After successfully redeeming Superman, Anton's safety on Earth was more secure than ever. The significance of Superman's existence was completely different from that of the four heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, and Green Arrow.
Superman's overwhelming power gave Anton an absolute sense of security. In other words, it allowed him to unleash his imagination and die as recklessly as he pleased.
"Is this the power of Superman?" Anton wondered as Superman's suit materialized around him.
At the same time, immense energy surged through his body. With the sun shining overhead, he could continuously recharge himself, and this energy seemed to have no upper limit—it was increasing by the second.
As long as he remained in the light, he would grow stronger with every passing moment.
He dissipated Superman's power, and the suit vanished.
Anton returned to his usual appearance—a business elite in a tailored suit and polished shoes, the commanding leader in black. He contemplated his next steps.
Though he had exchanged for Superman, his mission in this world was far from over. In fact, it was only after acquiring Superman that he could truly begin planning for his future development.
After all, the system's hero pool contained many other dormant DC heroes.
Next on his list was Shazam, the so-called "Magic Superman." The multiverse's most powerful beings still required the magical strength of Shazam.
The Ghost Rider incident had given Anton a harsh realization: in this world, Constantine lacked Lucifer's dual-layered "protection," leaving no room for manipulation.
Unless Constantine could summon Lucifer himself, he would forever remain just a strategist and a talker.
Additionally, Anton's two years of experience had made him realize that this world contained far more inexplicable forces than the original Marvel universe. With such a fused world setting, there was no guarantee that even greater figures wouldn't emerge.
Take, for example, the Fantastic Four movie universe, where one of Marvel's five cosmic entities—the Devourer of Worlds, Galactus—had once appeared.
Speaking of Galactus, Anton couldn't help but recall another terrifying existence.
In the comics, she was the woman behind Thanos.
Though the Marvel Cinematic Universe had kept her presence obscure, there was a key moment: after snapping his fingers, Thanos had willingly embraced death in the void. This gave Anton an almost certain conjecture—the Goddess of Death.
One of Marvel's five great cosmic entities, along with Galactus, Death was the true instigator behind Thanos' genocidal crusade.
In the original comics, eons ago, the five cosmic beings—Galactus, Death, Eternity, Infinity, and Annihilation—gradually grew distant due to their ideological differences.
To understand their division, one had to look at a being known as the Living Tribunal.
The Living Tribunal was an all-powerful existence within the Omniverse, nearly omnipotent. Generally, it operated at a level far beyond countless multiversal Life Tribunals and only intervened when absolutely necessary. Its judgments could affect the entirety of existence.
The Tribunal's duty was to oversee and maintain balance across all realities.
Now, returning to Marvel's five cosmic entities—after certain events, Eternity and Infinity came to align with the Living Tribunal's philosophy: punish only those who break the rules and do not harm the innocent.
Death and Annihilation,however, believed that balance must be maintained by any means necessary.
Galactus was a lone wanderer, indifferent to alliances, rules, or order. He cared for nothing except his own survival, making him a strange cosmic glutton.
After their disagreement, the five cosmic entities severed contact.
Countless years passed, and Death eventually chose a champion—a Titan named Thanos.
Thus began Thanos' tragic existence.
Under Death's manipulation, Thanos' worldview became completely distorted from childhood. As he grew older, he destroyed his own home planet, Titan, with his own hands and set out on a quest for the six Infinity Stones. His ultimate goal was to wipe out half the universe's population, fulfilling Death's desires.
To please the Goddess of Death—this was the foundation of Thanos' unwavering conviction.
And clearly, Death succeeded in her plans.
However, as history would show, she also failed—thwarted by the efforts of the Avengers.
These were all backstory details Anton had learned from watching the Marvel movies before.
Thus, even within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Death had likely played a role.
First, this storyline was directly adapted from the comics.
Second, it provided the best explanation for the origin of Thanos' beliefs and his obsession with eliminating half of all life.
In short, Thanos was never the final challenge Anton had to face.
To prevent the mass extinction caused by the Snap, one obvious solution was to stop the Snap from happening in the first place.
However, even if Anton sent Superman to kill Thanos right now, Death would simply choose another pawn. Given her influence, a second Thanos would inevitably rise sooner or later.
Therefore, to solve the problem at its root, Anton had to deal with the Goddess of Death directly.
But Death was not alone—she had an ally in Annihilation, another of the five great cosmic entities.
To challenge Death meant facing Annihilation as well.
Enemies of such terrifying magnitude could only be countered with the ultimate armor or a level of superhuman intelligence far beyond what Anton currently possessed.
Of course, expecting Superman to take on the five cosmic entities was ridiculous.
Even if Anton could find them, the real problem was that they could erase Superman with a mere gesture.
Fortunately, Anton was still far from directly confronting Death and Annihilation. There were several years before Thanos made his move against the universe.
Anton had time—time to prepare.
And he had already identified the key:
The six Infinity Stones must be in his possession.
"The Power Stone... It's on the abandoned temple of Morag," Anton mused.
"With a teleportation device, traveling across galaxies wouldn't be an issue. And with a spaceship and the help of the Transformers, interstellar travel becomes even easier."
"However, I can't leave personally right now… And without the exact coordinates of Morag, I can't teleport there directly."
"If I send Superman across the universe for extended periods, the fan value cost would be astronomical—1 million per hour. That's 24 million per day. Even with my current reserves, I can't afford to waste resources like that."
Muttering to himself, Anton finally made a decision.
He would hire Yondu's Ravagers to locate Morag and retrieve the Orb, which contained the Power Stone.
At this point in time, Star-Lord (Peter Quill) was still part of Yondu's crew.
With Quill involved, finding the Power Stone would be a sure thing.
Once Anton had the exact coordinates, he could send Superman to retrieve the stone himself.
In addition to the Power Stone, however, the closest Infinity Stone to him wasn't actually the Power Stone.
It was the Aether—also known as the Reality Stone.
….
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