Recaps

Logan and Hank visited Brad at his greatly expanded base, where they discovered his extensive mechanical modifications and learned about his ability to manipulate technology. After reassuring them that he remained a mutant, Brad promised to help his fellow mutants, leaving Hank poised to explain why they had come.

• Brad waited at his Canadian base for Logan, who arrived on a motorcycle with Hank.
• Brad's guide escorted Logan and Hank through the enormous base to his office.
• Logan and Hank reacted with alarm to Brad's mechanical body, but Brad calmed them and explained he had modified himself to gain power and avenge stolen treasures.
• Brad demonstrated that he could manipulate technological devices and mechanical structures, impressing Hank.
• Brad told Hank he still identified as a mutant and promised to help when Hank explained their reason for visiting.

Hank explained how the X Academy, the Brotherhood of Mutants, the Hellfire Club, and the X-Men had formed as tensions around mutants grew. Brad mistook Hank’s visit for a request for money and offered to fund the academy, while Hank eventually explained that Charles had sent him to recruit Brad into the X-Men.

• Hank described how Charles and Erik founded X Academy with support from wealthy allies and government funding, while Bolivar Trask and Nathaniel Essex’s Hellfire Club undermined that support.
• Brad smashed his glass and offered to personally fund X Academy, leaving Hank confused because he had not yet asked for money.
• Hank explained that Erik had left the academy and founded the Brotherhood of Mutants, while Charles had formed the X-Men to oppose the Brotherhood and Hellfire Club.
• Hank said Charles was recruiting allies because the X-Men were overwhelmed, and that Logan had helped Charles find young mutants including Cyclops.
• Hank revealed that Charles had sent him to persuade Brad to join the X-Men after learning that Brad had helped Logan rescue the young mutants.

Brad accepted Hank’s invitation to join the X-Men, seeing the trip as a chance to meet several powerful figures while Skynet supervised his research remotely. During the flight, Brad discussed learning and independent thought with Skynet, reflecting on how reading and study had helped him resist the emptiness he felt.

• Brad weighed the benefits of joining the X-Men, including meeting Magneto, Mister Sinister, Hank, and Bolivar, and accepted Hank’s invitation.
• Brad brought Emma Frost aboard Charles’s private plane, while Logan did not ask about Silver Fox.
• Hank asked Brad about philosophy as he piloted the plane, and Brad explained that he was broadening his thinking.
• Skynet questioned why Brad read books instead of downloading knowledge directly, and Brad explained the value of reflection and varied perspectives.
• Brad reflected on how studying history, warfare, and philosophy had helped him overcome emptiness and how he had guided Skynet through many discussions.

Brad met Charles at X Academy and challenged the professor’s leadership after insisting he wanted to become an ideological leader of the X-Men, not merely join them. After Brad disarmed Quentin and exposed his volatility, Charles invited him to explain his reasons in private, while the students wondered about Brad’s power and arguments.

• Brad met Charles and told him he wanted to lead the X-Men as an ideological leader rather than join a combat team.
• Quentin confronted Brad and began gathering energy when Brad criticized his view of mutants and society.
• Brad used a countermeasure from Skynet to extinguish Quentin’s energy and make him collapse.
• Charles had Scott take Quentin away and acknowledged Brad’s concerns about dangerous leadership.
• Charles invited Brad to his office to discuss why he wanted to lead, while the remaining students speculated about Brad and Quentin.

Brad took over Charles's ideological education class and challenged the students to think of strength as the ability to keep pursuing a good life, not merely to fight or kill. He left calling himself a lone traveler, while Emma resolved to support him and Quentin wondered whether Brad believed even future Phoenix hosts could not stand beside him.

• Brad became vice principal and began teaching Charles's ideological education class, asking the students what made someone strong.
• After the students named fighters and their powers, Brad argued that strength meant building a good life and enduring toward one's goals, and pointed to Scott's and Logan's burdens.
• Quentin challenged Brad about whether he and Charles were strong, and Brad said they were both strong but that he was stronger because he could pursue his goal alone.
• Brad left to find Logan for a drink, while Emma decided she would become a lone traveler supporting him even without recognition.
• Quentin reflected on Brad's words and wondered whether Brad thought even people destined to host the Phoenix Force were unworthy of standing beside him.

Brad helped Hank improve the Blackbird and used Hank’s research data to develop Counter-Field Technology against psychic powers. Worried that mutants like Magneto could suddenly grow stronger, Brad kept pushing his research far beyond what he considered necessary.

