Whether they are entering the superhero age is debatable, but the Earth is about to face a massive catastrophe.
The prelude to that catastrophe? Mr. Fantastic is going to marry the Invisible Woman.
"Uh... isn't that a bit unexpected? Why would their marriage signal the end of the world? Are they going to have a child who can destroy everything?" Wanda blinked her wide eyes and asked.
Shin rolled his eyes. Honestly, the child they eventually give birth to really can destroy the world!
Franklin Richards, the son of Reed Richards and the Invisible Woman, is so absurdly powerful as a mutant that he leaves all others far behind.
Compared to Jean Grey, who draws on the Phoenix Force, or Wanda herself, who wields chaos magic, Franklin is the true apex of mutant-kind. From birth, he was destined to be a cosmic anomaly capable of reshaping reality, a potential creator of the multiverse itself.
Shin even suspected that this kid was fated to become the Creator God after the universe's eventual collapse.
What's more, Franklin seems to have a special connection with Galactus, the cosmic entity about to arrive on Earth and the true threat looming ahead. At the very least, their powers lie at opposite extremes, and they're future allies.
"Come to think of it, could this crisis on Earth be connected to the birth of the strongest mutant? Did Galactus come to meet his future friend?"
That thought crossed Shin's mind. Who could possibly guess what Galactus is thinking? Maybe he really is insane enough to want a bite of Eternity's heart.
As wild as that sounded, it wasn't impossible, this was a single universe, not the entire multiverse.
Even if Galactus in one universe consumed a fragment of Eternity, it wouldn't affect their true forms across the wider multiverse. At worst, it would just doom this particular universe.
Still, for Earth, that impact would be cataclysmic.
"It's not their future child that will destroy the world," Shin explained. "It's that their marriage marks a critical point in time."
"At the exact moment they get married, Galactus's herald arrives on Earth!"
"Galactus?" Wanda and Pietro exchanged glances. The name sounded straightforward… and nothing about it seemed good.
Jessica Jones, who had quietly joined the conversation, looked bewildered. She didn't understand why Wanda and Pietro would believe something so far-fetched coming from Shin.
But to Wanda and Pietro, it wasn't so strange. Wizards having glimpses of the future wasn't unheard of, especially not for a close associate of the Sorcerer Supreme. Predicting the future was well within reason.
Besides, Wanda had studied in Kamar-Taj long enough to know about the dimensional lords, and she understood that Earth had never truly been safe. The idea of someone like Galactus showing up wasn't far-fetched at all.
"What exactly is Galactus? Can he really eat planets?" Pietro asked first.
"He does consume planets. More specifically, think of him as a cosmic-level monster that feeds on planetary cores."
Talk of abstract entities like the Living Tribunal or cosmic balance was meaningless to Pietro and Jessica, and still a bit advanced for Wanda. Rather than going on about cosmic hierarchies, it was simpler to just call Galactus a planet-eating monster. That explanation was more digestible.
"A planet-devouring cosmic monster? How big is Galactus?" Wanda gasped.
"Well… his true form is unknown, but the ship he travels in is bigger than Earth," Shin replied after thinking for a moment.
"Uh… what are we supposed to do then? My chaos magic… probably won't work on a monster that size!" Wanda gulped.
In truth, if Wanda ever unlocked her full potential, she could absolutely go toe-to-toe with Galactus even in his multiversal-level true form.
Of course, given the constraints of this universe, there was no way for her to reach that level. The only person capable of that would be the Wanda from the main Marvel timeline.
"Judging from the current timeline, we should be safe this time," Shin said seriously. "But we still need to prepare. If things go south..."
He paused, then continued grimly, "We'll have to escape to a parallel universe."
Wanda and Pietro were stunned. Pietro stammered, "W-We're not going to... try to stop him?"
Shin gave him a look of sincere admiration. "Oh, so you're planning to attack a spaceship the size of a solar system, with a mass several times greater than Earth's and defenses like reinforced alloy? You've got guts!"
Pietro pictured it in his mind just replacing Earth's surface with high-grade alloy and trying to punch it with all his strength…
If Galactus was a giant, then what was he? A flea? A microbe?
Wanda also swallowed hard. At best, her current maximum attack could level a city. But to Galactus, even that might only knock off a single flake of cosmic skin.
If there were even a sliver of hope, Wanda and Pietro would likely fight to the end. But after hearing Shin's assessment, they couldn't see even a glimmer of victory.
Given the hopeless odds, the only rational option was to plan for escape if it came to that.
...
Shin had vivid memories of the Fantastic Four film involving Galactus. So when he saw the absurdly chaotic wedding ceremony of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman on TV, treated as mere tabloid fodder, he knew what it meant. Galactus was likely on his way.
As for gathering superheroes to confront Galactus, that thought had never even entered Shin's mind.
There were countless failed universes in both Marvel and DC. In neither universe did victory for justice come as a rule. Shin's priority was to protect the people around him not to sacrifice himself for the greater good.
Originally, he had planned to stay out of it, to observe from a distance and avoid triggering a butterfly effect that could spell disaster. What he didn't realize was that he was already the butterfly that had thrown everything off course.
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