"Ah?"
Schiller stood there in a daze for several seconds before reacting. He sized Adam up, then dredged up a somewhat vague image from the depths of his memory archive—the Warlock Adam from the Guardians of the Galaxy.
This character was not especially obscure in Marvel. He had even been mentioned in the Guardians of the Galaxy films. Though nowhere near as universally known as Thanos, he still came up from time to time.
His backstory was simple as well. He was an artificial human created by the Enclave. His abilities had no particularly notable traits. If he had not become the Living Tribunal Adam during the Annihilation event and given the Living Tribunal a boost in prestige, he might not even have been discussed as much as New York's second-tier heroes.
The main reason Schiller had taken so long to remember that he was Warlock Adam was that the Adam before him looked rather different from both the comics and the films.
At that moment, half of Adam's cloak was in tatters, while the other half hung crookedly from his back. Two huge gashes had been torn across the chest of his clothes, and even the intact areas were covered in dust. His face was blackened with scorch marks, and the corner of his right mouth looked as though someone had punched it, leaving it bruised and swollen.
More importantly, his expression held the dejection of someone who had given up, indignant anger, bewilderment at what had happened, and even a trace of grievance.
Schiller was not entirely sure whether Adam in this universe had any connection to the Living Tribunal Adam, but even if he was Warlock Adam, surely he should not have ended up in such miserable shape, right?
"Hello, Mr. Adam. We can discuss the pope