In fact, in most comics, the Three Great Empires are not just a backdrop. There's not only the secret invasion by the Skrull Empire, but the Kree Empire also prominently appear in the Movie Universe. The Shi'ar Empire is relatively mysterious, but that's because the Mutants' film adaptations do not involve Professor X's romantic history. Back then, the Mutants caused quite a commotion in the Shi'ar Empire, and there are characters as closely associated with the Shi'ar Empire as Dou Jian.
In comparison, the Skrull Empire and the Kree Empire have made it clear that they are not even pretending and aim to invade Earth and occupy the Milky Way. The Shi'ar Empire is relatively more civilized, but that doesn't mean they won't covertly cause trouble.
Ironically, the US Government in Marvel Comics, fearful of neglecting any force intending to invade Earth, eagerly accepts all disasters and mysterious dangers with open arms, welcoming all parties equally.
When Stark learned that Red Orchid Factory was not entirely human technology, he already had doubts. It's not that humans can't use alien technology; after all, Earth is quite advanced in this cosmos, and participating in the Interstellar Society is not surprising. Trading useful technology with other aliens is normal.
But the issue lies in the nature of the Red Orchid Factory. You see, this is a factory producing super weapons, specifically against Mutants. Considering the strength of Mutants, it can be said that a super weapon capable of defeating Mutants would be unrivaled in the cosmos. How could technology for such a production line be available for sale?
It's like the governments on Earth. They hear about selling planes, selling tanks, but no one's heard of selling nuclear weapon manufacturing plants. Such things can't be sold, not even by the Three Great Empires.
So there's another possibility. This weapon factory may only target Mutants, and its products will only affect Mutants, posing no threat to anything else. Only under these circumstances might such technology be out there for humans to acquire.
However, if a civilization has never interacted with Mutants, it's impossible for them to have such technology. The original source of the technology must have a deep understanding of Mutants and invested significant efforts in researching ways to annihilate them, otherwise, such technology wouldn't exist.
Stark knows that back in the day, Phoenix lost control and directly obliterated a star system of the Shi'ar Empire. This event is a significant turning point for Mutants, common in every universe. However, due to Professor X smoothing things over and refusing to execute Phoenix, the Shi'ar Empire couldn't do anything to the culprit in the end.
The Shi'ar Empire is very likely to have learned their lesson and invested heavily in researching weapons to annihilate Mutants. Only they would do this because they are the ones with deep-seated animosity against Mutants.
And if it is the Shi'ar Empire providing the technology and materials, they must have ultimate control over the factory. Because if not, they cannot ensure the factory is successfully built, and the produced Robots would act as predicted and only target Mutants.
After all, humans have a reputation for being unreliable, unable to accomplish anything. If the factory were simply unbuilt or exploded, it would be one thing, but if these Robots malfunctioned and started indiscriminate slaughter, the Shi'ar Empire would suffer chaos. Therefore, they must have left a backdoor in the factory.
Stark has hinted several times that the factory's ability to be built was suspicious. However, neither Dr. Greger and other researchers, the human government nor Mutants were concerned, confident that alien technology was merely the icing on the cake, relying entirely on human technological prowess.
Stark has some understanding of the Shi'ar Empire. He knows this country is not as authoritarian as the other two, being the most prone to internal sabotage among noble republics. This action might simply be revenge, but pure revenge is unlikely.
Expending so much manpower and resources just for a long-standing grievance wouldn't work for any country. As things stand, annihilating Mutants doesn't benefit them much, unless they can acquire other gains through this plan.
Upon learning that the mysterious Crystal material would exhibit different properties at different temperatures, Stark could roughly guess the Shi'ar Empire's plan. After all, this empire in his universe excels in Teleportation Technology, and not leveraging such technology would be uncharacteristic of them.
At regular high temperatures, the Crystal can be used as a critical conductor, solving some tough energy transmission problems. At extreme high temperatures, the Crystal can transform into a Flash capable of housing consciousness. So, at other temperatures, might the Crystal have other functions?
To Stark, the answer is affirmative. From the structure diagram of the Red Orchid Factory that he saw, he's discovered that the highly focused big brain Mother Module is just a blind eye technique, with very few key structures within.
Conversely, the circular structure supporting the Mother Module uses a large amount of Energy Crystal and its manifestation is very much like the outer frame of a Teleportation Portal. It's almost conceivable that upon reaching certain conditions, it could directly support opening an extremely large Teleportation Portal.
However, currently no one has discovered this matter.
