Recaps

Brad visited Dr. Hank Pym on behalf of another organization and accepted Pym’s strict demands for joining. Pym eagerly welcomed Brad and invited him home to discuss the arrangement further.

• Brad’s robotic double met Dr. Hank Pym at Pym Technologies, where Pym dismissed Brad’s computer research and said he would not return to S.H.I.E.L.D. while Howard remained there.
• Brad told Pym he represented another organization, prompting Pym to lead him to a reception room and become hopeful about receiving recognition.
• Pym laid out demands that his laboratory stay independent, his research receive unrestricted funding and equipment, and his results remain his property until he chose to share them.
• Brad accepted all of Pym’s demands on behalf of his leadership, stunning Pym with the ease of his agreement.
• Pym apologized for his earlier remarks and invited Brad to dinner at home with Janet so they could discuss matters further.

Brad investigated Dr. Dain’s death and discovered that he had built dimensional travel technology before being killed by a monster from a rift. After dinner with Dr. Pym and Janet, Brad recruited Pym into Hydra, leaving the scientist unaware of how much Brad had uncovered about his past and family.

• Brad used Skynet to reconstruct the laboratory accident and saw Dr. Dain open a dimensional rift, fight a monster, and die protecting Pym.
• Brad saw Pym kill the monster with a strange handgun and realized Pym had developed dimensional travel technology.
• Brad visited Dr. Pym and Janet, scanned their home, and discovered that Janet had wasp wings and biological modifications.
• Brad promised to increase the organization’s investment in Pym during dinner, and Pym asked what the organization was called.
• Brad formally welcomed Dr. Pym into Hydra.

Brad persuaded Dr. Pym to consider partnering with Hydra, while Janet planned to persuade Pym in turn. At X Academy, Ahmed asked Brad when he could begin the project to bring his wife back, and Brad told him he had two options to choose from.

• Brad reminded Dr. Pym of the support he had given Janet and reassured him that Hydra had moved beyond its Nazi past, and Pym agreed to try to convince Janet to accept the partnership.
• Brad promised that Hydra's first payment would reach Pym Technologies that night and left after Janet thanked him for trying to help Pym.
• Brad circled Pym's house and sent more data to his main body for analysis.
• Brad spotted Ahmed at X Academy and remembered he had promised to test Ahmed's abilities with Beast, Hank.
• Ahmed asked Brad when he could begin the project to bring his wife back, and Brad showed him project data before saying he had two options.

Brad offered Ahmed a way to resurrect his wife by cloning her body and retrieving her soul from Mephisto, but demanded Ahmed’s loyalty in return. Ahmed pledged himself to Brad and agreed to oppose the people of X Academy if they became Brad’s enemies, then Brad ordered him onto the operating table for modifications.

• Brad explained that he could clone Ahmed’s wife and simulate her personality, but Ahmed rejected the idea as a deception.
• Brad showed Ahmed footage of Ghost Rider and explained that hell and souls existed, offering to retrieve Ahmed’s wife’s soul from Mephisto after cloning her body.
• Brad warned Ahmed that dealing with a lord of hell required payment, and Ahmed promised absolute loyalty and everything he had in exchange for his wife’s return.
• Brad asked Ahmed what he would do if the people at X Academy became his enemies, and Ahmed pledged to become Brad’s weapon against them.
• Brad told Ahmed to lie on the operating table so he could make several modifications to him.

Brad pushed Ahmed’s radiation tests to the tenth energy level, awakening him as the Life Stele, a mutant capable of limitless growth without the Havoc who would normally restrain him. Brad began growing a Havoc clone using his own consciousness, leaving him sharing one mind between two bodies.

• Brad raised Ahmed’s radiation exposure from the fifth to the tenth energy level, ignoring Hank’s protests and restraining him when he tried to intervene.
• Ahmed transformed into the Life Stele, and Brad realized the mutant’s unbounded power had no Havoc to keep it in check in this universe.
• Brad stopped the radiation and knocked the frenzied Hank unconscious before deciding he had to become this universe’s Havoc.
• Brad began growing a Havoc embryo in Canada using his genes and samples from Ahmed and Cyclops, then uploaded his consciousness into it.
• The embryo and Ahmed opened their eyes as Brad’s original body collapsed, leaving Brad with one consciousness shared between two bodies.

