Recaps

Strange reached the Magic Furnace in the Dream Dimension and began the Sorcerer Supreme Tournament’s first trial: keeping its beacon lit for six hours while Thought Maggots attacked. At the No Doors Bar, Luke and Rocket watched the live broadcast as Thor fought off the swarms.

• Strange followed his Circular Beacon through the Dream Dimension to a massive Magic Furnace.
• Strange tossed the beacon into the furnace, reigniting it and attracting nearby dream creatures.
• An unseen voice announced that the candidates had to keep their beacons burning for six hours against Thought Maggots.
• Luke and Rocket watched the tournament broadcast at the No Doors Bar and learned the Grandmaster had arranged the stream.
• The broadcast showed Thor surrounded by Thought Maggots, using lightning to clear large swarms.

Loki coaxed Thor into fighting harder by pretending to show him affection, while Strange used a spell to seal his thoughts against the Thought Maggots. Strange was swallowed by the swarm, but Luke remained confident that he had passed the trial.

• Loki asked Thor to hold out for six hours, and he admitted he might not have the endurance to do so.
• Loki sweet-talked Thor into promising to help her pass, and his renewed determination made his soul manifest a battle axe of lightning.
• Strange blasted the Thought Maggots with spells until his mental energy nearly ran out, then used Cyttorak's Blind Idiocy to seal off his thoughts.
• Luke and Rocket Raccoon discussed the tournament odds, and Rocket bet on Strange after Luke encouraged him.
• Strange poured his power into the Magic Furnace as the Thought Maggots swarmed over him, while Luke declared that the trial was in the bag.

Luke explained how Strange trapped Thought Maggots in his mind and endured their attack during the trial. As Thor helped Loki climb the rankings, Luke assured Rocket Raccoon that Strange would pass and that their gamble would pay off.

• Rocket Raccoon worried as Thought Maggots swarmed Strange, but Luke explained that Strange had shut down his thoughts to trap them in his brain.
• Luke explained that the Thought Maggots would starve without active thoughts, while their attack left horrifying marks on Strange's face and a costly magical debt awaiting him.
• Luke compared mages' contracts with Dimensional Demon Gods to bank loans and described how the Sorcerer Supreme could resist their collections with the Vishanti's protection.
• Luke predicted Strange could endure the remaining three hours of the trial, while Thor cleared the insect swarm and helped Loki rise into the top three.
• Rocket Raccoon worried that Strange's low popularity would ruin his bet, but Luke promised that their gamble would pay off in the second qualifying round.

Strange passed the Dream Dimension trial, while Luke and Rocket Raccoon celebrated Rocket’s winnings at No Doors Bar. Magik approached Luke and invited him to her room, and he left to meet her despite suspecting she might have an ulterior motive.

• Sixteen contestants, including Strange, survived the six-hour Thought Maggot trial and were teleported out of the Dream Dimension.
• Rocket Raccoon celebrated winning enough to buy a new spaceship, while Strange arrived at No Doors Bar still reeking of Thought Maggots and suffering from abdominal pain.
• Luke agreed to take Strange’s place in the next match, scheduled for three days later.
• Loki and Thor arrived at the bar, and Luke noted that Loki seemed to be hiding something from her brother.
• Magik, the queen of Hell Border and a tournament favorite, approached Luke, flirted with him, and slipped a keycard into his pocket.
• Luke left the bar to visit Magik’s room, prepared to face whatever purpose or trap she had in mind.

Luke followed Magik to her hotel suite, where she seduced him before telling him that Mephisto was waiting next door. Luke then met Mephisto, who revealed that he had privately invited the Sorcerer Supreme Tournament participants to discuss a major move by Hell.

• Luke entered Magik’s suite and suspected that her eager advances concealed an ulterior motive.
• Magik told Luke that a fortune-telling Granny had predicted a surprising gift, then seduced him.
• Afterward, Magik said Mephisto was waiting next door and had contacted every Sorcerer Supreme Tournament participant privately.
• Luke left Magik’s room and entered the neighboring suite, where Mephisto said only seven of his fourteen invited guests had come.

Luke met with Mephisto, who tried to recruit him to betray Stephen Strange during the Sorcerer Supreme Tournament, but Luke refused and revealed he had brought the Ancient One. The Ancient One confronted the frightened Mephisto as Luke left them to settle things.

