#Dick during Batman Reborn or whatever

[wesavegotham]

I'm far from the first person to point out that Zdarsky is pulling heavily from Morrison's Batman run, several reviewers noticed that in the Failsafe arc it was mainly the inclusion of the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh and how the newly introduced Failsafe was the back-up plan of the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh who is himself a back-up personality Bruce used in Morrison's run in case his normal mind should get broken.

But Tim's quest to bring back Bruce to the main universe in Zdarsky's second arc truly reads like a full-on Tim Drake fix-it-fanfiction for "slights" done to him during the Batman and Robin reborn era.

Bruce and Tim prepare to have a last stand united as Batman and Robin against Failsafe:

Other Robins get flaws invented to prop up Tim as the perfect Robin:

This time Tim is there when Bruce gets displaced with Bruce's last words trying to console Tim:

Once again Tim is the only one believing that Bruce isn't dead, the only one working on bringing him back home:

Once again Tim is on the verge of losing his mind:

When he teams up with Nightwing to fight some goons who try to take advantage of Batman's absence Tim get's to save Nightwing:

Everyone is acting like Tim is crazy, but this time big bro believes him:

But oh no, Dick thinks Bruce will make it back home alone and doesn't need their help to do so (spoiler: of course Dick is wrong about that):

Tim is the only one who understands that Senpai- er- I mean Batman is not himself and needs him!

Seriously, can somebody like...get him therapy? Tim's extreme worship of Batman always disturbs me and both writers and fans act like that is his best quality.

Tim gets to save a bunch of innocent people:

Even after all this time Tim never seems to have developed a moral code that goes beyond proving to Bruce that he's a good boy who will always do what Bruce wants him to do:

Tim faces down a whole group of enemies all alone and wins effortlessly:

And of course saves everybody:

Tim needs to do this alone for some reason:

I just know that if Damian was in his place the writer would insist that he needs the entire batfamily or whatever new character they are trying to push with him to do this mission. But this is a Tim fix-it fanfiction so of course Tim gets to have the glory all to himself.

We get it Tim, you are (still) Robin:

Honestly, the only true suprise of this story was that Tim chose to visit his mother first before rescuing Bruce:

Of course she also tells him how good he is:

Again. We get it:

Dick was wrong. Batman can't make it home on his own. He's stranded in the dark. But what is this? A shining Tim Drake Robin floating above him like an angel or even the sun, coming to rescue Bruce from his lonely darkness:

But not just a Robin. No. It's HIS Robin. Forget all about the other kid that would actually get to be Batman's Robin right now if DC wasn't currently lead by Tim Drake fanboys who are still stuck in the 90s.

And of course Bruce immediately thanks him for saving him.

But honestly. I'm not even truly convinced that this story helped Tim all that much. I've seen lots of Tim fans over the years who are also frustrated that writers just don't allow Tim to grow past his old Robin days and this story showed very clearly that Tim is still very much in the same place he was in 20 years ago. He hasn't evolved. Instead he's hanging on to a role that should probably belong to another character by now, but both him and the current writers just don't seem able to let go.

Of course I don't know what Zdarsky's or DC's next plans for Tim are. I would be more accepting of this if it was some kind of last feel-good best-of for Tim Drake fans so maybe they can now finally feel like they got closure and let Tim make way for Damian as the sole Robin for good. But I'm not betting on it.

I'm not putting this in the Tim Drake tag on purpose. In the end it is DC's fault that even though they are both Robin right now the kind of stories they get with Bruce are as different as night and day.

I simply need the people who read my posts to understand what I mean when I say that the two recent stories we got that involved Batman needing to be rescued by Robin, Batman vs Robin for Damian and Zdarsky's Batman run for Tim, couldn't be more different and are not treating them with equal amount of respect.

Batman vs Robin is pure dogshit in comparison to the strong fanservice Zdarsky is serving Tim fans here.

[bitterrobin]

@kedugh #1. this post is mainly directed towards the fanon idea that Dick was Damian's sole father figure and thats why he should have properly disciplined Damian over the Tim beef. Fanon tends to exaggerate their conflict and imply that they want to see Damian get shunned or severely punished over his fights with Tim, and Dick is either made the punisher or the scapegoat who enabled Damian's "misbehavior." I don't disagree that Dick/Damian have a complicated but largely close relationship and that some father/son dynamics play into that - BUT Dick never expresses any actual desire to be Damian's father until after the Reborn era when comics were rebooted and writers could add in whatever they wanted. In this case, the Nightwing storyline where Dick confesses that he could've adopted Damian/taken legal custody of him but he didn't, and where Damian acts out because he feels like he might get replaced by Shawn Tsang's baby.

Prior to that, most writers (mainly Morrison) did not explore Dick and Damian's relationship beyond who they were as Batman and Robin. We don't get dialogue or actions from Dick that imply he sees Damian like a son. In Resurrection of Ras al Ghul, its made explicit that Dick is annoyed by Damian and in contrast, regards Tim as a brother who's more important to him. @fancyfade is right in that Dick attempts to socialize Damian through making him join the Titans, which during the early 2000's era was made up of mostly Tim's former YJ teammates who disliked Damian - so he didn't stay there very long, and later on Damian joined a different Titans team that was all pretty much adults/young adults who were Dick's peers (Starfire, Beast Boy etc). Besides that, Dick does not pressure Damian into interacting with anyone that he already doesn't know as Robin. Those outings with the Titans team doesn't really help Damian either. He literally says to Dick after being with Tim's Titans team that he's all the friends he needs. Damian is just reinforced in his idea that he doesn't need to befriend other people.

I bring up Tim again because he actually got the brotherly treatment by writers. We see his interactions with Dick that are emphasized with brotherhood, with Dick being worried for him, taking him out for fun as civilians and not just as Nightwing and Robin. Dick throughout the Reborn era does not do this with Damian.

Dick is responsible for him. He does eventually come to care for him. He is looking out for him and they live together, but that doesn't immediately mean that Dick actually acted like Damian's dad. It's very clear that writers did not initially intend for Dick and Damian to be as close as Dick and Tim were portrayed as prior to the Reborn era. Let's compare the two; Tim gets kidnapped or hurt in a comic, Dick fights the perpetrator and express anger/fear/worry over his safety. He calls Tim his brother multiple times over years of different comics. Damian is in a position where he could be hurt, Dick expresses concern over the perpetrator because Damian is more dangerous himself than any person he fights with. He doesn't actually call Damian his brother until after the reboot, where again, writers broadened their relationship. Damian and Bruce's relationship in Batman and Robin 2010/2011 is far more familial on the page. Bruce is actually shown tucking Damian into bed, teaching him things outside of just being Robin, expanding their familial relationship through Marthe and Thomas, giving him Titus, and treating him as his son - with both the positive and negative aspects. Dick does not do any of those things with Damian when he's Batman. They just have a different kind of relationship during that period and that's okay.

Most of what you list that Dick does for Damian - doesn't actually appear in a comic. Additionally, he "set rules and mediated conflict"??? At best all Dick did to stop Tim and Damian from fighting was to literally tell Damian to shut up, or just let him leave and then talk to Tim afterwards. We never get a page where Dick sits Damian down and tells him to stop antagonizing Tim in a parental manner. He tells Tim to consider Damian's feelings, but he doesn't tell Damian the same thing. The conflict between Tim and Damian never gets resolved on page by Dick, it just develops between different writers depending on what they want to explore. It goes up and down. All the rules Dick taught Damian pertained to Robin, not Damian as a child. Damian was expected to listen to Dick because he was Batman, not because he was his father figure. Damian flat out tells Dick that he's not his father, and continues to criticize him for trying to act like Bruce. Dick and Damian do get closer and are now closer than they used to be, like I've said before in other posts, but it did not start out as father-son thing.