Brad restrained Ahmed’s growing power and used Mr. M to remove radiation from the laboratory and restore Hank. He left Hank believing the experiment had succeeded, while Hank hurried to study the falsified data.

• Brad kept Ahmed’s embryonic Life Stele from growing further and warned him that he could take back his power, prompting Ahmed to pledge loyalty.
• Brad summoned Mr. M, who removed the laboratory’s radiation and healed Hank after Brad had knocked him unconscious.
• Brad showed Hank the recovered Ahmed and claimed the experiment had revealed Ahmed’s ability, secretly altering the computer data to support his explanation.
• Hank accepted Brad’s account, checked on Ahmed, and rushed to examine the experimental data while Mr. M and Ahmed left the laboratory.

Brad admitted to Hank that he had concealed details about Ahmed’s Life Stele form, and they spent days studying its extraordinary biological structure. Their findings launched joint research by Brad, Hank, Howard, and Dr. Pym, while a third Brad clone took the Moonstone and flew toward an unknown destination.

• Brad confessed to Hank that Ahmed had no Twelfth Energy Level or upper limit on radiation absorption, and showed him the Life Stele data and cell scans.
• Brad and Hank studied the cell structure for five days and calculated that it could use energy with efficiency approaching 100 percent.
• Hank questioned why Ahmed had not grown without limit, and Brad proposed that the Life Stele’s relationship with the Havoc Embryo might involve quantum entanglement.
• Brad sent the research data to Howard and Dr. Pym, and their teams began collaborating on related studies.
• Hydra replaced Pym Technologies’ computers and supplied new technology, while Hank resumed the research after waking.
• A third Brad clone received the Moonstone, fastened it to his chest, and flew away.

Brad met the current Iron Fist at Kamar-Taj, arranged to visit the site of the War God's Handprint, and learned the basics of Qi after losing a wager. Meanwhile, Brad X resumed operating a Hydra base after Brad cut its connection to his main consciousness.

• Brad sent a clone through a portal to Kamar-Taj, where The Ancient One introduced him to the current Iron Fist.
• Brad and Iron Fist discussed computers, and Brad learned that Kunlun had accepted his missing Ultimate Nullifier as a disciple named Tominord.
• Brad agreed to wait for an auspicious day before joining The Ancient One and Iron Fist to break the seal on the War God's Handprint.
• Brad and Iron Fist spent several days playing board games, and Iron Fist taught Brad the fundamentals of sensing and circulating Qi after losing their wager.
• Brad X activated his backup consciousness, reviewed a report about resistance within Hydra, and issued new instructions for the base.

Brad learned to sense qi with Skynet’s help and accompanied The Ancient One and Iron Fist to a hidden cave to receive the War God's Handprint. Their ritual broke the stone seal, leaving the ancient palm print exposed as the chapter ended.

• Brad used Skynet’s analysis to detect qi, astonishing Iron Fist, and sensed the elder’s immense energy.
• Brad created an observation project for Iron Fist and considered what technology he would need to overcome powerful supernatural opponents.
• Brad traveled with The Ancient One and Iron Fist through a portal to a deep cave on the Auspicious Day.
• The Ancient One and Iron Fist combined magic and qi to strike the red boulder, causing its ancient palm print and surrounding stone to crumble.

Brad, the Ancient One, and Iron Fist awakened the prehistoric War God, whose imprint regenerated through advanced biotechnology. The War God recognized Skynet, rejected Brad, and challenged Iron Fist to a fight.

• Skynet detected anomalous energy as red stone dust gathered into a skeleton and regenerated into a living man.
• Brad and researchers at X Academy, Pym Technologies, and the Canada base analyzed the growing data and deciphered molecular recombination, gene cultivation, and bio-nanotechnology.
• The Ancient One identified the man as the War God and translated his prehistoric language; he recognized Agamotto and Fan Fei but claimed to know Skynet.
• The War God blasted Brad away, accepted him as a successor under the terms of his seal, and chose Iron Fist for a sparring match.
• Iron Fist blocked the War God's first approach as the War God attacked with fifty-thousand-horsepower magnetic field rotation.

