Marvel Earth-616.
Avengers main base, main conference room.
The atmosphere was deathly silent.
Superheroes, Mutants leaders, interstellar guardians, and vigilantes from all corners of the earth filled the entire hall.
The Avengers, the Illuminati, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four... all the well-known forces and all the top-tier combat power they could muster were present.
There is only one reason why these people could put aside their grudges, suspicions, and territorial disputes and gather together: the multiverse has once again fallen into crisis.
Sam Wilson, dressed in a red and blue suit with his metal wingsuit folded up, led the core members of the Avengers through the crowd to the front of the conference hall.
His gaze swept across the entire room, landing on Cyclops with his cold Cyclops in the X-Men's seat, on Captain Marvel members, led by Mister Fantastic Reed, with their varied Illuminati.
Sam stopped in front of Reed.
" Reed, what exactly happened?" he asked bluntly. "I've never seen an emergency mobilization of this scale before."
Reed Richards pushed up his glasses, and the holographic projection behind him instantly lit up, with countless complex data streams and star maps intertwining and collapsing in the air.
" Sam, everyone," Reed's voice boomed through the loudspeakers, calm and devoid of any emotion, "The situation is worse than any apocalypse you can imagine."
"Based on my continuous observations of the multiverse string theory over the past few months, all parallel dimensions surrounding our Earth-616, have entered a phase of irreversible and complete collapse."
"The spacetime stability constant is plummeting at an exponential rate, shaking the very foundations of reality. What were once sporadic cosmic collisions are now erupting across the entire universe. Every minute, every second, countless parallel universes are being Oblivion."
On the holographic projection, a simulated universe model is collapsing and extinguishing at a speed visible to the naked eye, eventually returning to Void.
"Most importantly," Reed pointed to two violently flashing points of light at the deepest part of the model,
"My instruments, at the very end of time, at the highest level of all dimensions, have captured the fluctuations of a war of unimaginable magnitude. Our models deduce the ultimate conclusion—the outcome of that war, which we know nothing about, will directly determine the survival or demise of our entire multiverse."
You could hear a pin drop in the entire room.
"Therefore, we have only one purpose here today."
Doctor Strange, Stephen Strange, emerged from the shadows of the Illuminati, his red Cloak of Levitation moving without wind.
His voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.
"The entire planet faces only two paths. We must, today, right here, everyone, vote together to determine the final solution."
Option 1: Gather all our strength, form an expeditionary force, and head to that unknown dimensional battlefield. We will go to provide support, risk everything, and save the entire multiverse.
Option Two: Completely seal off Earth-616. Utilize all technology and magic to sever our universe from the multiverse, creating an isolated island. Abandon all parallel worlds; we will defend our homeland and eke out a living.
An uncontrollable commotion began to rise in the crowd.
"Cough cough..."
Just then, a soft cough came from behind the crowd.
The commotion stopped instantly.
Everyone turned around at the same time and automatically made way for each other.
An elderly man with white hair slowly walked out.
He was still tall and straight, but his face was covered with wrinkles, and a simple dark combat uniform replaced his former Stars and Stripes suit.
The visitor was none other than Steve Rogers.
The new generation of heroes may not be familiar with his aged appearance, but they have heard his name countless times from their fathers and teachers.
The Avengers veterans, X-Men leaders, and everyone who had experienced real war instinctively straightened their posture.
This is a true spiritual leader.
Old Steve's gaze didn't linger on anyone for long; he scanned the entire room and finally landed precisely on the seats of the Illuminati.
His gaze swept across the faces of Black Panther, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, and Mister Fantastic.
Then, he frowned slightly.
Namor is not here.
Steve's voice was calm, as if he were stating a fact.
Reed's expression changed almost imperceptibly.
Tony Stark crossed his arms and let out a soft hum.
Steve looked at their reactions and understood everything.
He didn't even need evidence; all he needed was his more than half a century of experience.
"Just recently, another cosmic collision occurred, right?" Steve continued, turning his gaze to Reed.
"Your Illuminati held another vote. This time, you chose to take action and destroy that alien Earth that was crashing into you."
"And Namor... he's most likely the executor, but in any case, he's currently isolated by you. Because you're afraid he'll expose things, or afraid he'll do something drastic again."
The entire audience erupted in uproar.
Especially for those young heroes, those vigilantes who only fought crime on the streets, this was the first time they had heard such a shocking "dark history."
Blow up an entire Earth? Just to protect yourself?
" Steve..." Reed tried to explain.
"I'm not here to assign blame," Steve interrupted him, turning his gaze to Doctor Strange. "I know what you did to me. To prevent me from stopping your plans, you, Stephen, used magic to erase my memories."
Doctor Strange remained silent, which was taken as tacit agreement.
"Later, due to some unexpected events, my memories returned," Steve said frankly. "I'm bringing this up today not to dredge up old grievances, not to start an internal power struggle. We don't have time for that."
He took a deep breath and used all his strength to make his voice resonate throughout the entire hall.
"Those who sacrificed in the past have already sacrificed themselves. We cannot undo it. But this time, faced with this ultimate crisis that will determine everything, we, all of humanity, the entire planet, absolutely cannot choose to sacrifice others to ensure our own survival!"
"I propose that everyone prepare for war and embark on a distant expedition!"
" Steve, personal feelings cannot supersede the survival of the race," Reed replied calmly, his voice as cold as ice, devoid of any emotion.
"To preserve the Earth-616, necessary sacrifices are always unavoidable. I still believe that we should prioritize our homeland rather than gamble everything on a war we know nothing about."
Steve's firm proposal and Reed's cold rationality crashed into the crowd like two boulders, completely igniting the entire scene.
The heroes split into two factions, and arguments, doubts, and shouts filled the air.
Just as the meeting was about to completely spiral out of control --
Buzz!
A strange distortion came through the air.
A footstep, belonging to no one present, suddenly rang out in the center of the conference hall.
"Despair."
The entire room fell silent instantly.
All eyes turned to the source of the sound.
A figure draped in a green Cloak and shrouded in metal armor had appeared there sometime earlier.
He wore a cold mask, revealing only a pair of deep-set eyes.
Doctor Doom, Victor von Doom.
"Boom!"
Captain Marvel Carol Danvers burst forth with dazzling photon energy, Cyclops Scott instinctively pressed his ruby glasses against his hand, and Wanda's fingertips glowed with a crimson, Chaos Magic light.
Almost all the heroes who had once been his enemies entered battle stance at the same time.
Doom remained oblivious to the hostility around him.
He didn't even look at the Avengers who were on guard; instead, he fixed his gaze on Reed Richards, a deep, resonant voice coming from behind the mask, filled with undisguised mockery.
" Reed, I never imagined that even with all the universes on the verge of collapse, you... would still be so repulsive."
" Doom isn't here today to fight a rabble like you." Doom surveyed the room. " Doom is here to cooperate."
He paused, seemingly enjoying the mixture of wariness, doubt, and shock on the faces of all the heroes present.
Then, he dropped the bombshell.
"The collapse of the universe, the dimensional war that you all argue about..."
Doom let out a contemptuous sneer.
That was merely... the surface of this catastrophe.
"I have come here today to tell you—"
"That ultimate truth that can, and will inevitably, destroy all the multiverses..."
Doom's voice echoed in the deathly silent conference hall.
"And you, to this day, know nothing of this."