• Mephisto recognized Luke as a mage with an unusually pure soul and offered him an accident insurance contract, but Luke questioned its hidden cost and refused to be fooled.
• Mephisto told Luke that Blackheart had allied with Doctor Voodoo, Magik, and an Asgardian princess to eliminate Mordo and Strange in the tournament’s second round.
• Mephisto offered to teach Luke how to dissolve his contract with Strange and promised him any reward in exchange for betraying Strange.
• Luke asked to become Sorcerer Supreme, provoking Mephisto when the Hell Lord could not grant his demand.
• Luke summoned the Ancient One, who entered holding the Head-Busting Wand, and told her to hit Mephisto hard before he left.

After helping Ancient One capture Mephisto’s avatar, Luke wondered what the demon was planning and heard an enigmatic warning about the future. Three days later, Strange joined Luke for the Sorcerer Supreme Tournament’s second trial, a battle royale that would eliminate six of fourteen contestants.

• Ancient One said the group had destroyed one of Mephisto’s avatars and that Mephisto would be unable to interfere in the tournament, while Luke warned that the capture might be a trap.
• Ancient One explained that Vishanti—not Kamar-Taj or the Sorcerer Supreme—selected the next Sorcerer Supreme, then urged Luke to trust his instincts about the future.
• Strange finished digesting the Thought Maggots, and Rocket Raccoon teased Luke about spending three days with the queen of Hell Border.
• Luke and Strange went to the second advancement round, where Strange learned that the strength trial was a battle royale that would eliminate six of fourteen contestants.

Luke and Strange entered the second Contest of Champions match, which took place in Hell’s lower level, where Strange prepared for the dangers ahead. The chapter ended as Luke sensed someone approaching them.

• Strange doubted he could defeat the formidable contestants, while Luke reassured him and told him to wear magic-resistant armor and stay behind him.
• Mordo and Strange entered separate teleportation passages after declaring their determination to fight for Kamar-Taj and the Supreme’s glory.
• Strange arrived in Hell with Luke and summoned Superman to guard him.
• Strange explained the lower level’s dangers, donned his heavy armor, and described how damned souls lost their memories and merged through endless slaughter.
• Luke sensed an approaching presence and warned Strange that someone was coming.

Blackheart hunted Stephen Strange in the hellish tournament arena, expecting an easy kill, but Strange's heavily armored gear blunted his surprise attack. As Blackheart prepared to attack again, spectators watched and Rocket Raccoon wondered when Luke would enter the match.

• Blackheart arrived in the lower levels of hell and sensed a rival contestant nearby.
• Blackheart found Strange in heavy armor and attacked him from above, but his scaled arm broke against Strange's armor.
• Strange recognized Blackheart and feared the mismatch, while spectators at the No Doors Bar expected him to be killed.
• Rocket Raccoon worried about its bets and asked where Luke was.
• Blackheart questioned Strange's armor, and Strange defended his choice and taunted him.
• Blackheart threatened to make Strange's defeat more miserable.

Strange fought Blackheart’s elemental contractors in Hell but was overwhelmed by the Earth Demon Gresil. Luke stepped in and erased Gresil with a single punch, leaving Strange stunned by what a real mage could do.

• Blackheart summoned the Wind Demon Abigor, and Strange dispersed his tornado with Watoomb’s Winds.
• The Earth Demon Gresil ambushed Strange and knocked him down while Blackheart and the Water Demon Valu watched.
• Luke revealed himself and chided Strange for trying to fight the devils without help.
• Luke punched Gresil, pulverizing him and wiping out the surrounding land and mountains.
• Strange stared at the enormous passage left behind, wondering whether high-level mages could really wield such terrifying strength.

Luke quickly defeated Blackheart and his demons in the Hell match while Stephen Strange waited for the fight to end. The match concluded with all six participants eliminated, and a portal opened to return Strange.

