Recaps

After defeating Hydra’s threat at the Gymnasium, Mercer freed Rogers and revealed that Rogers had killed Howard Stark. Mercer left the fallout to S.H.I.E.L.D. and went to investigate the Sanctum Sanctorum, while Peter found a note inviting him to meet Mercer.

• Mercer suspected that another Ancient One might exist and decided to check the Sanctum Sanctorum.
• Mercer lifted the Tesseract’s seal, allowing Carter, Nick Fury, and the other S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents to enter the Gymnasium.
• Mercer gave Carter the blacklight shell containing Rogers, but its material restrained Rogers when she opened it.
• Mercer told Carter and Nick Fury that Hydra had brainwashed Rogers and that Rogers had killed Howard Stark.
• Mercer refused to handle the consequences, then vanished with Galacta after Nick Fury thanked him.
• Peter saw that Mercer was unharmed and found a note with an address where he could meet Mercer.

Mercer found The Ancient One imprisoned in a hidden passage beneath the Sanctum Sanctorum and broke the magical pillars holding her. After she asked what year it was, The Ancient One began explaining how her search for a successor led her to consider using Dormammu’s power.

• Mercer searched the Sanctum Sanctorum for The Ancient One and discovered a hidden passage behind a bookcase.
• Mercer found The Ancient One in a translucent soul form, chained between two magical pillars.
• Mercer used a magical sigil to shatter the pillars and free The Ancient One.
• The Ancient One told Mercer that she had become Sorcerer Supreme in the seventeenth century and struggled to find a worthy successor.
• The Ancient One explained that she discovered Dormammu while fighting dark mages and considered using his power to gain immortality.

The Ancient One explained how drawing on Dormammu's power split her into benevolent and evil selves, and how the evil personality imprisoned her and tried to conquer Earth. Freed at last, she reunited with Mercer and revealed that the Time Stone was still in the Sanctum Sanctorum.

• The Ancient One had secretly drawn on Dormammu's power to extend her life, eventually splitting into benevolent and evil personalities.
• Evil The Ancient One defeated Benevolent The Ancient One, imprisoned her, and later sought to conquer Earth after the future changed.
• The Ancient One asked Mercer how he had found her, and he recounted his encounter with Evil The Ancient One.
• Mercer led The Ancient One outside, where she saw the modern city and explained she could use magic to make a new physical body.
• The Ancient One told Mercer the Time Stone's power had been sealed, then summoned it to prove Evil The Ancient One had not taken it to another dimension.

After returning home, Mercer received a game-making book and an Armor Summoner, then unlocked and transformed into the Flame Dragon Hero. He went outside to test the armor and summoned the Blazing Blade.

• Mercer left the Sanctum Sanctorum through a Portal and returned to his room using the Tesseract.
• Mercer received a book explaining how to make games and put it in storage for later.
• Mercer used the Fire Crystal to activate the Flame Dragon badge, revealing that he would need to collect the other Light and Shadow Stones.
• Mercer transformed into the Flame Dragon Hero and showed the armor to Galacta, who left him to play by himself.
• Mercer went to the clearing behind his house and summoned the Blazing Blade from his belt.

Mercer tested the Flame Dragon Armor and discovered that its Zen Seal could not stop Galacta and could be used only three times before the armor deactivated. After Mercer and Galacta devoured the Great Old One’s tentacles, the blacklight virus began evolving and surged into Mercer’s brain, leaving him unresponsive.

• Mercer spent five hours testing the Flame Dragon Armor, then found that the Zen Seal could not freeze Galacta and depleted the armor after three uses.
• Mercer teased Galacta, dodged her punch with the Tesseract, and made peace with her before dinner.
• Mercer and Galacta cooked the Great Old One’s tentacles in a Kyber Crystal furnace and absorbed them, with Mercer using the blacklight virus to consume every bit.
• The tentacles triggered a rapid evolution in Mercer, and the blacklight matter surged into his brain, leaving him frozen and unable to answer Galacta.