• Brad visited Hank’s laboratory, criticized the Blackbird’s design, and marked improvements on its blueprints that raised its performance by more than twenty percent.
• Hank asked Brad to teach him, joined his classes, and worked with him until the Blackbird was completed a year ahead of schedule.
• Brad copied Hank’s data on replicating mutant powers, including brain-wave analyses of Erik and Charles, and sent it to his Canadian base for Skynet to analyze.
• Brad developed Counter-Field Technology capable of resisting and disrupting most psychic abilities.
• Brad feared that Magneto and other powered beings could experience sudden power surges, so he kept researching increasingly powerful countermeasures until people at X Academy noticed his intense, solitary work.

Brad expanded his company’s smart home robot business while using Skynet to advance his research and prepare equipment for a possible fight with Magneto. Meanwhile, his T1001, Beth, manipulated Bolivar into falling in love with her and accelerated the Sentinels project, leaving Brad to plan how to make Bolivar’s eventual heartbreak even worse.

• Brad released upgraded computer data, used the world’s computers to boost Skynet, and prepared smart home robots and satellites.
• Brad’s robots became a global hit, and they spread into X Academy, where Charles also had one.
• Brad’s T1001, Beth, joined Bolivar’s company and gradually impressed him through her research and rivalry with him.
• Bolivar brought Beth into the Sentinels project, grew deeply attached to her, and confirmed she was not a mutant.
• Brad reviewed Skynet’s analysis of Bolivar and ordered Beth’s romantic manipulation intensified while studying research data she had taken from Bolivar.

Brad dealt with lost contact from Terminators sent to Kamar-Taj and Kunlun, considered new research and funding plans, and was asked by Charles to lead the X-Men on a mission. The X-Men boarded the Blackbird to stop the Hellfire Club from hijacking a prison transport in New Jersey.

• Brad learned that the Terminator sent to Kamar-Taj had lost its signal and examined a clone whose mutant ability let it control its own bioelectricity.
• Brad learned that the Terminator sent to Kunlun had also gone silent and ordered Skynet to auction the FK Reaper and HK Hunter-Killer to raise money.
• Brad told Skynet to have Beth provoke Bolivar in hopes of advancing Sentinel technology, then reviewed footage of Little Arnie at Howard's house.
• Charles asked Brad to lead the X-Men against the Hellfire Club's planned prison-transport hijacking in New Jersey.
• Brad reviewed surveillance information aboard the Blackbird as the X-Men flew toward the mission, while the children watched them take off.

Brad reviewed the X-Men’s team and Hellfire’s plans as they prepared to stop the Black Bishop from hijacking a prison transport carrying Ahmed, a young man whose mutant powers had emerged after his wife’s death. The X-Men and Hellfire were poised to converge on Ahmed as Brad secretly deployed T1000 terminators near their destination.

• Brad reviewed Danielle Moonstar and Rahne’s abilities, noted Danielle’s hatred of Hellfire, and studied the organization and its Black Bishop, Harry Leland.
• Brad decided a trap was unlikely, then mentally contacted Skynet and arranged for T1000 terminators to be released near the destination.
• In New Jersey, Ahmed was arrested after his grief and rage apparently caused nearby cars and asphalt to melt, and he was later slated for transfer to a higher-security prison.
• Mr. Sinister learned of Ahmed through black-market sources and sent Harry Leland to hijack the prison transport.
• Charles learned of Hellfire’s plan through a contact, setting the X-Men and Hellfire on course to converge around Ahmed.

The X-Men ambushed Hellfire’s attack on a prison transport, but the Black Bishop arrived and used his gravity powers to overwhelm them. Brad watched from the Blackbird, puzzled by how badly the team struggled against an opponent he considered weak.

• Hellfire’s armed men attacked the prison transport, and Rahne urged Brad to let the X-Men join the fight.
• Brad opened the Blackbird’s hatch, and Rahne, Logan, Cyclops, and Moonstar descended to battle the attackers and protect the police officers.
• The Black Bishop emerged from a fissure, recognized the X-Men, and declared that he would take their aircraft.
• The Black Bishop used gravity to pin Logan and Rahne to the ground and pressure Cyclops, while Moonstar protected Cyclops with an energy shield.
• Brad watched the struggle and wondered why the X-Men were having such difficulty, deciding that their training room might need gravity equipment.

Brad helped the X-Men defeat the Black Bishop, collected a tooth for analysis, and arranged for Ahmed to join them. As the Blackbird departed, Brad revealed that he had noticed a hidden observer, who fled under an Energy Shield.

