An agent of the interstellar Skrull empire, Crusader was sent to Earth to spy on the
Avengers. Shortly after his arrival, the Avengers Mansion was destroyed and the Avengers disbanded. His assignment became moot, and he assumed human form. He later took a New York apartment as his residence, and he soon halted communication with the Skrull Empire, although he continued to use Skrull technology out of habit, and he spied on his neighbors. After his neighbor, Curtis Doyle found a ring created from
Cosmic Cube shards, which led to him becoming the super-hero known as
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 Titannus until he could be controlled.