What If Spider-Man…Worked with the Original Batman
(Important AN: Please read Spider-Man Beyond before reading this!)
Throughout the endless void between the multiverse, we see multiple windows that take a peek into the various realities and multiple universes. The key factor about these windows, however, was that each of them showed various images and scenarios with Spider-Man, sometimes in different suits.
"Time."
A viewing window showed a universe Spider-Man in a red, black, and gold metal suit in a battle against a a woman with blue and black hair, trying to slice at him with with glowing blue cutting knife. She missed a few times, before he then sprouted four spider legs from his back and retaliated against her, which she parried with her blade.
"Space."
Another viewing window showed a universe where Spider-Man, who was wearing another armored suit, except it was red and black with teal-colored shoulder pads and arm guards, with his helmet having glowing eye lenses, was swinging between tall buildings where flying cars were all around him. He landed on the ground and avoided blaster fire from soldiers who were wearing white armor and pointing their blasters at him.
"Reality."
The next viewing screen showed Spider-Man, who was wearing a bright blue suit while wearing a blue ring on his middle finger, flying through space and firing blue web constructs at aliens that were wearing red and black uniforms and had red rings on their fingers.
More and more viewing screens were shown throughout the entire multiverse, where one could see multiple Spider-Men in various environments and facing off against countless challenges. Almost all of these Spider-Man's had different suits that had different functions, but they were all using their powers for good.
"It's more than a linear path. It's a prism of endless possibility, where a single choice can branch out into infinite realities, creating alternate worlds from the one you know."
More and more Spider-Men could be seen throughout the entire multiverse, as all of it was views by a large individual hiding in the stars. His eyes glowed bright blue as they were all-seeing, watching every one of these great heroes and the paths they took. "I am the Watcher. I am your guide through these vast new realities. Follow me, and ponder the question..."
"What if...?"
/
"We all know the story, of how one, Nick Styles, became burdened with great power." Nick Styles walked along with his classmates through the WaynePowers research lab, before he was suddenly bitten by a spider, the same spider that gave him his powers. The scene then showed him leaping up high and sticking to the wall of a building. "And through tragedy, became burdened with great responsibility." The scene showed Nick standing in front of two gravestones with a heartbroken expression on his face, before it changed to him in his Spider-Man suit swinging over the streets of Neo Gotham.
"But he would not bear this responsibility on his shoulder alone, as he had allied with Terry McGinnis, the boy who would take up the cowl of the Batman. Together, they became an near unstoppable force for good, protecting the city of Gotham from all those who threatened its people." The scene showed Nick and Terry in their Spider-Man and Batman suits, standing side by side with each other, before it changed to them charging into battle against the Rhino.
"For so many universes, it has always been the Bat and the Robin, but now the Spider has taken it to ally with the Dark Knight. But what if Nick became allies with a Batman...of a different era?"
/
The rain poured down hard on Gotham City, creating a much more depressing atmosphere than what this city was used to. People walked along the sidewalk with their umbrellas out, trying to keep themselves as dry as they could.
However, up above their heads was a shadowy figure, swinging on what appeared to be a line of a spiderweb. The figure continued to swing at top speeds, before he swung up high, let go of the web line, and landed on top of a roof. The figure wore an all-black suit with a black mask that covered his entire face, with white eye-lenses. Over his black suit was a black trench coat, while also wearing a black fedora hat over his head.
The figure's eyes narrowed as he eyes a rundown and condemned building across from him, before he launched a web line at the building and swung down, before sticking to the side wall. He crawled up the side of the building, before coming to a stop at a boarded-up window and peaking inside.
In the room he was looking in, he managed to see almost half a dozen thugs reaching down and ripping out the floor boards of the abandoned apartment. One of them reached into a hole on the floor and pulled out a machine gun, gaining a smirk on his face.
"Man, Joker really is a nutcase if he left all his goodies here." The thug said as he aimed the machine gun in random directions.
"Just watch where you're pointing that thing, pal." Another thug said as he moved out of the way from his point of view.
"And there's more goodies like this throughout this entire building." Another thug said with a sadistic grin. "I'd like to see those costumed weirdos try to mess with us now."
