Main Universe Batman stared at him in silence. As someone who crawled through DC's darkness, how could he not understand this twisted relationship? Yet Erik's ability to speak of it so calmly instead revealed a tranquil kind of madness unlike anything in their world.
Or rather, everyone in this universe seemed to have that feeling. They treated many utterly insane things as commonplace.
The reason DC could sometimes feel so dark and oppressive was that it had too many undercurrents hidden beneath the surface, lurking between the lines and within every gesture, leaving room for endless interpretation. It felt as though it were hinting at something, yet also as though perhaps one was simply overthinking it.
That uncertainty added a great deal of mystery to the story, carrying a Gothic, mystical atmosphere. It was as though every person and object were shrouded in lead gray and cold blue, like damp ruins left behind by the last rain before winter.
Marvel, on the other hand, felt intense and vivid, with every contradiction and conflict laid out in the open. Everyone was straightforward. When things were good, they were inseparable; when things were bad, they wanted to beat each other's brains out. Many stories laid superheroes' virtues and flaws flat on the table for readers to examine at leisure.
Yet at the same time, such stories were not exactly relaxing to read. At first, they felt thrilling, but upon closer reflection, something seemed off. In the end, one suddenly realized: everything had been wrong from the very beginning.
This meant both sides had their own forms of abnormality. DC's heroes seemed more obviously abnormal, but Marvel's heroes appeared more normal—perhaps because the world serving as their backdrop was even more abnormal.
Main Universe Batman could clearly sense that the people of the