After a tentacle strengthened Mercer’s mental power, he assessed his abilities and realized he needed to master the powers he already had. He sought out the Ancient One to ask if she knew a swordsmanship teacher.

• Mercer’s energy surge knocked Galacta backward, and he realized the tentacle had strengthened his mental power rather than changed his constitution.
• Mercer created a power-ranking system and placed himself at sub-planetary level, deciding that he needed to solidify his skills instead of learning more abilities.
• Mercer judged that his Asgardian allies Thor and Loki were no stronger than asteroid level, then chose to begin training with weapons.
• Mercer summoned the Dark Saber, realized he knew nothing about swordsmanship, and used the Tesseract to travel to the Sanctum Sanctorum.
• The Ancient One explained that she had used the Time Stone to spend nearly half a month studying, and Mercer asked whether she knew any master swordsmen.

Mercer asked the Ancient One to help him find a swordsmanship teacher, and she pointed him toward the leader of the Assassins Alliance. After receiving a ring that could hold the Space Stone, Mercer traveled to the Alliance’s mountain castle and approached its defenses undetected.

• Mercer asked the Ancient One to teach him swordsmanship, and she told him about the Assassins Alliance and its supposedly immortal leader.
• The Ancient One revealed that Hydra planned to hire the Alliance’s leader to assassinate Mercer and gave him the leader’s location at Chuainijir, Inchut Snow Mountain.
• The Ancient One gave Mercer a ring designed to hold the Space Stone, and Mercer transferred the stone from the Tesseract into it.
• Mercer traveled to Inchut Snow Mountain and moved past the Assassins Alliance’s guards and hidden sentries without being detected.

Mercer infiltrated the Assassins Alliance’s castle by impersonating its guards and learned that the Fountain of Life enhanced the assassins but made them dependent on human blood. He watched King of Assassins Occam kill several trainees, then was called forward to face him alongside a surviving assassin.

• Mercer used the Space Stone’s energy to sense nearby creatures, seized a guard, absorbed him, and took his identity.
• Mercer learned from the guard’s memories that the Fountain of Life strengthened the assassins but caused bloodlust unless they drank human blood.
• Mercer moved through the castle disguised as an assassin, absorbing anyone who questioned him.
• Mercer watched Occam kill most of five assassins during a training test, leaving one survivor.
• Occam noticed Mercer and ordered him and the surviving assassin to attack together, promising them an early Fountain of Life if they lasted three moves.

Mercer challenged the Man in Black, who demonstrated his deadly skill by killing an assassin before attacking Mercer himself. Mercer stopped the King of Assassins’ poisoned dagger with his bare hand and remained unharmed, leaving the Man in Black stunned.

• The assassin attacked the Man in Black with two daggers, but Occam evaded his strikes and killed him with a crushing elbow.
• The Man in Black told Mercer to attack, but Mercer refused and insulted him with a middle finger.
• The Man in Black unleashed his killing intent, which did not affect Mercer, then rushed at him with a dagger and circled behind him.
• Mercer caught the Man in Black’s poisoned blade in his bare hand and held it for a minute without dying.

Mercer overwhelmed the Man in Black and was about to absorb him when Ghost Rider arrived to claim his soul. Mercer refused to give him up and prepared to defend his prize.

• Mercer revealed his Blacklight Virus ability and used the Space Stone to trap the Man in Black in place and beat him.
• Mercer subdued the Man in Black and prepared to absorb him for his swordsmanship knowledge.
• Ghost Rider, identifying himself as Johnny, arrived and said the Man in Black's soul was on his list.
• Mercer refused to hand over the Man in Black, and the Space Stone began to glow as he declared the man was his.

After Mercer devoured Giles Okam, he chose to gain Zoro’s One Sword Style instead of Giles’s knowledge and virus evolution. He began testing the new swordsmanship against Ghost Rider, whose Hellfire could burn away the Blacklight Virus, and met Ghost Rider’s counterattack with another technique.

