Chapter 270: Fearful Laughing Demon (1)
Chapter 270: Fearful Laughing Demon (1)
In the DC comics, there are many origins related to the character of the Joker. Initially, before the Joker became popular, he was just an ordinary circus performer, a true clown in the real sense.
Later, there was a version where he fell into a chemical pool. Of course, the most famous one is the Joker from "The Killing Joke," where anyone who has a terrible day will turn into a madman like the Joker.
One of the controversial settings is the existence of three Jokers in one universe. In this setting, the Joker is no longer a singular character, and the three Jokers begin to kill each other.
Setting aside the attractive gimmick, it is possible to have multiple Jokers in one universe. After all, Gotham is full of madmen, and it is not impossible for some individuals to imagine themselves as a crazy Joker.
On the first night Schiller arrived in Gotham, he was certain that there should be multiple Jokers in this universe because that night, while he was in control of his body, a certain degree of transformation occurred.
Initially, this transformation was not evident, but when Bruce appeared in front of him and looked at him, Schiller became one of the chosen Jokers. As a result, Bruce became interested in him, and he became interested in Bruce. It was an inevitable mutual attraction between Batman and the Joker.
Schiller quickly realized this transformation, and his "superego" created another personality to replace the Joker Schiller and threw the Joker Schiller into the lower levels of his mind palace, forcing him to climb layer by layer to suppress the potential danger caused by this mad personality.
The transformation of the Joker is irreversible, so this personality eventually became one of the many Jokers. However, because he is trapped in Schiller's mind palace and has not climbed to the surface yet, he is currently not harmful, but he is indeed the Joker.
Speaking of the Joker, it is impossible not to mention another controversial character, the Laughing Bat.
When this character first appeared, his origin story was very interesting. In a certain universe, the Joker had astonishing combat power. Not only did he kill important figures like Catwoman and Gordon for Batman, but he also captured the parents of all the only children in the city and repeatedly recreated the tragedy that happened in Crime Alley in front of Batman.This inhumane behavior eventually drove Batman insane. He personally broke the Joker's neck, but at the same time, the laughing virus infected Batman's mind.
In other words, the Laughing Bat is actually a fusion of the Joker and Batman. Up to this point, the story can be considered a creative plot because many DC fans have wondered what would happen if the Joker and Batman merged.
However, later on, this setting began to deviate further and further. In order to highlight the strength of the fusion between Batman and the Joker, the writers started to recklessly add many settings that elevated the status of the Laughing Bat.
Among them, the most disruptive setting to the storytelling and the style of DC comics is that the Laughing Bat is unbeatable.
In fact, both Batman and the Joker have high intelligence settings, especially Batman. As a master planner, he has contingency plans against almost everyone. The implementation of one crazy joke after another by the Joker also reflects his intelligence and execution ability beyond ordinary people.
To showcase the effect of one plus one being greater than two, the writers made the Laughing Bat almost omniscient and omnipotent. Unfortunately, the plot that demonstrates this ability can be considered far-fetched. The intellectual battles of the Laughing Bat can be summarized as follows: the Laughing Bat predicts something the opponent does, the opponent predicts that the Laughing Bat predicts something they do, the Laughing Bat predicts that
the opponent predicts that he predicts something they do...
In short, it is an endless cycle of predicting each other's predictions.
Therefore, here, I must solemnly introduce to everyone:
The crazy disruptor of DC's power restraint system, the super dragon proud of the Marvel setting, the deity with astonishing intelligence and combat power but remains true to his original goal and possesses simple wisdom, the always one step ahead and hardly ever fails but never does anything useful great sage, the soulmate of Zhuge Kongming, the best friend of Edogawa Conan, and the only designated father of the DC editorial department—the Laughing Bat!
Previously, some people jokingly referred to Batman as the father of the DC editorial department, but now, with Laughing Bat's setting, people realize that the editorial department is probably just a foster parent for Batman, and the real father has just made his appearance.
You can't say that the character design of Laughing Bat is not good because its origin story is indeed very interesting, satisfying many fans' fantasies about the relationship between Batman and the Joker. However, as more and more elements are added to the setting, the plot becomes more and more absurd. The character of Laughing Bat gradually deviates from the understated black humor style that makes DC comics most appealing and instead develops towards a more straightforward route.
