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I know it's been said that Bruce stopped being a fun dad after Jason died, for obvious reasons, but also he never really got a chance to be that since then. 

You can see from older comics that Bruce had fun doing stuff with Dick and Jason that a dad would do with younger kids. Giving them piggyback rides, or taking them to baseball games. Even if it's not shown in the comics, probably trick-or-treating or just generally playing. I can imagine them playing epic hide and seek games in the manor.

But after Jason died, yes, Bruce was broken and couldn't even imagine doing such things, but also he never got the chance? He kept Tim at a distance, but also Tim wasn't really his kid until he was older. He cared about Tim, probably loved him, but couldn't really be a dad with him. 

He certainly didn't or couldn't be a fun dad with Cassandra or Stephanie, and Damian wouldn't even know what to do with a fun Dad. And neither Duke nor Bruce himself consider him to be Dukes' dad. 

I guess what I'm getting at is that Bruce wanted to be a fun, playful Dad.  He had the capability and inclination to do so.  And he was, for a little while.  But then Jason died. And then none of the kids that came after needed that. And then everyone got older and that part of him fully withered and died.  And that's just sad.

Also, the 80's and 90's wanted no part of fun dad Bruce, and the Batman writers have never gone back, and that sucks.

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Some more movies for your consideration:

Countdown

Steph sports movie where a young woman is a boxer making money in illegal fighting rings to support her mother. One day, she hears about a co-ed boxing tournament (regular, not underground) organised by the Wayne foundation with an extraordinary first place cash prize and decides to enter it despite nobody believing in her. Featuring Cass as the undefeated champion (with blatant, infuriating romantic tension), Tim as the cocky rival, Barbara and Dick as their mentors and Dinah as a retired undefeated boxing champion who gives good advice with a romantic tension sideplot with Barbara.

Nobody dies Tonight

Jason & Cass thriller movie where a rough socially stunted PI with supernatural empathy and precognition abilities tracks down a suicidal retired serial killer to stop him from committing his final kill. (Note that due to the flimsy nature of her powers, Cass only knows that he is preparing for a last kill, the "suicide" part is a twist; there is also some dramatic irony because due to the switches between Jason and Cass' POVs, at first the viewer also just knows Jason is preparing something, and there are hints through which you can figure out little by little that he's putting his affairs in order for his own disappearance.)

The Audition

Mia-centric arrowfam mafia movie with the noble gangster archetype. In order to escape her pimp turned would-be murderer and survive the streets, the resourceful and talented fifteen years old Mia Dearden decides to try her luck and attempt to get herself hired as an enforcer for the mysterious Queen Family; however danger reigns in the streets of Star City and Mia's mentor, a homeless amnesiac man with incredible fighting skills, might be hiding more than one secret of his own... (This is a found family adoption story, except nobody bothered to tell this to Mia.)

Sharpshooter

Roy-centric movie where a ranger fresh out of rehab who lost his parents in a forest fire saves a little girl from a bear attack, only to find himself in a time-loop. Mistrustful, and with scars of her own, she refuses to give him her name. He grows attached to the little girl, even nicknaming her "Sharpshooter" as he teaches her how to use his spare tranq gun to protect herself; but every day, before they are able to escape, a bear or a cliff or a fire or some other catastrophe ends up killing the little girl... (The story ends with Roy managing to find a radio and calling his estranged foster family for help, and they find him, ragged and frightened, holding the little girl tight in his arms and lead them back to safety; the final shot is Roy in the back of a car with the little girl asleep on his lap, watching the sun set over the national park.

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No Pit Madness - What the Lazarus Pit might actually do to a human brain:

So, I hate the whole "Pit Madness" BS but I do find how the brain works fascinating and ended up wondering how something like the pit might effect the brain and if it could influence behaviors in a none ableist or "Evil magic" way. So please join me as I outline a fun little thought experiment about how the Lazarus Pit could influence someone's personality, but not in the way you'd expect!

Let's begin with a fun fact!

When we experience trauma is can leave a physical mark on our brain even if it wasn't physical trauma it still mars the fleshy sponge that is our brain.

This can be useful, like learning fire = hot & the ensuing pain = bad!

It can also hard-code in a lot of really bad stuff which is why when it comes to certain mental illnesses medications to suppress certain parts of the brain need to be taken for upwards of ten years. This is to ensure the damage does not keep perpetuating itself while the brain builds new neural pathways until the source of the sickness is gone.

So, now imagine if you get dumped in a Lazarus pit and and EVERYTHING comes back in perfect clarity. That's likely why people coming out are so initially panicked and wild, they are experiencing total sensory overload on a level never before imagined!

But, the influence of the pit likely lingers as it works its way through the body and so its still repairing damage as it happens. Which is key to my next point and we'll use Ra's as an example.

Ra's was a doctor, a healer, a man who wanted to better the world. But in that journey he saw and eventually did terrible things. Things that would forever change him, quite literally in this case.

