Chapter 153

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Stark beat me to it!

Nick Fury couldn't help the twitch of his mouth as he looked at the diary before him. The matter was somewhat depressing to him.

After the last round of spoilers ended, Nick Fury immediately ordered Coulson to investigate Doctor Strange, even preparing to invest in Doctor Strange to bind him to his 'ship'.

But Salty Egg, or rather, Fury himself, didn't expect others to have the same idea.

Tony Stark, Iron Man himself, had the same plan!

With JARVIS's cutting-edge technology, Tony was able to find Doctor Strange even before Coulson did.

Furthermore, when it came to finances, Tony had an even greater advantage over SHIELD.

Although SHIELD was not short of money, any significant financial move required some planning and financial tactics from Fury.

But for Tony, one of the wealthiest men in America, this was not a problem.

After Obadiah Stane was sent to prison, Stark Industries had effectively become Iron Man's one-man show.

Though he stepped down as CEO, the new CEO was Tony's confidante— and as the holder of the diary, Nick Fury was well aware, her future wife.

It seemed like their romance was already igniting.

Under these circumstances, when Coulson finally discovered that Doctor Strange was Reed Richards, it was too late—Stark Industries had already completed the investment.

Fury even learned that Tony Stark had personally met with Doctor Strange, adding to his frustration.

However, soon Fury's frustration was replaced by a strange emotion.

Was investing in Doctor Strange a trap?

Could it lead to bankruptcy?

Does this imply that Doctor Strange's research often ends in failure?

But hadn't Satan himself mentioned that Doctor Strange was smarter than Tony, one of the brightest in the universe?

But soon enough, Fury let it go, acknowledging that intelligence does not necessarily equate to research success.

Many factors come into play with research, and intelligence is just one of them.

Perhaps Doctor Strange was too fond of researching against-the-odds concepts, which even a brain smarter than Stark's could struggle to handle.

If that was the case, Fury felt less bothered by Tony's head start.

The annoyance in Fury's heart was mostly swept away, and he couldn't help but inwardly mock the situation.

Even Satan dreaded Doctor Strange's "pitfalls," which indicated how tricky they were.

But could Stark's wealth withstand such pitfalls?

Tony, in front of another diary, was not concerned at all.

He's Tony Stark, after all. Money is the least of his problems.

He didn't believe that Stark Industries couldn't handle whatever Doctor Strange threw at it.

Zhou Cheng was making too much of it.

However, the mention of the Illuminati made Tony ponder.

The organization had previously suffered at the hands of a corrupted Scarlet Witch in the diary's accounts, with nearly the entire group annihilated, except for Baron Mordo.

Doctor Strange was one of the casualties.

Beyond that, the diary didn't give much detail about the Illuminati.

Tony hadn't realized that he was also part of this group, or that according to the diary, he might even be one of its founders.

So why did he establish the Illuminati?

It struck Tony, then— to combat cosmic-level crises!

Tony applauded himself for such visionary thinking.

While Fury could boast about controlling SHIELD, an earthbound organization, Tony's Illuminati was established to address cosmic crises.

Could this be why that other Illuminati faced off against the corrupted Scarlet Witch because she became a cosmic-level threat?

Tony gained a new understanding of Doctor Strange, who currently was just an ordinary scientist with no extraordinary talents. Yet, Tony knew that if he was willing to collaborate with Strange to form an organization against cosmic threats, then Strange must have the ability to resolve such crises.

But as he continued reading, accusations of being a troublemaker appeared.

Intended to resolve crises, yet creating them?

Oh well!

Zhou Cheng simply couldn't stop belittling himself.

The description of the Illuminati was the most amusing to Tony.

Despite such high-caliber members who are formidable superheroes, their actions were sometimes bewildering.

This wasn't universe 616, where there were no mutants or Captain Carter, only Iron Man, so it wasn't universe 838 either. Maybe the Illuminati wouldn't meet the same fate here as against the Scarlet Witch.

Suddenly, he wondered, what happened to Iron Man in universe 838?

In that universe, it wasn't Iron Man who killed Thanos, but Doctor Strange. Could it be that Iron Man never existed there? That seemed unlikely; what's Marvel without Iron Man?

And the robots at the Illuminati headquarters looked like Ultron bots.

"Universe 616!"

Tony's attention was instantly captured by this new universe number.

Through the diary, Iron Man knew there were numeric designations for various universes but knew of none other than universe 199999 until now.

Universe 616, following universe 199999, was the second universe with a defined number revealed in the diary.

Using designations like 616 and 199999, Tony easily deduced the numbering pattern of the multiverse. It's nothing more than a simple arrangement of Arabic numerals. There's nothing perplexing about it, as it's quite evident.

But what's the meaning of this "prime universe"? There must be a subordinate if there's a prime.

