Recaps

Xiang Qian returned to the Golden Palace battle, destroyed Fenrir and Hela’s undead forces, and subdued Hela. He demanded to know where Thanos and Heimdall were, while Odin and Thor realized their allies were missing.

• Xiang Qian incinerated the undead pouring from the treasury and returned to find Odin, Thor, and Hela fighting in the main hall.
• Loki encountered Xiang Qian, who revealed his face and reminded Loki that he was adopted.
• Xiang Qian wounded Fenrir, then killed the giant wolf with a single step, shocking Loki and both armies.
• Xiang Qian used magic to turn Hela’s undead soldiers to sand, then knocked Hela down and demanded to know whether Thanos was her ally.
• Hela attacked Xiang Qian, but he countered her strikes and asked where Thanos and Heimdall were; Odin and Thor realized Heimdall, Sif, and Thor’s other companions were missing.

Xiang Qian subdued Hela and questioned her about Thanos, Heimdall, and the Bifrost sword before Thanos appeared with the sword and an unconscious Heimdall. Thanos revealed he had come to make a deal and showed Xiang Qian a gauntlet holding the Space Stone and what Xiang Qian suspected was the Power Stone.

• Xiang Qian used the Reality Stone to destroy Hela's undead army and forced her to kneel while demanding answers.
• Thanos arrived with the Bifrost sword and dropped the unconscious Heimdall at his feet, prompting Thor to charge at him before Odin stopped Thor.
• Thanos focused on Xiang Qian and proposed a deal, while Xiang Qian questioned him about Heimdall and the missing Asgardian commanders.
• Loki told Thor that he had sent Sif, Hogun, and the others to other worlds, and Xiang Qian learned they had survived.
• Thanos explained that he had originally sought the Space Stone, then revealed a gauntlet containing the Space Stone and a purple gem that Xiang Qian identified as the likely Power Stone.

Thanos demanded the Reality Stone from Xiang Qian while Odin and Hela prepared for battle in Asgard. As Xiang Qian and Thanos's Stones clashed and Hela defeated Odin, Hela stabbed Thanos in the back.

• Thanos asked Xiang Qian to hand over the Reality Stone and warned that his forces were approaching Asgard.
• Odin ordered Thor to take the surviving guards and defend the city while he stayed with Xiang Qian and Hela.
• Xiang Qian asked Thanos about his connection to Mistress Death and whether she had warned him not to kill Xiang Qian.
• Xiang Qian and Thanos fought, and their Infinity Stones' energies interfered with each other's powers.
• Hela defeated Odin and pursued him before stabbing Thanos in the back as she passed.

Xiang Qian and Hela caught Thanos off guard, and Xiang Qian used the Reality Stone and Mind Stone to overpower him in a battle that devastated Asgard. His deadly dark magic damaged Thanos's body and soul, but Thanos continued to survive and regenerate, leaving Xiang Qian facing an opponent even harder to kill than expected.

• Xiang Qian pressed his attack as Hela's betrayal disrupted Thanos's control of the Power Stone and Space Stone.
• Thanos saw the Mind Stone in Xiang Qian's hand and realized Xiang Qian had arranged Hela's betrayal.
• Xiang Qian pursued Thanos out of the great hall, and their clashing Infinity Stones destroyed Asgardian soldiers and Thanos's legion alike.
• Xiang Qian used the Reality Stone and Mind Stone to keep disrupting Thanos and direct some of the destructive aftershocks toward Thanos's troops.
• Xiang Qian pierced Thanos's chest with dark magic, but Thanos's regenerative ability halted the corrosion of his body.
• Xiang Qian discovered that Thanos's badly damaged soul still clung to his body and was beginning to repair itself.

Xiang Qian overpowered Thanos by using the Mind Stone to invade his consciousness, but Death appeared before he could erase Thanos’s mind. She revealed that destroying Xiang Qian had been her mission since she first learned of him.