#2. "Damian doesn't dislike Cassandra in Gates of Gotham" Did you read Gates with your eyes closed? Here's the panels where Damian states why he doesn't like Cassandra, and his further actions toward her.

Before actually meeting her, Damian was somewhat excited or looking forward to seeing her. After meeting her, Damian clearly expresses that he thinks Cassandra looks down on him and he doesn't like that. He pushes her buttons on purpose by implying that Bruce deliberately sent Cass to Hong Kong and kept Damian close for a specific reason. He implies that Cass doesnt pull her own weight in the investigation. Damian doesn't like Cassandra, and he acts hostile towards her after she prevents him from disarming a bomb he thinks he could've done in time (but was definitely going to kill him). Tim literally points out to Damian's face why he really doesn't like Cass.

#3. "Damian saved Tim because he made the decision to use his skills to help his father's way; he came back to Gotham to be a hero." Now you're the one lying. Damian does not say he came to Gotham to be a hero, nor do other characters imply the same. Throughout his first introduction he scoffs at Bruce's ideals of being a hero and throughout Batman and Robin he clearly chafes under being "heroic" ; he dislikes that he can't attack cops, goes out on his own to fight criminals but doesn't listen to Dick or anyone else, and doesn't intentionally try to save people until the incident with Sasha where he feels bad about her. Even after Sasha, Damian continues to have conflicts with Dick and various other heroes because he isn't aiming for saving people, he's aiming for trying to live up to Bruce's expectations and proving his own superiority in intelligence/crime-solving/fighting. This changes later after more time spent of Damian being Robin and he proves himself as a hero (Batman Inc), but at first, he wasn't Robin because he really believed it was the right thing. We literally have no idea about why or how Damian suddenly showed up in Gotham again after Resurrection of Ras al Ghul. He just appears in the comics suddenly, and writers start using him to sow conflict/be Robin.

When I pointed out that Damian saved Tim in Battle for the Cowl:

Even if Damian saving Tim was out of sense of self-importance or smug revenge or whatever - its still a huge difference between trying to kill him.

You obviously misread this sentence. I say IF Damian was saving Tim because of egotism or misguided revenge - I WAS NOT actually saying that those were Damian's reasons for helping him. I don't even believe it myself. I said it to further prove my point that we have an example where Damian saved Tim's life which shows at least marginal improvement over their first meeting where he tried to kill him.

Damian doesn't even go to save Tim of his own volition, he's forced to by Alfred and accompanied by Squire. He just wants to get out of being confined to the Batcave, and if saving Tim is what lets him do something that isn't being left out the "mission" - then he'll do it.

When saving Tim, all Damian says is: "Tell me you appreciate this."

This doesn't imply nearly all that you say it does, that Damian did it because it was the right thing to do or because he wanted to heal the relationship. You assume thats the case, but considering Damian and Tim continue to fight after this and Tim literally never acknowledged this action in the comic- I doubt it myself. We don't know if he actually wanted to help Tim for a good reason because we don't get narration boxes from his POV.

In your comments, you have a clear interpretation of Dick and Damian's actions in this particular era. I'm not going to outright say that you can't have that interpretation, but don't tell me that I'm lying just because you're the one that thinks Dick acted more fatherly and that Damian was trying to be amicable to Tim in one comic where they interacted based on a single piece of dialogue.

You're not an authority on this and neither am I - but I'm allowed to express my gripes on my own blog.

Next time, please just block me and anyone else you disagree with. You don't have to see my posts or my blog if you don't want to. You're also not going to change my mind by leaving arguments in the comments. Thank you, if you read this far. Hope you have a nice day.

the mom/dadification of Dick really starts to be detrimental when people say things like "[insert parental figure] should've done more to properly reprimand/comfort [insert whump blorbo here]" Especially when it comes to the 2009 era with Tim's whole deal - its always "why didn't Dick 'parent' Damian better and do something for Tim???" and never actually analyzing why that whole idea is wrong. Dick isn't Tim's father and Dick isn't Damian's father. He's Tim's older brother first and foremost. Why does whenever Bruce die or do something shitty suddenly everyone shoves Dick into the Fatherhood role? He has responsibility as the adult in simple terms, yes, but at the time of Bruce's death in the 2009 Reborn era he was not Damian's family.

He was watching Damian because Damian at the time was an obstacle, like running around having to carry a bomb and watch it so it doesn't explode. He wasn't taking care of Damian because he cared about the kid (at first) and he told Tim that much before Tim decided to leave. He explicitly told Tim that he trusted him as an equal partner, not another kid he needed to watch out for. And whether that sentiment is wrong or not is your opinion, but theres something to said about Dick's own struggles with independence and how he was probably trying to give Tim a chance of independence that wouldn't end as badly as Dick and Bruce's schism did. It backfired in a sense, and honestly I feel regardless of whether Tim stayed as Robin or not things would still have ended shitty because they were both grieving and Tim is a teenager becoming an adult and they were not agreeing on the Bruce thing. (Even if Tim was never shown on panel telling Dick his actual ideas for Bruce being alive before he left).

Whatever idk. I just feel people forget Dick has his own serious issues and absolutely none of the Batman characters would be adept at therapy speak or actively acknowledging their own problems. Dick has his own shit to deal with, just as Tim has his own issues and Damian has issues. There's never going to be a correct solution to the very human conflict going on. You can't "I'm a good parent/sibling" your way out of it. Dick suddenly gaining self-sentience and deciding to punish Damian like a dad would change nothing. Honestly it'd make things worse, Damian has never responded well to parenting and I don't get why people think getting yelled at or put in baby jail would fix his deep-seated issues with the concept of mom/dad. Damian getting punished wouldn't fix anything. Tim staying Robin wouldn't fix anything because he was already set on leaving to search for clues on his theory.

[pollsonmorenichetopics]

Disproportionate Retribution Poll Round 1 Side B:

Jason Todd's (Batman/DC comics) Disproportionate Retribution:

"Crime 1: (metatextually it was being a child/boring/annoying/not Dick Grayson/whatever) being suspected of murder, running away, naivety/disobedience (in an attempt to save his surprise mother)

Punishment: (metatextually: vote to kill) fired, sold out by his mother, tortured by the Joker, blown up, and eventual death via smoke inhalation

Out of proportion: it is sooooo likely that he didn't even kill that guy in the first place. He was also like. A 15 year old boy at the time. Also just out of proportion on account of being child death and torture. He comes back later, which later leads to.

Crime 2: non-fatally shooting a crime boss, but being suspected of murder about it AGAIN

Punishment: getting the brakes beat off of him by his dad

Out of proportion: A: he was following the rules. B: Batman should have verified what was going on BEFORE doing anything. C: That's his DAD

Crime 3: at least he actually killed people

Punishment: (basically a) lobotomy via fear toxin

Out of proportion: it's non-consensual body/function modification. Any spike in adrenaline lead to a panic attack (you know what also causes adrenaline spikes? Fear/panic.). Comic book science was the only thing saving him from a heart attack. Even outside of that, being unable to properly fight or flee nearly got him killed again anyway. Not to mention it was Bruce back at it (in an altered state, but still)

Yes he committed actual crimes/did bad shit but literally some of the worst stuff happens when he does the LEAST. Worse people also get less for more."

