Days later.
After familiarizing herself with the lunar base, Carol returned to Earth to meet with the Justice League. However, she found herself unable to meet the people she expected to see, which naturally frustrated her.
"Where is Batman? Why hasn't Superman appeared yet?"
Carol was forthright in her questioning when she faced Anton.
It had been several days since her return to Earth, yet during this time, she hadn't seen a trace of Batman or Superman.
This made Carol feel somewhat uneasy.
People on Earth, perhaps accustomed to the Justice League way of operating, did not seem concerned about the absence of these two.
They knew that Batman, Superman, and the other members of the Justice League would appear when the time was right.
"It not time for them to come out yet."
Anton understood Carol concerns but did not give her the response she wanted, saying dismissively,
"They play a much larger role than you. Besides, this is a matter for the Justice League, and it not your place as an outsider to dictate our actions."
"Hmph."
Carol expression showed a flash of anger.
Coulson, standing nearby, sensed the tension and quickly stepped in front of Carol and Anton.
"This is indeed the Justice League style they usually do not appear before the event occurs."
Coulson explained, "I believe they will show up."
"They better," Carol turned her head, unwilling to say more, and walked away from Anton.
Gamora followed Carol steps.
Coulson looked somewhat helpless.
Nick Fury stayed behind, standing beside Coulson.
The two looked at Anton.
"Please don't blame Carol," Coulson said.
"Even though everything is ready, the threat Thanos poses is immense, and according to our timing, they are about to reach, or have already reached, the Milky Way… We don't have much time left."
"Don't worry,"
Anton waved his hand dismissively, "We have a great chance of winning."
"A great chance?"
Coulson and Nick Fury exchanged looks.
Even with the lunar base fully operational and the number of extremis soldiers exceeding one hundred thousand, elevating human power to an unprecedented level, facing the cosmic tyrant Thanos, who could say there was a great chance of victory?
The power and forces Thanos controlled were the highest in the universe.
Even the Kree Empire didn't dare to defy Thanos.
In the original storyline, the Avengers victory over Thanos was largely due to plot armor.
Otherwise, given the universe and Earth situation, it was unreasonable for Earth to defeat a cosmic overlord.
Now, with Gamora arrival, Earth personnel understood Thanos better.
Thanos strength was once again made clear.
This made the burgeoning confidence of Earth people gradually sink again.
It was hard to say what the future held.
But Anton demeanor made them realize that the Justice League seemed to always be fully confident about this war.
However, the two said nothing more and silently followed Carol steps.
In the Milky Way.
Thanos fleet.
A fleet of technologically advanced, streamlined massive warships, interspersed with numerous vicious-looking biological warships resembling turtles and centipedes, moved swiftly through space.
On the central ship of this fleet, where the fleet master, Thanos, was located, sat the tyrant himself.
"Master, we have arrived!"
Ebony Maw eyes flashed sharply as he looked towards Thanos, who was meditating with closed eyes, and spoke in a low voice filled with a murderous tone.
"Activate the teleportation."
Thanos is very direct he doesn't plan to give Earth a chance to resist.
He also has a fair understanding of Earth information.
After all, several of the Infinity Stones he desperately wants have appeared on Earth.
This time, the deployment is partly to show off Thanos forces, to avenge the deaths of three of the Black Order: Black Dwarf, Ebony Maw, and Corvus Glaive. On the other hand, naturally, it is to obtain the Infinity Stones scattered on Earth.
Of course, the latter is most important to Thanos.
As for the former, it was merely convenient.
In fact, the deaths of Black Dwarf, Ebony Maw, and Corvus Glaive did not provoke any anger in Thanos.
Over the years, he has almost abandoned the emotions of an intelligent being.
Everything serves a purpose.
To achieve his goal, there is nothing he is not willing to discard.
Even his own life.
In the original storyline, he executed this trait very well, sacrificing Gamora and, after snapping his fingers, wiping out half the life in the universe, his body was drained, suffering permanent damage, thus he was easily tracked down and killed by Thor and others after his retreat.
With Thanos wisdom, he couldn't possibly be unaware of his future demise, yet he still firmly chose this path.
Destiny.
He believed he was destined.
To eliminate half of the universe life, delaying the process of the universe demise, that was his duty as a "philosopher."
"Initiate the transport!"
"At once!"
With that, Ebony Maw immediately responded, commanding the fleet to assemble as countless energies gathered at the tails of these ships.
Ebony Maw stood on the central ship, harnessing the ships energy to cast magic and successfully opened a massive space portal.
But his expression was not good.
Because the portal didn't open within Earth as hoped, but in a region outside of it.
Ebony Maw said nothing.
Seeing this, Thanos realized something unexpected had happened.
"A powerful sorcerer has blocked Earth space."
Ebony Maw slowly spoke, "It that Earth Sorcerer Supreme... the Time Stone is in her possession..."
"I see."
Thanos nodded, "Then we go outside Earth."
He was very calm.
"Even if they are prepared, Earth cannot escape being conquered by me."
His words carried unmatched confidence.
More intense than any other.
After all, as a universal overlord, he had started from scratch.
In some ways, Thanos is more of a legend in this universe than Superman.
As a descendant of the Eternals from Titan, Thanos has a very long lifespan.
In a thousand years, he built the Thanos Legion from scratch, a force to rival the Kree Empire.
A thousand years might seem long, but consider that the Kree Empire and other major powers took many more millennia to develop and rise to a dominant position.
Only Thanos managed in a mere thousand years what took others several thousand years to accomplish.
Throughout his journey, Thanos was undefeated.
This is the main reason why many across the universe held a pessimistic view for Earth when they learned of the Thanos Legion campaign.
