The Man of Steel in Marvel

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Universe 199999 – New York

Inside a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier conference room, the air was thick with tension.

On the holo-screen, Loki's smirking face had just disappeared, leaving behind a heavy silence.

Tony Stark leaned against the table, tapping his fingers impatiently on the metal surface. His helmet had been tossed aside, and a few scratches still marked his face.

"So that bastard's throwing a party at my place now?" he scoffed. "Guy sure knows how to pick a venue."

Steve Rogers frowned, staring at a tactical tablet showing live surveillance from Stark Tower. "Loki's after the Tesseract. He needs a high-energy source to power the portal device."

"And the Arc Reactor at Stark Tower fits the bill perfectly," Black Widow added, her eyes sweeping across the team.

"We're running out of time."

Thor gripped Mjolnir tightly and said grimly, "Once Loki's army arrives, Midgard will be in grave danger."

"Army?" Bruce Banner pushed up his glasses, his voice a bit shaky.

"You mean… an alien fleet?"

"The Chitauri," Thor nodded. "A bloodthirsty band of interstellar raiders. They serve only Thanos."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Thanos? Who the hell's that?"

"This isn't the time for jokes, Stark!" Steve snapped.

"I'm not joking!" Tony grabbed his helmet.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., fire up the Mark VII. We need to crash that alien party before it starts!"

"Sir, the Mark VII hasn't completed final calibration," J.A.R.V.I.S. responded through the speaker.

"No time for that. Just make it work!"

Up in the sky above New York, Jiro floated among the clouds, the golden patterns on his black armor glowing under the sunlight.

With his super vision, he scanned the entire city below.

"System, what's the current time?" he asked in his mind.

[Ding! Current date: May 4, 2012. Chitauri invasion will begin in 3 minutes.]

Jiro smirked. Plenty of time to get ready.

He tuned his super hearing to catch unusual activity in the city.

Soon enough, some familiar voices came through loud and clear.

"Energy spike detected on the top floor of Stark Tower!" Black Widow's voice came through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s comms.

"Fury, we may need to prepare for an evacuation," said Captain America, his tone serious.

"I'm already en route. This thing looks like some kind of portal," Tony replied, his usual flippant tone tinged with tension.

Jiro turned his gaze toward Stark Tower.

Sure enough, on the rooftop platform of the tower, Dr. Erik Selvig was fiddling with a strange-looking machine, while Loki stood beside him holding his scepter, a smug grin on his face.

"Let's just observe for now," Jiro decided to stay hidden. He flew higher, disappearing into the clouds above, quietly watching things unfold.

Seconds ticked by.

As Selvig activated the machine, a column of blue energy shot into the sky, tearing open a massive rift right over New York.

From the dark depths of space, the eerie outline of a Chitauri mothership could just barely be seen.

"It's starting," Jiro muttered to himself.

The first wave of Chitauri soldiers came swarming out of the wormhole like locusts, riding flying vehicles and wreaking havoc in the skies above New York.

Explosions and screams instantly filled the air over Manhattan.

The Avengers quickly assembled.

Iron Man intercepted enemy flyers in the air. Captain America led evacuation efforts on the ground. Black Widow and Hawkeye fought side by side, coordinating their attacks.

Then came the Hulk—late as usual—charging through the streets like a giant, green battering ram.

Jiro watched it all, calmly assessing the battle.

The Avengers worked well together, but the Chitauri just kept coming. There were way too many of them.

One of the massive Leviathan beasts broke through the defense lines, crashing through several buildings and sending people into full-blown panic.

"…Time to move."

Jiro took a deep breath, then dove straight down from the clouds.

He controlled his speed on purpose, slicing through the sky like a black meteor. Just before hitting the ground, he stopped abruptly—boom! The shockwave knocked over a dozen Chitauri soldiers nearby.

"What the hell was that?!"

Captain America, who was in the middle of helping civilians evacuate, snapped his head up, his shield catching the sunlight.

