Recaps

Lu Xi introduced generous pay and retirement benefits for Kamar-Taj’s mages, then returned to his Hell Dimension to turn Laufey into a source of magical energy. Laufey became Kamar-Taj’s oversized power bank, supplied by the Casket of Ancient Winters.

• Lu Xi announced salaries and a retirement system for mages, then entrusted Kaecilius with handling the benefits.
• Lu Xi remembered Laufey and went to the Hell Dimension, while Mordo showed Natasha, Barton, and Strange around Kamar-Taj.
• Strange recognized Lu Xi as the Angel who had beaten the Hulk and recalled losing a race to him.
• Lu Xi bound Laufey in formations that extracted his frost magic and converted it into elemental magic for contracted mages.
• Lu Xi placed the Casket of Ancient Winters in the formations to replenish Laufey, extending his usefulness as Kamar-Taj’s power source to at least a hundred years.

Lu Xi discovered that Peggy Carter had aged because she had depleted the Divine Power he gave her, then used her restoration and information about Bucky to persuade Steve to trade his soul. Steve accepted, hoping Lu Xi would reunite him with Bucky, clear Bucky’s past, settle his conflict with Tony Stark, and restore Peggy’s youth.

• Lu Xi returned to the villa and found middle-aged Peggy Carter accusing him of breaking their deal to preserve her youth.
• Lu Xi determined Peggy had used up much of her Divine Power while handling supernatural cases, and he refused to restore her without a new bargain.
• Lu Xi revealed that Bucky Barnes was a Hydra agent and showed Steve and Peggy footage of Bucky killing Howard and Maria Stark.
• Lu Xi promised to reunite Steve with Bucky, clear Bucky’s identity and past, resolve the conflict with Tony Stark, and restore Peggy’s youth in exchange for Steve’s soul.
• Steve agreed to trade his soul with Lu Xi.

Steve traded his soul to Lu Xi so Peggy could be saved and Bucky could be brought back. Lu Xi restored Peggy’s youth, freed Bucky from Hydra, and left Steve, Peggy, and Bucky together while keeping Lu Xi’s knowledge of Hydra secret.

• Steve insisted on signing Lu Xi’s Soul Contract, saying he wanted to make up for failing to save Bucky and to help Peggy.
• The contract greatly increased Lu Xi’s power, allowing him to see across the Universe and confront a Watcher beyond its edge.
• Lu Xi opened a portal, pulled Bucky out of a Hydra base, and learned that Bucky had recovered from Hydra’s brainwashing.
• Lu Xi erased Bucky’s old records and pardoned his past crimes, then used Divine Power to restore Peggy’s youth and offered her magical training.
• Steve, Peggy, and Bucky left together, and Lu Xi told Bucky to pretend he remembered nothing about Hydra.

After gaining preliminary control of Earth-19998, Lu Xi questioned the Watcher about his new Cosmic Authority and learned that he might eventually control every Authority in the Universe. The Watcher gave Lu Xi a way to contact him before leaving to observe activity in another Universe.

• Lu Xi discovered the designation [Earth-19998] on the Universe's barrier and confronted the Watcher outside it.
• The Watcher explained that Lu Xi had gained preliminary control of Cosmic Authority, potentially giving him the chance to control all Authority in the Universe.
• Lu Xi realized that his soul contracts had to align with the Universe's Destiny Authority and could not be secured through loopholes or deception.
• Lu Xi persuaded the Watcher to leave him a way to make contact, and the Watcher drew a symbol that could serve as a cross-dimensional phone number or summoning method.
• The Watcher sensed activity in another Universe and departed to observe it.

Peggy Carter and Steve concluded that Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and wrongly identified Nick Fury as the chief suspect, then set out to expose him. Peggy overheard Sharon Carter discussing them and knocked her unconscious, while Fury's voice came from Sharon's fallen phone.

