"Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian… who exactly are these two?"
Strange spoke first. After a moment of thought, he turned to Thor. "Thor, have you heard of them?"
He asked Thor because it was obvious: these two weren't from Earth.
After all, Earthlings don't have such strange names, and they certainly don't "descend upon Earth."
"No. I've never heard of these two," Thor shook his head.
Thanos' activities and the Nine Realms were far removed from him. Back then, Thor hadn't even heard of Thanos, let alone any of his so-called "lieutenants."
Even though Thor had gathered some information about Thanos recently, thanks to the Questioning System, Thor's proud nature meant he had no interest in any of Thanos' subordinates—only Thanos himself mattered.
So whether it was Gamora, Nebula, or the four members of the Black Order, Thor didn't know them.
Of course, Thor had learned of the first two through the Questioning System. Without it, he wouldn't have known them either.
"If Thor doesn't recognize them, this is going to be tricky. If only Star-Lord were here—he might know them," Tony Stark muttered, resting his chin in his hand.
When it came to cosmic affairs, Thor clearly had far less knowledge than Star-Lord.
"No matter who they are, they must be powerful," Captain America said gravely, making a basic assessment. "Among the four options, each one is strong, but Ebony Maw could easily defeat them."
"If that's the case, can Spider-Man be ruled out?" Strange scanned the options and addressed everyone. "I'm not underestimating Spider-Man. He's a fine young hero, but his strength is noticeably below the other three in these options."
"Strange, by making that choice, you're assuming something," T'Challa said after thinking. "You assume Ebony Maw is extremely powerful—but the question never said he is. What if he's only average? Then the answer would have to be Spider-Man, because he couldn't stand against the other three!"
"I think they're probably strong," Scott Lang added, "Ebony Maw, Cull Obsidian… their names don't sound weak."
"That's not a reliable basis," T'Challa replied calmly.
"Exactly," Captain America immediately agreed. "We can't judge Ebony Maw's strength based on assumptions."
Even Cap himself subconsciously assumed Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian were strong. But as he said, it was just a subjective feeling—there was no evidence.
"So we first need to discuss whether Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian are strong or weak," Scott said, looking frustrated.
"There's no point in such speculation," Tony said, shaking his head. "We have no clues about that battle. We don't even know if any of the four were involved."
"All we know is 'the superheroes'—the plural implies at least two heroes. Other than that, we have no idea."
"So all the earlier discussions about ruling out or keeping Spider-Man were meaningless, because we don't even know if he participated," Tony added.
"Not just Spider-Man—the same goes for everyone in the options."
Tony's logic was sound: first, determine who among the four actually participated, then analyze further. But even that first step seemed impossible.
"There's so little information in this question. How can we analyze it? One word, 'heroes,' doesn't tell us who actually fought," Scott said, scratching his head.
The others were equally stumped. Who fought, and even if they did, assessing their strength was nearly impossible. Except for Spider-Man, the remaining three were strong—but exactly how strong? They couldn't determine that without a real fight.
"Here's what we can do," Thor proposed. "Assume all four participated, then analyze from there."
"That works," Scott agreed immediately. "Otherwise, this question goes nowhere."
"Even if we assume that, we still can't proceed," T'Challa said. "We don't know the criteria to judge!"
"This means we've missed some crucial detail. Let's think carefully—maybe there's something we overlooked," Tony urged.
"What did we miss?" T'Challa scanned the question. "Ebony Maw didn't just defeat that person—he captured them."
"This implies he had a purpose. He could have easily killed them but chose to take them alive."
"Exactly," Thor said, shrugging. "But we can't know Ebony Maw's motives."
"What about the 'Black Order'? Can we infer anything from that title?" Scott pointed at the screen.
"'Order of Four' means besides Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian, there are two others. Together they're called the Black Order," Cap analyzed, though it was just basic information.
"Anything else we can glean?" Cap asked.
"'Black' might indicate something," Strange mused. But without more info, nothing could be concluded.
"Wait!" Tony suddenly had a realization. His eyes gleamed. "Four people. Black Order. Four people. Do you see it?"
"Stark, don't tease. Tell us," Thor urged.
All eyes turned to Tony.
"In the footage where Thanos destroyed the Asgardian ship and killed Loki, he had four with him! Coincidence?"
Tony continued: "After stealing the Tesseract, he sent those four to Earth to gather other stones. That has to be the Black Order!"
"Exactly!" Scott clapped excitedly. "Four people, match once—they appear on Earth, match twice… probability is low. It must be them!"
"No—three consecutive matches," Tony corrected calmly. "That proves their strength."
"The four on the ship, close to Thanos, destroyed Asgard—obviously strong. One can manipulate objects at will—just a glimpse of power shows his strength. The others? Even if unseen, being Thanos' close lieutenants proves they're formidable."
"Though we can't be certain of the two in the question, it's highly likely they're strong," Tony added. "Based purely on options, 75% strong, 25% weaker."
"One more thing—their goal isn't murder," T'Challa added.
"Exactly!" Scott shouted. "Four heroes descended, all strong, all non-lethal, all four features match. Probability is minuscule—they must be the same group."
"Agreed," Strange nodded. Even Thor, ignorant of probability, understood the odds of four consecutive matches.
Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian were confirmed as Black Order members.
"So that's them!" Thor's face darkened. These were the ones who, with Thanos, massacred Asgard.
"One day, I will kill them! All of them, including Thanos!" Thor said coldly.
"So the answer to this question is clear?" Scott asked, excited. "Ebony Maw's goal was the Infinity Stones and he captured someone—so it must be Strange."
"Yes. Only Strange had a stone," Tony nodded. "And it was in that magical pendant—Ebony Maw couldn't take it directly. He had to capture Strange as well."
With the Black Order identified, everything fell into place—every detail matched perfectly.
Once Ebony Maw's identity was clear, the question was simple. The difficulty lay in that initial deduction.
"Who will answer next?" Thor asked the group.
"'Reversed World'? What skill is that? Does it invert the world?" Strange guessed. "If so, that's overpowered."
"Even if it does, why invert the world? What's the point?" Scott shrugged.
"I don't think it's literal… but it doesn't concern me now," Tony waved.
"I'm interested in this skill. If no one else wants it, I'll answer," T'Challa volunteered.
No one objected.
"I choose C—Doctor Strange!" T'Challa announced.
[Answer Correct!][Congratulations, T'Challa has obtained the skill: Reversed World!][Reward issued—please check!]
With the notification, T'Challa gained the skill. He paused, then understood: "So this is Reversed World."
"Does it really invert the world, Strange?" Thor asked curiously.
"Of course not," T'Challa smiled. "It's an illusion—reverses the enemy's perception, not reality."
...................
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