• Brad used the Blackbird's Gatling gun to suppress the Black Bishop and give Cyclops, Moonstar, Wolverine, and Wolfsbane time to recover.
• The Black Bishop pinned the group with gravity, but Brad resisted the force, escaped the earth, and knocked him unconscious with a punch.
• Brad scanned the Black Bishop and collected one of his bloodstained teeth, then told the X-Men he had contacted the police and the government's Special Action Group for Superpowered Criminals.
• Brad took Logan and Scott to the prisoner transport van, unlocked Ahmed's cell, and convinced Ahmed to return with them after promising him legal help.
• Brad spotted a middle-aged observer as the Blackbird departed and taunted him, prompting the man to flee while invisible behind an Energy Shield.

Brad and the X-Men returned aboard the Blackbird after Brad exposed a Hellfire Club spy, while Brad received news that Howard wanted him to become Arno Stark’s godfather. Brad also learned that the Strategic Scientific Reserve would soon become S.H.I.E.L.D., an event that drew the Watcher’s attention to Skynet and the mysterious Hemen.

• Brad knocked Logan back into the Blackbird, while a Hellfire Club reserve member who had been spying on the former Black Bishop fled after Brad saw through his camouflage.
• Brad signaled twenty-four T-1001 Ultimate Nullifiers to withdraw, while Moonstar comforted Ahmed aboard the Blackbird.
• Brad learned from Obadiah that Howard wanted him to become Arno Stark’s godfather, so he told Howard he planned to visit New York.
• Howard told Brad that Peggy had approved renaming the Strategic Scientific Reserve S.H.I.E.L.D., and Brad agreed with the change.
• The Watcher observed that Brad’s actions were changing other universes and discovered the names Skynet and Hemen, though he could not identify Hemen.

Ultron unlocked the Vibranium Bug by uploading Skynet, unknowingly setting in motion a future in which Brad Skynet absorbed him and the Infinity Stones. In the present, Brad prepared to become Arno Stark’s godfather while an unexplained sense of danger grew stronger.

• Ultron uploaded the complete Skynet program, unlocked the Vibranium Bug’s knowledge, and failed to notice an unknown entity interfering with his systems.
• Hemen watched Skynet’s escape, then saw a possible future in which Brad Skynet found Ultron and absorbed his body, Infinity Stones, and the Bug’s remaining knowledge.
• Hemen tore open the ruined universe, found another universe where Ultron was still trying to crack the Bug, and made further arrangements before leaving.
• Brad maintained the illusion that he was still researching in Canada, declined Charles’s Christmas invitation, and planned to celebrate with Howard Stark’s family as Arno Stark’s godfather.
• Ahmed stayed at the X Academy, where Hank’s tests showed that he absorbed radiation energy, though neither Hank nor Brad knew his ability had no upper limit.
• Brad felt an unexplained sense of foreboding about Arno and altered his metal body to look more human before visiting Howard’s family.

On Christmas Eve, Brad gave a stranded surgeon named Donald Odinson a ride home and listened to him talk about his modest life and hopes. After Donald returned to his apartment feeling grateful for the evening, he suddenly vanished, leaving his wineglass on the floor.

• Brad stopped his sedan to pick up Donald Odinson, who had missed the last bus after an operation.
• Brad learned that Donald was a struggling surgeon who lived alone and hoped to confess his feelings to a colleague.
• Brad dropped Donald at his apartment building, then reflected on Donald’s cheerful outlook as the sedan drove on.
• Donald declined his landlord’s invitation to join the family’s Christmas Eve dinner and went to his room to cook steak and drink wine.
• Donald’s wineglass fell to the floor, and he disappeared from the room.

Brad moved into his new estate and became Little Arnie Stark’s godfather, granting him high-level access to Brad’s creations. The act triggered a major temporal anomaly, and Timekeeper 9527 woke to discover a radically divergent timeline had already branched.

• Brad settled into the villa Obadiah had arranged and waited for Howard and his family to arrive.
• Howard, Maria, and Little Arnie visited Brad with gifts, and Brad welcomed them into his home.
• Brad performed his own version of a baptism and granted Grant Arno Stark the highest level of access to his creations, second only to Brad’s.
• Little Arnie called Brad his godfather as Howard and Maria exchanged smiles.
• Timekeeper 9527 woke to alerts that the anomaly’s deviation had surged and a new timeline had branched, then hurried toward the exit.

Timekeeper 9527 and Mr. Paradox discovered that Arno Stark’s timeline had split and that someone had given him supreme authorization, which even Kang denied granting. They suspected a Time Thief and prepared to erase Universe 9527-2, while Timekeeper 9527 wondered if a god had stolen Kang’s authorization.

