Recaps

Lynn arranged for Bruce Banner to stay at Kamar-Taj so he could learn to accept Hulk, with the Ancient One agreeing to watch over him. Tony Stark told Lynn about revealing himself as Iron Man and meeting Nick Fury, then left to keep searching for a cure to his palladium poisoning.

• Lynn asked the Ancient One to let Bruce Banner stay at Kamar-Taj, and she agreed while making Lynn promise to take responsibility for him.
• Mordo arranged a secluded room for Banner, and Lynn reminded him to attend meals on time.
• Tony told Lynn that he had publicly announced he was Iron Man and that Nick Fury had visited him afterward.
• Lynn warned Tony against joining Serpent S.H.I.E.L.D. and asked whether he had found a way to fix his palladium poisoning.
• Tony said he was still looking for a cure, opened a portal to his Malibu laboratory, and left.

Tony struggled to find a palladium replacement as his blood toxicity worsened, and he confided his fear about telling Pepper to Lynn. Lynn told him Howard Stark had left something in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s files, and Tony went to find it.

• JARVIS told Tony his blood toxicity had reached thirty-one percent and would become critical in three weeks, but every screened element failed as a palladium replacement.
• Tony spiraled into agitation, neglecting work and sleep as Pepper noticed his condition but did not press him about it.
• Tony vented to Lynn about his failed search and admitted he was afraid to tell Pepper the truth.
• Lynn revealed that Howard Stark had hidden something for Tony in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s old files.
• Tony questioned why his father had not given him the item directly, then opened a portal and went to look for it.

Tony rejected Congress’s demand for the Iron Man Armor at a hearing, where he mocked Senator Stern and Justin Hammer. He brought Lynn and Yinsen to his Malibu mansion and invited them to watch him race in Monaco the next day.

• Tony ignored the reminder about his father’s belongings and agreed to attend the congressional hearing after Pepper delivered the subpoena.
• Tony called Lynn and asked him to bring Yinsen to Washington to watch the hearing.
• At the hearing, Tony refused to hand over the Iron Man Armor and declared that he had privatized world peace.
• Tony used JARVIS to replace Hammer’s footage with clearer videos of failed attempts to copy the armor, making the audience laugh at Hammer.
• Tony left the hearing with Lynn and Yinsen, brought them to his Malibu mansion, and invited them to Monaco for a Formula race the next day.

Lynn traveled to Monaco with Tony, Yinsen, Pepper, and Natasha, whom he knew was Black Widow operating under the name Natalie Rushman. During the journey, Lynn tried to get closer to Natasha while she quietly assessed whether he was the person who had saved Coulson.

• JARVIS woke Lynn and reminded him that he was leaving for Monaco with Tony in forty minutes.
• Pepper introduced Natalie Rushman to Lynn and Yinsen, and Lynn struggled to hide his attraction to Natasha.
• Lynn chose to ride with Natasha in the Mercedes-Benz while Yinsen joined Pepper in the Rolls-Royce.
• During the drive, Lynn asked Natalie about her work and résumé, while Natasha studied his mannerisms and suspected he had opened the portal that saved Coulson.
• Aboard Tony's jet, Lynn sat near Natasha and discussed Tony's plans to race in Monaco, while Natasha questioned whether he needed a more responsible way to relieve stress.

Lynn and Natasha quietly discussed his knowledge as Tony raced in Monte Carlo, where Ivan Vanko attacked him on the track. Tony put on his armor and faced Whiplash as the crowd fled.

• Lynn told Natasha that she was not acting like herself, and they agreed to talk somewhere else later.
• The group arrived at the Monte Carlo circuit, where Lynn predicted Tony would overtake on the first lap.
• Tony overtook a car at the first corner, while Lynn spotted Ivan Vanko crossing onto the track with electrified cables.
• Lynn warned Tony, who dodged Whiplash's attacks and escaped his race car as Happy delivered the armor suitcase.
• Tony assembled his armor and took Whiplash's next electrical lash head-on, standing his ground as Iron Man.

