"Multiversal Knightmares" | Nightmare!Sans Vs. The Batman Who Laughs (Dreamtale/DC Comics) (Updated connections in the comments)

[u/Ty50nTheSkeleton]

[u/Ty50nTheSkeleton]

Connections: Both are evil versions of pre-existing characters (Sans/Batman), who were once guardians of something/some place (the dark fruits from the Tree of Feelings/Gotham City). Until something happens to them, involving a substance entering their body (Nightmare!Sans eating the dark fruits/Batman being sprayed with Joker Toxin). This would alter their designs (Nightmare's body becoming a goopy, tar like substance/Batman being Jokerized), and turn them into the monsters they're known as today (Corrupted!Nightmare!Sans/The Batman Who Laughs). They travel the multiverse to recruit other evil Sans and Batman's to form a team and lead their teams to cause destruction and havoc (Bad Sanses/Dark Knights). They themselves are actually servants to higher beings (in Sagaverse, Nightmare serves Error!Sans, and to some extent, Error404!Sans/The Batman Who Laughs serves Barbatos). Despite this, they are still leaders of their teams. These teams consist of, but not limited to:

• Killer!Sans and Merciless, who after experiencing so much despair and heartbreak in their life caused by a higher being (Chara/Ares), chose a much bleaker and dark option, becoming genocidal (Sans making a deal with Chara/Bruce puting on Ares' helmet). Basically getting power from their enemies (Sans getting Chara's determination/Ares' helmet giving Bruce powers).
• Dust/Murder!Sans and Dawnbreaker, who after experiencing traumatic events (countless Genocide Runs/the death of his parents), would gain something (Sans having awareness of the Resets/Bruce gaining a Green Lantern Ring). After gaining these, they would go on killing sprees for their own reasons (Sans needing the LV to kill the human/Bruce wanting to rid the universe from evil).
• Horror!Sans and Drowned, who didn't trust a royal figure (Sans not trusting Queen Undyne after overhearing the potential plan to take his magic/Bryce not trusting Aquawoman of Atlantis due to thinking her and the Atlanteans treaty for peace as a hoax, and believing they're metahumans). These trust issues were proven right (Undyne taking Sans' magic eye/the Altanteans attacking the surface). After which, they wanted those untrustworthy figures dead, or have killed them (Sans wanting Undyne dead/Bryce killing Aquawoman).
• Bill!Sans and Darkfather, who are a combination of Sans and Batman, and two powerful reality warpers (Bill Cipher/Darkseid).
• Insanity!Sans and Devastator, who felt betrayed by the ones they trusted (W.D. Gaster/Superman), and were injected by something that turned them into the monsters they are now (Determination/the Doomsday Virus)
• Scoundrel!Sans and Grim Knight, who after being involved in an attack (Sans getting beaten up by thugs/Bruce's parents getting shot), will take revenge on those who attacked, by killing them with a weapon they picked up (a random bat/the gun that Joe Chill dropped).
• Shattered!Dream!Sans and Murder Machine, who after losing someone close to them (Nightmare being Corrupted/Alfred getting murdered), felt guilty for it. They would try something that would corrupt them, becoming the monsters they are now (Dream eating fruit from Nightmare's of the Tree, which despite his positivity, would be corrupted from it thanks to his guilt and longing for revenge, becoming Shattered!Dream!Sans/Bruce and Cyborg making the Alfred Protocol, which went haywire when first activated, and would eventually take control of Bruce's mind, becoming the Murder Machine).
• Cross!Sans and Red Death, who would end up facing serious personal issues and resorting to essentially merging with another individual they know very well (The Flash and Cross!Chara) in desperate times for them.
• Error!Sans/Error404!Sans and Barbatos, who are all powerful beings, who again, are the masters of Nightmare!Sans and the Batman Who Laughs
• Bonus comparison: Swapfell!Sans and Kull, who are aggressive guards-like individuals armored in partial gold.

Special thanks to u/BCCBATTLES for giving me info on the Bad Sanses, and basically helping me craft this MU.

Honestly, I'm really proud of this. It's probably not perfect, but the general theme and vibe of this MU is cool as hell. The fight can be fun, especially with the teams included (in fact it's admittedly more accurate to call this the Bad Sanses vs the Dark Knights tbh), and the climax being Error404 vs the Darkest Knight would be raw as hell. And for those who care about debatability (unlike me), this MU is actually debatable. At least according to BCC, and if we factor Underverse and Sagaverse. And don't get me started on Error404. That dude is... wtf. But yeah that's a cool bonus. Love what I made here. My favorite for Nightmare, which may be creator bias, but Nightmare doesn't really have much MUs besides Mephiles and Corrupted BF. And good alt for Batman Who Laughs (if not interchangeable to be my favorite).

