Norman was stunned.
He really hadn't expected Ben to ask this question.
But when he thought about it carefully, he found himself genuinely tempted.
On one hand, Norman had poured years of effort into building Osborn Industries into what it was today. But its growth had reached a plateau—it would be difficult to expand it much further without external help.
He was a man who had already conquered the business world, and now, with Ben and Primus backing him, rising back to the top was far easier than he'd imagined.
What he hadn't yet experienced was a career in politics.
As for Ben, he had once entertained the idea of becoming Earth's commander-in-chief—like in the stories he'd read where the protagonist ends up ruling the planet. But in the end, he decided it sounded like too much of a hassle.
Still, if he couldn't rule the entire world, why not start with New York? He didn't have the appetite for politics himself… but he knew someone who absolutely did.
Norman Osborn.
In Marvel comics, many people had served as mayor of New York City.
For example, Kingpin, and even Daredevil in some storylines...
If these two guys could be mayors, then Norman Osborn could be too. Not only could he be mayor, but he could also even be president!
It just so happened that both Osborn Industries and Primus Technologies could support him in taking office.
Norman Osborn had been able to make so many sacrifices for Primus. From this point of view alone, Ben had already regarded him as family.
Moreover, this would also bring great benefits to the future development of both companies.
However, the two didn't say much about this matter. Just a glance was enough to understand each other's meaning.
At this moment, the war outside had come to an end.
The moment Natasha activated the signal jammer; the battle was effectively over. As for Ivan Vanko—honestly, it would've been embarrassing if Tony hadn't been able to handle him on his own.
Ben didn't bother staying for the wrap-up. Instead, he slipped away early with Mary Jane and Felicia and took them to the movies. It was a welcome break from the high-stakes tension of the expo.
When they stepped out of the theater, everything was settled. Justin Hammer was already in custody. The evidence against him was overwhelming—no room for denials, no chance of a comeback.
Tony had called Ben afterward, but the call was intercepted by Eunice. Left with no other option, Tony had recorded a message instead.
From the tone of his voice, he seemed pleased with how things had played out. He even mentioned that he'd spoken to Pepper and agreed to help Primus acquire Hammer Industries.
But Ben wasn't concerned with those details.
Norman was handling all the arrangements. And from what Ben could tell, the older man was enjoying himself—relishing the power plays, the corporate maneuvering, and the quiet thrill of dismantling a rival piece by piece.
Compared to Ben's calm detachment, the fallout from the attack was immense.
Civilian companies were rattled, but it was the U.S. military that suffered the greatest embarrassment. They had poured an enormous budget into contracts with so-called weapons giants like Hammer Industries—all based on promises that now lay in ruins.
Back then, Justin Hammer had sworn up and down that there would be no issues. But the result?
Disaster.
Hammer Industries didn't possess any real armor technology. The arrest of Ivan Vanko exposed the truth: the robots Hammer had paraded around were nothing but hollow shells.
Even with Arc Reactor energy powering them, they were useless. Oversized trash with no functionality—barely even combat-capable.
It was a textbook example of failure wrapped in a shiny suit.
But as always, when one side wept, another side smiled.
The military was in damage control.
S.H.I.E.L.D., on the other hand, was quietly pleased.
When Nick Fury heard the news that military spending was about to be cut, he perked up almost instantly. It was as if the psychological trauma he'd brought back from Primus had finally lifted. He looked lighter, even cheerful.
"Well, it's not like the military walked away empty-handed," he said, eyes still glued to the tank battle game he was playing on the Helicarrier's command console. "I heard the Captain say those machines weren't even as tough as real tanks. But hey—they did recover several hundred tons of scrap metal."
Natasha, standing nearby, added dryly, "Primus bought all that scrap back. Paid for it at the going rate for a tank."
"That high?" Nick raised an eyebrow.
She shrugged. "Scrapped tanks. From World War II."
Nick leaned back with a grin, looking like he was one step away from bursting into song.
To be fair, the military didn't walk away with absolutely nothing.
They did get a Mark III, after all.
But anyone paying attention could tell that armor had been left behind more for Rhodes than for the Pentagon. It wasn't a military asset—it was a personal gesture.
And as long as this Iron Patriot existed, the military would be unable to do anything to Rhodes. Of course, there was nothing that could be done about the armor's technology being studied.
Fortunately, Tony developed armor faster than Apple released new phones. By the time the military had spent more than years to master the Mark III, he would have even developed nano armor suits and time machines, so he no longer cared about the copyright.
