Recaps

Zha Hamiao placed a mysterious Flame Crown in Asgard’s vault, where it awakened Surtur as Flame Demons attacked the Trading Station and invaded Asgard. Loki’s palace Defense System blocked Surtur’s first strike, but Surtur raised his sword to attack again.

• Zha Hamiao brought the Flame Crown to Loki, who sent it to the new vault after recoiling from its heat.
• Thanos persuaded the new Frost Giant King to let him travel through Jotunheim by promising a vast fleet and explaining that Lu Qi and The Ancient One would not interfere.
• Flame Demons attacked the Trading Station, and fighters from several factions defended it before the creatures broke through and poured into Asgard’s portal.
• As the Flame Demons invaded Asgard, Loki and Thor saw Surtur emerge from the vault, restored by the Eternal Flame.
• Loki raised the palace Defense System with Gungnir and blocked Surtur’s first sword strike, while Surtur prepared another blow.

Surtur’s attack on Asgard continued despite Thor and Loki bringing him down temporarily, and he used the Flame Demons to turn the battle against the city. Loki revealed his Frost Giant power to save Asgard’s overheating civilians and was recognized by them as their king.

• Heimdall struggled to protect the Bifrost as Flame Demons merged into Flame Giants and broke through the Asgardian warriors’ formation.
• Thor fought Surtur while Loki activated Tony’s Defense System, whose energy beam pierced Surtur’s head and brought him down.
• The Flame Giants detonated in the teleportation hall, killing the Asgardian warriors there, while Heimdall escaped and Flame Demons advanced on Asgard.
• Surtur recovered and used the Flame Demons’ fragments to create a firestorm around Asgard, whose heat left civilians near death.
• Loki used the Casket of Ancient Winters to cool the council hall, then revealed his Frost Giant form and spread ice across Asgard to save its people.
• Loki collapsed from exhausting his bloodline power, and the Asgardians bowed to him as their king.

The Ancient One fought Surtur in the Mirror Dimension but could not stop him from breaking back into Asgard. Hela joined the battle to defend her realm, and she, Sylvie, and The Ancient One prepared to face Surtur together.

• Surtur struck Asgard's shield while Thor tried to take Loki through the Bifrost, but Surtur severed the bridge; Heimdall escaped to Earth and warned Stephen that Asgard was in danger.
• The Ancient One took Sylvie to Asgard and attacked Surtur, then drew him into the Mirror Dimension.
• The Ancient One used spatial magic to break apart the ground beneath Surtur, but Surtur escaped by splitting the Mirror Dimension with the Twilight Sword.
• Sylvie summoned Hela, who refused to let Surtur destroy Asgard and attacked him with divine power.
• The Ancient One rescued Hela and Sylvie from Surtur's attack, and Hela agreed to fight alongside her.

Hela used the Death Force to battle Surtur and protect Asgard, with help from The Ancient One, Fenris, and the Undead Legion. When Surtur began to self-destruct, Hela unleashed a Death Storm to contain the resulting firestorm, and Lu Qi erased the remaining flames as Odin watched.

• Hela drew on the Death Force, extinguished Surtur’s flaming attack, and joined The Ancient One in fighting him.
• Surtur shattered The Ancient One’s magic circle, summoned Flame Demons, and threw the Twilight Sword at Hela.
• Hela summoned her undead warriors, while Fenris reunited with her and helped lead them against the Flame Demons.
• Surtur prepared to self-destruct, so Hela unleashed a Death Storm that contained his firestorm and left a massive crater.
• Lu Qi and Odin appeared above Asgard, and Lu Qi erased the remaining firestorm with Dark Power.
• Hela withdrew the Death Storm, then noticed Odin behind Lu Qi.

Hela reunited with Odin and her family while Lu Qi recovered Surtur’s Flame Crown and discussed how to deal with it. After returning to the Trading Station, Lu Qi proposed stationing guards there and asked the United States envoy to stay behind.