• The No Doors Bar audience watched Luke's punch destroy Earth Demon Greyshil and speculated about Luke's identity as Rocket Raccoon celebrated his winning bet.
• Blackheart ordered Wind Demon and Water Demon to attack Luke, but both tried to flee instead.
• Luke inhaled Wind Demon and vaporized Water Demon, then pursued Blackheart as he escaped.
• Luke tore off Blackheart's wings, overpowered his transformed demon form, and destroyed him with heat beams in a volcanic crater.
• Stephen Strange waited for Luke until his marker opened a teleportation passage, revealing that all six participants had been eliminated.

After Luke’s overwhelming victory in the second match, Strange and seven other candidates arrived in San Venganza for the final trial. They learned they had to save the town’s residents, who had sold their souls to Mephisto, and Luke and Strange set out to investigate.

• Luke rapidly eliminated contestants in the second match, turning it into a one-sided sweep that bored the bar’s viewers.
• Strange emerged from a teleportation passage into a collapsing alternate dimension, where Carter Slade welcomed him to San Venganza.
• Seven other candidates arrived, and Magik explained that Luke’s elimination of six contestants had sent them directly to the next match.
• Strange revealed that the final trial was to save San Venganza’s residents by guiding them away from the path they had taken after selling their souls to Mephisto.
• The candidates split up to enter the town, while Luke and Strange decided to investigate what had happened to its residents.

Strange and the other contestants arrived in San Venganza, where Carter Slade explained that Mephisto had enslaved the souls of three thousand residents. After the town’s violent nighttime transformation and its apparent reset at dawn, Loki concluded that the residents had sold their souls and proposed finding the mayor.

• Carter Slade told Strange that San Venganza was a projection from a rift in Hell and that Mephisto controlled the souls of its three thousand residents.
• Luke advised Strange to observe his competitors while he explored the town, then Strange wondered what Mordo and Kaecilius would do.
• At night, Thor fought townspeople who surrounded him and Loki, and the brawl escalated into a violent clash involving thousands.
• The next morning, the townspeople appeared alive and friendly again, leaving Thor bewildered.
• Loki explained that the residents returned each morning because they had lost their souls, then suggested that she and Thor find the town mayor.

The Sorcerer Supreme candidates pursued different ways to save San Venganza’s fallen townspeople, while Sorcerer Strange struggled to find his own path. After Luke suggested he think like the Sorcerer Supreme, Strange decided to confront Mephisto and reclaim the contract that held the townspeople’s souls.

• Loki deceived San Venganza’s mayor with a false gold-mine discovery and persuaded him to fund an excavation scheme, hoping the promise of wealth would give the townspeople hope.
• Kaecilius founded a growing congregation by preaching that Dormammu’s Dark Dimension offered eternal life, while Mordo challenged his methods and instead healed and encouraged the townspeople.
• Sorcerer Strange told Luke he could not understand how to save the townspeople, despite sympathizing with them and questioning the other candidates’ approaches.
• Luke advised Strange to put himself in the Sorcerer Supreme’s shoes, and Strange decided to solve the problem at its source by taking the San Venganza Contract from Mephisto.
• Strange put on magic-resistant armor and opened a portal to confront Mephisto, while Luke realized his advice had been misunderstood but accepted Strange’s plan.

Strange entered Mephisto’s Hell with Luke to reclaim the San Venganza Contract, offering his future soul as payment. After battling through Mephisto’s tide of evil spirits, Strange prepared to sign the deal, but a nuclear blast erupted behind him.

• Strange and Luke arrived in Mephisto’s Hell, where Strange explained that he intended to negotiate for the San Venganza Contract and offered his soul as a bargaining chip.
• Mephisto refused to negotiate on equal terms and unleashed a tide of evil spirits against Strange and Luke.
• Strange fought through the spirits with his Fire Kirin and magic while Luke battled the demons that threatened them.
• Strange reached Mephisto, who offered him the San Venganza Contract in exchange for the soul of a future Sorcerer Supreme.
• As Strange prepared to sign the contract, a nuclear blast erupted behind him and began obliterating Hell’s demons and spirits.

Luke confronted Mephisto in Hell over the San Venganza Contract, surviving the devil’s attacks and forcing him to hand it over. Luke left with the contract and Stephen Strange, who was declared the winner of the third match.

