has not been proven, but she insists that those she killed and left mummified in her basement were substitutes for Rick, and that he is her real son. Shorr is discovered to be insane, but not until after she kills Marlo by stabbing her with a kitchen knife. A horrified Rick refuses Reed Richards's offer to carry out a DNA test, saying that he does not want to know, especially if she is truly his mother. Rick attempts to bring Marlo back using a resurrection device known as the "deus ex machina" that the Leader developed, but the Hulk, believing that the Leader's efforts are part of a bigger villainous plan, destroys the equipment part way through the process. Marlo is left in a catatonic state. Rick's care eventually helps Marlo return to full health despite the intervention of many other well-meaning friends and family, including Marlo's brothers and Captain America. Shortly after Marlo is revived, the two become engaged and quickly marry. Neither of them realizes, however, that a portion of Death remains in Marlo. This piece of Death attracted many strange visitors to the wedding, including Mephisto and Death herself. The married couple soon finds success in a popular talk show, Keeping Up with the Joneses, but it is cut short when Rick is crippled by a Banner-less Hulk, that made a deal to work for Apocalypse and become his Horseman "War" if he would remove the shrapnel from the Hulk's brain. The injury confines Rick to a wheelchair and the debilitation strains his relationship with Marlo. The strain increases with the death of Betty Banner by radiation poisoning to the point that the couple split shortly thereafter. Rick joins Dr. Banner again after he returns to Earth and merges with the separated Hulk. His serious health problems force him to be brought by the Avengers to the now-captive Supreme Intelligence for aid, which marks the beginning of the Destiny War, as Kang the Conqueror's rejection of his apparent destiny to become Immortus results in Rick's access to the mysterious 'Destiny Force' being used to draw in a team of seven Avengers from different points in time to act as his protectors. Over the course of these events, Rick's injury is healed when he is able to channel the Destiny Force into himself, and after the final battle with the powerful Time Keepers, he is joined with Genis-Vell