Recaps

Tony showed Richard the Mark 34 Anti-Richard Armor and tested its defenses and energy-disrupting technology against his magic. The armor damaged Richard’s shield after disrupting his energy output, leaving the outcome of the missile barrage unclear.

• Richard met Tony at his Malibu villa, where Tony unveiled the Mark 34 and called it the Anti-Richard Armor.
• Tony claimed the armor could disrupt the energy needed for Richard’s magic, and they flew out over the ocean to test it.
• Richard’s fireball left Tony’s armor largely unharmed, but his Frostfire Bolt repeatedly froze and melted its shell, cracking it.
• Tony activated the armor’s ET module, whose invisible fluctuations weakened Richard’s crimson shield while Tony fired energy cannons and missiles.
• Tony increased the ET module’s power, briefly disrupting Richard’s energy output and causing his shield to collapse as the remaining missiles struck him.

Richard saved Tony after his damaged armor failed, then discussed Tony’s energy-disrupting ET module and warned him against preparing to fight powerful sorcerers. Tony proposed forming an organization, and Richard said he would introduce him to some kids.

• Jarvis reported that Richard had no vital signs, but Richard appeared behind Tony unharmed as Tony’s armor collapsed and sent him falling.
• Richard opened a portal beneath Tony, carried him to the Seaside Villa Equipment Room, and reset Tony’s dislocated lower back.
• Tony explained that his ET module disrupted energy flow, and Richard warned that it could make armor disintegrate faster and would threaten ordinary sorcerers if used against them.
• Richard urged Tony not to build an anti-Richard armor, warning that it could provoke powerful sorcerers and that Tony’s paranoia could lead to disaster.
• Tony suggested forming an organization like the Justice League, and Richard said he would introduce him to some kids in a few days.

Richard arranged for Tony Stark to meet Adele and the others in Los Angeles, while Christine and White Queen complained about Tony and his anti-Richard armor. Shay secured a Beverly Hills estate for the meeting, and Richard connected Tony again after learning the plans were set.

• Shay joined Richard and Christine at morning training, then Tony called Richard asking to meet Adele and the others that day.
• Richard tasked Shay with finding a safe meeting place, and Shay arranged to use Figo's estate in Beverly Hills at three in the afternoon.
• Christine and White Queen criticized Tony, while Richard explained his parallel-world travels and other secrets to Christine.
• Shay said he would attend the meeting to show his former peers that he had become a sorcerer, and Richard scolded him for showing off.
• Richard had White Queen connect him to Tony after Shay finished arranging the meeting.

Richard brought Tony Stark to a gathering of his young followers, where Shay showed off his magic and Richard discovered Kenneth Vila was already his believer. Richard agreed to take Kenneth to Kamar-Taj after the banquet and tested the others for signs of belief, briefly affecting Tony’s Arc Reactor.

• Richard opened a portal to Tony Stark’s seaside mansion and brought Tony, dressed for the occasion, to a Beverly Hills estate where his followers had gathered.
• Tony joked about his reputation as a playboy, drawing excited reactions from the men and disgusted looks from Adele and her friends.
• Shay arrived through a portal and explained that Richard had taken him to Kamar-Taj after discovering he was a believer with magical potential.
• Kenneth Vila rushed to Richard and asked to become a sorcerer; Richard sensed that Kenneth was already a believer and promised to take him to Kamar-Taj after the banquet.
• At Adele’s request, Richard swept crimson mana through the reception hall to test the gathered followers, and Tony’s Arc Reactor briefly seemed to short-circuit.

Richard explained how the young snakes could become his followers, while Tony Stark entertained them with dating advice and learned that Baron Strucker had suspected HYDRA ties. Tony confronted Richard about the youngsters’ identities and asked what Richard himself was, but Richard began listing his credentials.

• Richard told the young snakes that followers had to pray devoutly and withstand his Mana infusion, renewing their hopes of gaining his power.
• Tony Stark gave the young snakes advice about being tall, rich, or handsome, and Thomas Graf was teased about having a crush on Adele.
• Tony asked Jarvis to investigate Baron Strucker and learned that Strucker was suspected of having HYDRA backgrounds.
• Tony grew suspicious that the young snakes were HYDRA descendants and went to confront Richard by the pool.
• Richard confirmed that the youngsters had multiple identities and began describing his own as a former medical expert, Doctor Strange’s sworn enemy, and Ancient One’s appointed successor.

