Recaps

After Ultron’s defeat, Tony helped JARVIS adjust to life in a vibranium body while Lynn and Natasha traveled through China and grew closer. Back in New York, Lynn warned Steve that Hydra could expose Bucky’s role in Howard Stark’s murder, and the chapter ended with Natasha, Lynn, and JARVIS sharing an evening together.

• Steve stayed to catalog Ultron’s wreckage while Tony returned early to spend time with JARVIS on the Quinjet.
• At Stark Tower, JARVIS used his new body to support Tony, and Tony told him he was glad he was there.
• Lynn and Natasha traveled through Chengdu, Dali, Kunming, and Chongqing, sharing meals and quiet moments; Lynn secretly bought Natasha baby’s breath.
• Lynn told Steve that Hydra might reveal Bucky’s assassination of Howard and Maria Stark to Tony, and urged Steve to tell Tony the truth himself.
• Natasha and Lynn went grocery shopping, cooked pasta together, and invited JARVIS to watch a film with them.
• After the film, JARVIS said he would try to leave more room for surprise instead of predicting every plot twist.

Steve and the Avengers intercepted Brock Rumlow’s Hydra raid on a Lagos institute and pursued him after he stole an experimental virus sample. Wanda stopped Rumlow’s suicide bombing, but the blast damaged a nearby office building and left her devastated as emergency crews arrived.

• Steve received Hill’s briefing that Brock Rumlow planned to steal a contagious virus sample in Lagos, and the Avengers prepared to intercept him without Lynn and Natasha.
• The Avengers ambushed Rumlow’s mercenaries at the Lagos Institute for Infectious Diseases, but Rumlow escaped with the virus sample and switched vehicles during the pursuit.
• Tony, Steve, and the others cornered Rumlow outside a downtown office building after disabling his vehicles.
• Rumlow detonated a bomb, and Wanda used Chaos Magic to lift him and the blast into the air, but the explosion’s fragments tore through the neighboring building.
• Steve ordered Sam to call emergency services, while Tony comforted Wanda and the team listened as sirens approached.

After the Lagos explosion killed and injured civilians, Tony and Wanda struggled with guilt while the Avengers returned to SSC headquarters. Lynn learned what had happened and told Tony he would return in a couple of days, as the chapter ended on the devastation left behind in Lagos.

• Hill told Steve and the others to leave Lagos while she and Coulson handled the aftermath, and Tony returned to Stark Tower, haunted by the explosion.
• Tony blamed himself for not having Lynn there to prevent the tragedy, but JARVIS reminded him that no one could predict the accident.
• The Avengers returned to SSC headquarters in silence, and Wanda shut herself in her room, overwhelmed by guilt; Pietro waited outside her door.
• JARVIS told Lynn about Lagos, and Tony called him to ask whether things would have changed if he had been there; Lynn urged Tony not to blame himself and said he would return in a couple of days.
• Lynn resumed his outing with Natasha, while workers in Lagos cleared the wreckage and the chapter showed the remains of ordinary lives shattered by the explosion.

After the Lagos casualties, Ross presented the Avengers with a draft requiring United Nations oversight, splitting the team over whether to accept the accords. As Lynn urged them to negotiate rather than fight, Steve learned that Peggy Carter had died and left to attend her funeral.

• Ross told SSC that the United Nations planned to place its operations under an oversight panel and invited representatives to discuss the draft accords in Vienna.
• Rhodes supported oversight while Sam opposed it, and JARVIS argued that increasing superpowered activity was linked to escalating crises and casualties.
• Tony revealed his review of civilian deaths and said SSC needed restraints, while Steve warned that the accords could prevent them from saving people.
• Lynn stopped the argument and reminded the team that the accords were only a draft that could be negotiated and revised.
• Steve received a message that Peggy Carter had passed away peacefully, left the meeting, and changed into a black suit to attend her final journey.

After Peggy Carter's funeral, SSC failed to resolve its disagreement over United Nations oversight and publicly retired on Lynn's advice to seek better negotiating terms. Suspected bait drew the team toward a London terrorist attack, but they stayed inactive, leaving Steve struggling with the casualties and Lynn warning of further traps.