Dhar's (Indivisible) Disproportionate Retribution:

"You have to bear with me on this because it's the context that makes it. He kills people as part of an evil army and dies unceremoniously without being mourned. Ok now context: Indivisible involves a lot of redemption and reincarnation. Dhar was kidnapped as a child and brainwashed and raised as a child soldier. He's 20 during the game but genuinely believes that he's doing the right thing. After he accepts that he wasn't, he tries to make up for it. Everyone hates him. He killed Ajna(mc)'s father and she never forgives him. This is understandable. When Ajna goes on a rampage, dealing death and destruction herself, Dhar sacrifices himself to bring her back to her senses. She kills him. She feels just a little bad about it. She's not sorry that he's dead. She gets to make amends and be forgiven by everyone for her actions, which is good! However it makes Dhar's death and him being forgotten afterward stand out that much more. Him not being liked or forgiven is very understandable, but he doesn't receive empathy even after cutting his own quest for redemption and life short for the sake of Ajna. The game ends with Ajna being reborn (she's a piece of the goddess of destruction and rebirth and they come back together and are reincarnated). So basically Dhar's death just feels disproportionate comparatively: if destroying the world or just many parts of it is something you can make amends for, and you can still be loved after, and you can be reborn to do better.. Surely Dhar could have done the same? If not, at least been acknowledged as having that potential."

[our-happygirl500-fan]

You know during the Batman Reborn era I think the reason that Vicki Vale couldn't figure out that Steph was the blonde Batgirl despite figuring out that Bruce was Batman, Tim was Robin and later Red Robin, Dick has been Robin, Nightwing and Batman and Barbara was the first Batgirl and now Oracle, is that being a college student is the perfect cover for a vigilante.

Steph could just rock up to class and be like 'hey did anyone do the readings I only got two hours of sleep last night' and everyone else would be like 'oh damn hard same' 

Then she could take a nap in whatever comfortable couch was closest and available on campus and no one would batt an eye

[bamon4bamily]

TVD 9x05 Halloween Special (part 2 of part 2). Enjoy! =)

Cut to – Matt’s house. Matt is taking a nap, breathing heavily… we go into his dream… A post-apocalyptic scene; Matt is running desperately through a horror scene of debris; suddenly, he hears Vicky’s voice …

 VICKY: Matty, stop running…

MATT: Vic? (Vicky appears, he runs to hug her, and bursts into tears).

VICKY: It’s okay Matty (consoling him). This isn’t your fault… you didn’t’ have a choice.

MATT: There is always a choice, Vic.

VICKY: No, there isn’t. This is what was meant to happen.

MATT: Everyone is gone, Vic. Yet, somehow, I’m still here… how was this supposed to happen…?

VICKY: It’s for the greater good, Matty, trust me. With death comes rebirth…

MATT: Who wants to be reborn into a world like this?

VICKY: I do, Matty… I do, Matty… I do, Matty… (Matt’s vision of Vicky becomes blurry, as she repeats the same words on a loop… suddenly the set changes, Matt is now in what looks to be a bunker).

MILITARY MAN: General, as per your orders, Sir… (he hands him a black box, Matt opens it; inside is a chess piece and a note that reads: Make a choice... Matt turns the chess piece around; a code and the letter “L” are engraved on the bottom).

MATT: Activate unit 1…

MILITARY MAN: General, are you sure we should proceed against protocol?

MATT: We don’t have a choice…

MILITARY MAN: With all due respect, General, there is always a choice…

MATT: (Sarcastic smirk) Do you really think we are in control? 

(In Matt’s mind, the song: Crazy by Gnarls Barkley, starts playing, almost to a frantic state. He gets more visions of a post-apocalyptic world, and him as a child on his 7th birthday, while uncontrollably and unwillingly laughing, yet crying at the same time...).

Cut back to Matt's room, Khuyana sitting on the bedside, trying to calm him down. Matt wakes up suddenly, looking disoriented and scared.

 KHUYANA: (Caressing his cheek) Hey, hey… it’s okay… you're okay...

MATT: (Still quite disoriented) Sorry...sorry... I... I... I was having a bad dream...

KHUYANA: (Looks into his eyes, they seem to stare at nothingness) Matt, please talk to me, what’s going on?

MATT: (Unable to contain himself any longer) I’m terrified… I feel like all of this is just the tip of the iceberg… and I don’t think I’m equipped to handle any of this...

KHUYANA: We are all scared Matt, that’s expected… but we have each other to lean on… please, don’t shut us out.

MATT: I’m sorry I’ve been such a dick (kisses her), I’m just trying to find the best way to handle this… (Looking somewhat defenseless) Whatever happens, you know I love you, more than anything, right?

KHUYANA: I know (kisses him back), and we will get through this together, I promise.

MATT: I hope we will… (kisses her again).

KHUYANA: Now, how about we start getting ready? Caroline will kill us if we are late.

MATT: Oh, for sure...  Trust me, we don’t want to make her mad.  

 Cut to – The Salvatore house, Damon’s room. Damon and Bonnie are chilling out, lying in bed watching The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

BONNIE: Why can’t they make movies like this anymore? The music, the visuals… a true masterpiece. Horror movies now are just about young, big-boobed, girls making the dumbest decisions…

DAMON: (Teasing) Hey, I’m all for that! They might not be masterpieces, Bon, but you can’t deny the aesthetics (winks)…

BONNIE: You’re disgusting! (hits him with a pillow).

DAMON: Hey! (Takes a pillow, hits her back).

BONNIE: Oh, no you didn’t! (hits him again: they start a pillow fight; both laughing and tugging; at one point, Damon lands on top of her).

DAMON: (Staring into her eyes) God, I love you… 

(Awkward pause… Caroline walks in the room, they quickly compose themselves).

CAROLINE: What are you guys doing?

BONNIE: Watching a movie…

CAROLINE: Is that so? Then why is the TV off? (during their pillow fight they must have accidentally pushed the remote).

BONNIE: (Quickly clicks it back on) … it’s… it’s not… look (points at the TV).

CAROLINE: (Gives her a smirk) Really, Bonnie?

DAMON: Care bare, has anyone ever told you, you have the worst timing, ever.

CAROLINE: I’m sorry if I interrupted your “movie”, Damon, I just wanted to tell you guys we need to start getting ready to go trick or treating with the girls.

BONNIE: (Jumps off the bed) On it! (rushes out the room to avoid further awkwardness).

CAROLINE: (As she is about to leave) Just make your move already… gees! (Leaves).

 Cut back to – 1921 Halloween Ball, past midnight. Rebekah (looking horrified) is walking through a sea of decapitated bodies in the ballroom, the song: Midnight, the Stars, and You, is playing on a loop.

All the guests are dead, the only survivors are herself, Stefan, Klaus, and the bartender; the mystery lady, Katherine and Stefan’s friend, are MIA. She approaches Stefan and Klaus, who are blissfully having a drink at the bar as if nothing had happened.

 REBEKAH: What happened?

KLAUS: Sister, you finally returned. What took you so long? I thought you were just going to fetch someone to clean up our mess… (looks around) I reckon it’s going to take a bit more to clean this one up.

REBEKAH: What the hell did you do? Are you both insane?! It’s fine to indulge, but this (looking at the massacre aftermath) … how could you?!

STEFAN: Oh, don’t be so overdramatic! This party was dead anyway (sarcastic smirk).

REBEKAH: We need to leave…

KLAUS: Relax, dear sister, have a drink with us. (To the bartender) Some champagne for the lady, please.

REBEKAH: Klaus, I’m being serious, we need to leave, now!

STEFAN: Don’t be a party pooper, Rebekah. (To Klaus) Is she always this uptight?

KLAUS: She can be quite dull at times. (To Rebekah) We are staying, sister. Do what you please, but if this is going to be your attitude, I suggest you call it a night.

