He had heard countless stories about Mr. Stark!
In the New York Battle several years ago, he bravely dove into a wormhole with a nuclear bomb, delivering the first "middle finger" to Thanos.
To prevent Sokovia from falling and potentially extinguishing humanity as it is, he decisively released energy at the bottom of the meteorite, detonating the city;
When the world faced Thanos' invasion again, it was him who broke into an alien spaceship to rescue Doctor Strange—and by then, he already had a family.
"Mark, I want to protect Mr. Stark's legacy." Spider-Tom's face was full of determination, as if he had found a new goal in life.
In the past period, with Tony Stark's death, he lost a mentor, temporarily returning to the identity of the "friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."
He even forgot that he was already a qualified Avenger!
It was during that time, on Thanos's spaceship, that Mr. Stark personally crowned him!
And after that, Mr. Stark sacrificed himself for humanity's victory. How could he stand idly by while those guys bullied Mr. Stark's widow and secretly schemed to seize his legacy?
Spider-Tom seemed to have matured in just a few seconds, and his whole spirit was completely renewed.
Although this was just a temporary enlightenment brought by an encouraging words, it was actually a seed.
When it sprouted, grew, it would eventually grow into a towering tree someday!
At this moment, he finally realized that he was not just everyone's friendly neighborhood Spider-Man but also the inheritor of Iron Man's will.
Iron Spider-Man!
This was his responsibility!
In this world, no one told Spider-Man, "With great power comes great responsibility," but Iron Man, as his life mentor, used his actions to embody this!
After persuading Spider-Tom, Mark looked at Doctor Strange, indicating that he should find Pepper Potts, the final piece of the plan.
Stark Tower, top-floor office.
Pepper Potts, dressed in formal attire, sat at the desk reviewing thick documents.
In fact, dealing with these things was still handy for her. After all, she had been Tony Stark's personal secretary for many years—even when they weren't together.
It was because she was helping manage Stark Industries behind the scenes that Tony Stark had so much time to be his Iron Man.
If Tony Stark was the brain of Stark Industries, then Pepper Potts was its heart.
But now, she was a bit tired.
The giant body of Stark Industries, after losing its brain, could still run and move, but it seemed to have lost its purpose.
Not only that.
After losing the brain, many people who coveted the "giant's" flesh, like a school of sharks smelling blood, began to attack Stark Industries overtly and covertly.
Last week, when Morgan Stark (their daughter) went to school, she was almost kidnapped!
Fortunately, Pepper Potts had a monitoring device on her, and with the help of the artificial intelligence "Friday," she narrowly averted this crisis.
But she knew it was a warning.
Those people had become increasingly audacious!
Recently, due to the events involving Spider-Tom and Mysterio, Stark Industries was under investigation, with hints that certain technologies should be handed over.
Swoosh—
Just then, a portal opened nearby.
Pepper Potts looked up at the portal, putting down the pen in her hand.
She recognized this.
In the final battle against Thanos in the past, she had worn the Rescue Armor and passed through Doctor Strange's portal to reach the battlefield.
"Hello, Doctor Strange," Pepper Potts's voice abruptly stopped as she looked at the group coming out behind Doctor Strange, furrowing her brows.
The arrivals were Doctor Strange, Spider-Tom, and Mark; the others stayed in the underground chamber of the Sanctum Sanctorum.
"Hello, Mrs. Stark," Spider-Tom greeted first, as she had been married to Tony Stark, allowing him to address her this way.
"Hello, Peter," Pepper Potts nodded, "What brings you here?"
"We have something to discuss with you."
Spider-Tom went into meticulous detail about the situation, of course, not explicitly stating that he intended to inherit the legacy of Iron Man.
But in his words, some hints about his determination slipped through.
Pepper Potts' brows furrowed even tighter.
In reality, she was not enthusiastic about being a superhero and did not wish for her husband to become one either.
Honestly, if it weren't for Tony Stark insisting on this "superhero" identity, their relationship might have progressed further, without going through so many ups and downs.
But now.
Pepper Potts suddenly stood up and walked to Spider-Tom, carefully examining this young man.
Seeing the determination in the young man's eyes, she felt like she saw Tony.