• Luke’s enormous lighting spell nearly tore Hell apart, and Mephisto stopped the destruction before confronting him.
• Luke offered to take the San Venganza Contract in exchange for leaving Hell, but Mephisto rejected his terms and attacked.
• Mephisto struck Luke and engulfed him in Hellfire, but Luke’s Devastator template adapted and made him immune to the flames.
• Mephisto continued the fight, then gave Luke the San Venganza Contract and demanded that he leave Hell.
• Luke promised to keep Mephisto’s surrender secret, then took Strange back to San Venganza as Strange was named the winner of the third match.

After Stephen Strange won the Sorcerer Supreme Tournament, the Vishanti judged him unqualified and selected Luke Cahill, Superman from another world, as the new Sorcerer Supreme. Luke accepted after a mission appeared requiring him to take the role, while Strange was left to keep growing and a multiversal crisis loomed.

• Stephen Strange won the tournament after Luke forced Mephisto to retreat, and the contestants returned to the real world.
• Ancient One sent Strange and Luke to meet the Vishanti, who praised Luke's potential and judged Strange lacking in strength, wisdom, and decisiveness.
• The Vishanti declared Luke Cahill the more suitable Sorcerer Supreme, and Luke accepted after an intense emotion surged through him.
• The Vishanti announced Luke as Sorcerer Supreme across countless dimensions, prompting surprise and interest from figures throughout the multiverse.
• Luke returned to Kamar-Taj, promised Strange he would eventually pass the role to him, and saw a mission to become Sorcerer Supreme and a qualified player for the reward of Tenth Metal X Element.

Luke reflected on the power of Tenth Metal and the benefits and obligations of becoming Sorcerer Supreme, then handed Kamar-Taj’s responsibilities to Strange. With Ancient One’s help, he used the Cauldron of All Things to travel back to the Main Universe.

• Luke examined Tenth Metal’s abilities and considered visiting the neighboring universe, though he preferred to avoid Gotham.
• Luke recognized that the Vishanti and the Dimensional Demon Gods had their own motives, and resolved to leave his duties behind whenever possible.
• A week later, Luke handed the Three Sanctuaries and Kamar-Taj’s work to Strange, Old Wang, and Mordo before preparing to return to the Main Universe.
• Luke encouraged Strange to trust himself and shoulder responsibility, then told him to send Rocket Raccoon and Thor back.
• Luke used the Cauldron of All Things and the Vishanti’s power to return to the Main Universe.

Eight months after Superman disappeared, Howard recorded how his absence had weakened S.H.I.E.L.D. and intensified global tensions while he searched for a way to find Luke. An assassin ambushed Howard on his drive, but Howard survived in his portable exoskeleton and killed him.

• Howard wrote in his journal that the President was undermining S.H.I.E.L.D., international tensions were rising, and he suspected Luke had been taken to a parallel universe.
• Howard described his failed efforts to find Luke, including his satellite launch and his plans to use the Tesseract, while noting that the military might seize it.
• Howard left S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and drove toward a hotel as an assassin followed him under orders to kill him.
• The assassin blocked Howard's car and fired two magazines into its armored windows and body.
• Howard emerged in his portable exoskeleton, struck the assassin with its mechanical arm, and killed him.

Howard Stark fought off assassins in a powered exoskeleton until Captain Rogers arrived and saved him. As more Clone Warriors from Essex Corporation emerged, Rogers said he had important news about Bucky, Hydra, and the president.

• Howard Stark used his portable mechanical exoskeleton to defeat one assassin, then faced two more who attacked him with submachine guns.
• Howard flipped a Ford automobile into the attackers, but they survived the explosion and overpowered him in close combat.
• Howard activated the exoskeleton’s electric shock device, but one assassin destroyed its battery and prepared to kill him.
• Captain Rogers arrived, struck one assassin with his shield, and destroyed the other with energy from his eyes.
• Captain Rogers freed Howard and identified the new assassins as Clone Warriors from Essex Corporation.
• Captain Rogers told Howard he had news about Bucky, Hydra, and their president.

Mister Sinister and Conqueror Kang used the President to advance their plans while preparing to eliminate key figures, and Captain America and Howard Stark uncovered Essex Bio-Tech’s role in attacks against them. At Howard’s Long Island villa, they found a familiar visitor who appeared to be an old friend reunited.

