After months of effort, Loki finally infiltrated the massive spaceship and discovered its master: the infamous Mad Titan—Thanos.
Loki knew of him. The entire universe knew him.
He was a lunatic, obsessed with "balancing" life across the universe. And his method of balance was nothing short of horrific—wiping out half the population of every civilization to maintain "resource equilibrium."
But as insane as Thanos's ideology was, even more terrifying was the fact that he had the power to carry it out. Even Loki's father, the All-Father Odin, was wary of him.
The Asgardians feared him so much that they refused to keep Infinity Stones like the Aether or the Tesseract in Asgard, worried that it would attract Thanos's attention and spark a war between him and the Realm Eternal.
Upon learning that this colossal ship belonged to Thanos, a mad idea formed in Loki's mind—mad even by his standards: he would use Thanos's power to conquer Midgard and crown himself its ruler.
Loki believed that if he could rule the first realm—Midgard—he would finally gain the same recognition from Odin as Thor had.
And why not attack Asgard directly?
Because despite his ambitions, Loki still had ties to Asgard. He would never bring war to his home. Midgard, on the other hand, was expendable in his mind.
And Loki had a gift to offer Thanos in exchange for his aid—a gift Thanos could not refuse: the location of one of the six Infinity Stones—the Space Stone, which, according to Loki's knowledge, was currently on Midgard.
"I will deliver your message to the great Thanos. If what you say is true, you shall have that planet,"said the Chitauri commander, his tone flat and emotionless.
What Loki didn't know, however, was that his appearance, his plan to trade the Space Stone for Thanos's army, and his use of the Chitauri were all part of Thanos's design.
Thanos had always known that the Space Stone was on Earth.But he could not go there himself—not yet.
Because Earth had two guardians.
One was the All-Father Odin, the King of Asgard.
Thanos feared Odin, just as Odin feared him.He knew that in his youth, Odin had once sought the Infinity Stones himself. Though no one knew why he later abandoned them, it didn't lessen Thanos's respect for the warlord-turned-king who once conquered the Nine Realms.
The other Earth guardian was the Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme—the only mortal said to have seen the cosmic entity Eternity itself.
Thanos had no interest in provoking a direct war with either of them. Not yet.
So when Loki was found drifting through a spatial rift, Thanos immediately saw an opportunity.
He would let Asgard's rogue prince retrieve the Space Stone for him.And if this ended up souring relations between Asgard and Earth's mystical defenders, even better.
To ensure Loki's loyalty, Thanos used another Infinity Stone—the Mind Stone.
While not the most destructive, the Mind Stone was perfect for controlling others' wills, and Thanos used it to subtly enslave Loki's mind.
Meanwhile, on Earth, at a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base…
After completing missions in New Mexico and monitoring Tony Stark, Agent Phil Coulson was supposed to be on a break. Instead, he'd been assigned to oversee the security of a classified project—Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S.
"Sir, the Cube's energy levels are rising,"came the voice of Agent Clint Barton (a.k.a. Hawkeye), snapping Coulson out of his coffee break.
Thanks to his prior experience working with Coulson, Barton had proven his capabilities and now found himself stationed at this high-level research base.Tonight just happened to be his shift.
Suddenly, several technicians monitoring the Tesseract began raising alarms.
"What's going on? I don't remember authorizing any energy tests."Coulson frowned. No such experiments were scheduled today.
"No one touched it. It activated on its own. And during my shift, no one got close,"Barton replied with absolute confidence. He trusted his eyes—no one could sneak past him.
"Damn it. Did you try shutting it down?"Coulson began running toward the Tesseract's containment room, wanting to see things for himself before escalating it to Director Fury.
But as soon as he entered the lab, he realized something was wrong.
The Tesseract was now glowing with unstable energy, firing off bursts of blue plasma. That was not normal.
"Sir, is it possible the Cube is being activated… from the other side?"Barton asked suddenly.
Coulson immediately understood what Barton meant.
Thanks to Captain America's return, they now knew the details of his final mission in WWII—how Red Skull had vanished after touching the Tesseract, presumably teleported across the universe.
Which meant the Cube wasn't just a power source—it was a gateway.
And right now, its behavior matched that exact description.
"Damn it. Evacuate the scientists. All armed personnel stand by."Coulson didn't know if the Cube would open a portal or explode, but either way, the staff had to be safe. He ordered weapons lowered as a precaution—if the Cube was opening a door, he didn't want the welcoming committee to be hostile.
And if something did break through, Coulson was fully prepared to initiate the base's self-destruct sequence if necessary.
But the Tesseract didn't wait for his plan.
Suddenly, the swirling energy condensed and was absorbed back into the Cube, followed by a pillar of blue light shooting straight upward.
Then—just a few meters from the Cube—a thick mist began to form.
As the mist cleared, a portal appeared.
On the other side of the portal, Coulson and his team could see what looked like a ruined world, eerily similar to Earth—but one that had clearly suffered a cataclysm.
BOOM!!!
As they stared, unsure what to do, a loud metallic thunder erupted from the other side of the portal. It sounded like a war drum—only magnified a hundredfold.
Then—suddenly—a dark figure shot through the portal, landing inside the S.H.I.E.L.D. base.
WHOOSH!
And just as the figure crossed into Earth, the portal behind them snapped shut.
But just before it did, Coulson caught one last terrifying image through the fading rift:
A massive fist, half the size of a man, crashing through debris.
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