Before the arrival of Hydra and the Latverian criminals, the Grim Reaper was one of the four individuals Batman faced when he went to support Iron Man at the Adirondack Mountains base.
This man was accidentally killed by Iron Man during the subsequent Battle of Manhattan, becoming the first named figure to die in that war.
In the aftermath, Batman investigated the identities of all known Hydra operatives, learning that the Grim Reaper's real name was Eric Williams, and that he had a younger brother named Simon Williams.
However, according to Batman's investigation, Simon Williams had been the head of a munitions company inherited from his father, but chose to leave many years ago after failing to compete with Iron Man.
Starting five or six years ago, information regarding Simon Williams could no longer be found on the internet.
This aligned with what Batman repeatedly emphasized to Venom Robin: the internet was never omnipotent. Even with an assistant like Alfred, it was impossible to pull Simon Williams's information out of thin air from the web.
"Wonder Man?" Batman silently repeated the name in his mind. He saw the air severely compressed before this man known as Wonder Man as he ran, indicating an extraordinary level of strength.
Rather than matching Wonder Man's force directly, Batman swiftly dodged to the side to avoid the strike, using a strand of webbing to pull himself toward the opposite side.
He watched as Wonder Man missed his target, his purple-glowing fist slamming with a thunderous roar onto the alloy deck, instantly causing a massive section of the floor to crater inward.
Batman quickly calculated the figures in his mind: Wonder Man possessed a minimum strength of fifty tons, and the actual number could easily be far higher.
Judging by how effortless Wonder Man made it look, that estimate might very well need to be doubled.
"You want to avenge your brother?" Batman asked in a low voice. Though facing Wonder Man, his attention wasn't entirely focused on him.
There were still thirteen individuals on the sidelines, each possessing strength comparable to a base-level Hulk, eyeing him greedily.
"Why else would I come here to kill you?" Wonder Man grinned savagely, his expression rendered ghastly and terrifying under the purple light illuminating his body.
"The Grim Reaper chose the wrong path. Are you going to follow him to the bitter end, Simon Williams?" Batman retorted.
Batman was attempting to use words to disrupt Wonder Man's focus.
"What right or wrong?" Wonder Man spat a wad of purple energy onto the deck, his voice filled with utter disdain. "Though I'm a nobody, your name, Batman, is something we've long heard of.
"Your ally killed my brother, so no matter what, I will kill you—and then I'll kill Iron Man."
Exuding intense murderous intent, the moment Wonder Man finished speaking, a surge of purple energy burst forth from his facial features, launching an attack straight at Batman.
Batman was forced to dodge repeatedly, continuously seeking an opportunity to close the distance to Wonder Man.
If he could truly get into close quarters with Wonder Man, Batman was confident he could use the array of tools on his person to incapacitate him.
Unfortunately, today was not a one-on-one fight.
Just as purple light erupted from Wonder Man's facial features, another opponent joined the fray.
A yellow-green, wheat-awn-like electrical spark ignited not far away, leaping through the air to trace a line akin to an electrocardiogram. It streaked toward Batman almost simultaneously with Wonder Man's purple light.
"This one is Zzzax, whom I mentioned earlier," Amora the Enchantress's voice drifted over. "Batman, he has a connection to you, you know."
Her voice arrived in front of Batman a step ahead of Zzzax's attack, clearly demonstrating she had long known Zzzax wouldn't be able to hold back.
Unlike Electro's golden current, the Wasp's stings, or Thor's lightning, the primary sensation this yellow-green current gave Batman was that the electricity itself was a physical part of Zzzax's body—much like the tentacles extending from Venom Robin.
It was fundamentally different from the others, who merely used electricity as a weapon or an ability.
Having just dodged Wonder Man's attack, Batman didn't even have time to catch his breath before Zzzax's yellow-green electrical discharge arrived, forcing Batman to execute a roll across the floor to dodge once more.