Richard persuaded Tony Stark to mentor his young HYDRA recruits, and Tony agreed to join Richard’s group while insisting he had not joined HYDRA. Richard then learned that agents claiming to be FBI were seizing his laboratory’s research materials and suspected Nick Fury was behind the move.

• Richard told Tony that Professor Jennings Phillips was HYDRA and described the organization’s long history and hidden influence.
• Richard asked Tony to mentor his young recruits, and Tony resisted until Richard revealed that S.H.I.E.L.D. was deeply connected to HYDRA.
• Tony agreed to join Richard’s group, though he denied agreeing to join HYDRA, and Richard welcomed him aboard.
• Simmons told Richard that FBI agents were trying to seize the laboratory’s research materials despite Pepper Potts’s intervention.
• Richard suspected Nick Fury had sent the agents, ended the call, and stepped through a Portal to confront the situation.

Richard stopped a fake FBI team from searching his laboratory and discovered that its leader was a Skrull sent to capture him. He took the Skrull’s corpse to Tony’s manor, where he revealed that at least a million Skrulls were hiding among humans, just as White Queen announced that Nick Fury was calling.

• Richard arrived at the laboratory and knocked out its security guards after finding Simmons restrained by men posing as FBI agents.
• Richard overpowered Captain Steven, pulled a Skrull’s soul from his body, and used Spirit Vision Retrospection to inspect its memories before destroying it.
• Richard told Simmons to arrange reliable replacement security and left with the Skrull’s corpse through a portal.
• At Tony’s manor, Richard identified the corpse as a Skrull and told Tony that at least a million Skrulls were mingling among humans.
• White Queen told Richard that Nick Fury was calling.

Richard told Tony Stark that millions of Skrulls were secretly hiding on Earth and could perfectly impersonate humans, prompting Tony to set out to develop a detector. Nick Fury was left furious over Richard killing his Skrull agent and hesitated with an old pager in his office.

• Richard told Nick Fury that he had killed Steven, and Nick Fury angrily blamed him before Richard ended the call.
• Richard explained to Tony Stark and the gathered guests that Skrulls could copy human appearances, memories, and emotions, and that their numbers on Earth had grown to millions.
• Richard revealed that Nick Fury had secretly sheltered the Skrulls and had even married a female Skrull, while Grant Ward envied Fury's choice of wife.
• Richard gave Tony the Skrull corpse as a sample, and Tony ended the gathering to begin developing a Skrull detector.
• Richard opened a portal and sent Tony and the corpse to his seaside villa, while Nick Fury sat amid scattered files and hesitated over an old pager.

Melina reported that the pheromone neutralizer was ready for preliminary use, and Richard gave her nanofiber technology and Combat Analysis System data to study. After asking Natasha to arrange a discreet meeting with Hawkeye, Richard learned that Laura was the previous generation's Mockingbird, prompting Natasha to suspect Nick Fury had placed her beside Clint as a watcher.

• Melina told Richard that Oksana had helped develop a pheromone neutralizer, which the returning Widow Agents were beginning to use.
• Natasha and Yelena barged into Richard's office, apologized after Melina scolded them, and Richard gave Melina a hard drive containing nanofiber technology and Combat Analysis System data.
• Richard asked Melina to leave and invited Natasha to dinner, which she happily accepted.
• Richard asked Natasha to arrange a meeting with Clint, and she agreed to keep it out of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s sight.
• Richard revealed that Laura was the previous generation's Mockingbird, and Natasha wondered whether Nick Fury had planted her beside Clint as a watcher.

Natasha and Richard met with Hawkeye in Bogota to confront him about Nick Fury’s deception and Laura’s possible role as a monitor. Hawkeye revealed that he already knew Laura had been sent to him by Nick Fury.

• Natasha left Richard’s office to contact Hawkeye after suspecting Nick Fury had arranged for Hawkeye’s wife to monitor him.
• Hawkeye stopped preparing to assassinate Dorothy Douglas when Natasha called and asked to meet him.
• Richard and Natasha arrived through a portal on the Bogota rooftop, where Hawkeye met Natasha and learned Richard led the Red Room.
• Natasha blamed Nick Fury for the harm done to her, while Hawkeye tentatively defended him and apologized for failing to confirm Dreykov’s death.
• Richard brought up the missing Cosmic Cube and Hawkeye’s wife, Laura, prompting Hawkeye to aim an arrow at him.
• Richard said Laura might have been sent by Nick Fury to monitor Hawkeye, and Hawkeye admitted he already knew.

