Recaps

Leon destroyed a Ten Rings base in Afghanistan and asked reporter Hafizollah Abdullah to publicize footage of his demand that foreign armies leave the land. After Leon planned to attack more bases, Nick Fury watched the footage and learned that the powerful stranger was called Superman.

• Leon met Hafizollah Abdullah, praised his courage, and asked him to share the footage and call for foreign armies to leave.
• Leon sent combat footage to Tony through JARVIS and planned to clear the remaining Ten Rings bases before investigating American bases.
• Coulson showed Nick Fury satellite footage of Leon destroying the Ten Rings base and surviving Jericho missiles.
• Nick Fury asked who the stranger was, and Coulson identified him as Superman.

Leon finished destroying the Ten Rings bases in Afghanistan and planned to target Eagle military bases next, aiming to demonstrate his power and destroy weapons rather than harm soldiers who were only following orders. Tony saw Leon’s footage of Stark weapons being used by the Ten Rings, then flew toward the Middle East in Leon’s armor; JARVIS reported that Tony had reached Afghanistan and was trying to contact Leon.

• Nick Fury sent Coulson and Barton to Afghanistan to investigate Superman, while the military decided to monitor him and consider negotiations.
• JARVIS woke Tony with Leon’s footage of the Ten Rings using Stark weapons, including Jericho missiles, and Tony realized the missiles came from the sole batch he had sold.
• Tony put on the Mark III armor and flew toward the Middle East with JARVIS controlling Leon’s Super Mark 1 armor.
• Leon surveyed the ruined final Ten Rings base and said he would next target Eagle military bases, intending to destroy weapons and demonstrate his power.
• JARVIS told Leon that Tony had entered Afghanistan and asked whether to connect the call.

Leon attacked a United States garrison base in Afghanistan, freezing its buildings and weapons and warning the soldiers that the United States had a week to withdraw from Asia. He flew toward another base while Tony followed, complaining that Leon had taken the job he wanted to do.

• Leon flew to a United States garrison base and froze its buildings, weapons, ammunition, and soldiers with Freeze Breath.
• Leon shattered the frozen base with a punch, leaving the soldiers alive but unconscious in the ice.
• Leon thawed the soldiers with precisely controlled Heat Vision and warned them that the United States must withdraw from Asia within a week.
• Leon flew toward another base, aiming to destroy the United States installations before the satellites monitoring him could react.
• Tony flew toward the scene and complained to JARVIS that Leon had taken the chance to attack the base, while Tony wanted to demand an explanation for the United States giving Jericho to a terrorist organization.

Tony learned that Leon had attacked U.S. bases to protect a young Afghan girl and avenge Tony, then raced to catch up with him. After finding Leon had already destroyed every base, Tony headed west to fight the remaining Ten Rings while Leon warned him that satellites were tracking Superman.

• JARVIS told Tony that Leon had attacked a U.S. base after helping seven-year-old Shafika Mazzari escape the Ten Rings.
• Tony flew to the destroyed U.S. bases, hoping to reach Leon before he could destroy them all, but arrived too late each time.
• Leon teased Tony for arriving after the fighting and told him to target the remaining Ten Rings members in the Middle East if he wanted revenge.
• Tony took the Super Mark I and flew west to fight the Ten Rings, determined to make amends for his past actions.
• Leon spotted satellites moving into position and warned Tony not to approach him while he was wearing his Superman uniform.

Leon tracked his growing strength through daily thrust tests and sunbathing while Tony fought the Ten Rings. When Tony was pursued by Air Force fighters in the West Coast Mountains, Leon prepared to intervene in Mark II, as the military watched the encounter and mistook the armors for something distinct from Superman.

