The Avengers of the Marvel Universe never took an oath not to kill.
But they have something far more important, a duty to protect the innocent.
When Joker turned his attack toward civilians who had no time to escape, their fury exploded.
Hercules leapt, spread his arms, and lifted the entire collapsing building, holding it like a divine pillar.
"Go!"
His voice echoed through the street.
He didn't move until every last person was saved.
Then he let go and allowed the mountain of concrete to collapse directly onto himself.
Ares immediately rushed forward.
In a split second, he threw himself in front of Joker and used his body to block the wave of destructive energy.
The Power Gem's force struck him directly.
Ares was flung aside, blood vapor rising from the point of impact.
His powerful body could endure no longer.
"Hahaha!"
The clown laughed, madness radiating from every pore.
Ignoring his injuries, he dragged himself and continued attacking at random, making no distinction between targets or collateral damage.
His gaze, completely darkened.
He no longer had any goal except destruction.
Tony watched the scene in silence.
His eyes grew cold.
Without a word, he gave the order:
"Jarvis… activate Project Ragnarok."
Boom——!
The sky lit up in an instant.
Thunder roared, and then something, light, energy, force, struck from afar with unbelievable speed.
The moment Joker raised his hand with the Power Gem, lightning hit him full on.
His already battered body slammed into the ground,
his internal organs shifted, his legs broken.
"Why so serious?"
he murmured, then laughed again.
"Hahaha…"
But he didn't stop.
His madness knew no limits.
"I hope my death is worth more than my life!"
Boom——!
Another bolt of lightning!
The same object that had knocked him aside now rose again toward the sky.
A hammer.
Mjölnir.
In the air, a figure in blue armor with metal wings on his helmet caught it.
His eyes flashed blue as he landed.
"Is that… Thor?"
Hawkeye looked up in disbelief.
"No," sighed Hercules, brushing dust off himself.
"That's not Thor."
He could recognize his demigod brother's presence among a thousand others.
This wasn't Thor. This was his copy.
"Ragnarok," Hercules muttered,
"the clone of Thor."
"I know," Tony said darkly.
"But now's not the time for moral debates."
The cloned Thor hovered in the air, Mjölnir in hand, ready for battle.
Tony's voice echoed through the commlink:
"Eliminate him."
The order was clear.
The clone Thor descended.
The hammer in his hand, forged from the same metal as the original Uru, glowed under the storm.
"Thunderstrike!"
he roared, and lightning rained from the sky, aimed straight at Joker.
But the clown, instead of defending himself, looked at his hand and grinned wickedly.
"Hahaha… let's try something new."
He lifted a knife and cut off his own hand.
The Power Gem, which had been embedded in his glove until now, fell into his bare hand.
Boom——!
Energy exploded.
Without the glove's protection, the Gem's power was unleashed without any restraint.
A wave of energy blasted everything around him.
Joker's body began to fall apart, his skin cracking, blood boiling, but he laughed.
Laughed as if pain gave him meaning.
"Fun, isn't it?"
he said as he disintegrated.
"Maybe next time you'll save the planet, if next time even exists."
He threw the Gem to the ground.
And then.
Light.
An explosion of energy from the Power Gem illuminated the entire horizon.
The cloned Thor was destroyed in an instant.
His body turned to ash before he could take a breath.
As the Guardians of the Galaxy once said, if the Power Gem's might is fully unleashed, it can destroy an entire planet.
And now, Joker had done it.
Destroy this boring world.
"Alas…"
Suddenly, a quiet, almost indifferent sigh echoed.
Joker, who moments ago had been ready to drag the world into ruin, suddenly opened his eyes.
His manic grin froze.
He realized, he wasn't destroyed.
The Power Gem's energy, which should have consumed everything, stood still.
Frozen.
As if time itself had ceased to exist.
The purple waves of destruction hung motionless in the air.
"This… this…"
Joker stammered, his eyes widening.
Then he saw the silhouette approaching through the frozen light.
It was Alaric.
He had returned from the DC Universe.
Time between worlds was never perfectly synchronized, delay in transition was inevitable.
As the Ancient One once said: "Traveling between realities is never simple."
"This… this isn't fun at all."
Joker searched for words, then muttered in disappointment, like a child whose toy was taken away.
"Yeah?"
Alaric approached and slowly crouched in front of him.
His gaze was calm, without a trace of emotion.
He took the Power Gem from Joker's decaying hand.
The skin turned to ash, but the stone remained perfect, untouched.
When the Gem touched Alaric's palm, the last piece of the puzzle was complete.
Six Infinity Stones, gathered.
Boom——!
A force beyond words exploded within him.
It was pure energy of creation.
The echo of the first light after the Big Bang.
Six colors of energy began pulsing through his body, every vein, every meridian, glowing in shades of infinity.
Red, blue, green, yellow, purple, orange.
His entire being shone like a living cosmic core.
Joker stared in disbelief.
He knew the power of one Gem, but what he saw now was beyond comprehension.
"You said it wasn't fun?"
Alaric opened his eyes.
His voice was calm, yet piercing.
"Neither was it for me.
But… do you still want to play?"
Joker grinned.
"Think—"
Alaric didn't smile.
He simply raised his hand.
Time resumed.
Everything that had been frozen, the explosion, the energy, the sound, began moving again.
But only for a moment, because the purple energy that could have destroyed the entire Earth,
dissolved instantly, like smoke.
A single thought and it was gone.
"What just happened?"
"Alaric? When did you come back?"
Tony was the first to speak, stunned.
Neither he nor the others had noticed time had stopped.
For them, Alaric appeared in one moment and the world was saved the next.
Alaric didn't answer.
His gaze fell upon Joker.
"You…" he spoke softly, but every word echoed like a judgment.
"You will become a good, orderly, kind, and selfless man."
"Again and again. In an endless cycle of reincarnation."
He paused.
Joker's eyes widened.
Alaric added: "But only if you remember… how much you hated it."
His words fell like a verdict from the heavens.
And as he spoke, space distorted.
The limitless energy of the six Infinity Stones created a world.
A small, closed universe for Joker alone.
A prison of perfect peace.
An eternal comedy without laughter.
A "Truman World" for the one who mocked everything.
"No… no, no, no!"
Joker began to convulse, struggling to resist.
"It's not fun! It's not fun! No!!!"
For the first time in his life, Joker felt fear.
Pure, primal fear.
Alaric looked at him dispassionately.
"Maybe you'll find it… fun."
With a single motion of his hand, he pushed him inside.
The space closed.
The entrance vanished.
The world of the clown, sealed forever.
No exit.
Only eternity.