Recently, news media outlets have been even livelier than during the Lunar New Year.
First, an alien army landed in Metropolis, then Angels and demons appeared in the human world.
One outrageous major event after another bombarded the entire internet, with popularity soaring through the skyline. Even the quadrennial President election was pushed to the corner of the pages; no one cared about the name of the next President anymore.
After all, there is a President every term, but such big news might not happen once in several hundred years.
If Darian knew their thoughts, he would definitely say they were overthinking it. Once there is an event every day and a reboot every three days in the future, you will slowly get used to it, and finally find that watching presidential candidates rip each other apart in the President election is more interesting.
In this wave of nationwide discussion about supernatural events, the Superheroes who emerged everywhere were naturally pushed into the spotlight.
For example, Superman in Metropolis, Wonder Woman in Washington, Green Arrow in Star City, and so on.
And Gotham City was even more exaggerated, with a full three Superheroes.
They are Batman, The Flash, and Spider-Man.
With three Superheroes on duty at the same time, randomly refreshing all over the city almost 24 hours a day, the criminals in Gotham were miserable. The crime rate dropped again and again, and even the administrative leave for Gotham police officers decreased, leaving them all depressed.
It is also because of the protection of the three Superheroes that the sense of security in Gotham has risen sharply. Many outsiders have started to actively come to Gotham City to experience the simple folk customs, and some even moved to Gotham City to settle down.
In the past, this kind of thing was basically impossible to happen; everyone wished they could carry a train and flee Gotham overnight.
As the number of outsiders increased, Gotham's economy rose accordingly.
As the largest enterprise in Gotham City, Wayne Enterprises saw a significant increase in revenue across multiple industries. Bruce's account suddenly gained countless extra millions, enough to build new equipment again.
But among all the Superheroes, the one who attracted the most attention was definitely Darian.
In both major events, Darian stole all the spotlight wearing his ultron armor.
Last time, he defeated several Kryptonian in a row, and then defeated General Zod alone, stopping the Kryptonian plan to terraform Earth.
And this time, it was even more outrageous, directly going one-on-two, head-on against the alliance of an Angel and a demon, which are existences only found in religious scriptures.
Except for a very small number of people, no one knew that Darian was Spider-Man.
Enthusiastic netizens gave him a new codename based on his appearance characteristics: Iron Man.
But soon, someone pointed out that this name clashed with Marvel's Iron Man, which could easily attract that "strongest legal team on the surface".
After multiple rounds of voting, Darian's codename was finalized.
It is called Omni-Man.
The reason is simple: the abilities and equipment Darian displayed were too comprehensive. He could fly, fight, and shoot cannons; it had every function. He was a proper all-rounder, and calling him Omni-Man is well-deserved.
Actually, someone nominated him to be called Homelander, meaning a person who protects the homeland, but this proposal was shot down at the speed of light.
Since Darian's identity has not been leaked, who knows what country he is from or which country he is protecting.
If he were Native American, wouldn't they end up the same as the Kryptonian?
Besides, this title sounds petty and lacks vision. It would be better to call him Earthling, specifically protecting Earth. This fits the concept of a Superhero.
Darian himself expressed satisfaction with this title. It sounds powerful, comparable to Clark's Superman.
In the hearts of the vast majority of the public, Darian has firmly sat in the position of the strongest Superhero, with basically no controversy.
This is not surprising.
After all, Darian's opponents were either Kryptonian or Angels and demons from myths. Every name sounded weighty. Darian, who could defeat these opponents, is well-deservedly at the ceiling of combat power.
On the other hand, Bruce, this Batman, fought against local supercriminals—The Joker, The Penguin, The Riddler. Just listening to their names sounds like a circus touring lineup, with no prestige at all.
On the Superhero combat power leaderboard created spontaneously by netizens, Batman has already fallen to the bottom.
Bruce didn't care about this.
For him, the lower the ranking, the better, so it would be convenient for him to play dumb and ambush enemies later.
However, the Gotham criminal circle was not happy.
If Batman ranked at the bottom, wouldn't it prove that they, as his opponents, were all nobodies who couldn't make it to the big stage?
