Most superheroes couldn't fight effectively in open space.
So Tony Stark improvised.
Again.
Using the alien ship Drex Valen had provided as a foundation, Tony rapidly equipped the team with specialized extravehicular combat suits.
The suits featured propulsion systems mounted on the boots and back, allowing movent in zero gravity while preventing the deeply embarrassing possibility of soone accidentally kicking off a wall and drifting endlessly into space.
The heroes tore through the alien troops like a hurricane.
Against ordinary soldiers, the fight barely qualified as combat.
It was extermination.
Within minutes, the first wave of alien defenders collapsed under the assault. Iron Man blasted a massive hole through the outer hull with a concentrated repulsor cannon, and the heroes surged into the ship's interior.
Inside, the vessel maintained an artificial environnt modeled after the atmosphere of the aliens' howorld.
Gravity felt close enough to Earth's to make little difference.
That only made the superheroes more dangerous.
The mont their footing stabilized, they charged through the corridors like predators unleashed into a crowded cage. Alien soldiers were sent flying in every direction, unable to withstand even a single exchange.
A few minutes later, a heavily armored giant burst from deeper within the warship.
The alien carried an enormous battle axe and radiated the sort of presence that scread elite commander. Nearby soldiers imdiately moved aside for him, visibly respectful.
The brute roared and swung the axe downward.
The weapon looked powerful.
The armor looked expensive.
The entrance was dramatic.
Unfortunately, he never got the chance to demonstrate his actual skill.
Before the axe completed its first swing, Hulk punched him square across the face.
The alien commander blasted backward like artillery fire, smashed through multiple walls, and disappeared into the distance.
Every alien soldier nearby froze in horror.
Their reactions were so extre that several of them began staring at the heroes like they were the monsters.
"They seem pretty shocked," Tony said while weaving through enemy lines in his armor. "Was that guy important or sothing?"
He glanced toward Hulk.
"Hulk, was he strong?"
"Weak!"
Hulk slamd both fists into the floor hard enough to crack the deck plating apart, the shockwave throwing soldiers through the air.
"All weak!"
ssage received.
As far as Hulk was concerned, that commander felt no different from the rest of the cannon fodder.
"A primitive species from a backwater world dares act this arrogantly?"
A cold voice echoed from above.
"You really think Shi'ar warships are places you can invade freely?"
Everyone looked up.
A man and woman descended from an upper platform simultaneously.
Both possessed pale violet skin and wore ornate armor beneath flowing cloaks. Their equipnt and bearing clearly placed them far above ordinary soldiers.
The superheroes obviously had no idea how Shi'ar military ranks worked, but judging from the surrounding soldiers' reactions, these two outranked the axe commander by a significant margin.
The mont the fight began, the difference beca obvious.
These two were genuinely stronger.
Their armor enhanced physical performance, amplifying speed, power, and mobility to levels far beyond normal troops.
Compared to the earlier enemies, they were elite combatants.
Which ant they survived almost ten whole moves before getting demolished.
Earth's superheroes had never been the type to politely wait for one-on-one duels.
Teamwork was their default setting.
One enemy?
Jump them together.
An army?
Still charge together.
The two Shi'ar elites instantly found themselves eating repulsor blasts, missile barrages, Gatling fire, red fists, green fists, yellow-green fists...
And finally a generous serving of Hulk-style trauma therapy.
As the battle continued, the heroes' confidence skyrocketed.
At first, hearing the aliens describe themselves as mbers of the Shi'ar Empire, supposedly the greatest empire in the universe, had genuinely worried them.
Now?
Honestly, the "greatest empire in the universe" didn't seem all that impressive.
Ordinary Shi'ar soldiers dropped in clusters every ti the heroes unleashed area attacks, while even their stronger officers got flattened in seconds.
The heroes barely considered the elite guards worth rembering.
The Shi'ar soldiers, anwhile, looked increasingly horrified.
Apparently the people Earth casually referred to as "superheroes" looked more like living gods from the Shi'ar perspective.
Hulk.
Red Hulk.
Abomination.
Juggernaut.
Those kinds of beings were fundantally absurd.
Just as the heroes began thinking they might actually punch their way through the entire warship...
The ship's true master finally appeared.
He had purple skin and wore a red-and-blue combat uniform beneath a flowing crimson cape.
No armor.
No visible weapons.
His overall presence looked completely different from everyone else aboard the vessel.
Honestly, he resembled a superhero far more than an alien military officer.
The reaction around him changed instantly.
Shi'ar soldiers imdiately lowered their weapons and retreated respectfully to the edges of the room.
Nobody even continued fighting.
The atmosphere felt less like welcoming a commander and more like ancient disciples greeting a legendary grandmaster erging from seclusion.
Even the superheroes instinctively grew cautious.
Partly because of the Shi'ar soldiers' reactions.
Mostly because the newcor himself radiated overwhelming confidence.
His cape moved gently behind him as he walked forward with calm, asured steps.
Every movent carried crushing pressure.
And his eyes...
His eyes held the kind of confidence that only appeared in people utterly convinced nothing in existence could stop them.
"How strange," the man said softly, glancing at the defeated Shi'ar elites scattered around the battlefield.
"To think my three royal guards would all be defeated."
His gaze slowly swept across the heroes.
"I ca here searching for the powerful warriors rumored to exist on Earth."
A faint smile appeared.
"I did not expect humanity to possess fighters like you. Impressive."
The heroes exchanged quick looks before Tony stepped forward.
"You their leader?"
"I am."
The man answered calmly.
"I command the Imperial Guard of the Shi'ar Empire."
"You may call Gladiator."
The commander of the universe's greatest empire carried considerably more weight than titles like "greatest assassin in the galaxy."
Of course, the heroes had no idea who they were truly facing.
Gladiator was infamous across the Marvel universe as one of its closest equivalents to Superman.
And among Marvel's various "Superman-inspired" characters, he was arguably the most similar of all.
The last survivor of his species.
Possessing monstrous strength.
Near-limitless speed.
Extre durability.
Microscopic vision.
Heat vision.
Freeze breath.
And far, far more.
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