Lu Mingfei doesn't want to be a superhero

Tony's face took on the expression of a middle-aged office worker who comes home to find his wife cheating on him and getting pregnant, his son crashing his motorcycle, and his daughter going to get an abortion with a blond thug.

Natasha, Steve, and Dr. Banner all raised their hands simultaneously: "Agreed!"

"No, I don't agree!" Tony slammed his fist on the table. "I'm the producer and the director, how dare you take away my right to act?!"

"If you agree to compress your screen time to that of a normal supporting character, I'll support your participation," Steve finally said, showing the more amiable side.

“And you need to hire a professional screenwriter,” Lu Mingfei complained. “Your film aesthetics are really questionable. I’m afraid you’ll dress everyone in gold and red clothes.”

"Isn't this good?" Tony wondered.

The other four people all rubbed their foreheads.

"Alright, alright, I'll hire a professional screenwriter." Tony had no choice but to compromise.

"You're actually so easy to talk to?" Steve was a little surprised. He had been working with Tony for several months, and although they got along fairly well, there was no doubt that Tony was an extremely arrogant and conceited person.

“I’ve figured it out. I can only play supporting roles in other people’s movies, so I’m going to make my own movie called ‘The Great Hero: The Birth of Iron Man’,” Tony said, looking up.

"How about calling it 'How Iron Man Was Forged'?" Lu Mingfei quipped.

“This has the suspicion of riding on the coattails of a classic novel,” Tony shook his head.

"You're actually considering it..." Lu Mingfei was speechless.

“Ahem, gentlemen, let’s get back to the point,” Natasha clapped her hands lightly, drawing everyone’s attention and steer the meeting back on track. “To make a movie, we need to solve a few problems. First, we need a professional behind-the-scenes team, including set design, props, cinematography, lighting, makeup, editing, post-production special effects, and so on…”

“Leave everything to me. I’ll handle the props,” Tony said. “Jarvis will take care of the post-production special effects, and I’ll hire the most professional people for the other positions.”

"Secondly, there's the cast. We'd better find some big-name stars to join, but with Captain America's name on the board, there will definitely be no shortage of big stars who want to join this movie, so we don't need to worry too much about that. In addition, there's a large number of extras..."

“Leave it to me, or more precisely, to the team I hire,” Tony said.

“No, I meant that S.H.I.E.L.D. can provide some professional agents for extras and background roles,” Natasha said.

"Are you S.H.I.E.L.D. people so free?" Tony asked her.

“We should always do our part for our allies,” Natasha shrugged. “You all shouldn’t doubt the acting skills of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, right?”

Lu Mingfei and the others nodded – there was no doubt about that. After all, if an actor's acting was bad, at most they would lose some money, but if a secret agent's acting was bad, dying quickly would be considered a good ending.

“Our people can play American soldiers and Hydra members, and they’ll be even more realistic than the real thing,” Natasha said.

"I think it's a good idea," Lu Mingfei said, stroking his chin. Free high-quality extras, why not take them?

Tony and the other two agreed one after another.

“By the way, I have another friend who also idolizes Captain America. He’d probably be happy to be an extra,” Lu Mingfei said. “With his skills, he could probably become the best stuntman in the world.”

"A stuntman? You arthropod kid?" Tony teased.

"Arthropod Boy?" Steve asked, somewhat puzzled.

“Spider-Man, one of the most popular superheroes in New York right now,” Lu Mingfei said, “is named Peter Parker, a high school student about to go to college, and also my friend. We used to be deskmates.”

Steve suddenly realized that he had also heard of Spider-Man and was quite fond of this young street superhero: "Welcome your friend to the cast."

"Okay, it's settled then. Let's get started tomorrow," Tony decided.

……

Pre-production work is proceeding smoothly. Steve, as the lead actor, is honing his acting skills intensively and meticulously recording all aspects of his experiences except for classified information for the screenwriter's reference—because this is a documentary-style heroic epic film, the Captain's own memoirs are very important.

As the director, Tony sought out excellent behind-the-scenes film professionals and prepared some important props to ensure they wouldn't be exposed in the film.

