Chapter 111: Who Doesn't Like Eating, Drinking, and Having Fun?
When Lorna woke up again, her head no longer hurt.
But other places hurt.
It was her first time, after all.
And at this time, what she needed most was an embrace.
But that bastard Li Chen was nowhere to be seen, leaving only Blink here.
"Clarice, where is that bastard?"
Lorna quickly crawled up and asked.
Since Li Chen had taken her first time, she naturally became a bit attached to him.
The first time was the most important, which was also why many women could never forget their first love.
Even Polaris was no exception.
"Your Majesty still has matters to attend to, but he prepared breakfast for you."
Blink immediately explained.
"Bastard!"
Lorna cursed angrily, which aggravated her wounds.
She decided that she would ignore Li Chen from now on.
She suddenly looked at Blink: "Why did you do that last night?"
"Big sis, don't blame me, His Majesty asked me to do it."
Blink said, pursing her lips: "And... didn't big sis respond as well?"
"Damn it!"
Lorna was left speechless and could only pick up the food, tearing into it fiercely.
It was as if she were eating Blink and Li Chen.
At this moment, Li Chen had just picked up Gwen and Mary Jane, and also brought Nami along to go out and play.
The two best friends had already become close with Nami, and Nami had completely fallen in love with this world.
This world was too convenient; she could eat her favorite oranges whenever she wanted, and she could take a bath whenever she pleased.
That kind of large bathtub and showerhead made her unable to put them down.
Therefore, she had to wash every day, and often wouldn't come out of the bathroom for an hour.
This made Li Chen want to go in and find her.
A life without fighting and killing made Nami immensely satisfied.
"Nami, what is life on the sea like?"
"It's not good at all, and it even damages the skin."
Nami replied.
Now Gwen and the others also knew that Nami was actually from the One Piece world.
Li Chen had brought her over.
Fortunately, the two best friends were his own people, and even if they knew, they wouldn't spread it.
Over this period of time, Gwen and Mary Jane had become even closer.
And they were also willing to play some games under Li Chen's gaze.
"Then we'll buy more skincare products later; your skin really needs maintenance."
Mary Jane said.
It wasn't that Nami's skin was bad, but it was just a bit rough from years of sun exposure.
It needed hydration!
"Alright."
Nami was also looking forward to it. She liked shopping, and bargaining while buying things was especially interesting.
Li Chen drove Bumblebee and took them to a luxury store.
Afterwards, the four of them headed straight for the cosmetics section.
Inside the Dior store, advertisements for Charlize Theronwere everywhere.
Saihuang was indeed a beautiful woman; she had a large frame and looked robust, but looking at her face made her look very youthful and childlike.
Theron in the past was even cuter, and back then she even had a bit of baby fat.
However, in order to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, she decided to go all out, desperately gaining weight and making herself ugly to film a movie called "Monster".
In that movie, she completely shattered her image as a vase, acting ugly and going crazy, ultimately becoming an Oscar Best Actress.
Evidently, her approach deeply catered to the tastes of some old white men.
These old white men were crazy; they couldn't stand handsome male actors and actresses.
Take Tom Cruise, for example; he was too handsome, so he would never win an Oscar in his lifetime.
And what should these good-looking actors do if they wanted to win this award?
They had to crazily uglify themselves.
For instance Little DiCaprio, for instance Charlize Theron, only by making themselves ugly did they finally win favor.
Therefore, Li Chen felt that these old white men were quite perverted.
They simply hated handsome men and beautiful women, and loved to watch others degenerate and ruin themselves.
Take Charlize Theron, for example; although she won the Oscar, she also lost her baby fat.
Sudden weight gain and drastic weight loss caused her collagen to drain, completely transforming her into a 'royal sister'.
Of course, Saihuang could not escape the fact that she became box office poison after becoming a best actress.
The movies she filmed afterwards flopped consecutively; if Dior hadn't transfused blood into her, she probably would have been finished.
It was precisely because she was Dior's spokesperson that she managed to hold on.
Li Chen could only sigh at all this, because he didn't understand cosmetics, and Mary Jane was dragging Namiaround making purchases.
Yet Nami turned this place into a vegetable market, bargaining first no matter what she bought.
But in reality, luxury stores inherently had certain discounts to attract customers.
And the store clerks also cooperated with her, putting on expressions as if they were forced to lower the prices.
In the end, both sides were fully satisfied.
Li Chen didn't expose it either; Nami just liked this feeling.
Since she liked it, then he would satisfy her.
Thus, the four of them began a frenzy of buying, buying, buying.
"The things here are so abundant."
Nami was very happy, and the smile on her face never stopped.
Mary Jane was the same, only Gwen felt a bit distressed for Li Chen's wallet.
But this was nothing at all to Li Chen.
Shopping was also physical labor.
After a round of consumption, they were all hungry.
"Let's go eat Chinese food."
Mary Jane suggested.
Because of Li Chen, she and Gwen were prepared to cater to his tastes.
During this period of time, they had eaten quite a bit of Chinese food and had completely fallen in love with it.
This was the advantage of being rich; people would only change for him, and would never want to change him.
However, Li Chen soon wore a look full of question marks.
"Great, I want to eat General Tso's chicken."
Gwen said immediately.
"Is that Chinese food?"
Li Chen asked.
"Uh... isn't it?"
"That's American Chinese food, not authentic."
Li Chen was covered in black lines.
So this was the Chinese food they had been eating.
To adapt to foreigners' appetites, many so-called Chinese dishes had long been 'improved'.
Not to say the taste was bad, but at least it completely didn't match Huaxia's habits.
Like General Tso's chicken, Li Hongzhang chop suey... hearing the names gave one a feeling of having nowhere to complain.
Therefore, eating Chinese food abroad involved a few steps.
First, see if the boss is Chinese, because there were many Chinese restaurants opened by people from other places; as if those could possibly be authentic.
Then you also had to tell the boss that it was for humans to eat, not for ghosts.
Only then could you eat something a bit more authentic.
Li Chen just happened to have maids at home, and Remlearned authentic Chinese food, so the taste of what she made wasn't bad.
"Let's go, I'll take you to eat the authentic ones."
Li Chen's words made them very curious.
Nami, on the contrary, was used to it, but she was also very looking forward to it, because she was also a foodie.
In this world, there was no one who didn't like eating delicious food.
Just like when many girls go on blind dates, they always say their hobbies are traveling and gourmet food.
Translated, it meant they liked 'eating, drinking, and having fun'.
What kind of hobby was that?
Music, fine arts, those were called hobbies; who didn't like eating, drinking, and having fun? Could that even count as a hobby? To put it bluntly, it meant they couldn't do anything and were gluttonous and lazy.
Chapter 112 Career Boom
Li Chen stayed in New York until the end of June before preparing to return to Los Angeles.
He had had enough fun, and there was nothing left to do in New York.
It was still an endless stream of parties.
Especially at the Hellfire Club, many people wanted to get to know him, such as Kingpin's wife, Vanessa.
She wanted to become a senior member, so she set her sights on Li Chen.
But Li Chen did not give her this chance, simply telling her that she needed to wait.
As for Tony Stark, it had been a long time since they last saw each other.
Li Chen suspected that he was already suffering from palladium poisoning and was in a bit of a panic.
This time returning to Los Angeles, Li Chen brought quite a few people.
Besides the Mutants like Lorna, there was one more person.
Black Widow Natasha.
S.H.I.E.L.D. finally made her fulfill her contract and go film a movie first.
This also left Black Widow a bit dazed; she hadn't expected that she would really become a movie actress...
She had thought she could get away after all.
After all, she had thought it through back then—the one who signed was Natalie, so what did that have to do with her, Natasha?
But little did she expect that Li Chen wouldn't let her go at all.
Seeing Li Chen again, Natasha found that he was still very cold to her.
This made Natasha very sad, but she could only try her best to appear calm.
Watching pretty women like Blink, Nami, and others dive into Li Chen's arms, she felt a painful sensation inside, as if she had been NTR'd.
