A Bag of Treasures from the Start: Batman in Gotham

Wayne transmigrates to Gotham, a city known for its folksy simplicity, and becomes a rookie Batman. The Dark Knight, living in a city of sin, gets a Doraemon template that seems like a joke. He starts with a four-dimensional pocket, which gains one magical gadget every day. Come to think of it, doesn’t Doraemon count as another kind of Batman? Both are eager to help, both make people feel everything’s under control the moment they step in, both can always pull just the right miraculous gadget from their waists, and both constantly cheat with overpowered abilities while insisting it’s just advanced technology. At some point, Gotham realizes Batman’s style has changed. He’s a little less grim and brooding, a little less dark and intense, but somehow even more terrifying. He toys his way through Gotham’s many villains, leaving the city almost unrecognizable. He plays rock-paper-scissors with the Joker using an invisible hand, beating him until he doesn’t know which way is up; he tortures Two-Face until he’d rather be dead with a jinx doll; and he beats Bane into kneeling with his back broken using elephant finger sleeves... Years later, when the Dark Lord Darkseid arrives on Earth with the armies of Apokolips, all things are shrouded in the shadow of destruction. On a beach, Superman sprawls in a lounge chair like he’s been spoiled rotten, Wonder Woman contentedly rubs on sunscreen, and the Flash drinks cola looking like a couch potato. All three call out the same person’s name. “Please, Batman, Earth’s greatest superhero, our wise leader whom we could never do without.” “I guess I have no choice.” Wayne, wearing a palm-tree shirt and beach shorts, sighs and pulls a god-tier magical gadget, the Demon Passport, from his four-dimensional pocket. “Come on, little Darkseid, put on a show!” The Apokolips army stares dumbfounded as their lord Darkseid, who has destroyed a million worlds, starts doing somersaults through space.