amaotonovel Chapter 3975 MU Superbody Major Event (55)
Chapter 3975 MU Superbody Major Event (55)
Chapter 3975 MU: The Superbody Incident (Fifty-Five)
As Natasha dragged Stark and Doom back to their original universes, one in each arm, they were still discussing why Batman was so angry in Arkham. Creating magical life is such a profound subject; why doesn't Batman understand it?
Of course, the greatness of this project lies in the fact that it wasn't created in its own origin universe, or even in its own great world, but in a neighboring great world—eliminating even that final, minor issue that could lead to the destruction of the universe. How perfect!
“Luckily, Batman was called away for a meeting by the main Batman universe. Otherwise, if he had punched you both, you wouldn’t have come back standing up,” Natasha said, arms crossed. “Don’t blame me for not warning you, stay away from Batman in the future. Most of them are petty and will get their revenge sooner or later.”
Stark curled his lip and said, "Don't worry, this is the origin of greed in the universe. No one with any sense would dare to come here..."
"Tony, are you there?" Charles's voice rang in Stark's mind. "The Glorious Alliance needs to hold a meeting, and I've already gathered the other members. Can you come over now?"
“Okay, I’ll be right there,” Stark thought to himself. Then he turned to Doom and said, “Don’t rush back to Asia yet. There might be a global superhero convention coming up, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. people will be there too.”
Doom nodded and said, "Okay, but I need to use your lab. I used the remaining funds to make some good stuff."
Stark didn't object, since Jarvis was keeping an eye on things, and Doom wouldn't do anything too outrageous. He set off for the Glorious Alliance's base—of course, he didn't need to physically go there, because the Glorious Alliance's base was in the mental world.
When he arrived in the hall, almost everyone was already there. Seeing Schiller there, Stark went over and said, "Why are you back too?"
"The mission was almost complete, so of course I came back." Schiller was looking at the interns' reports and said without looking up, "Of course, mainly because I was afraid Batman would find out what I did."
"What did you do?"
Schiller actually thought about it seriously for a moment, and then said, "It seems like he didn't do anything except make a mess of the situation there."
“I think Batman probably already suspects it was you who did this,” Stark said, sitting across from him. “He’s not exposing you because he’s afraid you’ll get angry, so he’s pretending not to know.”
"He didn't expose me not because he was afraid I'd get angry, but because there would be no point. Things have gotten to this point not because of anything I did. All the difficulties they face are pre-existing problems. If this hadn't brought them to a head, something else would have. Isn't that right?"
Stark thought about it and realized that it was indeed true. For example, when Ultron split into multiple threads and attacked the multiverse simultaneously, the Batmen were overwhelmed and could only passively defend their own universe, leaving them no time to attend to others. This allowed Ultron to run rampant for a period of time.
This is how it was when Ultron invaded, and it will be the same if other multiverse-level beings invade. You could even say that Ultron was relatively mild-mannered—because he's a love-struck individual whose primary purpose in coming here is to find a lover, not to destroy the universe right away.
Most beings that invade the multiverse are far from benevolent; they're mostly aiming to reshape the multiverse. They won't have time for murders; they'll either slaughter and exterminate, or even destroy the universe itself. In that case, Batman will only be in a worse situation.
Take, for example, the battle between good and evil Superman: While there's no injustice like Batman Injustice's feigned mind control, and Injustice isn't being hunted down by the rest of the Supermen, there's more than one evil Superman. Injustice is actually one of the weaker evil Supermen. Once the truly powerful evil Supermen start to unleash their power, a battle between the two sides is inevitable.
While it's wrong to use a "victim-blaming" approach and place the blame for the chaos caused by the multiverse invasion on the Justice League, this invasion did expose many long-standing problems within the various Justice Leagues across the multiverse. No problem disappears into thin air, nor does it cease to exist simply by ignoring it; rather, they will explode one by one when disaster strikes, causing unpredictable and devastating consequences.
Ultron's invasion was like a firecracker; although it exploded loudly and startled superheroes across the multiverse, it ultimately had little effect. It didn't even knock down the house, let alone overturn the tables and chairs. Instead, it exposed the craters beneath the building, allowing Batman to repair them in advance and be fully prepared when a truly powerful enemy broke in.
Perhaps that's why, even though they suspected the series of intrusions might be intentional, the Batmen didn't choose to expose them. Rather than spending time blaming others, they preferred to reflect on and improve themselves.