So this group of people spontaneously organized themselves, frantically voting for Batman on the internet, with all kinds of sock-puppet accounts joining in.
They even dug up various urban legends about Batman, added embellishments, and wrote them into combat records. For example, Batman could fight criminals for 25 hours straight without sleep while running a fever of 50 degrees, and could still walk briskly even if his leg was broken.
Under the unremitting efforts of these criminal fanboys, Batman's combat power ranking was forcibly raised from the bottom to the middle, and they were even preparing to impact the top of the rankings.
I have to say, Gotham's criminal fan culture is truly terrifying.
Under Darian's operation, the name of The Seven began to spread.
This team, formed by multiple Superheroes, instantly attracted widespread attention. Except for Arthur, the Aquaman who hadn't appeared much, all other members were Superheroes familiar to the public.
For a time, the number of fans of The Seven skyrocketed, and topics about The Seven were everywhere on social media.
The public's enthusiasm soon spread from online to offline.
Many people jointly launched a petition, demanding that the government erect statues for the members of The Seven to commemorate their great achievements in protecting Earth.
From this, one can see that there is still a big difference between the civilians in the DC Universe and the Marvel Universe.
In the DC Universe, the public is grateful to Superheroes, knowing who is using their lives to protect them. They worship and love Superheroes from the bottom of their hearts, and even build museums and memorials for the Superheroes who protect Earth.
Looking at the Marvel Universe, a group of people hold inexplicable hostility towards Superheroes. No matter how many good things Superheroes do, as long as there is any unverified negative news, they will suffer.
The most typical representative is Peter Parker. He has saved New York countless times, yet he is chased and scolded by a certain black-hater media every day.
They all say DC is dark, but in fact, the dark side of Marvel is no worse.
The United States government was very straightforward, immediately stating that they would comply with public opinion and build a memorial for The Seven.
They could pretend to be blind to the demands of the public, but they didn't dare to bet that Darian hadn't seen it either.
The intelligence possessed by the government is far richer than that of ordinary people.
They spent a large sum of money to buy a key piece of information from a certain Mr. Constantine who was unwilling to reveal his name, learning that the Angels and demons who appeared that night were not just small fries.
The specific identity of the Angel is relatively sensitive and not convenient to disclose.
But the origin of the demon is already scary enough; it is the famous Satan... 's child.
Although the Angel's identity was not explicitly stated, one could infer it by using their brain a little; it definitely wouldn't be any worse than the Son of Satan.
Even two existences with such prominent identities were defeated by Darian, so one can imagine how terrifying Darian actually is.
Under Commissioner Smith's personal demonstration, they knew deeply that Darian is a petty and vengeful ruthless person.
If the other party knew they ignored the public's petition, maybe a meteorite of unknown origin would accurately fall on the roof of the White presidential suite that day.
However, agreeing is one thing, but they still don't trust this group of Superheroes in their hearts.
Thus, a department called A.R.G.U.S. was born, full name Advanced Research Group Uniting Superhumans, affiliated with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, specifically responsible for handling superhuman affairs and various super-powered abnormal events.
The first thing A.R.G.U.S. did after its establishment was to set up a new project.
The goal was very clear: to build a special team that completely obeys the government, preferably one that could benchmark against The Seven that Darian created, specifically to deal with the growing crises on Earth.
They gave this team a particularly auspicious name: Suicide Squad.
The team was handed over to a black woman named Amanda Waller to be fully responsible, screening suitable members from all imprisoned supercriminals.
Amanda Waller had a sharp eye and took a fancy to the talent market of Arkham Asylum at a glance, applying to transfer several detainees.
The news soon reached Bruce.
In the dark Batcave.
Bruce watched on the surveillance screen as Amanda Waller took away several supercriminals, not knowing what he was thinking.
"This Amanda Waller reminds me of an old friend. If she wore an eye patch, she would look even more like her."
Darian's voice suddenly sounded from his ear.
Bruce was not surprised, as if he had long been used to it.
He turned his head expressionlessly and looked at Darian, who suddenly appeared beside him: "Next time, please use the front door."
