Fury was now one hundred percent certain: the villain in "Thor 1" was Loki, the God of Mischief.
It all fit together perfectly. From a Hollywood screenwriter's perspective, the narrative was textbook: Loki deceives Thor. Thor discovers the truth, reclaims his power, returns to Asgard, and defeats Loki in an epic final battle to retake his throne.
Perfect. Fury would give that script a ten out of ten.
"Wait—what does 'cursed brother' mean?" Thor asked suddenly, catching up to the earlier line.
It didn't sound like a compliment.
"I know that one," Coulson offered. "It's a term from Chinese culture. It refers to someone whose loved ones all die because of them. Friends, family—everyone around them meets a tragic end."
Thor's jaw tightened, his expression darkening.
He was a god. A prince of Asgard. How could he possibly be cursed?
If anyone else had said it, Thor would've made them regret it. But this was Lucas. And Lucas's words had an unfortunate habit of coming true.
Even now, Thor still had his father, his mother, and his mischievous younger brother. But he couldn't shake the creeping dread that someday, all of that might be ripped away.
The others exchanged pitying glances. Being labeled a "cursed soul" wasn't a good sign—even if the tragedies hadn't happened yet.
Tony stopped envying Thor immediately. What was there to envy? The guy was about to lose everyone—his father, his mother, his brother, maybe even his lover. Could it get any worse than that?
Then the diary updated again.
[Come to think of it, how many superheroes aren't cursed like this? Most of them are, honestly. Same goes for the villains—hardly any of them have happy, complete lives.
Tragedy is all about creating something beautiful, then tearing it apart right in front of you. Right now, Loki's just an edgy, rebellious teenager acting out. But when people watch the footage later, they'll be sobbing. Especially when Loki realizes that his little stunt to mess with his brother got his mother killed—probably the one person in the universe who loved him unconditionally.
The look on his face when that happens? Total mental breakdown.]
The mood in the room plummeted.
Lucas wasn't just talking about Thor. He was saying that most superheroes—and even supervillains—were cursed. Their loved ones would die. Their lives would be defined by loss.
How were they supposed to stay calm after reading that?
Normal people got to live ordinary, happy lives. But superheroes? The moment they stepped into that role, they became walking tragedies.
They'd felt sorry for Thor a moment ago. Now they realized they were no better off. They were all in the same sinking boat.
For Thor, though, the worst part wasn't the abstract prediction. It was the specific detail: his mother would die. And it would be Loki's fault.
Even with all his brotherly devotion, that was hard to stomach.
Especially because Thor himself would play a role in it. Loki would try to mess with him, and their mother would pay the price.
That meant her death was inevitable.
And his father? According to the diary, Odin would only last a few more years before dying as well. Unlike his mother's death—which might be preventable if they could stop Loki's schemes—Odin's seemed unavoidable.
Thor couldn't think of a single way to reverse that fate.
The only person who might know was Lucas. And Lucas wasn't talking.
If you extended the "cursed brother" logic even further, Thor wouldn't just lose his parents. He'd lose Loki too.
The thought made Thor's chest tighten. He couldn't sit still anymore. The weight of it was crushing.
The others noticed. Their pitying looks deepened.
"You know," Hawkeye said carefully, "based on what we're reading, Loki doesn't actually sound that evil. Maybe he's more of a morally gray character."
Everyone understood what Barton was getting at. If the world really was written by some cosmic screenwriter, then Loki's personality was just a character design. He could be a villain. He could be a hero. It depended on the story.
"He's not evil," Thor said quietly, his voice thick with emotion. "Not at his core."
He needed to believe that. For his own sake.
Then another entry appeared.
[But honestly, it doesn't matter if you die early or late. When the Purple Titan snaps his fingers, everyone's equal. Everyone dies.]
The room went cold.
The Purple Titan.
This wasn't the first time Lucas had mentioned him. Every time the name came up, it carried an unmistakable sense of dread. Lucas—who seemed to know everything—was afraid of this being.
If someone like Lucas was scared, that meant the Purple Titan was a threat beyond comprehension.
"This has to be the same 'Purple Titan' from before," Tony said, breaking the silence.
"Unless there are multiple purple aliens running around, yes," Fury agreed. "'Purple Titan' is probably Lucas's nickname for him. A sarcastic jab. But whoever he is, he's real."
"Lucas keeps bringing up this 'snap,'" Coulson added, frowning. "He's mentioned it multiple times now. Whatever it is, it's not small. And he's clearly worried about it. So who is this guy? And how do we stop him from snapping his fingers?"
Coulson's frustration was palpable. This wasn't just another villain-of-the-week situation. The "snap" was clearly a world-ending event—something so catastrophic that even Lucas, with all his foreknowledge, couldn't avoid it.
It was on a completely different scale from anything else they'd encountered.