better-than-batman

[better-than-batman]

POV: you’re a criminal and about to get your ass handed to you by ✨the tag team from hell✨

Unmasked design below cut

It’s a shame that the criminals can’t see their beautiful smiles 😤

[better-than-batman]

"# i think If you want a genuine critique of Batman then Leslie and her pacifism is far more interesting"

So true. Unfortunately nobody's been writing her well since the 90s or '00s. At least, I didn't come across anything featuring her in a well thought out way.

I'm split on counting War Games because 'she would not fucking do that' as people say. However, it is her position on morality taken to the twisted extreme. Still, intentionally killing or faking it, is very emotionally hurtful, like trauma inducing hurtful. Both for Steph and the Batfam and her mother.

Looked up the exact definition of pacifism and, well:

"Pacifism is a policy or doctrine of rejecting war and violence in solving disputes"

She kinda did use violence (emotional and body violating and zero consent from removing Steph from her life) to solve a dispute. Or to "free" Steph of her bat-duties, but it still counts.

Would love for Leslie to go after other batfam members and not just Bruce and argue with them about their methods.

Actually i think Stephanies death, either by medical negligence or a failure of her support system, is a natural consequence of Leslies brand of pacifism and while “She, personally, might not fucking do that” her philosophy might so its not as ooc as id like it to be.

So to discuss Leslie i think i have to establish two things 1. She suffers from being a (mostly) anti Batman character in a Batman comic* and

2. She and Jason are actually on two ends of a spectrum, with Leslie being “it is better to be the victim of violence then the perpetrator of it” and Jason being “it is better to enact unspeakable violence then be the victim of it”. With Bruce in the middle like “can we please get some nuance in here can we please get some fucking nuance” which is. Very funny actually.

(Its funny because Bruce, by being Batman, has basically decided to become the nuance - he will be violent for you, and by being so good at violence he can minimize the amount of actual violence needed)

So by letting Steph die, Leslie is essentially saying “no amount of violence can save us, isnt it better to die then without having inflicted it upon others?” Which is so very Ghandi of her, but also fucking insane and yeah Bruce was 100% right to never trust her again after that.

She is also - ok so the thing is, in-universe, being a teenage vigilante is. It’s basically like being a dance kid. Its going to have a profound and everlasting effect on the kids mental and physical health, there are side effects we still don’t entirely understand, but for the most part its just. Something some kids do!! Some of them insist on doing it (dick, damian (<-i have thoughts about why Bruce didnt want to give Damian robin ok) some of them realize it isnt good for them but cant really give it up (jason, maybe tim?) some of them are in it just for their stage moms (cissie king-jones) and some of them suffer long term consequences due to insufficient parental supervision (kon, pre-nu52) etc etc. Leslie is the mom in the corner who thinks allowing her kid to perform or even learn ballet in a studio is a slippery slide to abuse. She thinks no kid should ever be in that environment, and by Bruce allowing Dick to do so, despite Bruces reluctance in the matter and almost oppressive supervision, he has doomed an entire generation of kids.

She is never going to criticize anyone else in the batfam, because to do so would be admitting that kids have agency beyond what adults believe is best for them, and admitting that means being unable to push her “correct” views upon them.

Leslie is actually a pretty good stand in for fandom in that way; refuses to allow anyone but Bruce agency and independent thought, refuses to place blame anywhere but Bruce, insists a difference of opinion is grounds for dismissal of personhood and respect, and believes Gotham would be better off if Batman never existed.

(Once again i have no idea if i answered your question/addressed your ask. Sorry)

[better-than-batman]

“God, she’s the best.”

[better-than-batman]

DickBabs in Batgirls #10

[better-than-batman]

Batman and Catwoman in Batman #66 (2016)

[better-than-batman]

the default way for things to taste is good. we know this because "tasty" means something tastes good. conversely, from the words "smelly" and "noisy" we can conclude that the default way for things to smell and sound is bad. interestingly there are no corresponding adjectives for the senses of sight and touch. the inescapable conclusion is that the most ordinary object possible is invisible and intangible, produces a hideous cacophony, smells terrible, but tastes delicious. and yet this description matches no object or phenomenon known to science or human experience. so what the fuck

[better-than-batman]

Gotta keep a straight face u guys

based on this post

[better-than-batman]

babs and cass absolutely devastating relationship. what do you do when there is a person who named you when you had gone unnamed for seventeen years. what do you do when you know that at one time that person was the only person on earth who loved you. how do you do anything but devote yourself to them for the rest of your life? and- conversely- how can you ever look them in the eye? what do you do when that person does not understand you, and- even worse- has a pathological need to understand everything and so will never stop trying to peel back your layers. what do you do when your entire childhood was spent being analyzed and tested like a thing instead of a person. what do you do when barbara gordon loves you like a daughter or a sister or a test subject and can’t stop accidentally hurting you anyway.