REBEKAH: (Pissed off) Fine, I’m leaving… (as she is walking away) You know, just because you can avoid the consequences of your actions, it doesn’t mean they won’t haunt you forever…

STEFAN: (Mocking her) Oh, she is poetic too! (He and Klaus laugh and cheer. Rebekah leaves; they hear a voice).

VOICE: Well done, my dears, you have proven yourselves worthy. Don’t you let her (referring to Rebekah) get into your heads... We all go a little mad sometimes…

BARTENDER: (Hands them a room key with the letter “L” engraved on it and a room tag, 237) Gentlemen welcome to the club. The Madame is expecting you…

 Cut to – The Salvatore house. Everyone getting into costume. Damon walks into his room, procrastinating having to put his costume on. Bonnie, already in costume, is hiding behind the curtain, sneaks up from behind…

 BONNIE: (With a low voice) I’m Batman… (Damon jumps, she cracks up).

DAMON: Jesus, Bon! You scared the crap out of me! (Takes a good look at her, she looks breathtaking; he shutters). Wow, Bon, you look amazing… just… wow, I’m speechless…

BONNIE: Well, Robin, what are you waiting for? Suit up! I need my partner in crime.

DAMON: Bon, listen, about earlier… (Caroline walks in) Oh, you have got to be kidding me! Honestly, Blondie, timing!

CAROLINE: What? (Looks at Bonnie) Oh my god, Bonnie, you look gorgeous!

BONNIE: Thank you, so do you; that costume is awesome! 

CAROLINE: (Caroline is dressed as Lucy, from Bram Stoker’s Dracula adaptation film from 1992, in the iconic vampire wedding dress). Right? But, thanks to Stefan, I’m going to have to change it!

BONNIE: No, why?

CAROLINE: Well…

 Cut to – a few moments earlier, Stefan and Caroline’s room…

 STEFAN: Surprise! (Stefan comes out dressed as Dracula but with a Hotel Transylvania mask).

CAROLINE: Stefan! What the hell!? You are supposed to be Count Dracula! Lose the mask!

STEFAN: Caroline, please, I need some sort of dignity… I’m keeping the mask.

CAROLINE: Urr, fine! But now I’m gonna have to change mine!

 Cut back to – Bonnie, Damon and Caroline.

 CAROLINE: So, now, I need to find something else to wear.

BONNIE: I still don’t get it, why do you have to change it? It’s so cool, Care!

CAROLINE: I know, but we are supposed to have a themed match! And this (pointing at her costume) makes no sense with Stefan’s dumb ass mask! Anyway, I just wanted to make sure Fairy boy here (referring Damon) wasn’t bailing out on his promise too…

BONNIE: Oh, he hasn’t, right, Damon?

DAMON: (With resignation, takes his costume) Fine, I’ll put the stupid costume on. Now, can you both please leave so I can change? Unless you want to stay and watch (winks)…

CAROLINE: Ew, no! Come on Bonnie, help me find something to wear… (they leave).

Cut to- Whitmore college, Elena’s dorm. Sam comes out dressed as Princess Lea.

 SAM: So, what do you think?

ELENA: (Dressed as a Star Wars creature) Mmm… I don’t know how to feel about it… I’m getting some confusing vibes…

SAM: Admit it, you love it (smirks).

ELENA: I… I think I do… am I crazy?

SAM: You are just the right amount of crazy (kisses her, mask on and all). Mmm, actually, that was extremely confusing (they chuckle) Ready to go?

ELENA: Yep, just let me just grab my purse.

 Cut to – The Salvatore house, the twin’s bedroom

 CAROLINE: Come on girls, are you ready?

LIZ & JOSIE: (They come out of the bathroom dressed like the twins from The Shinning) Trick or treat!  

CAROLINE: (Whispers to Alaric) I know we thought this would be a cool idea, but I’m really creeped out…

ALARIC: Me too…

 Cut to – Matt’s house. Matt walks into the kitchen, dressed as Robocop.

 MATT: (To Tyler) I feel ridiculous in this… I can’t even move!

TYLER: (Who is dressed in a werewolf costume, mask and all) Man, where are you? Can’t see shit! 

KHUYANA: (Khuyana walks in, dressed as Lady Robocop) So, you boys ready to go?

MATT: Wow, K, you look amazing…

TYLER: Screw this, I’m taking the mask off!

MATT: Guys, before we go, I need you to promise me that if anything goes wrong, you will do what you need to do, no matter what.

KHUYANA: Matt, don’t; we talked about this… all we need to do is stick together.

TYLER: She’s right, man, we got this. 

MATT: Guess you are both right. Now... will a group hug be too awkward? (They laugh and hug it out).

 Cut to – The Salvatore house, Alaric’s room.  Alaric comes out of the bathroom, wearing a Lego Indiana Jones costume.

ALARIC: Indiana Jones in the house! Let’s go do this!

RADKA: (Dressed as Cat woman) Well, hello Mr. Jones. Pleasure to meet your acquaintance…

ALARIC: Meow! (Kisses her).  

ALARIC: Ready to go?

RADKA: Honestly, no… Can you please tell me this is all just a bad dream, and that we can go about our lives as if none of this is happening?  

ALARIC: Rad, we will pull this off; we got the best of the best … plus a little extra help.

RADKA: Well, I guess you are right. Crazy wizard guy and his sect ain’t got nothing on us! Lego do this! (Alaric laughs and kisses her again).

 Cut to – Katherine in her room dressed as Maleficent.

KATHERINE: (To herself, looking at the mirror) I’m gonna bring these bitches to the ground… (Smirks, walks closer to the mirror, trips over her dress) Oh, oh, shit! (Stefan comes in, can’t help but laugh at the scene).

STEFAN: Need some help?

KATHERINE: (Trying to pick herself back up) No, no… I’m fine, (playing it off) I’m just looking for a… for a… an earring, yes, an earring…

STEFAN: Sure, you are… Well, I just wanted to check up on you; make sure you were ready for this..,

KATHERINE: Of course I am! I’m Katherine Pierce.

STEFAN: (Sweet smirk) You surely are… Anyway, we are about to leave for trick or treating, you coming?

KATHERINE: Didn’t know I was invited…

STEFAN: I’m asking, so you are.

KATHERINE: What about blondie? Is she okay with me coming along?

STEFAN: She is the one that asked me to ask… so, bygones, I guess.

KATHERINE: How big of her…

STEFAN: Well, if you gave her a chance you’d realize just how great really she is.

KATHERINE: (With a resignation look) Fine...

STEFAN: Listen, I’ll leave you to find your “earring” (mocking) but make it quick; we are leaving in 5.

KATHERINE: (As he is walking out) Stefan… (with a bashful look) can you please help me up? I’m all caught up in this freakin dress!

STEFAN: (Stefan cracks up, helps her up). Are you sure, you don’t want to put on something else?

KATHERINE: Oh, hell no, I’m owning this!

STEFAN: If you say so… Come on, they are waiting downstairs. (They walk out, she has a hard time trying not to trip).

 The gang goes trick or treating; they laugh, get some treats and some tricks, and have a spooky fun time.

Cut to - The Mikaelson mansion. Klaus is in his bedroom getting ready for the Halloween party. He hears the piano playing in the living room; which is odd since Danae is out on an errand. He goes downstairs and finds that the piano is closed, there is nobody playing it… on top of the piano is a black box, inside, a pair of antique golden cuff links engraved with the letter “L” and a note that reads: “We all go a little mad sometimes…” 

Suddenly, the television in the family room turns on to a black and white film with a creepy puppet-like orchestra man, waving a baton to the vintage Halloween song: Boogie Woogie Man.