What kind of cuckold plot was this?
So she quickly went to rest, deciding that out of sight meant out of mind.
Nami, on the other hand, was quite open-minded; she didn't mind Li Chen having other people, because in this world she could only rely on Li Chen.
Only Lorna looked at Li Chen with a cold expression, crossing her arms.
Li Chen walked over and pulled her directly over: "What are you thinking about?"
"Don't touch me, you have other people anyway."
Lorna was still angry about that day.
When she woke up, Li Chen was unexpectedly gone.
Li Chen didn't care, just hugging her without letting go, and it wasn't long before she relaxed.
There was no help for it; Li Chen's skin was too thick.
The plane quickly returned from New York to Los Angeles.
Li Chen finally said a word to Natasha: "The crew is already prepared, just waiting for you."
"I'll finish filming very quickly."
Natasha said, seemingly wanting to escape.
Looking at her back, Li Chen naturally wouldn't let her escape.
Due to Natasha's departure, Li Chen temporarily didn't have an assistant.
He could only have Jubilee arrange things for so many people.
Lorna and the others were coming to Los Angeles for the first time, and didn't even have a place to stay.
However, Li Chen had also thought it through: let Lornaand the others star in movies, the conditions weren't bad anyway.
Rather than elevating others, it felt much better to elevate his own people.
As for himself, he took Bumblebee to the company.
Having not visited the company for a long time, it was operating quite normally.
This was the model of a large company, not that kind of family-style small workshop; it would keep running the same way even if anyone left.
Li Chen came to the office and quickly understood the situation.
The manga of One Piece and one-punch man were still serialized, steadily bringing in popularity.
And the animations of One Piece and rick and morty had already been produced, just waiting to find time to release them.
However, this needed to be negotiated with television stations.
One Piece was quite easy, because it was already almost one of the hottest manga in the nationwide in the US, and the animation had long been highly anticipated.
But rick and morty was an original animation; without popularity, not many people were optimistic about it.
Only by first making a name for themselves would there be a possibility of making a huge profit.
Besides that, there were games.
bayonetta had already negotiated with Microsoft, and would utilize their platform while simultaneously releasing on the PC side.
This was the advantage of Microsoft; they wouldn't forcefully demand exclusivity.
If the results were good, the upcoming nier: automata and stellar blade would also adopt the same model.
The game was tentatively scheduled for release in July, and what made Li Chen happy was that the Batman movie would also be released in July.
July was precisely the summer blockbuster season, and competition was extremely fierce.
But Li Chen wasn't worried, because it was other movies that were afraid of facing Batman, not Batman that feared them.
As the father of DC, Batman's fame was even greater than Superman's; did he still need to avoid the sharp edge of other movies?
On Earth in Li Chen's past life, Batman and Spider-Manwere about equal in fame, and even before the millennium, Batman was the true superhero number one.
Because back then, Warner had already adapted many Batman movies.
The Batman directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton achieved massive success.
Three years later, Batman Returns grossed close to three hundred million dollars globally, and further made Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman the sexiest woman in the world.
However, later Batman Forever bombed at the box office due to changing actors, and Batman & Robin two years later crashed and burned even harder due to its style...
There was no help for it; the Batsuit in Batman & Robinmade people instantly lose immersion just looking at it.
It is worth mentioning that Nicole Kidman also played a female lead in it, but beautifully faded into obscurity.
Facts proved that Tim Burton's Gothic style of movies was no longer suitable for that era.
Until after the millennium, which was Nolan's well-known Batman trilogy.
These highly personalized Batman movies could be viewed as a detective film version of Batman, which also fit Batman's publication setting.
However, it was precisely this dark style that led Warnerastray, and the subsequent stories were known to everyone.
But in the Marvel World, the Batman movie was appearing for the first time.
Under the premise of not ruining various IPs, it filled people with high expectations.
Li Chen was already looking forward to the arrival of next month; this year truly was the spurt period of his career.
Besides these, there was music.
Dazzler was already a bit famous, and Starlight Music was already warming up her debut album, though it would take a few months to climb the charts.
On the contrary, Taylor Swift had already begun to display her abilities.
Ever since she was 'transformed', after appearing on a few shows, she had already become the dream lover of the people in America.
Blonde hair and blue eyes, long legs, simply the perfect American sweetheart.
Although Americans always dismissed blonde women verbally and even held stereotypes, believing blonde women were all'stupid'.
But undoubtedly, when a truly perfect blonde beauty stood in front of them, no one could resist her temptation.
Starlight Music hired an exclusive makeup artist for her to craft her styling, and the money wasn't spent in vain.
Therefore, her new album had the potential to become a hit even before its release.
As soon as it was released, Li Chen wouldn't lack for prestige points.
Music was often more mainstream than movies.
Listening to music only took a few minutes, and walking on the street one might hear someone playing it out loud.
But movies required calming down to watch for several hours.
In terms of dissemination reach, music was clearly easier to succeed in!
Chapter 113: The New White King
Time entered early July.
On this day, Li Chen brought Lorna and others along with the Cuckoo Sisters to the Hellfire Club.
Today was a momentous day, and everyone was looking forward to it.
Of course, not career-wise, but regarding Li Chen's status.
Magneto had already given up the position of White King, so this title naturally fell upon Li Chen.
As the actual controllers of the Hellfire Club, both Queens had come.
However, when the Cuckoo Sisters saw the White Queen, the five sisters spoke in unison: "Mom!"
"?"
Everyone present was dumbfounded.
The White Queen's face also darkened: "You weren't born of me, shut up."
This inevitably brought up a dark history; the Cuckoo Sisters were actually her clones.
After knowing the existence of Mutants, naturally there were many crazy scientists.
They wanted to know the secrets of Mutants, so they conducted countless human studies, and many Mutants suffered brutal harm.
The Cuckoo Sisters were also created by a crazy scientist who directly cloned and cultivated them using the White Queen's genes.
The genetic engineering of the Marvel World was extremely perverted, just like the Sentinel created using Mutant genes.
Sentinel could not only absorb Mutant abilities, but also evolve autonomously, becoming immune to the same killing moves.
This also resulted in Mutants having zero power to fight back in front of Sentinel.
However, this thing hadn't been seen in this world.
The White Queen felt embarrassed, but the Black Queenwore a look of watching a joke.
The Black Queen Selene was still wearing a black tight-fitting catsuit, the difference being that she draped a black cloak behind her, walking as if carrying the wind, with the black cloak fluttering.
It looked just like straying into a Victoria's Secret venue and seeing the runway show of Angels.
"Alright, Emma, I don't even have five daughters myself."
The Black Queen Selene purposely said: "I wonder who can give me a child."
She looked at Li Chen vaguely; the tug-of-war had actually started long ago.
The first time she saw Li Chen, she wanted to snatch Li Chen away from the White Queen.
However, at that time she hadn't realized to what extent Li Chen could go, but now knowing what Li Chen could do, she already regretted it.
So she decided to snatch Li Chen over.
The White Queen Emma Frost sensed her abnormality and also made up her mind.
"Go find Nige, they are good at giving others children."
She suddenly retorted against the Black Queen.
The Black Queen sneered: "Thousands of years ago, they could only be my slaves."
Watching the two women engage in discrimination without hesitation, Li Chen also twitched the corner of his mouth.
But thinking about it, he was relieved.
The Black Queen, this 'old woman', was quite an old knight; having witnessed the shift in status of slaves with her own eyes, she naturally couldn't adapt, and her heart must be extremely disapproving.
Not to mention thousands of years ago, hundreds of years ago these guys would have to grovel to her, but now they were on equal footing with her—who the hell could stand that.
Not to mention the White Queen, Boston was the place with the worst discrimination in the nationwide in the US.
The Boston Celtics' star player at the time, Bill Russell, was clearly the glory of the team, but the Boston knights took a big dump on his bed...
This caused Bill Russell to fight against racial discrimination his whole life, calling Boston a racist flea market.