• The Ancient One calmed Hela with a spell, allowing her to embrace Odin and tell him she had missed him.
• Lu Qi and the Ancient One intercepted a Flame Demon carrying Surtur’s Flame Crown, and the Ancient One explained that Surtur’s soul survived inside it.
• Odin introduced Hela to Thor and Loki, and Frigga arrived with Sylvie to embrace her daughter.
• Hela proposed using Surtur’s soul to replenish her Death Force, and Lu Qi gave her the crown before returning to Earth.
• Lu Qi summoned Shadow Ninjas to clean the Trading Station and proposed stationing guards there, which the envoys accepted.
• Lu Qi ended the meeting and asked the United States envoy to remain behind.

Lu Qi questioned the United States envoy and confronted the former Secretary of Defense, who gave him a list, while Thanos captured Nick Fury’s Skrull double. The real Fury prepared to use himself as bait to draw out the attacker, but ended the chapter seeking help from the police, who laughed at his account.

• Lu Qi questioned the United States envoy about the suspicious equipment, then asked Tony about the United States Secretary of Defense.
• Lu Qi found the former Secretary of Defense, who handed him a list as their reckoning began.
• Thanos attacked and abducted Nick Fury’s Skrull double, prompting S.H.I.E.L.D. to investigate.
• Fury told Captain America, Natasha, Barton, and Bucky that he would act as bait, while Coulson decided not to involve Lu Qi yet.
• Fury went to the police to report the attack, but the police chief and deputy chief laughed at his description and sketch.

Fury used a public scandal as bait to draw out the attacker targeting him, while Thanos tortured a Skrull for information about Hawkeye and Black Widow from another timeline. The trap at Fury’s safe house came under attack by armed enemies, and Fury called on an unidentified ally to help.

• Natasha explained that Fury had used the FIB to spread news of his police visit, hoping to lure the hidden attacker into the open.
• Thanos interrogated a Skrull about Hawkeye and Black Widow from another timeline, then tortured her until she revealed an address connected to Fury.
• Fury watched online mockery spread and prepared his remote safe house as bait, where the other-timeline Hawkeye and Black Widow were staying.
• Thanos read a sensational news alert and discovered that the address given by the Skrull was close to the location mentioned in the report.
• A squad in black armor attacked Fury’s safe house, and Fury contacted an unidentified ally to help repel them.

Nick Fury’s plan to lure the mysterious attacker failed, and Thanos watched the battle before following the trail of the Vampires. As Fury and the others left the safe house, their Quinjet crashed after its wings were cleanly severed, leaving Fury to suspect the attacker was responsible.

• Blade and his warriors defeated the attackers surrounding the safe house, but the mysterious target did not appear.
• Thanos recognized Fury’s operation as a trap and headed toward where the Vampires had appeared.
• Fury ended the operation, ordered Hawkeye and Black Widow moved to another safe house, and left with the others aboard a Quinjet.
• Something struck the Quinjet, sending it crashing to the ground while leaving its passengers mostly unharmed.
• Fury discovered the aircraft’s wings had been cleanly cut off and wondered whether the mysterious attacker had done it.

Steve and the others were ambushed by Thanos, who captured Fury and attacked them while seeking their wristbands. After Steve activated his medal to summon backup, the fight escalated, and Thanos broke free of Barton's restraint as Hawkeye froze in shock.

• A cloaked attacker knocked Fury unconscious, ambushed Steve, and cut Steve's shield with a double-bladed sword.
• The attacker hurled a wing into the cabin, injuring Natasha, while Steve and Hawkeye protected Barton from another strike.
• Natasha failed to contact headquarters, but Steve's medal connected him to JARVIS, who sent the Ultron Legion and alerted Scarlet Witch.
• Thanos, hiding with the unconscious Fury, decided to seize the wristbands and attacked Steve's team by throwing a tree at them.
• Steve blocked Thanos's sword while Hawkeye and Barton blinded and trapped him with arrows, but Thanos shattered the hardened substance and charged Barton.
• Barton called for Hawkeye's help and saw him frozen in place after apparently hearing something unbelievable.

