Chapter 49: Crashing Into Ant-Man and the Wasp? No, It’s Avengers: Infinity War!
Just as he was celebrating this newfound stability, he suddenly heard someone shouting, "Dad?"
For a moment, Peter was dumbfounded.
"Wait a second, Hope, that's not your father!" a man hurriedly pulled the woman calling out. "Hey, buddy, who are you? And why did you come out of there?"
"Hold on… Are you that kid?" The man took a step forward and asked.
Peter turned toward the voice, furrowing his brows.
He seemed to recognize the man standing before him.
"You're... Ant-Man?"
Scott Lang made an exaggeratedly surprised face. "Wow! Looks like I'm kind of famous, huh? But hey, pal, maybe we should start by figuring out who you are, yeah?"
Peter's eyes quickly scanned behind Ant-Man and immediately identified the other two individuals.
Hope van Dyne, the biological daughter of the original Ant-Man, Hank Pym, and the second-generation Wasp—Ant-Man's canonical partner!
And the one in the white suit was "Ghost," whose real name was Ava Starr. She was the daughter of "Egghead" Elihas Starr.
During one of Egghead's quantum experiments, a disastrous explosion occurred, killing him and his wife instantly. Ava's body was exposed to quantum radiation, leaving her molecules in a highly unstable state.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had attempted to exploit her abilities, creating a suit to suppress her instability and training her as an invisible operative under the codename "Ghost."
After S.H.I.E.L.D.'s collapse, Dr. Bill Foster, a quantum physicist and friend of Dr. Pym, took Ava in and tried to cure her.
So… did I end up in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Saving the Mother-in-Law?
Wait a second!
No!
Peter suddenly remembered.
This wasn't a movie!
Ant-Man and the Wasp, as part of Ant-Man's solo superhero arc, didn't feature any other major superheroes to give him more screen time.
But in reality, the timeline of Ant-Man and the Wasp closely overlaps with Avengers: Infinity War!
For all I know, at this very moment, somewhere far away in space, Thor and Hulk might be fighting Thanos aboard the Asgardian refugee ship!
What the heck?!
Peter couldn't help but curse internally.
Now, he had both good news and bad news.
The good news was: He had landed in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a world he was incredibly familiar with, populated by many of his favorite superheroes—Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange… the list went on.
Oh, and let's not forget that eternally youthful Spider-Kid who seemed never to grow up no matter what he went through.
The bad news? Thanos was about to snap his fingers!
Damn it!
Hell!
Crap!
#%#*￥…&...!
All Peter wanted was to find a suitable world to "lay low" for a while, so how did he end up in a hell-level scenario instead?
Sure, he'd just teamed up with other Spider-Men to stop a crisis that could've destroyed the multiverse, but compared to this, that felt like a cakewalk.
Jin Bing and his subordinates were all quite average in terms of combat ability.
They were basically just "street thugs" level.
On the other side, while the threat was merely a crisis of half the population of one universe being destroyed—wait, no, it was half of a single universe being wiped out—
But the enemies?
Right now, it was highly likely that Thanos had already gathered two or three of the Infinity Stones!
And then there was General Deathblade, whose body was a sword and who was rumored to be immortal as long as his blade remained intact!
Ebony Maw, with his high IQ and mastery of various telekinetic magics!
Black Dwarf, strong and nearly unbeatable in defense!
Proxima Midnight, a formidable fighter whose spear might have death attributes!
And let's not forget the almost endless dark army at their disposal!
God, how am I supposed to fight all this?
Peter's mind went blank.
His focus gradually returned as his gaze fell on Ant-Man and the Wasp before him.
The good news was that this world had technology capable of opening quantum tunnels, meaning his chances of getting back to Gwen's world were still quite good.
But the key was in the hands of the two people standing right before him.
Dr. Hank Pym's quantum tunnel was one of only two known methods in this universe capable of traversing parallel universes.
The other was the power of Miss America from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
But leaving aside the fact that her ability was nearly uncontrollable—she didn't even know where she'd end up after a portal—Peter didn't even know where Miss America was right now.
If he waited for her, it would be at least five years before she could help.
Dr. Pym's quantum tunnel was right here, in front of him. No need to hesitate, right?
As the potential son-in-law of the original Ant-Man Hank Pym (at this point, they weren't together yet, just partners), it wouldn't be hard to form a good relationship with them. That way, he could borrow the quantum tunnel when needed.
Peter quickly made up his mind.
Although it might seem like a long thought process, all of these ideas crossed his mind in just a few seconds.
To Ant-Man and the Wasp, the man who appeared out of nowhere just stood there blankly for a moment before walking over to them with a warm smile.
"Hello, hello! My name is Peter, and I'm uh… from a parallel universe. I'm Spider-Man, and I was almost trapped in the quantum realm. Thank you for opening the quantum tunnel and saving me."
Peter's words were partially true.
He was from a parallel universe. After defeating Jin Bing, destroying a particle collider, and saving the multiverse from a crisis, he could just about be considered Spider-Man.
As for almost being trapped in the quantum realm, that part was true too, but he had actually voluntarily entered the tunnel.
He said it this way for two reasons.
First, in this world, Spider-Man (the version played by Holland) was considered a hero. From the timeline of Captain America: Civil War to Ant-Man and the Wasp, about two years had passed (Ant-Man had been under house arrest for two years and was only three days away from being released).
In that time, Spider-Man had been recruited by Iron Man and became an "intern Avenger." This was enough to establish the idea that "Spider-Man is a good guy."
By identifying himself as Spider-Man, Peter would naturally gain favor from Ant-Man and the Wasp, who were "good" superheroes—even though they didn't really know him.
The second reason was based on the "Franklin Effect."
This concept suggests that people who have helped you in the past are more likely to help you again, compared to those you've helped.
It's a social strategy.
When someone realizes that their "small favor" has greatly helped you, they feel a sense of recognition and respect from you, which strengthens the emotional bond between you.
This was exactly what Peter hoped would happen.
As he expressed his gratitude, Ant-Man and the Wasp lowered their guard.
Ant-Man even stepped forward and shook Peter's hand. "Hi, Peter. I'm Scott, and this is Hope. Uh, and this lady here… well, she's our enemy. She stole our lab, and we're currently fighting to get it back. That's the gist of it."
(End of Chapter)
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