Earth-2149C.
This is also a despairing universe, where Void and darkness are opening their gaping maws, gnawing away at the edges of galaxies.
The collapse of this blue planet can be traced back to Mister Fantastic Reed Richards, the greatest crisis maker in the multiverse.
The zombie virus sweeping across the universe was not caused by exploring the Quantum Realm, nor by the military's biochemical serum, but by an accident that should have given rise to a team of superheroes.
Three months ago, Reed led three partners in an unauthorized spaceship into outer space.
Like most universes, they were exposed to Cosmic Rays and did indeed mutate.
But what he brought back wasn't just superpowers, but also hunger—pure, insatiable hunger.
The spacecraft pierced New York's atmosphere and crashed in the heart of Manhattan.
The control hatch popped open, and four monstrous creatures with festering sores and grayish-white eyes crawled out.
The zombie virus spreads exponentially outward through the air, blood, and bites.
Queens General Hospital was the first to be affected.
All the seriously injured people affected by the spaceship crash were sent here.
Just three hours later, the ward turned into a slaughterhouse.
Spider-Man Peter Parker, had his hands glued to the ceiling of the hallway, his eyes bloodshot and swollen beneath his mask.
In the lower ward, Uncle Ben, with a large chunk missing from his neck, was lying inside Aunt May's emptied abdominal cavity, chewing voraciously.
Spider-Man's faith crumbled completely at this moment. He couldn't even utter a wail, and could only watch helplessly as the citizens he had once protected turned into Beast tearing each other apart.
As the defenses retreated, humanity's last resistance rallied on the streets of Manhattan.
Iron Man Tony Stark unleashed his full palm-sized cannon, blasting a street full of zombies into pieces with high-explosive missiles.
Daredevil Matt brandished his guide cane, smashing the skulls of one infected after another that lunged at him.
The Hulk grabbed two wrecked buses and swatted hundreds of zombies into a bloody pulp like swatting mosquitoes.
Thor swung his hammer, Mjolnir, and a violent bolt of lightning cleared an area of fifty meters around him.
"Drive them back! Don't let these monsters get near the sanctuary!" Thor roared, preparing to unleash a fatal blow.
But they weren't facing ordinary zombies, but the Fearsome Four, a super team with brains who would stop at nothing to eat people.
The Zombie Invisible Woman Susan Stone, raises her festering hands.
A transparent force field appeared out of thin air, transforming into a vacuum cage that tightly bound Mjolnir.
Thor reached out and tugged at the hammer twice, but it didn't budge.
Without the contact of Mjolnir, Asgard's divine power began to drain from his body.
The 60-second countdown has ended.
His blond hair fell out, his muscles atrophied, and Thor reverted to being the frail attending physician—Donald Blake.
Blake crashed onto the asphalt, staring in horror at the approaching horde of zombies.
Susan didn't bite him; she manipulated the invisible force field, making its edges sharper than a scalpel.
Invisible blades sliced through Blake's limbs, brutally dismembering the human body into dozens of bloody pieces of flesh.
Immediately afterwards, she threw the pieces of meat into the horde of ordinary zombies behind her.
The hungry monsters swarmed forward and chewed Thor's human form to a pulp, bones and all.
Hulk let out a roar that shattered glass, smashing half of the Zombie Thing's head with a single punch.
But in the brief moment between his roaring and his wide-open mouth, Zombie Mister Fantastic Reed, stretched out like putty and forced his way into Hulk's nostrils and mouth.
The Hulk clutched his throat and gagged violently, his massive body crashing onto the ruins.
A few seconds later, he stood up again, his green skin covered in ashen patches, and drool dripped from his chin.
In just three months, less than one in ten survived on Earth, and the defenses completely collapsed.
Just as the zombie horde was about to breach the gates of the last human survivor base, the sky split open.
A terrifying force, utterly tyrannical and disregarding all laws of physics, descended.
Like an invisible giant hand, it lifted the surviving heroes and mutated super-powered zombies from the ruins, along with the entire piece of land, into the sky.
Everyone was forcibly drawn into a dimension called " Battleworld ".
There, the only rule is killing, until only one living creature remains.
Earth has become a dead planet, ravaged and teeming with ordinary zombies.
Meanwhile, in New York City, Manhattan, Greenwich Village, 177A Bleecker Street.
The third floor of the Sanctum Sanctorum.
Stephen Strange appeared as a translucent blue spirit, floating cross-legged in mid-air.
Below him was a Seal of the Vishanti array radiating a blinding golden light.
In the center of the formation, Strange's physical body lay prone on the floor, his ten fingers scratching deep grooves into the marble.
He let out a Beast growl, his teeth frantically gnawing at the edge of the golden magic circle, his broken tooth roots mixed with black blood flowing all over the ground.
Wang took a mop and cleaned up the blood splattered around the magic circle.
"I really can't do this job anymore!" Wang slammed the mop on the ground, panting heavily.
