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In hindsight, the beginning of the controversial affair was probably that one moment at the first Avengers press conference, held a bare week after the Chitauri invasion of New York.
The Stark Tower - in the process of being rebuilt and re-christened Avengers Tower - had a dedicated press conference room on the lobby level, and while the PR team had ended up resorting to a lottery system once the major news outlets had picked their reporters, the brightly lit space was still uncomfortably full and the air conditioning was on high to keep it comfortable. Two long tables and a podium stretched across the front of the room, and several large video screens occupied the wall behind.
The morning session had been split between explaining how the Avengers had responded to the incident in Berlin as well as the Battle of New York, and how they might function going forward as a first response team in the case of future global threats. Finding ways to put some of the science into terms the average person could understand had served the dual purpose of introducing Bruce’s scientific role in the team in less “smashy” situations and reassuring the general population.
Physics for Dummies had been flying off the shelves of local bookstores, and community college astrophysics professors had been taken aback at their sudden popularity. The simplified illustrations used to explain the wormhole the invaders had come through would be featured at length on science programs and talk shows alike for weeks following.
“Yes… I know the Midtown subway connections are still down,” the mayor said tiredly. “The City of New York is extremely grateful to Stark Industries for halting work on their projects in the neighboring boroughs and adding their construction workers and equipment to the teams clearing the debris, but the tunnels still need to be reinforced before we can safely resume travel again. In the meantime, additional buses will be carrying passengers through the detoured routes.”
Someone had apparently smuggled in one of the large green foam hands that New York street vendors had been selling and had started waving it enthusiastically at that point. Which had not helped further the plan to divert attention from the destruction caused by the Hulk, but was likely a net positive in terms of playing up the “superhero” aspect and growing fan base.
Tony was fielding most of the questions now, being by far the best qualified and experienced in a group consisting of two spies, one man from the previous century, a reclusive scientist, and a Norse demigod in a cape who wasn’t present either. Thor had managed to send word that repairs to the Bifrost were proceeding more rapidly with the aid of the Tesseract, but was uncertain how long they would take.
But that meant that Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, and now superhero had for the past hour been using every trick he had learned from a lifetime of being in the public eye to keep a packed standing-room-only SI auditorium entertained and on track, and he was trying not to be obvious about counting the minutes until the scheduled break.
Some hastily created but polished promotional videos from the Stark Industries PR team had led off the afternoon session. As Pepper Potts, Stark Industries CEO had told a packed SI conference room five days ago,
“Think Stark Expo opening ceremonies without the chorus line and fewer literal fireworks. Unless it’s part of the Captain America segment, that is, because we already have agreements with the Smithsonian and other institutions to provide expedited media footage. Our top priority is to capitalize on the public’s excitement over having live superheroes and divert attention from the damage estimates that are already rolling in. Which, as usual, we will be offsetting through judicious charitable involvement and carefully selected contract incentives. Fortunately, SI is uniquely positioned in this regard, because let’s be honest here, people - this is not our first superhero rodeo, and we know how to spin extraordinary people doing extraordinary things.”
Which was the source of the next question, partway through the afternoon session.
“Mr. Stark, are Thor and Loki actually the Norse gods of legend?” queried one reporter, who sounded frankly skeptical and bewildered that those words were even coming out of his mouth.
“I’m sorry, is that a religious question? ’Cause I’m pretty sure that I am not the right person to help you out there,” Tony quipped.
This caused a few involuntary chuckles and even giggles from the packed room, and was a welcome break from the counterpoint of leading questions and delicate maneuvering. Steve, who was still adjusting to the culture shock of the fast pace of the past week’s media coverage and talk shows that were lightyears apart from The Evening Radio Hour, frowned slightly in Tony’s direction.
“If you’re asking me if this is the same Thor that was worshiped as a god by the ancient Norse peoples, then the answer is yes. He is.” He paused and took a sip of water to give that time to settle in. “They’re from a place called Asgard, and I for one would call them aliens, rather than gods - but I don’t think that’s a distinction people would have made over a thousand years ago.”
“And Loki?” the reporter pressed.
“Yes, it’s the same Loki, though again, we’re talking about over a millennium of oral and written transmission of stories and legends. From what I remember of my Norse mythology, there’s some pretty strange stuff in there, and I’m inclined to be skeptical as to how accurate it is.”
“And if you’re gonna ask me if he’s a god, then - once more for the people in the back - way out of my wheelhouse.” Tony paused, and his smile became the wicked smirk that was one of his trademarks. “Though I gotta say that personally, I wouldn’t have any problems getting on my knees and doing some worshiping, if you know what I mean.”
Steve actually dropped his head into his hands at that, and the back of his neck was bright red. Natasha’s poised expression faltered for a brief moment, lips quirking slightly, and Pepper sighed quietly at the side of the room. Really, Tony had been remarkably well-behaved for most of the day. There was a brief shocked silence from most of the room, though a quiet but fervent “Amen” was heard from somewhere amidst the photographers.
“What? I’m sorry, but did you not get a good look at all that?” he made a vague high-low gesture with his hand as though describing a tall person from top to bottom. “Cause I know I did.”
“Also,” and his grin resolved into a much harder expression, “as we covered - in detail - earlier today, while Thor has taken Loki back to Asgard to face an inquiry there, they are very much aware of what we also figured out - that despite any appearance to the contrary, Loki himself was not the party behind the invasion, has substantial legal grounds for an argument of diminished capacity, was not personally responsible for any loss of life, and took several well-documented steps to actively mitigate the damages and limit the scope of the alien threat.”
News recaps of the press conference would include a few of the better stills of Loki, and a slightly blurry photo of Loki surrendering to Iron Man in Berlin, which had been gleefully seized upon by their small but fervent ship fanbase. Trending tags such as #changingmyreligion, #gayforloki, #StarkRavingGay, and #bemygod all confirmed that Tony was not the only person who had noticed that their would-be overlord wore his leather battle armor extremely well.