• Peggy Carter used S.H.I.E.L.D.-issued ballpoint pens found at a Hydra base as evidence that Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D., while Bucky stayed silent about what he knew.
• Steve and Peggy blamed Nick Fury for Hydra's presence, citing his destruction of Steve's report and unexplained missing S.H.I.E.L.D. funds.
• Steve, Peggy, and Bucky agreed on a plan to expose Fury and left the apartment.
• Peggy heard someone discussing her and Steve on a phone, broke into the room, and found Agent 13, Sharon Carter.
• Sharon drew her gun, but Peggy knocked her unconscious, and Nick Fury's voice came from the phone asking for a report.

Peggy, Steve, and Bucky mistook Sharon for a Hydra infiltrator and planned to expose Hydra inside S.H.I.E.L.D. by having Steve use its code phrase. Meanwhile, Lu Xi mastered his increased power and passed through the mysterious cosmic barrier.

• Peggy smashed Sharon’s phone, accused her of spying for Nick Fury, and had Steve and Bucky tie her to a chair.
• Peggy decided they had to act quickly and explained that Hydra agents used the phrase “Hail Hydra” to identify one another.
• Peggy told Steve to pose as a Hydra agent and test Alexander Pierce first, while she secretly supported him with a concealed camera.
• Steve entered S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters to approach Pierce as Peggy and Bucky waited nearby.
• Lu Xi mastered his new power in the void and passed through the cosmic barrier.

Lu Xi discovered that Universe 19998 empowered him as his home territory and learned to combine its Cosmic Authority with the boosts from Hell and Asgard. On Earth, Steve and Peggy tested Pierce for Hydra ties, but their staged accusation left Pierce confused and claiming that Nick Fury was Hydra.

• Lu Xi tested his power beyond Universe 19998 and found that its enhancement faded the farther he traveled from it.
• Lu Xi combined the Universe's authority with the power of Hell and Asgard, transforming his Lord's Throne and strengthening himself.
• Lu Xi returned to Earth, deciding to seek other protagonist-level souls before venturing beyond his Universe.
• Steve told Pierce that Hydra remnants had rescued him and declared, “Hail Hydra,” but Pierce panicked and drew his pistol.
• Peggy entered through the window, judged that Pierce did not believe Steve and was not Hydra, and explained that they were testing him for infiltrators.
• Pierce reacted with feigned shock to Peggy's explanation and exclaimed that Nick Fury was Hydra.

Peggy Carter and Steve recruited Pierce and his S.H.I.E.L.D. contacts to investigate what they believed were Nick Fury’s Hydra agents, unknowingly setting them against Fury’s loyalists. Lu Xi learned of the operation and ordered Pierce to let it proceed while preparing his next moves.

• Peggy asked Pierce to use his influence in S.H.I.E.L.D. to identify Hydra infiltrators, and Pierce summoned Rumlow, Sitwell, and Garrett.
• Pierce presented Rumlow, Sitwell, and Garrett as trusted agents, and Peggy and Steve accepted their shocked reactions as proof they were not Hydra.
• Pierce directed the three men to compile files on suspicious personnel, while Peggy and Steve escorted Sitwell away to protect him.
• Rumlow silently asked Pierce what Lord Lucifer had said, and Pierce indicated that he would seek instructions.
• Pierce called Lu Xi, who already knew what had happened and instructed him to continue the operation; Lu Xi then turned his attention toward Nick Fury.

Nick Fury uncovered that Hydra had infiltrated and taken control of S.H.I.E.L.D. after breaking into Bucky Barnes's hidden file archive. He escaped with Melinda May, Sharon Carter, Barton, and Natasha through a portal to Kamar-Taj, leaving the story with Fury's warning beacon activated.

• Nick Fury bypassed the archive lock and discovered that Bucky Barnes had assassinated Howard Stark and his wife, with Agent Sitwell helping Bucky hide.
• Fury found files linking Alexander Pierce, Baron Strucker, Countess Valentina, Gideon Malick, and Baron Zemo to Hydra and realized Hydra had taken over S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Melinda May brought Sharon Carter to Fury, and Sharon reported seeing Peggy Carter and Steve bring a man with a metal arm to their apartment before Peggy knocked her out.
• Fury contacted Barton, who said he and Natasha could not yet use advanced combat magic, but could portal to places Natasha had visited.
• Natasha opened a portal to Kamar-Taj, and Fury, Melinda, Sharon, Barton, and Natasha escaped after Fury pressed his pager.