The battle had only just begun, yet the deployment of merely two opponents had already multiplied the pressure on Batman exponentially.
Wonder Man's body straddled the boundary between physical flesh and an ionic state, while Zzzax's entire form was composed entirely of yellow-green electric currents coalesced like liquid mercury.
Neither possessed a body in the conventional sense, pushing the difficulty of Batman dealing with them to an even higher level.
"A connection to me?" Even while dodging, Batman furrowed his brow beneath his cowl.
"You must be wondering how this Zzzax, who popped out of nowhere, could possibly have anything to do with you?"
Seeing Batman forced into continuous evasion under the assault of Wonder Man and Zzzax, the Enchantress spoke up at her complete leisure:
"Perhaps you never paid him any mind... Batman, when you were battling the Gamma monsters at the Gamma Base in New Mexico, did you happen to notice that after the generators exploded, Gamma energy and electric currents converged on one of the soldiers?"
Batman recalled the scene: while he had been fighting the Leader, Gamma Green Goblin, and Red Hulk, the entire Gamma Base had been burning with flames and engulfed in thick smoke.
The soldiers who ostensibly served under General Ross—but in reality answered to the Leader—had suffered zero survivors.
Evidently, one of those deceased soldiers had undergone the baptism of electric currents and Gamma energy during that battle, transforming into the Zzzax of today.
The Enchantress had no reason to lie to Batman at a time like this.
"Oh? Why so quiet?" Seeing Batman capable of nothing more than passive evasion under the hands of Zzzax and Wonder Man, the Enchantress let out a cry of mock surprise.
Noticing that Batman still refrained from speaking, she gestured with her finger toward one of the remaining figures once again: "Madman, go help our beloved Batman."
Venom Robin's eyes widened, and he reached for his double-bladed battleaxe, preparing to leap into action. However, the Enchantress extended a hand and pointed:
"Skurge, go hold off your old opponent. Don't let that child interrupt Batman."
Skurge was the Executioner who constantly remained at the Enchantress's side—a descendant born of the union between an Asgardian and a Frost Giant.
Both of his hands were currently gripping a massive double-bladed battleaxe. It was identical in design to the one in Venom Robin's hands, only larger.
Evidently, after his previous axe was picked up by Robin, the Executioner had managed to acquire another one from somewhere.
Hearing his beloved goddess speak, the Executioner raised his thick eyebrows and charged straight for Venom Robin.
Clang!
The two double-bladed battleaxes collided in midair, sending sparks flying in all directions.
"Madman, what are you waiting for?" Without so much as looking at the battle between Venom Robin and the Executioner, the Enchantress turned her head and raised a delicate eyebrow at Madman.
The figure addressed as Madman was crimson all over, his appearance bearing an extreme resemblance to the Red Hulk.
Yet it was merely a resemblance. He lacked the extreme high temperatures associated with the Red Hulk's body, and his height was slightly shorter, standing at just over two meters.
Upon hearing the Enchantress's call, Madman let out a hideous laugh and slapped his own chest with the palm of his hand.
Like a heavy blow striking a leather war drum, the moment Madman struck his chest, his body rapidly expanded. In the span of a single blink, he grew from just over two meters to a three-meter-tall giant. The muscles across his body swelled dramatically, making him even broader and more muscular than the Hulk or the Red Hulk.
His method of attack lacked the flashy theatrics of Wonder Man and Zzzax. Once his transformation was complete, he simply charged forward with his head down, swinging an unadorned, unpretentious fist down toward the constantly dodging Batman.
"You might not know Madman, but you should recognize his other identity: Philip Sterns," the Enchantress said, a flash of regret passing through her eyes as she watched Batman being ambushed by the trio.
Her earlier proposal to spend a night with Batman had come straight from the heart.
"Philip Sterns, the younger brother of Samuel Sterns, the Leader," Batman thought, a piece of intelligence flashing through his mind as he watched the crimson fist heading toward him, enlarging rapidly in his field of vision.
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