DC Heroes in Marvel

From beginning to end, Anton's purpose is obvious.

When the Avengers were at their peak, proud and confident, and the public was at its most panicked, Anton led the Justice League to emerge and solve the crisis effortlessly—like cutting leeks—highlighting the importance of Batman and the Justice League while simultaneously undermining S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers.

Although he allowed the crisis to unfold, the responsibility ultimately rested with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the government. 

Even when John Keller called him, requesting Batman's help, he didn't ask Batman to resolve the situation directly. 

Instead, he had Batman use his unparalleled intelligence-gathering abilities to locate Victor Doom.

Looking at it now, the strategy is clear: let Batman find Victor Doom, then have the military's special forces step in to reclaim the Tesseract.

From start to finish, Batman and the Justice League were treated as outsiders—only called upon when the situation reached a breaking point. 

Though the Justice League and the military had a shared interest in maintaining order, they were never truly allies.

The military, seeking to consolidate its power, formed a special task force led by the United States and backed by 23 nations, with the ultimate goal of replacing S.H.I.E.L.D. 

It was clear that if the military succeeded, Batman and the Justice League's influence over them would diminish significantly.

This was an inevitable reality.

Fortunately, Batman and the Justice League possessed unique capabilities that no special forces unit could replicate. 

Their presence remained irreplaceable, ensuring that their alliance with the military—while strained—would not be broken.

This was why Anton could accept John Keller's request.

Half a day later.

Special forces arrived in New York.

General Hawke called Anton, requesting a meeting. His tone was unusually polite.

Anton left immediately, heading to a military safe house somewhere in New York.

Inside the spacious safe house, he met General Hawke—one of the military's top leaders—along with the special forces under his command.

The unit was large and filled with elite operatives. Besides Hawk, there was Duke, scarlet, breaker, Ripcord, Heavy duty, Snake Eyes, Cover Girl, Roadblock, Flint, and others, with Duke serving as the deputy commander.

For this mission, Hawk had brought his entire special forces team, determined to make a name for themselves.

"Hello, Anton."

Hawk greeted him with a composed expression as Anton entered.

The surrounding soldiers all turned their eyes toward the doorway, scrutinizing the man before them. 

They were curious—what kind of abilities did this world-famous director, the only non-superhero officially affiliated with the Justice League, possess to be given the authority to mobilize them?

"Hello, General," Anton replied, glancing around. "It's a pleasure to meet you all."

"You're Anton?"

Most soldiers had a direct, no-nonsense temperament.

While Hawke and Duke remained composed, others in the unit found it hard to accept that they were being ordered around by a civilian they had never even met.

Shouldn't he at least prove his worth first?

"If Batman were standing in front of me, I wouldn't question him," Duty stepped forward, his voice tinged with skepticism. "But you? You'll have to show me why I should listen."

He looked at Anton and spoke in a rough voice:

"Anton, you always want us to listen to you. But what do you actually have that qualifies you to give us orders?"

"So, are you challenging me to a fight?" Anton asked, his expression turning amused.

"You don't have to fight—just prove you can beat any of us in some other way," Heavy duty said. "Otherwise, why should we follow the commands of someone less capable than us?"

"Fine."

Hearing this, Anton narrowed his eyes and glanced at General Hawk, the unit's commander. Then, he suddenly smiled.

Without hesitation, he clenched his fist and said, "Then let's fight. That's the simplest way."

He turned to the rest of the team. "If anyone else feels the same way, you can all come at me together."

Half an hour later.

Anton twisted his wrist and shrugged at General Hawk.

"Like I told John Keller before—you wait for my signal and don't act without authorization."

He paused before adding, "If you act on your own, you'll have to deal with the consequences yourselves."

"Understood."

Hawk nodded. "We're soldiers. Following orders is our pride."

"That's good to hear."

Anton glanced at the special forces members lying on the ground and chuckled.

"Good fight. Goodbye, everyone."

With that, he left the safe house.

As Anton stepped outside, the door shut behind him. Thinking about Hawk's attitude, he hummed softly.

Without Hawk's approval, his soldiers wouldn't have dared to challenge him. Just as Hawk said—soldiers take pride in following orders.

"Interesting."