Richard revealed that Laura Barton was a Skrull replacement, and her implanted identity began to collapse when he confronted her at the Barton farm. The chapter ended with Laura caught between believing she was Clint’s wife and remembering that she was Avina, a Skrull.

• Richard told Clint Barton that Nick Fury had kept Skrulls who could impersonate people and suggested Laura had been replaced.
• Natasha took Clint and Richard through a portal to Eagle's Nest Valley Farm to check on Laura and the children.
• Laura, Cooper, and Lila greeted Clint, but Richard’s Mana eyes revealed a green trace beneath Laura’s human appearance.
• Richard knocked Cooper and Lila unconscious and moved them to Natasha’s care while Laura demanded to know what was happening.
• Richard asked Laura who she really was, and she alternated between calling herself Laura Barton and Avina as green luster appeared on her face.

Richard rescued Laura Barton from a Skrull prison in Lima after uncovering that Avina had replaced her, and Laura awakened at home. Hawkeye vowed not to let Nick Fury go, and Natasha invited the Barton family to hide at the Red Room headquarters.

• Avina revealed she was a Skrull and claimed Laura was dead, but Richard extracted her memories and learned Laura was imprisoned in Lima.
• Richard found Laura and other captives in hydraulic fracturing chambers, including Peruvian officials and businesspeople, and brought Laura back to Eagle's Nest Valley.
• Laura woke briefly, reunited with Hawkeye, and fell asleep again to recover while her children stayed with Richard and Natasha.
• Hawkeye decided he would never let Nick Fury go, and Richard warned that the Barton family needed to leave before S.H.I.E.L.D. found them.
• Natasha invited Hawkeye, Laura, and the children to the Red Room headquarters, and Richard welcomed them.

Richard and Natasha spent the night together in New York, and Natasha returned to the Sky Fortress to face teasing from Yelena. At S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Maria Hill learned Clint Barton had gone missing and suspected Nick Fury was hiding a secret.

• Richard caught Natasha when she stumbled near the pool, kissed her, and took her through a Portal.
• The next morning, Richard and Natasha woke together, and Richard later dropped her off at the Sky Fortress before teleporting to Kamar-Taj.
• Yelena confronted Natasha about staying out all night, teased her about Richard, and revealed that Melina had also noticed her absence.
• Maria Hill told Nick Fury that Dorothy Douglas was alive and Clint Barton had lost contact; Fury said he would investigate.
• Maria Hill wondered why Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton had apparently defected and what Nick Fury was concealing.

Nick Fury investigated the burned-out Eagle's Nest Valley Farm before realizing that the Skrulls had hidden Avina's disappearance from him. Worried about threats inside S.H.I.E.L.D., the Skrulls, and Richard, he pressed his old pager for help while Richard prepared to travel to other worlds.

• Nick Fury's agents found the Eagle's Nest Valley Farm burned down, with no bodies or clues left behind.
• After the agents departed, Kinsley revealed his Skrull identity and argued with Talos about Avina's disappearance and the Skrulls' place on Earth.
• Kinsley returned to headquarters disguised as Nick Fury, while a squad leader noticed the huge pit he had made by stomping the ground.
• Talos told the real Nick Fury that Kinsley had returned, and Nick Fury worried that S.H.I.E.L.D., the Skrulls, and Richard posed growing threats.
• Richard packed for another journey through parallel worlds, received Ancient One's advice to visit more worlds, and asked White Queen to connect him to Natasha.

Richard said goodbye to Natasha, Tony Stark, Adele von Strucker, and Christine before traveling to another world. He found his alter ego, Richard Robert, trapped in a horrific canyon and learned that the other Richard was begging to be killed.

• Richard told Natasha he was leaving Earth and warned her to keep Clint from going out, then told Tony Stark and Adele von Strucker to stay cautious while he was away.
• Christine tearfully embraced Richard before he opened a portal and left.
• Richard crossed dimensions and arrived above a fog-filled canyon where his alter ego's spirituality seemed close to death.
• Richard found an abandoned guard tower with wall engravings, including one signed by Richard Robert in 2010, and traced his alter ego to the canyon floor.
• Richard found Richard Robert fused with a dead tree and skeleton, touched its arm, and received a rush of spirituality and memories along with the plea, "Kill me, I beg you to kill me!"

