But becoming Iron Man's successor wasn't so simple. Since becoming Iron Man, he'd had to solve most of his own problems, even helping the other Avengers and acting as their financial backer.
That's how he became one of the Avengers' leaders, able to stand toe-to-toe with the highly respected Captain Rogers.
When the Avengers split, he was able to rally a group of followers—all the result of years of effort.
Compared to them, Peter Parker's upbringing could be considered truly privileged.
But it was precisely this privileged environment that had left him feeling lost, like a hothouse flower that had been protected from the start.
Now, it was time for him to face the storms.
He didn't feel soft-hearted about it. If he didn't train Peter Parker while he still could, should he just leave the kid to fend for himself after Tony's inevitable, untimely death?
At that moment, Bruce Banner suddenly spoke up, "Tony, aren't you putting too much pressure on this kid?"
"I'm not putting undue pressure on him, Banner. As a superhero, he has to face this kind of pressure. No superhero is ever fully prepared when they start. Everyone has to be ready to handle any kind of emergency. The crimes superheroes deal with are almost always sudden and unexpected. You should understand that!"
Tony Stark's approach remained unchanged: as long as Little Spider's life wasn't in danger, he wanted to push his potential to the limit to accelerate his growth.
"A fledgling ultimately has to face the storm on its own. We elders have done everything we can for him. The rest is up to him to handle!" Tony Stark sighed.
In the video, Mysterio was comforting Peter Parker. "What do you want, Peter Parker? Right now... I know what you're thinking..."
"I just want to go on my trip now..." Peter Parker said bluntly.
He was exhausted from the past few weeks, having to pretend to be Night Monkey and help Nick Fury with his work. He just wanted to do the simple things a high school student should be doing.
At first, he had been thrilled about being a superhero, even willing to spend his own money on a costume to fight crime. But things had changed. That enthusiasm was gone.
It was only now that he realized, perhaps for superheroes, a normal, ordinary life was the truly unattainable dream.
"I want to go on a trip with my friends, with the girl I like!" Peter Parker said wistfully.
It was a trip he had long fantasized about—simple, ordinary, without the constant threat of supervillains.
"Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, confess my feelings to her... and kiss her!" Peter Parker finally blurted out, his words hesitant and hesitant.
Under Mysterio's teasing, he couldn't help but retort, "Shut up!"
Those watching the scene outside the frame couldn't help but smile like proud aunts. Though they hadn't officially met Peter Parker or recruited him into the Avengers yet, they had watched countless videos of him over the years. *Hmm, isn't that practically watching him grow up?*
Seeing Peter Parker with someone he liked gave the impression of watching your own little pig grow up and finally be able to root around in the cabbage patch.
In Western cultures, there's no such thing as "early dating."
By the time you reach high school, you might have already been through countless relationships—that's just a cultural difference.
Off-screen, Little Spider's face flushed crimson. He couldn't imagine what the person his future self would love would be like, or what that feeling would be like.
"You wouldn't do that, would you?" Mysterio asked.
"No, I can't!" Peter Parker replied.
"Why not?" Mysterio pressed.
"Because I have too many responsibilities!" Peter Parker shook his head.
He had too many responsibilities. He wasn't just Spider-Man. Especially after Tony Stark's death, he had to carry the burden of upholding Iron Man's legacy. He'd been told he had this duty and obligation.
Yet he was still a child. He wanted a normal childhood, the kind any ordinary kid could have. He didn't want to live as Spider-Man; he just wanted to live as Peter Parker.
In the frame, someone picked up a pair of glasses and handed them to Peter Parker.
Peter Parker thanked them profusely. Mysterio, standing nearby, immediately his eyes lit up when he saw the glasses. "What are these?" he asked.
"Malicious intent!" Tony Stark muttered from off-screen, his lips thinning and his eyes glinting with sharp intensity.
"These are the EDITH Glasses!" Peter Parker said. "Yeah, that's them!"
"Did they fall on the ground earlier?" Mysterio asked. "Try them on. Let me see!"