Stark hasn't spoken about it either. Though he's furious at the slow reactions and obliviousness of the crowds, he chooses to remain silent.
This isn't the opposite of interventionism—it's not giving up. On the contrary, if used well, this could perhaps benefit the resolution of fundamental problems in this universe.
Therefore, Stark tells the local Spider Man that if events indeed escalate to an uncontrollable level, like the factory spiraling out of control, he's willing to intervene. This is already a significant advancement, and the local Spider Man doesn't ask for more.
With this promise obtained, the human government starts to take action. They open up the external defense mechanisms, allowing The Avengers to penetrate the core System.
At this moment, several mutants had already gathered above the Mother Module. Magneto brought the skilled mutants he had rallied once again to the vicinity of the Mother Module. This group of people didn't even need a spaceship; they could cross the cosmos with their bodies, ignoring the heat of the sun.
Compared to the previous strike team, this group was much more powerful. At the same time, they were also very cautious and did not rashly attack that large head.
"You really don't want to control the factory?" Apocalypse asked.
"I just want to get people out," Magneto said, "Excessive greed will destroy everything; I'm very aware of that."
Apocalypse didn't seem dissatisfied, but he remained silent. The other mutants also did not speak because when they truly approached the Mother Module, everyone felt a certain budding threat that chilled them to the bone.
Magneto also quietly watched that head. It didn't look like a head, rather like a slowly beating heart. For some reason, he felt that the Mother Module had awakened and that some fatal threat was being nurtured, bringing the mutants closer to extinction.
This sense of crisis even made him want to abandon the original plan and completely destroy the factory. However, in the end, he controlled himself and waved his hand, saying, "Let's go."
They began to breach the external defense system. There were countless patrolling unmanned ships and artillery there, but in front of Magneto, they were of no avail. The real trouble was the hundreds of Sentinel Robots here. Although not all were main Sentinels, they were all very powerful.
Magneto was clearly one of those mutants thoroughly studied. He had appeared too many times for everyone to know what he could do. The weapons used by the Sentinels weren't ordinary artillery but molecular stasis fields. It's somewhat similar to dense ice, just not as long-lasting and stable, but undoubtedly Magneto's nemesis.
Magneto was in a tough spot. Just as he pushed one Sentinel Robot away, another Sentinel with a force field grabbed him from behind by the neck. He wanted to resist with his abilities, but was trapped by the force field. Luckily, Apocalypse punched away, forcing the Sentinel Robot to retreat. Magneto shook his cloak, retreating somewhat awkwardly.
"You can't rely solely on remote attacks," Apocalypse said, "You should occasionally practice your fist and footwork."
"My hand-to-hand combat is even less effective in front of them," Magneto said with a grim face, "The Sentinels really restrain me too much."
Apocalypse had no time to talk to him. He directly grabbed an oncoming Sentinel Robot and twisted its head off with disdain before throwing it away, saying, "That's all they have."
The other mutants were in a much better situation than Magneto. They didn't appear much, and ordinary human governments didn't see them as major threats, so the data infusion against the Sentinel Robots was insufficient. Even the main Sentinels were steadily defeated in front of this group of mutants. Before long, they breached the external defenses and entered the core system, with the large head right in front of them.
"You go meet them," Apocalypse said, crossing his arms, "Quickly, I suspect those cunning humans have more tricks waiting for us."
Magneto flew slightly forward, but soon, several figures flew out from the ring ahead.
"The Avengers!" Magneto gritted his teeth.
"Didn't expect to see us here, did you?" Thor raised his hammer, saying, "The failure of the strike team was entirely your scheme. You wanted to take the opportunity to send consciousness into the factory system, to control the Mother Module and alter the settings of the Nimrod Robots. We won't let you succeed!"
As soon as Magneto heard this, he knew that the other party had misunderstood, but it was pointless to argue. Because the matter of transferring consciousness seemed precisely Professor X's field; even Magneto suspected if it was a setup by Professor X. After all, the X-Men listened to him, and he indeed had such capabilities.
Claiming to be there to receive people now, The Avengers wouldn't believe it. They would only think Magneto was trying to liaise inside and out to take down the Mother Module. Words were useless; it's better to start fighting directly.
"You go," Apocalypse said to Magneto, "I'll handle them."
Magneto was about to leave, but Thor wanted to stop him. Yet Apocalypse narrowed his eyes and, almost instantly, turned into a stream of light, slamming Thor against the ring behind. With a bang, the ring shook violently, and Thor spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Thor!!!!!!"