Over the past few days, the publicity department of Marvel Company began to ramp up their efforts.
First, they carefully crafted Charles's personal growth story.
During his childhood, he accidentally awakened his Telepathy ability.
However, this God-sent talent, which made others envious, was an endless torture for him. He was tormented day and night by the countless strange voices flooding his mind, to the point that even getting a good night's sleep became a luxury.
Disheartened, he decided to seal away this ability, wanting only to be an ordinary person and never touch this talent that caused him so much pain again.
But an unexpected catastrophe completely rewrote his life.
That day, he went to the supermarket with his uncle.
They happened to run into a group of armed robbers holding up the store. His uncle, who could have stayed safely on the side, rushed up without hesitation to fight the robbers to protect the innocent citizens in the supermarket and Charles, and unfortunately ended up being shot by the robbers.
As he was dying, his uncle clutched Charles's hand and left behind those words that were etched into his bones.
"With great power comes great responsibility!"
Watching his uncle fall into a pool of blood, Charles was filled with extreme grief and indignation. He instantly broke through the seal he had placed on himself, unleashed his long-dormant ability, and instantly controlled all the robbers, thereby resolving the crisis.
After experiencing this event, Charles finally awakened to the truth.
He no longer viewed this ability as a curse or a burden, but transformed it into a power of protection to help more weak people in need.
Just as his uncle had said, with great power comes great responsibility.
From then on, Charles silently used his ability to help others until he later discovered Sebastian Shaw's conspiracy to destroy the World and resolutely stepped forward.
In the end, at the cost of sustaining a severe spinal injury and becoming paralyzed from the waist down, he successfully stopped the other party's conspiracy and saved the entire World.
A very classic superhero story.
It had blood, tears, and growth.
It might seem a bit cliché when viewed from later generations, but in this current era, it definitely counts as an inspirational legend.
Especially that line, "With great power comes great responsibility," which instantly elevated the scope of the entire story and became Charles's signature quote.
The most absurd part was that several so-called eyewitnesses actually came forward for interviews, each one speaking with such vivid detail, all claiming to be citizens from the supermarket robbery back then, and that if it weren't for Charles stepping in to save them, they would have long since died under the robbers' guns.
If Charles didn't know they were actors hired by Marvel Industries, he would have suspected whether he truly had such an experience, and if he had an uncle he had never heard of.
Besides this, the story also significantly weakened his Telepathy ability and added quite a few restrictions.
After all, an ability like Telepathy is truly too terrifying and easily makes ordinary people wary, so naturally, the combat power had to be toned down.
Moreover, Charles's core positioning was meant to be a team leader, so he didn't need to rely on powerful superpowers to hold the stage.
Under the shaping of the publicity department, a superhero image with warmth, conviction, and a sense of responsibility was instantly established, and Charles's popularity soared along with it.
Subsequently, the publicity department shot a whole set of promotional posters for him, which covered the streets and alleys overnight.
Whether it was newspaper front pages, street billboards, or TV commercial breaks, his figure could be seen everywhere.
The publicity department originally wanted Charles to shave his head, saying it would give him a more steady, leader-like aura, but Charles refused adamantly, stating that as long as he was alive, his hair would remain, and no one was allowed to touch a single strand of it.
In a short time, Charles became the most dazzling new star of the moment, with a spotlight that even overshadowed all the top celebrities in the entertainment industry.
After all, this was a real-life version of a superhero, which was simply a dimensionality reduction strike compared to those celebrities who just sang, danced, and rapped.
Marvel Company's promotional actions didn't stop at all. Riding the wave of Charles's explosive popularity, they struck while the iron was hot and quickly launched the second superhero.
Magneto, Erik Lehnsherr.
Erik and Charles's styles were two complete extremes; one was gentle and scholarly, the other cold and sharp.
Coupled with his naturally taciturn and quiet nature, the publicity department simply followed his temperament and tailored a "cold-faced powerhouse" persona for him.
As for Erik's personal story, it was even simpler; there was no need to fabricate it, as copying his own real-life experience was enough.
After all, the first half of Erik's life was essentially a giant, capitalized tragedy.