"Really?"
"Yes!"
Peter Parker naturally put on the glasses and looked at Mysterio. "I quite like them!"
Mysterio replied, "Can I be honest?"
Peter Parker nodded. "Of course, go ahead!"
"They're hideous!" Mysterio stated bluntly, his expression serious and earnest, as if he were merely evaluating the glasses.
"Those are my glasses! What right does he have to judge them?!" Tony Stark fumed off-screen. This guy wasn't just a bad guy, he was a bad guy with no taste!
Who do you think you are?
You're just a liar, just an employee of my company, and you dare to slander your boss's aesthetic judgment?
Under Little Spider's persistent urging, Mysterio put on the glasses.
"How is it, kid?"
Peter Parker, as if making a heavy decision, said, "The next Tony Stark... I believe in you!"
"For the next Tony Stark... I trust you!"
Peter Parker muttered to himself.
"What?" Mysterio asked.
"Mr. Stark left me one last message!" Peter Parker explained. "'For the next Tony Stark... I trust you!'"
"You're blind as a bat, and you don't even realize you've been deceived."
Outside the scene, Tony Stark watched this with fury boiling over. He finally understood his future self's intentions: to entrust everything to Little Spider Peter Parker, allowing him to succeed him and become the core pillar of the Avengers.
Who knew this kid couldn't handle even the slightest pressure and would immediately try to shift the responsibility?
"When I gave him the EDITH Glasses, I fully expected him to take responsibility, not shift it onto others and let them do the work for him."
"Tony, I think you're asking too much of a child," Nick Fury interjected. "And your death was so sudden. It's not just this kid who has to deal with it—everyone is processing this sudden event!"
"Not this time!" Tony Stark scoffed. "There's no second Iron Man. I'm one of a kind. I want him to be the best Spider-Man he can be, not an Iron Man as good as me. I don't need another Iron Man!"
"He knows every mistake I've made," Peter Parker said after a moment's thought. "He must know I'm not ready for this!"
"Then why did he give them to you?" Mysterio pressed.
Peter Parker's expression suddenly lit up with understanding. "Maybe he wasn't entrusting E.D.I.T.H. to me, but asking me to choose someone worthy of it!"
"That makes much more sense. He always knew I'd make the right choice. He wouldn't have given EDITH to Fury, because Fury would have kept it for himself!"
"You've got that right!" Mysterio nodded in agreement.
Seeing this, Nick Fury's already dark face turned even darker. The others all looked at him, and he snapped, "What are you all looking at me for? Do you think I'm that kind of person?"
"Yes, you are," Tony Stark said bluntly.
He wasn't doubting Fury's resolve to protect the world, but he knew that if Fury got his hands on EDITH and the wealth and resources it represented, he'd use them for himself instead of finding the next Iron Man.
"Exactly, so the world needs another Iron Man!" Peter Parker said. "But it won't be me. I'm just a sixteen-year-old kid from Queens!"
"It needs to be someone mature, someone with experience!" Peter Parker said, growing more convinced of his own analysis. Off-screen, Tony Stark's expression grew increasingly sour. "Someone like Tony Stark... like you!"
"No, Peter, this is wrong!" Mysterio said sternly, taking off his glasses.
But Peter Parker had already made up his mind. He simply put on the EDITH Glasses and said, "EDITH?"
"Hello, Peter!" EDITH's AI voice responded.
"Hi... um, I want to transfer control of you to Quentin Beck!" Peter Parker finally voiced the idea of giving up control of EDITH.
Mysterio seemed stunned. "Peter, what are you doing?"
"Doing the right thing!" Peter Parker replied firmly.
"Confirm transfer of control," EDITH AI requested.
Mysterio grew agitated. "Tony Stark gave you these glasses!"
"Tony gave me a choice, and this is the choice I'm making! I'm choosing now! You're a soldier, a leader. You stopped the Elementals, you saved me, you saved the world! Don't you get it?" Peter Parker said earnestly. "He would want you to have these glasses!"
-----------------------
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