In reality, Earth was a dilapidated, insignificant mudball with absolutely no value.
But within the parameters of the story, Earth was the birthplace of legends. It was the epicenter of the universe, crawling with superheroes, and evidently held secrets coveted by Skyfather-level entities.
By looking at it from a screenwriter's perspective and abandoning all natural geopolitical logic, everything suddenly clicked into place. It was an entirely new paradigm.
"Exactly, exactly," Nick Fury agreed, pacing the room. "If we view it through that lens, Earth is infinitely more important than we ever imagined. Let's ignore the superheroes for a second, since we don't know if alien worlds have their own versions of them. Let's focus on the Ancient One."
Fury held up a finger. "Lucas wrote that the corpses of the Demon Gods she has slaughtered could wrap around the solar system."
"Let's not get bogged down in arguing whether he meant the literal circumference of the solar system or just a massive hyperbole. Either way, the sheer volume is terrifying," Fury said, his single eye intense.
"Let's analyze the Ancient One based on the limited intel we have. First, she is a confirmed 'Skyfather-level' entity, which places her at the absolute power ceiling of Phase One. Second, she is Earth's guardian. The unprecedented peace our world has enjoyed for centuries is likely a direct result of her protection."
Fury crossed his arms. "Now, Thor claimed that Asgard has protected Earth from countless alien invasions over the millennia. That covers the physical, 'Surface World' threats. But the Ancient One? She covers the magical, 'Inner World' threats. Her domain is strictly supernatural."
"The fact that she has killed enough Demon Gods to wrap around a star system proves she is absurdly powerful. But conversely, it proves something far more horrifying: an astronomical number of Demon Gods have tried to invade Earth," Fury deduced.
He leaned against the table. "I don't know if other alien civilizations suffer from constant demonic incursions. But I personally lean toward no. If we look at this from a screenwriter's perspective, those other alien civilizations exist purely as background dressing. They are world-building filler. Or, like the aliens in the New York invasion, they exist purely to act as the villains."
"There is zero narrative reason for a writer to constantly subject background planets to demonic invasions," Fury concluded. "Agent Hill, make a note of this. The next time Thor shows up, we need to ask him if magical incursions happen across the rest of the universe, or if Earth is a massive anomaly."
The agents nodded, dutifully recording the directive. Thor was officially their cosmic encyclopedia.
"Now, let's circle back," Fury continued. "Assuming we look at this from a narrative angle, these Demon Gods exist to serve as villains for our Earth-based heroes, or in the case of Spider-Man and Spider-Woman, as the source of their magical powers."
"But here is the core issue: Why are they invading Earth? In reality, we have no resources, no strategic position, and terrible energy output. So why do endless waves of god-tier demons throw themselves at us?" Fury asked, rubbing his temples.
"Based on Lucas's diary, he is terrified of catching the Ancient One's attention. This implies she doesn't patrol the universe; she is stationed exclusively on Earth," Fury noted. "We need to verify this with Thor too. If Asgard claims absolute sovereignty over Earth, there is no way they are completely ignorant of a Skyfather-level sorcerer operating right under their noses."
"Thor really is incredibly useful," Hawkeye muttered. "He's a walking cheat sheet."
The room let out a collective, tense laugh. It was true.
Whenever they hit an absolute dead end regarding cosmic or magical lore, the answer was always: Just ask Thor.
Even though Thor usually presented himself as a reckless, hammer-swinging meathead, he was still the Crown Prince of an ancient, profoundly deep magical civilization. Things that were classified as absolute, world-shattering secrets on Earth were likely just common middle-school history in Asgard.
It was no different than S.H.I.E.L.D. itself. To ordinary civilians, vampires and werewolves were scary campfire stories. To S.H.I.E.L.D., they were just classified biological anomalies. They had enough research data on them to fill an entire warehouse, and they kept live specimens in the Triskelion's sub-levels.
"It's great that we have him, but the problem is our lack of interstellar communications," Natasha sighed. "If the Bifrost hadn't been destroyed, Thor could just pop down here, and we could interrogate him right now. We definitely need to ask him if Asgard has long-distance comms. It would be pretty embarrassing if a supreme god-tier civilization still used messenger birds."
"Alright, alright. We will add interstellar comms to the interrogation list," Nick Fury said, waving a hand to cut the tangent short.
Fury didn't say anything further, but he knew for a fact that interstellar communication existed.
He literally had one sitting in his pocket.
It was an incredibly crude-looking pager. It couldn't transmit voice or text data; it could only broadcast a single, emergency distress signal. But it possessed the capability to instantly cross galactic sectors, relying on technological principles Fury couldn't even begin to comprehend.
Over the years, he had never dared to let the R&D department dismantle it. If it were any ordinary piece of alien tech, he would have reverse-engineered it decades ago. But that pager was his ultimate trump card.
It was his one and only method of summoning Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers. If the R&D lab accidentally broke it, humanity was doomed.
But possessing the pager proved that advanced civilizations absolutely had faster-than-light communication methods.
As the briefing continued around him, a profound dilemma formed in Fury's mind.
Should he press the button?
If the Battle of New York was truly as apocalyptic as they predicted, should he preemptively summon Captain Marvel to intercept the alien armada and prevent the massacre?