"Chaos!" Marcus Lee nodded. "Both thrilling and cheesy I like it."
Writer B, fully embracing method acting-style storytelling, exclaimed, "They saw your potential! They turned you into a lab rat! They tortured you! Injected you with all kinds of chemical mixtures! They wanted to mold you into their ultimate weapon!"
"Oh…" Marcus's eyes lit up.
Writer C added, "But your spirit! Your unbreakable, classic American willpower pulled you through! You pretended to yield, learned to control your powers…"
Writer D jumped in, "Then you struck back! You flattened their base! You smashed their boss to pieces!"
Writer E concluded, "You rose from the ashes! You flew across the Pacific! You returned to New York! You were no longer Anthony Lee…"
Everyone, including Marcus, roared in unison:
"You are the Patriot!"
"Perfect!" Marcus suddenly stood up and drained his glass. "This… this is exactly what I want! This is me!" (Inner thought: Cliché! So Disney! Whatever the audience loves it!)
"The title!" He waved his arms. "Call it Patriot: Origins!"
He already imagined himself in a tuxedo, standing on the Oscars stage, claiming his first golden statue in this damn Marvel universe.
The writers erupted in applause; payment secured.
The next day, Watt International's media machine went into overdrive.
Marcus Lee's single command: maximize popularity.
Frontline: Comics and Merchandise.
"Get me the best artists in America!" he shouted at the head of the comic company. "I don't care which company is paying them now buy them!"
"I want a flawless jawline! Muscles more sculpted than a Greek statue! Colors vivid, dazzling, red, white, and blue everywhere! Kids should only see these three colors!"
"The first issue Patriot Adventures #1 must flood every comic shop nationwide before the first trailer even drops!"
Three days later, pre-orders began.
The cover: Marcus Lee punching a Chaos fighter jet out of the sky, a blazing Stars-and-Stripes flag behind him.
Next: Connect the dots.
Watt's toy production lines went into overdrive.
"Two figures!" Marcus reviewed the specs. "One is Hampton Playboy Marcus, with removable sunglasses and a martini glass."
"Two: Hero Ascendant Patriot! LED eyes! Hit the eagle on my chest, it flashes my lines 'You are the true hero!'"
"And…" He pointed at a sketch of the villain. "Make the Chaos leader hideously ugly so ugly that kids want to punch him!"
Within days, stores were stocked with Patriot merchandise.
Patriot breakfast cereal!
Watt energy drinks drink for your superpowers!
After releasing the game trailer, pre-orders topped the charts.
Marcus's philosophy was blunt: "People shouldn't just see me they need to buy me, consume me, play me."
"I want to seep into their blood, their dreams, their damn DNA."
…Avengers Tower.
Steve Rogers was still adjusting to the 21st century; Natasha Romanoff was cleaning up her "Widow bites."
Billionaire Tony Stark, newly done renovating his home, was enjoying rare downtime.
Until he saw the headline in a magazine.
Slap!
Tony slammed the tablet onto the coffee table.
Would you buy this?
Headline: Starr Power! Patriot: Original Version Approved for Filming; Marcus Lee to Star… as Himself!
Tony imitated the announcer's voice: "Oh my god this guy's ego is epic. He's going to star in his own origin story! I kind of admire his guts."
"He turned heroics into business!" Tony gaped. "Started his own company, stars in it himself method acting, really! J.A.R.V.I.S., give me Watt's stock code I'm shorting it."
"Sir, Watt is privately owned by Starr Corporation."
"F !"
Steve frowned and put down his pencil.
"Tony… is this right? He's… commercializing the word 'hero.'"
"Commercializing?" Tony poured a drink. "He's a master at it! Look!"
He scrolled through Watt's website.
"He has his own comic Patriot Adventures! Steve, after you left America, how long did it take for your Captain America comic to be published? A year? Two years?"
"This guy one month. Four weeks, and the whole vertical integration was done!"
Natasha leaned in, clicking on a leaked plot summary.
"Wait… a mysterious shadow organization kidnaps him, experiments on him inhumanely, persecutes him, and finally he awakens?"
She looked up. "Isn't this the same tragic story he told Fury?"
Tony's smile froze.
Then he laughed.
"Ha! Genius shameless genius! He didn't even bother writing a new script he just reused the one he sold to S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
(Marcus: That's the writers' idea don't blame me!)
"If one lie does the job, why invent two?" Tony marveled. "He's not a hero, Steve he's a brand! A walking Stars-and-Stripes logo!"
Steve's frown deepened.
"This is wrong. Heroism… shouldn't be a commodity."
"Really?" Tony pointed at Coulson's collection of the 1945 Captain America lunchbox. "Better tell that box."
"Alright, Tony I had no choice back then," Steve admitted sheepishly.
"Listen, Cap," Tony said seriously, "that guy isn't on Earth, Hulk is playing hide-and-seek, and right now we're the only ones keeping an eye on him in this city."