Alex and Cappy decided to return to Islands of Adventure, almost two weeks after they last visited it. Barely two steps in the park that Alex's jaw dropped at the gigantic, colorful theme park that looked exactly like a comic book fan's dream coming true.

"While Mario and his friends are awesome in their own right, it's still great to have superheroes like Captain America protecting the Epic Universe," Cappy expressed. For this day, he simply assumed his form of Alex's usual baseball cap.

"I'm a bit confused; isn't Disney owning the rights to Marvel properties? How come Universal can simply build a park based on Marvel without getting sued?" Alex questioned, scratching the side of his head.

"We hear that a lot, these days," Cappy chuckled. "It's a long and complicated story, but long story short, the Epic Universe is home to Marvel characters from the comics before 2009, when Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment. Universal already had a deal with them at this time, and Disney could not cancel it. That's why you can meet characters like the Avengers and Spider-Man here - just not the MCU or Disney shows' versions. And you know the best part? This place actually has a history." The floating hat led his Koopa friend to a little crater near the park's entrance that was surrounded by panels depicting various Marvel heroes and villains. "This little crater is the park's ground zero: a meteor came from another galaxy and landed right there, releasing the marvel heroes and villains, who created this island."

"You mean this entire place has been constructed by Marvel heroes and villains?!" Alex exclaimed, his eyes wide open. "Wow, it's hard to picture the Avengers working with Magneto or Doctor Doom after watching the movies..."

"Are you any familiar with the Marvel comics?" Cappy asked his friend as they started walking down the Stan Lee Boulevard.

"Not really; everything I know mostly comes from the movies, TV shows and video games. The rest is through reputations and online information." Alex noticed a newspaper distributor and decided to buy himself one copy. They were from the Daily Bugle. "Let's see... 'Are the Fantastic Four finally getting a good movie adaptation?'... 'Wolverine wishes to have a rematch with the Incredible Hulk'..." Alex did not even bother reading the rest, as, in true Jonah J. Jameson fashion, it contained nothing but endless articles discrediting Spider-Man.

The duo eventually came before a crowd gathered near one of the park's attractions, all of them watching something with interest. Curiosity getting the best of them, Alex pulled the newspaper in a trash can before wiggling his way through the crowd and trying to see what was going on. A man wearing a familiar blue and yellow costume dragged another costumed person by the back of the neck.

"Is that... Wolverine?" Alex exclaimed, recognizing the blue and yellow hero.

Indeed, the iconic X-Men mutant seemed to be in the middle of a scuffle. He tossed the other costumed person on the street, giving him a serious glare. "And don't ever try to sneak into the X-Mansion again, you hear me?! This is not a playground!"

The intruder stood back up, giving Alex and Cappy the chance to get a better look at him. An anthropomorphic golden eagle with brown feathers all over his body, safe for his head, which was white. His beak and talons were yellow and his eyes hazel. Besides his talking animal appearance, what stood out the more about this guest was his flashy costume. A hamburger mask with holes for his eyes and beak, accompanied by a green and yellow tracksuit. It had 'BM' written on the side of the chest and the logo of a hamburger on the back. A belt holding multiple gadgets was wrapped around his waist.

"Come on, Wolverine! I just wanna meet Professor X and show him everything I'm capable of!" the golden eagle almost begged. He pointed one of his feather fingers at the X-Men hero. "You saw how I defeated that guy who harassed this poor woman! There's no reason for you to doubt my sincerity as a superhero!"

Wolverine simply sighed and rubbed his eyes in annoyance. "First off, that woman wasn't being harassed; the guy simply slipped on her by accident, and you took him out before he could explain anything. Second, the X-Mansion is a place for mutants only; not for hotheads who just wear costumes to get attention."

Angered by this statement, the golden eagle yelled: "I may not be a mutant like you, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm just as capable to fight evil like any X-Man or Avenger in this universe! Just you watch: one day, the entire Epic Universe will know the name of...BURGERMANIA!"

A dead silence befell the place. "...Burger...mania?" a guest mumbled. A chuckle slipped out. "What kind of name is that?!" Soon, everybody watching laughed at the ridiculous superhero's name. Wolverine, however, did not look amused at all.

"Look, pal, just stay away from the X-Manor, alright? You can go around and do all the 'superhero stuff' you want as long as you don't get near me." And with that, the X-Men icon walked away in his grumpy demeanor.