Anton got into his car, pressed the accelerator, and drove off.

Back home.

The old man and John were nowhere to be found.

Under Anton's advice, they had left New York the day before, taking a few days off.

After all, the Avengers had already taken Loki into custody, signaling that the Battle of New York was getting closer.

Victor Doom was known as Loki's accomplice. It was hard to predict whether his involvement would cause more trouble in the coming fight.

Though Anton was confident he could handle it, he had to be cautious when it came to the people around him.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters — Meeting Room

All the Avengers were gathered.

"He didn't say anything," Rogers said, looking at the others.

"We expected that," Tony replied. "He showed up right in front of us—walked straight into the lion's den. That means he has another plan. But even now, we still have no clue what it is..."

"And Victor Doom's location?"

Harry clenched his fists. "Still nothing. It's like he vanished from the face of the Earth."

"We need to find the Tesseract as soon as possible," Thor suddenly said.

"From what I know, Loki has an army at his disposal—the Chitauri. They are not Asgardians, nor do they belong to any specific planet. Loki intends to lead them in an attack on Earth. The Chitauri will definitely aid him, and I believe their price for doing so is the Tesseract."

"Where did they come from?"

Captain America frowned. "The Chitauri... are they from space?"

"Maybe from another galaxy," Thor replied, shaking his head. "I don't know much about the worlds beyond the Nine Realms."

"So, they need the Tesseract to open a portal—just like the alien attack in New York before..."

Tony suddenly realized something. "He needs a space army to invade Earth."

"I think so," Dr. Octopus added. As a highly skilled scientist, he quickly followed Tony's train of thought. "If the Tesseract provides infinite energy, opening a portal wouldn't be too difficult. As for the teleportation technology... ever since its emergence, many organizations have been researching it."

"So, another battle is coming," Hawkeye muttered.

He and Black Widow exchanged glances, recalling the devastation when the alien war fleet invaded New York.

"If that's the case, they'll need metallic iridium as a stabilizer," Tony continued. "They'll also need a high-density power source—at least powerful enough to heat the Tesseract to a hundred million degrees to activate it and open the portal."

His expression darkened.

"Metallic iridium shouldn't be a problem for Doom. After all, he's a billionaire. But a high-density power source..."

His face suddenly fell.

"Shit."

A sinking feeling hit him.

While the group was deep in discussion, none of them noticed the faint glow coming from Loki's scepter, which was resting in the conference room as a trophy.

Nor did they realize that, as their conversation wrapped up, their faces subtly shifted. As they walked out of the room, all except for Thor and Rogers stiffened involuntarily.

Their eyes flickered.

A faint, unnatural blue light gleamed within them.

Meanwhile, after suspecting that Victor Doom might be hiding in Stark Tower with the Tesseract, Tony immediately rushed back to his building.

He activated all security feeds, scanned the entire facility from top to bottom, but found nothing.

Victor Doom was nowhere to be seen.

Tony let out a slow breath.

During this process, only Harry had returned to Stark Tower with him.

The others were simply too slow to keep up and were left behind.

"But if Doom isn't here, where is he?" Harry asked, frowning.

If Doom needed a powerful energy source, was there anywhere in the U.S. more suitable than Stark Tower?

The building's arc reactor could power its entire operation at full capacity for a whole year.

For activating the Tesseract, it was more than enough.

"Could I have miscalculated?"

Tony frowned slightly and contacted his team back at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

"He's not here," Tony reported. "Keep pressing Loki for more information. If this keeps up, things will only get worse for us."

"Understood," Rogers replied with a nod.

In this world, there was no inherent conflict between him and Tony like in the original timeline. In fact, their relationship was rather good.

This might have had something to do with the fact that, not long after they first met, they were both beaten up by the Justice League. That shared experience—and their sudden common goal—brought them closer.

"Since we don't have any leads, let's stay here for the night," Tony said, ending his call with Captain America.

He glanced at Harry, poured himself a glass of whiskey, and added, "This penthouse has more than enough rooms. You could even throw a party if you wanted to."

"Forget it."

Harry gave a wry smile. "I'm really not in the mood for a party right now."

By now, night had fallen. The sky was a deep black, scattered with twinkling stars and a bright moon, forming a picturesque view.