Thanos seized Hawkeye and Black Widow’s time-travel bracelets, but Ultron’s Mechanical Legion and the Defenders arrived to confront him. After surviving the bombardment and reflected laser attack, Thanos fought Tony, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Johnny, and Carter, with the battle still underway.

• Barton and Captain America tried to stop Thanos, but Thanos killed Hawkeye as he attempted to destroy his bracelet and took both Hawkeye’s and Black Widow’s bracelets.
• Ultron’s Mechanical Legion bombarded Thanos with weapons, but he survived and reflected the robots’ laser beams.
• Black Widow warned Ultron that Thanos was still alive, and robots sent the severely injured Hawkeye through a portal to the Defenders’ hospital.
• The Defenders arrived, and Tony attacked Thanos while Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch tried to strike him without success.
• Johnny wrapped his Hellfire chain around Thanos’s neck, and Carter attacked with her scythe before Thanos countered and Johnny pulled him off balance.

The heroes drove Thanos to activate a bracelet and flee into Black Widow’s timeline, while Hawkeye lay critically injured in the hospital. Lu Qi and Tony planned to pursue Thanos and found a possible way to heal Hawkeye by refining the Extremis Virus.

• Johnny, Tony, Carter, and the other heroes attacked Thanos, but Thanos used the World-Crossing Bracelet to shrink away and escape into another timeline.
• Black Widow told Lu Qi that Thanos had gone to her timeline, and Tony’s recording helped Lu Qi identify the use of Pym Particles and the Quantum Realm.
• Lu Qi and the group learned that Thanos had badly wounded Hawkeye, and Stephen, Christine, and Shuri could not heal him with their available methods.
• Lu Qi offered to turn Hawkeye into a Dark Life, but Tony proposed refining the Extremis Virus with Shuri, Galacta, and Banner to heal him instead.
• Lu Qi agreed to pursue Thanos with Black Widow while Tony began contacting the others to work on the virus.

Lu Qi and Black Widow searched parallel timelines for her home, encountering several Sorcerer Supremes before opening a portal to a hostile world. The portal remained anchored as a tentacle-spawning entity copied the Shadow Ninjas’ appearance and fighting methods, prompting Lu Qi to hurry to end the battle.

• Lu Qi used data from Old Captain America's wristband to locate nearby timelines and brought Black Widow through the Shadow World to search for hers.
• Lu Qi opened a portal to a timeline where the Sorcerer Supreme recognized the situation and told him it was not Black Widow's target.
• Lu Qi visited more timelines, learned that Wong had become Black Widow's timeline's Time-Keeper, and left after feeling scrutinized by other Doctor Strange variants.
• Lu Qi opened another portal, where tentacles attacked him and anchored the gate despite his attempts to sever the connection.
• Lu Qi summoned Shadow Ninjas to fight the entity's monsters while Black Widow was moved away from the battlefield.
• Lu Qi saw the entity's monsters imitate the Shadow Ninjas' appearance and techniques, so he decided to end the battle quickly.

Lu Qi discovered that a strange timeline’s Earth had been destroyed by a Dimensional Demon God and rescued its surviving heroes, bringing them to Attilan on the Moon. Stephen asked Lu Qi to help restore Earth, but Lu Qi questioned why he should get involved.

• Megatron and over a hundred Transformers destroyed the flesh masses in the Shadow World while Lu Qi cleared a path through the tentacles and entered the gateway.
• Lu Qi found Earth transformed into a slime-covered planet and concluded that humanity had perished, but then spotted Stephen, Tony, Wanda, and Vision alive on the Moon.
• Stephen explained that another Dimensional Demon God had invaded while he was away negotiating with Dormammu, and Tony blamed Stephen for Earth’s destruction.
• Lu Qi took the heroes to Attilan, where Black Bolt and Medusa welcomed them and offered them shelter.
• As Lu Qi prepared to leave, Stephen asked him to help restore Earth, and Lu Qi asked why he should help.