• Leon continued his month-long experiment with Tony, reaching a total thrust of four hundred thousand tons after several days of sunbathing.
• JARVIS alerted Leon that Tony was being pursued by an Eagle flight formation in the West Coast Mountains and showed him footage of the battered Mark III armor under fire.
• JARVIS explained that Tony was too exhausted to sustain Mark III's maximum speed, and Leon decided to go help him despite Tony not asking directly.
• Leon headed to the garage to put on Mark II and planned to teach Tony a lesson while turning the fight around.
• Rhodey told the military officers watching the satellite footage that the two armors were not Superman and that Superman could easily defeat their flight formation.

Leon joined Tony while they were pursued by fighter jets and demonstrated how to use the Mark II armor against them without relying on his own powers. He attached Mark II to a missile and accelerated with it, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• General Ross ordered the fighter jets to shoot down the two suits of armor, and a silver-white suit appeared beside them.
• Leon caught up with Tony and explained that he intended to demonstrate the proper use of the Mark armor.
• Leon deployed Mark II's flaps and entered the fighter formation, prompting the jets to surround him and launch missiles.
• Leon shut down Mark II's propulsion to evade the missiles, then used its targeting system to track their trajectories.
• Leon maneuvered beside a missile, used electrical current to attach Mark II to its casing, and accelerated while towing it.

Leon used Mark II to evade a fighter formation and escaped after rescuing a downed pilot. Back at the seaside villa, he and Tony discussed the test and agreed Tony should warn Rhodey about his armor.

• Leon caused the pursuing missiles to explode together, then used the smoke to maneuver the fighter jets into colliding.
• Leon rescued the unconscious pilot from Aircraft Seven and left while the remaining fighters mounted a rescue.
• Ross ordered more Air Force squadrons, but Rhodey told him they could not catch Mark II.
• Leon reunited with Tony and teased him about how effectively he had controlled the armor.
• Leon and Tony decided to order takeout, and Leon suggested Tony tell Rhodey that he was the metal man the military had pursued.

Leon watched news reports debate Superman’s appearance while Tony complained that the media ignored his campaign against the Ten Rings. Leon said the media would speak for him once Hydra was destroyed and his strength was revealed.

• Leon watched KNKV report testimonies and footage confirming Superman had appeared and saved people in Afghanistan.
• The news anchor presented opposing views of Superman and introduced a sociologist who portrayed him as a paranoid milk-drinker.
• Tony criticized the coverage for focusing on Superman while barely reporting on his efforts against the Ten Rings.
• Leon suggested Tony pay the media to report on him, but Tony questioned whether that was necessary.
• Leon said the media would speak for him after Hydra was destroyed and his strength was on display, and Tony agreed.

Leon learned that Tony planned to reveal himself as Iron Man at a press conference, then went to space to sunbathe. At S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury and Coulson reviewed Abdullah’s footage of Superman and debated whether Superman’s personality might require containment.

• Tony told Leon that Abdullah planned to spend his money buying Warner stock, prompting Tony to acquire Warner through Stark Industries.
• Tony admitted that Rhodey had let his identity slip, then revealed that his press conference would take place the next day and left for the Middle East to eliminate the Ten Rings.
• Leon guessed Tony planned to publicly reveal that he was Iron Man, then changed into Superman and flew into space.
• Nick Fury criticized Coulson’s investigation report, and Coulson showed him Abdullah’s video of Superman surviving missiles and delivering a warning to the Eagle side.
• Coulson recommended befriending Superman and keeping him calm, while Nick Fury asked whether Superman’s personality might make suppression necessary.

Nick Fury agreed with Coulson that S.H.I.E.L.D. should approach Superman cautiously, while Leon returned from his sunbathing and discovered Natasha hidden beneath Tony’s bed. The chapter ended with Leon questioning how she had entered the sealed mansion.

• Coulson advised Nick Fury not to attack Superman because they did not know the full extent of his abilities and might make him stronger.
• Nick Fury ordered Coulson to monitor Superman, seek contact and recruitment, and manage online public opinion.
• Leon returned to his Los Angeles mansion after his regular space sunbath and planned to test his strength before dinner.
• Leon used his X-ray vision to find Natasha lying beneath Tony’s bed.
• Leon asked JARVIS whether anyone had entered the mansion, and JARVIS said he had sealed all entrances after Leon left.