The eagle superhero named Burgermania watched everybody laughing at him, dropped his head down... Before suddenly laughing out loud with all of them. "I know! It's funny, right?" He suddenly pulled hamburgers from out of seemingly nowhere and began distributing them to all the guests. "Here! Have a snack, everyone!"

From the sidelines, Alex and Cappy watched the scene unfold in complete confusion. "... Who the heck is that guy?" Cappy mumbled in disbelief. "He gets humiliated by Wolverine in front of everyone, and when they start mocking him, he responds by giving away free burgers? How can he be so... So..."

"Amazing!"

"Yeah, how can he be so...?! Wait, what?" Cappy looked down to see Alex grinning and shaking his tail like an excited puppy. "Alex, what are you-"

"Let's go meet him!" Alex exclaimed and immediately ran ahead before his companion could protest.

The crowd started walking away. Even though they still laughed a bit, they nonetheless thanked the eagle for the free snack. "And have a pleasant day, all of you!" he bid and turned around to find a little Koopa Troopa looking at him with a bright smile. "Huh...hi?"

"We saw what you just did! It was so cool!" Alex beamed.

"Oh? You did? It was nothing, really." Burgermania pulled another hamburger from out of nowhere. "Here, I also have one for you."

Cappy shook his head in disapproval. "Yeah, like we'd accept fast food from a stranger that dresses like-" But Alex already picked the burger and took a bite out of it. "ALEX! DON'T JUST GO AROUND ACCEPTING BURGERS FROM COSTUMED FREAKS!"

The avian raised an eyebrow and gave a good look at the talking hat. "Wait a minute, I recognize you; you were in Super Mario Odyssey! Yeah, you could help Mario possess enemies by being thrown at them." A gasp escaped his beak as he looked back at Alex. "Wait, are YOU Mario? Possessing this Koopa's body?!"

"No, no, no; I'm just a guest who took on the form of a Koopa," Alex explained after swallowing a bite of his burger. "The name's Alex. Alex Russo. Cappy is my travel companion."

"Well, nice to meet you both, Alex and Cappy." The eagle struck an exaggerated heroic pose. "I am Burgermania, part-time burger chief, full-time vigilante, willing to help anyone at anytime and anywhere! If you need help, just call me, and I'll be there!"

"So cool!" Alex beamed with stars in his eyes.

"I'm seriously questioning your definition of 'cool', Alex," Cappy sighed. He looked back at Burgermania. "Say, aren't you feeling embarrassed at all? Everybody just mocked you before you offered them burgers."

"Bah, it's nothing," the eagle assured with a wave of his wing. "To be honest with you, I'm used to it by now; people are always laughing at me no matter where I go."

"It must have something to do with your name and gimmick," Cappy pointed out. "Seriously, what kind of name is 'Burgermania'? Couldn't you have picked a better-sounding name, like 'Captain Cheeseburger' or 'The Incredible Burgerman'... Which I now realize don't sound as good as I imagined..."

Burgermania laughed of good heart. "I appreciate the suggestions, but I have no wish to change my name. In fact, I agree that it's pretty silly for a superhero name, but in my opinion, superhero names are supposed to be silly by nature. But if I chose this peculiar name, it's principally for its funny factor. That way, when I arrive on the scene, civilians stop panicking and actually start laughing."

At this, Alex and Cappy exchanged a look. "But how do you want people to see you as a hero like the Avengers if you don't have a serious-sounding name?" the Koopa questioned.

"Buddy, I didn't become a hero to be admired; I just want to help as much as I can and, if possible, put smiles on people's faces as I do so," Burgermania explained in a sincere way with his wings crossed.

"Wow, that's actually quite admirable," Alex said before biting his burger again. "But, say, what was that whole ordeal with Wolverine, back there?"

The eagle awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I may or may not have tried to sneak into the X-Mansion to meet Professor X and got caught red-handed by Wolverine. He did not take it kindly at all... Good thing I got out of there without any cut... See, the thing is, I don't have any superpowers like most superheroes, so I was hoping Professor X could help me unlock some sort of hidden potential or anything that could help me in my fight against evil."

"You mean you don't have any way of fighting bad guys?" Alex asked. "What would you do if you ended up facing someone like Electro or the Rhyno, for example?"

"I do have those gadgets," the eagle said, pointing at his belt. "I originally wanted Tony Stark to make some or me, but he didn't take me seriously in the slightest and simply asked that I get escorted out of the building. Good thing for me that Gru was more understanding... Now, I didn't get the chance to put them to use that much, but hopefully some villain will show up and-"

Suddenly, a huge beam of ice froze a nearby building, followed by an evil laughter. "Say your wish and it comes true," Cappy mumbled, waiting for the super villain to show up.