"If any of them come near us, I'll fill them with so much lead, they'll be bleeding it." The thug with the machine gun said with a challenging grin.
"Oh, is that right?" The black-suited figure said as his eye lenses narrowed. He scaled up the wall and came upon to the boarded up window above the one he was just at, before ripping out the boards and climbing in.
"What was that?" One of the thugs asked in an almost scared tone.
"Maybe it was...rats?" One of the thugs guessed, though by his tone he didn't really believe it to be the case.
"You think it's Batman?" One of the thugs asked with a much more fearful tone. Just then, out of nowhere, the door was broken down by the black-suited figure, catching the thugs by surprise.
"Hey, guys, your rent's overdue." The all black-suited figure said as he fired a web-line at one of the crooks, yanked him towards him, and then kneed him in the face, knocking him out. "I'm afraid I'll have to evict you."
"Aw crap, it's Spider-Man!" One of the crooks exclaimed in shock, before the rest of them charged at the now named hero.
Spider-Man jumped on the wall and used it as a springboard to fly right at one of the crooks, tackling him to the ground, before tossing him right onto a wooden table, shattering it in the process. Another thug rushed in to deliver a punch, but Spider-Man dodged it, then retaliated with a couple more punches to the guy's midsection, before uppercutting him.
the remaining three thugs all rushed at him at the same time, but didn't get far as the hero shot three globs of web at the crooks' faces, blinding them and forced them to stop. Spider-Man then did a spin kick on one of the crooks, before he punched another one in the face, knocking them both out. With the final crook left standing, Spider-Man shot a webline at the man's head, before pulling down and causing the crook to slam his head into the floor, knocking him out as well.
"Well, that takes care of that." Spider-Man said in satisfaction, before he heard a clicking sound and turned around to see one of the thugs recovered and grabbed the machine gun, pointing it right at him. Spider-Man sighed as fully faced the crook, though he didn't really seem that intimidated. "Or maybe not."
"You! You stay right there!" The crook exclaimed as he continued to point the gun at the hero. "I'm walking out of here, and you ain't gonna stop me!"
"Hey, buddy, I'm not moving from this spot." Spider-Man said casually, before he smirked underneath his mask. "Besides, I'm not the one going to stop you."
All of a sudden, another figure came bursting through the boarded-up window right next to the crook, followed up by delivering a kick in the head to the thug, causing him to crash into the wall. Spider-Man followed it up by webbing the guy to the wall so that way he wouldn't be able to escape.
Now that he was taken care of, Spider-Man looked at the full appearance of the new arrival. He wore an almost all grey suit, with black boots and gloves, and a yellow utility belt over his waist. The most important and notable aspects of this person's costume was that he had a long black cape that connected to a cowl over his face, which had pointed ears on the top, as well as a yellow circle on his chest with a symbol of a bat on the center.
This was the legendary hero known as the Batman.
"Hey, Bats, was wondering if you'd show up." Spider-Man said casually. "How'd you find this place?"
"This was the last of old locations Joker used to hide his supplies." Batman said as he ripped off more floor boards to reveal more stashed away weapons. "All of his locations have been hit except this one, so I knew this was left on the list."
"Yeah, and it's all thanks to these guys." Spider-Man said as he pulled down the sleeve of one of the unconscious thugs, revealing a tattoo of what looked like the green face of a goblin with sharp teeth. "These people work for the Goblin crime boss."
"Whoever this 'Goblin' is, he's taking a big risk." Batman said as he narrowed his eyes. "He's already moved in on Rupert Thorne's territory, and he's nearly crippled the Maroni's. Gotham might be looking at a full-scale gang war if this keeps up."
"If it hasn't happened already." Spider-Man said with a worried tone as he knelt down in front of the webbed-up crook, who struggled in vain to get out of his bindings. "Alright, sunshine, you're going to tell us everything you know about the Goblin."
"You think I'm stupid?" The crook said angrily.
"Well you chose the life of a criminal, so there's that." Spider-Man said with a shrug. "Come on, pal, just throw us a bone here. Give us something on the Goblin so we can stop this gang war before it even starts."