Nick Fury led his allies to the Southwestern Branch to obtain energy weapons for a raid on S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, where Hydra had taken control. They encountered Loki carrying the Tesseract, and after Loki knocked them unconscious, Lu Xi prevented the unstable energy from exploding as Peggy Carter, Steve, Pierce, and Rumlow flew in to capture Nick Fury.

• Nick Fury explained that Hydra controlled most of S.H.I.E.L.D. and decided to obtain energy weapons from the Southwestern Branch before attacking headquarters.
• Nick Fury’s group and Coulson fought their way into the base, collected energy weapons, and learned that the Tesseract was dangerously unstable.
• Nick Fury led the group deeper into the base, where they found Loki holding the Tesseract and a scepter.
• Loki struck Nick Fury’s group unconscious and left with the Tesseract and mind-controlled Dr. Erik.
• Lu Xi stopped the Tesseract’s unstable energy from causing an explosion, while Peggy Carter, Steve, Pierce, and Rumlow flew toward the base to capture Nick Fury.

Lu Xi intervened in the clash between Nick Fury’s group and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, after Pierce convinced Steve and Peggy Carter that Fury was Hydra. He revealed himself in the hall and eyed everyone as potential contract targets.

• Nick Fury’s group woke up, found Natasha unable to open a portal, and headed for the exit as Steve, Peggy Carter, Pierce, and Rumlow’s team approached.
• Nick Fury accused Pierce of being Hydra, but Pierce persuaded Steve and Peggy Carter that Fury was lying and that he was the Hydra captain.
• Steve led Rumlow’s team into the hall, and the two groups began fighting until Pierce relayed Lu Xi’s order to take them alive.
• Melinda May attacked Rumlow, but Lu Xi appeared in the hall and distracted Rumlow long enough for May to knock him down.
• Nick Fury asked whether Lu Xi had orchestrated events, while Lu Xi surveyed the agents as potential targets for contracts.

Lu Xi revealed that Hydra answered to him and exposed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s dealings with the Skrulls and the Tesseract, leaving Nick Fury's group overwhelmed by the accusations and the threat of a coming interstellar war. Lu Xi then urged them to surrender to Hydra, while Pierce argued that S.H.I.E.L.D. was the real betrayer of Earth.

• Lu Xi admitted that Pierce and Hydra now answered to him, prompting Steve and Peggy Carter to join Nick Fury's side.
• Lu Xi accused S.H.I.E.L.D. of betraying Earth by concealing its dealings with the Skrulls, and Nick Fury explained the alien refugees' invasion plot and the agency's motives for working with them.
• Steve and Peggy condemned Nick Fury for collaborating with aliens, and Lu Xi revealed that Tesseract research had sent a signal announcing Earth's readiness for interstellar war.
• Coulson reminded Lu Xi that his soul-trading deal with Nick Fury included resolving the Skrull matter, and Lu Xi replied that he had not yet broken the agreement.
• Nick Fury asked Lu Xi what he wanted, and Lu Xi called on S.H.I.E.L.D. to surrender to Hydra as Pierce claimed Hydra controlled most of the agency and had not betrayed Earth.

Lu Xi forced Nick Fury and his fellow agents to choose between signing soul contracts and being branded traitors, then promised them access to Kamar-Taj’s magical power. The group accepted the contracts, Coulson became S.H.I.E.L.D.’s new director, and Natasha demonstrated her newfound ability to cast magical shields.