Jiro landed on top of a half-destroyed building. His black armor gleamed under the sun.

He looked around, locking onto the most chaotic parts of the battlefield.

"Let's start with the biggest one."

He bent his knees, then launched himself straight at a rampaging Leviathan.

While flying through the air, his eyes lit up with blazing red light.

Zzzap!

Twin heat rays shot out like laser beams, hitting the Leviathan right in the head.

The beast let out a painful roar, its metal armor slicing apart like it was made of butter.

Jiro didn't stop—he swept the beams down the creature's spine, cutting it clean in half.

BOOM!

The massive corpse slammed into the street, throwing up a cloud of dust and debris.

"JARVIS, what the hell was that?" Iron Man hovered in midair, Tony Stark's eyes wide behind his mask.

"Unknown target, sir. Energy levels are off the charts."

Down on the ground, Black Widow and Hawkeye had just taken down a squad of Chitauri. The sudden backup caught them both off guard.

"Fury, we've got a new player on the field," Natasha reported through her earpiece.

Jiro ignored their reactions and kept moving.

He flew straight to the area beneath the wormhole, where the Chitauri troops were gathering in force.

He took a deep breath. His chest expanded. Then—

Whoosh!

A wave of freezing breath blasted across the zone. Hundreds of Chitauri were instantly frozen solid, turned into ice sculptures, and then shattered into powder with a light breeze.

"Holy crap…"

Hawkeye lowered his bow, staring in disbelief.

Still not slowing down, Jiro shot toward the wormhole, using his enhanced vision to analyze the energy flow.

"Same energy as Loki's scepter. That means I can shut it down."

Just then, Nick Fury's voice crackled through the comms: "All units, heads up. The Council just authorized a nuke."

"What?!" Cap yelled, furious. "There are still civilians down here!"

Jiro's brow furrowed.

A nuke? That definitely wasn't part of the plan.

Super hearing locked onto the missile launch location, and in the blink of an eye, he broke the sound barrier and shot into the sky.

A few seconds later, he intercepted the already-launched nuke, casually changed its course, and flew straight into the wormhole with it.

"Gentlemen, he's flying into space... with a nuclear missile," Black Widow quipped.

Jiro soared through the wormhole and entered the dimension where the Chitauri mothership was stationed.

He let go of the nuke and watched as it exploded on the mothership. Then he immediately turned back.

On the other side of the wormhole, the Avengers were tensely waiting.

"If the missile explodes over there, won't the shockwave—"

Before Captain America could finish, a dark figure burst out of the wormhole.

Jiro came back completely unharmed, and behind him, the wormhole began to shake violently.

He landed on the Stark Tower platform, facing Loki directly.

"Who... who are you?" Loki stepped back, pointing the scepter at Jiro.

"Kneel."

Jiro sneered, ignored the wave of energy from the scepter, and casually grabbed Loki by the neck, lifting him into the air.

"You know, I could snap your neck, but... someone might not be too happy about that."

Loki struggled, face turning red. "You... can't..."

With his other hand, Jiro easily snatched the scepter away and then tossed Loki aside like he was taking out the trash.

His super vision scanned through the platform and quickly found the active Tesseract device.

"Let's end this."

He walked over to the device, scepter in hand.

The tip of the scepter pierced the energy barrier precisely, instantly shutting the device down.

The wormhole in the sky began to collapse, and soon, it vanished completely.

New York fell silent again—well, except for the wrecked streets and a bunch of stunned Avengers.

Tony was the first to land on the platform. His helmet slid open as he looked Jiro up and down. "Okay, whoever you are, that was badass. But, uh, how about a name?"

Jiro turned around to face the Avengers.

Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye arrived one after another. The Hulk was growling in the distance, while Thor helped up a very defeated-looking Loki, keeping a wary eye on Jiro.

"Name's Jiro," he said calmly.

"You can call me Superman."

"....."