How Would Zoken Do "Who Wants to Be An Avenger?"
"Greetings folks, and welcome to 'Who Wants To Be An Avenger', I'm Alicia Masters," The Blind Artist greeted television audiences around the world. She grinned, despite thinking this whole thing was ridiculous.
"And I'm MJ Watson-Parker," Greeted the red-headed model beside her. "We will be your hosts through the world's first ever Super-Hero contest. There are 156 registered super-heroes competing for the right to call themselves 'Avengers'."
"Joining us today with the rules is the Director of SHIELD, and organizer of the competition, Tony Stark. Director Stark?"
"Thanks for the intro ladies," Tony said, wearing a SHIELD jumpsuit. "And please, call me Tony. The rules for this first round are as follows, the 512 Heroes have been divided into 32 teams of 8. They will compete in simulations, actual missions, and spars against each other for two months. in that two months the performances will be reviewed by their peers. at least five teams will be participating in any one event, and they shall all vote on the team to be eliminated. when their are only 8 teams remain, they will stop voting against other teams, and the teams will have to turn inward and vote on each other. At this point they will be asked 4 times to eliminate a team member by popular vote. when the last team member is eliminated, the fun really begins as the 32 remaining heroes will compete in the worlds first ever super-heroe sparring tournament. More on the rules of the tournament when we approach that time."
"Thank you for that, Director Stark," Alicia grinned. "MJ, I understand that the teams were assigned randomly."
"That's correct, Alicia," MJ responded, now ignoring Tony stark. "In fact, our man on the ground is there to interview a team now."
"Well then," Alicia said. "I guess we'll turn things over to our eyes and ears on the ground... Willie Lumpkin."
"Well, thank y' ladies, It's an honor to be here today," The Old mailman greeted the world. "I'm standing here with team number... ah, team number 12. Consisting of, a personal friend, The Thing, as well as, Nightcrawler, Ms. Marvel, Ricochet, Mr. Immortal, Falcon, Humbug, and Bruiser." The youngest member of the team, a twelve-year old girl, waved enthusiastically into the camera.
"Little ladie," Willy greeted the girl. "What do you think about bein' a part a' this team?"
"This'll be fun! I get to kick some butt!" Molly enthused.
"And what do you think, Ben?" Willy asked the Thing.
"Ah, you know me Willy, I'm doin' this fer charity," Ben explained. "Alotta us big name heroes, like me, Pym, Van Dyne, we're bein' donatin' fer every round we advance through."
"I always knew that heart 'a yours was your real power Ben," Willy said, patting the Thing on the chest.
"Well," Alicia said. "Willy, you've check on my boyfriend, I think it's time we turn it over to someone else who will check on MJ's man... or should I say Spider-Man."
"And on the ground interviewing my husband is his old highschool friend, and a war veteran, Eugene "Flash" Thompson." MJ introduced enthusiastically.
"Thanks Ladies," Flash said as he stood in front a group of heroes. "Have to correct you though MJ. Pete wasn't my friend until College, until then he was my punching bag."
"Now who's punching who?" Pete asked, as he gave Flash a good natured punch on the shoulder.
"YOu got that right Pete," Flash said with a smile. "So, why not introduce us to your team?"
"Okay, well, we are team 27," Peter began. "It's my honor to be teamed with Cyclops of the X-Men, a teleporter named Dusk, She-Hulk, Big-Bertha from Wisconson, Victor Mancha out of L.A., and Stature of the Young Avengers, and Cloud 9 who is new to the game."
The group waved with smiles, except for Cyclops, who thought this whole excersize was a bit ridiculous.
Flash walked over to Stature, "Are you aiming for the Big team?" he asked. "A lot of heroes are just here for recognition. Are you aiming to go all the way?"
"You know it Mr. Thompson," Stature nodded. "My father was an Avenger, and I intend to follow in his footsteps."
"How about you, Mr. Summers?" asked Flash. "Are you trying to get some mutant representation on the Avengers?"
"Not really, I'm doing this for charity, Frost Industries, and Worthington Industries are backing a number of X-Men in the tournament," Cyclopse said dismissively.
"And you Dusk?" Flash asked the woman dressed in all black. "How badly do you want to be an Avenger?"
"Well, I'd be honored to take the title," Cassie St.Commons nodded, "but I don't really think I'm Avengers material. It'll be some good exposure, and hopefully it will get me put on a State-Team where I can do some really good."
"Back to you Ladies," Flash said with a grin into the camera.
"Well, we've certainly got a diverse bunch on the ground there," MJ commented. "You know, If I'm not mistaken, I think I can pick out three from here that my husband fought... Oo, Four."
"Well, It will be an interesting year here," Alicia said as her cohost surveyed the crowd for former villains. "And we want to thank you for joining us here on, 'Who Wants To Be An Avenger'."
"Oh, Five!" MJ blurted.