Recaps

Tony and S.H.I.E.L.D. argued over how to profit from Thor, then Tony began teaching the stranded prince Earth’s basic rules and sent him to live as an ordinary person in Brooklyn. The chapter ended with three muggers cornering Thor, who mistook them for reasonable mortals.

• Tony and Coulson negotiated over using Thor’s potential Asgardian inheritance as collateral, while Thor tried to demand respect.
• Chen Mo warned Coulson that harming Thor could provoke Odin and endanger Earth, so S.H.I.E.L.D. agreed to let Stark Industries handle Thor’s temporary accommodation while monitoring him.
• Tony put Thor through lessons on traffic lights, money, and paying for goods, then sent him with Happy to Brooklyn without money.
• Thor tried to order hot dogs on the Son of Odin’s account, but the vendor demanded payment and refused to serve him.
• Three armed men lured Thor into an alley and threatened him with a knife, and Thor welcomed them as reasonable mortals.

Thor defeated three muggers in an alley, took their money, and paid for hot dogs to avoid another lesson from Tony. Meanwhile, Chen Mo decided to retrieve Steve Rogers from the Arctic and opened a portal to the glaciers, leaving Tony wary of his plans.

• Thor defeated three armed men who tried to rob him and took the cash and valuables from their pockets as spoils.
• Thor insisted on paying for hot dogs, giving the vendor far more money than the food cost.
• Tony reviewed Thor’s progress with Chen Mo and began planning lessons in work, housing, transportation, and banking.
• Chen Mo remembered that Steve Rogers was frozen beneath Arctic ice and asked JARVIS for the glacier coordinates.
• Chen Mo opened a portal to the Arctic and stepped through, saying he would loosen the soil around S.H.I.E.L.D.'s ancestor.

Chen Mo found the Valkyrie beneath Arctic ice and uncovered the frozen Captain America, Steve Rogers. As Tony and Coulson watched the rescue through a live feed, Coulson panicked when Chen Mo reached for Steve’s shield.

• Chen Mo opened a spatial rift from Stark Tower and traveled to the Arctic Ocean, where he used telekinesis to scan beneath the ice.
• Chen Mo lifted the buried Valkyrie bomber out of the glacier, and Coulson recognized its Hydra emblem and identified it as the plane Captain America had taken into the Arctic in 1945.
• Chen Mo tore open the bomber’s frozen hatch and found Steve Rogers encased in ice in the cockpit, still holding his shield.
• Tony said he wanted to study the shield, while Coulson protested and watched Chen Mo reach toward it.
• Coulson shrieked at Chen Mo not to touch or scratch Steve’s shield, startling Tony.

Chen Mo brought the frozen Steve Rogers to Stark Tower, where Coulson and Nick Fury recognized Captain America and Fury ordered a secret medical response. When Fury asked what Chen Mo wanted in exchange, Chen Mo demanded the Tesseract, leaving Fury alarmed that he knew about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret.

• Chen Mo pulled Steve and his shield from the Arctic ice and dragged the frozen captain through a portal into Stark Tower.
• Coulson excitedly recognized Steve, while Tony argued with him about the captain's shield and mocked his devotion.
• Nick Fury arrived, recognized Steve, and ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. to secure the discovery and prepare resuscitation equipment.
• Fury asked Chen Mo what he wanted in exchange for Steve, and Chen Mo demanded the Tesseract.
• Fury questioned how Chen Mo knew about the Tesseract, and Chen Mo acted as if its existence were common knowledge.

Chen Mo forced Fury to trade the Tesseract for Steve Rogers, warning that using the cube could bring an alien army to Earth. After Chen Mo freed Steve from the ice, Steve awakened and attacked Coulson before throwing his shield at Fury.

• Chen Mo and Tony pressured Fury to exchange the Tesseract for Steve, while Coulson protested that Steve was not an exhibit.
• Chen Mo warned Fury that the Tesseract could reveal Earth's coordinates and invite an alien army.
• Fury agreed to deliver the Tesseract after confirming Steve was alive.
• Chen Mo shattered the ice, and Steve fell onto the floor.
• Steve awoke, seized Coulson by the throat, and hurled his shield at Fury.