Because imagine if you will, all that stuff coming back all at once, but then imagine the Lazarus pit remnant going "Oh the brains getting damaged real fast, better fix that!"

Put simply, it effectively heals the damage done to the mind via traumas as the brain is trying to process and learn from them.

This happens be they brought up by the pit or simply on the persons mind in the immediate after effects. The brain is trying to hard code in "Thing bad" but the Lazarus pit won't allow the brain to experience that kind of damage and wins out for at least a time. Essentially fortifying the mind against taking this kind of damage.

Using Ra's as an example the longer he lives, the more he sees and does, the more this stuff compounds and the more the pit has to heal when he goes in and comes out. By virtue of getting that healing, those actions no longer have the same kind of mental or emotional impact they once did. Causing him to become increasingly alienated from the human condition and the horrors he inflicts on others.

Now, for someone who went into the pit once this is likely not a huge deal but let's go over some example using this current model:

1: Cassandra Cain was killed by Shiva and thrown in a pit, she came out and killed Shiva, something she would normally be so violently opposed to she'd die rather than do it. This isn't merely philosophical for Cassandra it is also rooted in intense trauma. But this act did not impact her the way it should. Cassandra retains her intellectual and emotional morals, but the trauma that comes with seeing or causing death no longer hits her the way it once did, because her brains now been hard-wired to be able to handle that without taking damage.

2: Bruce has if I recall been in the pit at times, so wouldn't the trauma over his parents be lessened? No, because Bruce tends to go in the pit when he's on missions and thus compartmentalizing. Thus instead the trauma is just as bad or slightly worse because its in a sense been refreshed once he's out of mission mode and the Lazarus Pit effects wear off. IE, he got factory reset but kept all his memories, now they are just clearer than ever before and that's worse.

3: Much like the the above, Jason was factory reset as far as is brains physical trauma went and so confused when he came out that he wasn't entirely clear on having died over just getting injured. By the time he did know the pits effects had worn off, so this was his brains first major "new" old trauma, and thus it responded the way a new brain does to trauma with "This is the worst thing because its the first bad thing" magnifying its impact and solidifying it in his brain.

This hasn't made any of them new people, they retain agency in their actions and beliefs. But for a physical comparison, its like how some stories have someone coming out of the pits feet be baby smooth and thus needing to build up calluses, except for the brain.

The difference is, because one retains the memories, if they are in a calm scenario and ideally unconscious when first coming out of the pit, they could wake up, calmly meditate on things and come out more or less the same as before save maybe a little more level.

Most people cannot do that and so their brain gets a jagged, clumsy, often entirely unhelpful wave of protective film over major horrors, or get to experience them again like they are brand new with no in-between. Thus meaning the results tend to be either:

"Huh, that used to fuck me up but now it doesn't."

Or

"Oh gods this is worse than I remembered it, aaah!"

Or in other words you either get over stuff you probably shouldn't or get super re-traumatized with no middle ground and neither is ideal.

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Assassion jay exploration !

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I appreciate how Jason is shown going from mostly upset to absolutely angry the second that Bruce prescribes talking about his parents as the way to move past his anger. (Crazy thought Bruce, but maybe Jason was angry because you guys were working on a CSEM ring case, and it’s far from being the only sexual abuse case you guys have worked on in recent memory!)

He says “You want to talk? Talk to Alfred.” like he could be mad at Bruce for taking what Alfred said as reason to project himself onto Jason, but also at Alfred for also projecting Bruce’s experience onto Jason.

Batman: A Death In The Family

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inflicting my headcanons onto essence today smile

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You used words more appropriate to describe an incel exploding at a woman’s rejection for a child feeling betrayed by their parent, I think you oughta address that before jumping to talking about anyone excusing any kind of murder.

I’m also not impressed with the way you denigrate Jason for being more affected by his trauma than other characters who have gone through the same thing. (Although I’d argue, and probably win, that they went through the same thing in name only.)

UTRH is pretty clear in its portrayal of Jason as a legitimate and interesting critique of Batman, so I don’t get where this attitude that reading him as having actual conviction in his beliefs is uncanon and woobifying is coming from.

I know it's been said a million times already

But we have got to stop using pop psychology terms.

"Trauma Response" is not a valid excuse for violence. It does not excuse murder. And it is extremely selfish behavior to actively murder a bunch of people all for your master plan of making your famously anti-murder father complicit in the murder of another person.

If he actually was doing anything because "he believed it was for the good" he would've just killed Black Mask and the Joker and been done with it.

Saying "victims can't be rational" is just full mask off at this point. It's disrespectful to real victims and anyone I catch saying something like that on one of my posts is getting an immediate block.

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“Lashing out” is when Jason nearly killed Bruce but didn’t at the last minute. The central tragedy of UTRH is that their conflict goes beyond the personal into clashing ideas about morality itself that cannot be resolved. A temper tantrum is what fanon wishes Jason was doing because then it’s easier to shove him into a reconciliation.

