Chapter Summaries

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.

Old Captain America returned the Space Stone, then joined Lu Qi and Tony in 1991 to prevent Howard and Maria Stark’s deaths. After Bucky attacked a decoy car, Lu Qi and Tony prepared to take the Starks to the future, but Old Captain America arrived before they could leave.

• Old Captain America disguised himself to return the Space Stone and restore the storage room, then visited Carter.
• Lu Qi and Tony traveled to Christmas Eve 1991, where Old Captain America joined them and sent his agents to find the Hydra attackers.
• Lu Qi and Tony pulled Howard and Maria Stark from their car and hid them while Bucky passed by and killed two Dark Energy decoys instead.
• Lu Qi explained Hydra’s role in Bucky’s attack, and Tony told his parents they could not openly return to their old lives.
• Lu Qi offered to take Howard and Maria to the future, and Old Captain America called to ask whether Tony and Lu Qi were going back.

Lu Qi brought Howard and Maria from the past into the future, where Tony reunited with his parents and Maria immediately began pressing him to marry Pepper. As Lu Qi and Galacta discussed their own future, Galactus and Eternity noticed that the universe had produced unusually few unstable factors and decided to investigate.

• Steve revealed to Howard and Maria that he came from another timeline, and Lu Qi confirmed that Tony was their son from a different timeline.
• Tony admitted Howard and Maria were his parents, then embraced them as Maria comforted him about growing up without them.
• Lu Qi asked Steve to arrange a convincing cover-up for their disappearance, then brought Tony, Howard, and Maria through a time passage to the future.
• Steve and Bucky helped Howard and Maria adjust to the modern era, while Maria learned Tony would marry Pepper and began urging them to make it official.
• Lu Qi returned home and told Galacta about Tony's reunion and marriage pressure, then asked when they would marry; Galacta said they would wed after her Cosmic Tapeworm was removed.
• Galactus and Eternity discussed the unusually low number of unstable factors in the universe and agreed to watch for the cause.

Tony hid at Lu Qi’s place after being pressured to marry, and the two joked about marriage, immortality, and Tony’s future godfather plans. Tony chose to pursue other ways of extending his life, while Lu Qi offered to help him.

• Tony hid at Lu Qi’s home and blamed Lu Qi for prompting his mother to pressure him to marry.
• Galacta left to check on Shuri, and Tony teased Lu Qi about when he would marry her.
• Lu Qi said he and Galacta planned to marry after she separated the Cosmic Tapeworm and became fully human, likely in a few hundred years.
• Tony declined Lu Qi’s offer of immortality through a contract and said he wanted to try other methods first.
• Lu Qi offered to help Tony explore other ways to extend his life, and they changed the subject.

Lu Qi and Tony planned to reunite Howard with Hank Pym as a way to help Tony’s parents adapt to modern life and bring Janet back from the Quantum Realm. Tony promised to marry Pepper once his parents settled in, then invited Howard to meet Hank.

• Lu Qi suggested reconnecting Howard and Hank Pym after explaining how the Avengers had stolen Pym Particles in 1951 and sparked their falling-out.
• JARVIS revealed that Darren Cross had learned to produce Pym Particles and planned to weaponize them, while Lu Qi explained that Janet had entered the Quantum Realm to stop a nuclear missile.
• Lu Qi proposed bringing Janet back, believing Hank would set aside his resentment toward Howard if his wife returned.
• Maria and Janet pressed Tony to marry Pepper, and Tony promised he would marry her once his parents had settled into the modern era.
• Tony persuaded Howard to meet an old friend and named Hank Pym.

Tony and Lu Qi brought Howard and Maria to reconcile with Doctor Pym and tell him Janet was still alive in the Quantum Realm. Pym showed them his Quantum Tunnel, confident they could use it to bring Janet home.

• Tony explained to Howard that Avengers from a parallel timeline had taken Pym Particles, and Howard agreed to make amends with Pym.
• Lu Qi told Howard and Maria that Janet had survived in the Quantum Realm, prompting them to seek out Pym.
• At Pym's home, Howard and Pym recognized each other and immediately resumed their old argument until Maria and Lu Qi explained they had come to help Janet.
• Pym welcomed them inside and showed them a Quantum Tunnel built to reach Janet, while Howard warned that the Quantum Realm remained dangerous and poorly understood.
• Pym said Scott's safe return from the Quantum Realm had given him a basic understanding of it and convinced him the tunnel could work.