TVD 9x05 Halloween Special (part 3) coming up next! Hope you stop by, read and enjoy! ;)

[thebatmarino]

The DCEU’s next Batman should be played by Dick Grayson

Batman and Robin.  Words that have gone together like Peanut Butter and Jelly for around 80 years.  Everybody in the world knows that Batman’s younger sidekick is Robin. Many know that Robin is Dick Grayson, fewer know that Dick grew up to become Nightwing, and even fewer still that he has spent time as Batman. With the recent activity in DC film, I want to talk about my favorite superhero, what makes him great, and most importantly, why I believe Dick Grayson is the answer to the DCEU’s Bat situation. To start, we’re going to rewind to 1940, when Robin was introduced to the world in Detective Comics #38.

Batman was created in 1939.  A grim figure of the night, Batman spoke very little, a trait that has held through to this day. At the time however, legend has it that Bill Finger and Bob Kane were tired of drawing thought bubbles for him, so they needed to give him someone to talk to.  But who? Well, Batman was a Sherlock Holmesian figure, it was Detective Comics after all, so they needed to give him a Watson.  A character who’s intelligent, capable, and a proxy for the readership so they can join Batman on his adventures. The readership at the time (target readership, we know girls love and read comics too, but this was 1940) was 12 year old boys, and who might they look up to? Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn came out in 1938, he seems pretty cool. And a Robin keeps up the motif of flying animal that Batman started.  And there you have it, Robin the Boy Wonder was born.

The creation of Robin is also the birth of the Teenage Sidekick. Since then, every teen sidekick from Bucky to Kid Flash owes a debt to the creation of Robin.  As more and more sidekick characters populated the comic scene, something happened at DC Comics in particular that is one of my favorite things about the brand: the idea of Legacy Characters.

Consider the Justice League for a moment. Let’s look at the big 6: Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Flash, and Aquaman.  These characters are the Greek Gods reborn.  They are iconic, they are mythological.  Each one of them proudly displays a symbol that they adhere to.  “I believe in love and equality”, “There is hope for everyone”, “I will drag myself through Hell for justice”, “by force of will, I will overcome all fear to save the world”, “I will always make time to help people”, “I will be the great uniter of disparate people”, or whatever you interpret the thesis of these characters to be. They are perfect embodiments.  The problem with perfection is that real people can’t attain that.  We can try.  We can stumble and fall. And that is exactly what the Legacy Characters attempt to be. These characters are absolute representations in ways that humans are generally not. They are aspirational.  That’s why there’s merchandise out the wazzu (do people still say that?), so you can see a person on the street with that Green Lantern symbol and know that person wants to overcome fear.

Dick Grayson was the first.  For many years Dick was happily Robin, going on strange adventures with Batman and friends, whupping ass in green short pants. He even formed a team of sidekicks, known as the Teen Titans along with Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Speedy.  All teenagers struggling to live up to their “parents”.  These perfect people who’s symbols they have taken as their own and sworn to uphold.  Then something interesting happened.  In 1984, in Tales of the Teen Titans #44, Dick Grayson debuted his Nightwing persona.

Dick Grayson had been growing up.  Which is a thing yet again, never done in comics before.  For some time now, a rift had been growing between the Dark Knight and his Squire. Dick had gone off to college, formed his own super-team, and was going through the typical growing pains of a young person trying to step out on their own. No longer feeling the identity of his 12 year old fancies were fitting, he picked an adult, darker name that still reflected and honored where where he came from (the origins of this name are toyed with and retconned, but the connections between Bats and Wings of the Night cannot be denied).

As Nightwing, Dick Grayson was his own man, ran his life and heroics how he saw fit, and most importantly, didn’t answer to Batman.  Until Knightfall happened.  In the events of this story, Bane broke Bruce’s spine, resulting in Bruce choosing a man named Jean-Paul Valley as the new Batman.  Jean-Paul went nutso and nearly killed Bane and begun a reign of hyper-vigilante terror in Gotham, so Bruce badassed his way back to walking because comic books, and whupped his ass.  Before restoring himself as the one true Batman, Bruce asked the one man qualified in all the world to take up the mantle to do so: Dick Grayson.  Yet again, we have a comic book first: a legacy character fulfilling their legacy. This didn’t last long however, Bruce did what he had to do, and Dick dutifully (and reluctantly) filled in as long as required.

Nightwing then got a brilliant solo series by Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel, which to this day is probably the most influential run on the character. Before we move on in his publication history though, I think it’s important to understand WHO Dick is, and WHY he is.  After all, what makes this 12 year old boy so special that he becomes Batman’s right hand man in a war on crime?

Richard John Grayson, aka Dick, was born to John and Mary Grayson of the legendary Flying Graysons of Haly’s Circus.  The reason they were legendary was because they flew without the safety of a net.  Dick grew up on the trapeze with no net.  No fear, no cares in the world, except being a child star performer. After a mob boss tries to unsuccessfully extort money from the circus, they murder the Graysons by tampering with the trapeze before Dick’s very eyes. The young orphan was observed by another orphan in the crowd, Bruce Wayne, who took him in.  It wasn’t really successfully explained why a 12 year old seemed okay to take out fighting crime until the two part episode of Batman: The Animated Series, Robin’s Reckoning. Like a young Bruce, Dick was consumed with his parents’ murder.  Each night, unfulfilled by the guardianship of an absentee Bruce Wayne, Dick would sneak out and try to track down leads on his parents’ killer.  Eventually he got in over his head and Batman bailed him out and returned him to the Batcave. This boy knew no fear.  He would return to the streets night after night.  He would get himself killed.  Unless he was trained how to not die by a certain… bat themed expert at not-getting-killed-by-criminal-scum.  Bruce revealed his identity to Dick, which also explained why he was busy so much of the time, and in the Batcave, Dick swore an oath by candlelight to uphold justice and everything Batman stood for. The training was gruelling. Probably inhumane. But eventually Dick was allowed to accompany Batman on the streets as his sidekick.

Dick Grayson was saved by Bruce Wayne. Where Bruce was in uncharted territory sorting his rage, vengeance, and pain, Dick Grayson had a guide.  A Mentor.  Someone who had been exactly where he was, and could keep him from being consumed by darkness.  And that’s reflected in their uniforms.  The bright boy and the dark man. Adding to that, the Wayne’s murderer got away. There will be no vengeance or justice for Batman, just a gaping wound.  Dick got justice for his parents. He saw that what they did worked, and that he could keep doing it for other people.  Whereas Batman is driven by a desire to hurt those who hurt others, Dick is here to help.  That’s something Tom King wrote into his character over and over during his run, the words “how can I help”.  And if you look at the jobs he’s held down since striking out on his own: Police Officer, Guidance Counselor, Personal trainer, even bartending at a cop bar where he could give these guys relief (as well as pick up some leads) are all acts of service towards others.  Which when the time came, made him a very different Batman.

The time eventually came.  Bruce Wayne was “dead” (as dead as anyone is in comics), and Gotham City was in chaos. Initially Bruce left instructions for Dick not to become Batman. Because Nightwing was strong enough.  He was his own man and Bruce believed in what he was doing.  However, Gotham needs Batman, the symbol.  And for the first time truly, not just putting on the cape and cowl, but deep in his bones, Dick Grayson became Batman. Fulfilling the legacy.  He is not Bruce Wayne, just like we cannot be Bruce Wayne, but he can do his best to live up to what the symbol of The Batman means to him, just like us.  Which brings me to where Dick Grayson is the future of the cinematic Batman franchise.