Superman, from Earth, might seem strong, but he is just a rookie in the vast universe.
Such beings, though rare, do exist in the universe.
But a self-made universal overlord like Thanos is the truly recognized powerhouse of this universe.
After the Thanos Legion arrived at the scene.
In the universe.
Many dominant forces and interstellar intelligence organizations turned their attention to the Milky Way.
They used special interstellar connection methods to continuously observe the war between the Thanos Legion and Earth.
While they didn't believe that Earth, even with Superman, could turn the tables, nor did they think Thanos would fail, they couldn't deny that the battle between Superman and Thanos would definitely be spectacular.
Even Cybertron kept a close eye on this battle.
The lifespans of Autobots are also very long.
Especially for individuals like Optimus Prime, who are counted in tens of thousands of years.
However, the film version of Transformers never revealed the ages of the Autobots or Decepticons, but given the disjointed story settings,
Optimus Prime must be thousands, if not tens of thousands of years old... Cybertron civilization is far older than Asgard.
But living long does not mean a civilization can remain strong.
Cybertron was once a dominant civilization in the universe, but after Cybertron destruction and the civil war among the Transformers, with Autobots and Decepticons killing each other, Cybertron lost its title as a dominant civilization early on...
Even with rebuilding efforts today, it lacks some of the power compared to other dominant civilizations.
Of course, it not lacking in foundation.
So, it impossible to say that the Autobots fear Thanos legion and are unwilling to fight for Earth.
They didn't act purely because Anton made it clear that the Autobots were not needed in battle.
The establishment of the Iron Wall was enough to ensure a friendly relationship between Earth and Cybertron. The next war would be left to humans...
This is humanity first step into interstellar space, a battle that lets the universe recognize Earth.
As the leader, Optimus Prime understood Anton intentions and accordingly sent the Iron Wall to the moon base, and then let the Autobots return to Cybertron, leaving this battle entirely to humans.
In the scenes broadcast by various means.
Thanos fleet traveled to the blue planet, swarms of starfighters burst out from giant warships and bio-warships, surrounding Earth.
However, to their surprise, Earth also sent out its challenger.
Not a fighter jet.
But a person.
Superman!
Rewinding to ten minutes earlier.
On Earth, Anton and others were constantly monitoring the situation at the moon base.
By now, Earth had been on full alert for three days.
All around the world, it seemed as busy and bustling as ever, people strolling on the streets completely unaware that Earth was facing a crisis.
Because the news of the extraterrestrial battle was widely covered, it was impossible to completely block it.
Some pessimists spread the situation online, only to have their accounts quickly banned by internet monitors, and even visited by special forces...
Some astute individuals sensed something was amiss, even thinking that World War III was about to erupt, unsure which country would be safe to flee to.
However, under the current, none of the countries had the inclination to explain the situation to the public.
The war came too fast.
It wasn't a matter of rallying human power to win.
In such a short time, only a united effort from countries around the world could see the light of victory.
If the public were involved, the more likely outcome would not be victory, but complete chaos.
Therefore, it might be better for the public to face the outcome rather than the process.
Meanwhile, with Thanos potentially arriving on Earth at any moment, every informed person was quite anxious and tense.
"It started!"
Suddenly, Anton received a message.
From Kamar-Taj, the Sorcerer Supreme, the Ancient One relayed the information.
She sensed a huge power opening a space portal to Earth, but she kept her promise, using the power of the Time Stone to block Earth space and set up a protective shield, preventing Thanos legion from landing directly on Earth.
Anton immediately dispatched his DC superhero counterparts.
Batman, Superman, Cyborg, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Constantine, Shazam, and others sprang into action.
Superman took to the skies, erupting with a deafening sonic boom.
All of New York saw an indistinct blur shooting into the sky, vanishing in an instant.
While Batman and others activated teleport rings and headed straight for the moon base.
Inside the base.
Carol and others had been stationed there for several days.
Their anxiety was unspeakable.
This feeling of waiting for judgment was unbearably painful.
Especially for someone as impatient as Carol, the feeling was excruciating.
Despite Carol nearing menopause, she seemed to be in a perpetual state of PMS, and no one dared to provoke her.
Suddenly, the arrival of Batman and others set off a huge alarm at the moon base.
Carol, Gamora, Nick Fury, Iron Man Tony, Mr. Fantastic Reed, Dr. Connors the Lizard, Bruce Banner, and General Hawk, the special forces commander in charge of the 100,000 Last Stand soldiers on the moon base, were all startled by the alarm.
They came outside the base building and saw Batman and others in mid-air, their faces stern.
"Gentlemen."
Batman looked around, his voice low yet resonant enough to fill the area: "The war has started!"
Thus.
All the soldiers in the moon base assembled.
Each one with a serious expression, looking up at Batman, their faces resolute.
They were all in the know and understood that they were fighting for Earth.
As the chosen 100,000 Last Stand injected soldiers, elite warriors from countries around the world, each one was among Earth finest, Earth heroes.
"Superman has already moved ahead of us..."
Batman continued, slowly: "According to the plan, he will guard Earth gate until he drives all of Thanos ships to land at the moon base..."
"Gentlemen, I know many of you are prepared to die, but believe me, never underestimate yourselves, nor underestimate Earth..."
His tone gradually became more uplifting.
"Superman will show you how strong Earth is..."
"When Thanos people are driven to Earth, what awaits you will not be tigers, but a bunch of drowned rats!"
"Aliens are no nobler than us, those of you injected with the Last Stand virus are stronger than most aliens!"
"Go!"
"Defeat Thanos, we will rise above the heads of Thanos legion under the gaze of countless civilizations!"
"After this battle, humanity will shine as the brightest star in the universe, forever!"