Tony defeated Vanko at the Monaco racetrack despite struggling in his portable armor, then confronted him about his attack and family grievances. Lynn offered Vanko an alternative to violent revenge and left him to consider using his intelligence to prove his family's superiority.

• Tony struggled against Vanko's electric whips despite Lynn's advance warning, but eventually defeated him and destroyed his reactor.
• Vanko shouted that Tony had lost as Monaco police took him away, leaving Tony troubled by the claim.
• Tony visited Vanko in detention, where Vanko named Anton Vanko as his father and accused the Stark family of theft and destruction.
• Vanko told Tony that exposing his vulnerability would encourage others to attack him.
• Lynn told Vanko that Anton Vanko had wanted to sell the reactor technology and urged him not to let inherited hatred waste his talents or endanger civilians.
• Lynn offered Vanko a choice between proving his family's superiority through intelligence and continuing violent revenge, then promised to return and said he had sent someone to find his bird.

Tony struggled with worsening palladium poisoning and the military’s demand for his armor, while Lynn urged him to trust Rhodey with the MK2 and remember that Howard had left his life’s work to him. Tony gave the armor to Rhodey as a gift, leaving their friendship strengthened as the military crisis continued.

• Tony returned from Monaco and shut himself in his laboratory to investigate Ivan Vanko and Howard Stark’s history while JARVIS warned that his palladium toxicity had exceeded the safety threshold.
• Rhodey told Tony that the military was ready to seize his armor after the Monaco race exposed replicated Stark technology.
• Tony admitted his palladium poisoning was advancing and asked Lynn whether Howard had truly left something for him.
• Lynn told Tony that Howard had left him his life’s work and advised him to give the MK2 to Rhodey rather than leave him caught between Tony and the military.
• Tony summoned Rhodey and presented him with the MK2 as a gift, joking that he should read the manual before wearing it.

Tony received Howard Stark’s belongings and discovered that his father had hidden the key to a new element in the 1974 Stark Expo model. After watching Howard’s recorded message, Tony reconstructed the model’s atomic structure, leaving him with a new path forward and a belated understanding of his father’s love.

• Tony asked Nick Fury to deliver Howard Stark’s belongings, while Lynn stayed to witness Tony’s reunion with his father’s legacy.
• Coulson delivered Howard’s suitcase, thanked Lynn for saving S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and invited him to join the Avengers Initiative; Lynn said he would join when Tony did.
• Tony opened the suitcase and watched Howard’s recording, in which Howard called Tony the greatest creation of his life.
• Tony summoned Pepper and Lynn through a portal to bring the 1974 Stark Expo model to his lab.
• Tony used JARVIS to scan the model and reconstruct a previously unknown atomic structure, then thanked his father.

Tony began tearing apart his mansion to build a particle accelerator, but Lynn used his ability to transform a crude frame into the new reactor core. The reactor ran steadily, leaving Tony with a safer replacement for the palladium reactor in his chest.

• Tony smashed through a load-bearing wall to gather materials for a homemade particle accelerator, while JARVIS warned him about the danger.
• Lynn offered to use his ability to make the new element, and Tony admitted he had avoided asking because Lynn had nearly died after using it before.
• Tony made a triangular frame from gold-titanium alloy and showed Lynn the new element’s atomic structure.
• Lynn used his ability to transform the frame into a new reactor core and handed it to Tony.
• Tony installed the core in the reactor base, and JARVIS confirmed that its energy output was stable.
• Lynn asked why Tony had not let him remove the shrapnel from his chest, and Tony said he feared Lynn’s ability might cause unknown changes to his body.

Lynn spoke with Ivan Vanko, who agreed to set aside his revenge temporarily and become a partner while he verified Lynn’s warning about a future threat. Vanko still demanded a contest with Tony to settle their rivalry, and Tony agreed to compete after finishing his current work.

• Tony confirmed that the new reactor ran steadily and began redesigning the Mark VI armor around its increased power output.
• Ivan Vanko called Lynn and asked what Lynn had meant when he said Earth’s enemies should not be each other.
• Lynn explained that he could foresee a difficult future and offered Vanko a choice between attacking Tony or proving the Vanko Family’s intelligence through a technological contest.
• Ivan agreed to be a temporary partner while he verified Lynn’s claims, but insisted that he and Tony first establish who was better.
• Lynn told Tony about Vanko’s challenge, and Tony agreed to arrange a contest after completing his current work.
• Lynn relayed Tony’s response to Vanko, who accepted and ended the call.