Steve Rogers awoke in 2010 after spending seventy years frozen in the Arctic and learned that the war against Hydra was over. As he struggled to accept his lost era, Tony showed him the advanced technology of the new age.

• Steve crashed the Hydra bomber into the Arctic sea and sank into darkness after telling Peggy he would have to postpone their dance.
• Steve awoke in a laboratory, mistook Nick Fury and the agents for enemies, and threw his shield at Fury before Chen Mo caught it.
• Phil Coulson told Steve that it was 2010 and that he had been frozen beneath the Arctic ice for seventy years.
• Steve asked about the plane and his mission, then learned that he had been the only survivor and that Hydra was already defeated.
• Tony activated the laboratory's holograms and Iron Man armors, welcoming Steve to the new era.

Tony tried to impress Steve with the Iron Legion, but Steve criticized the suits’ battlefield weaknesses, nearly provoking a fight before Fury intervened. When Fury brought the Tesseract as part of a deal for Steve, Steve recognized it and tried to stop Chen Mo from taking it, but Chen Mo immobilized him and picked it up.

• Tony activated the Iron Legion to boast to Steve, who criticized the suits as conspicuous and tactically vulnerable.
• Tony ordered an armored suit to aim at Steve, but Fury stepped between them and persuaded Tony to deactivate its weapon.
• Fury announced that S.H.I.E.L.D. had brought the Tesseract and expected Steve to come with them.
• Steve recognized the Tesseract and demanded that Fury explain why it had survived and was being traded.
• Chen Mo used an invisible force to stop Steve from reaching the case, then opened it and picked up the Tesseract.

Chen Mo ended Steve’s attempt to keep the Tesseract from him by revealing that the cube was only a shell around the Space Stone. After Chen Mo broke it open, Tony eagerly asked to study the stone.

• Chen Mo released Steve from his telekinetic restraint, and Steve warned that the Tesseract could bring another war.
• Tony argued that Chen Mo was too powerful to be considered an ordinary person and that the Tesseract was safer with him.
• Steve insisted he would stop Chen Mo from taking the Tesseract, while Fury stayed focused on Chen Mo’s claims about its power.
• Chen Mo dismissed Steve’s objections and explained that the Tesseract was not truly a cube.
• Chen Mo crushed the Tesseract’s shell, exposing the Space Stone and unleashing a surge of energy across the laboratory.
• Tony approached Chen Mo and asked whether he could make a copy of the Space Stone for him to study.

Tony asked Chen Mo to copy the Space Stone for study, while Fury sought a deal for vibranium and Steve demanded that the Stone be handed over. Fury diverted Steve by telling him Peggy Carter was alive, then confronted Chen Mo about the alien army that might follow the Tesseract’s signal to Earth.

• Tony asked Chen Mo to copy the Space Stone, but Chen Mo said he could not reproduce it because it embodied a fundamental law of the universe.
• Fury asked Chen Mo for a strategic agreement to supply vibranium, and Chen Mo refused while joking that he could give Fury hair follicles instead.
• Steve demanded that the Space Stone be isolated and handed over, so Chen Mo threatened to send him back to the Arctic ice.
• Fury told Steve that Peggy Carter was still alive, and Steve left with Coulson to learn about the modern world and arrange to see her.
• After Steve and Coulson left, Fury asked Chen Mo what alien army might follow the Tesseract’s coordinates to Earth.

Chen Mo told Fury and Tony that Thanos sought the Infinity Stones to erase half of all life in the universe, but assured them the Space Stone could not reveal Earth's location while its blockade remained. He proposed that Earth could attack and plunder alien forces instead, leaving Fury and Tony eager for the technology and resources a fleet might bring.

• Chen Mo explained that Thanos, whom he nicknamed the purple sweet potato spirit and eco-boy, wanted all six Infinity Stones to randomly wipe out half the universe's life.
• Fury asked how dangerous Thanos was, while Tony speculated that Chen Mo's talk of different versions pointed to the multiverse.
• Fury pressed Chen Mo to say whether keeping the Space Stone would expose Earth to an alien invasion.
• Chen Mo said the blockade prevented aliens from detecting the Space Stone and argued that Earth could use the coordinates to attack alien worlds instead.
• Tony and Fury grew eager to seize alien ships, weapons, energy sources, and technology if Thanos's fleet came to Earth.

