Peter, that is, the "Amazing Spiderman" of the Old 616 Universe, rambled on to Shiller about what he'd been through these past few years, which honestly was kind of legendary. Because in that big war back then, he played a very important role.
After losing his Spider Power, Peter suddenly had no idea what he was supposed to do. The Amazing Spiderman's original job was as a Researcher at an institute, but it actually wasn't an important position, and he wasn't the main person in charge of any project. If you had to describe it, it was a bit like an experimental safety reviewer: the work wasn't busy, the salary wasn't very high, so he'd occasionally go work part-time at a fast food joint or a gas station.
But the Spider Man of the Prime Universe is single; he used to date Mary Jane, and the two of them broke up peacefully and stayed friends. Since he never married or started a family and has no kids, his life actually carries no real pressure, and a Researcher's salary should've been enough for him.
Unfortunately, he still had to be Spider Man. Even though The Avengers provide a certain amount of gear and funding, the Amazing Spiderman really likes tinkering with little gadgets of his own, he needs to constantly upgrade his base, and every now and then he has to bail out those broke, down‑and‑out villains—money goes everywhere. So besides his main job, Peter could be working part-time up to six hours a day at the peak.
But once he stopped being Spider Man, he no longer needed to maintain his Battlesuit and Spider Silk Launcher, he basically stopped going to the base, and all the "helping villains get by" gigs got dumped on Bruce. That meant Peter didn't need to work that many hours anymore just to support his life.
The Amazing Spiderman is used to being busy; he's the kind of hyper-energetic guy who can fight through a major event with The Avengers, then go home and run three more rounds against the Sinister Six. Once he suddenly had time off, he felt uncomfortable all over.
And his new job, that is, being Shiller's Pope, is ridiculously idle too. Aside from calling him twice before, Shiller basically hasn't stirred at all, plus Shiller is on paid suspension, doesn't need Peter to do anything, yet the Energy still gets transferred on schedule.
With tons of free time and a big pile of Energy, of course Peter wanted to do something. The predecessor to the Rebirth Alliance, the New Earth Alliance, was a game Peter pieced together by running all over the place.
Besides that, he went back and finished the PhD he hadn't completed. After all, he couldn't get into a core position at the institute, and the main barrier was his educational background.
But before he could use his new degree to land important projects in that institute, it shut down because of the growing pains from the city fusion. The core Researchers all just hopped jobs at will, but people like him, whose position wasn't that important and whose abilities weren't very outstanding, had to go their separate ways.
Once that job was gone, even basic survival became a problem. Fortunately, since Gotham University and New York University merged into Forward York University, the school was short on staff. Peter got along well with the administrative people at the university, so he just stayed on to teach.
Peter's academic level is actually average, but he knows how to teach. Lecturer is a job that fits perfectly with his chatterbox attribute, and he's young enough to connect with the students and blend in with them, so he's always been very popular. He first taught for a while in his undergrad major, Materials Science, then successively moved to the Chemistry and Physics departments, and now he's in the Urban Landscape program doing targeted talent training.
And the Spider Man of this cosmos, that is, Bruce Wayne, is actually much younger than the Amazing Spiderman. The Amazing Spiderman is already past 30, while Bruce Wayne has just debuted and isn't even 20 yet, so it's not strange that they'd end up as teacher and student.
Besides, Thomas is someone who worships elite education. Or rather, he himself is fairly rebellious—he never received a full elite education, and he ran off halfway to be a field medic—so maybe he just wants his child to walk the path he never did. Wherever he goes, he's a giant walking "go study" sign; doesn't matter if you're Batman or Robin, you all have to go to school.
In this cosmos, Bruce got shipped off to school by him. But something Shiller finds puzzling is, why would Bruce enroll in Urban Landscape Design? Isn't that supposed to be in the arts department?
"It's an interdisciplinary field," Peter explained. "It includes urban design, urban management, and urban maintenance—landscape is only a small part, although for the current neo‑classical city, it's also a very important part."
"Most importantly, this discipline is insanely short on people, especially engineering students. Art students might be able to design beautiful building exteriors, but you still need someone to make them real. Bruce does have some talent in this area, so Thomas told him to pick this major."
Shiller nodded. Batman of Zero Earth might be kind of weak, but that's only compared to other Batmen; compared to ordinary people, he's still a lot stronger. And rather than competing with other Batmen over research and invention ability, it's better for him to lean toward engineering. If you're bad at beating people up, you can still go beat the dust.
Compared to other universes, this cosmos is the perfect time to be beating dust. With two Earths fused together, there's an overwhelming amount of stuff that needs rebuilding—Civil Engineering students in ecstasy.
"Let's talk about that war," Shiller sighed. "He knows it might be a deep disaster for this cosmos, but he still needs to understand it, otherwise too many things can't be explained."
"Oh, that," Peter said, looking like he didn't care much. "Honestly, it wasn't that big a deal. It all starts with Reed."
"Wait," Shiller said. "What did Reed do now?"
"There've always been contradictions between the different sides of the New Earth Alliance," Peter said after pausing, "but the trigger that set everything off was Dr. Richards."
"I'm not the least bit surprised," Shiller said, shaking his head.
"Reed punched a leak in the Antimatter Universe," Peter said with a shrug. "I really don't know what he's trying to do over there, but he just keeps tirelessly drilling holes between both sides. This time he used some kind of shock absorber—anyway, it's another big boy that can blow up a cosmos."