This also showed that the military's development status was not good.
In terms of funding, the military had far more funding than S.H.I.E.L.D.
However, few of those high-ranking soldiers were capable of conducting scientific research, and most of them ended up spending the money on outside companies. However, those companies were more unreliable than each other.
Not to mention Hammer Industries, even the previous Osborn had made very slow progress in human enhancement project. they had finally come up with a lizard serum, but it had side effects and had almost turned all of New York into prehistoric times.
"In the 21st century, talent is the most important thing," Nick Fury sighed, and felt that his Avengers plan was correct. The only pity was that so far, there were only a handful of Avengers members.
The candidates currently on the shortlist were: Ben, Tony, and two Spider-Men.
Up to this point, Nick Fury still didn't know Spider-Man's true identity.
"That kid's pretty good."
When Captain America heard Nick talking about Spider-Man, he immediately thought of the young man he'd met at the expo.
"He's strong. Smarter than he looks. Honestly, in a lot of ways, his abilities outclass mine. More importantly, he respects his elders."
The last line was said with a smile, but it was still genuine praise.
"I bet he could even lift Thor's hammer," Cap added.
"Is that so?" Nick raised an eyebrow.
"If he can't, then who can?"
No one answered, but the thought lingered. Everyone had the same name in mind.
After a short pause, Coulson cleared his throat. "Speaking of Thor..."
"I didn't say anything about Thor," Nick cut in quickly. "Coulson, you're walking a dangerous line. That's disrespecting a god."
"I don't think dumping him at a construction site and asking him to haul cement is very respectful either, boss," Coulson replied dryly.
Ever since Thor had stayed on Earth, he hadn't exactly been living in comfort. Nick Fury wasn't about to give him free room and board, not when the guy could eat a small town's worth of food and smash plates like it was tradition.
So, in true Fury fashion, he'd spun it as a divine trial and dropped Thor off at a local construction site.
"He's strong enough to earn three days' pay in one. That makes him a model worker," Nick said with a shrug.
Then Nick mentioned Tony again.
"Is Stark okay?"
Since Ivan Vanko had been arrested, in order to improve relations, Nick had told Tony about Howard's past, including the history of Howard and Ivan Vanko's father jointly developing the reactor.
In a sense, it wasn't wrong for Vanko to call Tony a thief.
Natasha shrugged. "He doesn't care. He told Vanko, 'Only a fool would stop at past achievements. You're still dwelling on this while someone else has discovered a whole new element that completely changes the reactor equation.'"
"It seems that this incident has not hit him as hard as Ben Parker's new element did," Nick said, and then a regretful expression appeared on his face. "Tell me, why is he unwilling to cooperate with us?"
After a while, he seemed to remember something, stood up suddenly, and pinched his chin:
"Wait, Ben Parker...Parker?"
The pieces were starting to click together in Nick's mind, but he wasn't quite ready to voice his suspicions yet.
Half a month later, Ben sat with his legs crossed on the top floor of the former Hammer Industries Building, now the Primus Technologies Building, overlooking the modest houses in Queens.
The feeling of standing at the top was amazing, as if everything was under his control.
He was the ruler of this world!
"Sir, in addition to this building, a total of ninety Iron Soldiers have been recovered," Eunice reported.
Because Ben had tampered with those machines, everyone thought that the machines produced by Hammer were almost useless scrap metal.
When the military heard that Primus was willing to spend money to recycle it, they were so happy that they could barely contain their excitement.
Without hesitation, they packed up all the debris and sent it to Ben, as if they were afraid that he would go back on his word.
But in fact, no matter how weak Hammer's steel warriors were, they weren't worse than old-fashioned tanks and planes.
It was just that Ben had done something to them, limiting the rotation speed of the reactor cores of these machines.
In addition to these, there were also hundreds of production lines that had originally belonged to Hammer Industries and now belonged to Primus.
Connors was also happy.
Because from today on, he no longer had to squeeze into a small cubicle and watch the few small reptiles crawling around in glass containers.
Now Ben had specially opened up two floors of space for him to cultivate mutant animals and do research.
You know, this kind of treatment was something he couldn't even have imagined when he was at Osborn Industries before.
But when Ben saw Connors's amazed look, he couldn't help but roll his eyes.
Where were they now?
He'd buy a few islands and create a Jurassic Park later.
"But I remember that dinosaurs seemed to have existed in the Marvel world?" Ben wasn't sure.
The only thing he was sure of was the start date of school.
After going through so much, school was finally about to reopen.