Superman News

A few days passed quickly.

The Stark household remained as calm as ever.

Every day, Leon clocked in to bask in the sun, waiting for the new school year at university to begin.

As usual, Tony never went to work. Every morning, the moment he got up, he stuffed buttered bread into his mouth and rushed off to the Middle East.

In his words, the inherently evil Ten Rings would soon vanish from the world.

And ever since he had coordinated with Rhodey, the military had never managed to track him down again.

As for Pepper, she had discovered Tony bringing home armor riddled with bullet holes the evening before last, and she had been quite furious.

But as usual, there was nothing she could do about Tony. After getting angry, she still diligently worked every day, shouldering the immense responsibility of developing Stark Industries.

That was life in the Stark household. Like the sea beyond the mansion, waves occasionally surged, but most of the time, it was so peaceful that it seemed utterly carefree.

But for the world, the impact of Superman's appearance had begun to ferment, and undercurrents quietly stirred on all sides.

"KNKV Television Station reports."

After Leon returned from his morning training in space and finished making breakfast, he saw a local KNKV report about Superman on television.

"It now seems beyond doubt that Superman has appeared in our world."

The female anchor held her script, her expression solemn.

"Though he has not appeared again in the past few days, countless people are still proving his existence and praying for his return."

"What he did that night completely changed our world."

As her voice fell, the news footage switched to a noisy press conference.

At the podium stood only a middle-aged Afghan man with graying hair and beard.

Flashes of all sizes kept going off below the stage, but his eyes remained fixed on the camera, bright and piercing.

"It was Superman who saved our country and our people!"

He raised his voice as much as he could, seemingly trying to make his words more thunderous.

"That night, I was fortunate enough to capture his image! He was fighting for us!"

"He is Superman, the one all things depend upon! He came from nowhere and goes nowhere; nothing can stand against him!"

"He is our god, our savior! The Father is in him, and he is one with the Father!"

At the same time, someone brought a thick screen behind the middle-aged man. Once it lit up, it began playing footage of Superman facing missiles head-on.

"Look at him! How majestic he is! He drove away every wolf; we are all his lambs!!" the man shouted at the camera.

The footage ended there, and the view returned to KNKV's live news studio.

The female anchor sat upright. "The man in the footage is Abdullah, an Afghan war correspondent. He once captured footage of Superman's first appearance and passionately declared at a press conference that Superman was the reincarnation of Allah's Holy Spirit."

"During this time, countless others have also stepped before the cameras to recount what they witnessed of Superman entering reality."

The footage switched again.

A little girl spoke firmly during an interview with reporters. "That night, two bad guys wanted to break in. Superman suddenly appeared and stopped them!"

The girl's father also said, "Superman said the Ten Rings would soon leave us, and he really did it! Not only that, now even the Americans..."

The rest was not aired, and the news footage shifted to another person.

"He fell from the sky! Like a shooting star! I didn't make a wish, but he destroyed the terrorist who wanted to force himself on my sister!" a boy described, gesturing wildly.

There was much more footage like that.

Clips of Afghan guards saluting photographs of Superman;

Footage of everyone in a ruined village weeping and shouting Superman's name before the rice fields;

And more...

Only after a full five minutes of related material did the live broadcast return to the studio.

"As more and more people confirm Superman's existence, we have no choice but to consider what kind of impact he will have on our society!"

"Is he like the Superman from the comics—just, selfless, a God of Man?"

"Or is he merely a clumsy imitator in a uniform, using Superman's name to satisfy his own vanity?"

"According to this station's reporters, a large number of our soldiers returning home yesterday were forced by Superman's pressure to abandon their aid to local residents."

"Whether he is a dictator or a hypocrite behind a mask, we do not know, and we cannot make the right judgment immediately."

"Next, let us hear sociologist Francis Windham's analysis..."

Leon propped up his chin and watched with interest as the scholar who had just appeared talked eloquently about Superman.

From comic-book analysis to reality, from his clothing to his childhood, he spoke as though it were all perfectly substantiated. His final conclusion was that Superman was a paranoid man obsessed with drinking milk.

He cited classics throughout the analysis, and by the end, Leon himself was almost convinced.

"You're watching this boring coverage again? Haven't you had enough after all these days?" Tony came downstairs.

"It's either endless praise or utterly extreme condemnation. What is there to watch in these opinions?"

"Especially these television stations. They've all taken political money, and they want to turn you into a complete villain."

"Why do you always find this stuff so entertaining?"

He slapped a rolled-up newspaper onto the table and plopped down beside Leon.

"And look at the garbage these people write. It's all Superman, Superman. Haven't they ever read comics? They get this excited just because one Superman showed up!"

Leon lowered his eyes and glanced at it.

The newspaper read: "Mysterious Armored Man Appears Again in the Middle East, a Clumsy Imitation of Superman!"

So that was the problem.

Tony had worked himself to the bone for several days, basically wiping out the Ten Rings across more than half the Middle East.

Yet almost none of the media had reported much about him.

Even when they did, they only mentioned him in passing before immediately shifting the topic back to Superman.

No wonder Tony was so resentful. He was not someone who enjoyed doing good deeds in secret.

"Maybe you could buy a newspaper and have them write reports specifically about you."

"The headline could be, 'Iron Man Returns, the Hero Protecting Middle Eastern Civilians!' What do you think?"

Tony raised an eyebrow. "That's a pretty good suggestion, but you know I'm not someone who craves fame. I'm standing up for you, Leon!"

"Give it a rest. If you really wanted to stand up for me, you might as well stuff some money into those media outlets and teach them to tell the truth!" Leon said.

Tony got up and went to the dining table to grab a piece of bread.

"If you want, I can do that."

He spoke as he ate. "But do you really think it's necessary?"

"It isn't." Leon still propped up his chin. "Once Hydra is eliminated and my strength is displayed, the media will naturally speak for me."

"That's exactly right!" Tony tapped the screen with his index finger in agreement.

"The media's mouths only praise those who can make them shut up!"