Spider-Man in a Bat Suit

Once the conversation turned to scientific research, Alfred the butler found himself with little to contribute. He sensibly stepped back, leaving the space to Su Ye and Dr. Fox. What surprised Alfred was that the young master Su Ye, only eighteen and still a high school student, could engage Dr. Fox—a scientist of the highest caliber—in such a spirited and insightful discussion. It was nothing like what Alfred had imagined, where Su Ye would be schooled by Dr. Fox and left speechless by the latter’s marvelous inventions.

In fact, Alfred silently made a decision in his heart. When they returned, he would call the master and suggest that, if possible, they should acquire as many shares of the Osborn Group as they could—best of all, to absorb it entirely into the Su Group. With the talent Su Ye had shown, he believed the Osborn Group had far greater prospects in his hands than in Harry’s. The Osborn Group had spent so much on press releases and trending topics, trying to position Harry Osborn as the next Tony Stark. Yet, in truth, the only person in the company who could rival Tony Stark was none other than young master Su Ye standing before him!

Su Ye was unaware of Alfred’s thoughts and didn’t care. What he cared about most at this moment was how to combine the abilities of Spider-Man and Batman. First, he needed a Batman suit, complete with a pointed-eared helmet and a sweeping black cape. With broad, muscular pecs, he could go out and strike an impressive figure. In terms of appearance and physique, Batman absolutely outclassed Spider-Man; the Dark Knight’s aura, whether in the DC universe or in all of American comics, was second to none.

Su Ye had recently been practicing Bajiquan. While he hadn’t yet achieved the muscular bulk of Captain America, his chest muscles were beginning to take shape. He wouldn’t need a fake chest to fill out the Batman suit. As for the suit’s overall design, he would model it after the one from “The Dark Knight.”

Next, he needed a set of equipment tailored for Batman, to help him fully embody the role. These included, but weren’t limited to, the Batmobile, the cape, batarangs, and, most importantly, the grappling hook. This device was essential—he would need not just one but several, installed all over his body. The grappling hook was the very tool that let Batman move through the night like a phantom.

With the grappling hook, Batman could appear or disappear from anywhere. Whether or not it made sense, it always provided a plausible enough explanation if you didn’t look too closely. In many situations, it was even more effective than Spider-Man’s web shooters. After all, Spider-Man couldn’t remain standing in a cool pose and then suddenly rocket straight into the sky, vanishing into the darkness.

With all this equipment, Su Ye would become a hero who defeated monsters with technological prowess and the power of money. But anyone who thought he was just a gadgeteer would be gravely mistaken. Beneath Batman’s suit was another layer: Spider-Man’s skin. If you beat the one who relied on gadgets, you still had to face the mutant underneath.

As for Spider-Man’s abilities, Su Ye discussed them at length with Dr. Fox. The first priority was enhancing the web-shooters. At present, as Su Ye pointed out, they could only fire webs and web bullets. While both modes were powerful, they had a glaring weakness: a lack of armor-piercing capability.

In street fights, people preferred bats, steel pipes, and knives over bayonets because the former rarely kill outright, while a bayonet could end things in a few stabs. Against high-defense opponents—like Iron Man—armor-piercing was crucial. In Avengers 4, wasn’t Vision sidelined for the entire film because he got stabbed just once?

After some discussion, they found a solution: memory cloth—a lightweight, flexible material that became rigid when electrified, the very same used in Batman’s cape. By combining the tensile strength of biological cables with the properties of memory cloth, the web would form a sharp spike in midair, perfect for piercing armor. Add a little poison, and Spider-Man would become more like a scorpion!

With Dr. Fox’s help, Su Ye also upgraded the web-shooters with high-capacity batteries, and the webs themselves were magnetized. This meant that, even when facing an opponent like Electro, his devices wouldn’t be destroyed by electricity. In fact, he could channel electric attacks through the webs. Spider-Man’s offensive capabilities were again significantly enhanced.

Additionally, Su Ye’s Spider-Man suit was fitted with gliding membranes, similar to the Mark III Spider-Man’s suit, enhancing his aerial mobility and providing adaptability in extreme environments. As for the Iron Spider suit, conditions weren’t yet ripe for its development.

Thus, the enhancements to both his Batman and Spider-Man personas were complete, and more than a week slipped by. Strangely, Catwoman had not appeared, but Hammer Industries’ press conference at the Stark Expo began as scheduled.

Lately, Justin Hammer had been riding high. Stark Industries had already shut down its weapons division, and since Tony Stark’s attempted assassination, he himself had spiraled into depression—even publicly urinating in the Iron Man suit at his own birthday party. Stark Industries and Tony Stark now teetered on the edge of madness and ruin, posing little threat to Hammer Industries.

As for the Osborn Group, though Kingpin’s ambush of the Green Goblin hadn’t gone as planned—and they’d even lost Bullseye—the Osborn Group’s gliders and flight suits were confirmed to be unsafe for ordinary soldiers to use.

Naturally, Hammer Industries had become the military’s largest contractor. Even the Iron Man suits they’d “acquired” from Tony Stark were now being modified by Hammer Industries. What pleased Justin Hammer most, however, was Ivan Vanko, the assassin who had nearly killed Tony Stark. Not only had he shattered Iron Man’s aura of invincibility, but he also brought immense technical expertise to Hammer Industries and now served as chief engineer for their new products.

With Vanko’s help, Hammer Industries had finally produced remote-controlled Iron Soldiers that could rival Tony Stark’s own creations.

“This is a technological revolution!”

At the new product launch, Justin Hammer stood on stage, grinning smugly as he announced to the world. Tony Stark, for his own selfish reasons, had refused to share his technology with humanity and stifled progress. But that didn’t matter, because now Justin Hammer could mass-produce Iron Men.