• Mercer killed and devoured the man in black, identified as the King of Assassins, while Ghost Rider attacked with Hellfire chains that burned away some of the Blacklight matter.
• The system offered Mercer a choice between Giles Okam’s knowledge and virus evolution or Zoro’s One Sword Style, and Mercer chose the swordsmanship reward.
• Mercer received the swordsmanship and used One Sword Style: Takanegari to launch a huge crescent slash that Ghost Rider barely dodged.
• Mercer struck Ghost Rider’s Hellfire shield with a lightning-coated punch, whose blast shattered parts of the old castle and sent nearby assassins flying.
• Ghost Rider swept his flaming chains at Mercer, who drew the Dark Saber and began One-Sword Style: Iai-Lion’s Song.

Mercer overwhelmed Ghost Rider, stole some of his hellfire, and repelled his Penance Stare. Ghost Rider fled the castle, leaving Mercer to summon the surviving assassins before him.

• Mercer used Zoro's swordsmanship and lightning-charged punches to break Ghost Rider's flaming chains and batter him, while his attacks killed assassins caught in the gusts.
• Ghost Rider offered to make peace, but Mercer demanded some of his hellfire and used the Space Stone to immobilize him and take the flames.
• Ghost Rider's Penance Stare failed against Mercer's red eyes and invisible defense, after which Mercer began forming Purple Armor.
• Ghost Rider admitted Mercer was stronger, mounted his Motorcycle, and escaped from the castle.
• Mercer summoned the surviving assassins, who abandoned plans to flee and gathered before him.

Mercer defeated the King of Assassins and claimed command of the assassins, then used blacklight matter to cure their blood poison and win their loyalty. As they pledged allegiance, he received notice that the Assassins Alliance had joined his faction and the Shadow Corps card had activated.

• Mercer asked the assassins to accept him as their new boss, and they knelt rather than challenge him.
• Mercer learned that twenty assassins relied on the Fountain of Life and that the fight had destroyed their stored blood antidote.
• Mercer used Spatial Imprisonment to stop Carl during a blood poison attack, then cured her with blacklight matter.
• Mercer spread blacklight matter among the remaining assassins, consuming their blood poison and strengthening their bodies.
• The assassins pledged allegiance to Mercer, and he received notice that he had acquired the Assassins Alliance and activated the Shadow Corps card.

Mercer transformed the Assassins Alliance into the Shadow Alliance by using the Shadow Corps card, granting its members shadow-based concealment and movement. After testing his ability to summon them from a distance, he went to inspect the Fountain of Life beneath the castle.

• Mercer used the Shadow Corps card to assimilate the kneeling assassins into the Shadow Corps.
• The transformed assassins tested their new ability to melt into shadows, and Mercer renamed the Assassins Alliance the Shadow Alliance.
• Mercer sent the Shadow Assassins away, then summoned all of them back from nearly five kilometers away.
• Mercer ordered the Shadow Alliance to repair the damaged wall and explored the cavern beneath the castle.
• Mercer found the clear, glowing spring and recognized it as the Fountain of Life.

Mercer absorbed the pathogens in the fountain of life, looted the Ancient Castle’s treasure vault, and reviewed the Shadow Assassins’ assignments. He discovered that one terminated contract had targeted Tony Stark and asked what “infiltration complete” meant on the completed files.

• Mercer used the blacklight matter to absorb every pathogen in the fountain of life, restoring the matter and leaving ordinary water behind.
• Mercer opened a vault in the Ancient Castle and stored its gold bars, antiques, and artifacts in the space created with the Space Stone.
• Mercer asked how many assassins were on assignments, and a Shadow Assassin brought him four assignment files.
• Mercer found that three contracts were complete and the assassination of Tony Stark had been terminated after Obadiah Stane died before paying the final fee.
• Mercer pointed to the phrase “infiltration complete” on the three completed files and asked what it meant.