Facts proved this was correct.
Boston truly was an extremely malicious place.
Born in such a place, the White Queen's attitude could be imagined.
"The ceremony is about to start."
At this time, someone still mustered the courage to say a sentence, and the two Queens only sneered, the expressions on their faces softening down.
Li Chen found that they were no different from ordinary women arguing.
Afterward, Li Chen put on the Batman mask.
This mask made the ladies present feel a bit stinging.
"Can you change your mask?"
"No."
Li Chen refused: "Because I'm looking for the clown."
Of course, no one was willing to admit they were a clown.
The ladies could only glare at him.
Li Chen glanced over; the Hellfire Club clearly had more women than men.
His Mutant kingdom had not yet been established, but the Hellfire Club was already close to becoming his harem...
Then, the White Queen Emma Frost came over and linked arms with Li Chen, seeming to declare her sovereignty.
And the Black Queen was not to be outdone, holding Li Chen on the other side.
Li Chen had no initiative at all, just like being propped up.
When the three walked to the front of the stage, there were already quite a few people in the Hellfire Club.
The vast majority of people wore their respective masks, belonging to elites from all walks of life.
Wanting to join the Hellfire Club also required capital verification; only with sufficient net worth meeting the standard could one become a member.
Besides this, Li Chen also saw quite a few acquaintances.
Dazzler, Blink, Kitty Pryde, Polaris Lorna, and others were all watching him from under the stage.
When the Black Queen announced: "The previous White King made outstanding contributions to the Hellfire Club, but he is old and has decided to abdicate and yield to a worthy successor."
"The new White King will be assumed by the previous White Rook..."
After confirming Li Chen became the White King, the ladies off stage all cheered.
Especially Blink and Polaris Lorna, the two who had a relationship with him, their gazes immediately changed, almost as if about to melt into strings.
And others also applauded one after another, looking at Li Chen with eager eyes.
Without a doubt, Li Chen had already become one of the rulers of the Hellfire Club.
Next, Li Chen, just like the hottest movie star, enjoyed the adoration of the crowd.
This feeling of being respected truly made one float on air.
This inevitably gave Li Chen an illusion, which was that he seemed to be an omnipotent God.
This was the taste brought by power.
No wonder so many people spent their entire lives just for these two words.
Even Li Chen took some time to calm his mood.
Hold steady, can't float.
By the time Li Chen finished dealing with these people, the White Queen Emma Frost came to his side.
This woman was holding two glasses of champagne: "How is it, tired right?"
Li Chen took a glass and spoke: "It really feels great, just like having the whole world."
"Once the Mutant kingdom is established, you'll feel even greater."
The White Queen seemed worried that he would lose his goal.
Li Chen smiled: "This will depend on how the Queen expresses it."
The White Queen just smiled and looked at him.
The two were very close, and Li Chen naturally understood her meaning.
Some people believe that two people kissing requires hints; you have to read the other's hints before you can kiss.
But Li Chen believed that who gives a damn about hints, just kiss directly.
Be direct; if the other person refuses, then you know there's no possibility between you and them.
Therefore, regardless of whether it was the White Queen's hint or not, Li Chen went straight for it.
The Black Queen watched this scene not far away, thinking secretly in her heart: "She let this shameless bitch get ahead again."
Chapter 114 The Dark Knight
By this point, whether it was an implication no longer mattered.
White Queen was also responding wildly to Li Chen.
Unknowingly, the two of them disappeared straight from the banquet and appeared in White Queen's room.
On the familiar sofa, Li Chen tossed her up, then very quickly stripped her clean.
White Queen merely crossed her arms and said with a hint of bashfulness: "Don't be too violent."
Not being violent was impossible; what Li Chen liked most was conquering iceberg-like beauties.
Two hours later, White Queen was already powerless.
She could only grip Li Chen tightly, afraid that she would fall off.
"Are you satisfied?"
She rolled her eyes at Li Chen.
Li Chen spoke up: "White Queen originally belongs to White King."
"What about Black Queen?"
Emma Frost suddenly asked.
This made Li Chen smile without speaking.
"As long as you become the king of the Mutant, she will be yours."
White Queen continued.
She could naturally see just how playboy Li Chen was.
But she didn't care either.
Moreover, she was also unwilling to let Black Queenescape.
"Oh?"
Li Chen looked at her strangely: "Aren't you enemies?"
This made Emma smile with a hint of stealth: "So her status must be below mine."
"I want to become the true Queen."
Without even establishing a kingdom yet, they had already started contending.
But Li Chen didn't agree directly, instead saying: "Then you turn into diamond, and I'll try."
"What?"
Emma Frost had a face full of question marks.
Enemies were all afraid of her diamond form, but Li Chenactively wanted it?
But under Li Chen's gaze, she had no choice and had to transform into her diamond form.
She felt that Li Chen was somewhat perverted...
Li Chen finally got his wish granted, appreciating White Queen's diamond form.
She seemed to have turned into a humanoid diamond, sparkling everywhere no matter where one looked. Li Chenreached out and touched it: "It's a bit sharp on the hands."
"What? Are you scared?"
White Queen's face was also diamond, and one could only faintly make out her facial features.
At this moment, there was a smile on her face.
Who wouldn't retreat in the face of difficulty upon seeing her diamond form?
But Li Chen wasn't afraid, gritting his teeth: "I am coming."
He was a Kryptonian after all; what was there to fear about diamonds?
...
The next afternoon, Li Chen finally left Hellfire Club.
Inside the club, it was pitch dark and devoid of daylight, making it impossible to know the time at all.
If Jubilee hadn't called him and told him the time, Li Chenwould have missed it.
Today was the premiere of Batman.
Li Chen had been waiting for a very long time indeed.
For this, he specifically went to change into a high-custom suit, looking heroic, dashing, and handsome.
No wonder so many people liked wearing suits; they truly looked very proper.
Even Li Chen felt that he was very handsome.
Only then did he get into the back seat of Bumblebee, closing his eyes to rest.
The diamond form was truly not something an ordinary person could play with.
He still had some lingering fear now.
If he were an ordinary person, he would probably be done for by now, unable to even protect his stuff.
This truly couldn't be considered much of a good experience; even White Queen didn't get to enjoy it.
Instead, it felt like a form of torture.
Jubilee glanced at the rearview mirror; naturally, she had also attended the banquet yesterday.
She even saw her own boss holding White Queen and leaving; the bitterness in her heart was indescribable.
Soon, they arrived at the grand theater.
Given the scale of "Batman", a grand premiere was naturally required.
In Hollywood today, the premiere determined a movie's scale and was often related to the investment.
The larger the investment, the longer the red carpet—this had already become an 'unspoken rule'.
From the length of the red carpet at the premiere of "Batman", it could be known that the investment in this movie was indeed huge.
Because there were many special effects and fights.
The edge of the red carpet was already full of reporters and fans of Batman, who were successively wearing Batman's merchandise, such as masks and toys.
Many stars and directors came uninvited to hitch a ride on the red carpet, making the premiere dazzling with starlight.
However, it wasn't until Batman himself arrived at the scene that things reached their most enthusiastic peak.
Ben Affleck deliberately changed into Batman's battle suit, looking just like Batman himself had come in person.
Especially that chin, making Li Chen straight-up exclaim it was the genuine article.
In fact, even now on the internet, many people were still cursing Starlight Pictures.
They believed that Ben Affleck wasn't suited to play Batman at all, thinking he would ruin this IP.
Of course, Li Chen directly ignored them.
Because before the release of "Superman", Henry Cavillwas also cursed to hell.
No matter how many people looked at him, they felt he didn't look like Superman...
It wasn't until after the movie was released that these people immediately capitulated.
Li Chen and Jubilee didn't walk the red carpet; instead, they came directly inside to converse with everyone.
Many major directors and stars all came over to greet Li Chen.
Hollywood was like this: when you were successful, everyone around you was a friend.
When your movie box office failed, those 'friends' might not even pick up your phone calls.