Ascending from the skies on an ice slide was a woman wearing a very silver age comic book costume. A skinny white dress with a dark blue poncho over it, golden armor on her arms and legs, dark blue gloves and boots, and a dark blue domino mask over her eyes. She was carrying two swords that seemed to be made of ice. "Watch out, everybody! Coldheart has arrived to bring you an early winter!"

"W-Who's that?" Alex asked, dropping his burger on the ground.

"Coldheart; she's a Spider-Man villain," Burgermania explained. "Not the most well-known, considering she only appeared in a handful of issues, but she's still a serious threat nonetheless. Some of her most well-known accomplishments include neutralizing Spider-Man before sparing his life and almost killing Nova by stabbing him through the stomach."

"You serious?!" Cappy exclaimed in shock. "In that case, we should wait for other heroes to come and handle-"

But Burgermania already stepped forward and yelled: "Hey! You villain! Get out of here and stop bothering those poor guests!"

"Why do I even bother?" Cappy grumbled.

The female villain turned her attention to the trio. "Who the heck are you? It's Spider-Man that I am after! Get out of here!" She pulled out her twin swords and shot ice lasers, forcing the three men to take cover behind a building.

"Why does she have a grudge against Spider-Man?" Alex asked, wondering about the woman's origin story.

"It's not entirely clear, but she lost her son during a fight between a superhero and a super villain. This prompted her to believe every hero to be automatically evil and wear the mask exclusively for the glory, even at the cost of civilian lives," Burgermania explained. "She holds a lot of hate against every hero, it just happens that Spider-Man is her biggest rival. Basically, she's like Spider-Man's own Mr. Freeze."

"What should we do?"

"We must find a way to get to her without getting turned into ice statues. Do you guys have any powers that could help?"

"Not really; I started taking Kung Fu lessons about a week ago," Alex replied with a shrug. "Cappy can allow me to possess people, but only if they have no hat on. Oh, and I also bought this in Nintendo World, a few days ago." He reached into his backpack and pulled out a mystery block from the Super Mario world. "It's supposed to contain a power up, but I don't know which one."

Burgermania peaked over the building's corner to see Heartcold still blasting at them before looking back at his friend. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do: I'm gonna take it to the roofs and use my gadgets to distract her so that you can sneak on her and take her down with your Kung Fu moves. If things go south, use Cappy or that mystery cube, okay?"

Giving a thumb's up, the young Koopa watched his friend use a grappling hook to reach the roof, whilst he stood ready for his time to act. Burgermania hopped on the roofs Batman-style until he was close enough and grabbed a magnet device, which he tossed near Heartcold, pinning her two Cryonic Swords to the ground. "Alex! Now!"

Alex got into action and ran up to the super villain, delivering a palm strike to her chest. It did seem to cause some damage, but she did not fall to the ground for more. When Alex attempted to follow with more attacks, Burgermania's magnet device ran out, allowing her to block him with her swords.

"You're gonna have to hit harder if you wanna take me out, kid!" she declared with a smirk and got on the offensive. Heartcold revealed herself to also have martial arts experience, hers being miles away from Alex's. The poor Koopa attempted to deflect her attacks with his Tai Chi moves, but failed to do so and ended up kicked to the ground.

Not about to let his friend get turned into an ice pop, Burgermania grabbed two burger-themed boomerangs that he tossed at Heartcold. She easily parried and froze them with her Cryonic Swords, but it gave Alex the opportunity to throw Cappy at her legs, sweeping her over.

"I think now would be a good time to use that power up, Alex!" the floating hat exclaimed upon returning to his friend's head.

Alex followed his advice and quickly smacked in the bottom of his mystery block. It pulled out a certain orange plant. "A fire flower! Exactly what we needed!" he beamed and wasted no time eating the little plant. His shell turned orange and his skin white, little flames forming in his hands. "Alright! I'm Fire Alex! Ready to burn and roast everybody, ha, ha, ha!"

Heartcold quickly realized the shift in the situation and immediately blasted Alex with her ice beam to trap him in ice. It was only temporary, as the Koopa exploded with fire that melted the ice away. Getting into fanboy mode, Alex began shooting a storm of fireballs at the super villain. She deviated a few of them with her Cryonic Swords before realizing it was melting them away, so decided to dodge them instead.