• Steve attended Peggy Carter's funeral alongside Tony, Lynn, and Natasha before returning to SSC's unresolved oversight debate.
• Natasha negotiated amendments allowing emergency operations to be reported afterward, but the United Nations barred SSC from acting before signing the agreement.
• Lynn proposed public retirement to preserve SSC's independence and gain leverage for future negotiations, and Tony announced the team's suspension of operations.
• JARVIS traced a terrorist warning to a high-clearance United Nations source, and Tony and Lynn stopped Steve from responding because they suspected a trap.
• United Nations counterterrorism forces disarmed six bombs in London but failed to stop a seventh explosion, which caused casualties while SSC watched remotely.
• Lynn warned that further setups would try to force SSC to break its promise, while Steve withdrew silently after confronting the cost of remaining inactive.

After SSC’s warnings about attacks in Berlin were ignored, Steve and Tony documented the UN’s delays and released the evidence. Lynn then made the next warnings for Paris, Rome, and Madrid public, prompting emergency transport inspections, while the hidden adversary challenged them to keep their armor off.

• JARVIS intercepted increasingly precise warnings about a Berlin subway bombing, and the UN counterterrorism force initially refused to evacuate the station because the source was unverified.
• Steve sent no one to stop the bomb, but he and Tony recorded the UN’s delayed response; the explosion injured more than a dozen people, and Tony sent the footage and logs to media outlets.
• After JARVIS warned of simultaneous attacks in Paris, Rome, and Madrid, Lynn ordered Tony to publish the earlier communications and announce the new targets at a press conference.
• Tony released the logs and urged the UN and the three cities to shut down and search public transport systems; Steve restrained himself from intervening as Tony left the podium.
• Paris, Rome, and Madrid closed major subway and rail hubs for emergency inspections, and JARVIS received a taunting message challenging them to keep their armor off.

With attacks predicted in Paris, Rome, and Madrid, Steve persuaded Tony to inspect the flagged locations despite knowing the warnings could be a trap. They found no explosives, then returned to SSC headquarters and realized the enemy had used their public warning to provoke Europe-wide panic and lockdowns.

• Steve, distressed by the danger to civilians, asked Tony to check the flagged sites in all three cities without intervening.
• Tony agreed, and he and Steve traveled in plain clothes to inspect transportation hubs in Paris, Rome, and Madrid.
• Steve and Tony found no explosives or suspicious activity at any of the locations, even as the predicted attack time approached.
• Tony and Steve returned to SSC headquarters, where Tony told Lynn, Natasha, Sam, James Rhodes, and the others that the enemy had played them by exploiting the public warning.

After the planned explosions failed to occur, Tony exposed SSC’s evidence linking the attacks and warnings to a United Nations terminal, forcing the organization to face public scrutiny. JARVIS traced a preplanted cleanup script, and the United Nations announced an independent investigation, leaving Lynn wondering who would be sacrificed.

• Lynn and Tony decided to reveal their evidence at a press conference after the explosions failed to occur in Paris, Rome, and Madrid.
• Tony presented SSC’s intelligence records and accused a senior United Nations figure of orchestrating the attacks and framing SSC.
• Natasha reported that public opinion had shifted, while Sam noted that the United Nations had issued a statement identical to its response after the Berlin bombing.
• JARVIS discovered that someone had remotely erased records from the Vienna terminal using a cleanup script planted before the London bombing.
• Lynn ordered JARVIS to trace the script, and JARVIS sent media outlets evidence identifying its origin and the person who submitted it.
• The United Nations secretary-general’s spokesperson announced an independent investigation, and Lynn wondered who would be sacrificed.

JARVIS’s evidence forced the United Nations to sacrifice Thaddeus Ross, but Tony rejected the attempt to close the scandal with a scapegoat. After renewed public pressure, SSC negotiated a transparent agreement restoring its operational autonomy, and Tony warned that the United Nations’ concessions might not last.

• JARVIS’s evidence fueled worldwide outrage, while SSC stayed silent and released corroborating material every three days as the United Nations’ investigation stalled.
• On the seventeenth day, Thaddeus Ross accepted responsibility for the failures and apologized, shielding the United Nations’ senior leadership from blame.
• Tony livestreamed SSC’s rejection of Ross’s apology as a sufficient resolution, prompting the United Nations to reopen negotiations with a neutral representative.
• Tony, Steve, Lynn, and other SSC members negotiated with the United Nations representative and secured a new agreement abolishing advance approvals and establishing after-action oversight and reporting.
• The representative signed the publicly scrutinized agreement, restoring SSC’s authority over operations, and Tony cautioned that the United Nations’ concessions were temporary.