Chen Mo abandoned plans for an immediate alien raid and watched Thor struggle to survive in Brooklyn after losing his divine power. When corrupt cops confronted Thor, he knocked their chief unconscious, showing that he remained a warrior.

• Tony and Fury refused to join Chen Mo on an immediate trip to the aliens’ home base, citing Earth’s lack of military preparation.
• Chen Mo made two more trips to The Boys and Mutant worlds but found no meaningful progress toward the crucial thing the Ancient One had warned him about.
• A week later, Chen Mo browsed Fury’s list of dangerous people before showing Tony a live feed of Thor in Brooklyn.
• Thor, now living without his divine power, faced three corrupt cops who accused him of robbing two thugs.
• When the police chief swung his baton, Thor punched him into a trash can and knocked him out.

Thor escaped corrupt cops in Brooklyn after Erin, a reporter, rescued him in her car, while Chen Mo secretly protected him from their bullets. During the drive, Thor introduced himself to Erin and felt an unfamiliar stirring in his chest.

• Two corrupt cops fired at Thor, but Chen Mo's telekinetic protection diverted every bullet while Tony watched from Stark Tower.
• Thor hid in an alley, failed to summon Mjolnir, and prepared to fight the cops with his mortal strength.
• Erin drove her Ford into the alley entrance, pulled Thor into the car, and sped away from the cops.
• Erin said she planned to expose the corrupt police, and Thor told her he had gotten into trouble because of a hot dog.
• Erin introduced herself as a New York Chronicle reporter, Thor named himself the Son of Odin, and he felt his heart beat faster beside her.

Thor thanked Erin after she rescued him and helped him reconsider courage and his responsibility toward weaker people. Chen Mo and Tony falsely claimed they had planned Thor’s lesson, while the Ancient One watched an unseen fissure open in the void.

• Erin explained to Thor why she risked her life to expose crime, prompting him to rethink his understanding of courage and power.
• Thor thanked Erin, who teased him for acting less like a lunatic.
• Chen Mo and Tony told Pepper Potts they had deliberately arranged Thor’s trial, but admitted Erin was only a passerby.
• Pepper Potts ordered Chen Mo and Tony to finish their food, while they joked about her anger.
• The Ancient One watched a black fissure slowly open in the distant void and said it had finally come.

The Ancient One saw that Chen Mo had thrown the future into chaos, leaving Strange and Thanos on wildly different paths, and decided Earth could not wait to strengthen its defenses. She urged Odin to accelerate Thor’s growth and use the Space Stone to provoke Thanos, but Odin revealed that Chen Mo had already stolen the Stone.

• The Ancient One watched futures in which Strange died in a car crash or was repeatedly killed by Dormammu, then saw Thanos either destroy the universe or serve the Goddess of Death.
• The Ancient One saw Chen Mo’s shadow appear across countless contradictory futures and was struck by a green light that shattered the visions.
• The Ancient One concluded that Earth’s defenses could not wait and sent her astral form to contact Odin in Asgard.
• The Ancient One urged Odin to speed up Thor’s growth and use the Space Stone as bait to determine Thanos’s plans.
• Odin told the Ancient One that Chen Mo had already taken the Space Stone and was playing with it like a marble.

The Ancient One warned Chen Mo that his actions had destabilized the future and proposed using the Space Stone to lure Loki and draw out Thanos. Chen Mo agreed, but insisted on joining the plan as its director and reserving the right to change the events as they unfolded.

• Odin raged to the Ancient One about Chen Mo taking the Space Stone, but swallowed his grievance after she ended their conversation.
• The Ancient One visited Chen Mo and explained that countless possible futures had emerged, with Chen Mo as their greatest variable.
• The Ancient One proposed using the Space Stone as bait to bring Loki to Earth and test how Thanos would respond while Thor changed.
• Chen Mo agreed to the plan but declared that he would join the game and change its plot whenever he wanted.
• The Ancient One warned Chen Mo not to act recklessly or take the Space Stone into space, and he joked that he could bring enemies back instead.

After the Ancient One took the Space Stone from Stark Tower, Tony decided to develop magic-detecting technology. Odin sent Loki to Midgard to retrieve the stone and observe Thor, while the Ancient One assigned Mordo an important task after finding him secretly using dark magic.