Mercer accepted the assassins’ plan to infiltrate three companies, then decided to drop out of school after a call from his foster family. He visited Stark to let him study the sword and showed him Lockdown, who transformed in Stark’s workshop.

• Mercer agreed that the assassins would infiltrate three companies and investigate the people around him.
• Mercer returned home, noticed Galacta was away, and went to bed.
• Mercer told his foster family he was dropping out of school and ended the call.
• Stark called Mercer to arrange a meeting so he could study the sword, and Mercer drove to Stark’s mansion.
• Mercer introduced Lockdown to Stark, who watched him transform into a crouching robot in the workshop.

Mercer showed Stark Lockdown and his Iron Man suits, then transformed into the Flame Dragon armor using the Fire Crystal. Stark examined the armor, and Mercer proposed they fight to compare their suits.

• Stark inspected Lockdown while Mercer admired Stark's MK1, MK2, and MK3 armor.
• Stark showed Mercer his portable armor design and explained its limitations.
• Mercer summoned the Flame Dragon armor with his Armor Summoner and Fire Crystal emblem.
• Mercer explained the armor's transformation process and mystical power source to Stark.
• Mercer suggested that he and Stark fight to compare their suits.

Alex Mercer challenged Tony Stark to test the Flame Dragon Armor in a sparring match at Stark’s workshop. Mercer’s first attack revealed that the armor was faster and stronger than he expected, forcing Stark onto the defensive.

• Mercer proposed sparring with Stark to test the Flame Dragon Armor, and Stark agreed.
• Pepper Potts entered the workshop, met Mercer, and reminded Stark about his business responsibilities before leaving to watch from upstairs.
• Stark put on the Iron Man Armor with JARVIS’s help, while Lockdown moved aside to avoid the fight.
• Mercer lowered his physical abilities to an ordinary person’s level and charged at Stark with a flaming punch.
• Stark raised his arms to block Mercer’s blow but was driven backward by its force.

Mercer and Stark tested their armors in a fierce close-quarters fight, with Stark using JARVIS to analyze Mercer’s techniques. Mercer gradually took control of the battle, and both fighters ended the exchange with damaged armor.

• Stark charged Mercer with the Iron Man Armor and struck him with a rotating elbow attack.
• Mercer countered with a roundhouse kick, then dodged Stark’s follow-up and answered with a flaming punch that scorched the ground.
• Stark said he would get serious, and he and Mercer clashed at close range using a range of fighting techniques.
• Mercer explained that his skills came from people he had absorbed, while Stark revealed that JARVIS was analyzing Mercer’s fighting style.
• Lockdown watched as Mercer gained control of the fight, which suited Stark’s aim of practicing close combat.
• A powerful crash sent Mercer and Stark apart, leaving both armors with scrapes and other damage.

Mercer defeated Stark in a sparring match with the Blazing Blade, then lent Stark the Armor Summoner so he could study whether Iron Man Armor could be made portable. After Mercer demonstrated that the Flame Dragon Armor was his weakest power, Stark accepted the device.

• Mercer drew the Blazing Blade from a crystal card and sparred with Stark, whose Iron Man Armor was cut by the blade.
• Stark conceded defeat after Mercer repeatedly held back his strikes.
• Mercer offered Stark the Fire Crystal, summoner, and emblem so Stark could study fitting the Iron Man Armor inside the summoner.
• Stark initially refused to help mass-produce suits, fearing they could become dangerous weapons.
• Mercer demonstrated the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and the Book of the Vishanti, convincing Stark that the Flame Dragon Armor was his weakest ability.
• Stark accepted the Armor Summoner, eager to make his Iron Man Armor portable.

Stark studied the Armor Summoner and worked with Mercer to prepare the Light and Shadow Stone for mass-producing armor. Mercer reserved forty-one energy outputs for himself and the Shadow Alliance, while Stark began building a prototype and told Mercer that Banner was staying at S.H.I.E.L.D.

