Penguin Man, a vicious criminal.
If, in his decades-long criminal career, he never once became aware of who his crimes were hurting, he would never stand with the lower classes. Even if he had to temporarily compromise for the situation, he would ultimately choose to betray them.
This is why Bruce never intended to push him towards the lower classes - what if, by some accident, he died on the path of revolution and became a people's hero?
So Bruce establish a selection mechanism for Penguin Man - strategically surrounding Penguin Man with people of low intelligence.
For instance, Joker and Batman are indeed fitting adversaries. They stage brilliant battles, and make an equally stellar team when allied.
The entire process of the Andrewkin case designed by Joker was also part of the selection mechanism.
The public is not devoid of thinking individuals. Their numbers are plentiful, but to start a trend, only a portion of the thoughtless ones need to be deceived.
Some people understand, the root cause of all tragedies is the merciless kidnapper. This is nothing but another conspiracy by terrorists, and the only ones to be punished should be the criminals.
Some think, Bruce might not have been well-prepared, but he at least stepped forward, which makes him much stronger than those who didn't. He doesn't deserve such criticism.
There are those who didn't recognize either, choosing to evenly distribute blame. Though the criminal was wrong, Bruce isn't any better either.
Lastly, some believe Bruce purposely let go out of spite, intending to harm Andrewkin. These people believe that taking advantage of others' misfortune is more execrable than being a criminal.
Are there really such absurd people?
In reality, these sorts of people might only account for 10% of the total population. However, the louder and more extreme one's voice, the greater the uproar. Hence, 10% of the people can cause 30% of the noise.
The fence-sitters who blame both parties are swayed upon hearing this loud voice. They believe this to be the opinion of 100% of society, so they change their minds and follow the trend, condemn Bruce. Therefore, the total count becomes 30%, and the volume reaches 50%.
Even if the remaining two rational groups remain unchanged, and continue to voice out, it would be a 50/50 split in volume. It will inevitably end in deafening discord.
As public opinion grows, more and more people join in. The last type of fools will be the loudest, causing the fence-sitters to keep changing their viewpoint. The rationalists remain steadfast in their beliefs, so it's inevitable that the irrational voices will grow louder.
The louder the irrational voices, the more irrational people will join. They will eventually out-number rational voices and fill the public discussion.
This is the basic theory of how rumours spread and it is also the basis of the Joker's method for ruining Batman's reputation.
It's the same this time, however, his opponent - a touchy Batman with a glib tongue - is different.
The most important aspect - being touchy.
Batman has plenty of ways to sway public opinion. Could a big capitalist like him be inferior to Joker, a man of the soil, when it comes to manipulating public opinion? If he wanted, he could make Wayne Enterprises' media flip public opinion overnight.
He doesn't do it because he doesn't care how the public sees him. Whether they think of him as a criminal or that he needs to be punished, he only needs to do what he insists on. He doesn't need the public, and nor does he care about what they think.
But Bruce understands the power of the public much better than most Batmen. Also, he's touchy.
Therefore, Bruce chose to put Penguin Man in a difficult situation. He knew Joker looked down upon Penguin Man. By putting Penguin Man in his place, Bruce got the opportunity to be Joker's perfect scapegoat and infuriate him.
His fall reinspired public outrage. According to the aforementioned principle, only the most irrational voices would remain.
And on the East Coast, the most irrational voices belong to the White Left.
The White Left, if you want a more apt description for this group, could be called "magical creatures". They are magical, but not quite human, or not involved much in human affairs.
Their fundamental characteristic is they never know how to adapt to circumstances. They always put theories and principles above the fundamental needs of the masses. In other words, they depend on debates.
One White Left can be called a fool, but a group of White Left creates a cesspool.
Penguin Man must jump into this cesspit, despite knowing what it is.
If Penguin Man was still the mayor in power, he could naturally ignore if these people supported him. But he infuriated the upper class for shooting at Bruce Wayne, which led to a great fall in his status and even made his life hang by a thread.
Then this group of fervent supporters became his only lifeline, because there was no one else.
But being the leader of the White Left isn't that easy - Cobblepot, originally from one of the four noble families, a chosen conservative, and an old white man sharing the same pants with Trump. Leading a group of LGBT, extreme environmental protectionists, and emerging artists, is tantamount to forcing him to eat shit.
What Bruce did was essentially throwing Penguin Man into the cesspool, forcing him to become a larva in a pool of shit to save his life. He had to create a speech about "why shit tastes good and the necessity of eating shit."
More importantly, shit is shit. You can't find gold in a cesspool or master the technique of using it. The most likely result is becoming the culprit of the cesspool explosion.
After ensuring that Penguin Man was deeply stuck in the cesspool, Bruce urged Peter to evacuate as soon as possible. He knew Penguin Man didn't have the ability to carve out a name for himself amongst the White Left, so undoubtedly, the cesspool was going to explode.