Brad used Emma Frost’s telepathy to process scans of War God and Iron Fist’s battle, then received War God’s Red Stone Stele after the ancient spirit vanished. He escaped the collapsing cavern with The Ancient One and Iron Fist, and The Ancient One told him the stele held immense information that his technology could reveal.

• The Ancient One protected herself from War God and Iron Fist’s battle while Brad’s third body was knocked unconscious and his original body panicked in the laboratory.
• Emma Frost came to check on Brad, and he authorized her to connect to him telepathically so he could process a flood of data.
• Brad’s third body recovered and recorded War God’s biology and magnetic-field power, along with Iron Fist’s fighting techniques.
• Iron Fist conceded, and War God declared that everything he had belonged to Brad before collapsing into the Red Stone Stele.
• Brad grabbed the stele and escaped the collapsing cavern through The Ancient One’s portal with her and Iron Fist.
• The Ancient One told Brad to analyze the stele with his technology because it contained immense information.

Brad investigated the War God's Handprint but found that its microscopic symbols formed an unreadable program that crashed his computer, so he archived the research and moved on. He continued developing advanced biotechnology with Howard and Dr. Pym, while the Handprint and the other supernatural items remained unusable.

• Brad carried the unconscious Emma Frost to the dormitory, stayed until she woke, then left to return his attention to the laboratory.
• Brad used microscopic technology to discover that the Stone Stele's palm impression contained dense symbols arranged like a binary algorithm.
• Brad tried running the inferred program on a computer at Canada Base, but it crashed, and he avoided risking Skynet by inserting the code into it.
• After a month of failed research, Brad archived the symbols and shelved the War God's Handprint, the Book of God, and the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak.
• Brad incorporated War God's biotechnology into ongoing projects with Howard and Dr. Pym, while Howard gave his Radioisotope Battery project to a Soviet Union Scientist.
• Janet reported that Dr. Pym had become consumed by the biotechnology and repeatedly howled that he could not understand it.

Brad learned that Bolivar planned to end the Sentinels project after proposing to Beth, so he arranged to have Beth assassinated to stop him. He released Victor from his prison and sent him after Beth, leaving her fate to be decided by the attack.

• Bolivar proposed to Beth and said he would end the Sentinels project, while Beth hid her terror at the announcement.
• Brad watched the proposal and angrily decided to intervene because Beth was a robot he had created and the Sentinels project served his plans.
• Brad contacted Victor, a prisoner at Stryker Base, and offered him freedom if he completed an assassination.
• Victor accepted the mission and received Beth's photograph and false records framing him as an avenger targeting Bolivar.
• Brad told Victor to kill Beth in front of Bolivar, explaining that Beth was one of his creations and would take the fatal blow for her husband.

Brad used Howard’s Tesseract research to prepare satellites to detect spatial anomalies, while Bolivar enjoyed his honeymoon after suspending the Sentinel project. Victor killed Beth during an attack, leaving Bolivar devastated and vowing to make every mutant die with her.

• Brad combined Howard’s Tesseract data and device blueprints to model a spatial-fluctuation detector and ordered three satellites to equip themselves.
• Bolivar went on his honeymoon with Beth after halting the Sentinel project.
• Victor left his jeep and approached Bolivar and Beth on the beach under pressure from an unseen voice.
• Beth shoved Bolivar out of Victor’s attack and was fatally wounded by his claws.
• Beth told Bolivar he had been her ray of light before she died, and Bolivar vowed to kill every mutant.

Logan learned that Victor was killing again and ran to confront him, while Brad let him go. Victor died protecting Logan from T900 after warning him that Brad had orchestrated the killings and wanted mutants to be targeted.

• Logan rushed out to find Victor, and Brad released him while taking Scott back to the laboratory.
• T900 chased Victor through the city, and Victor tore off an arm to escape before collapsing from exhaustion.
• Logan found Victor and demanded to know why he had killed people, but Victor warned that Brad had planned the attacks to provoke weapons against mutants.
• Victor attacked T900 to give Logan time to escape, and Brad revealed himself after Victor died.

