Chương 49: 49. Marvel's Saviour: Eidolon.
Disclaimer: The story that I have written here takes on the names of real people, but this story is based in an alternate earth with some changes in its timeline.
This story does not intend to represent the celebrities/real people or make any commentary on them whatsoever. This story is entirely fictional, and it should be viewed entirely as such.
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Recap of the Previous Chapter -
We see Mark, relaxing after finishing the shooting for the day. He thinks about the progress his friends had made in their work and how far they had come after just graduating a few months back. Sofia Coppola was arriving for her lesson on how to portray a strong female character.
He then ponders about the gaming industry and which video game development companies he wants to buy in the future. The shooting of Knives Out is almost complete, he is filming the will reading scene, which takes a total of 33 tries to finish the scene.
Mark praises Jan and Chris and asks them if they would like to direct a small budget movie for him, with a script that he wrote himself. They are deeply touched by his trust and accept the offer with thanks. Mark then meets Ronald Perelman, the current owner of Marvel.
Mark directly showed him the survey and investigation of the assets and liabilities of Marvel comics and gave Perelman a fair price for the company as an offer. Perelman understood his situation and accepted the offer begrudgingly.
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~ Mark's POV ~
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Date: 17th July, 1990.
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Location: In his car's backseat, on his way to Marvel's current office in burbank.
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Time: 09:43 am.
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He had spent the better half of yesterday perfecting his plan to revive Marvel and turn it into something his mother had dreamed it would become, but failed under the ownership of Disney.
It was just him, Eva, Harry his trusty lawyer and Mr. Kim, his driver cum bodyguard.
He was in a relaxed happy mood and why wouldn't he be, the filming of Knives Out was almost complete with only the final scene of Beniot Blanc's monologue being left the shoot.
But even that didn't bring him as much joy as the rewards from his recent hidden achievements did.
[Congratulations Mark, a Hidden Achievement has been unlocked.
Hidden Achievement: The Start of a Business Empire (I).
Requirements -
1. Start a business yourself and own at least over 50% of it. ✅
2. Become the owner of at least 5 different businesses and own at least over 50% ownership stake in all of them. ✅
3. Three of your businesses must be in different industries and be profitable or the potential to be in the near future. ✅
Rewards - 40 HP and an Event Modifier (B-tier). Can only be used for Hollywood related events like – hiring contracts and awards.]
He had finally been rewarded with an Event Modifier and even though this one was of a lower tier, he didn't really mind. His previous Hidden Achievement had rewarded him with an Optimized Knowledge Script which was broken as well but being able to manipulate reality was as close to Godlike power as one could possibly get.
He brought his hands together and silently prayed to the Creator God to not nerf his OP items.
Eva looked at him praying and chuckled as she said, "Mark I know you are a fan of the guy. But I didn't think you would feel so nervous to meet him, that you are praying for luck."
Mark stopped praying and smiled as he replied, "I wasn't really praying for luck, just hoping for a good first impression."
"Yeah, yeah, it's the same thing," Eva replied as she smirked at him.
"Okay, you got me there." Mark replied turning to ask Mr. Kim how far away they were from their destination. Mr. Kim replied that it would be just a few more minutes.
Mark nodded and started discussing with Harry if the changes he wants to bring to Marvel could be implemented within a month as he had a special event to prepare for.
Harry was Mark's personal lawyer and lead negotiator now, he had successfully facilitated Marvel's buyout for Mark while keeping Ronald Pearlman's greed in check.
He was now working in tandem with Nina on acquiring various different IPs for Mark ranging from books to games to even trying to buy ownership stakes in various businesses.
'It certainly is quite interesting to work for him.' Harry thought as Mark asked him if the paperwork had been properly taken care of. He nodded, explaining what was done and remained to be taken care of.
Mark thanked him for a job well done, Harry just said, "It's my job Mark, but if you don't mind me asking can you please tell who is the person standing in the cover of the first volume of Runeterra and what are those glowing stones?" He asked, showing his inner fanboy. This thought had been bugging him quite a while.
