[Question: In the final battle against Thanos, who is the spiritual leader of the Avengers?]
[A. Nick Fury]
[B. Captain America]
[C. Iron Man]
[D. Thor]
With the latest question appearing, Iron Man and Rhodes temporarily stopped their discussion and shifted their attention to the question.
"Avengers? Is that what we call our 'Earth Coalition'? How cliché!"Iron Man couldn't help but comment.
"Well, it's better than just calling it the 'Earth Coalition.'"Rhodes weakly corrected, then asked seriously, "Nick Fury? Who is that?"
With that, Rhodes looked over at Iron Man and Colson. "Do you two know him?"
"If you're asking about the cover girl of GQ magazine, then I definitely know her,"Iron Man shook his head and shrugged. "But this guy? He seems like a nobody. You should ask Colson."
"Yeah, I bet you definitely know the cover girl of GQ,"Rhodes teased.
Rumor had it that Tony Stark, the playboy, had slept with every cover girl of GQ for the past twelve months!
"Colson?"Rhodes then turned his gaze to Colson. Seeing his expression, he already had a good idea. "Looks like you do know him."
"Nick Fury is my boss, the current director of S.H.I.E.L.D."Colson admitted without hesitation.
"Sounds like an important person."Rhodes nodded and continued, "You should be the most familiar with your boss. Do you think he could be the leader of the Earth Coalition?"
"I'm not just praising my boss, but I think it's possible,"Colson nodded and added, "And I think the possibility is quite high."
Of course, others wouldn't know, but Colson knew that Nick Fury had already formed a secret special forces team called the Avengers.
The agents in that team were referred to as the Avengers!
HawkeyeBarton and Black WidowNatasha were the original Avengers.
Rhodes and Iron Man clearly misunderstood something, thinking that the "Earth Coalition" was called the Avengers, but Colson knew the Avengers referred specifically to the members of the Avenger Alliance.
And since Nick Fury was the founder of the Avenger Alliance, it would make perfect sense for him to be the spiritual leader of the Avengers, wouldn't it?
"Sorry, Colson, let me interrupt and ask, what's so special about your boss? I mean, does he have Iron Man's suit, the ability to turn into a giant, or any other extraordinary abilities?"Iron Man asked bluntly.
"Although my boss doesn't have any of those abilities you mentioned,"Colson answered seriously, "he's the best agent I've ever seen."
"So, he's just a regular agent? No offense, but he's up against a cosmic overlord! An alien army!"
"You've seen it too, there are plenty of superheroes involved in this war!"
"By the way, that guy in the cloak, and the one in the tight suit—Peter—they're definitely superheroes because normal people don't dress like that."
"So here's the question, how could superheroes follow an ordinary agent as their leader? You think the blonde woman who blocked Thanos would follow an ordinary person? She wouldn't!"
"I wouldn't! I'm a superhero, so I know what superheroes are thinking. A stronger person being led by a weaker one—doesn't that sound absurd?"
Iron Man spoke confidently, but to a certain extent, his reasoning made sense.
However, Colson stuck to his opinion. Iron Man thought this way because of a lack of information.
Because Iron Man didn't know that Nick Fury's plan was to form a superhero alliance.
The members of that alliance were all extraordinary people!
Even Iron Man was one of those people Nick Fury was looking to recruit.
From the footage, it was clear that Nick Fury ultimately succeeded in forming this alliance.
The superheroes in the footage might very well all be members of the Avenger Alliance.
The idea that stronger people wouldn't follow weaker ones was too simplistic and blunt.
"You make some valid points, but I'll stick to my opinion."Colson told Iron Man.
"Looks like we have a disagreement."Rhodes shrugged. "Let's put this option aside for now and keep going. Option B is Captain America. What do you guys think?"
"Isn't he just an ordinary person who reached the peak of human potential? What makes him worthy of being the spiritual leader of the Earth Coalition?"Iron Man shook his head dismissively.
Iron Man himself would never see someone like Captain America as any kind of spiritual leader.
"Although I'm a fan of Captain America..."Colson replied, "I think we've reached a consensus."
Indeed, Colson had always admired Captain America, but he didn't let that affect his judgment.
Don't forget, the question was about the spiritual leader of the Avengers!
These Avengers weren't ordinary people; they were superheroes with powers far beyond regular humans.
Some of them might even be stronger than Captain America, considering that according to records, Captain America was just the peak of human limits.
When someone has great power, they may lack the sense of reverence.
Colson didn't think Captain America could be seen as a spiritual leader by others.
"Not only is option B, Captain America, unlikely, but I think we can rule out option C, Iron Man, too, right?"Rhodes shrugged and spoke up.
Though he hadn't expressed his opinion on option B, he clearly made his stance known.
Obviously, he didn't think Captain America could be the spiritual leader.
"Tony, you're arrogant, egotistical, independent, and have zero sense of teamwork... Am I wrong?"Rhodes immediately pointed out Iron Man's flaws.
"Nope, you're absolutely right!"Iron Man didn't deny it. "I'll add, though, I have no interest in being a leader, but being an idol? I might consider that."
"So someone like you could never be a leader! That rules out option C too,"Rhodes said, throwing up his hands.
With options B and C both dismissed, only option D remained.
(End of Chapter)