• Pierce warned Nick Fury’s group that refusing to surrender would leave Earth vulnerable to supernatural crises and an approaching interstellar war.
• Lu Xi offered the agents a choice between signing soul contracts and joining Pierce’s S.H.I.E.L.D. or being exposed as traitors and blamed for the Skrull conflict.
• Nick Fury, Barton, Melinda May, Sharon Carter, Coulson, and Natasha accepted the contracts, and Lu Xi named Coulson the new director.
• Lu Xi offered the contracted agents a chance to study magic at Kamar-Taj, where they would receive unlimited magical power.
• Natasha cast two golden magical shields, and the others watched a video of Mordo and Kaecilius battling to see the power they might learn to wield.

Coulson prepared S.H.I.E.L.D. for the expected Chitauri invasion while Thor and the Warriors Three arrived on Earth to find Loki. On the Helicarrier, the assembled heroes and allies discussed Loki’s disappearance but had no way to track him yet.

• Coulson asked Lu Xi whether the predicted invasion would be caused by the Tesseract, and Lu Xi confirmed it while warning that evacuating New York could move the battle elsewhere.
• Thor arrived with the Warriors Three to search for Loki, then flew off to visit Jane while Lu Xi sent the remaining Asgardians to assist S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Lu Xi sensed Loki hiding in a New York apartment with the mind-controlled Dr. Erik but chose not to intervene so the Chitauri invasion could proceed as planned.
• Coulson activated S.H.I.E.L.D.’s wartime protocol and the Avengers Initiative, gathering agents, heroes, Asgardians, and Master Mordo aboard the Helicarrier.
• Mordo explained that Kamar-Taj’s tracking magic required blood or hair from Loki’s direct relative, but Fandral said Loki had been adopted and they had no relatives available in Asgard.

On the Helicarrier, the team discussed how to find Loki and stop him from opening a portal for an alien invasion. After Tony learned that Lucifer was both Asgard’s Allfather and the Sorcerer Supreme, the group focused on Banner’s attempt to track Loki through the Tesseract’s gamma radiation.

• Coulson asked the Warriors Three where Thor was, and Fandral explained that Thor had gone off to fall in love while the Asgardians searched for Loki.
• Tony demanded that Asgard and Kamar-Taj take responsibility, then discovered that Lucifer was both the Allfather and the Sorcerer Supreme and refused offers to meet him.
• The team teased Tony, and Banner admitted Lucifer’s face stirred vague memories of Hulk being slapped away.
• Steve brought the meeting back to the search, and Coulson identified New York as the likely invasion site while Barton kept the Helicarrier on standby nearby.
• Banner said he might locate Loki by tracing the Tesseract’s gamma radiation, but Loki’s frequent movements had prevented him from locking onto a position.

Loki hid in an underground laboratory while Professor Erik prepared a portal device, waiting for a chance to summon the Chitauri. At Lu Xi’s villa, Jane learned Erik was safe, while a massive fleet emerged from a spatial jump point near Earth.

• Loki urged the mind-controlled Professor Erik to finish the portal device, but Erik said they still needed a large energy source.
• Loki told Erik he was waiting for the superheroes to be distracted and admitted he feared powerful figures on Earth, including Lucifer.
• Erik explained that Daisy Lewis was dating Lucifer, and Loki said the Chitauri had heard that an event in the next few days would divert the heroes.
• Thor and Jane Foster arrived at Lu Xi’s villa, where Lu Xi assured Jane that Erik was alive and would be rescued soon.
• Jane went inside to see Daisy, while Thor joked with Lu Xi about his Asgardian female guards.
• A huge fleet of warships emerged from a spatial jump point in the Universe near Earth.

A massive Kree fleet appeared near Earth, prompting S.H.I.E.L.D. and the heroes to prepare an interception while they struggled to understand how the fleet had arrived undetected. Aboard the World Destroyer, Ronan planned to eliminate the Skrulls on C-53 as a Kree negotiator left to warn Asgard, and Ronan agreed to wait for now.