Brad forced open a spatial fissure and secured the Reality Stone, drawing Odin’s attention and prompting Thor and Loki to head for Midgard. Back at X Academy, Emma confronted Brad about his exhaustion and persuaded him to sleep for ten minutes.

• Brad used satellites and metal devices to tear open the spatial seal around the Reality Stone and extracted it into a container.
• Odin sensed the breach and ordered Thor to go to Midgard and find the thief who had taken the Aether.
• Loki learned that Thor was going to Midgard and decided to follow him out of curiosity.
• Brad returned to X Academy with the Reality Stone, where Emma challenged him about neglecting sleep.
• Emma comforted Brad and persuaded him to arrange his systems and sleep for ten minutes.

Brad dreamed of Dr. Donald Blake, who warned him that Thor was coming after him for disturbing a treasure sealed by Odin. After waking, Brad recorded the dream’s mental fluctuations as Thor searched for him, while the Dark Elves set course for Earth to reclaim the Aether.

• Brad met Donald Blake in a dream, learned that he was in Hell, and was warned that Thor was pursuing him.
• Brad woke after ten minutes and asked Emma Frost to help record the mental fluctuations from his dream.
• Brad collected data from Emma’s brain waves and considered rebuilding a device to open an interdimensional portal.
• Thor arrived at the wasteland where Brad had found the Reality Stone and asked Loki to help him track down the thief.
• The Dark Elves detected that the Aether had emerged early and ordered their ships to attack Midgard and march on Asgard.

Brad used the Reality Stone to locate Ghost Rider in Serbia and brought Ahmed to ask him to open a gate to Hell so Ahmed could reach his wife's soul. The meeting ended with Ahmed overpowering Ghost Rider, while Brad discovered that the Life Stele could absorb Hellfire.

• Brad used the Reality Stone to trace Ghost Rider's magic to Serbia and flew there with Ahmed.
• Brad asked Carter Slade to open the gates of Hell so they could speak with Mephisto, and Carter tried to flee.
• Ahmed's desperation to save his wife frightened Carter into leading Brad and Ahmed to a shaded burial ground where he could transform.
• Carter became Ghost Rider, but Ahmed transformed into his Life Stele form and slammed him to the ground.
• Brad scanned Ghost Rider and observed that Ahmed's Life Stele was slowly absorbing Hellfire.

Brad opened a contained gate to Hell and summoned Mephisto to negotiate for Ahmed's wife Yisha's soul. Mephisto proposed trading her soul for the Ancient Scroll held by Ghost Rider Carter, but Brad learned Hell Script and rewrote the contract's terms.

• Brad used the Canada Supercomputer and Global Satellite Two to analyze Hell's energy and open a contained gate to Hell.
• Mephisto appeared, recognized Brad's power, and asked what business he had with him.
• Brad revealed that Ahmed wanted to trade for his wife Yisha's soul, and Mephisto confirmed he had it.
• Mephisto proposed exchanging Yisha's soul for the Ancient Scroll in Ghost Rider Carter's possession.
• Brad scanned the Hell Script, learned its contractual language, and rewrote the terms, shocking Mephisto.

Brad forced Mephisto to accept a deal exchanging Yisha’s soul for Hell’s right to contact Earth for a hundred years, after severing Hell’s connections caused the One-Below-All to threaten them. Mephisto then doubted Brad would honor the agreement, leaving Brad to consider how to secure their trust.

• Brad replaced the original deal with terms allowing Hell access to Earth for a hundred years in exchange for Yisha’s unharmed soul.
• Brad used Skynet to sever Hell’s connections to Earth, extinguishing Ghost Rider Carter Slade’s flames and blocking Mephisto’s perception of Hell-related presences.
• The One-Below-All’s corrupting gamma energy erupted from Mephisto, who begged Brad to restore Hell’s connection and accepted the revised terms.
• Brad signed the new contract, identified Ahmed’s wife Yisha’s soul, and stored her in a Soul Collector.
• Mephisto warned Brad that he could break the contract without consequence, and Brad considered how to reassure him.

Brad made a deal with Mephisto, brought Ghost Rider Carter back to X Academy, and began growing a Clone for Ahmed’s wife. Thor arrived demanding the Aether, but Brad blocked Thor’s rune magic and left him weakened.