Of course, if you succeeded again, they would come back.
This was Hollywood, and also a vanity fair.
Li Chen also had no interest in chatting with them, heading instead toward Black Widow Natasha.
Because she was the lead of the new movie, she was requested to come to the red carpet to piggyback on the hype.
For Black Widow, everything here was very fresh, except that she felt somewhat awkward.
She was an Agent after all; with this kind of showing-her-face business done too much, how could she complete undercover missions in the future?
It was imaginable that the missions arranged for her in the future would only be ones requiring combat...
"You're about to enter the crew soon, right?"
Li Chen and Natasha exchanged a glance, subsequently adopting a strictly business-like demeanor.
Natasha also replied very normally: "Yes, once filming is done, I will leave."
Only Li Chen could see the sparks within her heart.
However, he still didn't say anything; he still needed to handle her a bit more.
Just like cooking stir-fry, the heat control was very important.
They each took their seats, and the movie soon began.
Zack Snyder and the main creators were all sitting in the front row, and they were also very nervous.
Not knowing whether the movie would make the audience buy into it.
But regardless, with "Superman" as a precedent of pearls before jade, as long as this movie's standard was up to par, Li Chen felt there wouldn't be much of a problem.
The opening of "The Dark Knight" appeared.
Then came Gotham's dark style.
Gotham seemed to forever be overcast, keeping the movie's style entrenched in darkness.
But a dark picture didn't mean it couldn't be seen clearly; due to the filters, the image quality was still quite good.
The sense of immersion given to people was very ample.
Then came a very classic shot.
The first shot was of a young Bruce Wayne: he and his parents had finished watching the movie "Zorro", and the three of them came out of the cinema in high spirits, but in a dark alleyway, an event happened that completely changed Bruce Wayne.
A masked hoodlum used a handgun to murder his parents right in front of him.
Zack Snyder used classic slow motion here, which at this moment appeared extremely desolate and miserable.
Chapter 115: Who is playing Wonder Woman?
Although The Dark Knight borrowed the opening credits,
it was entirely a film focusing on the growth of Batman, different from the trilogy directed by Nolan, because the Batman of the DC Universe version had higher combat power.
His fights could not look like an ordinary person, but rather like a true superhero.
But action scenes were precisely what Zack Snyderexcelled at.
In the movie, Bruce Wayne quickly became Batman, and then faced Gotham's beginner-village BOSS, the Falcone family.
However, this was just a minor BOSS. Because the movie's timeline spanned a relatively large period, the final BOSS was actually the quite popular Deathstroke.
Deathstroke ran amok in Gotham, challenging Batman's authority, and Batman had no choice but to fight him.
Because of the title 'Dark Knight', the movie felt somewhat heavy.
Although Zack Snyder did not deeply showcase humanity, there were still some depictions, albeit relatively shallow; after all, this was a superhero movie.
But along the way, characters like Robin and Catwoman appeared one after another, becoming the seasoning of this movie.
Especially when Catwoman played by Scarlett Johanssonappeared, everyone immediately let out gasps of exclamation and intakes of cold air.
Because she was simply too sexy.
Sitting in the front row, Scarlett Johansson frowned upon hearing this, but she also knew that this was the survival magic weapon for Hollywood actresses.
Without a pretty face and a perfect figure, who would look at you?
She was quite glad that she was born pretty.
She turned her head, wanting to find where Li Chen was, but couldn't find him, yet she happened to lock eyes with Black Widow Natasha.
Scarlett was very clear that this woman named Nataliewas Li Chen's new love interest, and for this reason, she was even directly given the female lead position.
This made Scarlett very unconvinced. In what aspect was she worse than this woman?
Although she was just a tiny bit taller than her, was her technique as good as hers? Was she as uninhibited as her?
The plot pacing of the movie was very fast, and Zack Snyder's personal style was subject to great constraints.
This exemplified the importance of a good producer.
Even if Zack Snyder wanted to use slow motion, the producer would not agree.
Because the pacing of the movie was the most important thing.
Batman's growth was very fast, and the time span was also huge. By the time he fought against Deathstroke, it was already the millennium.
The two-hour movie had a very rich plot without any dragging at all, telling the appearance and growth of Batman.
And what surprised everyone was that at the very end of the movie, there was still a post-credits scene.
In this day and age, post-credits scenes weren't popular yet.
Back in the 1980s, although post-credits scenes had already appeared, most of them were nonsensical designs.
For example, after the credits of The Muppet Movie ended, a puppet suddenly jumped out and urged the audience to hurry home...
Most of these movies' post-credits scenes had nothing to do with the movie content; they just felt 'fun'.
In Li Chen's past life, it was precisely the appearance of Marvel movies that formalized post-credits scenes.
After that, the ending of every movie had to have a post-credits scene to be considered 'authentic'.
However, in the Marvel World, it was going to start being formalized from DC movies.
The end of man of steel did not have a post-credits scene yet, because at that time the worldview had not been unfolded yet, nor had they figured out what to shoot next.
But now, it was gradually getting on the right track.
The audience present was surprised to find that there was still content after the credits ended.
"A post-credits scene, it's a post-credits scene!"
Everyone instantly quieted down again.
On the screen, a somewhat weathered Bruce Wayne took a helicopter to Metropolis. He jumped down from it in a panic, and then looked ahead with a despairing expression.
The camera turned, and suddenly a shower of meteors and fire appeared in the sky, and then the figures of Supermanand Zod fighting directly pierced through buildings, causing a devastating catastrophe to Metropolis.
"Superman!"
"Oh my god, Batman and Superman are actually in the same world?"
"Shit!"
True DC fans all became excited, their bodies trembling.
They never expected that Starlight Pictures would directly drop a massive ultimate move.
Superman and Batman were actually in the same worldview!
Moreover, Batman at this moment even witnessed the epic battle between Superman and Zod with his own eyes.
How could this not make fans excited?
Because of this post-credits scene, they were already fiercely anticipating DC's next movie!
At the very end of the screen, Bruce Wayne played by Ben Affleck watched this battle with a solemn expression, and then clenched his fists tightly.
Without a doubt, this laid the groundwork for Batman v Superman.
But in reality, this was just an illusion given to the audience.
Because Starlight Pictures had a plan, before Batman v Superman, they still needed to make at least one solo movie for each of Superman and Batman.
Warner in the past life lost because they were too aggressive; without any foreshadowing, they directly served up Batman v Superman.
As a result, a bunch of people couldn't understand it, and a bunch of things like the 'Martha meme' appeared, making the box office unsatisfactory.
Clearly, looking at the first-week box office, it was going to be a huge blockbuster performance.
As a result, word-of-mouth collapsed, and the money earned into their pockets all flew away.
In this lifetime, Starlight Pictures had no external pressure, so naturally they didn't need to rush to serve it up, as long as they whetted the audience's appetite enough.
"Clap clap clap!"
When Zack Snyder brought the main creators onto the stage, warm applause immediately rang out from the crowd.
Without a doubt, even just because of this post-credits scene, it could increase the movie's box office by several million or tens of millions.
This was the power of post-credits scenes.
Especially for franchise movies, this could undoubtedly deepen the audience's anticipation.
When the applause ended, even reporters were interviewing Zack, asking him about his plans for the next movie.
Zack said high-spiritedly: "Our DC Universe has a complete movie plan. In the future, not only Superman and Batman, everyone will also be able to see characters like Green Lantern, The Flash, Wonder Woman, etc., and can even see them gathering together to deal with Darkseid..."
"Boom!"
As soon as Zack's words came out, everyone instantly became excited.
Before this, no one had ever played it this way.
Gathering the Justice League on the movie screen? What a crazy idea this was.
Moreover, they had never seen Darkseid on film.
The Dark Lord Darkseid, what kind of performance would this be on film?
Therefore, everyone's madness could be understood.
Subsequently, other creators also accepted interviews.
Especially Ben Affleck and Scarlett Johansson; the Batmanand Catwoman they played were both very outstanding.