"You think I'd sell out anything on the boss? You're not only crazy for wearing that dumb outfit, but your stupid to." The thug said, adamant on not giving anything up.
Instead of feeling disappointed, Spider-Man just casually shrugged as he stood back up and walked away. "Well, I tried. He's all yours."
As soon as he said, Batman came up and grabbed the crook by his shirt, before proceeding to push the guy halfway out the broken window. The crook screamed in fright as he looked down from the great height he was on, getting dizzy from vertigo.
"Talk. Now." Batman said in a low voice, with the white eyes of his cowl narrowing, causing the man to ripple in fear.
"Wh-What are you doing?!" The man screamed in fright, before looking at Spider-Man. "You're supposed to be a hero, right?! You'd let him do this?!"
"Hey, I would try to stop him, but I actually like having my arms not dislocated, thank you." Spider-Man said with a shrug.
The crook shook with fear, but he still tried to keep a brave face. "Y-You won't do anything to me. You need what I know." He said, thinking he outsmarted them.
Batman just stared at him hard, causing the crook's bravado to falter, before he finally spoke up. "There are plenty of criminals out there more cowardly than you."
"Wait, wh-AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
The crook screamed as Batman just let him go, crusading him to falter and fall right out the window, screaming all the way. The man looked down and saw the sidewalk getting closer and closer, as he braced himself for the inevitable impact. It never came as Batman launched his grappling hook and it wrapped around the guy's ankle, causing him to halt in midair just a few feet above the sidewalk.
The man whimpered as he was pulled back up and was brought back inside the room with the two heroes looking down on him. "Feel like talking now?" Batman asked.
"I-I don't know who the Goblin is, nobody does!" The man screamed hysterically. "Each of us is given a message by a higher member of the gang, giving us a target, time, and place."
"And this place was one of your targets?" Spider-Man asked.
"No, no, we just heard about this stash of weapons here." The man denied. "We were going to use them to help us with the real target."
"And what is the real target?" Batman demanded.
"There's a new drug shipment heading into town, coming in by boat at the docks." The crook answered. "Rupert Thorne is in charge of the shipment, but we caught wind of it, and decided to hit it ourselves."
"What would the Goblin want with drugs?" Spider-Man questioned.
"He doesn't care about the drugs; he just wants to cripple Thorne's business." The crook answered. "He wants to build his own empire in Gotham, and trample on all the competition; Joker, Thorne, Penguin, they're all on his hit list."
"We'll stop him, just like we'll all the others." Spider-Man said with determination, before he shot a glob of web at the crook, pinning him to the floor. "Thanks for the tip and all, but you're still gonna have to sit here until the cops come."
"Aw, man." The crook groaned.
Batman wasted no time as he went right out the window and fired a grappling hook, before swinging towards the direction of the docks. Spider-Man shot a webline soon after and swung after the caped-crusader, they're silhouettes shaped in the night sky, with Batman's cape flitting behind him, with Spider-Man's long trench coat flitting behind him as well.
"Was throwing him out the window really necessary?" Spider-Man asked.
"Sometimes fear is the only method needed to get them to talk." Batman said simply.
"While it does get results sometimes, still creeps me out at how scary you can be, Bats." Spider-Man said with a slight shiver as the two swung away.
Meanwhile, up in the night sky, his large form being silhouetted among the stars, The Watcher gazed upon the tow heroes as they swung away to dispense justice.
"No matter what era one finds themselves in, there will always be those who take on the life of a criminal; but much like how that is inevitable, there will always be those who will take up the mantle of a hero." The Watcher said. "However, one does not choose their moment to put on a costume and fight crime, rather, that moment chooses you."
/
"The story of Bruce Wayne has been told so many times, about how a young eight-year-old boy suffered such a tragedy." An image showed a young Bruce Wayne, on his knees crying in the rain, the bodies of his dead parents in front of him with his mother's pearls all over the ground.
"The story of this world's Nick Styles took a more...peculiar turn." The Watcher said as an image of a teen Nick Styles was shown, before the image began moving.