• Thanos recklessly unleashed the Power Stone and Space Stone, exposing flaws that Xiang Qian exploited.
• Xiang Qian used the Mind Stone to invade Thanos’s consciousness and began overwhelming his mind.
• Death appeared in Thanos’s consciousness after Xiang Qian called for her.
• Death explained that she had designed her humanoid appearance to appeal to males of humanoid species, and Xiang Qian compared it to a sex doll.
• Death revealed that she had wanted to destroy Xiang Qian since she first learned of his existence.

Xiang Qian questioned Death about its conflict with Eternity and learned that both wanted the universe inside his soul, though Death claimed not to know Eternity’s plan. Death then revealed that it had empowered Hela, leaving Xiang Qian to choose between killing Thanos and stopping Hela from slaughtering Asgardians.

• Xiang Qian pretended that siding with Eternity served his interests as he tried to draw information from Death.
• Death claimed that Ancient One had sensed Eternity’s ill intent toward Xiang Qian and tried to divert him from the path Eternity had chosen, but Eternity discovered her attempt.
• Xiang Qian asked why he and his soul’s universe were caught in the gods’ struggle, and Death said that both it and Eternity wanted the universe inside his soul.
• Death said it did not know Eternity’s plan and warned Xiang Qian to watch himself.
• Death offered to trade Asgard for Thanos, then Xiang Qian sensed danger and discovered that Death had gathered power in Hela.
• Death challenged Xiang Qian to kill Thanos while also preventing Hela from slaughtering the Asgardians.

Xiang Qian bargained with Death over Thanos and the Infinity Stones, threatening to let Asgard fall rather than surrender both Stones. Death agreed to let him take the Space Stone, but Hela’s growing power and the battle in Asgard remained unresolved.

• Xiang Qian refused to give Death both Infinity Stones and argued that Death could take Thanos while leaving the Stones behind.
• Xiang Qian threatened to destroy Thanos’s body and accept Asgard’s destruction if Death tried to force his hand.
• Xiang Qian offered to trade Asgard for one Stone and demanded that the Space Stone be returned to Asgard.
• Death accepted the deal and told Xiang Qian to take the Stone he wanted.
• Xiang Qian returned to the physical dimension and pried the blue Space Stone from the Infinity Gauntlet as Thanos’s eyes brightened and cold surged through the Golden Palace.

Thanos withdrew his legion but kept his ship in the sky to watch Xiang Qian’s final battle with Hela. As Hela claimed temporary control of Asgard and attacked Xiang Qian with the realm’s power, Odin and the Asgardians could only watch.

• Thanos recalled his legion after confronting Xiang Qian, then left his ship hovering above Asgard to observe the coming fight.
• Thor asked Xiang Qian whether he could defeat Hela, and Xiang Qian explained the danger and strain of controlling three Infinity Stones.
• Hela emerged from the Golden Palace and attacked Xiang Qian with earth spikes drawn from Asgard and a sword infused with the realm’s power.
• Hela’s temporary mastery of Asgard stripped Odin of the realm’s blessing, leaving him unable to raise Gungnir and collapsed on the ground.

Xiang Qian used the Infinity Stones to defeat Hela and temporarily isolate her Underworld from the Hell Dimension, then asked Odin whether Niflheim could be exiled from the World Tree’s dimension. Odin warned that damaging Niflheim could endanger all Nine Realms, and Xiang Qian turned the question to Earth.

• Xiang Qian used the Space, Reality, and Mind Stones to stop Hela’s attack, while Thanos fled after seeing his control of all three Stones.
• Xiang Qian sealed the connections between Hela’s Underworld and the Hell Dimension, stripped away its hellish aura, and temporarily weakened Hela.
• Odin covered Hela with a cloak after her clothing became tattered and warned Xiang Qian that his solution would not last.
• Xiang Qian asked Odin about exiling Niflheim as Odin had once exiled a world from the World Tree, and Odin explained that damaging Niflheim could destabilize the entire World Tree dimension.
• Xiang Qian asked what would happen if Earth were involved, and Odin explained that Midgard occupied the center of the World Tree’s trunk.

