Hell and Heaven, revealing that it had inspired the Bible’s story of Lucifer’s fall. He sought the legendary Soul Forge to investigate the nature of Hell, and the chapter ended as Jean asked whether his theory explained the recent disappearances of the Hell Lords.

• Xiang Qian explained that angels and Lucifer had sealed the passage between Hell and Heaven, and that the Bible’s account of Lucifer’s fall had been inspired by it.
• Xiang Qian told Jean and Magik that he had come to find the Soul Forge, which Magik described as the source and destination of Hell’s creatures and souls.
• Xiang Qian drained Magik’s death energy and transformed it into a towering peak, arguing that mass in Hell was equivalent to death energy.
• Xiang Qian said strange anomalies on Mephisto had led him to a theory about Hell’s fundamental nature, and Jean asked whether it related to the Hell Lords’ recent disappearances.

Xiang Qian, Magik, and Jean found a vast soul-absorbing object in the void and discovered Mephisto drifting unconscious toward it. Jean awakened Mephisto with Phoenix fire, but the Hell Lord recognized Xiang Qian just as it realized the danger of its predicament.

• Xiang Qian warned Jean and Magik that Death might be preparing for an all-out war against Eternity and that he could be drawn into it.
• The three found a colossal black-hole-like object absorbing souls, which Magik feared might be the Soul Forge.
• They spotted Mephisto’s true body drifting toward the object, and Magik explained that her Soul Sword had put him into a century-long sleep.
• Jean sent Phoenix fire at Mephisto, awakening him when he sensed the apparent threat.
• Mephisto recognized Xiang Qian, then looked toward the soul-absorbing object and cried out in terror as he continued drifting toward it.

Xiang Qian let Mephisto be consumed after realizing Death was behind the black hole and that Mephisto had never truly been himself. Death then attacked Xiang Qian, who used Magik’s deathly aura to strengthen the smoke columns before trying and failing to escape.

• Mephisto tried to flee the black hole, but its smoke column caught him and began devouring his true form.
• Xiang Qian used the Reality Stone to hold the smoke column back while Mephisto offered him loyalty in exchange for rescue.
• Xiang Qian asked Mephisto whether the black hole threatened him and whether it was Death, then withdrew the Reality Stone after reading Mephisto’s reactions.
• Death took control of Mephisto’s face, confirmed their identity, and attacked Xiang Qian with dozens of smoke columns.
• Xiang Qian extracted Magik’s deathly aura and sent it into the attacking smoke columns, then tried to flee with Magik and the other woman.
• Death blocked Xiang Qian’s portal and said they could not escape its domain as black smoke closed in around them.

Xiang Qian, Jean, and Magik fought to escape Death’s sealed void passage, using Jean’s Phoenix attack and Magik’s hidden resolve to open a route to Limbo. Death followed them there, and Xiang Qian prepared to confront her as she called out his name.

• Xiang Qian explained that they had to strike Death hard enough to create a spatial gap, while Magik struggled under Death’s spiritual pressure.
• Jean unleashed a Phoenix attack that damaged the black hole and shook the sealed passage, creating brief rifts in space.
• Xiang Qian used Kamar-Taj magic and Runes to resonate with the rifts as Death tried to seal them.
• Magik revealed that much of her fear had been an act, opened an overlooked rift, and carried Xiang Qian and Jean into Limbo.
• Xiang Qian focused the Reality Stone’s beam on Limbo’s zenith as Magik gathered the realm’s deathly aura, and Death called out, “James Zion!”

Xiang Qian, Jean Grey, and Magik purged Limbo’s deathly energy and severed the realm from Hell, forcing Death’s invasion to retreat. Magik gained full ownership of Limbo, but Xiang Qian warned that their struggle was only beginning.

• Xiang Qian used the Reality Stone to alter natural laws around the fissure and hold back Death’s energy while Magik gathered Limbo’s deathly energy.
• Belasco’s recorded curse and the anguish of departed souls overwhelmed Magik until Jean Grey used the Phoenix Force to support her.
• Jean sent Phoenix fire into the gathered deathly energy, and the two forces consumed each other until Limbo’s accumulated deathly energy was extinguished.
• Magik lost her Hell Lord powers, but Limbo became an independent world under her control and resisted Death’s invasion.
• Jean linked the wills and mental power of herself, Xiang Qian, and Magik, strengthening Limbo until the fissure closed.
• Magik asked whether they had driven Death back, and Xiang Qian confirmed they had while warning that this was only the beginning.

After returning from Hell, Xiang Qian told Wong, Stephen Strange, and Wanda that Death wanted the complete universe hidden in his soul. He brought Wong and Strange into his Soul Realm to show them the universe, where they found Wanda, Jean, and Magik already gathered.

• Xiang Qian returned carrying an exhausted Jean, and he explained that they had fought Death, who was likely the creator and ruler of Hell.
• Xiang Qian told the others that Death sought the complete universe hidden inside his soul and demonstrated how the Reality Stone could counter Strange's Time Stone.
• Xiang Qian pulled Wong and Strange into his Soul Realm, where they encountered Wanda, Jean, and Magik.
• Xiang Qian began showing Wong and Strange the Soul Universe while Wanda and the other women whispered together.
• Xiang Qian realized that Magik's teleportation, Wanda's telepathy, and Jean's Phoenix Force made a formidable trio.