Ever since Darian pestered him to visit the Batcave not long ago, he had started to appear in the Batcave frequently, just like teleportation, without any warning.
Darian didn't care about Bruce's words and looked at the intelligence information on the screen on his own: "Suicide Squad, good name. But this team wants to benchmark against our The Seven? That's a bit insulting."
"Look at the people this Amanda Waller picked: Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc, and Harley Quinn. All of them are characters you've beaten up. This added together isn't enough for you to fight alone."
Killer Croc and Harley Quinn were originally permanent residents of Arkham.
And Deadshot and Captain Boomerang were newcomers that Bruce had only recently caught.
Especially Deadshot, it was supposed to be Barry who captured him, but this guy actually used a modified gun to hit Barry's thigh and finally escaped unscathed.
That day, Bruce directly doubled Barry's training volume, then went out himself, found Deadshot, beat him to eighty percent dead, and threw him into Arkham Asylum. People who didn't know would think they had some kind of grudge.
Deadshot's bullets were no threat to Barry, but in the educational world, it was enough to ruin Bruce's reputation.
Darian continued to complain: "I can barely understand the others, but what's up with this Harley Quinn? An ordinary woman without any superpowers, what role can she play by being stuffed into this team? Is she responsible for attracting male audiences by being a side character?"
Bruce didn't think much of this team either.
With this lineup, he was too lazy to even formulate a targeted combat plan; just rushing over would be enough to finish it.
He said in a deep voice: "This Amanda Waller is a capable person, but her methods are too extreme. She uses nano-bombs implanted in the necks of supercriminals to threaten them into working for her."
Darian's expression was a bit subtle.
You have the nerve to call others extreme?
When you used the Batmobile tires to crush criminals for interrogation, why didn't you say it was extreme?
Bruce ignored his gaze, his fingers tapping on the keyboard, and he hacked into the A.R.G.U.S. intelligence system in three or two moves, pulling out an encrypted file.
Whether it's Marvel or DC, the firewalls of such Agent organizations with Homeland Security signs are no different from public toilets; you can enter and exit whenever you want.
Bruce opened the file, and several detailed personal information files popped up.
"In addition to Gotham's supercriminals, she has already recruited several members under her, all of whom are very dangerous characters, even more dangerous than Gotham's supercriminals. If they get out of control, they may cause quite a bit of trouble."
The implication was that this batch of talent was qualified enough for him to formulate a plan.
Darian knew as soon as he heard it that Bat-boy's severe paranoid delusion had flared up again.
Assuming everything in the worst possible direction and preparing a set of countermeasures for every person who might pose a threat in advance—this is Bruce's heart disease, the kind that can't be cured in this lifetime.
Darian leaned forward and asked with a curious face: "Tell me the truth, have you secretly prepared plans for The Seven too?"
Bruce remained calm: "Of course not. Am I that kind of person?"
"Yes."
Darian nodded without hesitation.
Bruce: "..."
Darian was 100% sure that this guy Bruce definitely customized a set of countermeasures for every member of The Seven, and maybe he started researching it from the first day they met.
In the comics, Batman did exactly that.
As a result, this plan was stolen and used by the villain, turned back against the members of the Justice League, and almost wiped out the entire Justice League. Batman took the MVP without doing anything.
Thinking of this, Darian felt it necessary to give this Bat-boy a preventive shot in advance.
Lest one day he returns to the Marvel server and finds that The Seven have already been played to death by Bruce.
"Bruce, have you ever thought about what would happen if your plan was stolen and used by the enemy?"
Darian said seriously: "Even if you hide it as secretly as possible, there is no wall in the world that doesn't leak wind. If it's really stolen by some supervillain with online IQ and used against us, we will be too passive."
Bruce didn't speak.
Speaking is equivalent to admitting that he really has this plan; he's not that stupid.
Darian didn't care either and said happily: "So why not do this: you formulate another set of plans specifically for the counter-plan. This plan is specifically to deal with the situation where the enemy steals the plan to use against us. So even if the plan is stolen, we still have a counter-plan to fight back, ensuring nothing goes wrong."
Bruce: "..."
Are you nesting dolls here?
Can you even play like this?
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