Xiang Qian and Odin arranged to suppress Hela by sending her to Muspelheim, while Odin considered Asgard’s survival beyond its current territory. Their discussion ended with Xiang Qian asking whether Odin’s plan involving Surtur matched the fate he had seen in Ragnarok.

• Odin accepted Xiang Qian’s demand to keep Hela away from Earth and agreed to let him take the Infinity Stones.
• Odin told Thor that Asgard was its people, not its city or land, while Xiang Qian realized Odin was preparing for the people to evacuate if Asgard had to be destroyed.
• Xiang Qian exposed Loki’s presence, prompting Thor to charge at his brother, then walked with Odin and warned him not to blame Xiang Qian for Ragnarok or Thanos’s pursuit of the Space Stone.
• Odin planned to send Hela to Muspelheim to weaken her powers and kill Surtur first, bringing his remains back to Asgard to keep him from joining forces with Hela.
• Xiang Qian recognized that Odin intended to use Surtur and the Eternal Flame as a final measure, and asked whether that was the true outcome Odin had seen in Ragnarok.

After returning to Earth, Xiang Qian met Hope van Dyne with Tony Stark to ask about Dr. Pym. When Hope doubted his claim that he had cracked Pym Particles, Xiang Qian explained that they changed space rather than matter.

• Xiang Qian landed in the Himalayas with Odin and received Tony Stark's invitation to meet Hope van Dyne.
• Xiang Qian teased Tony about dressing for a romantic date, while Tony insisted the meeting was only a strategy to reach Hope.
• Hope arrived at the fast-food restaurant and gave Xiang Qian two minutes to explain why he wanted to meet.
• Xiang Qian asked Hope about Dr. Pym, and she said her father had disappeared and that they had a terrible relationship.
• Xiang Qian claimed he had cracked Pym Particles, prompting Hope to accuse him of lying and trying to extract information.
• Xiang Qian explained that Pym Particles changed space, not matter.

Xiang Qian demonstrated an apparent shrinking device to Hope and offered to explain the principles behind Pym Particles in exchange for a meeting with Dr. Pym. He began describing the Quantum Realm, leaving Hope to carry his claims to her father.

• Xiang Qian discussed the strange physics of shrinking people, and Tony questioned how they could retain their weight without sinking into the ground.
• Hope denied that Pym Technologies had researched shrinking, but Xiang Qian used the Infinity Stones to enlarge and shrink a coffee cup before her eyes.
• Hope asked to inspect the device, but Xiang Qian refused and offered her a different reward for helping him meet Dr. Pym.
• Xiang Qian speculated that Dr. Pym did not fully understand Pym Particles and could not produce them reliably, prompting Hope to ask whether he would explain their principles.
• Xiang Qian told Hope that the Quantum Realm was the convergence of all time and space, and instructed her to repeat his words to Dr. Pym even if she did not understand them.

Xiang Qian explained why he had shared Pym Particle theories with Hope, then revealed that his apparent breakthrough was a trick using the Reality Stone. He and Tony bet on how soon and in what manner Dr. Pym would come to see Xiang, and the next morning Xiang had the little assistant’s phone number.

• Tony questioned Xiang Qian about sharing Pym Particle theories, and Xiang explained that Hope seemed reluctant to verify them in her company’s laboratory.
• Xiang Qian argued that the theories alone posed little danger because Pym Particles could not yet be produced reliably.
• Xiang Qian used the Reality Stone to disguise a menu as a mysterious device, revealing that he had fooled Hope about having a practical breakthrough.
• Xiang Qian predicted Dr. Pym would come to investigate him, possibly by sneaking into his room, and Tony bet that the old man would take longer to appear.
• Xiang Qian and Tony wagered the little assistant’s phone number, and the next morning the number ended up with Xiang Qian.