Over the last few years, we are experiencing a massive shift in how our male heroes are percieved.  In the 80s which gave birth to Dark Knight Returns, a huge influence on the DCEU Batman, we saw a trend of hypermasculinity in our heroes.  They were JACKED, strong, fearless, .50 Cal from the hip, Macho Men, stoic badasses that were too busy punching out teeth and blowing shit up to feel sissy-ass feelings.  And that is where Batman has lived for years in comic continuity. He doesn’t say I love you, he doesn’t hug, he doesn’t feel feelings, he’s a rage-powered badass dressed all in black that kicks in criminals’ kneecaps because he probably kind of likes it.  At the end of the day, you read enough of these comics and question whether or not Batman is actually a good man. Is he doing this to save the day, or inflict pain? Probably some of both.

As we survey the current landscape of masculinity, of heroism, of feminism, it’s important to question our heroes. It’s important to question, is this the ideal that we want people to strive for? In Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, we saw that Frank Miller Dark Knight Returns in all his glory.  In my opinion, Ben Affleck’s portrayal of Batman was my favorite thing about that film. He was deliciously brutal, he was stubborn in his righteousness, he was extreme in his methodology, he was....murdering people? He was losing himself.  He was so caught up in his need for violence, his need for war that he attempted to murder superman with a freaking spear. I suspect Justice League was intended to have a more redemptive arc for the demon he had become, but in any case, he has still become a monster.  He has dwelled in hell so long that he has become the very type of devil he sought to destroy.

The best thing for Bruce Wayne would be to leave this life behind somehow. Pass the cowl on to the man who he trained for this very purpose. A hero that exemplifies modern healthy masculinity.  Who can say “I love you”, who wants to seek justice more than vengeance, who can maintain healthy friendships and relationships, who believes in kindness, friendship, and laughter.  I think it is time for Dick Grayson to take his place in cinematic history as Batman.

That doesn’t even touch upon the fact that the DCEU Batman is around 45 years old.  While incredible and imaginative, they’ve set him at a natural age to retire from jumping off rooftops and withstanding repeated head trauma. If you look at Batman as a pro athlete, you simply do not see them at his age and doing tremendously well.  Which when your sport is dodging gunfire and acting as bait for super aliens so other super aliens can clobber them, is not great.  I think DC Entertainment is looking for ways to have a more youthful Batman, and I believe Dick Grayson is part of that natural path.

And that doesn’t mean we won’t have Bruce Wayne stories.  As the news has just dropped, Matt Reeves is telling his own young Bruce tales.  But as far as the Batman that stands shoulder to shoulder with Wonder Woman, and Superman?  Here we have a young man in Dick Grayson coming into his own as a hero on the world’s stage, just like Diana and Clark.  A young man with the strategic mind of Batman, the physical training, the gadgets, resources, but without the blinding rage, pain, and cynicism.  A superhero that looks at the world and wants to genuinely help people. Not out of a deep psychological need to harm those who harmed him, but because he was broken and then saved, and he can do that for other people.  Being a good person is all the superpower you need. As a culture, I believe those are the heroes we need right now. And as for Dick Grayson, he’s a born showman, and I think it’s time for him to take the stage.

[darkspellmaster]

Young Justice Theory: Connections to the Crisis Quartet....

So about this rather interesting spoiler I discovered thanks to the CBR board... Better safe than sorry on this one because if this turns out to be true then it’s a doozy of a situation that the crew is going to be put into. So a fair warning before you dive in...there are spoilers below to several DC comic events: Identity Crisis, Count down to Infinite Crisis, Infinite Crisis, Identity Crisis, Crisis on Infinite Earths, 52, Countdown to Final Crisis and Final Crisis. 

These stories contain: Death, some gore, and at least one has a rather unpleasant factor of rape being involved as part of it’s story. Because I’m going to be discussing the above things partly in this and there will be pictures that might upset some people I just want to give people a heads up. You have been warned going in. 

Okay so what the hell am I going on about and honestly when I was reading this I was freaking out. So a post of so ago I mentioned some theories about this season and talked about the possibility of the Anti life equation factoring into the story. Thanks to the gallery for the next three episodes, this wonderful post here from Spitfire or Bust, the Behind the scenes footage from this season on the DCUniverse, a post on CBR’s forums, and a link to  young justice.tv spoilers, I can almost 90% say Seasons 3 and 4 and possibly 5 will be dealing with the Crisis Quartet, or at least three of them, from DC’s main comics. 

We know that this is going to be a thing as Greg already confirmed in season 2 that season 3 was going to deal with Apokolips, just not how much directly (as this story can’t be told in 26 episodes, no way in hell it would be horribly paced). 

We also know that the names of the episodes have been pretty much confirmed as Episode 11 is Called Home Fires and the Behind the Scenes image confirmed the title in the image that we see with Iris and Bart. 

The site in question has it as episode 9, however this confirms it as Episode 11. However they have the others right so far, so either BTS got the number wrong or the site did. Doesn’t change the factor that there’s some thing interesting in the titles. 

Take each of the first letter of the first word of the names of the titles, and you get: 

Prepare the Anti Life Equation. 

This little message, has ties not only to Apokolips and Darkseid, but it also has ties directly to the Crisis Quartet and the fall out that happened after. 

So first what is the Quartet? Well it is a group of four Crisis that happened in DC comics, three of which were between 2004 to 2010, while the first happened in 1985 -1986 and affected all stories that followed going forward after it. 

So to simplify things. Here’s a fast rundown on the important factors about these Crisis and their connections to YJ Season 3, 4 and maybe 5 if things go well. 

So Way back in the 1980s DC was having issue with keeping up with it’s own continuity because there was so many books and worlds. Because of this and their own anniversary coming up they tasked then Teen Titan’s writers Marv Wolfman and artist/co-writer Jorge Perez, to come up with an event that would solidify the DCU’s continuity. These two came up with: 

Crisis on Infinite Earths: 

Now this story while really important as the backbone in the main DCU going forward doesn’t have as much to do with YJ in the long run as of yet. But it does have some important factors that will be coming into play I think later on, and we already saw a part of this happening in Season 2 with Walley vanishing. So bullet points ahoy for only the things that are important in this story for later in comments. 

Short and long of it is that a being named the monitor trying to stop another creature named the Anti-monitor from destroying the Universe. All the different DC worlds come together to fight him, Super-girl dies, along with several other characters, during this event where all the worlds in DC merge into one world with a over all collected history.  (This collection is still in print and you can find it at your local bookstore or comic shop.)

- Barry Allen vanishes as he’s running from the future or from an event that is coming from the future to warn Batman and the others an disperses into the speed force. 

We’ve already seen this with Wally in his run where he vanishes in season 2 following a pattern of what happened to Barry. 

- Superman from the Golden age, his Lois Lane, Alexander Luthor (son of Lex Luthor from another earth where the Villain versions of the JL resided and Lex and the others there are heroes), and Superboy Prime ( a superboy that is the lone hero of his world) all are put into a pocket dimension as the worlds are merged into one. 

We haven’t had that yet, but it’s an important point in later stories. The reason I bring these guys up is because of their role and how other characters can easily fill in for them in the coming events. 

Fast forward several years. The DC Universe has been remade and during the later part of the 80s and into the 90s we saw the whole “let’s go dark and gritty” thing happen. Characters like Batman had their back broken, Superman died and was reborn, Wonder woman had to figure herself out. There were light spots, JLI for example and parts of the Teen Titans, but a lot of things grew darker. Like the Outsiders and the whole Judas contract. While things did lighten up a lot in the late 90s and into the 2000s, we got Lois and Clark married by then, Jason died and came back to life, Babs got shot by Joker, YJ and a lot of other books that were more upbeat came about in the mid to late 90s, However DC decided that there was still a lot of things that could be fixed and decided to create, basically for the upcoming Anniversary of CoIE, a new set of crisis to happen. 