Leon used JARVIS to draw Natasha out from beneath Tony's bed, then pretended to be knocked unconscious so he could learn who she worked for. After Natasha received approval from General Dreykov to kidnap Leon instead of Tony, Leon revealed that he was awake.

• Leon entered Tony's room with JARVIS's help and pretended to investigate the foul smell beneath the bed.
• Natasha attacked Leon with a whip, knocked him down, and tied him up while threatening JARVIS with a gun.
• Natasha reported to General Dreykov that Leon had discovered her and requested permission to use him to threaten Tony and obtain his technology.
• General Dreykov approved the change of plan, but Leon opened his eyes and questioned whether Natasha was working for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Leon subdued Natasha after she attacked him in Tony's bedroom, then brought her to the laboratory to investigate why she seemed controlled by the Red Room. He discovered a chemical affecting her consciousness and began developing an inhibitor, hoping she would reveal more when she woke.

• Leon broke free of his restraints and blocked Natasha's surprise attack before pinning her against the wall and knocking her unconscious.
• Leon carried Natasha to the laboratory, refused JARVIS's offer to call the police, and said he needed to study her.
• Leon used X-Ray Vision to find a tracker in Natasha's leg and a self-destruct device on her wrist, then removed both.
• Leon examined Natasha's brain and discovered a foreign chemical in her cellular fluid that affected her basal ganglia and divided her consciousness.
• Leon began creating a targeted inhibitor to counteract the chemical and planned to question Natasha after she woke.

Leon injected Natasha with an inhibitor that had an eighty-seven percent success rate and waited to see whether it would free her from the Red Room’s chemical mind control. Natasha regained her consciousness and realized Leon had saved her, though she was overwhelmed with remorse and anxiety about attacking him.

• Leon developed a bright-red inhibitor and warned that it carried a one percent risk of brain death.
• Leon restrained Natasha and injected her with the inhibitor while joking about the dangers and the lack of consent.
• Natasha’s expression calmed, and Leon waited as the inhibitor took effect.
• Natasha woke confused, then instinctively escaped her restraints and locked Leon in a rear naked choke.
• Leon lifted Natasha onto the workbench, and she recognized him as her rescuer and apologized for attacking him.

Natasha thanked Leon for saving her and offered to help him, but Leon exposed her attempts to manipulate him into joining her fight against the Red Room. The chapter ended with Natasha promising to grant Leon any request, even an intimate one, if she survived.

• Natasha thanked Leon for saving her and the other Widows, then said she had to leave to avoid drawing the Red Room to him.
• Leon stopped Natasha and revealed that he knew her identity and background, explaining that her farewell kiss seemed like a seduction tactic.
• Leon and Natasha exchanged coffee while discussing her time under the Red Room’s control and why she had tried to get close to him.
• Leon confronted Natasha for secretly trying to recruit him, and Natasha apologized for treating him like an ordinary rich heir.
• Natasha promised Leon that she would help him with any request if she remained alive, and agreed even when he suggested an intimate favor.

Leon learned that Natasha’s failed defection from the Red Room had been exposed because Stark Industries’ new technology let the Red Room monitor her communications. Natasha asked Leon to make inhibitors so she could rescue other Widows, and he began proposing a broader plan to help her destroy the Red Room.

• Leon asked Natasha how the Red Room had controlled her, and she explained that chemicals had been used after she resisted its brainwashing.
• Natasha revealed that her communications with Hawkeye had been monitored after the Red Room upgraded its devices using Stark Industries technology, leading to her capture and chemical control.
• Natasha described the people she had been forced to kill and asked Leon to make inhibitors so she could save other Widows.
• Natasha told Leon she intended to gather rescued Widows and declare war on the Red Room, and Leon warned that the organization would quickly notice their actions.
• Leon said he had a win-win-win idea for helping Natasha carry out her plan.