Richard followed Levi and Delassa into an abandoned village, where monsters trapped them inside a church. He rescued them with his Crimson Swords and opened a Crimson Portal, leading the pair through it to an unknown destination.

• Richard burned the Withered Wood Corpse to ashes and concealed himself when Levi and Delassa entered the swamp.
• Levi and Delassa reached an abandoned village and sought shelter from approaching monsters in a church, where they found skeletons bearing traces of cyanide.
• A Skull Spider attacked Delassa as Treans and more Skull Spiders swarmed into the church, overwhelming the pair's defenses.
• Richard cut down the monsters with crimson sword beams and saved Levi and Delassa from being killed.
• Richard introduced himself, asked whether they guarded the two canyon towers, and opened a Crimson Portal for them to follow him through.
• Levi took Delassa's hand, and they entered the portal after Richard.

Richard, Levi, and Delassa uncovered Black Tide’s ongoing biochemical experiments and learned that a tactical nuclear bomb would detonate if the canyon’s secrets were exposed. Levi and Delassa destroyed the signal towers from 3,800 meters away, triggering explosions across the canyon as Bartholomew arrived.

• A videotape revealed that a leaked virus had mutated the researchers, and Richard led Levi and Delassa to a computer showing Black Tide’s secret genetic research and nuclear self-destruct plan.
• Levi learned from Bartholomew over the radio that the military wanted Delassa eliminated, and he agreed with Delassa to destroy the canyon’s facilities.
• Levi and Delassa hid 3.8 kilometers from the east and west towers as Bartholomew arrived at the east tower with armed soldiers.
• Bartholomew found Levi Kahn’s message carved on the wall, and Levi and Delassa simultaneously shot the bombs on the signal towers.
• The signal towers exploded, setting off a chain of blasts that destroyed the remaining six big ears.

Levi and Delassa escaped as a nuclear bomb destroyed the canyon, while Richard captured Bartholomew and later exposed the Black Tide’s crimes to the world. After sealing a dangerous virus sample, Richard traveled through a portal into another world, where a mysterious bullet immediately came at him.

• The Big Ear jammers exploded, and Bartholomew fell through Richard’s Crimson Portal as the Hollow Men rushed toward the canyon’s surface.
• The Stray Dog program triggered the buried nuclear bomb, destroying the canyon and its creatures; Levi leaped into a deep pool while the shock wave brought down the armed helicopter.
• Richard and Delassa confronted Bartholomew, and Delassa killed her before the two parted ways.
• Five days later, Levi and Delassa watched a globally broadcast trial in Èze, where world leaders and organization heads confessed to crimes involving secret biochemical weapons research.
• Richard sealed a red virus sample inside a Spirit Orb with safeguards, then traveled through a cross-realm portal into another world, where a patterned bullet flew toward him.

Richard caught an assassin’s bullet, discovered that his target was his parallel-world alter ego, Richard Bledsoe, and absorbed the alter ego’s spirituality to upgrade his mana. He burned the body, scattered the ashes, and set White Queen to work harvesting the world’s black tech.

• Richard caught Carlos Gibson’s sniper bullet, pulled him through a portal, and learned that Carlos had been hired to kill Richard Bledsoe, an underground-world broker.
• Richard sent Carlos back to his sniper position, then teleported to the rooftop above Richard Bledsoe’s office.
• Richard Bledsoe drew a pistol, and Richard drained his alter ego’s spirituality, killing him and upgrading his mana to a level he compared with Odin, King of the Gods.
• Richard burned Richard Bledsoe’s corpse, scattered the ashes with a whirlwind, and woke White Queen to begin harvesting black tech.

Richard learned that Carlos Gibson belonged to the Assassin Brotherhood and began planning to combine the Brotherhood’s healing technology with resurrection and cloning technologies. At the Brotherhood’s headquarters, Sloan sent Fox and The Rat to retrieve Wesley Gibson while warning the gathered assassins that Carlos might be nearby.

• Richard sent the White Queen to collect advanced technology, then recognized Carlos Gibson as a member of the Assassin Brotherhood and considered combining its Wax Bath Healing Technology with resurrection and cloning technologies.
• At the Brotherhood headquarters, Sloan concluded that Carlos had likely killed Richard Bledsoe after the latter’s phone stopped working.
• Fox urged Sloan to stop Carlos’s hunt, citing the deaths of Mr. X, Cross, The Butcher, and The Baker and the loss of a third of their brothers.
• Sloan asked who would bring Wesley Gibson back, and Fox volunteered to retrieve him while The Rat reluctantly agreed to support her operation.
• Sloan warned the Brotherhood not to reveal that Wesley’s biological father was the deceased Mr. X and reminded them that Carlos might be nearby.
• Someone applauded and called the Brotherhood’s meeting a fine show.

