When the Dark Phoenix returned to the academy, she almost fought with Professor X and nearly wiped out the entire X-Men team. Fortunately, Jean Grey negotiated with the Dark Phoenix, convincing her to impose an unknown punishment on Professor X. This punishment was extremely severe, causing him to experience the darkest and most painful cycles in the psychic world.
Professor X did not reveal what he went through, but upon breaking free from the psychic world, he nearly experienced soul death, and his psychic world was shattered.
He took a long time to heal and recover, during which he was in a state of depression and misanthropy, avoiding eye contact with people. He was completely different from the elegant, gentle, and wise old man he once was.
This state nearly led Jean and the Dark Phoenix to fight each other.
Fortunately, Professor X persisted, and perhaps due to a blessing in disguise, his psychic powers were somewhat strengthened after the punishment.
However, Professor X kept this a secret. If the Dark Phoenix knew, she might go berserk again.
Jean Grey's combat power is unstable, while Hulk's combat power is consistently strong and grows rapidly.
Hulk's power is not constant. Unlike Banner, Hulk has long periods of activity, often going to the manor to fight with Pietro, Wanda, Thor, and others.
During battles, Hulk becomes instinctively angry when being educated, and this anger triggers his unique ability to become infinitely stronger, causing his power to surge suddenly and become overwhelming.
Over the past two years, Hulk's strength has reached a level comparable to that of a demigod.
His initially rough fighting style has become more refined, though still considered crude by Pietro and Thor. Nonetheless, it is sufficient and consistently powerful, never falling behind Thor and the others.
Tony once tested Hulk's combat power, an experience that cost him a lot of money and almost his life.
Even Professor X's psychic powers cannot control Hulk. Hulk has instinctively developed a mental defense mechanism that triggers his anger whenever someone attempts to invade his mind, turning his anger into psychic flames that even Professor X cannot withstand.
Hulk is undoubtedly the top powerhouse among the Avengers.
Victor, in theory, could rival Hulk in strength, which indicates his extraordinary abilities.
However, this is only theoretical. In practice, it is very difficult. Victor needs to absorb specific life energy, not just any form of energy, but the life force from humans, animals, and plants.
Absorbing this life force can temporarily grant Victor great combat power and permanently enhance his body to some extent, but the process is very slow.
Compared to Natasha and Barton, Victor is naturally much stronger, but he falls short compared to some mutants.
Tony conducted tests and experiments on Victor, concluding that his absorption and conversion efficiency is too crude, absorbing 10 units of life force but only converting it to less than one unit of usable energy.
Tony found this disappointing.
As the current leader of the Avengers, Tony needs to understand his team members and enhance their combat abilities.
With top-tier scientists like Beast Hank and Dr. Banner helping, they have created excellent weapons and equipment, significantly boosting combat power, especially for Hawkeye Barton and Natasha.
These two, as ace agents, are far superior to ordinary people, but they are still human.
Therefore, Tony, Dr. Banner, and Hank created a series of specialized weapons and equipment for them.
These are practical and powerful, such as Hawkeye's special arrows, and they even plan to develop a flying backpack for Barton, greatly enhancing his agility as a rear support.
For Natasha, they have Widow's Bite, specially made pistols, high-voltage retractable batons, and Tony even wants to create a special energy lightsaber capable of cutting through any metal.
Tony's ultimate goal is to develop a super soldier serum.
This serum would enhance his and his team members' physical abilities. Mutants might be excluded due to the risk of altering their gene sequences, which could lead to loss or mutation of their abilities.
Tony eventually decided to focus on himself.
Over two years, the MK armor has undergone many upgrades, but Tony still finds it imperfect, especially compared to the monsters he has encountered.
Focusing on Hulk, Tony realized his armor is easily outmatched.
The armor's material and anti-shock system are ineffective against Hulk's strength. Hulk even learned a technique to channel penetrating force, almost taking Tony out.
"Maybe I should create an anti-Hulk armor specifically for Hulk?" Tony's eyes lit up.
If he could develop such an armor, it would greatly enhance his combat power. Not necessarily to overpower Hulk, but to hold his own, allowing him to achieve many goals.
However, the material and technological limitations are a headache.
Against a monster like Hulk, ordinary metal materials and anti-shock systems are useless. He needs better materials to counter Hulk's strength and match his explosive power and speed.
"If that's the case, I remember my dad once created a shield with Steve Rogers using a special material." Tony recalled something from the past, his eyes flickering.
~~~
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ā Completed (Chapter 277: Finale)
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