This started with Brad Meltzer’s quasi thriller:

Identity Crisis

This story actually has importance. While not as exact as the other stories in regard to what’s happening there are enough key things going on here. The major plot point is that someone has murdered Elastic man’s wife, and the JL has a dark secret revealed that rocks every one. (Again you can find it still in print.) 

One of the main reasons that there is significance to this story is not only does Batman leave the Justice League but also there is some tie in to characters in the past and their actions. What’s interesting here is how this narrative can be woven into the recent events of Season 2 and could become significant in season 3 and 4 given what’s going down now. 

-Zantana mind wipes Dr. Light and several other villains, and does the same for Bruce when he discovers what’s been going on and is against the altering of Dr. Light’s mind. 

Connections here may not be obvious as its clear the story line is taking Bruce leaving from the creation of the Outsiders. However there is significance here in that Batman doesn’t trust the league at this point, which adds into his paranoid view of the world at times. 

While it’s clearly not Zantana in this case, Megan has been showing similar actions in season 2. We saw her changing Conner’s memory in the past season, and we know she did the same to Psimon, and Kaldur. We can’t be sure if these were the only cases, as Greg does like to play with expectations. 

It would not be too much to buy into the idea that Psimon could play the part of Dr. Light in this story and eventually come back to form a group of villains that were mind altered by M’ggan. Now while I don’t think it will be exactly the same I feel like there’s going to be backlash from people when they find out what she did two years ago. As shown when Gar mentioned that it wasn’t cool what she did to Conner when he found out. And you know that Batman will be pissed by this, wondering if she did the same to Dick, not to mention Kaldur and wondering if he’s compromised. 

-Deathstroke takes on the League and beats them by himself. 

Deathstroke is known for being a bit OP at times, but in this story he outdid himself when he took down the whole league. We haven’t seen this happen yet as he’s only been in a handful of scene’s but given that there are hints of him returning, what with Tera missing, it wouldn’t be that hard to buy into the idea with the titles we have of one of them leading to a defeat of the whole YJ team, and pretty much protecting whatever investment he has been hired to protect. 

Not sure how he’s going to fit in or who’s he’s protecting as of yet, because he was hired by Dr. Light in the original, but I feel certain that he’s going to end up causing a lot of issue for others in this case, more than likely Aquaman and possibly Geoforce. 

-Events cause Batman to create Brother Eye, leading to the OMAC project

So because of the fact that Bruce figured out he was mind wiped by Zee, he decides to create the Brother Eye satellite that eventually goes rogue because of Maxwell Lord and Alexander Luthor mucking about with it. The main goal was to have the Satellite watch Metahumans because of the mind wipe that Batman and other had had. 

Now we recently saw the appearance of Brother Eye, don’t believe me, just look at Oracle’s eye at the moment. It’s purple and it’s the same shape as the Omac logo. Thing is, Omac’s colors, along with Brother Eye’s are purple, Oracle’s are traditionally green. 

This means that Bruce already may have built the Brother eye set up, since we don’t know if Babs could have built that sort of set up. This seems more like a Bruce thing. In addition to this, if he already has the Brother Eye project going this means that he probably knows about M’ggan doing her mind things, but isn’t telling anyone that he’s keeping an eye on them. Why? Well it’s Bruce, he’s paranoid. 

So what would this mean for this season and upcoming ones? Well...

Countdown to Infinite crisis 

In this case the story line was covering Ted Kord -Blue Beetle, who had tracked down a mystery which ended up getting him killed by his former friend Maxwell Lord who had taken over the Omac project and brother eye.  

-OMAC project lead to the death of Ted Kord via Maxwell Lord and then this allowed Checkmate to take over Superman and have him nearly kill Batman and Wonder Woman and the other JL members. Leading to Wonder Woman to snap his neck and kill him to stop the whole thing from going down. 

So one key thing here, Maxwell Lord was sort of the “Charlie” to the JLI’s “Angels”. He sent them on missions and the like, and while he wasn’t exactly a bad guy, he wasn’t exactly a good one either. By the end of the series he had realized a lot of his own faults and dealt with some issues that would take a while to discuss, so let’s say that he redeemed himself...

Then DC said screw it, we need a villain and made him become the head of Checkmate, a black ops/Shield like organization in the DC universe. He killed Ted Kord when he found out that Max was going to basically use a bunch of cyborgs and take over Superman’s mind. 

Now while we know that Ted died when he stopped Sportsmaster and Deathstroke from obtaining the scarab, and we assume it was the Light that sent them to get it in the first place, there may be some connection to this part of the story given that we may see the play out of the mother box and possibly Ted having found out info prior to his death about certain things happening. I don’t think they will go for the “Wonder woman snaps necks” but it’s possible that something else will take it’s place. 

(Okay strike that...given what happened recently with Halo in episode 6, I can see them allowing this if it’s within the reasons for the story.) 

It is important though to note that if Brother Eye is involved this could lead to an additional army for Darkseid. Brother Eye and Omac did eventually control Superman, which could be something that may happen in YJ as an option. They also became a dangerous group that attacked everyone on earth trying to protect them from Metahumans. 

And what are we seeing a huge backlash against in Markovia? Metahumans. 

-During events prior to Infinite Crisis several events happened that caused a lot of issues. Among them being a point where Superboy (Conner Kent/Kon-El) was triggered by Lex to attack the Teen Titans at the time.

While this hasn’t happened yet, we do know that Conner has DNA that links to Lex, and in this story line Lex allowed for the triggering of his DNA to basically cause Conner to shave his head and become a villain that went on to try to decimate the teen Titans. 

It’s not that hard of a guess that this could be something that could happen to him given that we’ve seen them pair up Brion with Superboy and it seems if anyone can take him on head to head in regard to raw power it’s Brion. This could lead to a moment of Brion trying to help his mentor. 

-Following Identity Crisis and during the lead up to Infinite Crises we had Day of Vengeance, where the Rock of Eternity that housed the powers of Shazam was shattered by the Specter due to breaking from Hal Jordan. 

Here it’s less about the Specter as we have not seen him in YJ proper, but the idea that someone could attack the Rock of Eternity is a rather big thing. Remember we have two powerful geological users here, and it could come down to Terra doing that over Specter in this case. Either through use of her own powers or possibly enhanced by New God equipment. 

Reason I at all bring this up is the focus on Billy in Episode one and how no one yet knows his secret ID. This may become important later as if that Rock breaks, Shazam and all his power are gone and Billy would be revealed to be a kid. This would be something Greg would do to weaken the JL and lead to Superboy having to take on something more powerful without the Big Red Cheese to help him out. (For those that don’t know that’s the nickname of Captain Marvel -Shazam.) 

Billy falling from the sky leads to the start of Infinite Crisis, which would be a very strong opening to possibly season 4 or towards the end of season 3. 

Villains United

The reason I bring this up is because this group seems to be likely the new Light. Humor me here for a moment. In Villain’s united,follows a series of events where an individual by the name of Mockingbird groups together the organization that will be later known as the Secret Six to stop the Secret society of Super Villains that seems to be run by Lex Luthor. The story goes on to have ties to the events of Infinite Crisis, but also build up to some very interesting revelations in regard to Lex and Alexander Luthor. (You can still get this run at the book store.) 

The thing about this mini series is that there’s a lot of things going on in there that could easily show up in the next few seasons of YJ. 

-Lex Luthor who is the president amasses an army to stand against the super heroes. 

We’re already seeing that Lex as Secretary has plans and is playing against the Justice League with the UN. We’re also seeing that there’s an army being made for fighting via Darkseid, but it’s clear that there’s more to it than just them giving him kids. We’re also seeing the Lex is helping to get others to dislike the Metahumans, the JL and possibly heroes. 