Xiang Qian and Tony captured a tiny intruder in Stark Tower and concluded that he was Dr. Pym, who had broken in to steal. While Tony considered what to do with him, Xiang Qian used the Reality Stone to make the captive dance to a girl group's music.

• A security alarm led Tony to discover a tiny intruder and ants trapped inside Xiang Qian's Reality Stone barrier, and Tony admitted that Xiang Qian had won their bet.
• Xiang Qian reasoned that the intruder was Dr. Pym and challenged him to remove his helmet, while Jarvis reported that the equipment hid his physical features.
• Tony and Xiang Qian discussed how to handle Dr. Pym, recalling his history of infiltration and his hostility toward Jarvis.
• Xiang Qian bound the tiny intruder with red energy and ordered Tony to play a girl group's music video at his scale.
• When the captive stayed still, Xiang Qian used the barrier's energy to make him perform calisthenics to the beat and declared him the lead singer.

Xiang Qian and Tony caught Dr. Hope breaking in to steal Xiang Qian’s portable Pym Particle equipment, then used the device as leverage to question him about Janet Dane’s disappearance into the Quantum Realm. Dr. Hope revealed that Janet’s disappearance had not been an accident and challenged Xiang Qian about his urgent desire to enter the realm.

• Xiang Qian and Tony tormented Dr. Hope until he returned to normal size and surrendered his suit and equipment, while Tony scanned them.
• Xiang Qian confronted Dr. Hope with the mysterious device and accused him of breaking in to reverse-engineer Xiang Qian’s technology.
• Xiang Qian cited S.H.I.E.L.D. records of Dr. Hope and Janet Dane stopping a missile and asked whether Janet had fallen into the Quantum Realm and how it happened.
• Dr. Hope said Janet’s disappearance was deliberate, not an operating error, and asked how Xiang Qian knew details missing from S.H.I.E.L.D.’s files.
• Xiang Qian explained that he had pieced the story together and admitted he wanted answers in the Quantum Realm after someone had reminded him to pay attention to it.
• Dr. Hope asked whether Xiang Qian wanted to enter the Quantum Realm as soon as possible, and Xiang Qian confirmed that he did.

Xiang Qian negotiated with Dr. Pym, offering help against Darren Cross and a safe place to work in exchange for Pym’s cooperation. Pym remained wary, but Xiang Qian’s claims about Janet and the Quantum Realm shook his resistance as they agreed to deal with Lauren Krauss first.

• Dr. Pym demanded to know what Xiang Qian wanted and what he could offer, while Tony mocked him about Darren Cross and Hope.
• Xiang Qian warned Pym that his plan to infiltrate Krauss Industries could leave him and Hope hunted by powerful enemies afterward.
• Xiang Qian offered Pym a safe hiding place and technical equipment, then said they needed to verify the Quantum Realm and find an entrance.
• Xiang Qian suggested that Janet might have survived because time could pass differently in the Quantum Realm, deeply affecting Pym.
• Xiang Qian proposed dealing with Lauren Krauss before discussing their partnership further, and Pym realized Xiang Qian was also threatening to keep him within reach.

Xiang Qian helped Dr. Pym reclaim his company after Lauren Krauss’s schemes collapsed, but an intruder attacked the newly built Quantum Lab. Xiang Qian trapped Ava Starr, recognized her connection to Pym’s past, and decided to hold her until whoever sent her made contact.

• Tony and Xiang Qian undermined Lauren Krauss’s company, and Lauren tried to flee with the unfinished Wasp Suit before Xiang Qian imprisoned him in subspace.
• Xiang Qian gave the Wasp Suit to old Pym, who expected to return and lead the company as Pym Industries.
• Tony called Xiang Qian for help after a gray-and-white-clad intruder broke into the Quantum Lab and fought him.
• Xiang Qian sealed the building and captured the intruder, Ava Starr, in a looping spatial maze.
• Xiang Qian told Tony and old Pym that Ava’s phasing came from a particle experiment and that her father, Elihas Starr, had once worked with Pym before dying in an accident.
• Xiang Qian called Ava an innocent victim of Pym’s harsh treatment and proposed keeping her confined until her associates revealed themselves.