Steve and Bucky told Tony that Bucky had killed Howard Stark while under Hydra’s control, and Tony learned that they had chosen to come clean rather than keep the truth from him. Tony refused to simply move on and proposed a two-on-two fight, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• After the accords were signed, Steve wrestled with whether to tell Tony that Bucky had killed Howard, and Lynn urged him to tell Tony before someone else uncovered the truth.
• Steve visited Bucky at the farm, where Bucky admitted that he had killed Howard and agreed to tell Tony himself.
• Steve and Bucky went to the laboratory and told Tony that Bucky had killed Howard and his wife while Hydra controlled him.
• Tony asked Steve when he had learned the truth, then said he understood why they had told him but could not simply turn the page.
• Tony proposed a two-on-two fight to settle the matter, with the past left behind regardless of who won.

After learning the truth about Howard’s death from Steve and Bucky, Tony thanked Lynn and arranged a two-on-two fight to settle the past. He recruited Peter Parker to join him, leaving Peter excited about his new suit and internship.

• Steve agreed to fight Tony on the condition that Lynn and Wanda stayed out of it.
• Tony told Lynn that Steve and Bucky had revealed Bucky’s role in Howard’s death, and thanked Lynn for arranging the confession.
• Tony explained that he planned to fight Steve and Bucky with a partner, and Lynn approved of his choice of Peter Parker.
• Tony showed Peter footage of Spider-Man stopping a car and asked him to help beat up Captain America.
• Peter accepted, and Tony promised him a new suit, expenses, and a paid internship before messaging Lynn that the recruitment was done.

Peter Parker joined Tony Stark at SSC headquarters, met the team, and teamed up with Tony to fight Steve and Bucky in an abandoned factory. The battle ended in a standoff, with neither pair gaining a decisive advantage.

• Tony introduced Peter to Natasha, Banner, Ivan, and JARVIS during a tour of SSC headquarters.
• Tony brought Peter to meet Steve and Bucky, and they agreed to a two-on-two fight the next day.
• Tony and Steve clashed while Peter used webs and agility to keep Bucky occupied in the abandoned factory.
• Peter trapped Bucky in a web net, but Bucky broke free and struck Tony as the fight intensified.
• Peter helped Tony knock Steve's shield away, then retrieved it and threw it toward Bucky to disrupt his attack.
• Peter and Tony faced Steve and Bucky in the twilight, and all four paused without a decisive winner.

Tony, Steve, Bucky, and Peter fought a training match in the abandoned factory, with Tony defeating Steve while Peter kept Bucky occupied. Afterward, Tony said his old debt was settled, and the group returned to SSC headquarters, where Peter recounted the parts of the fight he was allowed to share.

• Peter used webbing and aerial kicks to attack Bucky, while Tony and Steve fought across the factory.
• Tony coordinated a dive that disrupted Bucky and Steve, then defeated Steve with a point-blank repulsor blast and helped him up.
• Tony told Bucky that the old debt was settled, and the four rested until Sam arrived and asked who had won.
• Tony forbade Peter from telling May details about the fight and gave him two sentences to repeat about his training.
• At SSC headquarters, Peter discussed the fight with Banner and received hot cocoa from JARVIS while Tony watched from the corridor.

The Ancient One assigned Lynn to teach Stephen Strange basic magic once Strange reached Kathmandu, so Lynn prepared lessons and traveled there ahead of him. He settled into a quiet routine while Raj and other local children watched the streets for Strange, who had not yet arrived.

• The Ancient One told Lynn that Stephen Strange would come to Kamar-Taj and assigned Lynn to teach him the fundamentals of magic.
• Lynn told Tony and Natasha about the assignment, said goodbye to them, and prepared simplified notes for Strange.
• Lynn traveled to Kathmandu and settled in a guesthouse while waiting for Strange to arrive.
• Lynn paid Raj and other children to watch for an injured American matching Strange's description.
• Lynn spent his days exploring Kathmandu, revising his lessons, and exchanging messages with Natasha and Tony while Raj reported on his search.

