Chapter 162: C144
The movie ends.
Everyone has a high opinion of it.
S.H.I.E.L.D. agents sat in the cinema, pondering for a moment. Fury suddenly turned to look at Coulson.
"Director, what's your order?"
Coulson, being the trusted confidant of Fury, immediately realized that this was a situation.
"Coulson, there's a mission that suits you well," Fury pondered for a moment before speaking.
"Director, I will give it my all."
Coulson felt uneasy and replied in a deep voice.
In his opinion, this sentence sounded like someone saying, "I'll come back to marry you after I complete the task," so he made a sacrificial expression.
"You're the first person to realize there's something unusual about DC," Fury said. "However, all the information we have on DC company, including Anton's details, doesn't show anything special. But after watching this movie, I realized we've overlooked something important: the specific content of the works currently released by DC."
After a pause, he continued, "Coulson, I'll give you a week to review these works and report back to me with the key points. Especially Batman, Arrow, cyborg, and now this Superman. Pay attention to the relationships between these characters. If Anton used these characters as references to create these works, there must be a common thread between the works and the characters."
"For example, the relationship between Superman and Batman doesn't seem to be good…" Natasha suddenly realized, aside.
She thought of the easter egg at the end of the movie and extracted key information from it.
Batman does not trust Superman!
Is Anton alluding to the relationship between Batman and Superman in reality?
Although Superman hasn't appeared yet, there was an alien attack not long ago, and Superman's alien background makes it impossible for S.H.I.E.L.D. to lower its guard.
"This... I understand!"
Coulson's nervous expression suddenly relaxed.
It's okay to read books by order!
At least he wouldn't have to go out to work, and it was a good job!
To some extent, Coulson, who had been busy running around, saw this task as a kind of holiday.
...
Tony left the movie theater, sneering at the Superman film.
Although "Man of Steel" lacked deep meaning, he couldn't deny that the movie was an excellent example of a popcorn flick.
It was mainly because the content went against science.
Even though Tony had the same suspicions as everyone in S.H.I.E.L.D., he couldn't accept the idea that there were such superhumans in this world.
Eddie, who walked out of the movie theater at the same time, didn't have as many ideas running through his mind as these other people.
He was the most certain among them that Superman would appear.
"Clark Kent! Kryptonian!"
Eddie thought for a moment and suddenly realized.
"No wonder Anton knew the teleportation device came from an alien, and knew that the alien Krang had been coveting Earth. Superman must have told him!"
Eddie pieced together the thread in his mind.
"Justice League!"
He thought happily and said to himself, "What a backing I've got on my side!"
Beside him, when April saw Eddie with a flattering and drooling smile, she couldn't help but show a small expression of disgust.
...
One day later,
Anton was sitting at DC company and noticed that Superman's fan value had increased by only 1.3 million, from 6 million to 7.3 million. He was a bit surprised.
This growth rate was very different from that of cyborg and Batman. Too slow!
The box office results were quite impressive; although slightly lower than Batman, they were stronger than cyborg. So why was the fan value rising so slowly?
"What happened?"
Anton went online to check everyone's comments on Superman.
Without exception, the special effects were praised as excellent, the plot was wonderful, the ticket price was seen as great value, and people seemed generally satisfied with the movie.
But from the sporadic negative reviews, Anton figured out why the fan value increased so slowly.
It's an alien story, but it's just another alien!
The invasion of the alien Lange had already brought a lot of attention to Superman's movie. But people weren't going to the theater because of Superman—they were just curious.
As a result, they were not emotionally invested in Superman.
In general, Superman's alien identity lacked a sense of relatability.
People who had just been hurt by aliens didn't believe that another alien would willingly protect humanity, even if that alien had grown up on Earth.
Therefore, the growth rate of Superman's fan value was much slower than Batman's and cyborg's.
"At this rate, when the movie leaves theaters, the fan value will be less than 30 million," Anton pondered. "It seems we'll have to arrange the next one as soon as possible!"
"Batman v Superman?"
There's no doubt that this was the same idea as Jim's. After all, it's his own copyright. Anton would make the most of Batman without feeling any remorse.
Besides, Batman's identity was already well-known, and it was time to give the other Justice League members some heat.
The unexpected success of Arrow—wasn't it just a way to do that?
Ding ding ding!
Suddenly, the phone rang, disrupting Anton's thoughts.
He picked up the phone and glanced at the caller ID.
Old man. Jonah Jameson.
"Old man, what's the situation? Aren't you on vacation in Hawaii? You're so tired that you don't want to come home now?" Anton answered the phone, unable to resist teasing.
"I don't want to call you either."
Jameson snorted. "Life in Hawaii is much more exciting than in New York. You don't know how hard it is for me to get up every day."
"It sounds more exciting than dealing with aliens," Anton replied, hearing the hint of envy in Jameson's tone.
"Get back to the subject," the old man said. "I'm back in New York."
"What?" Anton was taken aback. "You dare come back to New York? The wealthy people who recently moved out to New York might be more than you've seen in your entire life."
"Do you think I want to come back?" Jameson said. "Someone wants to see you. I have to come back."
"Who has such a big status?" Anton frowned slightly.
He was not surprised by this sentence, but began to think about the identity of the other party.
As the boss of the newspaper, Jameson controls public opinion and is well-known in the upper echelons of old American society, especially among politicians.
Although, in terms of wealth, Jameson is ranked in the middle tier, his status is not inferior to that of the top wealthy people.
After all, what politicians need most is a platform to amplify their voices.
These people and Jameson hit it off immediately, forming a mutual system where they take advantage of each other.
Especially in New York, where Jameson has been in business for many years, his strong network of contacts in this "one-third of an acre" area is considerable.
Therefore, there are only a handful of people who could call Jameson back from Hawaii.
You must know that even the Osborne Company during Norman's era—Norman might not have had this kind of influence.
Anton thought for a moment and realized a fact:
The person who called Jameson back is definitely not someone merely rich enough to make sense; they should be—powerful.
"You've seen this person. At least, you've seen him in the news."
Jameson sighed. "Secretary of Defense, John Keller. He wants to see you."
He paused. "I asked Wick to pick you up. Come downstairs in ten minutes and I'll wait for you at home."
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