After Ava’s capture, Xiang Qian learned that Berkeley professor Bill Foster was helping her and sought to understand his connection to the break-in. Foster revealed that he was raising Ava as his daughter and hoped Pym’s quantum experiments could save her, leaving Xiang Qian aware of the tragic history behind Project Goliath.

• Bill Foster contacted Dr. Pym about Ava, and Xiang Qian and Tony identified him as a former Project Goliath scientist.
• Xiang Qian advised moving the laboratory and took charge of meeting Foster because Dr. Pym was poor at communicating with people.
• Foster admitted that he had asked Ava to watch Hope and that Ava broke into the laboratory to examine the planned quantum experiment.
• Foster explained that Ava’s molecular ruptures were worsening and that she needed treatment before her body collapsed.
• Foster told Xiang Qian that Ava was his daughter and recalled how he had brought Pym into Project Goliath, a decision he and Xiang Qian regarded as disastrous in other respects.

Xiang Qian helped Professor Foster arrange treatment preparations for Ava and began a Quantum Realm experiment with Dr. Pym. The experiment went wrong, and Dr. Pym returned with Janet Dane's mind entangled with his, leaving her with urgent information to share.

• Xiang Qian agreed to let Foster join the experiment and promised to design a treatment experiment for Ava in exchange for Foster's unwritten Project Goliath knowledge.
• Ava attacked Xiang Qian after he released her from Subspace, so he spun the space until she was too sick to fight; she then agreed to undergo an examination.
• Xiang Qian, Foster, Pym, and the others completed preparations for the Quantum Tunnel, and Dr. Pym volunteered to enter it first to find his wife.
• The experimental pod vanished, and Dr. Pym returned without it, using the Pym Particle regulator instead of the Quantum Tunnel.
• Hope greeted her father, but Xiang Qian realized that Janet Dane's mind had returned entangled with Dr. Pym's and invited her to deliver her urgent message.

Janet Dane gave Dr. Pym safe coordinates in the Quantum Realm, and Xiang Qian insisted on joining the mission to explore them. As Xiang Qian and Dr. Pym entered the Quantum Realm, Xiang Qian’s magical power expanded while his Infinity Stones stopped working.

• Janet Dane briefly took control of Dr. Pym’s body, gave the group coordinates to her hiding place, and said goodbye to Hope and the others.
• Dr. Pym and the group prepared a second experiment, but Xiang Qian insisted on joining so they could establish a forward base in the Quantum Realm.
• Dr. Pym reluctantly allowed Xiang Qian into the experimental pod, and the two traveled into the Quantum Realm.
• Xiang Qian felt his magical power break free of its restraints and spread through his body upon entering the Quantum Realm.
• Xiang Qian discovered that the Infinity Stones he carried could no longer provide any energy.

Xiang Qian discovered that a Rune signal in the Quantum Realm carried a message left by the Ancient One, apparently pointing to a person and possibly hinting that something was wrong with time. After Janet reacted warily to the symbol, Xiang finished tracing it and prepared to follow the signpost, describing its target as little more than a mailman to him.

• Old Pym reached the Quantum Realm, where he reunited with Janet after she stopped his body from shifting between reality and illusion.
• Xiang Qian sensed a recurring resonance with his Rune magic and realized it was transmitting a fixed pattern of Runes into his mind.
• Xiang Qian connected the signal to a message from the Ancient One and wondered whether it indicated that something was wrong with time.
• Xiang Qian questioned Janet about the symbol, recognized that she was lying, and explained that he believed it was a signpost left by his teacher.
• Janet accused Xiang Qian of seeking a universe-ruling schemer, while he finished tracing the symbol and said its intended person was probably just a mailman to him.