If the 616 universe is the prime, does that mean the frequently mentioned 199999 universe and the newly referenced 838 universe are subordinate? Literally speaking, the prime would indeed dominate the subordinate.

So, is this to imply that the 616 universe is superior to the others? That all other universes are on a lower tier?

Where then is this superiority of the 616 universe? Where is the "prime"?

Tony fell into deep contemplation.

Nonetheless, it's clear that such a question would not yield any answers from mere thought.

Iron Man, after pondering for a moment, did not obsess over it and continued reading the notebook.

So, the universe where the Illuminati were wiped out by the Scarlet Witch is universe 838?

After such a long time, Tony has finally learned where this tragic event took place.

Spare a second of pity for the Illuminati of universe 838!

But don't worry, if I, the great Tony, were to establish the Illuminati, we certainly wouldn't repeat the same mistake.

Even if universe 838's Illuminati had the great Tony on their side, they surely wouldn't have met such a grievous fate, right?

However, as written in the notebook, where exactly has the Tony of universe 838 gone?

"Sir, it seems that in universe 199999, you were the one who killed Thanos!"

Jarvis's voice cut through Tony's train of thought at that moment.

The key spoiler snagged Tony's attention, and he was instantly elated.

So Thanos was killed by me, the great Tony?

Impressive!

The great Tony is consistently brilliant!

"I knew it!"

Tony Stark couldn't help but show off.

As the most outstanding person in the world, if anyone could have defeated Thanos, it was undoubtedly the great Tony.

It seemed that in the future, he must have developed an even more formidable suit of armor.

An armor far more powerful than the one used on Titan against Thanos!

And with this, he decisively took down Thanos.

According to the notebook's spoilers, Thanos was alive during the final battle, fought many superheroes, and even got pounded by Captain Marvel.

What about the great Tony?

He also perished in the final battle.

So the natural logic appears.

The great Tony must have killed Thanos during the final battle!

"Is this the meaning of the 'Endgame'?"

Iron Man muttered to himself.

Now he finally realized why this battle was called the "Endgame."

This "end" described the culmination of the war against Thanos!

"Ultron?"

When Tony's gaze continued over the notebook, his expression immediately shifted.

The Ultron Legion!

Was this Ultron the one mentioned in the notebook as "the Ultron Legion that eradicated humanity"?

The notebook had hinted at this significant crisis long ago, ever since Tony first obtained it.

However, for so long, the notebook had never provided any details, leaving Iron Man in the dark.

Only now did the notebook reveal a crucial piece of intelligence.

So Ultron was a robot?

This implied that the crisis of the Ultron Legion was actually a robotic legion crisis!

In other words, an artificial intelligence crisis!

It looks like someone in the future invented highly advanced robots, which eventually united to rebel against humanity.

Scenes typical of science fiction became a reality!

This damn thing.

Isn't this a bit too messed up?

And even more so, according to the notebook, it seems the Ultron robots were created by the great Tony!

So, he's the mastermind behind the Ultron Legion which wiped out humanity?

It must be said that this was completely unexpected for Tony.

"No, that's another me, not myself."

"If I were to actually make Ultron robots, they would never be out of control!"

But soon enough, Tony firmly shook his head and spoke with full confidence.

Of course.

He also secretly made up his mind that if he were to study Ultron in the future, he would be extra cautious with the associated issues.

After all, the AI crisis in another universe was indeed a lesson.

The Ultron robots were very obedient and had no loss of control.

They fulfilled Stark's vision of an armored and defended world.

It's highly likely that in universe 838, the Age of Ultron never existed.

From this perspective, universe 838's Stark should be even more formidable than that of universe 199999.

So the question remains, where has the Iron Man of universe 838 gone? Was he perhaps preemptively eliminated by Thanos?

Moreover, in universe 838, we have Captain Carter. I remember in Captain Carter's universe, Steve Rogers isn't Captain America but Hydra Stomper, a completely different Iron Man.

Considering the timing, it was quite apparent he was discovered by the time the final battle played out, but where did he go?

Truly an interesting universe.

A world protected by armor!

Tony's eyes lit up immediately; the phrase struck a chord deep within Iron Man's core.

Tony always harbored similar thoughts.

Much like how Nick Fury started early development and research on the Tesseract after obtaining the notebook.

With the knowledge of those harsh futures, Tony also pondered preventive measures.

Considering Iron Man's identity, his scientist trait, his Iron Man creator trait.

It was a natural thought for Tony to create more Iron Man suits to protect the world.

But for the current Tony, the technology wasn't mature enough. It simply wasn't feasible.

Hence, Tony never shared this idea with anyone but himself; no one else knew his thoughts.

Until now, when the notebook hit the mark.

If he truly managed to deploy armor across the world and take on the responsibility of defending it,

Wouldn't need to worry about alien invasions like the Chitauri, right?