• Stark analyzed the Summoner and determined that armor was energy given physical form, linked to the Light and Shadow Stone through an Emblem.
• Stark realized that the stone’s energy needed to be divided among separate Summoners, and Mercer used his ocular power to inscribe forty-two energy outputs into it.
• Mercer reserved forty outputs for the Shadow Alliance, one for himself, and one for Stark’s evolving armor.
• Stark said he could build a prototype Armor Summoner within an hour and began developing it using custom materials from a manufacturer.
• Mercer asked about Banner, and Stark said Banner was staying at S.H.I.E.L.D. for protection.

With Hydra still active, S.H.I.E.L.D. sought to protect Banner and turn Hulk into an asset. As Banner worked on an Artificial Tesseract, Mercer invited him to Tony Stark’s home to help him control Hulk, while the unfinished device gave off a strange blue ripple.

• Nick Fury and Stark agreed that Banner should be protected and that Mercer might be able to help him control Hulk.
• Banner told Fury that the Artificial Tesseract was stable, while Fury explained that S.H.I.E.L.D. was developing it as a defensive weapon for Earth.
• Hill gave Banner a voicemail from JARVIS, and Banner learned that Mercer wanted to help him with Hulk.
• Banner hurried to Tony Stark’s home, while Fury and Hill discussed the Avengers Initiative and the need for a Super Army.
• After Fury and Hill left, the Artificial Tesseract emitted a visible blue ripple.

Mercer and Stark completed an Armor Summoner that combined Iron Man’s armor with the Flame Dragon Armor, and Stark successfully used it. Banner learned how the device worked and was alarmed when Mercer revealed plans to mass-produce the armor.

• Banner arrived at Stark’s workshop, met Mercer, and was startled by Lockdown, whom Mercer identified as a mechanical life-form.
• Stark showed Banner the finished red-and-gold Armor Summoner and had JARVIS analyze whether it could summon the armor.
• JARVIS confirmed that the summoner was ready, and Stark inserted the Iron Man Badge into it.
• The badge resonated with the Fire Light and Shadow Stone as JARVIS sent the MK3 armor into the beam, transforming Stark into a dragon-styled Iron Man.
• Mercer and Stark celebrated the successful test, and Stark explained the device to a bewildered Banner.
• Banner reacted with concern when Mercer said he intended to mass-produce the armor.

Mercer drew Banner’s blood, then forced him to transform into Hulk so he could test Hulk’s strength. Mercer effortlessly dodged and countered Hulk’s attacks, but grew impatient and disappointed with the fight.

• Mercer noticed Banner acting evasively whenever Stark mentioned the Tesseract and suspected he might be involved in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s research.
• Mercer drew a sample of Banner’s blood with a syringe made from blacklight matter.
• Mercer punched Banner into a wall to provoke his transformation, and Banner emerged as Hulk.
• Hulk charged Mercer and attacked with powerful punches while Stark considered developing armor to stop him if he lost control.
• Mercer dodged and countered Hulk’s attacks without taking his hands from his pockets, then began to feel disappointed.

Mercer immobilized Hulk and considered how to help Banner control him, but his attempt to search the Book of the Vishanti accidentally injured Hulk with an uncontrolled burst of ocular power. He realized he might be able to use Kotoamatsukami to connect Hulk to gamma divine power, but hesitated over the danger of making Hulk far more powerful.

• Mercer stopped dodging and used the Space Stone to freeze Hulk in midair, while Stark joked about Hulk's unblinking eyes.
• Mercer searched the Book of the Vishanti for mind-control magic but found no suitable spell.
• Mercer's uncontrolled Sharingan power struck the immobilized Hulk, leaving him injured, and Mercer apologized.
• Mercer remembered he could use Kotoamatsukami and considered whether to connect Hulk to gamma divine power.
• Mercer worried that a more powerful Hulk could become a threat, and someone asked whether he had found a solution.