Xiang Qian refused to leave the Quantum Realm with the Pyms, fearing the magical message from the Ancient One might disappear and that its discovery had drawn the attention of powerful beings. After a clash of priorities, he subdued Janet and Dr. Xu Ai, then sensed the message-bearing rune approaching as the feared Postman arrived.

• Janet insisted that Xiang Qian leave the Quantum Realm with her and Dr. Xu Ai, but Xiang Qian refused because he needed to reach the Ancient One's message.
• Xiang Qian bound the experimental pod with Magic Chains and drew a Magic Circle around it and the Pyms, while Janet advanced and attacked him with energy blasts.
• Xiang Qian absorbed Janet's attacks through his Magic Embodiment and struck her with Dream Magic, leaving her frozen in place.
• Dr. Xu Ai tried to intervene, but Xiang Qian put him into a dream as well.
• Xiang Qian sensed the rune carrying the Ancient One's message approaching and recognized that the Postman had come to deliver it.

Xiang Qian used White Magic to destroy the Conqueror of the Quantum Realm’s army and capture his command ship, then questioned him about the Sorcerer Supreme marked by the Ancient One. The Conqueror admitted he did not know the man’s identity, leaving Xiang Qian to investigate the mysterious rune-user.

• The Conqueror’s army arrived and indiscriminately attacked everything around Xiang Qian’s magic circle, but the circle remained intact.
• Xiang Qian recognized the scar on the Conqueror’s face as a magical mark left by the Ancient One and questioned him about Asgard and the unknown rune-user.
• Xiang Qian’s White Magic eroded the army’s weapons and soldiers, overcame the command ship’s shield, and pulled the ship from the sky.
• Xiang Qian bound the Conqueror and asked about his encounter with the mysterious Sorcerer Supreme.
• The Conqueror said the man was neither Odin nor Thor, though he used Bolimei script, and claimed he had killed more than one Sorcerer Supreme.

Xiang Qian questioned Kang the Conqueror about the attack that left him stranded in the Quantum Realm, while using magic to uncover a message hidden in Kang’s scar. After learning how Kang had been attacked and lost equipment, Xiang Qian restrained him and prepared to read the letter from the Ancient One.

• Xiang Qian asked Kang the Conqueror when and how he had been attacked, and Kang explained that an assailant had knocked him unconscious and left a scar on his face.
• Xiang Qian identified the scar as part of a complex magical array and suspected that the attack had been carefully planned.
• Kang the Conqueror said that mercenaries had attacked him after he woke, forcing him to flee in his ship after losing some equipment.
• Xiang Qian questioned Kang about his conflict with Janet and inferred that it had helped leave him stranded in the Quantum Realm.
• Xiang Qian summoned a magical image of the Ancient One, ended the interrogation, and restrained Kang with a White Magic spell that froze his soul.

Xiang Qian met a brief spirit-fragment of the Ancient One, who explained how Eternity brought the Soul Universe into his soul and why it had become a source of conflict. The Ancient One suggested Eternity had developed a Personality and that Xiang Qian’s soul now stood between Eternity and the universe he sought.

• Xiang Qian reunited with the Ancient One’s incomplete spirit, which warned that its fifteen-minute fragment would not last long.
• The Ancient One explained that Eternity had used the Space Stone and his own power to bring the Soul Universe from another world into their universe, where it fused with Xiang Qian’s soul when he was an infant.
• The Ancient One said Eternity’s use of power had disrupted spacetime and likely alerted Death, who opposed his actions and clashed with him.
• The Ancient One connected Death’s description of Eternity as fearful to the possibility that Eternity had developed a Personality, much as Xiang Qian had resisted being ruled by his Divinity.
• Xiang Qian reasoned that Eternity’s fear might stem from a desire to survive and that Xiang Qian’s soul was now the final obstacle to Eternity acquiring the Soul Universe.