Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

To be honest, every superhero has their own temper. Aside from old S.H.I.E.L.D. agents like Black Widow and Hawkeye, the later additions—Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor—never had a particularly good opinion of Fury.

Of course, they acknowledged that he was on their side, but that didn't mean they had to like him.

Especially after the previous round of the Quiz game exposed S.W.O.R.D. and their actions against Wanda and Vision, superheroes had become even more wary of Fury and his behind-the-scenes machinations.

In the video, after his usual sarcastic remarks, Fury finally got to the point and briefly introduced Peter to the recent troubles.

It turned out that before today, strange elemental incidents had already been occurring worldwide. The first one involved a wind-based creature that destroyed a small town. Then, today's crisis involved a water-based creature.

Fury suspected that a larger conspiracy or threat to Earth was brewing behind these events, which was why he was so eager to find Peter and convince him to step up and take on the responsibility of the Avengers.

However, their conversation was constantly interrupted, forcing Fury to take Peter elsewhere for a private discussion.

They traveled by boat along the river when Fury handed Peter a pair of glasses, telling him they were a keepsake left specifically for him. He also left him with a phrase:

"With great power comes great responsibility."

Tony Stark had always treated Peter exceptionally well, genuinely considering him his successor. But the question was—could Peter truly shoulder that responsibility?

More importantly, did he even want to?

Anyone watching the video could tell that Peter was hesitant and reluctant. It seemed like he wasn't ready to grow up and wanted to stay confined within the role of the "friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."

He was more than willing to lend a helping hand and be involved, but when it came to standing at the forefront and leading, he clearly struggled.

Of course, Fury wasn't there just to hand him a pair of glasses. He later took Peter to a secret base.

Typical Fury—safe houses and secret bases everywhere.

No, maybe by now, he even had them beyond Earth!

Inside the safe house, Peter met several agents. More importantly, he was introduced to the mysterious newcomer who had defeated the water elemental earlier that day—Quentin Beck.

Beck claimed to be from another parallel Earth.

According to him, Peter's Earth was designated as Earth-616, while his own was Earth-833.

Hearing about the multiverse instantly piqued Peter's interest. However, the audience outside the video wasn't as surprised.

The Quiz game had already revealed multiple parallel universes, so this wasn't exactly breaking news.

Beck explained that he had come to deal with the Elementals, creatures born from cosmic energy. There were four of them—air, water, fire, and earth. They had destroyed his homeworld, and now they had appeared in Peter's world.

Beck had accidentally traveled here and saw it as his mission to eliminate them.

Before arriving, he had already taken down three of the four Elementals, including the water one from earlier. Now, only the most powerful one—the fire Elemental—remained.

Fury and his team determined that the fire Elemental would appear in Prague within 48 hours.

Since it was the strongest of the four, Fury extended an invitation to Peter, hoping he would team up with Beck to stop it.

At this point, Pietro turned to Strange with curiosity.

"Do any ancient myths have connections to these Elementals?" he asked.

Stephen rolled his eyes. "I'm a sorcerer. I used to be a doctor. But I'm not a historian. How would I know the origins of myths?"

He paused, then shrugged. "But I can tell you this—at least based on my knowledge of magic, I've never heard of Elementals like the ones Beck described."

"Then again," he added, "parallel universes don't always follow logic."

The video continued playing, showing Peter's reaction to Fury's request—he turned it down.

"Sorry, Mr. Fury, but this sounds like a job for real superheroes. I'm just the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man…"

In the past, people might have been disappointed by his refusal. But now? They weren't surprised anymore—they'd already been let down before.

Stephen even chuckled and joked, "I bet he's refusing because he's too busy flirting. No offense, Peter, but I wouldn't be shocked."

Peter, looking embarrassed, scratched his head. "Uh… if it were me now, I definitely would go to Prague! Really, you have to believe me, Dr. Strange!"

Stephen smirked. "To be honest, I don't like Fury either. So rejecting his request? Not a big deal. It's not like he's Tony Stark. Tony might've been a pain, but compared to Fury, he was a saint."

After seeing this glimpse of Peter's future, Stephen wasn't particularly disappointed.

Unlike Tony or Steve, he wasn't someone who saw emotions as a weakness.

And above all, he respected Peter's personal choices.

Sure, he once said, "Being Spider-Man is your destiny, Peter."

But if Peter didn't want to be a superhero, that was his decision to make. As long as he was happy, that was all that mattered.

In the video, Peter continued nervously apologizing to Fury, explaining his reasons.

He didn't want to ruin his vacation.

He was worried about exposing his identity in front of his classmates.

He didn't want Aunt May to worry.

And—though he didn't say it out loud—he probably didn't want anything interfering with his romantic pursuits.

This also highlighted the vast difference between Peter and Tony.

After all, Tony Stark had publicly declared himself Iron Man without a second thought!

Desperate to get out of the situation, Peter even tried to shift the responsibility onto others, asking about the whereabouts of Thor, Strange, and Captain Marvel.

Surely they were the ones meant to handle world-threatening crises, not him.

In his mind, those were the true superheroes.

He still wasn't ready to see himself in that role.

Peter thought Fury would argue with him over this, maybe try to change his mind.

But surprisingly, Fury just nodded calmly and said, "Alright, I understand. I'll have someone take you back to your hotel."