"I can only answer one and only if you promise to not tell anyone." Mark said with a mischievous smile.
"Oh come on, please dont do this to me, Mark. You know my girlfriend always hounds me for details about your books." Harry said as he sighed and replied. "Well I can't have her sign an NDA as I will be the one paying the fine. Okay, I promise not to tell anyone."
"Great, but it's too important of a secret so I can only answer one of the questions. Which one do you want to know?" Mark asked with a smirk.
"Hmm, the stones can be explained as some kind of artifact but the feeling the hooded man gave was odd, he felt he was special he.. he kinda .. he kinda looked like you, Mark ..?" Harry replied as he questioned himself whether he was tripping as recalled the cover and looked at Mark's face and compared the two.
Mark finally couldn't hold it in as he chuckled and replied, "wow you really are very observant Harry. You're right, it's me. That hooded man is a physical manifestation of me in the world of Runeterra."
"He is the ultimate source of life and creation and the creator of everything that exists in it. You can say he is kinda like the One Above All in Marvel." He said with a pleased smile seeing his reaction.
Harry was stunned by Mark's reply that truly was a big secret. One he knew he couldn't tell his girlfriend. He winced at the thought of her and decided to change the topic to someone else.
Mark had tasked Steve to buy out the publishing house that Mark used before to publish Ben 10 and the rest; and rename it as Eidolon Publications.
It has already been over 6 months and they have done a great job with publishing and distributing Mark's books along with completing the previous orders. So he asked what was next.
Mark told him that he planned to make Eidolon Publications as the main publisher of Marvel Comics in the future and also use them to publish his own comics as well like Naruto and My Hero Academia.
He then asked Harry to get the following trademark ™️. The name 'Ichiraku Ramen' for a chain of restaurants, yes Mark was going to recreate the actual love of Naruto's life in the real world - Ichiraku Ramen.
Patricia already had a friend of her's with whom she worked on the side to perfect a bowl of ramen that would even make American's come for more.
They had really come far in the past couple of months they had been collaborating for. Patty had told him that within the next few weeks they have final versions ready that could be used in Ichiraku once it opens up.
They reached the place, Marvel's LA headquarters, it wasn't something special as Mark expected. But it doesn't matter as he already planned on shifting Marvel to Eidolon HQ and provide a separate building to house the legendary Stan Lee.
He met up with Bob Harras himself, the current Editor-In-Chief of Marvel and politely requested them to follow him to the meeting room as they had a conversation about Marvel.
Mark asked about their sudden shift from New York to Los Angeles. It was something he knew happened much later in 2010 or 13 after MCU had agained more popularity, maybe it was another variability he had discovered.
Due it not being part her main feature, she really couldn't do much to find Time Variables. She found a few at random sometimes or sometimes none.
But it was enough for Mark as he knew that he couldn't depend on his future knowledge forever and needed to establish a stable base of power so he could relax and leave the rest to his subordinates.
Bob told him, "Ron wanted the company to be shifted to LA because he thought that the future of Marvel was in films. He wanted to be close by where it all happens, as that would make networking easier, atleast those were his words." he finished with a sigh.
"And what do you think Mr. Harras?" Mark asked as Harras glanced at him particularly at his mask, maybe trying to get a read on him.
"Honestly?" He asked wanting to see mark was being serious.
"Absolutely." Mark gestured for him to speak freely.
"I actually don't care, I am just trying keep this withering company from shutting down. I hope you can find a way to save it, Mr. Spencer." Bob replied, sadness radiating his person as he had nearly given up hope on Marvel.
"Please call me, Mark and yes, I think I have found a way to save Marvel Comics. It won't be without any hiccups or problems, but I aim to revive Marvel and create something even greater out of it." Mark replied to the relieved face of Bob.
