Recaps

Skye escaped an FBI sting during a monster attack in New York and was rescued by Xiang Qian, who brought her to the Wude Group’s New York branch. Xiang Qian returned to Harlem to observe the two battling monsters, viewing them as a chance to learn about the U.S. military’s biological soldier research.

• Skye struck an FBI agent with her backpack, escaped the café during a monster attack, and fled into an alley.
• Xiang Qian appeared beside the exhausted Skye, teased her about calling for help, and explained that the military might know what the monsters were.
• Xiang Qian teleported Skye to the Wude Group’s New York branch, where she watched the Harlem battle on television while he left to investigate.
• Xiang Qian concealed himself near the battlefield as the two giant monsters fought through Harlem.
• Xiang Qian recalled the Spear Bureau’s files on U.S. military programs to replicate Captain America and considered the monsters a valuable opportunity for research.

Xiang Qian watched Hulk defeat the dark green monster during the Harlem battle, then examined the Iron Man Armor after Tony was injured. As U.S. soldiers moved in, Xiang Qian opened a Mirror Dimension and took the unconscious Hulk away.

• Xiang Qian used soul sight to determine that the dark green monster’s mind was being warped by its power, while Hulk had a divided but still human personality.
• Iron Man arrived and attacked the monsters, but his weapons barely affected them, and the dark green monster accidentally struck Tony into the ruins where Xiang Qian was hiding.
• Tony recognized Xiang Qian, complained that his armor had been damaged, and discussed designing armor for close combat while Xiang Qian watched the fight continue.
• Hulk defeated the dark green monster and stopped fighting when a young woman appeared, but he eventually left her behind.
• Xiang Qian told Tony he intended to take Hulk, then opened a Mirror Dimension and made the unconscious monster disappear before the U.S. soldiers could secure him.

Xiang Qian explained to Zheng Xian how Kamar-Taj had stabilized his mysterious childhood illness and why his life was tied to Earth’s survival. He revealed that his teacher had recently begun making unusual secret arrangements and suggested Kamar-Taj needed help from the secular world.

• Xiang Qian took the captured Hulk to Zheng Xian, who criticized the idea of treating soldiers as weapons while Xiang Qian extracted samples with Kamar-Taj magic.
• Zheng Xian pressed Xiang Qian about why the Sorcerer Supreme had taken him as a student, and Xiang Qian connected her intervention to his childhood illness.
• Xiang Qian explained that his soul could repair his body and that he had endured infections from 2,173 viruses, gradually building immunity.
• Xiang Qian told Zheng Xian that damage to his soul could destroy or manifest his Soul Universe and endanger Earth.
• Xiang Qian revealed that his teacher had recently been acting strangely and said Kamar-Taj needed help from the secular world.

Xiang Qian asked Zheng Xian to help find the Kamar-Taj traitor Kaecilius, then investigated the Eyeless Man and discovered a possible connection to mutant genes. After arranging more tests, Xiang Qian returned to New York, where Skye confronted him for leaving her confined for six hours.

• Xiang Qian told Zheng Xian that a Kamar-Taj traitor was destabilizing the magical world and asked the Spear Bureau to help search for him in the mundane world.
• Zheng Xian agreed to help locate the traitor, while Xiang Qian kept his deeper suspicions about the Sorcerer Supreme to himself.
• Xiang Qian returned to his Kunlun Mountain base and found that the Eyeless Man's gene test had detected a mutation in the same position as a mutant X-gene.
• Xiang Qian drew more blood from Gordon for repeat testing as Gordon accused him of exploiting mutants and stealing supernatural powers.
• Xiang Qian returned to the New York branch, where Skye angrily confronted him for leaving her alone and unable to use her devices for six hours.

Skye woke beside Xiang Qian after their night together, but Tony’s call interrupted them with intelligence about Hammer Industries and Ivan Vanko. Xiang Qian explained his concerns about the military’s ambitions, while Tony identified Vanko’s schematics as plans for combat robots rather than armor.