Tony and Harry lay on their respective beds, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep.

However, at some point, after drifting into a restless slumber, they both suddenly opened their eyes at the exact same time.

Expressionless.

Their movements were eerily synchronized as they sat up, a cold gleam flickering in their eyes.

Meanwhile, at S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters

A massive upheaval shook the facility.

The chaos was almost on the same scale as the Hydra infiltration.

Black Widow, Hawkeye, Sandman, and Dr. Octopus—four Avengers—had all fallen under Loki's control.

Without hesitation, they stormed the underground levels of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, heading straight for the high-security prison where Loki was being held.

Click!

With the press of a button, the cell door slid open.

Loki stepped out, took his scepter from Black Widow's hands, and smiled as he watched S.H.I.E.L.D. agents rushing in with their weapons drawn.

"Go," he said casually. "Kill them."

Without a word, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Sandman, and Dr. Octopus turned on their former allies.

Ch! Ch! Ch!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The fight was one-sided—a brutal, bloody massacre.

The agents never stood a chance against four enhanced individuals.

To call them superheroes at this point would be a stretch.

In mere moments, the resistance was wiped out.

Whoosh!

Hearing the alarms, Captain America and Thor arrived at the underground base just in time to witness the carnage.

They froze in shock at the sight of bodies littering the floor.

"Loki!"

Thor's fury erupted. "What have you done?!"

Loki shrugged. "I merely killed a few mortals. What's the problem?"

He smirked. "Soon, this world will belong to me. They just got an early taste of my rule."

"Bastard!"

Rogers clenched his teeth, his fists tightening as he glared at his bloodstained teammates.

"What did you do to them?" His voice dropped, disbelief creeping in. "You... controlled them?"

As the realization sank in, his expression darkened.

"So that's it," he muttered. "You're trying to divide us. You want control."

"Smart," Loki said cheerfully. "You finally figured it out."

"Loki!"

Thor's grip on Mjolnir tightened as bolts of electricity crackled violently around him, his divine power surging in his fury.

"You've disappointed me!"

He hurled Mjolnir with all his might—

—but it struck only an illusion.

Loki's laughter echoed through the underground base.

"Soon, this will all be over," he declared. "Father will see that I am far more suited for the throne than you. I will be king of Earth, and this world will belong to me."

As his words faded, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Sandman, and Dr. Octopus—now completely under Loki's control—vanished into the shadows.

Thor and Rogers had planned to stop their teammates, but the four fought together and managed to drive them back.

As their comrades, they couldn't bring themselves to turn this into a life-and-death battle.

In the end, the four left S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, following Loki into the shadows and disappearing without a trace.

Thor and Rogers stood in silence, staring at the ruins of the underground base.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sound of approaching footsteps echoed through the wreckage.

Maria Hill arrived—long overdue.

Her eyes widened at the devastation, her expression darkening as she took in the grim scene. She turned to the only two people still standing.

"He did all this?"

She didn't need to specify. They all knew "he" referred to Loki.

"Yes," Rogers admitted bitterly. "We fell right into his trap."

"Damn it!"

Maria Hill's face was more tense than ever.

With Coulson and Nick Fury still in the hospital, she was now the highest-ranking officer in S.H.I.E.L.D. The weight of responsibility was on her shoulders.

"Where did they go?" she demanded through gritted teeth.

"We don't know," Rogers admitted. "But no matter what, we need to contact Tony and Harry immediately. I just hope Loki hasn't gotten to them yet."

New York — Stark Tower, Penthouse

The door swung open.

Tony and Harry turned—only to see Victor Doom step inside.

At that moment, something about Doom felt off.

His expression was unreadable, his movements unnaturally composed.

He looked at Tony and Harry with an eerie calm.

"Come with me."

Without waiting for a response, Doom led them to the rooftop helipad of Stark Tower.

They stood in silence, watching as a thin, glowing white line streaked across the dark horizon.

Ring!

A phone rang. Doom answered.

"Don't worry. Begin constructing the space gate immediately… With Tony Stark here, that won't be a problem."

He paused, then added with chilling finality:

"By dawn, this world will have reached its final destination."

…

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