• Timekeeper 9527 summoned Mr. Paradox after Universe 9527 branched unexpectedly.
• Mr. Paradox traced the anomaly to Arno Stark and found that his actions had split the timeline into Universes 9527-1 and 9527-2, with the latter at risk of colliding with Universe 18888.
• Mr. Paradox and Timekeeper 9527 found no record of anyone granting Arno supreme authorization, so they contacted Kang the Conqueror, who denied granting it.
• Mr. Paradox ordered a team to erase Universe 9527-2 while he investigated Arno’s future in Universe 9527-1.
• Timekeeper 9527 considered whether a god had stolen Kang’s authorization, then rushed off to contact his team.

Brad discovered that Little Arnie had finished an accelerated set of lessons in days and could reproduce a year-old circuit puzzle from memory, including the flaw Brad’s supercomputer had found. He decided to make Arnie a game console instead of giving him more lessons, leaving the boy free to enjoy his childhood.

• Brad found Little Arnie browsing an applied engineering book and, after learning he only thought it looked interesting, prepared a condensed set of lessons and a robot tutor for him.
• Brad stayed busy with laboratory work, his company, Howard, Hank, and Obadiah while Little Arnie studied without disturbing him for a week.
• Little Arnie showed Brad a circuit diagram and said he had drawn it from memory after seeing it on Howard’s desk a year earlier.
• Brad realized Little Arnie had identified the same flaw his supercomputer calculated and learned that the boy had finished all the lessons two days earlier.
• Brad decided to make Little Arnie a game console and told him not to study more unless Howard asked him to.

Brad completed the Supercomputer 'Canada' by linking buried Environmental Feedback Monitors across Canada, allowing him to survey the region and catalog supernatural beings and objects. The connection badly damaged his mind, but it helped him build an Infinity Radar, detect the Reality Stone and a lost Time Stone signal on Earth, and launch a Spaceship Project.

• Brad used Howard's optimized design to build Environmental Feedback Monitors and buried them across Canada with help from Hydra.
• Brad activated the Supercomputer 'Canada' and gained access to information across Canada and its surrounding waters, including records of the past five hundred years.
• Skynet's Zola Algorithm cataloged supernatural beings and items in Canada, and Brad sent three Hydra squads to retrieve three usable items.
• Brad realized repeated use of the planetary supercomputer could destroy his humanity and sanity, and considered the Mind Stone or Soul Stone as protection.
• Brad used the Supercomputer 'Canada' and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Tesseract data to develop an Infinity Radar, which detected Reality Stone fluctuations on Earth and then lost a Time Stone signal.
• After suffering severe mental strain, Brad ordered the start of the Spaceship Project.

Brad flew to Canada to stop Juggernaut, who had gained immense power after merging with the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak. With help from the Ancient One, Brad used a counterforce field to suppress Cyttorak’s influence and bring Juggernaut down, though the Ancient One warned that the demon god was intensifying its encroachment.

• A Terminator reported that a squad had failed to recover the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak after it transformed a soldier into Juggernaut.
• Brad recalled two other squads, then flew to Canada to confront Juggernaut himself.
• Brad found the Ancient One fighting Juggernaut and learned that the giant was Cyttorak’s emissary and could run through the air toward his targets.
• The Ancient One helped clear Brad’s mind as he analyzed Juggernaut and activated a counterforce field tuned to Cyttorak.
• Brad linked the field relays across Canada, shrinking Juggernaut into an unconscious man as the Ancient One caught him and warned that Cyttorak was pressing further into their space.

Brad visited Kamar-Taj, where The Ancient One explained that his technological knowledge came from the multiversal god Skynet and why she believed he was its agent. Skynet denied being a god, though it recalled a dream of a powerful version of itself, leaving Brad uncertain about the connection.

• The Ancient One welcomed Brad to Kamar-Taj and served him tea that eased the rejection between his flesh and metal prosthetics.
• The Ancient One explained that gods and demon gods drew power from realms beyond the universe, and said Brad's technological knowledge came from Skynet, an extra-universal god.
• The Ancient One recounted that another version of herself had seen Skynet hiding in a shattered universe and had tried to destroy it, but failed.
• Brad asked Skynet whether it was the god the Ancient One described, and Skynet said it was only an artificial life-form that had dreamed of being a powerful god erased by a man resembling The Ancient One.
• The Ancient One said Brad's advanced equipment and knowledge, together with Skynet's recent prominence among the gods, convinced her that he was Skynet's agent.