Bob nodded in agreement and pushed open the door of the meeting room that looked alright. It was neat and clean with around 15 men and women sitting in their chairs. Bob led him to his seat and he sat down alongside Eva and Harry.
"Please dont look so nervous, I am not here fire anybody or blame you for the abysmal state Marvel currently is in."
"No, I am Mark Spencer, the new owner of Marvel Comics and I have a solution to revive Marvel to its past glory and take it to even greater heights." Mark said beginning his speech, he could see the look of despair on their faces and knew that he must first give them hope for a better future before could start off with the massive changes he had planned.
Mark continued explaining, "But I know that not everyone feels that way, maybe some of you want to quit but are unsure of the consequences. Well let me tell you this, I won't be holding any grudges and if you really feel like company has no future."
"You are free to walk out right now, I will even give you a sizable severance package so it's easier to tide through till you get hired again. So? Anyone who wants to leave?" Mark asked again as he didn't want any deserters later who might copy his idea for the Rebirth of Marvel.
"Bob before I had asked for revenue and sales statement for the comiclines still in circulation, is it prepared?" Mark asked looking at bob.
"Yes, of course. It's the second file from the top in front of you." Bob replied promptly with haste feeling nervous at Mark's sudden shift in presence.
"I see." he said, as he opened the file and glanced through it whilst telling Harry to pass around the files that they had brought with them.
"Hmm." Mark hummed as he read through the sales statement for the comics and winced at how abysmal it all looked. The Amazing Spiderman was doing good but only its original cover edition, he could easily tell at a glance how variants weren't selling all that much after bust of the comic book industry.
He looked up for a second and saw that everyone had been provided with a copy of his plans. "Well go through the first three pages and please let me know what you think about it, whether it can implemented or not and such." after that brief command, he went back to observing the sales figures.
Thankfully they had already simplified the data, so even a layman like him could understand what the glaring problems were. It was mainly the variants and excessive merchandise (toys) barely even kids wanted to buy.
He immediately selected his plan of action to counter this as he had already planned ahead to overcome the potential problems that Marvel might be facing.
As he finished his observation he found that most of the people were also almost done with his plans for the future.
He looked at Bob who was already done and told him, "Bob, listen I want you to stop making variants of the original issues of our comics. It isn't helping our issue same with publishing over a million copies just for people hoard them in dreams of getting rich."
"Attention please, everyone." He said, getting everyone to look up from their files and at him. "From now Marvel will not be operating under authority of Comic Code. As mentioned in the plan, we need to create our own regulatory body that would provide a better grading our content from now."
"This would need further discussion but we can't afford to be stifled by the CCA. Especially with the other stories I have thought to release alongside side Marvel from Eidolon Publications." Mark explained as he started explaining the changes he wanted to bring to Marvel.
He explained how he wanted to bring cohesion to the story and confine it to a main earth, which will be Earth-616 or the Main Universe. He told them about a new separate storyline about the beyonders, the incursions and eventually the restart of the Marvel timeline by the One Above All.
He asked them about DC's own reboot and their new 52 universes. After some discussions about DC and its reboot. Mark then asked them a question no one had really thought about before.
"What's different? What's stopping the characters from making the same mistakes and the universe being plunged into chaos?" Mark looked at Stan as he asked this very important question. He looked questioningly at himself, Mark nodded at his unasked question.
"Maybe the characters will make a different choice than before and the story would come to a different ending." Stan replied to Mark.
"But why and how would that change come? Is it by turning the characters into something inherently different than what they were before? If so, then it would just make the readers hate them more, this isn't the correct way." Mark said and went on to explain further.
"A reboot is necessary but must be handled delicately, no past storylines should be left hanging and it should all come together to form one big story and a story that is seemingly coming to an end."
"But here's the kicker, the beyonders wanted true freedom so they wanted to destroy, The One Above All's ultimate creation - The Marvel Multiverse. Though the beyonders didn't think that TOAL would care enough to make a move personally and to be fair, he doesn't." Mark with a sad inflection in his voice.