He suffered through war in his childhood, lost his loved ones, was thrown into a concentration camp, and only escaped death by awakening his ability. The days that followed were entirely a path of revenge to find Sebastian Shaw.
The publicity department only needed to polish and refine this real experience slightly to make it moving enough.
Once Erik's promotion was released, the response was equally enthusiastic.
People in America naturally admired the strong, and a ruthless character like Erik, who could cause massive scenes just by raising his hand, hit exactly the right spot for them.
Even though he debuted several days later than Charles, his fan count was no less than Charles's.
The consecutive launch of two superheroes pushed Marvel Company's popularity to a new peak, and countless collaboration invitations broke down their doors.
Marvel Company took the opportunity to officially announce the establishment of the Marvel Foundation, specifically used to help groups in need, and would regularly hold superhero charity events, with all profits from the activities donated in full to the foundation.
With this buff, those who originally had complaints about Marvel hyping itself up through superheroes could no longer say much.
In the following days, Marvel Company successively launched several more superheroes, all of whom were members of the Brotherhood who had appeared at the Marvel Industries Expo.
Although their popularity couldn't compare to the top two, Charles and Erik, with the terrifying traffic support from Marvel Company, they all gained high attention and built a solid fan Base.
Once the superhero roster was complete, Marvel Company finally made an official announcement.
All superheroes would form a brand-new hero team, named the X-Men.
In an instant, this superhero craze sweeping the entire society reached its apex.
The whole population chasing after heroes had become the hottest trend of the moment. Everyone was discussing superheroes, and major TV programs were trying every way to ride this wave of popularity.
Driven by this trend, Mutants became even crazier, and the number of Mutants signing up every day was endless.
The department responsible for screening maintained strict control and really selected many good candidates with outstanding potential.
Among them was an old acquaintance of Darian, Quicksilver Pietro.
He wasn't the weathered middle-aged man from the future World; the current Pietro was still a spirited young man who hadn't participated in battles, and his legs had never been broken either.
Darian asked people to pay special attention to Quicksilver; such a useful tool, he couldn't let go of him easily.
In fact, it wasn't just Mutants signing up; there were also many ordinary people who were equally eager to join Marvel Company and become a superhero.
Now, many ordinary people prayed every day that they could awaken Mutant abilities and become powerful Mutants.
Humans hoping to become Mutants.
If this had been said a few years ago, no one would have believed it.
Upon learning this, Darian had a flash of inspiration and found Hank, asking: "Hank, since the X-Gene is hidden within the human body, is there any way to activate the X-Gene and let ordinary people become Mutants too?"
In the parallel World of "X-Men 1," Magneto had once built a special device capable of forcibly transforming humans into Mutants.
Although the test subjects of this special device didn't have a good outcome, it also indirectly proved that it was indeed possible for humans to transform into Mutants.
Hank pondered for a moment, nodded, and said: "Theoretically, it is possible to achieve, but it will require a great deal of in-depth research."
Darian patted Hank on the shoulder: "Then I'll leave it to you. Ask for whatever resources and manpower you need. I've already thought of the project name: let's call it Compound V."
Darian didn't stay in this server all the time.
After completing the daily tasks with Emma, he withdrew back to the main server.
Ever since the dungeon mission was completed, the time flow between the main server and the X-Men server had been completely synchronized.
Darian returned to the main server from time to time to submit the daily tasks completed by the X-Squad and, incidentally, collect the daily task rewards from that group of mages at Kamar-Taj.
Spending just a little time every day to get various daily task rewards—it simply couldn't be better.
Darian teleported to Attilan on the moon.
The HYDRA lunar Base was now nearing completion, and the progress was much faster than expected.
This was all thanks to the help of the Skrulls.
Talos sent a large number of Skrulls to the moon, who directly joined the HYDRA engineering team.
Their physical fitness was far superior to ordinary humans, and the Super Skrulls possessed various abilities of super-powered individuals, doing the work of ten people each.
Moreover, upon learning that this project was related to the major matter of finding their new home, they worked even harder, skipping rest times, and worked desperately day and night.