The portrayal of Batman was perfect, fitting that heavy character setting, and Ben Affleck's face looked 'deeply tormented' at a glance.
What about Catwoman? Even better than Anne Hathaway's version, because Scarlett was really big.
As for Li Chen, at this time he had already left first with Jubilee.
However, he was also pondering a question.
Who should be found to play Wonder Woman?
Anyway, the legs must be long!
Chapter 116 Captain America Watches Batman Movie
When you wake up from a sleep only to find that decades have passed in the world, what does it feel like?
As a Capsicle who had been frozen for decades, Steve Rogers's answer was adaptation issues, extreme unadaptability, and utter loneliness.
He first found a flaw in S.H.I.E.L.D., then dashed out of the building in one breath.
However, when he reached the street, he discovered that the world had changed.
The New York in his memories was definitely not like this!
Just waking up from a sleep, there was nothing left that he recognized!
But aside from accepting it, there was nothing he could do.
The world had changed too much; things like smartphones and the like were things he simply wasn't used to, nor did he want to get used to them.
Because he still owed someone a dance.
This made him feel endlessly decadent.
He only wanted to escape and didn't want to adapt to this world, because he felt as though he was still living in the 1940s of the previous century.
He should have lived in that era, not the new era.
Right at this moment, he saw a huge movie poster on the street.
Inside the poster, a warrior wearing black armor looked majestic and solemn.
Below it were the words.
"The Dark Knight".
"Batman?"
Steve Rogers's heart stirred: "Is that the Batman I know?"
He was vaguely a bit excited.
In 1940, the "Batman" comic officially began serialization, and Steve Rogers, who was still very skinny back then, grew to like this comic.
Because Bruce Wayne, just like other detectives, was very smart and had a brilliantly sharp brain.
Moreover, Bruce Wayne was also poor, giving him a sense of immersion.
The initial version of Bruce Wayne was not yet the Batmanof today...
It was precisely because of the encouragement from this comic that Steve Rogers persevered all the way, ultimately undergoing modification in 1943 to become a Super Soldier.
At this moment, seeing the Batman movie, he felt as if he had returned to that era filled with the flames of war, as if he were seeing his youthful self.
The battlefield was the world that belonged to him.
Thus, without hesitation, he entered the movie theater.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent tracking him immediately reported the news to Nick Fury.
"Director, the Captain has entered the movie theater."
"A movie theater? You guys follow, be careful that he runs away."
Nick Fury was somewhat puzzled.
But he only worried that Captain America wanted to escape; after all, the other party was a Super Soldier.
But in reality, Steve Rogers, who entered the movie theater, simply headed straight for the ticket counter.
He took a brief look at the interior of the movie theater and was somewhat unaccustomed to it.
Today's movie theaters were far too advanced compared to his era.
The interior space was also huge, and the sensory experience was completely different.
He didn't think his era was better; the present was indeed much more developed.
It was just that on the ship of the new century, there was no place for an old fellow like him.
"Buy a ticket for Batman."
He took out the money given by S.H.I.E.L.D., then bought a ticket.
Steve wore a cap to prevent others from seeing his face.
Because his statues could be seen everywhere, and he had quite a few fans as well; if they saw him, it would definitely cause an immense commotion.
As a living legend, Steve Rogers was extremely unaccustomed to this.
He also understood that his existence would frighten many people.
People hoped for the existence of gods, but they hoped that the gods were already dead.
If a god were alive, everyone would only feel fear...
Especially a man-made deity like him who had "returned from the dead", his influence was enormous and could alter American politics at will.
It was no exaggeration to say that if Steve Rogers chose to run for office, there was an eighty percent chance he would be elected as the next president.
With this kind of influence, who wouldn't be afraid?
Therefore, Steve Rogers protected himself tightly to avoid being discovered.
Even if someone saw him, at most they would just think he looked very much like Captain America.
Arriving inside the screening hall, he discovered that there were quite a few people watching this movie, with an occupancy rate of over fifty percent, making the screening hall look quite lively.
He purposely bought a seat in the back row with no one next to him.
But before long, someone still sat nearby.
He glanced briefly and then withdrew his gaze; it was a person arranged by S.H.I.E.L.D.
This kind of life of being monitored was also something he disliked.
But right now, he was not in control of himself.
He could only focus his attention on the movie that was about to begin.
The voices of other people drifted into his ears from time to time.
"I heard there's Superman in Batman's post-credits scene!"
"What is a post-credits scene?"
"It's... the thing that appears at the very end."
"Shh, the movie has started."
Everyone was watching the screen with great concentration, and Steve Rogers was no exception.
At least in this unfamiliar era, Batman and Superman were the only things he was familiar with.
However, he felt that Superman wasn't as impressive as him, though...
In his era, Superman was just someone with a bit more physical strength.
But he quickly felt that something was amiss.
"No way... is this still the Batman I'm familiar with?"
His eyes widened.
"The Dark Knight" indeed possessed that epic feel, especially the scene where Thomas Wayne and his wife were shot and killed, with pearls from the necklace scattering all over the ground, possessing a strong sense of artistry.
But the subsequent developments left him somewhat bewildered.
Bruce Wayne wasn't a poor detective, but a billionaire?
Moreover, he even put on this suit of armor; is today's Batman like this?
He wore a face full of question marks; no wonder when he looked at the poster earlier, he felt something was a bit off.
So Batman had also turned into something he didn't recognize...
He couldn't help but wryly smile, yet the plot attracted him to keep watching.
Because modern movies were indeed an excellent form of entertainment.
Compared to the black-and-white movies of his era, today's movies were brightly colored, and the big-screen experience was also exceptional, as if truly being personally on the scene.
It's just that IMAX movies aren't popular yet, otherwise the experience would be even more awesome.
Of course, the ticket prices were also more expensive.
Avatar was also a movie of this summer.
Judging from the occupancy rate, "Batman" might not necessarily fall behind it, but in terms of ticket prices, the difference was worlds apart.
IMAX has nothing else, it's just expensive.
The movie's plot was very tight, and the casting was also very good, especially Scarlett's Catwoman, which triggered a burst of exclamation.
Aside from handsome men and beauties, there was also some high technology in the movie, such as the handsome Batmobile, as well as all of Batman's equipment, which were perfectly replicated.
Steve Rogers actually grew to like this feeling; perhaps this form of entertainment wasn't bad either.
And by the end of the movie, unexpectedly not a single person left.
He also stayed out of curiosity.
Then he saw the post-credits scene specially prepared by the movie.
"Holy crab, Batman really saw Superman fighting; the internet didn't lie to me."
"This is truly a genius concept; if Batman saw Supermandestroy Metropolis, what would he do?"
"Is this Superman?"
Steve Rogers's eyes widened.
Wasn't Superman at most just lifting a car and tossing it around?
How come he was flying all over the sky?
This world had truly changed into something he didn't recognize at all.
Chapter 117: Captain Falls in Love with Movies
Meli is a movie surveyor hired by the cinema.
She would wait outside after the movie ended, and then ask the audience who just came out to rate the movie and so on.
Then she would get summarized data so that the cinema could arrange screenings based on the quality of the movie.
The Oscars pursue so-called art, but for cinema chains, they only pursue one thing.
That is box office revenue.
After doing this job for a long time, sometimes you don't even need to interview them to know what the audience is thinking.
For example, people who like it will come out of the movie with 'excitement'.
And what about those trashy movies? The audience always comes out cursing.
Seeing the audience coming out of the screening room of The Dark Knight discussing excitedly with smiles on their faces, Meli knew that this movie was a success.
But upholding her professional ethics, she still went up and asked: "Hello, gentlemen, I am a cinema staff member, may I ask your rating for this movie?"
"A+, it has to be A+!"
"That is right, Ben Affleck is very handsome, god I thought he would ruin Batman before, but he is indeed the best choice for Batman!"
"I also give it an A, this movie is not bad."
Meli smiled and said: "Then will you look forward to DC's next movie?"
"Of course, why not?"