• Skye woke embarrassed beside Xiang Qian, and Tony called to complain that Xiang Qian had left him at the scene of the monster attack.
• Tony told Xiang Qian that S.H.I.E.L.D. had reported Hammer Industries bought palladium and supplied Ivan Vanko’s armor schematics.
• Xiang Qian explained that he was working with people behind him to prevent the U.S. military from deploying armor and triggering a global arms race.
• Xiang Qian warned Tony that Vanko’s ability to build an Arc Reactor made the military more likely to seize Tony’s armor, and described using an Electromagnetic Rifle to limit its perceived capabilities.
• Tony examined Vanko’s schematics and concluded that Vanko was building human-shaped combat robots as battlefield weapon platforms, not armor.
• Tony said Justin Hammer would not realize Vanko had deceived him until the first unit came off the production line.

Xiang Qian warned Tony that Ivan Vanko planned to attack him with Hammer Industries’ combat robots, then visited Stark Industries to test his EMP Rifle on Colonel Rhodes’s military armor. The chapter ended as Xiang Qian fired despite Rhodes’s last-minute protest.

• Xiang Qian analyzed Ivan Vanko’s robot plans and warned Tony that Vanko would likely attempt a public, violent attack using robots supplied through Justin Hammer.
• Xiang Qian spent the morning with Skye, then went to Stark Industries that afternoon with his EMP Rifle.
• Xiang Qian met Tony and Colonel Rhodes, who was wearing a silver-white armor redesigned for military use.
• Xiang Qian aimed the rifle at Rhodes’s armor, ignored Rhodes’s final warning, and fired.

Xiang Qian and Tony tested Colonel Rhodes's armor, leaving its helmet and neck systems damaged, before learning that Hammer Industries would modify the armor for a weapons demonstration. They planned to use the installation as a chance to plant a Trojan horse in Hammer's network, and Xiang Qian revealed that Pepper's former assistant had joined Hammer as Justin Hammer's new assistant.

• Xiang Qian fired an EMP Rifle at Rhodes's armor, which protected most of it but disabled the open faceplate and neck systems.
• Pepper told Tony that Hammer Industries had reserved an expo venue for a product announcement, and Tony and Xiang Qian linked its timing to Ivan Vanko's weaponized robots.
• Rhodes said the military planned to have Hammer modify his armor, while Tony refused to install its weapons himself.
• Tony and Xiang Qian created a Trojan horse to enter Hammer Industries' network when its technicians connected the weapons system to Rhodes's armor.
• Xiang Qian told Tony that Pepper's former assistant had become Justin Hammer's new assistant.

Xiang Qian and Tony Stark traced Hammer Industries’ production-line systems after their Trojan program reached them, uncovering Ivan Vanko’s plan to build armed robots instead of wearable armor. They left the system partly cracked and speculated about how Justin Hammer had been fooled.

• Pepper brought Tony breakfast, while Xiang Qian woke after spending the night drinking and talking with Tony about the Hulkbuster Armor.
• Tony and Xiang Qian waited for the Trojan program to signal from Rhodey’s repaired armor, and Xiang Qian refused Tony’s suggestion to involve Skye because her troubles were too dangerous.
• Jarvis detected the Trojan’s signal, but Tony found Hammer Industries’ systems written in a little-known Slavic programming language, so Xiang Qian retrieved an old reference from Wude Group’s servers.
• The reference reduced the estimated cracking time, and Tony and Xiang Qian accessed Hammer Industries’ production-line controls.
• Xiang Qian and Tony discovered that Ivan Vanko’s final blueprints replaced wearable armor with armed robots, and they discussed how Ivan might persuade Justin Hammer to accept the change.

Xiang Qian and Tony prepared to expose Ivan Vanko and Justin Hammer’s plans, but the Ancient One interrupted with a new assignment: monitor Thor’s arrival on Earth and his trial to become a king. The chapter left Xiang Qian waiting to hear why the Ancient One specifically wanted him to watch Thor.