"Tragedy struck when his parent's antique shop was burned down, due to not paying protection money to a rising crime boss." Nick was on his knees and he hopelessly watched his family's antique shot burning to the ground, while the firefighters did their best to put it out.
"Throwing himself into his studies, Nick graduated from college and became a historian, landing a job as an educator in Gotham's Museum of Natural History." The images changed to Nick studying in his room, before changing to him reciting his Masters after graduating college, then to him giving a tour at the museum while speaking to guests about various artifacts they have on display.
"It was at this moment, where Nick's destiny was revealed."
The next scene showed an adult Nick walking along the hallways of the museum, with the lights being dimmed, indicating that the museum was closed for the day. Nick gave a security guard that was doing his patrol rounds, which he returned, before making his weary to leave.
However, a faint green glow illuminated one part of an adjacent hallway, catching Nick's attention. Curious it's getting the better of him, Nick followed the glow down the hallway, before making a turn on the corner and came up to another of the display rooms, where the green glow was even brighter. Nick's eyes widened slightly when he discovered the source of the glow.
It was a small golden totem of what looked like a half-man/half-spider creature, with the green glow coming from the emerald eyes on the totem's head. Nick didn't know what it was, but something seemed to be drawing him to the totem, so much so that he took out his pass card and placed it in the slot, allowing the display case to retract.
Nick grabbed the totem and stared long and hard at the glowing emerald eyes, never taking his own eyes off of it. He was soon taken out of his focus on the eyes, when he noticed that the mouth of totem became slightly opened, allowing a black spider to crawl out of it and climb on to his hand. Not even a second after, the spider bit Nick on the hand.
"OW!" Nick winced as he shook his hand and swiping the spider off his hand. Nick held up his hand and could see the bite mark starting to swell, and could just feel something going on inside him. "What's happening?"
"Right there, at that moment, gave birth to a new kind of hero."
/
Nick, now dawned in his Spider-Man outfit, jumped across the roofs of Gotham before leaping off and swinging away. He landed on top of a street light and spotted two thugs robbing a bakery, before they took off running down the street with bags of cash in their hand. They didn't get far, however, as Nick launched two web lines that snagged on to the crook's feet, tripping them up, before he jumped down and caused them to hang up from the streetlight, feet first.
The owner of the bakery ran out and spotted the dangling thieves, before looking down to seeing the cash they took from him lying on the ground. He heard a noise above him and looked to see Spider-Man swinging away, causing him to smile.
"After receiving his new spider powers, Nick dedicated himself to protecting the people of Gotham, and bring the ones who burned down his family to justice, but he wasn't the only one on a mission for justice." Another scene showed Spider-Man facing off against a crook who had a gun pointing at him, but then a baterang came out of the shadows and struck the guy's hand, causing him to drop the gun.
Spider-Man ceased this moment and launched a web line at the crook, before yanking him towards him and uppercutting him, knocking him out. Spider-Man looked towards the shadows and spotted Batman walking out, staring at him with a stern expression.
"Though complete opposites, in terms of personality, the two heroes realized that they were both working towards the same goal. To bring justice and peace to Gotham." The two heroes continued to stare down one another, before Batman offered a handshake, which Spider-Man gladly accepted.
The next scenes shown were Batman and Spider-Man teaming up and facing off against various crooks and villains. The first one showed them both punching Killer Croc in the face, the next one being of them avoiding getting shot by a in a mafia suit and had shiny slimmed back hair wielding two tommy-guns, and last was the both of them facing off against the Joker.
/
'Man, that dock bust took longer than I thought!' Nick thought to himself as he raced down the sidewalk, while wearing a nice tuxedo. After helping Batman take care of the drug shipment, Spider-Man told the caped crusader that he had a prior engagement he needed to take care of and swung off, before finding a spot to change. 'I just hope I'm not too late!'
He finally stopped in front of a fancy restaurant and straightened himself out, before entering and meeting a greeter at the front desk. "Hi, reservation for Nick Styles. I think my date is probably already here."
"Ah, yes, Mr. Styles." The greeter said with smile, before gesturing him to follow. "Yes, your lady friend arrived not that long ago and is waiting for you this way."