Welp, that's my little ramble. Again, thanks to BCC for helping me out.

[u/Adventurous-Bag-4364 → u/Ty50nTheSkeleton]

Wouldn't it be better to have Shattered Dream be the main face of the Bad Sanses in this MU instead of Nightmare? I know Nightmare's been around for longer, but I think it just fits better thematically regarding their backgrounds since when you think of Nightmare Sans, you think of his evil goopy form and not the innocent kid he was before he got corrupted. Him being goopy is kinda the status quo in all the stories. When you think of Batman, you think of the righteous Caped Crusader, just like how you think of the positive multiverse protector when you think of Dream Sans. I think Shattered Dream plays more into the Batman who Laughs being an alternate universe "what if" of the beloved good guy we know and love. Plus, while I'm pretty shaky on the shattered dream lore and am basically going off fandom wiki pages and what I remember from Villain Sans Squad, both Shattered and Batman who Laughs were pushed to their corruption by their constant villain (Nightmare and Joker) mercilessly taunting them and, unlike in canon, they're actually pushed to the point of no return by committing an act that goes against their morals and goals (Dream eating the corrupted apple and Batman killing Joker), corrupting them via the same substance that corrupted that very archenemy in the first place (Shattered Dream eating the same corrupted apple Nightmare ate and becoming a goopy black "corrupted" monster that detests positive emotion just like Nightmare, and Batman being infected by the same Joker Toxin Joker the Joker is infected with and becoming a white skinned, constantly laughing "jokerfied" maniacal killer just like Joker). I think Nightmare, Dream's constant villain, actually pushing him to the same corruption he has himself, plays better thematically into Joker, Batman's constant villain, actually pushing him to the same corruption he has himself, as opposed to Nightmare's corruption simply just him stumbling upon the black apples by happenstance or, in another version of the backstory, him trying to take one of the apples in an attempt to prove his self worth. Plus, I heard in some versions of the shattered dream story, such as this comic I found, Nightmare actually dislikes what Dream's become, which plays perfectly into the mainline DC Joker detesting Batman who laughs.

[u/Ty50nTheSkeleton → u/Adventurous-Bag-4364]

Ok, while I can see where you're coming from, and can see this as an alternative to this MU, But like you said, Nightmare has been around longer. And has been the face of the Bad Sanses for much, MUCH longer. And I think Nightmare being the leader of the team being a trope at this point, beats out the one instance Shattered!Dream was the leader, on a cancelled show where he barely does anything. While I'll give you that Shattered!Dream probably fits the Man Who Tries Too Hard better thematically, the appeal of this MU to me (at least thematically) is that they travel the multiverse to recruit other evil versions of Sans and Batman to cause chaos. And I think that description fits Nightmare better than Shattered!Dream, who I can't imagine fits that description in anything other than one thing (there's probably more media where he's like that, but again, I think Nightmare being the more well known leader of the Bad Sanses beats out Shattered!Dream in almost every category).

Either way, all I see is that they're just the same matchup, with one being more thematic to the "multiversal travelers who recruited a team" aspect of the MU, while the other is thematic to the actual characters. So it doesn't really matter (but I'm still going with Nightmare!Sans because of bias and the original intent of "evil multiversal team leaders" for this MU). And if we just focus on the Bad Sanses vs Dark Knights aspect of the MU, completely ignoring Nightmare!Sans vs the Bat Who Giggles being the main source of the MU even existing, having Shattered!Dream as the main face of the Bad Sanses doesn't really make sense to me, because again, NIGHTMARE is the main face of the Bad Sanses. And if it wasn't Nightmare, I'd argue Killer!Sans would fit better as the main face than Shattered!Dream due to him being more iconic to the team.

Overall, while I can see some merit to having Shattered!Dream over Nightmare!Sans as a Virgin Who Chuckles opponent in terms of character thematics, I'm sticking with Nightmare for BWL because of him fitting the original intent of the MU, being more iconic than Shattered!Dream, and in terms of being the "main face" of the Bad Sanses, Nightmare just makes more sense (and I guess creator bias too) (also just finding Shattered!Dream vs Murder Machine a more interesting comparison in my opinion)