"First, we can't let the strongest ones meet too early, or there won't be any excitement later," Adam said in the room in Wood Tower.
From the list of the top twenty-six, Adam first picked out Thor, Loki, Black Captain Marvel, and Hulk.
Thor and Black Captain Marvel go without saying. The Loki of the main Universe is a bit weak, but this Universe's Loki, who specializes in magic, is comparable in strength to Thor.
If Hulk fought purely on his own, he wouldn't have an advantage in a regulated arena like this. However, with Banner's intelligence assisting him and the bonus of growing stronger with anger, he is definitely a top-tier combatant.
"Second, eliminate as many others as possible first, and then try to keep as many of our own company members as possible."
We can't have the company's people eliminated in the first round; as the host, that would be somewhat embarrassing.
"Finally, it depends on my mood. I want to watch whoever I want to watch. It's all about my own enjoyment."
Ten minutes later, he finally arranged the first round's match list.
However, even he, with the exception of a few individuals, couldn't be sure which of these twenty-six would advance.
After all, this wasn't a battle to the death, but an arena competition.
Victory wasn't about killing the opponent, but about making the opponent fall for ten seconds or leave the arena.
Therefore, it wasn't guaranteed that the strongest person would advance.
Just like S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Black Widow Natasha, she encountered many opponents with decent abilities, but they all ultimately fell to her.
Some were careless because of her beauty, some were tricked out of the arena with her techniques during combat, and others were defeated by her various hidden high-tech weapons.
Mutants and martial artists are different. Martial artists undergo rigorous training and have resilient minds, while most mutants are ordinary people who suddenly gained abilities.
"Susan, this is the match list for the first round."
After preparing the match list, Adam called Susan and had her announce it, claiming it was the result of a machine drawing.
The moment Susan saw the list, she became a little flustered.
"Why did you put all of us together?"
"This is to ensure our own people's advancement spots. I've arranged most of the company's contestants to fight each other.
This way, the audience won't feel like there's a fix, and no matter how strong other contestants are, we'll still have at least half of our people advancing to the next round.
Currently, thirteen of the top twenty-six are nominally part of our company, making up half of the total.
At least six or seven will advance after one round.
However, if the thirteen company members fought against the other thirteen, it would be uncertain how many would advance.
If luck was bad, maybe only two or three."
Adam explained with a smile.
Susan was stunned when she heard this:
"Boss, why are you so unconfident in our people?"
As the person in charge of the company, Susan knew how strong these Superheroes of the company were. So far, there were very few tasks they couldn't complete.
Adam shook his head:
"You need to know, there's always someone better, and there's always a higher heaven. This World isn't as simple as you think, and those contestants today are not ordinary people."
"Not ordinary people?"
Susan's face showed a look of confusion.
Seeing this, Adam explained:
"You know the five from S.H.I.E.L.D., and you know Iron Man Tony Stark. As for the remaining six, they aren't some elderly cosplay enthusiasts, but true gods from the mythical Asgard."
As the company's manager, he felt it was better to tell Susan many things in advance.
Otherwise, if something went wrong, it would be a chaotic scramble to deal with it.
"What? Gods!"
Susan's eyes widened instantly:
"Are you saying that Thor is really Thor, Loki is really Loki the God of Mischief, and the Valkyrie and the Three Warriors are all real?"
"They are all real. They come from Asgard, and some of them are over a thousand years old.
But you don't need to find it too hard to understand. You can think of them as aliens, only their lifespan is much longer than humans. They once visited Earth and helped humanity.
That's why they were recorded by humans as gods.
You've seen them; those few look a bit slow-witted. They're not truly omnipotent gods."
Seeing Susan looking as if her worldview had collapsed, Adam revealed the truth.
"That's true. Especially Thor, who carries the hammer, he really doesn't seem very bright. It seems these gods aren't quite what we imagined."
Hearing Adam say this, Susan also nodded in agreement.
However, a moment later, she became a little worried:
"Then you…"
"Don't worry, he's not enough. If his father Odin came, then that would be a different story."
Before Susan could finish, Adam already knew what she was worried about.
He didn't care about Thor and Loki. In all of Asgard, only Odin and Hela, the sealed former wielder of Mjolnir, were truly formidable individuals.
At the same time, the twenty-six advancing contestants were not idle either.
Aquaman Namor the Neptune quietly left the small island and submerged into the sea. His opponent in today's match was as he expected—not very strong. Human technology was also far inferior to their Atlantis.
However, he found that some contestants on other arenas were unexpectedly strong, putting him under considerable pressure.
To prevent any accidents, he decided to go to the palace to retrieve his Vibranium spear. In the upcoming finals, he would defeat the other contestants and properly gauge how strong the strongest hero truly was.
Meanwhile, the five S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who advanced were holding a combat meeting in a room.
"All the intelligence on those Superheroes from the League of Heroes is here. You've fought together before, so you understand them.
I want you to pay special attention to those few who claim to be from Asgard. If it's true, then it could be very troublesome for you!"
Nick Fury said with a somewhat solemn expression.
Asgard was a very powerful and mysterious race in the Universe, he had heard about them from the Skrulls; they weren't just figures from myths.
However, he still couldn't be sure if those six people were real.
But he had activated all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence networks and indeed found no information about the six; they seemed to have appeared out of thin air.
Unlike the solemnity on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s side, the Asgardian six-person team was much more relaxed. They didn't care about such things; eating meat and drinking heavily was their style.
They were also quite confident and didn't believe they would lose to mortals.
Only Loki was an exception, but he was also very happy because he saw hope—the hope of Thor being defeated and his own plan succeeding.
Finally, there was Tony Stark, who at this moment was rolling in bed with a mutant who had lost to him earlier in the day.