• Space-monitoring alarms alerted Coulson and the heroes that an enormous alien fleet was approaching Earth, and JARVIS estimated their chances of victory at only 10%.
• The Asgardian warriors learned from Heimdall that the fleet had arrived through a spatial jump point beyond the Nine Realms, while Steve urged everyone to act.
• Coulson ordered the Helicarrier to calculate the fleet's landing trajectory and intercept it before the battle reached Earth's surface.
• Kree officers aboard the World Destroyer debated attacking the Skrulls on C-53, which was also Midgard under Asgard's jurisdiction.
• The purple-eyed Kree ordered a Radiance-class warship deployed so he could negotiate with Asgard, then warned Ronan not to act before he returned.
• Ronan said he understood but urged the negotiator to hurry, then struck his warhammer against the floor.

A Kree fleet arrived over Earth to eliminate the Skrulls, and Lu Xi let Sif negotiate with its commander while he watched from a Divine Power Platform. Meanwhile, Loki brought Dr. Erik to Stark Tower and prepared to activate the Tesseract.

• Lu Xi identified the arriving fleet as Kree, and Sif volunteered to negotiate with them.
• Lu Xi raised himself and the others on a Divine Power Platform, where they met the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier and its assembled heroes.
• Commander Singh announced that the Kree had come to eliminate the Skrulls and claimed interstellar law gave them the right to conduct military operations on Earth.
• After Lu Xi signaled his refusal, Sif challenged Singh’s claim by citing the rights of Earth’s inhabitants.
• Loki led Dr. Erik to the top of Stark Tower and told him to set up the teleportation device and activate the Tesseract.

Loki opened the Chitauri portal above Stark Tower, but Mordo and the heroes reached him through a portal, and hundreds of Asgardians arrived to beat him down. As the Chitauri poured into New York, Mordo unleashed hundreds of magical duplicates that devastated their forces.

• Loki opened a portal above Stark Tower, and Tony realized that Loki had stolen his home as S.H.I.E.L.D. redirected the Helicarrier downtown.
• Mordo opened a portal to Stark Tower, and the heroes and Warriors Three went through to confront Loki.
• Fandral called Heimdall, who sent hundreds of Asgardians to the rooftop, where they swarmed Loki and took his Mind Scepter.
• Steve organized the heroes to contain the Chitauri, but Mordo said they only needed to clear out the remaining aliens.
• Mordo cast the Image of Ikonn, creating hundreds of duplicates that blasted the Chitauri and badly wounded the Leviathans.

As New York faced two alien invasions, Mordo held back the Chitauri while evacuations pushed civilians toward the northern battlefield. At the Daily Bugle, Jameson sent reporters to cover both fronts, and Peter Parker accepted the dangerous assignment near Stark Tower as a chance to slip away and help people.

• Mordo blocked the Chitauri portal while Steve and the others fought the aliens who got through, and NYPD officers began evacuating civilians under prepared plans.
• At the Daily Bugle, Jameson learned that the northern aliens were negotiating and that evacuees were being directed toward the north, where a god had appeared.
• Jameson persuaded his staff that the north was safe because powerful people had gone there, and several reporters volunteered to cover that front.
• When no one volunteered to cover Stark Tower, Jameson offered a huge bonus and the chance at a Pulitzer Prize.
• Peter Parker accepted the assignment near Stark Tower, pleased that it would let him leave and help people as Spider-Man.
• Jameson sent the Daily Bugle staff to their respective battlefields with equipment to document the invasions.

Coulson coordinated the defense against the Chitauri as Tony and Hulk attacked the Leviathans, while Peter filmed the heroes fighting across the city. Thor arrived and discovered the badly beaten Loki; meanwhile, World Security Council representatives began discussing a nuclear strike from the Helicarrier.

• Steve told Coulson that the Leviathans threatened to overwhelm the defenders, and Tony said the Tesseract's barrier made the portal impossible to destroy from outside.
• Coulson sent Tony to draw the Leviathans away and persuaded Banner to transform; Hulk beat one beast down and charged toward another.
• Peter filmed Natasha and Barton fighting together, then recorded Steve and Peggy battling aliens as Thor arrived and struck a Leviathan.
• Thor joined the Asgardians on the rooftop and learned from the Warriors Three that the battered figure on the ground was Loki.
• A World Security Council representative urged Coulson to launch a nuclear strike at the city despite the portal remaining open.

