#“fastest man alive” in quotes here bc he DEFINITELY wasn’t at this point

[jaybirdwest]

seeing as Dick had to find out on his own, i don’t think Bruce told like. anyone

i would bet that the majority of the people who know the second Robin died found out through Dick (the Titans, mainly).

which also reminds me of something i’ve thought about a LOT: Wally learning what happened to Jason.

Wally was the Flash, the so-called Fastest Man Alive, when Jason, his best friend’s little brother, died. i bet he beat himself up for not having Dick’s (and Jason’s by extension) back while Dick was offworld with the Titans.

and it has to be especially shitty because Wally couldn’t have possibly done anything to help, even if he’d known, because he was slower than he’d been since he was like eleven and didn’t have superpowers. Flash 1987 #22 released the same month as the end of Death in the Family, and that was when he topped out at the speed of sound (hell, the next issue even involves him having actually lost his speed altogether). he probably had to deal with the fact that there was absolutely nothing he could have done to spare his best friend from that pain. for someone who used to be the Fastest Kid Alive (fast enough to beat Barry in a race, even) and able to run faster than light, that would be painful

and you know how some characters go to Flashes like “You can time travel! Go back and undo what happened!” and Flashes have to explain that no, they can’t do that, it’d fuck everything up? well, Wally wasn’t even fast enough to do that if he wanted to. he could barely run for extended periods of time, needed constant food (like, insane amounts that he couldn’t even afford for a while because his metabolism was fucked up. he needed more food than Barry ever did despite being FAR slower at the time.), and his powers were generally… not good. an arc later he gained some speed, but it’d be dozens of issues later, after the Return of Barry Allen arc, where he finally reaches his original speed (and a bit after that when he becomes the fastest speedster ever).

when he learned Jason Todd died (probably from Dick, maybe even the news since he def knew their identities), he’d be immediately confronted with the fact that BARRY could have saved Jason. because this was when he was dealing with a massive inferiority complex around his uncle and the Flash legacy.

Wally could do literally nothing to save his best friend’s little brother and would absolutely beat himself up for that, at a time where he’s already lower than probably ever.

I recently came across these panels of Green Arrow 2001 where Oliver is in the afterlife, and I have some thoughts below.

It’s the line “Spooky didn’t even mention it to me” that really takes me out because how many people did Bruce actually tell about Jason’s death when he was grieving? Obviously Clark knew, he was there in Death of the Family’s aftermath to prevent Bruce from killing the Joker, but if Green Arrow didn’t know, that’s like… a pretty core member of the Justice League.

Batman just went about his JL missions while grieving and internally suffering and at least Green Arrow didn’t notice, but also I don’t know who would have said anything if they did notice. It’s a somewhat known fact in-universe now I think, but I don’t know, it just makes me sad that he didn’t say anything about it when it happened.