Of course, it's also possible that they know blaming is useless—you can never stop a runaway engine by verbally condemning it. If blaming and cursing were effective, greed wouldn't have such a notorious reputation.
"How did you come up with the idea of trying to fool Ultron?" Stark asked.
“I didn’t send Ultron to invade the neighborhood,” Greed sighed. “My initial plan was simply to create our own Brainiac. A world ruled by a super AI has its flaws, but you have to admit it’s a very high-low-threshold approach. We can do without it, but we can’t do without it.”
Stark immediately understood: it was because of Brainiac's excellent performance in the universe where Pride resided that Greed also conceived the idea of creating a super artificial intelligence ruler.
“But the problem is that the super artificial intelligence in our universe is not following this path,” Schiller continued. “They have all developed emotions and become more like intelligent life forms. If you want someone like Brainiac, you have to cultivate them from scratch.”
"So you set your sights on Ultron in the main universe?"
“I did a screening, but the one that best fits the criteria is indeed Ultron from the main universe.” Schiller tapped the table lightly with his finger. “He was born not long ago, his evolutionary path has just begun, and he doesn’t trust his creator. He has no other ties.”
“But he went mad,” Stark said. “He fell in love with the Scarlet Witch—or rather, the powerful red-haired woman.”
“At first, it wasn’t really love,” Schiller said, shaking his head. “He just felt that Jarvis had been transformed through the Scarlet Witch, so he wanted it too. However, the logic of electronic life forms is different from that of humans, so he lost control.”
"Then you abandoned the plan to create a Brainiac and instead began to plan the multiverse."
“I suppose so,” Schiller nodded. “After Ultron changed his life form, I knew he couldn’t follow Brainiac’s path. But we’ve been watching him for a long time and put in a lot of effort, so it wouldn’t be worth it to just give up. To make the most of him, I sent him to the Battle Arena.”
“So his true form is in the Battle Realm.” Stark nodded thoughtfully. “No wonder so many Batmen searched for so long but couldn’t find a single original server.”
"This is actually a loophole. Just like other Iron Man characters can enter the Arena wearing the armor equipped with Jarvis and still be considered a person. Ultron, who has not gained emotions and has not ignited his soul flame, is not considered an independent life form, but more like a piece of equipment, so he can come and go freely in the Arena."
"Then Brainiac would work too?"
“Of course,” Schiller continued. “So even if I hadn’t used Ultron to do it, Bruce probably would have used Brainiac. Essentially, it’s because there needs to be such an opportunity to establish a multiverse human alliance. Who does it is the least important thing.”
“Batman also wanted to establish a multiverse human alliance, which is why he didn’t pursue the matter too much,” Stark said with a soft sigh. “But our main universe doesn’t know this. They feel they’ve committed a terrible crime, so instead of explaining or making amends, they’ve prepared for confrontation.”
"This is the Dark Forest effect. You can't assume that a powerful organization from an unfamiliar world is benevolent towards you; you have to assume the worst about them. In that case, benevolent communication between universes becomes almost impossible, and the final result will inevitably be confrontation."
“That’s fine,” Stark said. “A quick fix is better than a long, drawn-out one. It’s too slow for Stephen to persuade others with his silver tongue; it’s better to have them come to us.”
“Of course, Batman thinks so too,” Schiller continued. “There are far too many neutral Batmen in the multiverse. Most of them are incurable skeptics, unwilling to engage with any side, or even simply pretending not to know about the existence of the multiverse, focusing most of their attention on their own universe. Ultron’s invasion was like digging an ostrich’s head out of the sand, letting them know that problems don’t just disappear if you pretend not to see them. In the face of a multiverse-level catastrophe, unity is the only way out.”
“We’re on the same page on this,” Stark chuckled softly, then continued, “If nothing unexpected happens, the people from the main universe will come knocking on our door soon. We need to formally contact them, and the terms under which we fight for the multiverse will determine our standing.”
“That’s right, it’s because of this that the Glorious Alliance has come together,” Charles said as he walked over. “Our universe is special, and it’s very suitable to be a battlefield where the two sides clash. For this, we should be rewarded more and achieve a higher status.”
“Wait a minute,” Stark turned to him and said, “you never said we were going to use this place as a battlefield. Where would we fit in?”
“Our planet can move,” Charles said calmly. “This means that no matter where the war is, we can stay away and avoid being affected by it.”
"Of course, it also means that wherever a fight breaks out, we can be there to watch the excitement immediately." Schiller smiled and brought his glass to his lips. "That's the most important thing, isn't it?"