Lu Mingfei and Natasha were in charge of interviewing the stars who came to audition—Natasha was mainly in charge, while Lu Mingfei came because he realized that he didn't seem to have any skills, so he came to work as an interviewer alongside Natasha in order to make it seem like he was doing something.

Natasha readily agreed to this. She would never have agreed if Tony were to be the interviewer, because Tony would likely turn the interview into a beauty pageant, with all the male actors getting out and all the female actors wearing bikinis, and those who were willing to use transparent straps would get extra points.

But this situation would not have occurred if Lu Mingfei were in charge. Natasha even suspected that he might not be interested in women.

Two days later, at the conference table.

The four gathered together, each briefly explaining their own progress, and then Tony pulled out a glowing blue cube.

"What is this?" Lu Mingfei asked curiously.

“One of the most important gadgets, the Tesseract,” Tony said. “Hydra tried to use it to develop powerful weapons, but it was lost forever in the icy sea during the Captain’s battle with Red Skull. I recreated this gadget using the scattered information I found.”

"This is something that shouldn't exist in the world. If Hydra were to use it to create a weapon of mass destruction, countless innocent people would die tragically." Steve stared at the Tesseract artifact, his tone somber.

“Well, Captain, you should be the person in the world who knows it best,” Tony pushed the angular blue cube toward him. “Look, doesn’t it look like it?”

"It looks exactly like the real thing!" Steve exclaimed.

“I put a small reactor inside, and its blue color comes from the reactor’s light,” Tony said proudly. “So it has its own energy, enough to power a building.”

"Isn't that too wasteful? Why don't you just put a light bulb in there?" Lu Mingfei complained.

"That's called professionalism. When making props, you have to have this spirit of trying to be as realistic as possible," Tony said.

Natasha hesitated: "The existence of the Cosmic Cube should be a secret, right? Wouldn't it be inappropriate to include it in a movie?"

“What’s wrong with it? Movies should strive for realism. If we change anything that involves even a little bit of secrets, people will criticize us for making it too fake,” Tony said. “Besides, the Tesseract has already disappeared, so what’s the big deal about making a prop?”

Natasha gave a stiff smile: "That makes sense."

……

Meanwhile, in a certain part of space.

Loki, who had been exiled by Odin, was kneeling on the ground, receiving the scepter from the slender, dark figure in front of him.

“Remember, you now serve the great Thanos,” the shadow said. “Go, go to Earth, find the Tesseract, use it to open the gates, and welcome the Chitauri army. They will become your army, conquering Earth for you, and you will… become the king of Earth.”

Loki looked up, the faint blue light from the scepter illuminating his face.

Chapter 150 Peter, wake up!

S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury's office.

Natasha is reporting the progress to Fury.

"Stark made a Tesseract prop?" Fury frowned. "What was he thinking? To actually include something so important in a movie."

“He said it was to preserve the authenticity as much as possible. After all, quite a few people know about the Tesseract. Although it was lost, as a dangerous item that was almost turned into a super weapon by Hydra, many people are interested in its information,” Natasha said with a wry smile. “He said that if the Tesseract wasn’t in the movie, other politicians might use it to attack the movie’s authenticity. The biggest selling point of this movie is ‘the true hero story of Captain America Steve,’ so we need to make it as impossible as possible for others to question the authenticity of the content.”

“Authenticity…” Fury’s already dark face darkened even more, and he said irritably, “Should I really find a few Hydra agents to play Hydra agents in his movies?”

Natasha remained silent. As a responsible employee, she knew better than to speak up when her boss was in a bad mood.

“Never mind, Natasha, go and call Hill,” Fury said. “Don’t use any communication devices, go find her yourself.”

Natasha was taken aback—generally speaking, if something is not communicated using any means, it means that it is highly confidential, and word of mouth is the safest way to pass it on.

Perhaps sensing Natasha's confusion, Fury hesitated for a moment before explaining, "I need to have Hill suspend the development of the Cosmic Cube."

"Why?" Natasha asked in surprise. "Is it because Stark made a fake Rubik's Cube?"

“It’s because they’re going to include the Tesseract in a movie,” Fury said. “Nobody was really interested in it anymore. To most people, it was lost somewhere on Earth. But if they make a movie about it, it might attract some unnecessary attention. Besides, S.H.I.E.L.D. is already being watched by a lot of people because of their support for Steve’s presidential campaign.”