• Xiang Qian and Tony seized control of Ivan Vanko’s robots, then discovered Vanko was also tampering with Rhodey’s armor and planned to use it as a weapon.
• Tony and Xiang Qian agreed to let Vanko’s attack expose Hammer Industries, prepared Electromagnetic Bombs, and planned to attend Hammer’s product launch.
• The Ancient One appeared in Xiang Qian’s office through the Mirror Dimension and told him that an Asgardian royal would arrive on Earth the next day.
• The Ancient One explained that Odin had asked Kamar-Taj to witness Thor’s growth into a king, and Xiang Qian inferred that Odin was running out of time.
• Xiang Qian questioned why Thor was being sent to Earth, and the Ancient One said Earth’s independence would give the prince a genuine trial.
• The Ancient One told Xiang Qian to keep an eye on Thor, and he waited for her to explain further.

Xiang Qian learned that the Ancient One would leave Kamar-Taj in a few years and refused her offer to become the next Sorcerer Supreme, though she assigned him to meet Thor in New Mexico. After Thor’s reckless attack on Jotunheim brought Asgard to the brink of war, Odin stripped him of Mjolnir and sent him to Earth.

• The Ancient One discussed Asgard’s request for friendly relations with Xiang Qian, who inferred that both Asgard and Kamar-Taj faced weakness.
• Xiang Qian asked whether the Ancient One was going to die, and she asked him to become the next Sorcerer Supreme; he refused.
• The Ancient One told Xiang Qian to go to New Mexico at noon to meet Thor and establish ties with Asgard.
• After the Ancient One left, Xiang Qian brooded over her approaching departure and his fear of facing the magical world without her protection.
• Thor urged Odin to wage war on the Frost Giants after his failed expedition to Jotunheim, so Odin stripped him of Mjolnir and sent him to Earth.

Xiang Qian watched Thor arrive on Earth through the Bifrost and saw him get stunned and carried off by Earthlings. Afterward, he collected a lock of Thor’s hair and began studying the Bifrost’s imprint.

• Xiang Qian monitored Mjolnir’s landing site while waiting for the Bifrost to bring Thor to Earth.
• Xiang Qian used a portal to reach the Bifrost’s landing site and found Thor with three Earthlings.
• Thor loudly proclaimed his identity and called for Heimdall while Xiang Qian watched from the Mirror Dimension.
• One of the Earthling women stunned Thor, and the group loaded him into their vehicle and drove away.
• Xiang Qian secretly took a lock of Thor’s hair and studied the Bifrost’s imprint.

Xiang Qian caught Loki deceiving Thor and confronted him when Loki tried to steal Mjolnir. While proving that Loki’s story about Odin’s death was false, Xiang Qian unexpectedly lifted the hammer, leaving both of them stunned.

• Xiang Qian noticed an unfamiliar magical presence in the interrogation room and discovered Loki using illusion magic to deceive Thor.
• Xiang Qian watched Loki fail to lift Mjolnir, then confronted him after the Ancient One disrupted the Mirror Dimension and forced him to reveal himself.
• Loki attacked Xiang Qian with a duplicate, but Xiang Qian outmaneuvered him and held him at spearpoint.
• Xiang Qian exposed Loki’s lie about Odin’s death by pointing out that Odin’s enchantment on Mjolnir was still active.
• Xiang Qian challenged Loki to lift Mjolnir, then picked up the hammer himself and stared in shock.

Xiang Qian lifted Mjolnir, revealing that he had earned its approval, while Loki failed to do the same. Trapped in the Mirror Dimension and unable to fool or defeat Xiang Qian, Loki tried to call Heimdall to rescue him, but nothing happened.