Leon offered Natasha and the other Widows a chance to join him after he destroyed the Red Room, and Natasha agreed, trusting him to succeed. After Natasha bathed and changed into her cleaned suit, Leon revealed that he was Superman and prepared to take her to attack the Red Room.

• Leon offered to destroy the Red Room in exchange for Natasha and the Widows joining him, and Natasha agreed to help persuade the others.
• Leon sent Natasha to wash because her lingering sewer smell bothered him, and she bathed while wondering if he was concerned about her.
• Natasha met Leon in the living room after he prepared inhibitors and asked about his plan to attack the Red Room.
• Leon said they would find the Red Room and eliminate its members, then revealed the Superman emblem beneath his trench coat.
• Natasha recognized Leon as Superman, celebrated their advantage, and agreed to leave with him.

Leon took Natasha flying from Stark Mansion to the Red Room, which he located above the Arctic Ocean using his super senses. As they descended toward it, Natasha faced the end of her old life with growing anxiety about what freedom would mean.

• Leon carried Natasha into the sky and used a Biological Force Field to protect her during their flight.
• Natasha explained that Red Room operatives were sedated after missions, so she did not know where the facility was.
• Leon refused to seek directions from Natasha’s foster father and located the Red Room with his Super Hearing and Super Vision.
• Leon and Natasha flew north at extreme speed, and Natasha recognized from Polaris that they were heading toward the Arctic.
• Leon began descending toward the Red Room above the Arctic Ocean as Natasha grew nervous about leaving the life she had known.

Leon and Natasha arrived at the Red Room fortress, where Leon overwhelmed its guards while Natasha injected the Widows and killed the other personnel. They reached the central command room, where Dreykov revealed that his pheromones had supposedly made Leon unable to attack him.

• Leon brought Natasha to the Red Room’s hidden aerial fortress and said he planned to keep it as a birthday present for Tony.
• Leon memorized the fortress’s occupants, then knocked out dozens of guards before entering; Natasha followed, injecting Widows with inhibitors and killing the other soldiers.
• Natasha made her way through the fortress to the central command room, where she heard Dreykov pleading with Leon and invoking Tony Stark.
• Dreykov laughed and claimed his pheromones had controlled people around him and left Leon unable to attack.
• Natasha opened the command-room door and saw Dreykov sprawled across a desk, taunting Leon.

Leon killed Dreykov and began working to free the Widows from the Red Room’s control. After Natasha overheard Leon explain that she needed a sense of belonging rather than a lover, she fled, while Leon insisted they would not be together.

• Natasha arrived as Dreykov cursed her, and Leon killed Dreykov with a slap and Heat Vision.
• Leon asked Natasha to have the Widows join him and began trying to access the Red Room’s system, but the palm-print lock stopped him.
• Leon connected JARVIS to the control panel, and JARVIS teased him about Natasha and his past girlfriends.
• Leon explained to JARVIS that Natasha needed a family and a sense of belonging, not a romantic relationship.
• Natasha overheard Leon’s explanation and hurried away, while Leon told JARVIS that he and Natasha would not be together.

Leon hacked into the Red Room mainframe, uncovered the locations and files of its Widow agents, and recruited the more than forty Widows Natasha brought to him. The new recruits accepted their first mission: clean up the fortress before helping free the other Widows around the world.

• Leon ordered JARVIS to lift the Red Room system lockdown and locate every Widow agent, then saw more than three hundred agents marked across the world map.
• Leon directed JARVIS to send Natasha the Widow files and transfer her one hundred million dollars to establish a new organization in New York.
• Natasha arrived with more than forty Widow agents, including her sister Yelena, who thanked Leon for saving them and joked about his physique in Russian.
• Leon offered the Widows a choice to leave or join him, and JARVIS sent them information about their birth families.
• The Widows chose to join Leon, who welcomed them and assigned them to clean up the aerial fortress before helping free the other agents worldwide.

