Everything changed on one particular night.
The Batman Who Laughs's expression gradually turned ugly as well.
It was already close to Christmas. Jason had mostly recovered from his illness, and Spider-Man was putting the finishing touches on the Christmas tree. But after hanging up all the decorations, he realized the tree was not bright enough. It was missing some lights, leaving it rather dim and lacking the desired effect.
But the next day was Christmas Eve, and most shops would be closed. By then, it would definitely be too late to buy any.
So Jason and Spider-Man decided to head out that night and buy more string lights to make the Christmas tree brighter.
As they walked down the street, they once again debated superheroes and ordinary people. They were probably saying that peaceful times like these were rare and should be cherished, and that there was no harm in putting their heroic dreams aside until after Christmas.
Everyone could clearly tell that the two young heroes' thoughts had begun to lean toward pursuing an ordinary, happy life. If so, then The Batman Who Laughs's design had already succeeded.
But another question arose. If that was the case, then The Batman Who Laughs had no reason to skip over those twenty years, because if things continued like this, the script was progressing exactly as it should.
The young heroes became addicted to pleasure and abandoned their dreams of heroism. Then, when disaster struck in middle age, they suddenly came to their senses. The first half had been going smoothly, so why not just keep going? Why skip time?
Everyone knew that cutting to black and jumping twenty years ahead was a rather low-level storytelling device. Even TV dramas rarely used it anymore.
Even if it was used, it had to