The interviewed audience said without hesitation: "I am very much looking forward to seeing Batman versus Superman on the screen!"
Clever viewers had already realized the development of the plot.
After all, such battles have happened more than once in comics, and even Superman has gotten used to dying.
But seeing it in a movie? That really makes people excited.
And going back to the first 'Death of Superman', that really shocked people.
After all, comic fans never expected that the omnipotent Superman would die, which caused great anger.
This kind of anger is no less than one-punch man drawing Saitama to death...
Everyone knows he is invincible, how could he possibly die?
But by now, everyone has gotten used to it.
Anyway, he will be resurrected even if he dies.
Meli stopped Captain America Steve at this time.
She didn't recognize this person, she just wanted a rating as usual.
Steve Rogers said without hesitation: "A!"
"I will also go and catch up on the movie Superman."
"Alright."
Meli nodded and then reminded: "Gentlemen, I heard that the creators of this movie have already come to New Yorkand are holding an event not far away."
This made many people interested.
Such a big production as Batman naturally has roadshows, and will go to major cities in the nationwide in the US to do some promotion.
This is very necessary to attract as many audiences into the cinema as possible.
Thus, quite a few people really rushed over there.
Steve Rogers didn't go; he wasn't interested in this. He asked how he could watch man of steel, and then went straight to Blockbuster.
Blockbuster was founded in 1985, and it is a video rental chain brand.
Before the development of the internet, if people wanted to watch movies, besides walking into the cinema, the best method was to rent or buy discs.
The DVD market once became Hollywood's most profitable market.
Some movies don't look high at the box office, but make a fortune in the rental market.
For example, horror movies basically belong to this category, because in private, everyone likes to watch something'stimulating'...
There are also movies that are very unappealing in the cinema, but are not bad when watched alone.
For example, The Shawshank Redemption.
Who would have thought that this movie's box office completely flopped, and its reputation was entirely driven by the videotape market?
By now, Blockbuster already had a trend of decline.
Because of the development of the internet, people could watch movies online and didn't need to run to offline stores.
Compared to its peak period of more than 9,000 stores globally and a market value of 8.4 billion US dollars, Blockbuster had shrunk dramatically.
When Steve Rogers came to the store, not many people could be seen inside.
However, he didn't know that this store used to be glorious.
"Hello, I want a disc of Superman."
"There are several versions, priced at 19.9 US dollars and 29.9 US dollars respectively."
The clerk said with a smile.
This is also the reason why DVDs make money; they are even more expensive than movie tickets...
After all, going to the cinema can only be watched once, but once you buy the disc you can watch it countless times.
"Buy the basic one."
Steve Rogers didn't have much money either; it was all given by S.H.I.E.L.D..
"Alright sir, this movie was released by Starlight Pictures. If you like their movies, you can buy the collection for only 39.9 US dollars."
What the clerk said made Steve Rogers somewhat tempted.
"What other movies do they have?"
"Many, such as obsession, and Transformers released not long ago, which are also their movies."
Hearing that there were so many, Steve Rogers hesitated for a moment and nodded, saying: "Then buy this one."
"Alright!"
The clerk smiled. Now Blockbuster was getting less and less prosperous, and being able to sell depended entirely on the quality of the movie.
Of course, with the changes of the times, people's entertainment methods have also become more numerous.
Movies were no longer everyone's primary entertainment demand.
Let alone Steve Rogers, many modern people might not be able to adapt to it.
Spending forty dollars in one breath, this was a day's wages for many people.
Steve Rogers didn't plan to go anywhere else to play either, but returned home to start watching movies.
The people of S.H.I.E.L.D. could follow him if they wanted to; at least he had found a good hobby.
Thus, he returned home, directly took out the Supermandisc, and put it into the player.
man of steel.
As the movie began, he also confirmed that this was indeed not the Superman in his memory.
In the era when he was active, the sudden emergence of Superman caused great shock, but Superman at that time was more like a'strongman'.
He could easily lift a car to deal with enemies, and could also walk as if flying, invincible with one punch.
But not as exaggerated as in the movie...
When he saw the Superman played by Henry Cavill put on the superman suit and then start the Flight segment, he was dumbfounded.
And subsequently, the moment Superman bathed in the sunlight like that and opened his arms, he only had one thought in his heart.
God Among Men.
This was indeed an excellent movie, bringing him quite a bit of shock.
Thus, he became obsessed with Starlight Pictures' movies, and didn't let go of Transformers and obsession either.
And Agent Sharon living next door could only report it like this.
"The Captain hasn't left the room all day, I listened outside the door for a bit, it seems he was watching a movie."
"That kind with particularly intense fights."
At a certain moment, Nick Fury thought Captain Americahad fallen in love with that kind of movie...
Of course, who wouldn't?
Chapter 118 Marvel's Number One Passionate
Li Chen was rarely still at the company on the weekend.
"Boss, the data for Batman is in. Friday's box office is estimated to be around 45 million, and word of mouth is pretty good. 89% of the audience gave it a rating above A, and less than 5% gave it a rating below B-."
"Word of mouth hasn't collapsed, so the box office should be stable."
Listening to Harry Sloan's report, Li Chen also nodded.
Following the success of Superman and Batman, the DC movie universe has gotten on track.
And over at DC, because of the explosive popularity of the movies, the comic book market has also become heated.
They became more and more certain that cooperating with Li Chen was the right choice.
"Don't relax, continue to step up the promotional efforts."
Li Chen said.
Current movies increasingly tend to attract potential viewers into the movie theater during the first weekend.
And for Batman, the opening weekend box office is bound to exceed 100 million, which is considered pretty good for this era.
After all, this is the first Batman solo movie, so having this kind of appeal is normal.
Everyone wants to see his screen performance.
"Alright."
Harry Sloan left immediately, walking with a brisk wind.
His status in Hollywood is no longer what it used to be.
When he was previously the CEO controlling the direction of MGM, many people looked down on him, and the shareholders thought he had no ability and couldn't lead MGM to make money.
But now, everything is different.
Although he isn't the Captain, he can at least be considered the vice-Captain, right?
He came outside the door, nodded to the green-haired beauty, and then left straight ahead without looking sideways.
He knew very well that this woman named Lorna had a relationship with the boss.
After Black Widow joined the crew, Li Chen lost his assistant, so he simply called the idling Lorna Dane over to be his assistant.
What she did was completely the same as Black Widowbefore.
When there was work, she did it; when there was no work, Li Chen screwed her.
For Lorna, this was actually a pretty good job.
Because she had basically never worked a job before, she was a bit clumsy.
Fortunately, Li Chen didn't mind and didn't look down on her at all.
"Natasha has also joined the crew, let's wait a few days after she shoots before talking."
Li Chen had a routine for Black Widow; he not only wanted to get this female Agent's body, but even more so, her heart.
After all, for him now, what couldn't he get?
Instead, he liked things with a relatively high degree of difficulty.
"And bayonetta has already started pre-sales."
Li Chen looked at the data sent over by Hideki Kamiya.
The gaming world loves pre-sales; some start months in advance, while others start a few days in advance.
Pre-sales would have some perks, like an extra outfit, or playing a few days early, and so on.
Pre-sales can effectively relieve financial pressure, which is equivalent to raising money in advance.
However, pre-sales need to be handled with caution, because once bought, they cannot be refunded.
The biggest pre-sale disaster Li Chen had experienced before was cyberpunk 2077.
After a long time of updates, this game was indeed very fun, but when it was first released, bugs were flying all over the sky.
Without a doubt, this was a deception to the players who pre-ordered.
Therefore, after this game, many people smartened up, preferring to wait and see the word of mouth before buying rather than pre-ordering for these little trinkets.
This was the correct choice.
However, in this era, gamers hadn't yet experienced the 'deception' of pre-sales, and a group of veterans had been looking forward to bayonetta for a long time.
As for games, either the visuals are satisfying, or the gameplay is satisfying; in short, it must be satisfying.
