Murdock, with his oversized head, naturally couldn't escape either—he couldn't even disguise himself to flee.
Because his enormous head simply wouldn't fit into any non-custom-made clothing.
In the original Marvel storyline, Murdock was always Stark's arch-nemesis, their weapons and technology perpetually neck and neck, with their many confrontations ending in mutual wins and losses.
This time, however, Murdock clearly wasn't so fortunate. He ran into Mr. Stark, who could summon reinforcements—and a whole host of incredibly capable superheroes at that.
As the "egg-picking nitpicker"... no, the Superhero Ombudsman appointed before Zod's retirement, Mr. Stark was actually quite well-liked when he wasn't running his mouth.
With that, the superhero operation against AIM officially concluded. The AIM base was completely occupied, all internal scientists surrendered, massive amounts of supplies were seized, and all that awaited their leader Murdock himself was an endless prison sentence.
Only Zod knew that things weren't over yet—because the Ten Rings were still out there, and so was the Mandarin.
But whatever. He'd already eliminated several enemies for Tony; the rest he could deal with on his own.
His symbiote armor was already powerful enough anyway. Apart from the Anti-Celestial Armor, the Infinity Stone Armor, the Excalibur Armor, and a few others, Stark probably couldn't produce anything stronger than the symbiote armor.
In Infinity War, Tony Stark's Bleeding Edge armor was completely outclassed by the symbiote armor.
Because the symbiote armor could grow on its own—it just needed sufficient energy.
From Zod's observations, Tony Stark had already solved the problem, having created symbiote armor capable of growing to the fifty-meter level.
"Did you predict early on that the future arms race would be a superpower race? Is that why you resigned to develop Compound One?"
After dealing with AIM, Stark came back to find Zod.
The more he thought about it, the more it seemed that Zod Heath had seen the cutting edge of what was coming. His vision had always been far-reaching.
The satellite orbital cannon was proof of that. So was that super battleship.
Yet while the entire world drooled over the super battleship, he'd gone off to research Compound One instead. Though Stark didn't know exactly what Compound One was, the fact that it had produced three superpowered special forces soldiers said enough.
"Don't talk nonsense. My Zaku units are still selling just fine—you're trying to undercut my business here," Zod grumbled.
If word got out that Zod Heath didn't believe in current weapons but rather in superpowers, his own weapons business would likely be the first to take a hit.
Granted, the current Umbrella Corporation was already more exaggerated than anything in the games or movies, but Zod's interest only went so far.
He wouldn't go so far as to manufacture some Raccoon City crisis just to live up to the name—though he had, in fact, invested in building a city belonging to the Umbrella Corporation.
A project of that scale could only be accomplished by national-level power—or the now fabulously wealthy Umbrella Corporation.
"Zaku units, huh..."
Stark thought of those colossus-like war machines. In front of them, aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines became mere target practice. If there was a biggest loser in this arms race, it was undoubtedly the world's top superpowers.
Fortunately, Zod Heath had imposed purchase restrictions. Even with money, smaller nations couldn't buy Zaku units. The main reason was that major powers had restraint while minor ones didn't—who knew if they might get their hands on a Zaku and start entertaining ideas of launching World War III.
That night, Zod was holding Tifa, and the two were just about to play a game of "old hawk catches the chick" when the office lights went out without any warning. And not just the office—every floor of the Umbrella Corporation went dark at once.
If one pulled the camera back further, they'd see that the entire city of Los Angeles, the entire United States, and indeed the entire planet's power grid had malfunctioned.
Bzzzt—crackle—
In the pitch darkness, the office television suddenly lit up. Across every nation on Earth, every electronic device capable of transmitting information and displaying images had its screen turned to static.
"You are... not alone... you... are not alone..."
Harsh static noise filled the air. In the blurry black-and-white image, the faint outline of a man in black armor could be seen. As he began to speak, the transmitted audio became smooth and clear.
"I am General Zod. We come from the distant planet Krypton. We have crossed the endless sea of stars to this place in search of one of my people..."
The moment the man spoke, the entire Earth fell silent.
"He is hiding on this planet. I demand that you hand him over. He looks like you, but he is fundamentally different from you!"
"To those who know his true identity—the fate of Earth rests in your hands..."
"Kal-El, listen carefully. You have one planetary day to surrender, or the fate of this planet will be on your head!"
After delivering what was unmistakably a threat, General Zod terminated the communication, returned the televisions to the people of Earth, and power systems across every nation resumed normal operation.
The broadcast hadn't lasted long, but its impact was truly earth-shattering.
Who was Kal-El? There was an alien on Earth? Where was Krypton?
The people of Earth were stunned. Even the ever-suicidal Uncle Sam broke out in a cold shiver. Earth had been invaded by aliens again... wait, why "again"?
"Zod?"
Tifa's hand stopped on Zod's belt.
And then Zod was utterly baffled.
This little show was not his doing!
He couldn't help but look up, his gaze reaching toward the ship in outer space.
A genuine Kryptonian ship!
And then his phone blew up. Even though Zod Heath had retired, faced with an alien invasion, many people's first thought was still of him—the strongest man in the world.
But Zod had no time for them. He vanished and reappeared, as if teleporting, inside the Kryptonian ship in outer space.
The moment he entered the ship, familiar Kryptonian air washed over him.
Unfortunately for them, Zod was already quite stable—changes in atmosphere meant nothing to him.
"Who are you?"
General Zod, seeing the sudden appearance of this other Zod, asked with heightened alertness.
"You don't recognize me? I'm Zod Heath."
Zod asked, puzzled.
"Who is Zod Heath?"
Neither General Zod, his female adjutant Faora, nor the group of Kryptonians relaxed their guard.
Now it was Zod's turn to be confused. He had clearly befriended General Zod and his group back on Krypton, with the original plan of recruiting them once they reached Earth. But the current situation suggested they didn't recognize him at all?
Unless... they weren't the General Zod and Faora of his universe!
On Earth, one night of the twenty-four-hour countdown had already passed. Faced with the Kryptonian threat, the nations of Earth decisively caved, launching a worldwide search for the Kryptonian hiding on the planet.
The people of Earth had no choice. The few minutes of alien-induced blackout had already caused incalculable economic losses. And this was before anything had even really happened—piles of dollars had already been flushed down the drain. If an actual war broke out, they'd be selling pots and pans to pay for it!
/-\
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