Marvel: Little Genius - Chapter: 403 (Patreon)

Sunk cost refers to the costs that have occurred in the past but are unrelated to the current decision, typically referring to costs that cannot be recovered.

From a decision-making perspective, past costs are only one of the factors contributing to the current situation. What current decisions should consider are the future costs and benefits, without taking into account the past costs.

However, when sunk costs accumulate to a high level, exceeding the threshold that the decision-maker can psychologically accept, the influence of psychological factors can make the decision process lean towards increasing investment to try to make the past costs yield results and harvest rewards.

Thanos is currently in such a situation — his sunk costs are too high. On his left hand, he wears the Infinity Gauntlet, which has already collected all the Infinity Stones except the Mind Stone and the Time Stone possessed by Mark and Doctor Strange.

The first stone, the Power Stone, was taken from the Nova Corps on Xandar. The second stone, the Space Stone, was obtained from the Asgardian spaceship escaping from Asgard. The third stone, the Reality Stone, was taken from the Collector's collection on Knowhere.

As for the fourth Infinity Stone — the Soul Stone, Thanos learned its location, Vormir, by threatening Gamora with Nebula's life. But what he didn't anticipate was that to make the Soul Stone materialize, he needed to sacrifice the soul of someone he loved the most.

In order to restore the balance of the universe and achieve his ideal, Thanos reluctantly pushed Gamora off the cliff altar, ultimately obtaining the Soul Stone.

Apart from his beloved adopted daughter Gamora, his loyal henchmen, the Black Order, either perished on Earth or died at his own hands.

All of these were sacrifices Thanos made to achieve his ultimate ideal, the irrecoverable costs he invested. This is why Thanos told the superheroes that he had already paid too much and later said that Mark's denial came too late.

For Thanos, even if he had doubts about Mark's arguments deep down, the sunk costs were so high that he couldn't accept a change and failure in his long-pursued ideal.

So now, Thanos has only one choice left, to pursue his original goal with unwavering determination.

"You're too late, Mark Stark! I first noticed you when you defeated Loki and the Chitauri army he led. But I didn't expect that a kid with no facial hair would grow up to not only drive people like Dormammu out of Earth but also nearly shake my resolve.

Unfortunately, I didn't pay enough attention to your existence back then, and I didn't meet you earlier. I always thought I was a man cursed by knowledge, but now it seems like I've been imprisoned by knowledge, and what you've received is the true curse. However, no matter what, I won't change my stance. Today, the battle between us is inevitable."

As for Thanos' mention of the curse of knowledge, Mark didn't take it seriously. Someone like Thanos believed he held the most important secrets in the universe, thinking it was a divine duty, and he considered himself destined, mature and lonely and painful because of knowing his mission.

"You think you're the center of the entire universe, the spokesperson for the will of the universe, but you're not! You're just an arrogant, self-righteous stubborn relic of a bygone era. The new era's ship has no room for remnants like you. Today, we're taking back control of our destinies from your hands—attack!"

With Mark's command, the members of the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy launched their assault on Thanos, each following their own pace and style.

The first to act were Captain and Quicksilver, utilizing their speed that made it difficult for Thanos to react, launching a continuous series of attacks.

Boom, boom, boom! Thanos stood in place, his body constantly twisting, and there were also loud collision sounds. This was Captain and Quicksilver's fast-paced attacks, similar to a relay race.

But don't forget, Thanos held four Infinity Stones in his hand, and he had a robust physique, capable of engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the Hulk. While Captain and Quicksilver's attacks landed successively, they didn't cause him any damage.

Next, the Infinity Gauntlet activated the power of the stones, and under the powerful energy shockwaves, Captain and Quicksilver's assault was forcefully interrupted.

One after another, following Captain and Quicksilver, the other superheroes also joined the fray. Spider-Man continuously shot webs to interfere with and restrain Thanos' movements. Black Panther, Bruce Banner, the Undying Black Widow, and Drax, the four of them took advantage of the opportunity to surround Thanos from all sides and launched their most powerful attacks.

Under the interference and siege of many, Thanos couldn't form an effective counterattack. Moreover, the Infinity Gauntlet was entangled by Spider-Man's web, temporarily rendering it useless. The situation gradually turned in favor of the heroes.

The next second, War Machine, Winter Soldier, Falcon, and Star-Lord, with the coordination of Mark and Doctor Strange, continuously engaged in guerrilla warfare around Thanos, using portals to appear next to him and fire high-tech weapons at him.

This moment Hawkeye was absent; otherwise, he would undoubtedly have let Thanos experience the power of the antimatter arrowhead arrow that Mark had custom-made for him.

However, although the coordination of the heroes was clever, and their attacks appeared fierce, it was the same situation as when Captain and Quicksilver attacked. While they seemed to suppress Thanos powerfully, they couldn't inflict any real damage on his formidable physique.

Mark had anticipated this situation from the beginning. In the original storyline, the only weapon capable of posing a threat to Thanos was the Stormbreaker, which Thor was currently forging on Nidavellir.

The attacks orchestrated by the heroes, relying on numbers and coordination, were unable to cause fatal harm to Thanos. However, Mark didn't expect these attacks to eliminate Thanos. Their real goal was to create effective containment, find an opportunity to take the Infinity Gauntlet and the four Infinity Stones from him, and then use other means to kill Thanos, such as Mark's trump card—The Forbidden Technique: Two-way Foil.