And for the game bayonetta, Bayonetta and Jeanne's character modeling were impeccable, making people unable to look away once they saw them.
Most importantly, its combat system was also very satisfying.
Therefore, just by releasing the demo and trailer, hundreds of thousands of people had already pre-ordered.
"Not bad, not bad."
Li Chen looked at his prestige points, waiting just for bayonetta to launch so he could start drawing.
[Current prestige points: 318201.]
That's right, bayonetta hadn't even been released yet, and the prestige points had already reached as high as 300,000.
Mainly because Batman truly deserves to be DC's founding father, its popularity is just high.
"Lorna, come in."
Li Chen prepared to take a rest and called the young lady Polaris in.
After Lorna came in with a bewildered look, he directly pinned Lorna onto the office desk.
...
A few days later.
The filming of Lucy has already begun.
Ridley Scott was still very unhappy at first, so his demands on Black Widow were very strict.
Then he discovered that although this woman was a newcomer, her acting was really quite good.
Especially that transformation from a weak woman to a strong one; her temperament looked extraordinary.
"Oh god, Natalie, you look like a real master."
Old Lei admitted that he had misjudged her.
But he still wasn't optimistic about the movie's prospects.
Because there wasn't any big star who could prop up the box office...
If Natalie was replaced by Scarlett Johansson, maybe the box office could explode massively.
Because following the release of Batman, Scarlett Johansson had indeed become popular.
Perhaps this woman inherently had career luck?
In Li Chen's past life, the Black Widow she played became a global hit, and now she had turned into Catwoman.
He had to admit, her figure in tight clothes was indeed very eye-catching.
Ridley felt that only a female star of Scarlett's caliber could support the box office of a female-led movie.
For Natasha, she only felt that making movies was even more tiring than completing missions.
She didn't enjoy the feeling of being the center of attention of thousands either.
Right now she just wanted to finish filming and escape Hollywood, preferably staying far away from Li Chen.
Because as long as she saw Li Chen, her heart would get hurt.
Even though she was very clear that perhaps this was love.
But she was an infertile Agent, unworthy of having love.
That day, dragging her exhausted body, she prepared to leave the set.
Her assistants were all found for her by S.H.I.E.L.D., precisely to prevent her from any danger.
But strangely enough, when she arrived in the trailer, she didn't find her assistant.
"What's the situation?"
Just as she was wondering, a pair of warm arms hugged her from behind.
This made her body stiffen, almost resulting in a shoulder throw.
She had indeed slacked off, actually letting someone get close to her without noticing.
However, just as she was about to move, she stopped, because the person hugging her was Li Chen.
"Natalie, I'm sorry, I can't forget you."
Even though Li Chen called out the wrong name, it made her whole body shake.
"We are impossible."
Natasha had to force herself to say.
"No, I don't care anymore."
Li Chen said, "I don't care if you're an Agent or anything else, I only know that the one I like is you, whether you are Natalie or Natasha..."
"You can retire and then stay with me all the time."
Natasha couldn't help it anymore, turned around and hugged Li Chen.
"Stop talking, take me."
She was unprecedentedly proactive.
Chapter 119: His Own Television Show
What does it feel like when Black Widow goes crazy?
Li Chen only knew that ordinary people definitely couldn't handle it, and would probably be shaken apart.
After this routine, Li Chen also knew that he was about to completely win her over.
If Natasha were to choose between him and S.H.I.E.L.D., she would probably choose him.
The reason she hadn't been completely won over yet was because her body hadn't been repaired yet.
Once even this point was achieved, Li Chen was certain that she would let him do whatever he wanted with her.
It wasn't until the next day that Natasha woke up drowsily.
"Oh no, I still have scenes to shoot today."
Black Widow cast a charming and alluring side-eye at the lying Li Chen: "It's all your fault, I even have dark circles under my eyes."
"Who was the one acting so crazy yesterday?"
Li Chen chuckled and said.
"Rest assured, Ridley won't be like that."
"That still won't do."
Black Widow immediately got up to wash up.
However, Li Chen still pursued the question: "Natasha."
"What is it?"
While brushing her teeth, she tidied up her somewhat messy hair.
"Protect yourself well."
Li Chen said earnestly.
This made Natasha feel a warmth in her heart, and she spoke up: "I will retire as early as possible."
In the past, she didn't care, but now that she had someone she cared about, she couldn't take too many risks.
Facts proved that the Red Room was right; an Agentcannot have personal feelings.
Watching Natasha sway her waist as she left, Li Chen just wanted to nicely light a 'Victory Cigar' of Elbar.
"Since ancient times, true feelings cannot retain people, only routines can win people's hearts."
...
For North America, the popularity of Batman was much higher than that of Superman.
When the first weekend ended, traditional print media and newspapers were reporting wildly.
New York Times: "The opening weekend box office of The Dark Knight reached as high as 130 million. Facts have proven that the era of comic book adaptations has arrived."
At the beginning of the 21st century, this achievement was already very exaggerated.
This was mainly due to the Marvel World, and Li Chen still had to thank Tony Stark.
Following Tony Stark's high-profile announcement to the whole world that he was Iron Man, people discovered that there were quite a few superheroes in this world.
This of course drove up the popularity of superheroes.
Besides the New York Times, many newspapers focusing on Hollywood followed up one after another.
Just as they said, the era of comic adaptation movies had quietly arrived.
Of course, the Marvel World had more than just DC Comics.
Others included Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics, IDW Publishing, Valiant Comics, and so on.
Among them, Image Comics' main works were the famous The Walking Dead and Invincible.
Meanwhile, IDW Comics had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sonic the Hedgehog, and others.
Originally, these comics were completely ignored, but as DC Comics exploded in popularity, Hollywood giants naturally set their sights on these comics.
They were all envious of Starlight Pictures, thinking that if they had been the ones cooperating with DC, the results wouldn't have been bad either.
It was equivalent to money flowing outward.
And what was Hollywood best at? Following trends, of course.
Once a certain type of movie became popular, movies of the same type would immediately fly everywhere.
Now was the era of superheroes, so naturally they had to keep up.
Therefore, taking advantage of Starlight Pictures' light, other comics all sold for a good price.
For a time, various comic-adapted projects were exposed.
Projects for works such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Walking Dead appeared before everyone, naturally making people very expectant.
Even Li Chen felt that The Walking Dead series was actually pretty good, except that it got too boring later on; mainly because the zombies were too weak, and the plot went on to discuss human nature instead.
It would be better to strengthen the zombies like in the Resident Evil movies, at least you could still watch the protagonist group hacking zombies with satisfaction.
Moreover, the massive profits from the movie also brought about a rise in MGM's stock price.
This was a very normal phenomenon in Hollywood; shooting a profitable movie would make the giant's stock price rise, and once a movie flopped, the stock price would turn into a disaster.
For today's Starlight Pictures, everything was thriving and prosperous.
However, Li Chen also had some troubles at this time.
A few episodes of One Piece and rick and morty had already been produced, but no television channel had been found to broadcast them yet.
The reason it was so fast was because wheelie didn't need to eat, drink, or rest, just like artificial intelligence...
However, after Li Chen looked into it, television channels on America's side were different from other places.
They were mainly divided into broadcast public television networks and cable pay television networks. As for streaming media? It hadn't risen yet.
The most famous ones right now were ABC, CBS, NBC, and HBO, which had the highest traffic.
But their offers were also the lowest, and they even wanted to 'buy out' the copyrights.
That meant it could only be broadcast on their network, and the price for several years was still very low.
For example, CBS's The Big Bang Theory, ABC's DoctorGrey's Anatomy.
NBC had even produced the ace show Friends, which was the hottest sitcom in America.
It directly made the lead actress 'Rachel' famous throughout the nationwide in the US.
Therefore, for TV series not produced by them, prices were heavily suppressed.
They were more inclined to acquire the copyrights themselves and then film it themselves.
Moreover, they were all inclined towards Real persontelevision.
For animations like this, they could only go to animation channels, which was Adult Swim.
