Parallel timeline of the Marvel Universe, year 2014.
Queens, New York, inside a comic book store named Blue Star Comics.
A 25-year-old man, with black hair, brown eyes, 1.89m tall and a very handsome face, worked with a smile on his face.
His name is Natan Costa, and Blue Star Comics belongs to him.
To an outsider, Natan might seem like just an ordinary man, a little good-looking, nerdy, and the owner of a comic book store in Queens.
But in truth, he hides a shocking secret.
When he arrived in this Marvel multiverse, he did many things, until he grew tired and went to a small rural town in Brazil to live a peaceful life.
When the Chitauri invaded Earth in 2012, Natan decided to move to New York to be closer to Marvel's events.
It has been almost two years since he came to Queens and opened a comic book store called Blue Star Comics.
The reason he chose Queens was because he wanted to stay close to the little spider, Peter Parker.
While finishing arranging the new comics, the store door opened and a 13-year-old boy walked in.
Natan looked at young Peter Parker and said: "You came early, I just put the new volumes on the shelves!"
When little Peter heard that, his eyes lit up, and he ran forward to see the new releases. "Wow… Mister Natan, this is amazing!"
While shouting, young Peter began looking around at the comic books.
After a while, Peter Parker chose two comic books: Iron Man and Superman.
Natan looked at the cover for a moment before saying: "Seventeen dollars, cash or card?"
"Cash!" Peter replied, pulling out his wallet, paying with a painful expression on his face.
Natan almost wanted to laugh at little Peter; every time he came to buy a comic, Peter made that same face of pain when spending money.
"Here, come back anytime." Natan put the comics in a bag and handed it to young Peter.
"Thank you!" Peter Parker said, grabbed the bag, and ran back home to read as quickly as possible.
Not long ago, about a year to be exact, a small company on the verge of bankruptcy released a comic titled Iron Man.
The protagonist of that story was Tony Stark and how he became Iron Man.
No one had ever seen stories like that before, and the success was instant. The company began making a lot of money.
One comic after another was released, and the company's name became Marvel & DC.
The man responsible for such success and for reviving the company from scratch was an Asian man named Su Chen.
He was a time traveler with a system that collected emotional points from readers of his comics.
With those emotional points, he could buy new works to be published or draw rewards to enhance his strength.
In less than a year, Su Chen released many successful comics with titles such as Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Batman, Superman, and many others.
But what no one knew was that the comics told real stories, and only a few people were aware of it.
So much so that Nick Fury, Tony Stark, Natasha, and many others approached Su Chen, treating him like some kind of prophet.
Only Natan knew the truth, and he had no intention of interfering; he preferred to live a discreet life.
Unless Su Chen wanted to make him an enemy, which would be another story, because to Natan, even the OAA itself was just an ant that could be erased with a thought.
Even if Su Chen had a system, it didn't matter.
Before coming to Marvel, Natan had traveled through many worlds and realms, collected various types of systems, and even created some with his own power.
That was his hobby before coming to the Marvel universe to live a peaceful life.
As for the reason Natan chose the Marvel world, it was simply because he was a big fan of Marvel movies.
When he arrived in this Marvel timeline, Natan met Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes in 1943.
He even joined the war for fun and became part of Captain America's squad.
He met Captain Marvel and young Nick Fury in 1995 and took part in the fight against the Kree under the alias Paradox.
Well, he met many people, but that's a story for later.
Natan grabbed some snacks and drinks while picking up a few comics to read and pass the time.
From time to time, some people came in to buy the new comics, and it wasn't until 5 p.m. that the movement stopped, and Natan got up to close the day.
But just as he stood up, the door opened, and a black man wearing an eye patch walked in.
Natan looked at Nick Fury and raised his eyebrows in doubt.
Nick Fury stared at Natan for a few seconds before saying: "You haven't changed at all in all these years, Mister Paradox."