Stephen and Tony tried to persuade Lu Qi to help reverse the disaster that had turned Earth into a hellscape, offering him Kamar-Taj’s spells and Tony’s armor in return. Lu Qi agreed to help, but said they first had to destroy the Dimensional Demon God and recover the souls it had taken.

• Stephen offered Lu Qi copies of Kamar-Taj’s spells and forbidden books, then its magical artifacts, to secure his help.
• Tony offered Lu Qi copies of every armor suit he had built, and Lu Qi accepted on the condition that Tony make one of each suit.
• The Scarlet Witch and Vision proposed using Stephen’s Time Stone to reset Earth, but Lu Qi explained that the Stone might lack the strength to reverse time on that scale.
• Lu Qi said they had to defeat the Dimensional Demon God before reversing time because it might control the souls of those it had killed.
• Lu Qi proposed destroying Earth to kill the demon and reclaim the souls, then offered to do it himself; Stephen and Tony stopped him from threatening the Solar System.

Lu Qi fought the Eye Demon Clone on Earth but was trapped in a Mental Space by its mind-controlling beams. While Lu Qi confronted Eye Demon inside his mind, Tony, Stephen, Vision, and Scarlet Witch tried to protect his body, and the battle remained unresolved.

• Lu Qi attacked the Eye Demon Clone, severed its tentacles, and split it in two, but its eyes froze him with eerie green beams.
• Stephen identified the monster as Eye Demon, and Tony decided to confront its clone; Stephen opened a portal to help him reach Lu Qi.
• In the Mental Space, Lu Qi mocked Eye Demon as Patrick Star, summoned his Dark Scythe, and realized Eye Demon was targeting his body in the Material World.
• Tony, Stephen, Vision, and Scarlet Witch attacked the clone, with Stephen using the Time Stone to replay Lu Qi's earlier spells and delay it.
• The Eye Demon Clone began retreating under their assault, but Eye Demon's command made it charge Lu Qi's motionless body again.

Lu Qi and the Eye Demon fought in Mental Space while Megatron’s fleet overwhelmed the Eye Demon Clone in the Material World. When the Eye Demon split into dozens of copies and Lu Qi lost contact with Megatron, he realized the true body might be controlling its clone remotely and began searching for a way out.

• Stephen weakened after using the Time Stone, so he handed the Eye of Agamotto to Vision, who froze after taking it; the Scarlet Witch also froze when she tried to read his thoughts.
• Tony drained his armor’s remaining energy to attack the Eye Demon Clone, but it regenerated until Megatron’s fleet arrived through a portal and bombarded it.
• Megatron recharged Tony’s armor, retrieved the drifting Stephen, and secured Vision and the Scarlet Witch while his fleets attacked the Eye Demon Clone and its fragments.
• Lu Qi wounded the Eye Demon in Mental Space, but the Eye Demon split into dozens of copies and kept him at bay with their shrieks.
• Lu Qi noticed that the Eye Demon copies behaved like puppets and could not contact Megatron, so he suspected the Eye Demon’s true body was controlling its clone remotely.

Lu Qi used the Eye Demon Clones in the Mental Space to trace the Eye Demon while the demon’s Material World clone took control of Megatron’s fleet. The Eye Demon gained the upper hand against Megatron, but Lu Qi found and attacked him before he could finish his opponent.

• Lu Qi subdued several Eye Demon Clones, entered one clone’s spiritual structure using techniques from Kamar-Taj’s forbidden book, and found a connection hub leading to the Eye Demon.
• The Eye Demon controlled his Material World clone and turned Starship Giants against their own fleet, prompting Megatron to send reinforcements through a portal from the Shadow World.
• The Eye Demon targeted Megatron with control beams, but Megatron evaded them until the beams began controlling his subordinates and Star Rock intervened.
• The Eye Demon controlled Star Rock, and Megatron restrained him and hid behind him while ordering the uncontrolled Starship Giants to withdraw their companions.
• The Eye Demon used a disruption spell to disable Megatron’s Dark Energy and free Star Rock, but Lu Qi suddenly grabbed the Eye Demon, cut off several tentacles, and stabbed his eye.