Lynn tracked down the despondent Stephen Strange in Kathmandu and used a staged bag theft to draw him into an encounter. After revealing his ability to immobilize Strange, Lynn took him to a guesthouse and promised to bring him somewhere the next morning to explain what had happened.

• Lynn learned from Raj and the other children that a trembling foreigner had been asking about Kamar-Taj.
• Lynn arranged for Raj to snatch Strange's travel bag, then confronted Strange in a dead-end alley and asked for his watch in exchange for it.
• When Strange begged him not to take the watch, Lynn immobilized him with a gesture, examined the watch, then released him and told him to follow.
• Lynn returned Strange's bag and took him to a guesthouse, where he rented him a room and said he would take him somewhere the next morning.
• Strange washed, changed into clean clothes, and went to bed, still uncertain whether he could trust Lynn.

Lynn took Strange to Kamar-Taj, where the Ancient One challenged his belief that his damaged hands could only be healed through medicine. After the Ancient One forced Strange to experience his soul leaving his body, Lynn used a five-colored light to make him lose consciousness, leaving him about to receive a harsher demonstration.

• Strange woke at the inn, and Lynn told him he would take him to Kamar-Taj.
• Lynn brought Strange to the Ancient One, who explained that she had not physically healed Pangborn but had helped him believe he could walk.
• The Ancient One told Strange that spiritual power could help his body heal itself, but Strange rejected her explanation as faith healing.
• The Ancient One pushed Strange's soul out of his body and then recalled it, leaving him shaken and struggling to accept what had happened.
• Lynn touched Strange between the eyebrows with five-colored light, and Strange lost consciousness.

Lynn and the Ancient One exposed Stephen Strange to the vastness of the universe and multiverse, leaving him overwhelmed and begging to be taught. The Ancient One agreed to let Lynn take Strange back to the inn so he could reconsider his motives before returning to Kamar-Taj.

• Strange experienced the universe and a tree-shaped multiverse through a vision arranged by Lynn and the Ancient One.
• Strange returned to his body, fell to the floor, and pleaded with the Ancient One to teach him, but she refused.
• Lynn carried Strange outside and told him to return after deciding what he wanted beyond healing his hands.
• Strange pleaded and pounded on the door, left, then came back and begged to be admitted again.
• The Ancient One warned Lynn that Strange's inner demons could lead him toward darkness and asked Lynn to take him back to the inn to reflect.

Lynn refused to teach Strange until he examined his motives, explaining that his apparent humility concealed the same arrogance that had defined him as a surgeon. Strange still had one day to decide whether he wanted only to heal his hands or to become someone who truly respected and saved lives.

• Lynn brought Strange back to the inn and gave him a week to consider what he wanted, while Strange waited in silence and continued trying to make a fist.
• On the sixth evening, Strange confronted Lynn and asked why he had not been given a chance.
• Lynn explained that the Ancient One had rejected Strange because he had knelt only to get his hands healed, not because he had let go of his arrogance.
• Strange defended his desire to heal his hands so he could return to surgery, and Lynn accused him of treating patients as tools to prove his skill.
• Lynn told Strange to decide whether he wanted to show off his abilities or save lives, and gave him one more day to think.

Lynn gave Strange time to reconsider his reasons for seeking treatment, and Strange returned the next evening admitting his arrogance had shaped his life as a surgeon. Strange decided he still wanted to heal his hands but also wanted to discover who he could become, and Lynn agreed to take him to Master The Ancient One the next day.

• Lynn told Strange not to rush his answer and sent him gently out of the room.
• Lynn called Natasha, and they talked about visiting China and trying its food again.
• Lynn waited while Strange stayed in his room, reflecting on his identity and his reasons for wanting his hands healed.
• Strange returned to Lynn and admitted he had chosen patients to protect his reputation and prove his superiority.
• Strange said he wanted to heal his hands and avoid wasting the rest of his life, and Lynn agreed to take him to Master The Ancient One.

Stephen Strange convinced the Ancient One to let him study at Kamar-Taj, where Lynn arranged his lodging and introduced him to its residents and facilities. Lynn began teaching Strange the basics of magic and warned him that power always required a price, then welcomed him to Kamar-Taj as his studies were set to begin the next day.