• Xiang Qian lifted Mjolnir twice, causing storm clouds to gather, then put it back while Loki failed to lift it.
• S.H.I.E.L.D. researchers watched the hammer rise and fall without detecting any cause and argued over what they had witnessed.
• The Ancient One told Odin she had used Mjolnir to test Xiang Qian, and Odin praised the mage’s fear of responsibility.
• Xiang Qian confronted Loki about sneaking to Earth, attacking him, and claiming he had come to visit Thor.
• Loki claimed he had a witness and shouted for Heimdall to send him back, but remained trapped in the Mirror Dimension.

Loki explained Heimdall’s ability to see and hear across the Nine Realms, unknowingly giving Xiang Qian valuable information about Asgard. The chapter ended with Xiang Qian using the revelation to fill gaps in Kamar-Taj’s scattered records.

• Loki worried that Heimdall had deliberately left him stranded and tried to explain why he had received no reply.
• Xiang Qian casually asked Loki about Heimdall, and Loki revealed that Heimdall could see across the Nine Realms and hear sounds from anywhere within them.
• Xiang Qian recognized that Loki had disclosed a crucial Asgardian defense capability, while Odin could only sigh at the careless revelation.
• The chapter described how Kamar-Taj had pieced together its disorganized knowledge of Asgard from accounts by visiting Aesir and generations of research.

At Hammer Industries’ Stark Expo launch, Xiang Qian prepared for Ivan Vanko’s attack and secured S.H.I.E.L.D.’s authorization to use weapons. Vanko seized control of the event’s robots and took the audience hostage, while Xiang Qian and Tony Stark planned their response.

• After learning that Ms. Jiaying had come looking for him, Xiang Qian told his staff to protect Skye and report her to the Spear Bureau, then continued to Hammer Industries’ launch.
• At the launch, Xiang Qian warned Pepper Potts to leave, and she departed with Happy.
• Xiang Qian called Nick Fury and persuaded him to authorize his security team to use Electromagnetic Rifles during the expected attack.
• Ivan Vanko hijacked the event’s screens and Hammer’s robots, trapped the audience under gunfire, and demanded that Tony Stark arrive within ten minutes.
• Xiang Qian contacted Tony, who reported no casualties and warned that the robots would target an aerial approach; Xiang Qian dismissed the danger because Hammer Industries had made their weapons.

Tony Stark and Xiang Qian defeated Hammer’s weaponized robots and freed Colonel Rhodes from remote control, but Ivan Vanko arrived in a giant armor suit. Xiang Qian confronted Vanko, and a volley of Electromagnetic Rifles fired as the standoff began.

• Tony Stark arrived, deflected Hammer’s Ex-Wife missile, and disabled groups of robots with Xiang Qian’s electromagnetic pulse bombs.
• Xiang Qian’s forces stopped the remaining robots, and Tony hacked the Mark Armor to restore Colonel Rhodes’s control.
• Tony lured incoming robots into a turning maneuver, where Xiang Qian’s riflemen shot down most of them and Tony destroyed the rest.
• Ivan Vanko arrived in oversized armor as the crowd fled, while Justin Hammer publicly cursed him and admitted his involvement in Vanko’s escape.
• Xiang Qian ordered Vanko to surrender, and more than a dozen Electromagnetic Rifles fired at him.

Xiang Qian and Tony defeated Ivan Vanko by disabling his armor and preventing him from detonating the robots, then erased the technical data stored at Hammer Industries. The chapter ended with Xiang Qian, Tony, and Colonel Rhodes raising their glasses above Manhattan.

• Xiang Qian ordered the bodyguards to fire a second and third volley, whose kinetic force disabled Vanko's armor and left him mortally wounded.
• Tony and Rhodes freed themselves from Vanko's plasma whips, while Vanko realized his armor had been defeated by the EMP Rifle's full capabilities.
• Xiang Qian warned Tony that Vanko could detonate the robots, but the detonation command had already been terminated, and Vanko died without triggering an explosion.
• Tony formatted Hammer Industries' servers repeatedly, destroying Vanko's technical data before his death.
• Xiang Qian credited Black Widow for helping reboot Rhodes's armor, teased her over the phone, and then raised a glass with Tony and Rhodes on Stark Tower's rooftop.