Tony completed the Mark VI and hosted a private contest with Ivan Vanko at a refurbished Stark factory. The two men left without revealing who won, but Tony invited Vanko to his home, and Vanko went with him.

• Tony finished the Mark VI and asked Lynn to call Vanko to arrange their contest.
• Tony prepared a well-equipped Stark factory on Long Island as the contest venue.
• Lynn checked Vanko for hidden threats before Tony and Vanko entered the factory alone.
• Tony and Vanko spent the day competing, then emerged without saying who had won or what they had competed in.
• Tony invited Vanko to his home for burgers, and Vanko followed him while Lynn walked behind them.

Vanko explained that the unmanned suits he left Justin Hammer were deliberately limited, then chose Tony’s quiet cliffside lab as his home. Lynn opened a portal to retrieve Vanko’s parrot from Wong, and the bird returned to Vanko’s shoulder.

• Vanko told Lynn and Tony that he had left Justin Hammer basic, self-destructing reactor technology and a limited batch of unmanned suits.
• Tony said Hammer would not understand how to copy even a complete reactor, and Vanko agreed that Hammer was out of his depth.
• Tony offered Vanko nearby houses and a coastal-cliff lab, and Vanko chose the quiet cave because the world believed him dead.
• Vanko asked Lynn for his bird, and Lynn opened a portal to the New York Sanctum.
• Wong brought the parrot through the portal, and the bird flew to Vanko’s shoulder while Wong warned him not to let her get thin.

Tony arranged for Ivan Vanko to stay at his home, where the two began collaborating on the Mark VI armor. Lynn learned that a hammer had fallen in New Mexico and arranged to meet Coulson there the next day, then returned to the Sanctum after reminding Tony to finish his house.

• Tony showed Vanko the guest room and brought him into the basement laboratory to work on the Mark VI thruster design.
• Vanko and Tony debated materials for the energy transfer lines and developed a layered composite solution.
• Lynn called Coulson, who said he was in New Mexico investigating a hammer that had fallen from the sky.
• Lynn told Coulson he meant no harm and arranged to visit him the next day to discuss something important.
• Tony and Vanko dismissed the hammer as uninteresting and returned to their technical argument.
• Lynn warned Tony he would sell Yinsen to buy a house if Tony did not hand his over, then opened a portal back to his room in the Sanctum.

Lynn wrestled with whether warning Coulson about Fury’s dangerous research would expose him to S.H.I.E.L.D. scrutiny or save countless lives. After hearing Vanko and Tony’s advice, he decided to tell Coulson only the central threat and let him judge what to do.

• Lynn debated whether to warn Coulson that Fury’s research would trigger a disaster and cost thousands of lives.
• Unable to sleep, Lynn went to Tony’s laboratory and explained his dilemma to Tony and Ivan Vanko.
• Vanko recalled failing to warn a fellow prisoner and advised Lynn to control what he revealed, telling Coulson only the necessary information.
• Tony agreed that Lynn should tell Coulson alone and offered to act as a liaison if S.H.I.E.L.D. became involved.
• Lynn settled on warning Coulson about the central threat without explaining how he knew about it.

Lynn warned Tony not to neglect Banner, then met Coulson in New Mexico to discuss three impending crises and offered to begin with the one connected to the hammer. Coulson agreed to hear about that threat first, leaving Lynn poised to explain what S.H.I.E.L.D. could do to limit the damage.

• Lynn reminded Tony to visit Banner at Kamar-Taj and explained that Banner was lonely and eager for conversation.
• The next morning, Lynn waited in a bar near S.H.I.E.L.D.'s restricted zone and called Coulson to meet him.
• Coulson arrived, and Lynn asked him to clear the bar before checking for surveillance devices and listening equipment.
• Lynn told Coulson that three life-threatening matters were coming: one he could address immediately, a later revelation, and a disaster that could kill thousands within a month or two.
• Coulson chose to hear first about the threat connected to the hammer, and Lynn confirmed the connection.