"I just need to hit him once, and it'll be over!" Heartcold mumbled as she used a blast of ice to trap Alex's feet and then charged at him, ready to cut him down.

"Booyaka!" Burgermania ascended from the rooftop and grabbed the villain with his legs to map her flip with a hurricanrana. "You're gonna have to cut down Burgermania before anyone else in here, young lady!"

Heartcold paused and blankly stared at the golden eagle. She then laughed mockingly. "Did you just say 'Burgermania'?! I faced many heroes throughout my life, and most of them had ridiculous names...but this is easily in my top ten!"

"Yeah, I get that a lot. However, underestimating your opponent is the best way to lose!" the avian declared and charged at the villain. The two engaged in close combat, with Heartcold swinging her twin Cryonic Swords, whilst Burgermania moved all around her with acrobatics jumps and flips. At one point, he even managed to catch her with a flying DDT, hitting her head on the ground.

Meanwhile, Alex managed to free his feet from the ice and watched the fight unfold. "I'll try to take her out in one go!" Bringing his hands together, the young Koopa focused his energy and began forming a big fireball.

"Ugh!" Burgermania groaned as Heartcold managed to land a cut across his chest. He then noticed what Alex was about to do and grinned at his opponent. "Hey, Heartcold! Did I ever tell you what happened the last time I wanted to eat a burger?"

"What the heck are you talking about?" the villainess asked with a confused expression.

"Well, someone asked me why I never put any ketchup or mustard in my burgers. I responded that it's because I just wanna relish it!" The eagle suddenly pulled out a sauce pistol and shot some relish into Heartcold's face, blinding her. "Alex, now!"

Alex shot his super fireball that hit the ice villainess head-on, making her drop her swords and fall to the ground with her body in smoke. Burgermania followed by tying her up with his grappling hook, effectively taking her out.

"And that's a victory for today's heroes!" the eagle beamed and struck a heroic pose. "Hey, pose with me, dude," he mumbled to Alex, who more than happily obliged.

"Alex, please, stop encouraging him," Cappy groaned.

"Say, what were those moves you pulled off against Heartcold, Burgermania?" Alex asked. "It didn't really look like Kung Fu, but not like simple flips either."

"That was lucha libre," the golden eagle explained. "Before coming to the Epic Universe, I used to live in a little town in Mexico, close to the residence of a famous luchador. Since I didn't have any power to fight crime, I needed to learn self-defense and close combat, so I went to ask him to teach me everything he knows. He actually accepted to take me under his wing and taught me plenty of incredible high-flying moves." To put emphasis on his claim, Burgermania performed a backflip on the spot.

"A true luchador! Like in Nacho Libre, with Jack Black? That's incredible!" Alex beamed. He then turned his attention to the incapacitated Heartcold. "What should we do with her?"

Burgermania flipped the villainess over his shoulder. "I'm gonna bring her to the S.H.I.E.L.D. center; they'll know what to do with her." He used his free wing to shake Alex's hand. "It was a pleasure teaming with you, Alex and Cappy. Whatever you do next, I wish you good luck with it. And remember, anybody who really wants to can be a hero!" He finished his little speech with a thumb's up and a grin.

"Eh, eh, okay!" Alex chuckled and also gave a grin with a thumb's up.

"Somebody make them stop!" Cappy groaned.

Author's note: This chapter brought us to yet another location of Islands of Adventure: Marvel Super Hero Island! You read that right, there is another theme park in the world that is based on Marvel and doesn't belong to Disney. As Cappy explained at the start, it's because Universal actually had a deal with Marvel Entertainment before it was bought by Disney, meaning their characters can appear in the Epic Universe, but only those from the comics before 2009.

There are lots of characters I would've liked Alex and Cappy to meet and parts of the park to visit, but it's sometimes better to keep things soft for the first visit. I wanna credit Tomada The Falcon for the character of Burgermania, the superhero who's as ridiculous as he is full of heart. My friend didn't exactly have many OCs, so we created this one together for him to appear in this story. This also means that Burgermania is the Epic Universe counterpart to Tomada from the Magical World Saga.

For this chapter, I wanted Alex and his friends to face up against a lesser known Spider-Man villain. The lucky one turned out to be Heartcold from the Spider-Man comics. As far as I know, she never made any appearance in either movies, games or TV series. Which is a shame, because I find her to have a lot of potential as a villain. Maybe the future Spider-Verse movies will give her a shot?