It was no wonder that Nick Fury, that man with severe paranoia, dared to risk bringing the Skrulls back to Earth for his own use.
Which leader wouldn't like such "beasts of burden" who work their lives away just by being shown a big picture?
Darian stood on high ground, looking at the bustling construction site below, and silently calculated in his heart: "At this rate, I estimate it will be finished soon. By then, the plan to explore the Universe should be officially put on the agenda."
Thinking of exploring the Universe, he suddenly remembered one thing.
He still had a batch of ravager ships left on Vanaheim, and the cargo holds contained quite a lot of resources.
It was just that there were too many ships at the time, and they couldn't be transported back all at once, so he had found a hidden place to store them.
Now was the perfect time; before officially setting sail, he would go and bring back all this family wealth.
No sooner said than done.
Darian opened the map and teleported directly to Vanaheim.
As one of the Nine Realms of Asgard, Vanaheim was known for its vast forests and abundant resources.
When he followed the Asgardian army to quell the wars in the Nine Realms, he had captured a large number of ships from those Raiders and casually hid them in the border mountains.
After so much time, he didn't know if that place had been discovered by anyone.
Darian took out his flying broomstick and set off toward the hiding spot in his memory.
However, not long after flying, he heard a commotion coming from below.
Darian looked down and saw several different races fighting fiercely in the forest.
He checked the information of the various parties: one group was the local natives of Vanaheim, one group was the blue-skinned Frost Giants, one group was the Elves with pointed ears and exquisite features, and the remaining two groups were the Dwarves and Trolls that Darian had seen before.
"What's the situation?"
Darian was a bit surprised.
He knew that except for the local natives of Vanaheim, the other races all came from other kingdoms within the Nine Realms.
How did these guys suddenly gather in this place?
In the field, the Dwarves and Trolls were already mortal enemies, and they were currently tangled in a fight.
There were over a dozen Trolls, but only one Dwarf, yet relying on that burly and tall frame, he was forcefully holding off the siege of a dozen Trolls.
On the other side, the Frost Giants were fighting hotly with the Elves.
The Elves were each acting like little Hawkeyes, standing on the treetops and continuously firing arrows at the Frost Giants, but their output was really limited; the arrows shot at the Frost Giants couldn't even break their skin.
No wonder Loki was so resistant to beating; it turned out he had inherited the thick skin of the Frost Giants.
Conversely, the Frost Giants couldn't reach the agile Elves and could only roar angrily under the trees, purely an incompetent rage.
As for the local natives of Vanaheim, they were standing on the periphery of the battlefield, shouting for peace, but actually just watching the show.
Darian put away the flying broomstick and landed next to an old man who was watching with great interest, and asked: "What's going on here?"
The old man turned his head to look at him upon hearing the sound, paused for a moment, and then a look of surprise appeared on his face.
"It's you!?"
Darian asked curiously: "Oh? You know me?"
The old man nodded quickly, his tone excited: "Of course I know you! You saved our village back then and killed those hateful Raiders!"
"I am the village chief. Thanks to you, our entire village survived. We even prepared Universe coins, as well as the most precious thousand-year salted fish in our village, wanting to repay your life-saving grace, but unfortunately, we could never find your whereabouts."
Darian waved his hand: "I was just helping out when I saw injustice. I won't accept such valuable items. You can keep the thousand-year salted fish, and I'll take the Universe coins when I have time to come by."
The village chief replied quickly: "Okay, okay."
"I was almost distracted by you."
Darian suddenly remembered the main business and continued to ask: "What exactly happened here? Why did these guys appear here?"
The village chief explained: "They all came through space rifts from other kingdoms."
Darian raised an eyebrow: "Space rifts?"
The village chief nodded: "Yes, legend has it that the Nine Realms have a Convergence every five thousand years, at which time the Nine Realms will align in a straight line."
"And during the time when the Convergence is approaching, the space barriers of the Nine Realms will become extremely weak, not only causing a large number of random space rifts to appear but even phenomena of space overlapping."
Listening to the village chief speaking so knowledgeably, Darian's expression was a bit strange.
A village chief of a small village actually knew such things so clearly.
Could this be the legendary omniscient background NPC?