Chapter 338: The Snap — and His Arrival
The Avengers stared at Ethan, baffled — every last one of them convinced they'd misheard him.
Even Strange, still standing behind Ethan, quietly took a few steps back to put some distance between them.
This guy — cracking jokes in the middle of a crisis this severe? Doesn't he worry about getting hit? Actually, the real problem is nobody can hit him — meaning if things go sideways, I'm the one he'll take it out on. Note to self: spend less time around Ethan going forward. Strange grumbled internally.
Thor, oddly enough, was fully on board with the suggestion. "I actually think that's a great idea. All right — I'll go rock. The rest of you go scissors. Quick, everybody!"
Every Avenger stared at Fat Thor like he'd lost his mind, silently wondering if the alcohol had finally cooked his brain.
"All right, all right — just hand me the gauntlet. I'll do the snap myself. What was your wish again, exactly?" Ethan said, dropping the joke.
Truthfully, Ethan hadn't actually settled on who should do the snap. In the original story, it was Banner who'd performed it — and paid for it with an entire arm.
The Hulk's body was supposed to be one of the most durable in the entire universe. Even Thanos — bearer of the so-called strongest Eternal-adjacent physique — had come out of his own snap utterly wrecked, weak enough that a single swing of Thor's axe had finished him off.
Which gave some indication of just how enormous a price that particular snap demanded.
Naturally, a man as attached to his own survival as Ethan wasn't about to take that job on lightly. But he happened to have the Eternals' own body composition, on top of Deadpool's functional immortality — performing the snap wasn't going to be a problem for him at all.
Just to be extra safe, Ethan had already checked in with the System beforehand, confirming whether he was cleared to do it. The answer had come back: yes.
Since the System had already gotten him fully adapted to the Time, Space, Reality, and Mind Stones, all Ethan would actually need to absorb the shock of were the Soul and Power Stones' output.
For his body, that load barely registered.
Of course, none of the Avengers had any idea about that part. When they heard Ethan volunteering to perform the snap himself, they immediately, unanimously, refused.
"Mr. Ethan, you've already done more than enough for us. This is our world's problem to solve. Let us handle it ourselves." Steve was the first to object — this was their world's mess to clean up; in his mind, no one from another world should be asked to shoulder it.
He knew Ethan's strength was formidable, sure — but even the strongest of men was still, at the end of the day, mortal.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll do it. You've already done so much for us." Banner looked at Ethan, visibly moved — he hadn't expected Ethan to go this far for a world that wasn't even his own. Still, Banner wasn't about to let Ethan get hurt on their behalf.
With that thought, Banner reached out and tried to snatch the Gauntlet away from him.
Tony grabbed his arm before he could.
Tony's eyes stayed fixed warily on Ethan. "What exactly do you want with the Gauntlet? You saved Natasha, sure, and you lent us three Stones — but there's no world where we're letting you be the one to snap.
This is our universe's problem. And frankly, nobody can guarantee that once you have the Gauntlet in hand, you'll actually bring our people back."
That was Tony being blunt about it, plain and simple: he didn't trust Ethan. Didn't believe for a second Ethan would risk his own life for a universe full of complete strangers.
From everything Tony had managed to dig up on Ethan, he'd built a picture of a man who was, deep down, more contradictory than saintly.
On one hand, Ethan looked selfish — the way he'd torn through S.H.I.E.L.D., openly flouted the federal government, all pointed to a man who put himself first. And on top of that, he was fiercely protective of his own people — he'd poured enormous effort into rebuilding and reforming Hell's Kitchen, transforming the whole community for the better.
But none of that added up to a man who'd sacrifice himself for a world he had no stake in. Which meant, in Tony's eyes, one of two things was true: either Ethan was running some kind of angle — saving Natasha first specifically to lower their guard before making a grab for the Gauntlet and whatever he actually wanted from it — or his strength really was enough to snap without a scratch.
Tony leaned toward the first explanation. He simply couldn't believe a human body could be that durable — couldn't believe Ethan was genuinely stronger than Thanos.
Either way, Tony wasn't about to hand the fate of the universe to someone they'd known for less than a day.
Tony's suspicions, as it happened, were shared quietly by Steve, Scott, and the rest of the group too — they'd simply held their tongues out of deference to Ethan's power and reputation.
The room's atmosphere snapped taut the moment Tony finished speaking.
Ethan just shrugged, spreading his hands wide. "If I actually wanted to do something with the Gauntlet, I'd have just taken it already. All of you put together aren't a match for me. But fine — if you want to handle this yourselves, my advice is Hulk or Thor. Anyone else who tries it is signing their own death warrant."
Ethan wasn't especially bothered by the refusal. He let them sort it out themselves. Truthfully, he'd only offered on a whim — mostly out of curiosity to see just how much power the Gauntlet would actually hand him.
He was genuinely, deeply curious what six Infinity Stones combined could actually do.
After some deliberation, the group settled on Banner to perform the snap.
Even Thor, usually the loudest voice in any room, stayed unusually quiet through the discussion. He understood the stakes here — this was about the fate of the entire universe. He couldn't afford to be reckless about it. He'd need to save his strength for the Thanos fight still to come.
Banner slipped the Gauntlet on, and pain twisted across his face instantly.
He fought to stay upright, struggling to hold onto consciousness.
He understood exactly how dangerous this power was — one wrong move and there'd be no coming back from it.
Forcing his arm up through sheer will, Banner poured everything he had into a single snap of his fingers.
In that instant, an overwhelming surge of power erupted outward from thin air, as if it meant to tear the entire universe apart at the seams.
The force rippled outward at incredible speed, leaving an unmistakable, staggering impression on anyone nearby.
Of course, the power itself was invisible — only Ethan and Strange could actually perceive it.
For Strange, it was the first time in his life he'd ever felt genuinely, utterly insignificant. He was grateful, in that instant, that the power wasn't aimed at him — he was certain that if it had been, it would have erased him from existence in under a second.
I'm still not strong enough. I need to get stronger. Strange resolved, right then, to spend more time back home buried in his spellbooks, building up his power — even dark magic, if that's what it took.
Ethan, meanwhile, could clearly sense that the burst of energy unleashed by all six Infinity Stones acting together wasn't quite a "law of physics" in the conventional sense — it felt closer to some kind of raw, conceptual force.
Still, Ethan could tell the power was contained entirely within this one universe — it didn't bleed through into any other parallel realities.
Once Banner had finished the snap and sunk, exhausted, to his knees, Ethan gave a light flick of his right hand — the Space Stone and Mind Stone drifted back into his own grip, and the Time Stone returned to Strange's.
No point dwelling on any of that now. Time to get ready for the arrival of that other fellow — Thanos.
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