An agent of the interstellar
Skrull empire, Crusader was sent to Earth to spy on the
Avengers. Shortly after his arrival,
Avengers Mansion was destroyed and the Avengers disbanded. His assignment moot, he assumed human form, and took a New York apartment as his residence. He soon halted communication with the Skrull Empire, and he continued to use Skrull technology out of habit, to spy on his neighbors. After his neighbor, Curtis Doyle found a ring created from
Cosmic Cube shards, became the super-hero
Freedom Ring. After Freedom Ring was seriously injured in battle the Skrull revealed himself. He suggested that Curtis use the ring to restructure his body, and then he used his shape-shifting powers to become the super hero Crusader. Training together for two weeks, the duo debuted against
Iron Maniac (Earth-5012’s insane Anthony Stark) who murdered Freedom Ring. Taking the ring, Crusader later aided
Captain America,
Doctor Strange,
Luke Cage,
Ms. Marvel,
She-Hulk,
Spider-Man and
Wolverine by creating a pocket reality to hold the genetically altered Skrull
Titanius until he could be controlled.