"No wonder Tony likes you so much," Pepper Potts suddenly spoke, "So, the one playing Spider-Man is Mr. Mark? Forgive me for being blunt; I don't think I've met you."
Pepper Potts looked at Mark, her tone becoming noticeably colder.
Mark stepped forward and said, "Yes, Mrs. Stark, you haven't seen me because I come from another universe."
"Another universe?" Pepper Potts questioned, then her expression changed slightly, "Time machine?"
Mark shook his head slightly.
He knew what Pepper Potts meant by the "time machine."
It was the device created by Iron Man in Avengers: Endgame, used for time travel—essentially to another timeline, a parallel universe.
They used Pym Particles from Ant-Man, shrinking themselves to a quantum state, traversing worlds, and successfully retrieving the six Infinity Stones from those temporal nodes.
The first time, the Hulk used the Infinity Gauntlet, sacrificing an arm to bring back everyone erased by Thanos five years ago.
The second time, Tony Stark used it, sacrificing his life to eliminate Thanos and his army chasing from a parallel universe.
"I can traverse through the multiverse; it's my innate ability, not relying on a machine," Mark explained.
"Do you have any evidence?" Pepper Potts remained cautious of Mark.
According to Mark's plan, once implemented, Spider-Man would almost become the superhero figure bound to Stark Industries after Iron Man. She didn't want the honor of Stark Industries tied to someone of uncertain origin.
Doctor Strange stepped forward, saying while hiding his annoyance, "Mrs. Stark, to be honest, we just resolved a crisis involving the multiverse. Mark demonstrated many times during this period, bringing people from other universes to this world or vice versa. So, he is trustworthy."
Spider-Tom added, "Yes, Mrs. Stark, without him, this situation could have been unimaginable. I trust Mark."
"Of course, I'm willing to believe the words of Doctor Strange and Spider-Man," Pepper Potts nodded.
However, even with Doctor Strange and Spider-Tom vouching for him, it was evident that Pepper Potts remained cautious.
But that was enough.
They just needed Pepper Potts to be aware of the situation; in reality, they didn't require her to do anything.
Before leaving, Pepper Potts stopped Spider-Tom, saying, "Peter, come visit Morgan when you have time. She'd love to have a brother like you."
"Sure! I definitely will, Mrs. Stark," Spider-Tom assured with a big smile.
After the brief meeting with Pepper Potts, Mark and the others returned to the Sanctum Sanctorum.
Next on the agenda was to find the Skrulls.
However, this matter suddenly hit a deadlock.
The reason was simple.
The Skrull was just a name of a race, like humans or Kree.
You couldn't search for a specific person using the name of a race.
Even Doctor Strange's magic couldn't accomplish this.
In this dilemma, Spider-Gwen proposed a more constructive suggestion: revisit the location where Spider-Tom and Mysterio fought.
At that time, the two Skrulls disguised as Nick Fury and Agent Hill. Asking them their names would solve the issue.
It was indeed a good idea.
Moreover, Skrulls of this variant had average combat abilities similar to ordinary humans, making them easy to capture. Mark and Spider-Tom could handle it.
However, before going back, Mark decided to make some other preparations.
Like learning Doctor Strange's magic!
Doctor Strange's magic primarily stemmed from spells and authorities from divine beings such as Gods, Cosmic Entities and etc, essentially a form of "borrowed power."
In theory, one needed to find a suitable "lender" first.
But through contact with Doctor Strange, Mark discovered that his quantum abilities could simulate that kind of magical power, achieving the effects of casting spells.
For example, passing through magical barriers.
Or eliminating magical barriers.
So, Mark wanted to try and understand the composition of these magics to see if he could create "quantum magic" on his own!
Although Doctor Strange was amazed by Mark's unconventional ideas, thinking it was a bit far-fetched since he had never heard of quantum magic before, he showed enough interest.
Thus, after sending Andrew Spider and Gwen Stacy back to their universe and arranging things with Doctor Octopus and Max, Mark began learning magic from Doctor Strange.
Of course, his "learning" didn't involve reading magic books but observing, deconstructing, and attempting to simulate after Doctor Strange cast a spell.
°°°
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