Richard confronted the elite assassins of the Assassin Brotherhood after Old Sloan mistook his Combat Mage outfit for ancient Assassin Master gear. When Sloan ordered an attack, Richard crushed the rotunda with a shockwave and spotted the fleeing Rat still hiding nearby.

• The Rat tried to use a mouse to find the intruder, but it failed to locate him.
• Old Sloan approached Richard and identified his outfit as resembling the ancient Assassin Masters' gear.
• Richard dismissed the resemblance as coincidence, and Sloan secretly signaled the assassins to attack.
• Richard stomped the floor, stopping the bullets and blasting the assassins with a shockwave.
• The attack left Butcher dead, The Fixer gravely wounded, and Old Sloan, Fox, and Bullseye trapped beneath bookshelves.
• Richard cleared the dust and noticed the Rat hiding in a corner.

Richard confronted The Rat, who admitted he possessed the Assassin Brotherhood's finished wax bath but not its formula, which Sloan had hidden. Richard killed Sloan and discovered the gray mouse had awakened intelligence; The Rat chose to keep it, and Richard gave it a gift of crimson mana.

• The Rat emerged from the wreckage and surrendered, admitting that Sloan held the wax bath formula.
• Richard freed Sloan, Fox, and Bullseye from the fallen shelves, then killed Sloan after probing his mind.
• Richard summoned the gray mouse and recognized its awakened intelligence, explaining that it could not become a Spirit Beast in this mana-less world.
• The Rat offered the gray mouse to Richard for a chance at a better future, but the mouse refused to leave its master.
• Richard promised to let the gray mouse stay with The Rat, then infused it with crimson mana as a gift.

Richard spared Fox and Bullseye and exposed Sloan’s lies about the Assassin Brotherhood, while showing Fox the memory that connected Sloan to her childhood tragedy. Wesley returned to his apartment, shot Mary and Barry in the legs, and left to join Carlos.

• Richard gave Little Rat a sliver of mana that could help it transform, then Fox and Bullseye awoke and found Sloan dead.
• The Rat told Fox and Bullseye that Sloan had turned the Assassin Brotherhood into an organization that killed targets for money, and Richard brought Carlos through a portal to hear the truth.
• Richard showed Fox Sloan’s memory of killing her father and discovering her as a child, leaving her to choose whether to live or die.
• The Rat and Bullseye arranged for the Brotherhood’s dead to be cleared, while Carlos asked Richard to send him back to Wesley and invited his son to live with him.
• Wesley returned to his apartment, shot Mary in the legs and Barry in the crotch, then packed his clothes and left.

Richard took shelter from the rain in a primeval forest, where he met a giant red-tailed squirrel and an intelligent tree called Grandpa Tree. After eating a glowing fruit from the tree, he learned to understand the local creatures and discovered that spatial particles clung to him.

• Richard encountered a red-tailed squirrel larger than himself, which offered him a basketball-sized nut.
• Grandpa Tree spoke to Richard and gave him a glowing green fruit that would let him communicate with the life around him.
• Richard ate the fruit and began speaking the squirrel's language, to the squirrel's delight.
• Richard learned that Grandpa Tree had recognized he came from another world by the spatial particles on his body.
• Grandpa Tree drew out a spatial particle, and Richard recognized it as something finer than the spatial fragments that formed the Mirror Dimension.

Richard explored the Source Planet of Life, befriended Feny and Grandpa Tree, and learned that beings resembling him had existed there long ago. After exchanging gifts and leaving through a crimson portal, he arrived at the location of his alter ego’s spirituality and was stunned by what he saw.

• Richard ate a giant nut from Feny and felt its energy repair and strengthen his body.
• Feny gave Richard more giant nuts, while Grandpa Tree explained that the planet was called the Source Planet of Life and that similar beings had lived there long ago.
• Richard gave Feny the food from his silver briefcase and gave Grandpa Tree books and a memory ball containing language knowledge.
• Richard said goodbye to Feny and Grandpa Tree, then opened a smooth crimson portal and left to seek his alter ego’s spirituality.
• Richard stepped through the portal and was stunned by the scene before him.