• The Ancient One accepted Strange after he explained that he wanted to learn who he was beyond his former arrogance, and she told Lynn to arrange his room and show him around.
• Lynn introduced Strange to Mordo, who agreed to arrange his lodging and later guide his combat training, and to Wong, Kamar-Taj's librarian.
• Lynn opened a portal to Strange's hotel room so he could pack his belongings, then showed him his clean room at Kamar-Taj and the dining hall, library, and training ground.
• Lynn gave Strange the Wi-Fi password and explained that magic shaped reality through spells, while warning that power demanded effort, time, or even a soul as payment.
• Lynn told Strange that his studies would officially begin the next day and welcomed him to Kamar-Taj.

Lynn taught Strange to sense and guide magic rather than force it, and Strange made progress with resonance runes before beginning to practice portals. Lynn returned to New York to spend time with Natasha, then ended the night with her at their apartment.

• Lynn introduced Strange to a basic magical resonance rune and helped him produce a faint strand of golden light by relaxing his fingers.
• Over the following days, Strange improved at sustaining runes, while Lynn warned him against rushing to use magic to heal his hands and urged him to accept failure.
• Lynn video-called Natasha, who told him Peter had submitted a three-thousand-word self-criticism after damaging the training area again.
• Lynn visited Natasha in New York, then returned to Kamar-Taj and began teaching Strange how to open portals.
• Strange produced a faint burst of orange sparks after Lynn reminded him to guide space rather than force it open.
• Lynn returned to Natasha, and they went to bed together after talking and sharing a quiet evening.

Lynn forced Strange to confront the instinctive need for control that kept him from opening portals. After escaping a shrinking magical barrier and a nest of venomous snakes in the Amazon, Strange returned to Kamar-Taj having learned to let go and successfully open a portal.

• Strange repeatedly failed to open a portal in the Kamar-Taj training yard, and Lynn explained that his need for control was holding him back.
• Lynn sent Strange to an Amazon swamp and enclosed him in a magical barrier that would shrink while snakes gathered outside.
• As the barrier contracted, Strange's attempts to draw a portal failed until he stopped striving for precision and let his movements flow.
• Strange opened a portal to Kamar-Taj and escaped the swamp just before the barrier disappeared.
• Lynn confirmed Strange's success, and Strange said he finally understood how to guide the energy.

Lynn formed a magical pact with The Ancient One, offering her a way to end their connection when she was ready to retire. He left Strange to study theory with Wong at Kamar-Taj while he prepared to spend the next week watching over events there.

• After Strange improved at portal magic, Lynn told Natasha he planned to spend several days at Kamar-Taj to protect innocent people from an impending danger.
• Lynn asked The Ancient One to complete a magic circle linking them, and she accepted the pact that would let her end it when she chose.
• Lynn left Strange with Wong to study magical theory for about a week, and Strange thanked Lynn for his help.
• Lynn returned to The Ancient One's meditation room, shared tea with her, and invited her to vacation in the Maldives after retirement.

Mordo explained that sorcerers protected Earth by defending the three Sanctums from Dormammu and his followers. When a bell rang through the library, Strange hesitated but followed Wong and Mordo toward the disturbance.

• Strange asked Mordo and Wong about sorcerers’ duties, and Mordo explained that the Sanctums formed a protective shield around Earth.
• Strange asked about Dormammu after finding his name in the Book of Cagliostro, and Mordo revealed that Kaecilius sought to destroy the Sanctums so Dormammu could enter Earth.
• Strange said he had only come to heal his hands and tried to leave, but Wong reminded him of Lynn’s lesson about guiding more than energy.
• A bell rang, and Wong and Mordo hurried toward the library entrance while Strange hesitated before following them.

Strange was knocked unconscious during a pursuit at Kamar-Taj and woke in the New York Sanctum, where he stumbled into Kaecilius attacking its guardian. Lynn and the Ancient One watched as Strange fought, hoping the experience would teach him why the Sanctums had to be protected.

• Strange followed Mordo and Wong through Kamar-Taj, then ran toward a scream and was blasted unconscious by an unknown sorcerer.
• Strange woke alone in the New York Sanctum at 177A Bleecker Street and searched the building for other people.
• Strange saw Kaecilius threatening the wounded guardian Daniel Drumm and rushed out to stop him.
• Kaecilius and two followers attacked Strange, who tried to defend himself with runes.
• Lynn asked how the Ancient One had persuaded Daniel to stage the encounter, and she explained that Daniel's injuries and pain were real despite the life-preserving artifact.