Lu Qi defeated the Eye Demon’s clone, recovered the souls sealed inside it, and helped Vision restore Earth by reversing time. As Lu Qi’s Shadow World prepared to leave the universe, a familiar figure noticed his actions and decided to repay him with a gift involving Death.

• Lu Qi ambushed the Eye Demon in the Mental Space, badly wounded him, and forced him to expel Lu Qi before the demon could be killed.
• Lu Qi purified the controlled Starship Giants, destroyed the Eye Demon’s clone, and recovered the sphere containing Earth’s souls.
• Lu Qi brought Vision and Scarlet Witch back from their journey through other timelines, and Vision resolved to change the future he had witnessed.
• Vision used the Time Stone with help from the Mind Stone to reverse time across Earth, restoring it to its state before the disaster.
• Lu Qi returned to the Shadow World after confirming no Starship Giants had died, while a familiar figure decided to give him a reward and bring Death along.

Lu Qi found Wong serving as Sorcerer Supreme in the parallel universe and offered to help restore the people lost to Thanos’s snap. After Wong described the strain of holding Kamar-Taj together, Lu Qi brought him and Black Widow to Earth, where Tony’s team returned from their time heist without Lu Qi’s help.

• Lu Qi met Wong outside the Dark Dimension and confirmed that he was the Sorcerer Supreme of the timeline he had been seeking.
• Lu Qi showed Wong the six Infinity Stones and promised to help bring back the people who had vanished, prompting Wong to thank him and recount his struggles protecting Earth and Kamar-Taj.
• Lu Qi reassured Wong that The Ancient One would recognize his efforts, then brought Wong and Black Widow to Earth.
• Black Widow identified the Avengers’ base, and Tony returned there with the others and discovered that Nebula had been badly damaged.
• Rhodey told Tony that the team had tried to take Lu Qi’s Infinity Stones and that Lu Qi had beaten them; Tony revealed that he and Captain America had secured Pym Particles and the Tesseract as a backup.

Black Widow returned with news that Hawkeye had been gravely injured and was staying with Lu Qi for treatment, while Thanos had escaped with the time-travel device. Lu Qi eased the Avengers’ fears and pointed Tony toward a possible cure for Rhodey, leaving Tony to ask for help from his counterpart.

• Ant-Man realized Black Widow and Hawkeye had not returned, and Tony admitted the time-travel device had not been tested enough to guarantee a safe trip.
• Nebula suggested Thanos might have learned about the team through her uploaded memories, prompting Rhodey and the others to fear he had attacked Hawkeye and Black Widow.
• Black Widow returned and said Thanos had stolen the travel device, while Lu Qi explained that Hawkeye was severely injured and would remain with him for treatment.
• Lu Qi explained that timeline travel could cause accidents and that Thanos might have been intercepted or suffered a damaged device during his journey.
• Tony told Rhodey that another version of himself was researching Killian’s serum and might be able to heal Rhodey’s spine, then asked Lu Qi for a dose.
• Lu Qi told Tony to discuss the serum with his counterpart and said he believed that counterpart would help Rhodey.

Lu Qi gave Banner the Infinity Gauntlet, and Banner snapped to restore everyone who had vanished, including Stephen and the Guardians. Stephen then gathered forces from Kamar-Taj, Wakanda, and Asgard to face Thanos, while the Avengers prepared to contact the returned people.

• Lu Qi retrieved Odin's gauntlet, fitted it with the six Infinity Stones, and chose Banner to make the Snap instead of Fat Thor.
• Banner snapped to bring back everyone who had vanished five years earlier, and the restored birds and Laura's phone call confirmed it had worked.
• Stephen returned with the Guardians, sent them through a portal, and urged Wong to gather sorcerers for the fight against Thanos.
• Stephen mobilized Wakanda and Asgard's warriors and considered how Tony might defeat Thanos in this timeline.
• Falcon approached Stephen as the assembled forces prepared to travel through portals.

Lu Qi opened a portal to Titan, then helped organize a banquet for the returned Avengers and their allies while Tony worried about Spider-Man. The gathering grew into a celebration with more than ten thousand guests, and Lu Qi watched as Tony reunited with Peter and his family.

