"So according to what you're saying, a large number of the Swarm suddenly emerged from Negative Space, and in a very short amount of time, they defeated most cosmic civilizations, and even your father, Galactus, was captured?"
Tony Stark stroked his chin and looked at Galacta. "But why did your father send you to Earth? Earth isn't exactly the most powerful civilization, is it?"
Far from being the most powerful, Earth's civilization didn't even rank in the entire universe; very few in the cosmos even knew of a civilization that couldn't even fly out of its own solar system.
Other civilizations basically assumed Earth was a dependency of Asgard. However, quite a few advanced civilizations knew that Earth was special and had some understanding of it; otherwise, the Kree wouldn't have come here to conduct experiments.
However, most alien civilizations couldn't even get past Asgard. Earth was called Midgard by the Asgardians and was also the origin of the World Tree, holding unparalleled importance to all of Asgard.
Although Asgardians rarely visited Earth, if anything truly went wrong with it, it would surely affect the World Tree. Thus, the Asgardians never allowed alien civilizations to travel to Earth, which was the real reason why no other large-scale alien presence had been seen on Earth until now.
Later, with the development of the Inhumans on the Moon, even those small-scale, stealthy ships coming to Earth became rare. They were all brought down by a single shout from Black Bolt, which actually increased the Inhumans' stockpile of spacecraft.
These Inhumans didn't necessarily want to protect Earth—at least not entirely for Earth's sake—but because Earth and the Moon were so close. Whether Earth was occupied by aliens or if humans developed space travel technology, the impact on the Inhumans would be too great. That was why they intercepted alien ships for the humans every day.
In short, in the eyes of alien races, Earth was a troublesome and backward place. While it might hold many secrets, it was certainly impossible for them to think Earth's technology was advanced or its combat power was strong.
Even a conceited guy like Tony Stark wouldn't think Earth's civilization could compare to those cosmic ones.
Galacta frowned and said, "Father said Earth is special. Moreover, whether it's Hank Pym's pym particles technology or the powerful energy signature I just sensed in space, they indeed prove the extraordinary nature of humans."
"Powerful energy signature?" Tony Stark was slightly stunned for a moment, then realized it must be that strange golden guy. He then glanced at Shin, his look asking if that guy wasn't dead.
Shin shook his head slightly and used his mental power to send a message to Tony Stark.
The Sentry, of course, wasn't dead. He had originally wanted to take a trip into space, but he happened to run into the returning Hank Pym. After hearing the news, he got excited again, thinking that if he saved the universe, he would surely be a true superhero.
Although Shin didn't know why the Sentry's thought process was so simple, in the current situation, it was naturally best for him not to leave Earth. He was top-tier muscle.
Of course, the Sentry didn't return with Shin. Seeing the New York he had damaged made him feel extremely guilty, so upon his return, he had run straight back home.
Anyway, Shin felt that the Sentry's emotions fluctuated wildly, often acting like a bratty child. It was only after being pummeled by Shin that he calmed down for a bit... But regardless, Tony Stark couldn't just take a group of Earth's Superheroes to save Galactus based on a few words from Hank Pym and Galacta—the key point being that going there now would just be suicide!
He wasn't yet the complete Tony Stark who would later develop the Anti-Phoenix Cannon and blast the Phoenix Force into fragments. Relying on his Mark Armors, updated to the 80s or 90s generations, he could only withstand a few hits from Galactus; he certainly couldn't handle the bugs that could even capture Galactus.
Shin had an idea in mind: at a time like this, shouldn't they go look for the infinity stones? However, it was still too early, so he didn't say anything.
First, naturally, just like last time, they had to gather Earth's heroes and then discuss whether they should go and who should go.
Deep down, Tony Stark didn't actually want to go. It wasn't just because of his conflict with Hank Pym, but also because he felt that Earth, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Superheroes couldn't handle such a massive burden.
Give him a dozen years, and Tony Stark felt he could definitely research super-tech weapons capable of blowing Galactus away, and dealing with those strange bugs would be no problem at all.
But at this point in time, Earth's technological level was just average. Relying solely on a few pieces of advanced tech without a basic industrial foundation, it didn't seem like they had the power to deal with the Swarm ravaging the universe.
But among the Fantastic Four, especially Mr. Fantastic, the gaze directed at him was full of expectation—after all, this mess was his doing, so he naturally hoped to make amends.
Under these circumstances, it wasn't easy for Tony Stark to just wave his hand and say: "Can't save them, just wait to die, goodbye."
Furthermore, after analyzing the current situation of the Swarm, Tony Stark was horrified to find that with the Swarm's exponential growth and reproduction rate, they would likely reach Earth in a year at most.
By then, with the Swarm having devoured half the universe and their numbers being nearly overwhelming, it would likely only be more difficult to deal with them.
This forced Tony Stark to make a choice, and the heavy pressure caused his anxiety to flare up.
Just how strong Galactus was, Tony Stark had seen for himself when he participated in that battle.
Although they had won last time, Tony Stark had to admit that the previous battle was mostly due to coincidence and luck. If they hadn't turned the Silver Surfer, even if Earth's Superheroes were ten times stronger, they would likely have been wiped out by Galactus.
A complete Galactus not only had personal power at the cosmic ceiling but his technological prowess was also at the cosmic ceiling. His massive ship, Taa II, was a super-ship many times larger than a star; its combat power could be imagined just from its size.
According to Galacta's intel, although Galactus hadn't healed his own injuries, he had repaired his ship—or perhaps it was his backup ship. With the aid of vast technology, its combat power was definitely much stronger than when he fought them. Even so, he was still turned into an energy converter by the overwhelming swarm of bugs. Asking the current humans of Earth to go save Galactus was truly far too difficult.
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Now available - Chapter 654: Sweep