• The Ancient One took the Space Stone from Stark Tower without Tony or JARVIS noticing, and Chen Mo teased Tony about his inability to detect the theft.
• Tony began redesigning Stark Tower's sensors and security to detect magic, while Chen Mo continued watching Thor struggle to understand a coupon.
• Odin ordered Loki to go to Midgard, help Thor if necessary, and retrieve the Space Stone from Chen Mo before Odin entered his sleep.
• Loki left the Golden Palace, privately planning to claim the throne while Odin slept and Thor remained banished.
• Mordo secretly practiced dark magic in Kamar-Taj, but the Ancient One appeared and assigned him an important task.

Chen Mo planned to add drama to the coming alien invasion while Tony and S.H.I.E.L.D. expanded their armaments. As Odin fell into the All-Father Sleep, Loki departed for Earth intending to kill Thor, and Heimdall secretly resolved to warn Thor’s friends.

• Chen Mo decided to add special acts to the coming invasion, while Tony’s work with Chen Mo’s materials rapidly improved Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. equipment.
• Odin fell into the All-Father Sleep after worrying about Loki and Chen Mo.
• Loki took concealed weapons from Asgard’s vault and used the Bifrost to travel to Earth, planning to claim the Space Stone and kill Thor.
• Heimdall sent word of Loki’s plot to the Warriors Three and Sif.
• The Ancient One sent Mordo away on a distant mission and wondered how she could blame Odin if Chen Mo lost control.
• Thor sneezed in Erin’s car, startling her as they drove through Brooklyn.

Loki arrived on Earth, but Chen Mo diverted him to the Arctic, where Tony Stark and Nick Fury mobilized Earth's defenses. Loki destroyed the first unmanned armor, and a larger force of suits descended on him.

• The Ancient One saw the barrier around Earth vanish as Loki arrived earlier than expected.
• Chen Mo sent Loki to an Arctic ice field instead of New York and showed Tony and Nick Fury the live feed.
• Tony activated his global armor response, while Fury sent Romanoff, Barton, Captain Rogers, and Dr. Banner toward the Arctic.
• Thor felt a brief killing intent while riding with Erin, then dismissed it as exhaustion.
• Loki destroyed an unmanned suit and watched a dense formation of armored suits descend through the clouds.

Loki destroyed Tony Stark’s unmanned armor on the Arctic ice while the suits covertly gathered data on his attacks. After Loki turned invisible to escape, Tony’s upgraded anti-magic sensors tracked him, and Tony raced toward the battlefield excited by the data he had collected.

• Loki blasted apart wave after wave of unmanned suits while boasting about his power.
• Tony Stark told Chen Mo that the first suits were decoys meant to make Loki confident and collect combat data.
• New suits dodged Loki’s attacks, recorded the effects of his magic, and deliberately provoked him with harmless laser shots.
• Loki grew angry, turned invisible, and began leaving the battlefield without realizing special suits could still detect him.
• Tony’s anti-magic frequency sensors tracked Loki through his invisibility and locked targeting systems onto him.
• Tony Stark flew toward the Arctic, celebrating that he could analyze magic through physical measurements.

Tony confronted Loki on the ice field, mocked his failed invisibility, and used JARVIS's analysis to evade his attacks before blasting him into a crevasse. Loki survived and revealed a hidden treasure, unleashing a powerful energy surge as he prepared to strike back.

• Tony found Loki by detecting his green energy signature and taunted him until Loki dropped his invisibility spell.
• Loki attacked with ice spikes and energy beams, but Tony dodged them using JARVIS's analysis of Loki's movements.
• Tony fired a full-power energy cannon that sent Loki crashing into a glacial crevasse, though Loki's vital signs remained stable.
• Loki took a treasure wrapped in golden cloth from his robes, triggering a powerful energy surge that distorted JARVIS's warnings.
• Loki rose from the crevasse clutching the treasure and demanded that Tony kneel before him.

Loki awakened the Casket of Ancient Winters and unleashed a world-threatening cold wave, but Chen Mo contained it around the polar region. Tony deployed a massive Anti-Chen Mo Armor against Loki, and it began tearing through the frost barrier.