Therefore, Schiller doesn't have any favorable impression of this character. If he had to choose between Batman, the Joker, and Laughing Bat, Schiller would rather be surrounded by ten pairs of the Joker and Batman than encounter a Laughing Bat, not because of his extraordinary combat power and intelligence, but because he is genuinely boring.
Schiller is well aware that once this character with an overpowered design appears in this universe, his peaceful life will come to an end. Although his current life is not particularly calm, at least the people surrounding him are somewhat interesting.
Copperpot's insecurities and arrogance, like intertwined vines, the reasons and subsequent development of Evans' two personalities, the emotional entanglement between Alberto and The Godfather, Victor's unwavering love, and so on. Even the Joker, Jack, whose background story is completely unknown, with no clear source, showed Schiller through a performance that he is an interesting enough person.
Laughing Bat may be powerful, but he is truly boring because everything he does is for the sake of darkness. It doesn't involve any psychological struggles, black and white conflicts, moral positions, or emotional changes. He is like a piece of paper that can stretch thousands of kilometers, even enough to surround the Earth, but still very thin.
If the villains currently surrounding Schiller can add a little fun to his peaceful life, then Laughing Bat is simply nauseating.
Shortly after Schiller arrived in Gotham, he realized that this universe should be a member of the bright multiverse because the people here have the potential to turn towards the positive. On the contrary, the dark multiverse is the opposite, and everyone will eventually descend into the Abyss.
Therefore, initially, Schiller did not consider the possibility of Laughing Bat's existence because the conditions for his birth are not present here. Besides, besides this universe leaning towards the light, the timeline is too early. Batman has just finished his freshman year, and the Joker has only made his debut a few days ago. They have only had one encounter, and the victim was the completely deserving Court of Owls, without much impact on the onlookers.
Batman hasn't become the wise and suspicious old man he will be in the future, and the Joker hasn't unleashed his genius creations to create various troubles for Batman. They are far from becoming mortal enemies.
Perhaps it was Schiller's arrival that brought more order to the city, or perhaps the youthful Batman matched the youthful Joker as they should be. In any case, the brutal Joker who killed all the villains and heroes in Laughing Bat's origin story is unlikely to appear, so the Batman who went mad and killed the Joker after being tortured to madness is also unlikely to appear.
This is Schiller's deduction, and even if the Joker did appear later, he did not waver in this judgment. He believes that this universe does not have the soil for the emergence of Laughing Bat.
However, when Jack approached Schiller and told him that Batman may have something dangerous hidden within him, Schiller was shaken.
The most crucial point is that if there is even a slight possibility that what Jack mentioned is Laughing Bat, who dares to bet that it isn't?
When Jack said he felt that something was incubating in Batman's heart, Schiller's vigilance reached its
peak. In any case, Laughing Bat absolutely cannot appear in this universe.
When Schiller began to suspect the Sandman due to his own situation, he felt the urge to start a new project: "How to reach the depths of a person's heart through dreams."
This project is not only for researching how to find the Sandman but also to unearth the possible dangerous entity that Jack mentioned.
After obtaining clues related to the Immortality Factor and successfully creating the Crazy Juice, the Joker and Schiller knew it was time to take action.
At the time, Schiller told Mrs. Miller that the Joker called his personal phone to make an appointment, but in reality, they needed to confirm their next plan over the phone.
Afterwards, everyone knew what happened. In the clinic, Schiller, who was drinking with the Joker, intentionally had the elevator operator release the climbing Joker Schiller. He had his first encounter with Joker Jack. Although the initial reaction of Joker Schiller was to trick Jack into taking his place in the room of Schiller's mind palace, it didn't succeed. However, he was also certain that Jack would be a good partner.
Next, he put others into his mind space and then pulled Hugo in to test the stability of the entire process. Finally, as planned, he kept digging deeper and found the Sandman.
Allowing the Joker to enter the realm of dreams had an even more important reason, which was to allow the Joker to pass through the realm of dreams and enter Batman's dreams.
And just as Jack expected, when digging down from Batman's dreams, on the edge of Batman's dreams within Bruce's body, there was indeed a monster that no one had ever seen before.
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