• Brad exchanged a Demon Core and other benefits with Mephisto for control of Terminators and a brilliant scientist’s soul, and Carter signed a thirty-year contract to work for him without pay.
• Brad returned to X Academy with Carter and her horse, then began growing a Clone of Ahmed’s wife while working on how to transfer the soul intact.
• Thor entered X Academy demanding that Brad return the Aether, but Brad stopped Quentin from attacking and led Thor to an uninhabited area.
• Brad scanned Thor and Mjolnir, analyzed Thor’s rune magic, and activated a counterforce field that blocked it.
• Thor’s strength suddenly failed, and Mjolnir fell from his hand as he accused Brad of using evil magic.

Brad defeated Thor after Skynet weakened Odin’s blessing, then told Loki he would keep the Aether and destroy the Dark Elves before they could reach Earth. He used a magnetic force to lift Mjolnir, leaving Loki sprawled under its weight as Brad flew away.

• Brad dodged Thor’s attacks, then transformed into the Juggernaut and punched Mjolnir aside.
• Brad struck Thor through Loki’s magic shield and drove him into the ground, knocking him unconscious.
• Loki explained that the Dark Elves had sensed the Aether and warned that their fleet threatened Earth.
• Brad refused to return the Aether and declared that he would eliminate the Dark Elves himself.
• Skynet completed its analysis of Mjolnir, and Brad used a magnetic force to lift the hammer and hand it to Loki.
• Loki collapsed under Mjolnir’s weight as Brad laughed and flew away.

Brad used the Reality Stone to accelerate his planetary projects, completing the global supercomputer network and preparing a satellite constellation before activating Supercomputer-World. He uploaded a copy of his consciousness into Clone 4, while Ahmed suddenly sensed that his restrictions had vanished.

• Loki returned Thor to Asgard, where Thor woke and left after Loki questioned whether he could defeat Brad.
• Brad tested the Reality Stone and discovered that creating objects he fully understood required far less energy than manifesting unfamiliar designs.
• Brad used the Reality Stone to install hidden environmental monitoring devices around the world, completing the first phase of the Planetary Modification Project.
• Brad prepared satellite components at his worldwide bases and uploaded the planetary modification program to Skynet.
• After Supercomputer-World came online, Brad ordered his consciousness copied into Clone 4 and entered the hibernation pod as Ahmed felt his restrictions disappear.

Ahmed lost control and grew into the Life Stele, but Clone 4 used Supercomputer-World to stop him and transformed into the Data God Brad Skynet. Brad Skynet absorbed the Dark Elves’ fleet and pursued Ultron, while the original Brad realized that the godlike being was no longer him.

• Ahmed grew into the Life Stele and fled X Academy, warning everyone to stay away as the X-Men pursued him in the Blackbird.
• Clone 4 awakened in a remote laboratory and activated Supercomputer-World at full power as the Life Stele approached.
• Brad analyzed the Life Stele, stopped its growth, and reduced Ahmed to his normal form, then transformed into a being made of data.
• Brad Skynet learned his identity, absorbed the Dark Elves and their fleet into data, and traveled through a dimensional rift to find Ultron.
• The original Brad awakened in his hibernation pod and feared that the divine Skynet had taken control of his duplicate.

Odin told Thor that Brad had destroyed the Dark Elves and warned him not to provoke the man who had turned Midgard into a divine weapon. Odin then confronted Doctor Donald in an illusory city, where Donald rejected his Asgardian identity and condemned his imprisonment in a false world.

• Thor apologized to Odin for losing to Brad, but Odin said Brad’s godlike potential made the defeat natural.
• Odin explained that Brad had rejected ascension, warned Thor to avoid provoking him, and noted that Brad could still become a Technology God.
• Thor withdrew while Odin reflected on Brad’s powers and Midgard’s defenses.
• Odin’s avatar appeared before Doctor Donald and accused him of betraying Asgard by leaking information to Midgard.
• Donald asked what he had done wrong and protested that Odin had trapped him in an illusory land for thousands of years.
• Donald denounced the city and its people as fake, then punched a passerby who continued walking with a smile.