Coulson and the representatives debated using a nuclear weapon against the alien forces, but Gideon Malick opposed the plan, partly because Lucifer was in northern New York City. The meeting was interrupted by news from the battlefield, where Daisy had begun livestreaming a tense standoff between Sif and the Kree as Ronan called for carpet bombing.

• Coulson objected to launching a nuclear weapon because Avengers were still fighting in the city and civilians would suffer heavy casualties.
• Gideon Malick rejected the plan and warned the representatives that attacking near Lucifer could provoke him.
• The representatives questioned whether Malick had made a deal with Lucifer, and Coulson noticed his suspiciously youthful appearance.
• Melinda May told Coulson that something had happened on the northern battlefield, and he left the meeting to view her tablet.
• Daisy livestreamed Sif's exchange with the Kree commander Singh, drawing millions of viewers and explaining that interstellar law barred a direct invasion of Earth.
• Ronan ordered Singh to stop wasting time and begin carpet bombing.

Ronan persuaded Singh to send the Kree Fourth Legion after the Skrulls, prompting Sif to confront the invasion. Empowered temporarily by Lu Xi, Sif destroyed the small spacecraft and split the [World Destroyer] in two, while its crew fled in escape pods.

• Ronan used the [World Destroyer]'s scan results to argue that the Asgardians were bluffing, and Singh reluctantly ordered the Fourth Legion to hunt the Skrulls without harming them.
• The Kree ships swarmed into the sky, alarming Sif, New York's residents, and viewers of Daisy's livestream.
• Lu Xi told Sif to handle the Kree and granted her temporary Universe administrator authorization, raising her strength to a level comparable to Odin in his normal state.
• Sif unleashed a vast sword light that annihilated the small spacecraft and sliced the [World Destroyer] in two.
• Kree soldiers abandoned the divided warship in escape pods as sunlight returned to New York.

Lu Xi temporarily gave Sif Skyfather-level power, allowing her to drive off the Kree warship, then explained the difference between Skyfather-level beings and true gods. The chapter ended with everyone discovering that Sif’s sword strike had split the moon and sent it toward Earth, threatening to destroy the planet.

• Lu Xi reclaimed the Cosmic Authority from Sif after she used its power to repel the Kree warship, and Commander Singh fled.
• New York celebrated the aliens’ retreat while Lu Xi explained that he had temporarily boosted Sif to Skyfather-level.
• Lu Xi told Wanda and Daisy that Skyfather-level beings had significant weaknesses, while true gods possessed balanced, near-perfect bodies, souls, and energy.
• Lu Xi realized Sif’s strike had gone too far, and everyone saw that the moon had been split in half.
• Helen Cho warned that the damaged moon would fall toward Earth and devastate the planet’s ecosystem.

Lu Xi reversed and permanently stopped the moon’s time after Sif split it in two, then used the disaster to pressure the Inhumans of Attilan into offering up their souls. Black Bolt accepted the demand and planned to move his people to Earth, while Lu Xi revealed to Daisy and the livestream audience that the moon would remain split forever.

• Lu Xi reversed the moon’s time until it hung in two halves, then discovered Attilan on its far side and deliberately left the moon split.
• Black Bolt and Maximus saw the shattered moon, and Black Bolt identified the attack as coming from Earth and the stillness as the work of time manipulation.
• Maximus warned that the Inhumans could not remain on the moon, so Black Bolt ordered their people to prepare to relocate to Earth.
• A glowing business card showed Black Bolt the attack and demanded the Inhumans’ souls in exchange for their safety, and Black Bolt yielded.
• Lu Xi told Helen Cho that the moon would stay split, then reassured Daisy and the livestream audience that he had permanently stopped its time.