"Hold on," Shiller remembered something. "This side is the cosmos Gotham's in—there shouldn't be an Antimatter Universe, right?"
Shiller thought about it. The Fusion Universe is actually the cosmos on DC's side, and DC's cosmic structure is quite different from Marvel's. Outside the cosmos should be Heavenly Blood, and there doesn't seem to be an Antimatter Universe…
No, that's not right—Shiller suddenly remembered that DC really does have an Antimatter Universe, and DC's Antimatter Universe is the Anti-Monitor's home turf.
They're both called Antimatter Universe, but over in Marvel there's just a bunch of big bugs, while over here in DC it's the big boss' home base.
The Anti-Monitor's power level goes without saying; even though the New 52 nerfed him, he's still a major, named big bad in the cosmos. Reed wouldn't have just drilled his way straight into the guy's house, right?
"He did," Peter said. "If he hadn't drilled that hole, we wouldn't even have known that this side also has an Antimatter Universe."
The ominous feeling in Shiller's heart grew stronger and stronger, and then he heard Peter say, "But the Antimatter Universe on this side is different from ours. There are no big bugs inside; instead there's a World of Order, pretty much like the other universes in this cosmos."
"Reed's Teleportation Portal hit a strange planet. I think it was called 'Kovad'..."
Shiller couldn't help raising a hand to his forehead. It really was the Anti-Monitor's home. And this planet called Kovad is exactly where the Anti-Monitor was born. Reed didn't call his device a cosmos-destroying generator for nothing—whenever he causes trouble, he goes straight for the core.
The planet Kovad is a bit like Oa Star; it sits at the center of the cosmos, and these people have special techniques to forge Lantern rings. As for their combat strength, there hasn't been much shown, but the Antimatter Universe itself is already very special. The key is whether the Anti-Monitor is awake or not.
"Did you run into anything weird?" Shiller probed.
"Of course. The moment Reed went in, he got controlled by something—we don't even know what it was. He forged a massive army on Kovad Star and turned it around to invade our side..."
The last bit of hope in Shiller's heart died completely. Something that could control Mr. Fantastic in a single encounter could pretty much only be the Anti-Life Equation. The Anti-Monitor definitely got blasted awake by Reed. Shiller had thought Bruce was already a disaster magnet, but he hadn't expected Reed to be even more accomplished at causing trouble.
The Anti-Monitor really can't be counted as part of the Order Camp, because he's always wanted to expand the Antimatter Universe—in other words, destroy the Multiverse, merge all universes into one, and bring all life under his control.
The first major event, Crisis on Infinite Earths, was his doing. He wrecked the Multiverse until there were only five universes left, almost wiping the whole team. Later on, Legion War, Blackest Night, Brightest Day, Eternal Evil, and even Metal—he showed up in all of them, and not as some background extra. He was the engine and turning point behind many major events.
No wonder Batman had been so busy lately he didn't even have time to look after Bruce. Doctor Manhattan, Brainiac, Darkseid, and now the Anti-Monitor—his life really is cursed from head to toe.
"What happened after that?" Shiller grew even more curious. The Anti-Monitor was awake, Reed had been controlled by him—how did they win on this side?
"I don't know who was controlling Mr. Fantastic, but he made a fatal mistake," Peter said, spreading his hands. "In less than a day, Reed broke free from the control and, in turn, used that shock absorber of his to blow up some kind of Material Teleportation Portal, which caused the Kovad army to be completely unable to come over."
"Then isn't that problem solved? So how did this end up leading to the Superhero..."
Peter shook his head. "Only the follow-up troops couldn't get through; the ones that had already come over were still there. Faced with how to respond to this crisis, The Avengers and the Justice League had a very serious conflict. This was the fuse that led to the Superheroes falling out with each other."
"What did each side plan to do?"
"The Avengers preferred not to take the offensive, but to hold Earth. After all, that army hadn't actually broken in; they'd only invaded the cosmos. And there are armies in this cosmos too. They figured they could hand it over to the Lantern Corps—after all, the Lantern Corps' day job is maintaining law and order in the cosmos."
"And the Justice League?"
"The Justice League believed Earth bore responsibility for this invasion incident, because it was Reed who caused it. Even if they didn't commit large-scale forces, they at least had to show some attitude. They felt The Avengers were being very irresponsible, and the two sides had a huge argument."
"But actually, up to that point, it still wasn't enough to come to blows. However, Spider Man—Bruce Wayne—had been doing pretty well in The Avengers, and he got along decently with Iron Man and Captain America. Yet in this incident, he chose to stand with the Justice League, believing The Avengers had to show some attitude and clean up the mess Reed made."
"Iron Man felt betrayed—you know he doesn't have much of a temper. He originally thought he and Bruce could relate to each other; after all, both were insanely rich and both became Superheroes. But he never expected Bruce to 'betray' him at the critical moment. In a fit of rage, he attacked Bruce."
Peter paused again, let out a sigh, and said, "But Bruce obviously isn't that easy to mess with. He destroyed Iron Man's Symbiotic Battle Armor..."
"Hold on, Symbiotic Battle Armor?" Shiller froze, then remembered that the Old 616 Main Universe Iron Man had been replaced. Previously, he'd pulled the Ultimate Iron Man from the Good and Evil Axis Possibility Universe and stuffed him into the Prime Universe to resolve the crisis. So the current Main Universe Iron Man is actually an evil version—no wonder they started fighting.