Lynn warned Coulson about Thor, the Destroyer, and an impending Chitauri invasion, then revealed that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been infiltrated by a serpent organization. Coulson accepted Lynn’s conditions and was left to investigate the betrayal himself.

• Lynn explained that Thor had been exiled to Earth and warned Coulson that the Destroyer would come after him, urging him to evacuate the town.
• Coulson asked about a larger threat, and Lynn warned that the Chitauri would invade Manhattan if Fury continued his research.
• Lynn demanded that Coulson promise not to identify him as the source of a final secret, and Coulson agreed.
• Lynn told Coulson the keyword was “Serpent S.H.I.E.L.D.” and said that Natasha, Fury, Clint, and Coulson were allies, leaving him to investigate everyone else.
• Lynn offered Coulson his number and help with fighting, then left the bar as Coulson remained silent.

Lynn told Coulson about the dangers ahead but worried that his warning might alter the timeline. Tony and Ivan reassured him that he had made the right choice, and Lynn resolved to keep helping where he could.

• Lynn opened a portal to Tony's underground lab and found Tony and Ivan still working.
• Lynn told Tony and Ivan about his conversation with Coulson, including Thor, the Destroyer, and the Chitauri invasion.
• Tony and Ivan urged Lynn to focus on what he could control and reminded him that they would help if things went wrong.
• Lynn lightened the mood by asking for lunch, and Tony ordered Chinese food through JARVIS.
• After lunch, Lynn reflected on how his choices had already changed lives and decided he would not stand by while ordinary people were in danger.

Tony brought Lynn to Stark Tower to show off his newly furnished penthouse, while Lynn reminded him that Tony still had not shown him the house he had promised. The chapter left Tony facing Lynn’s complaint about the delay.

• Lynn stayed at the Sanctum instead of going to New Mexico, leaving Thor to face his trial without interference.
• Tony summoned Lynn to Stark Tower, and Lynn drove there rather than using a portal.
• Tony led Lynn through the unfinished lobby and up to the tower’s completed penthouse.
• Tony showed Lynn the penthouse’s smart controls, floating sofas, concealed cabinets, and other features.
• Lynn teased Tony about his luxurious home and demanded an update on the house Tony had promised him.

Tony showed Lynn a warm, fully equipped apartment in Stark Tower and told him it was his new home. After moving his belongings there, Lynn learned from Coulson that S.H.I.E.L.D. was pursuing Tesseract research and suggested searching for Howard Stark’s research records.

• Tony led Lynn through a hidden elevator to a separate apartment in Stark Tower and explained that JARVIS controlled its systems and access.
• Tony told Lynn the apartment was for him, then left to return to the seaside mansion and test the Mark VI with Ivan.
• Lynn returned to the Sanctum, told Wong he was moving out, packed his belongings, and opened a portal to his new home.
• Coulson told Lynn that the New Mexico situation had been resolved and that Fury had authorized Erik Selvig to research the Tesseract.
• Lynn advised Coulson to look for Howard Stark’s Tesseract research records as a safer guide, and Coulson agreed to investigate while keeping Lynn’s involvement confidential.

Lynn visited the Ancient One at Kamar-Taj and defended his efforts to change events and save lives. He then found Banner, who had made progress in reconciling with Hulk, and recruited him to work at Stark Industries and prepare for an alien invasion of New York.

• Lynn returned to Kamar-Taj and the Ancient One confronted him about his recent interference in events.
• Lynn admitted he wanted to save people and pointed out that the Ancient One had allowed him to help Tony, Banner, and Vanko.
• The Ancient One told Lynn she would retire soon and jokingly urged him to wait until Stephen arrived before causing more trouble.
• Banner told Lynn that he and Hulk had begun to trust each other, though he still could not fully control their transformations.
• Lynn offered Banner a research job at Stark Industries and warned him to prepare for an alien army invading New York.
• Banner agreed to leave Kamar-Taj with Lynn and take the job.