• The President followed Conqueror Kang’s commands under hypnosis, while Mister Sinister rebuked him for ordering an assassination attempt on Howard Stark.
• Mister Sinister explained that he planned to control the Mutants and obtain S.H.I.E.L.D.’s gene bank, and Kang urged him to target Captain America and Nick Fury as well.
• Captain America and Howard destroyed the attackers emerging from a vehicle that contained Essex Bio-Tech cloning equipment, then connected the company to Hydra and the White House.
• Rogers told Howard that Bucky had become Leviathan’s Winter Soldier and that he had failed to rescue him from the Soviet Union.
• Howard and Rogers arrived at Howard’s villa and found a familiar man waiting at the dining table, greeting them as old friends.

Luke returned to his universe after traveling through several others and explained his absence to Rogers and Howard. After learning about the world's recent turmoil, he asked where the hidden enemies were so he could deal with them.

• Rogers tested Luke's identity with a question about their Brooklyn past, and Luke proved himself by recalling private memories of Rogers and Bucky.
• Rogers accepted that Luke was his old friend and lowered his shield, while Howard asked where Luke had been.
• Luke described his travels through the multiverse, including meeting another Howard's son and becoming Sorcerer Supreme in a different universe.
• Luke said he had returned about fifteen minutes earlier, visited Kamar-Taj, and then come to New York.
• Luke asked Rogers and Howard where their enemies were hiding so he could fly over and solve the trouble.

Luke returned to Universe 1024 and decided to target Essex Bio-Tech and Mister Sinister before confronting the president impostor. At the Hellfire Club, the White Queen mourned the loss of hope for Mutants until Luke appeared, leaving her astonished.

• Howard cautioned Luke against impulsively attacking the president, and Luke said he would first bring down Essex Bio-Tech and Mister Sinister.
• Howard explained that Essex Bio-Tech had taken over Mutant affairs and provoked renewed conflict, while Emma Frost’s Hellfire Club had repeatedly failed to stop it.
• The White Queen told Silver Fox Kayla she planned to rally Mutants in Boston against Essex Bio-Tech, while Kayla defended her relationship with Logan.
• The White Queen lamented that S.H.I.E.L.D. could no longer protect Mutants and that the hope Superman had offered was gone.
• Luke entered the Hellfire Club hall, surprised the White Queen, and pinched her chin as Kayla quietly left them alone.

Luke returned to the White Queen and enlisted her and the Hellfire Club to expose Essex Bio-Tech’s abuses and undermine Mister Sinister. Essex dismissed the protests until a televised accusation drew public attention to the company’s treatment of Mutants.

• The White Queen welcomed Luke back and described how his disappearance had unsettled the world.
• Luke asked the White Queen and the Hellfire Club to help bring down Essex Bio-Tech, and she agreed to follow Howard’s plan.
• Mister Sinister reflected on Essex Bio-Tech’s rise and worried that Howard Stark had defeated his Clone Warriors.
• Mister Sinister’s secretary told him Mutants were protesting outside Essex Tower over the company’s experiments and arrests.
• Mister Sinister brushed off the protest, but a television report showed a Black man accusing Essex Bio-Tech of forcibly taking his Mutant brother Bob and mistreating him.
• The Black man highlighted Bob’s marginalized identities, prompting the crowd to rally against Essex Bio-Tech.

Luke used Bob’s story to turn a protest against Essex Bio-Tech into a broader demonstration by marginalized groups, then killed Mister Sinister and stopped the ensuing riot. As Luke invoked the language of civil rights, the crowd began singing “I Have a Dream.”

• Interviews and demonstrations made Bob a household name, and a crowd of Black people, LGBTQ people, animal activists, and other supporters gathered outside Essex Tower.
• Mister Sinister called the president, who ordered him to deny government involvement and blame the scandal on a deranged temporary worker.
• Luke explained to Howard that he had used the dead Mutant Bob as a symbol of the oppressed and intended to draw public anger toward Essex Bio-Tech.
• Black leader Robert Williamsming and other activists addressed the crowd, and Mutants joined the growing protest by pushing through Essex Tower’s security.
• Luke flew into Mister Sinister’s office and killed him, then told the crowd that Nathaniel Essex had confessed and received punishment.
• Luke spoke from the sky as the crowd stopped rioting and began singing “I Have a Dream.”