"Every day I have to watch over your infected body and prevent it from running out and biting me. This smell is even stronger than stinky tofu that's been fermenting for a month!"
"Bear with it, Your Majesty." Strange's Soul Stone rolled its eyes, its fingers fiddling with the magical runes in the void. "What if I find the incantation to cure the virus? That's my only physical body."
"You've even lost the Eye of Agamotto, how are you going to cure it? Are you going to teach zombies physics in your current transparent spirit form?"
Wang ruthlessly shattered the illusion.
Just as Strange was about to retort, a deafening sonic boom came from above.
boom!
A silver meteor pierced straight through the ceiling of the Sanctum Sanctorum.
Rubble, planks, and insulation layers rained down on us.
A silver surfboard slammed into the edge of the formation, nearly slicing off the zombie Strange's head.
Immediately afterwards, a silver-gray body slammed heavily onto the floor, creating a deep dent in the solid wood floor.
Wang threw down the mop, swiftly drawing the Rings of Raggadorr with both hands. Strange's spirit rapidly rose, his fingertips glowing with crimson Bolts of Balthakk.
Silver Surfer struggled to his feet, his silver exoskeleton covered in charred cracks.
He coughed up a mouthful of silver energy liquid, staggered, and looked past the king, locking his gaze directly onto the spirit in mid-air.
" Strange... we must find Doctor Strange..." His voice was hoarse, like two pieces of metal being forcibly rubbed together.
Strange floated down half a meter, staring at the bald, reflective alien.
The energy levels inside this alien are rapidly decreasing; it doesn't seem like it's here to fight.
"Speak, and who are you?" Strange pointed to the large, drafty hole in the ceiling, his tone extremely displeased.
"You'd better actually have something truly world-destroying to do. Otherwise, even if you're some kind of alien Iron Man, you still have to pay to patch this hole! These days, construction workers in New York are practically cannibalizing people on the streets!"
The Silver Surfer ignored his nonsense, straightened up by holding onto his surfboard, and looked at Strange and Wong.
"He has come."
Strange frowned and withdrew the spell from his hand.
"Which 'He'? Dormammu? Or Mephisto? Get in line! With Earth in this state, they'd only get leftovers."
" The God of Void and Shadows." The Silver Surfer's tone carried a deathly stillness that made Strange very uncomfortable.
"He is manipulating darkness and Void, devouring the entire universe. Earth is the final stop; once it falls, everything will return to Void."
Wang turned and glanced at Strange; things were in serious trouble.
Silver Surfer took a step forward and looked at the two mages.
"We need to gather all the surviving heroes on Earth. Only by combining all extraordinary powers can we have even a sliver of hope in fighting Him."
The air was silent for a full ten seconds.
Only Strange, the Strange inside the magic circle, was still diligently gnawing at the floor, making a crunching sound.
Strange's spirit scratched his translucent head and sighed.
"Buddy, you might be late." Strange floated above the magic circle and pointed to his drooling self below.
"Look at this, this is me. Right now, all I can think of in my head is eating human brains; I can't remember any magic. My body is unusable."
Silver Surfer followed his finger and saw the Sorcerer Supreme, his mouth full of black blood and his pupils cloudy.
"As for the superheroes you mentioned," Strange spread his hands.
" The Fearsome Four led the mutation and killed most of New York. The Avengers resisted in the streets for three days, and then were all wiped out. The survivors were sucked away by an evil force and taken to a place called Battleworld to fight in underground boxing matches."
If we really have to count, the only superheroes still alive on Earth right now are me and Wang. Of course, that's if you don't mind that I don't even have a physical form."
Silver Surfer looked at the devastated Sanctum Sanctorum, then at the lifeless ruins of Manhattan outside, and fell silent.
Wang dismissed the magic shield in his hand, stepped forward, and kicked the Silver Surfer's surfboard.
"So, do you have a backup plan? Like taking us to another star system?"
The Silver Surfer stood there for a long time, a kind of crazy determination burning in his eyes.
"I have another idea."
Wang raised an eyebrow. "Tell me. I'll do anything as long as I don't have to go and eat those zombies outside."
The Silver Surfer stared directly at Strange's spirit.
"We need the power of the Infinity Stones, we need help."
"Helper? Do you think there are any helpers left on Earth that can even breathe?"
Strange looked at the all-silver-white alien with a puzzled expression.
He paused for half a second, then slowly uttered the name.
"No, I'm not talking about helpers on Earth; we need the help of the cosmic overlord, Death Titans."
"I think you must be crazy, buddy! You're actually expecting a cosmic executioner to save the universe?! What could be more absurd than that?!"
Wang stared at the Silver Surfer in disbelief.
"He's right, Wang. The Earth can't get much worse. This is one approach."
After a moment's thought, Strange approved the plan.
" Strange?! You've gone mad too?! This isn't a method, this is suicide!"
Wang roared.
Strange glanced at the Silver Surfer, sensing the chaotic and disordered Cosmic Energy within him, and said, "I'll go with you. Hopefully, your method will be of some use, alien."