Lynn visited Wanda and Pietro at Kamar-Taj, noticed signs that Wanda’s Chaos Magic was nearing awakening, and brought Dr. Banner to stay with him in Stark Tower. Banner settled into his new room and waited with Lynn for Tony, while JARVIS ordered them Chinese food.

• Lynn found Wanda practicing runes and saw red strands of light appearing around her magic, but chose not to tell her what they meant.
• Wanda described feeling something inside her runes, and Lynn encouraged her and Pietro to continue their studies before moving to New York.
• Lynn met Banner after he packed, opened a portal to his Stark Tower home, and offered him a room there.
• Lynn called Tony to announce a surprise, then showed Banner his room and introduced him to JARVIS.
• Banner asked about working with Tony, and Lynn said they would discuss it when Tony returned.
• Lynn asked JARVIS to order Chinese food and complained to Banner about Tony calling General Tso’s chicken authentic.

Lynn invited Coulson to Stark Tower and asked him about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s difficult internal investigation. He then asked to have Natasha assigned as his liaison, but Coulson said he would need to ask Director Fury.

• Lynn called Coulson and invited him to visit Stark Tower, while Banner chose to read in his room rather than meet the agent.
• Coulson arrived with snacks and beer, and Lynn served him orange juice as they settled in to talk.
• Lynn asked Coulson how the investigation into Hydra within S.H.I.E.L.D. was going, and Coulson said they had little to go on and were waiting for suspicious agents to reveal themselves.
• Lynn asked Coulson to assign him Natasha as a liaison so he would have someone to talk to, and Coulson said he needed Director Fury's approval.

Lynn warned Coulson that Captain America needed protection from being manipulated, then brought Bruce Banner back from Kamar-Taj to work with Tony Stark. With a coming disaster now unavoidable, Lynn and Tony prepared to detect the Tesseract’s energy fluctuations before a portal opened.

• Lynn urged Coulson to find Captain America a safer place to adjust to the modern era, and Coulson agreed to look into it.
• Tony returned from arguing with Ivan Vanko, and Lynn revealed that Bruce Banner had come back from Kamar-Taj.
• Lynn told Tony that the disaster he had warned about could not be stopped and asked him to prepare for it.
• Tony instructed JARVIS to send the lab requirements for a gamma-ray and spatial-energy detection device to the high-energy physics lab.
• Tony went to welcome Banner and show him the experimental equipment prepared for his research.

Lynn asked Tony to build a device that could cultivate living tissue while Lynn modified it into a compatible organ, and Tony agreed. Lynn left the lab pleased, while Tony began the Regeneration Cradle project by contacting Dr. Helen Cho.

• Coulson told Lynn that Natasha would contact him in a couple of days, and Lynn joked that he wanted her as a housekeeper.
• Lynn asked Tony whether he could use tissue grown from Lynn’s stem cells to create a functioning organ compatible with him.
• Tony explained that the plan might work if Lynn could record an organ’s microscopic structure with complete accuracy.
• Lynn sincerely asked Tony to build a device that could grow and preserve tissue buds while Lynn changed their properties.
• Tony agreed, and Lynn hugged him before leaving the lab.
• Tony asked JARVIS to contact Dr. Helen Cho about the Regeneration Cradle project.

After Loki stole the Tesseract and attacked S.H.I.E.L.D., Lynn gathered Ivan, Banner, and Tony to explain the crisis and discuss helping retrieve it. He said they could fight alongside S.H.I.E.L.D. but would not join its chain of command, and Tony asked when they needed to answer.

• Coulson called Lynn to report that Loki had stolen the Tesseract, killed agents, controlled Hawkeye and Professor Selvig, and destroyed an underground S.H.I.E.L.D. base.
• Lynn brought Ivan and Banner through portals to Stark Tower and asked Pepper to leave so he could speak privately with Tony.
• Lynn explained the Tesseract's history and warned that activating it signaled across the universe.
• Lynn told the others that he would share intelligence and fight alongside S.H.I.E.L.D. but would not join Fury's command.
• Tony asked Lynn when S.H.I.E.L.D. needed an answer.