Leon tasked Natasha and Yelena with leading the Widow agents in rescuing their fellow agents and offering them a choice to join him. He then revealed Hydra’s infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. and ordered the Widows to spread evidence of Hydra’s survival, leaving the sisters ready to serve his coming organization.

• Leon asked Natasha and Yelena to lead the Widow agents scattered around the world and bring willing recruits to him.
• Natasha agreed to rescue the Widows, give them the inhibitor, and destroy the files of those who refused to join.
• Leon told Natasha and Yelena to use the Widows’ channels to spread evidence that Hydra still existed.
• Leon explained that Hydra had taken over S.H.I.E.L.D., shocking both sisters.
• Natasha left determined to fight Hydra, while Yelena excitedly imagined becoming a hero.

Leon uncovered Hydra-related files in the Red Room's mainframe, sent them to Tony, and helped the Widow agents celebrate on the fortress. After spending the night with Natasha, he was alerted that Tony had arrived and was in trouble on the top deck.

• Leon had JARVIS find Hydra-related files in the Red Room's records and ordered Natasha to contact a Widow infiltrator and give her an inhibitor.
• Leon sent the Hydra files to Tony's mainframe while keeping the Red Room-related files for later use.
• Leon helped the Widows clear the bodies and hosted a party, then left when the agents' celebration grew rowdy.
• Natasha waited for Leon outside the mess hall, flirted with him, and went with him to her room.
• JARVIS woke Leon and reported that Tony was on the fortress's top deck, where the Widow agents had stopped him.
• Leon left Natasha's room to check on Tony after they agreed they were special friends.

Leon let Tony into the Arctic fortress after Tony arrived and struggled to hold in his need to use the bathroom. Leon showed Tony around the fortress, which he planned to give him for his fortieth birthday.

• Leon found Tony doing an awkward catwalk while Widow agents stopped him from entering the fortress.
• Leon persuaded Mary and the other agents to let Tony inside, and Tony rushed straight to the bathroom.
• Leon teased Tony about needing a liquid circulation system, and Tony admitted that his armor needed one.
• Tony said he had come to inspect the fortress Leon intended to give him for his fortieth birthday.
• Leon toured the fortress with Tony as Tony examined its stealth systems and criticized a fighter jet's power system.

Leon and Tony agreed to share the aerial fortress until Tony’s fortieth birthday, while Tony met the Widows and offered to pay them. Tony returned to Los Angeles for the press conference, where he took the stage after Pepper finished her speech.

• Tony excitedly proposed modifications to the aerial fortress, and Leon clarified that it was not yet his to keep.
• Tony persuaded Leon to let them share the fortress fifty-fifty until Tony’s fortieth birthday, with the Widows continuing to use it for their work.
• Leon explained the Red Room’s history to Tony, who suggested the Widows should eventually adopt a new name.
• Tony met the Widows, described his plans for the fortress, and offered to pay them one hundred thousand dollars a month while they guarded it.
• Tony and Leon left the fortress; Yelena teased Natasha, who told the curious Widows about her time with Leon.
• At Stark Industries Park, Pepper finished her speech about new energy supplies, and Tony took the stage to address the press.

Tony revealed himself as Iron Man at a press conference, while Leon watched and later returned with him to find Nick Fury waiting at the mansion. Fury fled by jumping off the cliff when JARVIS sent armor after him, and Leon hinted that he had sought information from a Black Widow agent.

• Leon met Phil Coulson at Tony's press conference and told him to wait for Tony's speech about the Middle East.
• Tony abandoned his prepared speech, declared himself Iron Man, and revealed his armor to the shocked reporters.
• Leon and Tony returned to the mansion and found Nick Fury standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows.
• Leon ordered JARVIS to blast Fury, who smashed through the window and jumped off the cliff as the cannons fired past him.
• Tony asked Leon why he had not driven away the Black Widow agent, and Leon said he had wanted information from her.