After another wave of attacks, Doctor Strange looked towards Mantis, who had been ready nearby. They nodded in unison, and then Doctor Strange opened two portals next to Thanos.

In the moment when Thanos had just endured the successive heavy firepower and hadn't regained his senses, Mantis directly passed through the portal opened by Doctor Strange. She sat on Thanos's shoulder, using her empathic abilities to disrupt Thanos's mental state.

At the same time, the other portal opened by Doctor Strange was positioned next to Thanos's left hand, and his levitating cloak swiftly wrapped around Thanos's left hand, preventing him from using the power of the Infinity Stones.

"Now is the time, go for it!" Seeing that the opportunity had come, Mark quickly gave instructions to the people closest to Thanos. Everyone cooperated, using the full force of their bodies to immobilize Thanos's four limbs.

On the other side, their companions who received the command immediately converged around Thanos, working together to try and remove the Infinity Gauntlet from his hand.

"Please hurry, he's too powerful, and I can't control him for long!" Mantis, who was using her empathic abilities on Thanos, urged the others with a pained expression.

Mark did not join this operation. To ensure that their plan would not fail, he took out the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak he had used on Ebony Maw earlier and threw it towards Star-Lord's position.

Snap! As soon as Crimson Bands of Cyttorak touched Star-Lord's body, the magic formation engraved on the artifact immediately activated, firmly binding Star-Lord's body.

"I'm sorry, Quill, but for the greater good, I have to temporarily inconvenience you."

Having done all this, Mark finally rushed to Thanos's left hand, releasing two magical chains to join forces with the others in their attempt to remove the Infinity Gauntlet.

"Damn it, why is this thing so securely attached? Did he use glue or something?" Tony said as he linked his nanosuit to the gauntlet and activated the thrusters at full power. However, the Infinity Gauntlet still showed no signs of loosening.

Mark, who was also exerting himself alongside the others, felt somewhat frustrated. Everything had happened so suddenly, even earlier than he had anticipated, which meant he hadn't been able to prepare adequately.

If they had a weapon like Thor's Stormbreaker, capable of severing Thanos's arm, or a version of the Iron Man suit with the Infinity Gauntlet from Avengers: Endgame, they wouldn't have had to rely so much on brute strength.

"Wait! There is actually a way to sever Thanos's arm!" Mark suddenly remembered that the portals, besides being used for spatial transport, were also excellent guillotines.

After all, space was supreme, and time was sacred. The terrifying cutting effect of spatial power could not only overwhelm Thanos's body but could even corrode through Dormammu.

Thinking quickly, Mark directly opened a portal at the junction of Thanos's arm and the Infinity Gauntlet, connecting to the Sanctum Sanctorum in New York. There are Terminators  and other Masters of the Mystic Arts, so Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Stones would be safe.

The next moment, as Mark continuously channeled his magical power into it, the portal rapidly shrank without a moment's pause. When it disappeared completely, Thanos's left hand, along with the Infinity Gauntlet and all four Infinity Stones, vanished from the sight of the group.

"We did it!?" Mark felt a mixture of exhilaration and uncertainty. Things seemed to have gone too smoothly; Thanos's strength shouldn't have been so feeble. Even with his presence in this timeline, their success had come too suddenly and easily.

As Mark harbored doubts, his worst premonition came true the next second.

"So, this is the plan you intend to use against me? It's indeed well-calculated and planned. If it weren't for my creation of this illusion to gather information, you might have succeeded."

As the chilling voice echoed in the ears of those present, they all wore expressions of astonishment and disbelief. Then they saw the Thanos they had just struggled so hard to subdue disappear right before their eyes. Not far away, another Thanos, with an intact left hand wearing the Infinity Gauntlet, stood there, looking at their dejection and surprise with a mocking expression.

Mark, as the one with the strongest soul-sensing ability among them, was the first to discover where Thanos's true form was. In the instant when everything illusory dissipated, Mark's gaze caught the last glimmer of light from the Reality Stone on the Infinity Gauntlet.

It turned out that after Thanos had used the Soul Stone to perceive Ebony Maw's soul, he had activated the power of the Reality Stone to pull the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy into a nearly perfect illusion.

This was the terrifying aspect of the Reality Stone. If Thanos had won the recent battle, everything would have been transformed into reality through the power of the Reality Stone. However, if Mark and the other heroes had emerged victorious, everything would ultimately have turned to nothingness, leaving Thanos with even more intelligence on their side, deepening the information imbalance.

Thanos with the Infinity Stones in his hand and the one without are worlds apart in terms of power. This was why, when they initially devised the plan, their top priority was to seize the Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Stones from Thanos.

Unfortunately, Thanos had one last trick up his sleeve, and the advantage of the four Infinity Stones was something Mark and their group couldn't compensate for with mere numbers.

However, even though this plan had failed and had taken the superheroes by surprise, it was not enough to deal a devastating blow to their willpower and morale. As the last line of defense for Earth, their resilience far exceeded Thanos's expectations.

Thanos, facing a team composed of Earthlings, extraterrestrials, and even hybrids of both, displayed a respect in his eyes that was reserved for true adversaries. This level of determination and character was something he had not encountered in his countless experiences of carnage throughout the universe.

"So, out of respect and reverence for my opponents, I will now use all my power to defeat all of you!

For a hero, there is no more suitable grave than the battlefield, and no more worthy ending than dying in battle. Let me be the one to send you to your final resting place!"