After the Stark Expo battle, Xiang Qian refused S.H.I.E.L.D. and the U.S. military’s requests to buy EMP weapons, but offered Nick Fury a trade involving the Tesseract. In New Mexico, Coulson brought Jane Foster in to help investigate Mjolnir and the rainbow bridge, just as the bridge appeared again.

• Black Widow asked Xiang Qian to sell Nick Fury EMP Rifles and First Kiss weapons, but Xiang Qian refused the small order and offered to trade weapons or blueprints for access to the Tesseract.
• Coulson reviewed calculations showing that an unseen person appeared to have lifted and replaced Mjolnir, though the agents could not explain how it happened.
• Coulson summoned Jane Foster and Selvig to explain their theory that the aurora storms were wormholes, offering to return their research materials and release Thor if they helped.
• Jane explained that her research required another appearance of the rainbow bridge, and Coulson’s monitors soon detected a matching energy fluctuation.
• A pillar of seven-colored light descended near the New Mexico research base.

Xiang Qian arrived in New Mexico as the Destroyer attacked the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, then revealed his authority under the Sacred Covenant and stopped the armor. Loki recognized the sorcerer and realized he had violated the covenant and caused himself another serious problem.

• Xiang Qian entered the scene through a portal and watched Coulson learn about Thor's exile and Loki's actions.
• The Destroyer arrived and attacked the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, while the Asgardian warriors fought it and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents suffered heavy casualties.
• Xiang Qian identified himself to Coulson as the person authorized to handle the emergency and ordered everyone to retreat.
• Xiang Qian pushed Hogun aside and approached the Destroyer, which stopped moving in front of him.
• Xiang Qian told Loki that he had violated the Sacred Covenant, and Loki recognized the Kamar-Taj sorcerer from their earlier encounter.

Xiang Qian confronted Loki’s Destroyer Armor to uphold the Sacred Covenant and demonstrate Kamar-Taj’s strength. After severing the Destroyer’s right arm, he faced its escalating power, and the chapter ended with the armor standing unharmed after an aerial strike.

• Xiang Qian rejected Loki’s demand to surrender Thor and the four Asgardians, arguing that Loki lacked legitimate authority and had violated the Sacred Covenant.
• Loki ordered the Destroyer to attack, and Xiang Qian blocked its punches with magical shields before redirecting its laser through portals to strike its energy core.
• Xiang Qian transformed his shields into a cleaver and severed the Destroyer’s right arm, then teleported the limb away to prevent its restoration.
• The Destroyer’s magical energy surged after the arm was severed, while Xiang Qian realized its power was unlocking beyond its previously limited state.
• Agent Coulson ordered everyone to retreat as an aerial strike approached, and two explosions hit the Destroyer, which emerged unharmed and stood back up.

Xiang Qian restrained the Destroyer while it drained energy from the surroundings, then took up Mjolnir and destroyed it with a lightning strike. Thor and the Asgardians watched in shock as the hammer chose Xiang Qian and the Destroyer was reduced to fragments.

• Xiang Qian explained that the Destroyer absorbed energy and warned that it could eventually strip New Mexico of life, then restrained it with magical chains.
• Two Maverick missiles approached, and Xiang Qian redirected them through portals, warning Coulson that conventional attacks only strengthened the Destroyer.
• Xiang Qian identified himself as a sorcerer from Kamar-Taj assigned to oversee Thor's exile and said he was waiting to confirm Asgard's stance before destroying the armor.
• Xiang Qian summoned Mjolnir, which flew past Thor and landed in his hand as lightning gathered around it.
• Xiang Qian struck the Destroyer with Mjolnir, shattering the armor and leaving a crater filled with metal fragments.