[better-than-batman]

Dick being an absolute sweet pea to Jon while simultaneously being passive aggressive with Bruce

Bruce why do you keep the lollipops by the smoke bombs

And Dick pulling out his circus tricks to calm Jon down I can’t it’s too cute IT’S TOO CUTE

From: Nightwing #89

[better-than-batman]

Gordon is still unsure about these vigilantes

[better-than-batman]

teaching robin the essentials

full view ⬇️

[better-than-batman]

Roy: having the Bats as friends is so weird. I was crying and they just told me to “lock in”

Oliver:

Roy: and then I did

[better-than-batman]

Every year during the Olympics Jason calls Dick and it's just

Jason:..

Dick:..I-

Jason: THAT COULD HAVE BEEN YOU!! And what did you do instead?

Dick: I became a cop 😔

Jason: YOU BECAME A COP!!!

[better-than-batman]

Steph: I’m not going to do it. But what is stopping me from just, yknow, joining Jason’s henchman ranks?

Dick: Steph please-

Steph: It’s not Money. Money isn’t the issue. Is it morality? How far into the color wheel am I? What shade am I?

Dick: Shade? I don’t understand, but please-

Steph: What shade is ‘morally gray’?

Jason: 939597 is the hex code.

Dick: Jay for the love of, Steph isn’t going to be your henchman.

Jason: why? Cause she’s a woman? You got a problem with henchwomen? Are you being misogynistic towards the art of hench?

Dick: Hey hey it has nothing to do with-

Steph: I think I’m like two codes away from that color.

[better-than-batman]

🐣 ok we are so back………..

[better-than-batman]

I have this idea/theory that like when Bruce was just starting out, early twenties, “im going to make a difference!” batman, he was like known, somewhat, by at least most of the crinimals, oh some dude dressed as a bat beat up larry the other day? Hm. skill issue. Type of thing..

And then one night, theres a goon on patrol for some little operation. A more… violent goon lets say. And Bruce lands in front of him, cape billowing, white eyes narrowed, and the goon is like “shiii he does look pretty cool. Fuck ‘im tho.” and he does what any other goon would do, he pulls out his gun and fires. Once. Twice. Three times. 

He sees the bullets make contact. Watches as they hit the suit. Go through it. Because this is still prototype four or five, its not fully kevlar, atp its still basically just cloth with some armor in certain places. 

The goon can see blood circles forming where the bullets hit. Blood drips to the floor. But Bruce? Bruce keeps on walking towards him, not a limp or waver in his step. Because its Gotham. Because if he wasn't willing and prepared to get shot at he should've picked a different city. 

And thats when The Bat becomes infamous. Because what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck he just keeps coming- i shot him three times-!

And years later, when Dick is on clean up duty as punishment for some elaborate stunt he pulled, organizing old files and plugging them into the batcomputer, he finds the file. And holy shit. Thats- actually kinda cool…

[better-than-batman]

I like how you write star and Selina.

It’s like “I don’t know how to talk to my boyfriend’s dad’s girlfriend, until eventually I decide to just screw with her”

In my interpretation, Catwoman has very limited bandwidth for DC universe goings-on outside Gotham. She's got this "Not my circus not my monkeys I don't even want to hear the word Anti-Monitor," thing going on. So it is funny that Bruce regularly gets swept up in shit that is well and far beyond his usual "Detective-in-Hell-Fuck-City" goings on. Kory, being an alien, kind of falls under the banner of what Selina would call "League Bullshit," but she's getting better at dealing with it.

Catwoman: *calling Bruce* Where are you?! I am literally sitting on the 18th century throne of Markovia at the Gotham Museum decked out in 14.3 million dollars worth of emeralds right now. I SET OFF THREE ALARMS, B.

Batman: *voice crackling with severe static* Something came up. I'm in Hollow Earth right now.

Catwoman: *pinching the bridge of her nose* Hollow Earth. *distant explosion*

Batman: What was that?

Catwoman: *I dunno sound* Nygma, probably? He was doing another one of his manic billboard takeovers challenging Batman to a battle of wits and I think he's worse at being stood up than me.

Batman: Cat, a pterodactyl is attempting to feed me to her young. I'm going to need to call you back. Can you take care of Nygma? *pterodactyl screech promptly cut off by the sound of a blow landing* Robin's probably on it but he might need backup.

Catwoman: *snort* I'm not one of your birds, B. Like, what I'm just gonna put all this jewelry back and--? *distant explosion*

Batman: *audibly grunting with pterodactyl screeching in the background*

Catwoman, itching under her cowl exhaustedly: *sigh* Fiiiiiiiine. *hangs up*