“Politicians and the military are both very interested in it,” Fury paused, then added, “and most of the people at the Tesseract research facility don’t actually know that they are researching the Tesseract. They only know that it is a blue, glowing energy object. But once the movie comes out, those people will realize that the blue cube they see every day in the facility is actually a dangerous thing that Hydra used to develop weapons.”

Natasha nodded, but she still couldn't quite understand. She knew that the Tesseract was with S.H.I.E.L.D., and that S.H.I.E.L.D. was secretly developing and researching the Tesseract—because as Fury's confidante, she had briefly participated in the project, only to be transferred to other missions later.

But she really couldn't understand why Fury would suspend the development of the real Rubik's Cube just because Tony made a fake one. Wasn't that being a bit too cautious?

Following this logic, if Tony were to get bored one day and make a miniature model of the Helicarrier, would S.H.I.E.L.D. just abandon the Helicarrier altogether?

Fury glanced at Natasha but did not offer any further explanation.

If S.H.I.E.L.D. were conducting normal research on the Tesseract, then there would indeed be no need to be so cautious. However, the problem is that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s development and research on the Tesseract is not normal—they are using the Tesseract to research weapons of mass destruction, just like Hydra was back then.

Even his trusted subordinate Natasha was unaware of this; only Hill roughly understood what they were doing.

Therefore, this matter must not be exposed. You should know that those big shots at the top don't even know that the Tesseract is in S.H.I.E.L.D., let alone that he is using the Tesseract to research weapons that are ahead of their time.

If this were to be exposed to the military, they might send a hydrogen bomb to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarrier.

After all, to draw an analogy, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s actions are like "the FBI wanting to have its own nuclear bomb." Are you trying to rebel or something?

Therefore, Fury had no intention of taking any risks. After all, even if there was only a one percent chance of being discovered, there was a one hundred percent chance that he would be sentenced to three hundred years in federal prison.

Although she didn't understand what Fury was thinking, he was the boss after all, so Natasha couldn't say anything more and could only go out to find Agent Hill, completely bewildered.

"Wait," Fury suddenly called to Natasha, who was standing at the door.

"Is there anything else, Chief?" Natasha asked, turning her head.

"Has the actor for Carter been decided for that movie?" Fury asked.

“Not yet,” Natasha shook her head. “I’ve interviewed a lot of celebrities, but either their acting skills aren’t good enough, or their faces and temperament don’t quite match.”

“Then I’ll recommend you try it out alone,” Fury said.

"Could it be Coulson? If he knew he was going to act opposite Captain America, he'd probably faint from excitement," Natasha joked, knowing that Coulson was a huge Captain America fan.

Fury subconsciously imagined Coulson wearing a fitted long dress and being affectionate with Steve, and felt a little nauseous.

“She’s a female agent,” Fury said with a dark expression.

“Agent?” Natasha paused for a moment, then shook her head. “Boss, if I may be so bold, while the agent’s acting skills are impeccable, Ms. Carter is the female lead in the movie. What we need is a beautiful, talented, and very famous actress. Many viewers will come to see the movie because of her popularity.”

After saying that, she added, "If I didn't care about fame and just wanted acting skills and a pretty face, I could just do it myself, right?"

"What a coincidence, this agent is not only top-notch in acting and appearance, but also can play an irreplaceable role in promoting the film," Fury smiled slightly. "You can then promote the film by saying that 'Peggy Carter in the movie will be played by her real-life niece.'"

Natasha blinked.

……

Lu Mingfei at home.

Lu Mingfei and Peter sat on the sofa.

"I...I...I...Can I really be in a Captain America movie? I'll get to see the real Captain America and get up close and personal with him? Can I get his autograph?" Peter asked excitedly.

"Autographs and photos are no problem, I'll sign them right here," Lu Mingfei joked. "When is your birthday? Or should I have him record a happy birthday video for you?"

"Really?!" Peter straightened up.

"Can't you be a little more dignified?" Lu Mingfei covered his face. "You're a household name in New York now, a newly minted superhero, you know."

“That’s Captain America…” Peter said with a longing look.