However, their offer was also very low. Although Li Chenwasn't short on money right now, he wouldn't refuse to make money when it was available.
He knew how powerful these animations were.
Thus, an idea sprouted in his mind.
"How about acquiring a television station, converting it into an animation channel, and broadcasting our own animations."
"In the future, there will certainly be more than just One Piece and rick and morty; we might as well make the money ourselves."
The more Li Chen thought about it, the more feasible it felt, so he directly called Harry Sloan over.
Hearing this, Harry Sloan nodded and said: "We can acquire one, but there is another option."
"Boss, not long ago, Paramount and Lionsgate contacted us, wanting to jointly launch a premium pay cable channel with us, mainly used to broadcast movies and original series from our three companies' own and cooperative film libraries."
"This is pretty good."
Hearing this, Li Chen's eyes lit up.
A television station needed to broadcast things 24 hours a day all-day long. How long could they broadcast relying solely on One Piece and rick and morty?
However, MGM's copyright issues were also very serious; basically all of them had been sold off.
They couldn't possibly broadcast tom and jerry, right?
Therefore, bringing other film studios into the game was the best choice.
Moreover, Paramount was a Hollywood giant, and although Lionsgate was only second-tier, its reputation was not small and it had numerous copyrights.
Clearly, Hollywood giants now all envied Disney and Warner; who wouldn't want a media company behind them?
"Then let's do this: agree to Paramount and Lionsgate, but the first things to be broadcast must be our animations."
"Alright."
Harry Sloan felt very thrilled. After all, this was the project he had proposed.
As long as it succeeded, he could add another stroke to his resume.
Chapter 120: Crystal Playing Games
The matter of the paid cable channel was still up in the air, but for Li Chen, it was still a good day.
Although he had been somewhat reluctant to leave the Hellfire Club these past few days, along with the several maids at home...
Nami had also put on a maid outfit now, though it could barely contain her bountiful assets.
With three cute little maids at home and Psylocke, a pet that had already been broken in, Li Chen naturally loved staying at home.
As for the Hellfire Club, it was the temptation of the White Queen.
Although the diamond form made them all very uncomfortable and could not be considered a very good experience, only Li Chen could do this, and it was also exclusive.
To get back to the point, today was the release date of bayonetta.
After the previous pre-sales, bayonetta had already accumulated over 200,000 pre-orders. After its official release today, it surged straight onto the STEAM charts.
"It has already reached 250,000 copies, and the first week is expected to reach 500,000 in sales."
Polaris Lorna had already gotten slightly used to this job.
She had never worked a job before, and had barely read any books for a few days, but her receptiveness and learning ability were quite good.
With such an easy-on-the-eyes secretary, Li Chen's mood was also much more pleasant.
Lorna's green hair represented vibrant vitality, a scene of all things contending for growth, making everything look much more pleasing to the eye.
"Not bad."
Li Chen hadn't expected the results to be so good.
In his past life, bayonetta combined across all platforms exceeded 2 million copies.
And on the console side, the game price would be even higher, so it could easily recoup its costs.
The reason the Marvel World was so fierce was because Li Chen demanded that it must be released on PC.
In his past life, when bayonetta came to the PC platform, it was already 2017, and there wasn't even a Chinese localization...
An old game from eight years ago could still sell like hotcakes once it hit the PC platform.
Now, synchronizing its release on the PC platform directly could be summed up in a few words: dimensional reduction strike.
Whether it was Bayonetta's figure and facial beauty, or the game's combat feel...
Both could be said to be unparalleled.
"Today is a good day."
Singing a song, Li Chen linked arms with Lorna and prepared to go out.
"Isn't work over yet?"
Lorna struggled slightly.
"As long as you have work in your heart, you can work anywhere."
Li Chen replied, "We can work at the club just the same."
"Right, call Blink."
Fan Ye Blink had also been stuffed into the crew by him to participate in the filming of Lucy, playing a small supporting role.
There weren't many scenes, but it allowed her to accumulate some experience in advance.
After all, Hollywood also had quite a few Asian roles, so she wouldn't lack work.
Moreover, Hollywood's practices were a bit excessive.
For instance, with black lead actors, they would deliberately find ugly and fat ones, as if to tell the whole world that all black brothers were so ugly, stupid, and brainless...
Though that might actually be the truth.
There was also a set of deliberate discriminatory practices against Asians, such as Asian girls always being short, wearing stupid glasses, and acting as the protagonist's little sidekick.
And the so-called stereotype of being good at studying was all deliberately propagated by Hollywood.
Just like how they kept propagating that squids were victims.
But in reality, they completely brought it upon themselves.
However, most people didn't know about this at all, so after watching the movies, they would be deceived by the values they wanted to promote.
Li Chen naturally wanted to break this impression; otherwise, seeing Asian characters all being fools would be upsetting.
But for now, let's get the party started first.
...
On the streets of Los Angeles, Crystal with her short orange hair was purposefully heading towards an arcade.
After a period of preparation, she had finally come to Earthfrom the Moon.
Naturally, she had to have a good time playing around.
She frequently came to Earth, and her favorite things were human gaming consoles.
She particularly liked combat games; that feeling of punches landing squarely on flesh made her feel extremely thrilled, and of course, fighting games were fine too.
Thus, she came straight to the arcade. This was a massive mixed gaming store, equivalent to a large supermarket, where products from major manufacturers were sold, and customers could also experience and play them.
If they found it fun, most people would buy it directly and take it back to play slowly, and if they really had no money, the manufacturers didn't mind them getting a free ride.
Because with the popularity here, it was always better than being deserted.
People all had a herd mentality, just like when a restaurant was packed to capacity, you would subconsciously think that their food must be delicious.
Games were the same; with so many people playing, how could it not be fun?
As soon as Crystal walked in, she saw several children surrounding an Xbox gaming console.
"What are you playing? Little guys."
Crystal's eyes lit up, and she immediately walked over.
According to her experience, games that many people liked were not bad.
The children turned back. Upon seeing Crystal with her short orange hair and valiant, beautiful appearance, they, who had originally not intended to answer, spoke up: "Pretty big sister, it's a newly released game."
"Let me see, what is it called?"
Crystal immediately leaned in close, and the fragrance on her body made the children dare not move around randomly.
"Bayonetta!"
Several children said proudly.
However, after comparing, they still felt that 'Bayonetta' in the screen was cooler than this big sister.
Whether it was her posture or figure, Bayonetta was full of an older sister vibe.
Making the children unable to stop themselves.
Just like how many people secretly watched Cat's Eye when they were young, liking beautiful women was a man's nature.
"bayonetta?"
Crystal raised an eyebrow and officially started watching.
Seeing several children demoing the game, Crystal's first impression was that the character model was very exquisite.
Bayonetta's modeling could still hold its own even more than a decade later, and in this era, it was simply crushing.
She didn't reject female protagonists; instead, she felt this was much more satisfying because there was enough sense of immersion.
Games with male protagonists, on the contrary, made her unable to keep playing.
And then came the combat.
The story of the game was very simple: it was the plot of Bayonetta, as a witch, slaughtering so-called Angels all the way through.
"Are these Angels? Why are they so ugly?"
Crystal couldn't hold it together anymore.
If one said how beautiful the witches were, then the Angels were just as ugly.
Such ugly Angels also naturally gave people the idea of wanting to defeat them, subconsciously thinking that they were evil.
Otherwise, it might actually cause some people to feel uncomfortable.
People all had a sense of aesthetics, just like how many people subconsciously thought that whoever looked good was justice...
The reverse was also true; looking too ugly meant they were naturally suited to be villains.
This made Crystal very interested. If the so-called Angels were all such ugly monsters, then they really ought to be hunted.
It seemed that bayonetta was precisely such a game.
She watched with rapt attention, and then complained, "You guys are too lousy, let me do it."
She snatched the controller directly from the kids' hands and began operating it herself.
The children wore wronged expressions, almost bursting into tears with a cry of 'wa'.