Much like his counterpart in Earth-199999, Ultimate Tony Stark had little regard for Captain America's style.
In his eyes, Captain America was a complete dinosaur—stubborn, conservative, and utterly inflexible. He was the polar opposite of Ultimate Tony's own temperament.
But truth be told, setting those differences aside, Ultimate Tony still held Captain America's character in high regard. The man was simply a relic of a bygone era, unable to keep pace with the modern world. That was all.
Still, no one could deny Captain America's unwavering sincerity and pure heart.
Naturally, Ultimate Tony didn't want to see Captain America sacrifice himself.
But when he considered the foe they were facing—a being of Galactus's magnitude—Ultimate Tony felt a profound sense of helplessness.
Especially after he and his team had just learned more about Galactus from Vision.
Knowing that this was a super-powerhouse who had destroyed countless planets, a final boss who had annihilated countless civilizations, Ultimate Tony's heart grew even heavier.
How were they supposed to deal with such a being?
The diary had mentioned that this crisis involving Galactus was solved by Professor X and Reed working together.
So he could only hope that these two were as reliable as the diary suggested.
"I knew it," Tony from Earth-199999 sighed. "How could Captain America have drowned?"
Captain America hadn't been drowned in some pathetic accident; he had died a hero's death in the war against Galactus.
Admittedly, the latter was much more fitting for Captain America's character. It even pushed his heroic glory to its absolute limit.
After all, this was Galactus—one of the Five Creator Gods!
His power level and prestige were top-tier in the entire universe.
The Captain America from the neighboring universe had actually participated in a battle against such a powerhouse?
Considering the massive gap in strength between the two sides, the Playboy wasn't surprised by the other universe's Captain America's sacrifice.
What *did* surprise him, however, was Thor going to Valhalla to rescue Captain America.
According to the diary, wasn't Valhalla the same as the Hall of Valor?
The souls of Asgardians who died in battle would enter the Hall of Valor!
Tony had even heard this confirmed from Thor himself.
So Tony couldn't quite figure out how Captain America's soul could have ended up in the Hall of Valor.
First of all, Captain America wasn't even Asgardian. He was a thoroughbred human from Earth.
How could a human end up in the Hall of Valor after death?
After all, the Hall of Valor was "established" by Asgard, wasn't it?
Even the diary mentioned that Jane Foster's soul also entered the Hall of Valor after her death.
But at that time, Jane Foster had already become the Mighty Thor, and she had died fighting for Asgard!
And secondly, Captain America hadn't died in battle—he had drowned in a flood!
So, no matter how you looked at it, Captain America didn't meet the criteria for entering the Hall of Valor.
And yet, the Captain America from the other universe had gone there anyway.
Moreover, the Hall of Valor in the neighboring universe was actually controlled by Hela, the Goddess of Death.
It seemed that the Hall of Valor in the neighboring universe was vastly different from the one in his own.
[Although there was a second Captain America in the Ultimate Universe, he wasn't that low-class Black Captain America from Earth-199999. Instead, he was another Captain America officially commissioned by the United States, just like Rogers.]
[A Captain America who had the American flag tattooed on his face and took Steve Rogers' place during the Vietnam War!]
[The second Captain America, Frank Simpson, was even stronger than Rogers.]
[No, there weren't just two Captain Americas.]
[Frank had transformed an entire village of people into Super Soldiers just like himself.]
[Even the elderly and children were no exception. When Rogers first arrived at that village, he was brutally beaten by an old man.]
[But it wasn't the title of Captain America that made Rogers who he was—it was Rogers who defined what Captain America truly meant!]
[With Rogers' death, the true Captain America died as well!]
"There's more than one Captain America?"
Ultimate Tony from Universe 1610 couldn't help but be utterly astonished.
Who was Captain America, after all?
He was the face of America, its very symbol.
The symbolic and political weight he carried made him a unique entity—one that could not be replicated.
Even setting aside all that, the same held true from a purely "technical" standpoint.
Despite how advanced technology had become, the Super Soldier Serum that created Captain America had never been successfully replicated, had it?
The only result was a failure like the Hulk.
Considering all this, Ultimate Tony never imagined there could be another Captain America in the world besides Rogers.
And not some "unofficial" one, either—this one was officially sanctioned by the American government, just like Rogers.
But why had he never heard of this "Vietnam War Captain America"?
It made absolutely no sense!
Think about it: if there had been a Super Soldier just like Rogers during the Vietnam War, operating under the name Captain America—and even tattooing the national flag on his face—how could he have remained completely unknown?
Even if he hadn't become a national icon like Rogers, a household name known to every man, woman, and child, it was still impossible for there to be no record of his existence.
At the very least, shouldn't there be some record of him in those precious historical archives?
And yet, what did he find?
Ultimate Tony had truly never known that such a figure existed on the battlefields of the Vietnam War.
There was only one possible explanation for this: the government had covered up this Captain America's existence!
Why?
Ultimate Tony immediately sank into deep thought. No matter how he looked at it, this was completely abnormal.
After all, from any angle, if the government had truly created a second Captain America, there would be no reason not to publicize it heavily.
Just as the government had done when promoting Rogers.
So, had this Vietnam War version of Captain America done something unacceptable or unendorsable?
Ultimate Tony's instincts immediately flared.
*Frank Simpson!*
Fortunately, the diary clearly provided the name of this other Captain America.
Ultimate Tony made a silent decision: after he finished the urgent matters at hand, he would investigate this Vietnam War Captain America.
He would see if he could find any trace of such a person.
Having made up his mind, Ultimate Tony returned his attention to the diary, only to be immediately struck by a harsh revelation.
What the hell?
This Vietnam War version of Captain America actually turned an entire village into clones of himself?
Holy shit, does that mean everyone in that whole village is Captain America?