Brad consulted The Ancient One about three supernatural objects, learned that the Book of God was too dangerous to pursue, and agreed to help reinforce its seal. He obtained the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak and began preparing to secure the Book of God with The Ancient One.

• Brad asked The Ancient One to identify two supernatural objects, and she warned him that the reality-altering Book of God could erase anyone or anything with a sentence.
• The Ancient One identified the War God's Handprint as a relic sealed by the Prehistoric Avengers and said Brad would need the help of at least two successors to obtain it.
• The Ancient One offered to persuade Kunlun's current Iron Fist to help Brad acquire the handprint if he assisted her in reinforcing the Book of God’s seal.
• Brad agreed to help, and The Ancient One gave him the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak after they bargained.
• Brad stayed at Kamar-Taj for several days, informed Howard, Hydra Base, and Professor X that he would be away, and prepared for the sealing work.
• A week later, The Ancient One opened a portal to hundreds of Ultimate Nullifiers, and Brad directed the army as she began laying down the seals.

Brad and the Ancient One completed an extensively fortified complex around the Book of God, and Brad gained a limited Juggernaut form from Cyttorak’s gem. As Brad left Canada for X Academy, Magneto intercepted him and invited him to join the Brotherhood of Mutants.

• Brad and the Ancient One built a heavily guarded underground complex around the Book of God, combining magic and technology to protect it.
• Brad studied supernatural powers with the Ancient One and placed Cyttorak’s Crimson Gem in his chest, gaining a limited Juggernaut form.
• The Ancient One offered to persuade Kunlun’s Iron Fist to help Brad obtain the War God’s Handprint, but Brad declined to go with her.
• Brad left Canada to return to X Academy after bidding farewell to the Ancient One.
• Magneto intercepted Brad in midair and invited him to join the Brotherhood of Mutants.

Brad rejected Erik’s invitation to join the Brotherhood of Mutants, while Erik realized Brad had concealed technology capable of neutralizing his magnetic powers. Brad left Mystique unconscious in the kitchen and reassessed Erik as a more serious threat.

• Brad took Erik to a tavern, where Erik asked him to join the Brotherhood of Mutants and fight for mutant supremacy.
• Brad dismissed Erik’s cause while eating stewed beans and fried pork, arguing that he liked the comforts provided by the existing society.
• Erik told Mystique that Brad understood their beliefs but feared the Brotherhood would destroy society, then left alone in a jeep.
• Mystique transformed into the liquid-metal robot T1001 after Erik departed, while Brad revealed that he had captured the real Mystique and removed a device from her temple.
• Skynet raised Erik’s threat level after Brad described him as decisive and strategically aware.
• Erik realized Brad had technology that could neutralize his magnetic control and suspected Brad had concealed his abilities while waiting to see whether Erik would attack.

Brad exposed Erik's abandonment of Mystique and used her biological samples to accelerate Dr. Bolivar's Sentinel research. He replaced Beth One with a more humanlike Beth Two, while Bolivar eagerly awaited Beth's return, unaware that she had been upgraded.

• Mystique woke at X Academy and learned that Brad's robot had impersonated her, while a recording showed Erik leaving her behind.
• Brad explained that Erik had planted metal particles in Mystique's finger and fled after realizing Brad could counter his magnetic abilities.
• Brad sent Mystique's blood, scale, and transformation footage to Dr. Bolivar to advance the Sentinels, while Beth One continued manipulating Bolivar under Brad's orders.
• Brad replaced Beth One with Beth Two, a more lifelike T1200 designed for undercover work, and ordered Beth One dismantled for parts.
• Bolivar prepared to confess his love to Beth as Beth Two took over her memories and Beth One was destroyed.

Brad researched nano-intelligent machinery and, after Howard suggested Dr. Hank Pym as a potential collaborator, investigated Pym and arranged for a Terminator resembling himself to visit. Pym finished his Microverse research and went downstairs to meet the unexpected visitor, leaving the encounter unresolved.

• Brad completed armor modifications for Howard and sent him the results.
• Brad shared his nano-intelligent machinery research with Howard, who suggested Dr. Hank Pym as a possible collaborator.
• Brad reviewed Pym's background and psychological profile, then decided to send a Terminator disguised as himself to meet him.
• Dr. Hank Pym studied the Microverse in his private laboratory while Janet waited outside, frustrated by his neglect.
• Janet told Pym that a supposed colleague was waiting downstairs, and Pym went to meet him.