Nick followed him and eventually found his table, and sure enough, his date was there already waiting for him. As soon as he sat down, Nick gave the most apologetic face he could give. "I am so, so sorry for being late. I tried to get here as soon as I could, but I just got...really held up at work."
"Don't worry about it, there's no harm done." His date said in a gentle tone. "To be honest, I got held up at work to, so I wasn't waiting that long for you."
"Guess we should be lucky they didn't cancel the reservation then." Nick said sheepishly as he picked up the menu. "So, should we get to ordering, that way we could have the rest of the night to enjoy ourselves?"
"Sounds good to me." His date said as she picked up her own menu.
After ordering their food, the couple talked about each other's day, like how work went, with Nick avoiding all topics about his 'secondary job.' They talked, they laughed, they ate their food, they were just having an all around good time enjoying each other's company. Soon the two of them finished their food and made their way out of the restaurant.
"Wow, the reviews of that place were correct, that food was excellent." Nick said with a smile, as he held his date by her arm.
"I know, I don't think I can eat another bite." His date said in satisfaction.
"It's a shame we couldn't get any dessert though." Nick said in slight disappointment.
The woman soon gained a teasing smile, as she looked up at Nick. "You know, I think I can actually go for some dessert right now."
"What?" Nick asked in confusion. "We already left, though. I mean, we can probably get ice cream or-"
Nick didn't get to finish speaking, as his dates leaned up and gave him a soft kiss on the lips, catching him by surprise. He soon got over it as he then began to kiss her back, with her humming in content. The two separated and Nick couldn't help but admire how beautiful his girlfriend was tonight, her bright blue eyes, her blonde hair that was tied up into a ponytail, and her red dress really highlighting her features.
"There, now I think I've had my fill." She said with a smirk.
"Harleen Quinzel, you are something else." Nick said with a chuckle.
"And don't you forget it." Harleen said with a smirk as she poked him on the chest. Both of them chuckled at that, before walking off while holding each other in their arms.
"It's funny, how one individual can change the very flow of the universe. How one ripple in the river of time can alter the lives of either just one person, or a whole city. But the changes that this Spider-Man shall bring, well...that's a story for another time."
"As for me, I am The Watcher, and I will be your guide into these universes that have been touched by the heroics of Spider-Man. How all of them shaped their own stories and lives, and how they have changed those who know them."
"So, sit tight, my friends, for our journey beyond the Multiverse, this...Beyondverse...will be one to remember, for all time."
/
Hey everybody, I've got this little treat for you.
So, I'm gonna be honest, I did not expect Spider-Man Beyond to blow up in popularity as much as it did. I am just so emotional and humbled that you guys love it so much. I love all your reviews, all your thoughts, and all your comments about it. I am truly grateful that you people take the time from schedule to read my work.
It wasn't until later on that I received some comments or reviews asking if I would ever think about doing a story where Nick Styles was in past Gotham and team up with the original Batman instead of Terry. So I figured, maybe I will do that into the future, but then the trailer for Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse Part 1 came out, and then I thought to myself, why not go bigger. And thus we have this, a look into my own version of the Spiderverse, which I am dubbing the Beyondverse, since Spider-Man Beyond started this whole thing.
This not a full-blown story, nor is it even an anthology of trailers, this is actually going to be a quick look into a different universe that could be a part of any form of media, whether it be cartoon, anime, video game, so long as I can bring Spider-Man into the big picture. Sometimes this Spider-Man will be Nick Styles, sometimes it'll be a different character, either way they will all be Spider-Man.
Not all of these chapters based on a Spider-Man of a different universe will get a story of their own, but the majority of them will. Spider-Man is such an engaging character that you could pretty much fit him into anything, and that's what I want to do.
Also, I wanted The Watcher to be the narrator for this anthology series because...why not?
So, what do you guys think? Are you all on board with a look into my own version of the Spiderverse? Do you want to take a journey and see the many different versions of Nick Styles I can write about?
Well then, that's all I have to say for now, everyone. Stay healthy, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time!