I won’t say that Jason isn’t using violence to cope because that’s exactly what vigilantism is, but responding to “I think my dad never loved me” with “I’m going to be better at helping than him” isn’t selfish.

Jason died at 15 and that is tragic, but the real tragedy is that when he returns he is stuck in a teenage temper tantrum the likes of which have never been seen. He's cold and calculating until something doesn't go his way and then he's lashing out and slamming doors. Except he's vigilante trained and has access to guns so his temper tantrum is realized in lives lost not new doors.

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Tim got the Clench and he lost his spleen his immune system has got to be so fucked up

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Tim: *idly* you know there’s a buzzfeed unsolved episode about you?

Jason: what’s buzfeed unsolved?

Steph: *chokes* there’s a WHAT

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Hi, I'm here to ask for your expertise :) I saw a post that implied Duke and Tim like each other a lot and view each other as brothers. You're a person I trust has enough knowledge and good judgment to tell me if that's correct. Because, truth be told, I believed they're more like coworkers. They're fine with each other, but they'd never go out for lunch just the two of them. They'd save the other's life, but if Tim is moving he wouldn't call Duke for help – he'd call Cass and she'd show up with Duke in tow because they planned to hang out that day and didn't want to reschedule. Or something. Am I way off?

Tim and Duke are a bit hard to argue about because they don't interact much, but I am completely on your side. I just think of all the Robins - and arguably the whole Batfam - Tim is the person Duke has the least interest in.

I made a post about how they are basically opposites, with Duke's 'Robin doesn't need a Batman' inverting Tim's 'Batman needs a Robin'; I think these philosophical oppositions would make them not eager to be that close. Besides that, Duke would have no interest in being close to Dick's number 1 fan, just like Tim would have no interest in hanging out with one of Jason's favs. The only person they have in common is Cass, and I do not think she would be able to hang out with both of them at once - she is nowhere near a good enough mediator. So I think Tim and Duke would just avoid each other outside of missions.

Of course they do respect each other, and they can work well together (see Tim's cute 'we are Robin' in Urban Legends #9). Essentially they're coworkers who trust each other not to eat their food in the fridge, but once they clock out they are not thinking of each other at all. I just don't see the basis for an interesting relationship with them, though that could change with time.

(Also Duke knew the weird N52 Tim first, then Tim dies while Duke is being inducted into the Batfam, so all around Tim and Duke have had very little time to know each other. One of Duke's first experiences of Tim is him being KO'd by Damian in one punch so there's that too.)

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Steph and Cass are both batgirl but I feel like Steph fills the Batgirl niche wheareas Cass fills the early Batman niche do you know what I mean? I feel like Steph's batgirl feels distinctly real- she's talking to you, you can hear her Gotham accent, she's feels like a girl you know or could get to know. Cass's batgirl is a crytpid. Her whole body is a black shadow, you don't know what you're looking at until she's already in front of you, and half the time you won't process what's happened until it's already over. You definitely didn't hear her coming.

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I wonder if NASA and other space agencies in the DC universe pester the Green Lanterns for help

Like, they probably do that to Superman and Martian Manhunter too, but Clark and J’onn can at least say they don’t leave Earth very often (regardless of how true that statement may be for them). But the GLs can’t use that excuse because NASA knows they're the space cops

If the Justice League has contact information like a hotline or an email, you can bet your ass that NASA is blowing it up with stuff like "um excuse me mr. space policeman our rover got stuck on mars can you pwease dust her off so that her solar panels can work again??"

[smash cut to Hal in a maid dress cleaning Oppy with a construct of a feather duster]

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Batman: Under The Red Hood

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kicks a rock. so are we ever going to talk about bruce finding jay by accident while pursuing the joker and jason explaining he's looking for his mother and saying "besides, with you coming to help me... (...)" to which bruce replied: "that's not exactly why i'm here" and after telling him about the joker jay just says "sure, bruce... nothing glamorous about hunting down a runaway!" like can we talk about how jason runs away hoping -- or expecting? bruce to find him. can we talk about how when he was running away he thought to himself "all he [bruce] gets off is catching crooks. he probably couldn't even understand why i'd want to locate the woman" but still, the moment he saw bruce, he assumed bruce was therre for him-- but bruce wasn't. bruce wasn't and he tells him that plainly, followed up by asking jason: "you understand, don't you?" but he's interruped by the sights of sharmin rosen with peter brando so the conversation is cut and descends into "looks like we're working on the same case after all." is this all you can afford in a relationship with your son, bruce? the same case? is this it?

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and when jason says in aditf that bruce doesn't care for anything but going after criminals, but then still expects him to try to find him when he runs away-- and when jason comes back from the dead calling his father's name and later reinvents himself as a criminal