• Loki awakened the Casket of Ancient Winters and mistook its response to his frost-giant bloodline as proof of his royal heritage.
• Loki unleashed a powerful cold wave that began freezing the seas and spreading across the Northern Hemisphere.
• Chen Mo used telekinetic force to seal off the polar region and stop the cold wave from spreading farther.
• Tony's attacks failed to penetrate Loki's magical ice wall, while Loki's frost attacks could not break Tony's Vibranium armor.
• Tony released the Anti-Chen Mo Armor from an orbital satellite and linked his Iron Man armor to it.
• The mech tore a fissure through Loki's supposedly indestructible frost barrier.

Tony fought Loki across the polar ice in the Anti-Chen Mo Armor, overpowering him despite the Casket of Ancient Winters. As Steve and Natasha struggled to approach, Loki awakened the Casket’s full power, freezing the storm and disabling the armor’s systems while Tony charged again.

• Tony smashed Loki through ice and glacier, then drove him back with missiles and repeated attacks from the Anti-Chen Mo Armor.
• Loki used the Casket of Ancient Winters to freeze the armor, raise ice spikes, and counterattack, but Tony pressed forward and struck him repeatedly.
• Tony and Loki clashed the armor’s full-power energy cannon against the Casket’s frost, unleashing a shockwave across the ice field.
• Steve and Natasha left the S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft and tried to reach the battle, but the storm and shockwave threw them back.
• Tony struck Loki into a crater, but Loki awakened the Casket’s ancient power, stopped the polar wind, and caused Tony’s armor systems to fail as Tony charged again.

Tony and Steve fought Loki on the Arctic ice, but the Casket of Ancient Winters rapidly strengthened Loki after he recovered from Tony’s attack. The chapter left Steve pinned beneath Loki’s scepter as Fury asked Banner if he was ready.

• Tony’s Anti-Chen Mo Armor froze after striking Loki, leaving Tony trapped while Fury ordered a rescue team to prepare.
• Tony called the Iron Legion for backup as Loki emerged from the ice, healed by the Casket of Ancient Winters, and attacked the frozen armor.
• Steve arrived and fought Loki, but Loki’s growing strength let him shatter Steve’s exoskeleton and pin him beneath the scepter.
• Fury watched Steve struggle and asked Banner if he was ready.

Banner transformed into Hulk and overwhelmed Loki, but Loki’s power surged as the Casket of Ancient Winters awakened his bloodline. The Ancient One intervened to stop Loki’s summons, and Fury was left suspecting another powerful figure had acted from the battlefield.

• Banner admitted he was not ready, transformed into Hulk, and attacked Loki while Steve and Natasha focused on rescuing Tony.
• Chen Mo and the Ancient One watched the battle and discussed the Avengers’ lack of teamwork and readiness.
• Loki’s power grew, allowing him to freeze Hulk and summon the Eye of the Sorcerer while the Destroyer Armor began to awaken.
• The Ancient One shattered Loki’s shield, crushed him into the ice, and sealed his magic, causing both summons to collapse.
• Hulk broke free, grabbed Loki, and resumed smashing him while Fury noticed Loki’s energy had abruptly fallen to zero.
• Fury examined the footage and wondered whether someone besides Chen Mo was hidden on Earth.

The Ancient One decided to abandon the original plan and let Thor regain his divine power, while arranging for Loki to be sent to Thanos. On the Arctic battlefield, Steve captured Loki as S.H.I.E.L.D. prepared to free Tony from his frozen armor, and Fury suspected Chen Mo had erased the source of a vanished energy signal.

• The Ancient One told Chen Mo she would help Thor rediscover his power and send Loki to Thanos, dismissing Odin’s sleeping state as irrelevant.
• Steve stopped Hulk from striking Loki, then subdued Loki with a restraint ring and accused him of attacking Earth.
• Tony reconnected with Steve and asked S.H.I.E.L.D. to deice his frozen armor, while Loki mocked the heroes and claimed the real war had only begun.
• Chen Mo told Loki that he had arranged for him to meet an old friend, and Loki asked where he was being sent.
• Fury’s team found that an energy source had vanished without a trace, and Fury suspected Chen Mo and added his name to a more dangerous list.