"Marvel truly ends with only the Main Marvel Universe remaining but it feels empty and desolate so the OAL brings together his children and tells them that if they want to mess around and destroy his creation then he must pust in one last failsafe."
The One Above All tells them, "For if nothing is changed and I recreate the Marvel Multiverse, then it will just be destroyed again one way or another. When the odds are so stacked up against the good guys that even they need saving. He will come. Marvel's Saviour, my last and final creation - EIDOLON."
"That's what will be different about New Marvel, a new character, a new champion that the people would praise and look up for he will be different. He will be the greatest of them all, he will be EIDOLON." with that Mark finished his speech and took out an envelope from his jackets' inner pocket.
He stood up and went around the table, towards stan and handed him the letter. Stan took the letter and saw that it was slightly discolored with age and sealed with no address but his name and designation as the EIC of Marvel.
Mark looked at him with respect, as he offered his hand and said, "Its an honour to finally meet to you. I am a big fan, sir." and they shook hands.
Stan was bewildered by the development, he had seen Mark's commanding authority but it was suddenly gone. He looked very cheerful and sunny right now, like a comic book fan just happy to meet his idol.
This was one the few rare moments in his life that someone appreciated and acknowledged him. As he was mostly a behind the scenes kind of guy and his family didn't really ever appreciate him for dedicating his entire life to something that didn't even pay that well.
Stan shook hands and said, "Did you write this for me?"
"Yeah, but I never really got the chance to hand it to you." Mark replied and then explained how he had written it when he was 9 but never got the chance to send it to him. He told him that it was filled with everything he wanted to say to him when he was 9 and there was also the first draft of his own superhero - Eidolon, that he came up with brainstorming about Marvel comics for months.
He asked him if he felt comfortable in LA or would he like to move back to New York to be closer to his family. Mark had already investigated Stan's family for elder abuse and thankfully found no evidence of it but he did see the budding signs from the messages and their attitude towards stan from the coded message David left him.
Stan said that he would like to remain here as the change of work place had done him a lot of good. Mark just nodded and said that if there were any problems in the future he could always come to him.
He said that to him, Stan is the person who had given most of their life away to Marvel and that he wanted him to play the One Above All, when they eventually start making movies.
Stan got really emotional hear this and asked Mark. "Will you really be making movies of our comcis?" he asked with a heavy voice.
"Absolutely I think they have the potential to become the most successful commercial movie franchise ever. But it is in just about the money, its about sending a message. I just dont want to create one or two superhero movies. No. I want to create an entire cinematic universe featuring all the Superheroes and the Villains all in one big screen." Mark's eyes were brimming with determination as he said this and Stan could feel Mark's conviction.
"It will be glorious but it wont be easy. We will need to make a lot of changes, some of them many of you won't like. But it's for the benefit of all in the long run, the changes will ensure for a more cohesive story and timeline for the main 616 universe."
"But I won't ask you to stifle your creativity but what we can do is create alternative universes for your own stories. They will continue to be featured in said alternate universe, so that you can have the creative freedom to do whatever you like in your story and it won't bring any adverse impact on the main storyline that will be in the 616 universe.
Then the meeting carried forward from with all them discussing about how the incursions would be brought about in the current ongoing storylines. Mark also talked to Stan about the changes he wanted to be implemented in all their comic books moving forward to differentiate them from the old days.
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{Author's Note: Sorry or your welcome for the short chapter. Some people like it big, some like it short. The scene I wanted to show was done so I ended because I knew if I continued it I would spill to many of my plans that I want to be kept secret for the future.
Anywhos, moving on, thanks for reading my work. I am entirely motivated by interaction, suggestions and feedback. So please leave a comment or review and I will probably write faster.
If you like my work please throw a power stone my way so my book can climb the rankings. Slurp some nice ramen and I hope you all have a beautiful day.
Update schedule for this book: 1 chapter every 2 days.}
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