???
You've got to be kidding me!
Right now, all of America—no, the whole world—is feverishly trying to develop Super Soldiers, yet they've never succeeded. Even the Soviet Union, after decades of studying Vision and creating all those monstrosities, only managed to barely replicate a Soviet Captain.
And now the diary is telling Ultimate Tony that there's a "Captain America Village" in the world?
Everyone in the village is Captain America?
And even the original Captain America, Rogers, got his ass kicked by some old man there?
Uh...
What kind of surreal plot twist is this?
Also, it seems this mysterious "Captain America Village" eventually got exposed. Rogers even tracked them down.
I wonder what his goal was in going there.
But Rogers got into a conflict with the villagers. Could that lead to a bad outcome?
After all, that entire village is full of Captain Americas.
"Tattooing the national flag on their faces?"
Tony from Universe 199999 was completely speechless.
In his view, wearing the flag on one's clothes and printing it on a shield was already flashy enough—it was practically a level of embarrassment off the charts.
Even with his usual playboy flamboyance, Tony couldn't pull off a style like that.
But this Vietnam War Captain America actually had the flag tattooed on his face?
That was taking it a bit too far!
And then there was the whole "Captain America Village" thing, which Tony found even more absurd.
He already knew that in his own universe, there wasn't just one Captain America. There was a Black Captain America, a Second Generation Captain America, a Third Generation Captain America, and even a bootleg version like the Red Guardian.
Counting them on his fingers, there were more than enough to form a mahjong game.
Even this situation had felt a bit exaggerated to Tony, but who would have thought that compared to the neighboring universe, it was nothing at all.
An entire village full of Captain Americas!
A whole village—how many people would that be?
Hundreds, if not thousands?
They were really mass-producing them!
The playboy really wanted to know what that Vietnam War version of Captain America was planning to do with so many Captain Americas.
Fight a world war?
[Speaking of which, the Super-Soldier research in the Ultimate Universe is much more advanced than in the neighboring Earth-199999.]
[And the truly representative Super Soldier isn't Rogers, but Nick Fury!]
[That's right, Egghead is also a Super Soldier, possessing superhuman strength and even a regenerative healing factor.]
[Not only that, his "debut" predates Captain America's, making him America's first Super Soldier.]
[Even General Ross believes that Egghead is more qualified to be Captain America than Rogers.]
[If it weren't for his skin color, and if Nick Fury hadn't been a deserter caught stealing, Captain America might have actually been replaced.]
[And this is the real reason why Nick Fury is so highly valued by the government and entrusted with the crucial task of researching the Super Soldier.]
"Nick?"
Tony from Earth-199999 found the neighboring universe more and more interesting.
Every character in it deviated from his own universe's counterpart to some extent. He had already seen the Playboy.
But even so, he never expected that Nick, who was an ordinary human, would be twisted into a Super Soldier!
The key was, fine, let him be a Super Soldier, but according to the diary's description, Egghead seemed to be even more powerful than Captain America.
After all, Tony had known Captain America for a long time and had even gone on missions with him.
But he had never seen Cap possess any kind of self-healing ability.
As for self-healing, how should he put it? Although it was only a supportive ability, it was still extremely important for a Super Soldier.
In fact, even if Nick Fury's strength wasn't as great as Captain America's, if he had a self-healing ability to rely on, he might even be able to defeat Captain America.
And if Egghead's self-healing was strong enough to reach the level of Wolverine or Deadpool, then even among the Avengers, his strength wouldn't be considered weak.
Besides that, Nick Fury was actually the first Super Soldier of the neighboring universe?
The first one.
The significance behind this was naturally self-evident.
Tony believed that, just as the diary said, if it weren't for Egghead's skin color, the one the government would have vigorously promoted would definitely have been Nick Fury.
But did General Ross actually think so highly of Nick Fury?
Did he even think Egghead was more qualified to be Captain America?
It had to be noted that in his own universe, General Ross and Nick Fury had absolutely no relationship at all.
The few times they had interacted were only because of the Hulk.
"I knew it!"
Ultimate Tony from Universe 1610 looked as if he had just been proven right.
The Ultimate Team had carried out many dangerous missions. Although Nick Fury had almost always acted as the commander and rarely took direct action, Ultimate Tony had still noticed something.
Especially during this Tunguska mission, as everyone faced many bio-engineered "monsters," Egghead's reactions were even more obvious.
Ultimate Tony had long suspected that Nick Fury's Super-Soldier Research had achieved some success and been used on himself.
Because Nick Fury's various reactions were all beyond those of an ordinary person, Ultimate Tony had long guessed that Nick Fury had been enhanced.
The facts proved that Ultimate Tony's guess was correct: Nick Fury was indeed a Super Soldier!
It was just that the process was a bit different from what he had imagined.
It wasn't that Nick Fury had achieved some results in his research on Super Soldiers, but rather that the guy was a Super Soldier from the very beginning!
After Captain America, he was another perfect-level Super Soldier.
Alright, so his background is even more impressive than Captain America's. He's actually America's *first* Super Soldier.
Or, to put it another way, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him the world's first Super Soldier.
After all, America's Super-Soldier Research was way ahead of the rest of the world.
*Holy crap, this guy is the Super Soldier Progenitor.*
Nick Fury was hiding this deep all along.
"No wonder he has such a great relationship with the higher-ups and is so highly valued by them," Ultimate Tony couldn't help but mutter in awe.
Before, he'd always wondered why Nick Fury—a mere general with no real background, someone Big Tony wouldn't even have bothered to notice—was so favored by the top brass.
Why would they entrust him with a project as critical as the Super-Soldier Research, and even propel him to the position of Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.?
It turns out Nick Fury's background was this incredible all along.
He's the damn Super Soldier Progenitor!
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