After Xiang Qian returned Mjolnir to Thor, Thor regained the hammer’s recognition, but the Asgardians could not return to Asgard until the Bifrost finally took them away. Back at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, Darcy asked to learn magic and Coulson questioned Xiang Qian about Kamar-Taj’s restrictions.

• Xiang Qian offered Mjolnir back to Thor, who overcame his fear, lifted it, and regained his armor and powers.
• Thor learned that magic’s approval could not be explained precisely, while Sif urged him to return to Asgard and confront Loki.
• After Thor’s call to Heimdall went unanswered, the Bifrost abruptly carried the Asgardians away before Thor could finish speaking to Jane Foster.
• Xiang Qian made the Destroyer’s scattered fragments sink into the ground, then told Darcy that she lacked the talent to learn magic.
• Coulson asked whether Kamar-Taj taught magic without restriction, and Xiang Qian replied that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were on its restricted list.

Xiang Qian rebuffed S.H.I.E.L.D. and confronted Nick Fury over the agency’s conduct and ignorance of magic. He revealed that the Sacred Covenant had been signed in 1014 and copies had been sent to nations of the time, leaving Fury with clues to seek out its surviving copy in the United States.

• Xiang Qian told Coulson that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were barred from studying magic and said Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. were listed as threats to Earth.
• Nick Fury arrived and traded barbs with Xiang Qian, who described Kamar-Taj’s assessments of divine races and demons and accused Fury of falling short of a demon’s wickedness.
• Xiang Qian told Coulson and Fury that S.H.I.E.L.D. had sealed away objects connected to demons, then dismissed Fury’s demand for information about the Sacred Covenant.
• Coulson inferred that the Sacred Covenant could restrain divine races, and Xiang Qian confirmed it had been signed by the gods in 1014.
• Xiang Qian explained that copies of the covenant had been sent to nations and tribes, naming surviving copies in China and the Orthodox Church and suggesting Fury seek the American copy on an Indian reservation.

Xiang Qian confronted Nick Fury over S.H.I.E.L.D.’s arrogance, past crises, and the personal harm its actions had caused him. He left after warning Fury not to study the Tesseract again, vanishing before Fury could respond.

• Xiang Qian mocked Nick Fury by pointing to the shared history of Native Americans and Black people, then explained that his hostility toward S.H.I.E.L.D. came from its repeated role in creating global crises.
• Xiang Qian named S.H.I.E.L.D.’s involvement in awakening an alien beneath Mount Everest, the South American quantum experiment, and the Kree fleet’s arrival as reasons for Kamar-Taj’s distrust.
• Coulson recalled that Project PEGASUS drew the Kree to Earth and that a Tesseract radiation burst had affected Xiang Qian as an infant.
• Xiang Qian revealed that the South American experiment had opened a passage to the Hell Dimension, and that Kamar-Taj had stopped Lucifer at the cost of a sorcerer’s hands.
• Xiang Qian urged Fury to stop pursuing supernatural forces, warned him against studying the Tesseract, and vanished.

After a Kamar-Taj mage vanished from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s base, Nick Fury learned that the mage's spatial power might transfer an entire piece of land or even a planet. Fury left for Los Angeles to deal with Tony Stark, while Xiang Qian returned to Hong Kong and met with Ms. Jiaying.

• Nick Fury questioned the researchers about their failure to detect the Kamar-Taj mage before he disappeared.
• The head researcher compared the mage's gravitational readings with Nightcrawler's and Azazel's, concluding that the mage might transfer the destination beneath his feet rather than just his own body.
• Fury asked whether the mage could move a continent or planet, and the researcher said that was a possible interpretation of his conjecture.
• Fury considered S.H.I.E.L.D.'s strained relations with Kamar-Taj and left for Los Angeles to meet Tony Stark about Hammer Industries and Ivan Vanko.
• Xiang Qian returned to Hong Kong and greeted Ms. Jiaying in a reception room.