• After confirming that vanished people had returned, Rocket asked Lu Qi to open a portal to Titan, and Tony searched the battlefield for Spider-Man and the others.
• Lu Qi agreed to Thor's banquet plan, obtained a hundred barrels of Asgardian wine from Loki, and stopped Thor from drinking until he worked out.
• Tony told Lu Qi he could not find Spider-Man on Titan, so Lu Qi went to Kamar-Taj and found it empty.
• Falcon arrived at the banquet venue, followed by Black Panther and a huge army through a network of portals, surprising the Avengers who had expected only a few people.
• Lu Qi returned from Kamar-Taj and joined the others in holding a banquet for the thousands of arrivals, while learning Stephen had taken Spider-Man and the others to Wakanda.
• Lu Qi watched Tony, Pepper, Little Morgan, and Peter together, then raised his cup to Marvel and the old man as a familiar voice thanked him.

Lu Qi learned from Old Master that the Demon God Uprising would threaten the Multiverse, and that he needed to develop the Shadow World and reclaim his true power to face it. After helping Tony’s group and recovering the Space Stone, Lu Qi left to think about what power Old Master meant.

• Lu Qi shared wine with Old Master, who warned him about the Demon God Uprising and told him to develop the Shadow World and reclaim his true power.
• Old Master vanished when Tony arrived, and Lu Qi considered the scale of the Dimensional Demon Gods who might take part in the uprising.
• Tony apologized for his group’s backup plan and returned a Space Stone taken from 1945, while Lu Qi learned they had also taken Pym Particles.
• Lu Qi explained that changing the past would create a time branch, then told Tony to make Thor lose weight before he left for Dimensional Space.
• Lu Qi reflected on Old Master’s warning and wondered what hidden power could help him stop the Multiverse-level threat.

Lu Qi completed the six Infinity Stones’ Rules in the Shadow World, turning it into an Intermediate World and deciding to seek Advanced Rules through Galactus. Meanwhile, Thanos was captured by the Eye Demon in Dimensional Space, which discovered he possessed another traversal device and began viewing memories that revealed a familiar figure.

• Lu Qi inscribed all six Infinity Stones’ Rules into the Shadow World, strengthening it and allowing it to develop independently as an Intermediate World.
• Lu Qi tested his new abilities on Cybertron, then hid the genuine Infinity Stones in Odin’s Infinity Gauntlet and returned it to Asgard’s treasury.
• Lu Qi decided the Shadow World needed Advanced Rules and planned to seek Galactus’s Balance Rule, while considering Hela’s Death Rule seed unavailable to him.
• Thanos drifted through Dimensional Space after taking Black Widow’s and Hawkeye’s traversal devices, then the Eye Demon immobilized him and examined his memories.
• The Eye Demon learned that Thanos had another traversal device and continued through his memories until a figure familiar to both of them appeared.

Lu Qi met the Silver Surfer on Earth and helped him arrange a disguise and a chance to live freely. He then traveled with Tony to 1970 to return the Tesseract, where Old Captain America offered to handle it while helping his younger self infiltrate the base.

• Lu Qi learned that Galactus was away with the other cosmic lords, then asked JARVIS to create a human disguise for the Silver Surfer and arranged for him to join the Defenders.
• Lu Qi contacted Tony, and they planned to return the Tesseract in 1970 before traveling to 1991 to save Tony's parents.
• Lu Qi and Tony arrived in 1970 and narrowly avoided The Ancient One, who investigated their portal's Dark Energy traces without discovering them.
• At the New Jersey base, Lu Qi and Tony met Old Captain America, who explained that he had waited from 1945 and now worked behind the scenes to help his younger self.
• The group watched Iron Man and Captain America retrieve the Space Stone and Pym Particles, while Captain America hid in Peggy's office and Howard unknowingly walked with his future son.
• Old Captain America offered to return the Tesseract while picking Peggy up, and Lu Qi agreed to let him handle it.