As the number of Avengers assembling increased, Black Adam's initial surprise grew into something he could no longer suppress.
When the final spatial ripple faded, Black Adam looked around at the gathered Avengers. Their numbers were far fewer than those of the Doomsdays, and many of the Avengers appeared significantly weaker than him. He couldn't understand why such underpowered individuals would show up—wasn't this essentially throwing their lives away?
For a moment, Black Adam seriously questioned if the Avengers had some bizarre tradition of "sacrificing themselves en masse." Otherwise, why wouldn't they use their spatial powers to escape while the Doomsdays were still outside the green barrier? Why summon so many seemingly weak Avengers to die instead?
This thought only lingered briefly in his mind, though, as the Doomsdays launched their assault. The battle erupted, leaving no room for further contemplation.
"Kid, be careful and remember to transform in time!" Black Adam took a deep breath, lightning crackling around his body. Thunderous power rippled off him as he hurled Harry Osborn forward.
Whether Harry lived or died wasn't something Black Adam cared about deeply. But he couldn't let Harry die by his hand—he didn't fully grasp the Avengers' capabilities, and if Harry's death was traced back to him, who knew what kind of revenge they might unleash?
From what he'd seen of the Avengers' behavior, Black Adam suspected that if Harry Osborn died at his hands, the Avengers would disregard the Doomsdays entirely and come after him with everything they had.
"SHAZAM!" Harry Osborn, thrown through the air, reacted quickly. The moment he regained control of his body, he shouted the magic word. A bolt of lightning struck him, transforming him in an instant.
Harry donned the Shazam costume once again, though his aura seemed somewhat diminished due to the injuries he had sustained earlier. Still, he was now able to move freely.
Even as the Doomsdays charged, the Avengers kept a close eye on Harry, particularly Peter Parker.
Just as Black Adam suspected, if Harry had truly died at Black Adam's hands, Peter Parker would have pursued him relentlessly, no matter the cost or the number of Doomsdays in the way.
"Harry, be careful. If things get tough, contact Tony for a suit of armor," Peter said, visibly relieved to see Harry regain his freedom. His concern was evident in his voice.
Black Adam overheard Peter's words as he engaged a Doomsday. He was baffled by the confidence Peter displayed. The Avengers didn't seem to be throwing themselves into the fray recklessly—they genuinely seemed to believe they could handle so many Doomsdays.
But before Black Adam could fully process this, his fist collided with a Doomsday's.
Lightning crackled violently as Black Adam, drawing on his prior experience fighting Kryptonian mechanical warriors, infused his punches with divine thunder. From the outset, he fought with everything he had, unleashing his full strength in both thunder and raw power.
Yet, to his shock, his lightning seemed to have little effect on the Doomsday, which didn't exhibit the paralysis-like reaction the Kryptonian mechanical warriors had shown.
Perhaps the Doomsday lacked a magical weakness, or perhaps Black Adam's attacks simply weren't strong enough to penetrate its thick, monstrous body.
Whatever the case, Black Adam couldn't gain the upper hand. In terms of sheer strength, he even found himself at a slight disadvantage.
This realization deepened Black Adam's unease. He began to doubt whether the Avengers truly had a way to deal with these creatures. To him, the odds of surviving this encounter seemed increasingly slim.
Even if the number of Doomsdays matched the Avengers, Black Adam doubted the Avengers could emerge victorious.
His conclusion was based on his assessment of the Avengers' previous battles against the Kryptonian mechanical warriors, the Homelander, and other powerful foes. He didn't think his judgment was flawed.
In Black Adam's mind, the Doomsdays were apocalyptic creatures, terrifying enough to devastate any era.
Even the gods of old, whose power Black Adam knew intimately, couldn't have overcome such a horde of Doomsdays.
"This is hopeless. I need to break out of this encirclement. If I wait until more of these monsters gang up on me, I won't last!" Black Adam's thoughts raced as he looked for a way to escape.
Suddenly, the sound of flesh being pierced reached his ears. Black Adam's pupils contracted. He glanced toward the source of the noise, curious to see which Avenger had been impaled.
"What?!"
What he saw stunned him. A Doomsday facing Clark and the Sentry had been obliterated into a cloud of blood in an instant.
Not just injured—completely annihilated.
And it wasn't an isolated case. At the same moment, Diana, Kara, and the Hulk each severely injured their respective Doomsdays, rendering them incapable of further action. Their attacks were so devastating that they were effectively one-hit kills.
This was far beyond Black Adam's expectations. The Doomsday he had struggled to fight was utterly insignificant against these Avengers.
But this didn't align with Black Adam's earlier calculations. By his estimates, Clark and the others weren't supposed to be much stronger than the Homelander or the Kryptonian mechanical warriors.
If they were truly capable of effortlessly dispatching Doomsdays, why had they been pushed into hiding by the so-called official organizations?
"Could it be… I've just been unlucky? Did I end up fighting the strongest Doomsday, while they're dealing with weaker knock-offs?"
Grasping for answers, Black Adam convinced himself that he had simply drawn the short straw. Resolving to switch targets, he searched for another Doomsday to engage.
Meanwhile, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Peter Parker, Johnny Storm, Barry Allen, Mary, and Strange all began to severely wound their respective Doomsdays. Witnessing this, Black Adam became even more convinced of his theory.
He thought his opponent must have been an anomaly, a particularly powerful Doomsday among weaker ones.
But what Black Adam didn't know was that Clark and the Sentry's power had surpassed even his wildest imaginings. They were stronger than the most powerful gods Black Adam had ever heard of.
Diana, Kara, and the Hulk, while slightly weaker, were still among the top-tier of divine strength. The Hulk, in particular, was continuously growing stronger, destined to surpass even godlike beings.
As for the others, such as Steve and Barry, their strength was at the peak of Major God-level, making them more than capable of holding their own against the Doomsdays.
The varying levels of performance among the Avengers were not due to differences in the Doomsdays' strength but rather the Avengers' individual capabilities.
"Cover me!" Black Adam shouted as he was once again sent flying by a Doomsday. Seeing an opportunity, he yelled at Clark before switching to a new target.
Clark, puzzled for a moment, said nothing. He crushed the Doomsday before him with a single punch and flew toward the one pursuing Black Adam.
Seeing Clark intervene, Black Adam's confidence surged. Thunder and lightning coursed through him as he charged at a new target.
But even his sneak attack on the new Doomsday failed to deal significant damage. Though he injured it, the creature was far from incapacitated and roared as it lunged at him.
"How is this possible? Did I pick another strong one? Am I just this unlucky?"
Locked in his self-justifying logic, Black Adam couldn't process the truth.
But just as he reassured himself, his peripheral vision caught Clark obliterating the very Doomsday he had struggled against—turning it into nothing more than a bloody mist with a single strike.
"What?! How can this be? Are all the Doomsdays this strong? Or is it just… that I'm not strong enough?"
Black Adam's worldview crumbled as realization dawned. He wasn't on the Avengers' level—not by a long shot.
In his stunned state, Black Adam left himself open. A Doomsday sent him flying with a devastating blow. As he tumbled through the air, the creature pursued him, intent on finishing him off.
But before it could, Black Adam's body dissolved into ash, vanishing into the wind.
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