Penguin Man's leadership is not poor, but the biggest fear is that his aspirations far exceed his abilities. If he doesn't try, he might simply drown in the pool of shit. If he tries, it might result in a shit flood in Gotham.
Here's the thing, Penguin Man still wasn't ready to give up his public opinion warfare. After trying to set up a deal, he still went ahead and organized a protest march. The crowd moved from Hell's Kitchen to Manhattan, engaging in their demonstration.
But let's not forget, the two cities have merged now. The layout is completely different. These people aren't the type to pre-check their route on a map. Usually, they just go anywhere and rest wherever they're tired. In politically correct New York, no one dares to mess with them.
So their first step went wrong. They were supposed to go straight to Manhattan, but ended up walking half-way around Brooklyn.
Brooklyn has its share of loafers. When they heard about a protest, they didn't even care what it was about—they just joined in.
With so many people, it was chaotic. Everyone just flowed with the majority, thinking that the ones at the front knew where they were going. But those at the front didn't know the way either, and ended up walking to Queens District, which is next to Brooklyn.
The people in Queens District were even bigger troublemakers. When they heard it was about environmental protection, LGBT rights, and petitioning the mayor, how could they not join in the excitement?
The crowd kept increasing and was soon about to cut through Queens District.
Between Queens District and Bronx, the Hudson River merges with a part of Gotham River. The people on both sides of the Hudson River here were also the ones you'd find by the Gotham River.
As we all know, Gotham has countless crimes, half of which occur along the riverside. The first Europeans to settle in Gotham brought their servants and sailors, who were later joined by slaves and escaping convicts. Most of these settlers chose to live along the river—this is the real Gotham.
Put simply, even the avant-garde groups of Gotham, who don't hesitate to organize daily activities, shake their heads in disbelief when it comes to going to the riverbanks. Batman has to check the almanac before stepping out to fight crime along the riverbanks. Even the Joker avoids picking victims from these parts, he doesn't even live here!
On this day, the sky was clear and the sun shone brightly. The entire way, people were carrying signs, honking car horns, and revving their motorcycle engines. The adults yelled and the children caused havoc, as food trucks accompanied the parade. The protest was grand, marching along the Gotham Riverside.
The locals of Gotham, who lived in the Queens District of Brooklyn—those who had been providing logistical support to the marching crowd—saw the direction they were heading, and ran for their lives without looking back. Fun is precious, but life is more precious.
When the winding, two-kilometer-long parade, teeming with humans, entered Gotham, the locals were dumbstruck.
The old Gothamites had never witnessed such a spectacle. Even taxis refused to enter their area normally. Terrorists carrying sixty pounds of explosives would prefer to take a detour.
Did Godzilla attack the other side?
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Curious Gothamites popped their heads out of small windows in the multi-colored European-style buildings, observing the parade on the road like they were watching a rare species of animals.
A young African-American man scratched his head in bemusement, then watched as his elderly neighbor—a white-haired old woman in her late seventies—pulled out a submachine gun and aimed it at the ground before pulling the trigger.
"Ratatat!"
The bullets rained down like hailstones, kicking up dust clouds on the floor. The marching crowd screamed and scurried away, leaving the old woman in shock.
"God! They're alive!!!"
Everyone else was equally incredulous. It was like they had found a treasure. They ran back into their houses to fetch a pile of weapons—much more than the Gotham Police Department had—and hurled them into the crowd.
The street instantly transformed into a hellhole. The screams were perpetual. Some of the crowd scattered like birds; quite a few jumped into the Gotham River to hide.
On the rooftop near the corner of the street, a red-haired figure climbed up the outdoor stairs onto the roof. She stepped towards the edge in astonishment, holding a walkie-talkie, and said, "Damn it, wasn't this supposed to be a stealth mission?! Why has fighting broken out?!"
The female agent hid behind the door to the roof, yelling into her walkie-talkie, "What on earth are you doing, Coulson?! You ruined my mission! I was about to catch him!"
"It wasn't me!" Coulson's voice came through the walkie-talkie, sounding slightly wronged. He said, "Headquarters did not receive a request for fire-support! Only you were assigned to the mission to capture Evil Iron Man, headquarters only provided communication support."
"Then what the hell is happening up front?!"
Natasha pulled out a nano-drone and threw it out. She then activated the screen on the communicator on her wrist, simultaneously connecting it to the headquarters' channel. The scene that appeared on the screen left everyone astounded.
Within twenty seconds, the entire street was destroyed. The ground had sunk at least two metres—Even the United States Air Force would have to admit defeat.
When the bombing ceased, Natasha peeked out from behind the building, her eyes wide with shock as she looked at the devastated street. She slowly said into her walkie-talkie, "Are you sure you didn't provide fire-support? This…"
She looked up, and her eyes met with a pair of brown ones, equally filled with astonishment.
"Stark! Don't you dare run!"
The female agent chased after him swiftly while Stark bolted in a panic.
Suddenly both of them stopped abruptly.
"Boom!!!!!!!"
They were both flung backwards by the explosion.