"I spent a lot of time on the run, and during those years I read quite a few books," Bruce Banner said thoughtfully. "One series, in particular, left a lasting impression on me. A science fiction trilogy called Remembrance of Earth's Past."
He leaned back in his chair.
"In the first novel, The Three-Body Problem, an alien civilization sends sophons to Earth to lock down humanity's scientific development. Their goal is simple: prevent any meaningful advancement so that centuries later, when their invasion fleet arrives, humanity won't be capable of resisting."
Banner paused, considering the comparison.
"From a strategic perspective, it's actually a brilliant move."
His expression darkened.
"And what's interesting is that we're experiencing the exact opposite scenario."
"The foundations of science aren't being suppressed. They're accelerating. Research is advancing at a ridiculous pace. It's almost as if someone is deliberately feeding us the answers."
Banner folded his arms.
"I can't shake the feeling that something is pushing humanity forward."
The concern in his voice was unmistakable.
"The question is who. And more importantly... why?"
Fundamental science formed the backbone of every technological revolution on Earth.
When a breakthrough occurred at a critical point, entire industries could leap forward overnight.
At the moment, however, Banner had no evidence that anyone was manipulating events behind the scenes.
Scientific progress was generally considered a good thing, after all.
Without proof, there was no reason to mobilize the full resources of S.W.O.R.D. and launch a massive investigation.
Part of him still hoped he was simply overthinking things.
As a result, he limited himself to conducting a few small-scale inquiries.
Drex Valen found Banner's suspicions intriguing.
The problem was that the Marvel universe contained enough world-ending crises to fill a library.
Even he couldn't immediately identify what event this might be connected to.
More importantly, the universe itself had changed.
His existence had altered the timeline repeatedly, creating ripple effects that interacted with influences from countless parallel realities.
The result was a world evolving in unpredictable directions.
At this point, it could mutate so far from the original timeline that even the people who had written the stories would fail to recognize it.
Earth.
United Nations Headquarters.
The organization was gradually transforming into something larger.
What had once been the United Nations was beginning to resemble the foundation of a true Earth Federation.
More and more countries believed that global cooperation shouldn't remain an exclusive game played by a handful of major powers.
If humanity was going to unite, then every nation needed a seat at the table.
Some political leaders had even begun arguing that the Earth Federation should eventually replace the United Nations entirely.
The idea had gained tremendous momentum following humanity's encounters with extraterrestrial threats.
Alien invasions changed perspectives remarkably quickly.
The Zerg infestation alone had caused enough chaos.
The creatures had infiltrated human society, disguising themselves among the population. Humanity could only identify them using specialized detection equipment developed by Umbrella Corporation.
The permanent members of the Security Council had all come to the same realization.
The era when a few powerful nations could dictate the future of the world was ending.
Humanity faced threats far larger than any individual country.
The Saiyan crisis remained unresolved.
(Drex had honestly forgotten about that one.)
The Chitauri's mysterious benefactor was still lurking in the shadows.
The Kaiju civilization traced back to that same hidden force.
Earth was standing in the path of dangers unlike anything it had faced before.
Drex could hear discussions about all of it.
Technically, he could hear conversations happening anywhere on the planet.
Superman's super-hearing was absurdly broken.
Distance didn't matter.
Even conventional physical limitations didn't seem to apply.
Fortunately, he kept it switched off most of the time.
Otherwise, the constant flood of information would be unbearable.
"Humanity united..."
Drex tapped a finger against his desk.
"Interesting."
For a brief moment, an outrageous idea crossed his mind.
What if humanity truly united?
What if Earth became a vast interstellar empire?
And what if he positioned himself at its center?
The thought spiraled further.
Create an Astral Realm.
Manufacture cosmic horrors.
Give humanity impossible enemies to struggle against.
Then allow civilization to grow stronger through the conflict.
If mankind eventually learned to crush those threats, the dangers lurking elsewhere in the universe would seem insignificant by comparison.
The idea sounded amusing.
Right up until he considered the consequences.
The closer Drex came to multiversal levels of power, the more he appreciated just how terrifying certain concepts truly were.
Some things were dangerous simply because they existed.
If he repeatedly invoked certain entities associated with the Astral Realm, there was a non-zero chance they might actually notice.
And if beings on that level managed to lock onto this universe...
Things could become very real, very quickly.
An imagined threat might stop being imaginary.
A fictional realm could become an actual dimension.
Even if such entities were restricted by the dimensional laws of the Marvel universe and unable to physically enter reality, their influence alone could be catastrophic.
Corruption.
Madness.
Spiritual contamination.
Entire civilizations twisted beyond recognition.
The universe could end up becoming a nightmare-infested reality every bit as infamous as the zombie universes scattered throughout the multiverse.
No.
That idea belonged firmly in the category of things not worth experimenting with.
Still, humanity moving toward greater unity wasn't a bad thing.
At the very least, resources could be distributed more efficiently.
The disparity between different regions of the world remained staggering.
A middle-class child in the United States, from birth through college graduation, could easily consume more resources than an entire family in some impoverished nations might earn in a lifetime.
The imbalance appeared everywhere.
Some examples were obvious.
Others were invisible unless someone examined the numbers closely.
Developed countries consumed several times more electricity per person than developing nations, and many times more than the poorest regions on Earth.
Food consumption revealed an equally dramatic contrast.
In wealthier countries, diets contained far larger quantities of beef, dairy products, eggs, and other resource-intensive foods.
Producing those foods required enormous agricultural input.
Vast amounts of grain were converted into meat through livestock production.
The average annual meat consumption in some developed nations exceeded one hundred and seventy kilograms per person.
And those nations weren't even necessarily the world's largest consumers.
In practical terms, the food resources used by a single citizen of a wealthy country could sometimes rival the annual consumption of an entire family elsewhere.
The contrast extended beyond consumption itself.
Food waste was another major factor.
Many people imagined waste occurring at the dining table, but much of it happened long before meals reached customers.
Restaurants frequently discarded edible ingredients during preparation.
Premium cuts of meat were trimmed extensively for appearance and texture.
Vegetables were often reduced to their most aesthetically pleasing portions.
Fruit displays were assembled using only selected sections to ensure visual consistency.
Dessert shops discarded significant amounts of chocolate and other ingredients rather than risk quality inconsistencies.
Customers rarely saw it.
But behind kitchen doors, enormous quantities of perfectly usable food vanished every day.
Viewed from a global perspective, the scale was staggering.
The amount of food wasted annually by a relatively small collection of wealthy Western European nations could theoretically feed vast populations elsewhere in the world.
And that was only one example of how unevenly humanity's resources were distributed.
If the species truly intended to face the stars together, that imbalance would eventually need to be addressed.