Now while there is no Alexander Luthor (as far as we know), we also know that Lex, like Ra’s isn’t a man that just would let Darkseid walk all over his world. So I’m curious about this. If he’s playing up the dislike for Metas and heroes as a means of using them against something bigger. 

-the Secret Society of Super Villains consists of Dr. Psycho, Deathstroke, Talia al ghul, Black Adam, Calculator. 

Of these characters we’ve seen at least three on the show so far. Talia was just shown this season, though I don’t know if she’s going to have any role working with the Light. She could easily be replaced by Queen Bee, DeathStroke we know is probably connected to the League of Assassins and could be representing them for the Light group (though that could be another person as well) and was on the show in season 2, Black Adam was shown in Season 1 and as for the other two, we know Count Vertigo is working with them still, so you can take out Dr. Psycho, and since we now have Oracle, I would expect them to get Calculator to counter her at some point in time. 

-Cheshire, Vandal Savage’s daughter and other characters that have played parts in YJ play a part in this story and here we learn about opposing groups in that story to the villains group. More importantly we learn that Lex may be playing more than one side. 

We’ve seen last season that Lex is willing to play around a lot in regard to the side he’s on. This story line could be used as an explanation to where Cheshire is at in YJ and maybe show that there’s more going on that the kids and the JL doesn’t know about. It would certainly fit into the idea of more information in coming seasons and also could be used to push Luthor into becoming President. Which is honestly where I think Greg is going with this. 

With all the new information coming out with these last three episodes, I think there’s more clues showing up for the option of Infinite Crisis happening and how that is connected into Final Crisis. 

Infinite Crisis

This long event series, written by several of DC’s best writers at the time, covered various events that had linked to the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths. This story was coinciding with the anniversary of COIE, and heavily mirrors it but also acts as a book end to the after math of the more hopeful ending of that one with a mixed bag of an ending with this one. Several well known character’s end up dead, we get a new villain, and some massive changes happen to the characters that it would take another Crisis to undo. 

The important thing about Infinite is it’s sort of the middle event, or Empire like story, for these Crisis. It also plays a role in leading up to events in Final and setting the ball rolling for Darkseid to make his moves. 

We have a number of important characters that play a huge role in Infinite Crisis and then later Countdown to Final Crisis and Final Crisis itself already on YJ and it seems like this story has aspects that could easily fit in with this season or the next. 

-Actions taken by the main trio of bad guys in this lead to the destruction of the Watchtower, and the trinity fighting with one another. Superboy Prime kills several people including Superboy, Kal -L (Earth two Superman) tried to get batman on their side but he refuses, They’re trying to use earth as a tuning fork to create a paradise and reshape the many different worlds. 

While there are a lot of things in this story that I don’t see happening, I do see a few that can be used to effectively lead into Final Crisis. For one thing having M’comm replace Superboy Prime and also have him act as the instigator in various fights and wars by having the Martians go and pretend to be other characters. 

We’ve already seen that Conner is engaged to M’ggan and her brother try to enlist her the same way that Kal tries to get Batman to join him. We’ve also seen the images of brother eye in the form of Oracle’s set up, and that the Mother boxes are being used in some way. M’comm is arguing for a revolution to make a paradise like world and we know that he is extremely strong and could easily play the part of Superboy Prime if he wanted too. We also see he’s willing to kill, something that SBP was more than willing to do, and blamed others for his actions. 

These smaller items could lead into more dramatic moments later in the series, including Superboy’s death as a possibility. 

Important events by the end hint that Bruce goes off with Dick and Tim to train, Diana returns home to find herself, and Clark has to lay low and rest to get his powers back after the events in the story. Given what we’ve been seeing with the recent episodes, we may be seeing similar things going on here. Bruce leaving to train with Dick and Tim seems likely as the story line seems to be invoking Judas contract as well and probably will be affecting Dick, who more than likely will have issues with the fall out of Brion and Tara, and Tim is going to be dealing with whatever happens with his new little crew. 

Diana is a hard one as we don’t know her relationship with Cassie or Kaldur, so it’s up in the air, but Kal may take Diana’s role of leaving to find himself after the events in the story. And if Superboy doesn’t die, then he may step up for Clark in this case, or we’ll see other Super’s come into that role. Unless Conner is the one to lose all his powers. 

52, World War III, and One Year Later

Following in the wake of Infinite crisis there’s the story of 52 which covers the time span of the 52 weeks between the end of the Crisis and the start of the countdown for Final crisis. While I don’t think 52 and the companion piece One year Later, is going to feature in this season I do think that we may see it feature in the next building up to the idea of a Final crisis like story and eventually into another time skip. 

-52 worlds come out of the Infinite Crisis and Booster Gold learns about it with another time traveler Rip Hunter, oh and his robot friend goes evil. 

It’s unknown if Booster is going to show up in this season, but there have been rumors. However, if he doesn’t show up this story line could go to a number of different characters, including Traci 13, Impulse, Flash, or even one of our new characters. 

-Cult of Superman

While the story line regarding the Cult will probably drastically change, I do think that there are a few things that may come about from it. I think that it could be Zee working with Fate to deal with Neron, and Faust if he becomes involved. 

-The Everyman project that Lex creates, which leads to Steel and Natasha Irons playing a large role. 

This I can see happening in the wake of us losing members of the JL that depart for various reasons. Either because of the fight or they have to step down for some reason. I could easily see Lex using this in later seasons to grow his own mini power struggle with the Light and it would fit in with the idea of the Government wanting to regulate the Metahumans that are now showing up. Though I feel like this would be next season over this season. 

-Jason Todd taking over as Nightwing and Supergirl returns from the 31st Century. 

We already can assume a Red Hood story will come out of this recent revelation with Jason showing up, and we have Wally missing much like Supergirl was, and it’s not that hard to buy into the idea of Wally returning from the future feeling completely unsure of himself and talking about things that can happen due to what’s going down now. Jason, more than likely, could take over Dick’s costume and screw with stuff just because he can and probably feels a bit left out of things. 

-Donna Troy takes over as Wonder Woman and Arthur becomes the Dweller of the Depths. 

In the actual story there are reasons for both, but I think that Donna may take on the role if they have Wonder Woman kill Maxwell Lord. On the other hand I think Arthur may have saved Sub Diego during the two year jump and the reason we don’t have him is because he’s become this creature known as the dweller of the Depths. This would have lead Kal to becoming a leader while Mera acts as ruler underwater while Kal acts as leader in place of Arthur. 

-J’onn comes to a different conclusion about being a martian on earth after being mind linked to Black Adam. 

While I don’t see this coming into play during this season or during the time skip in the future, it may explain where M’ggan’s new look comes from. Maybe she’s changed to her new look due to some sort of event that plays with what happened to J’onn. While I don’t think that it will happen exactly as in the comic the precedence is there as an option for the two year time skip. 

Other aspects that could play into the story and season 4 as a possibly: the trinity step down from their roles, Aquaman allies himself with Dweller of the Depths and King shark, New Doom Patrol, Hawkman goes missing, Jason and Dick both are Nightwing, New Birds of Prey is formed, Oliver Queen becomes the Mayor of Star City, New crew of Teen Titans, Vandal Savage starts up plans to regain his immortality, New JSA, Bart becomes the Flash, Tim Drake tries to clone Superboy to bring Kon back....

Not all of this will happen, but a number of these seem like givens. 

Given how the UN is treating Meta humans, I can see the Trinity being forced out of their roles for a period of time. Kaldur may have to make deals to protect his friends if Apokolips is setting up for something dark and in doing so he may get in over his head. I can easily see Greg building up a new Doom Patrol in a one year later situation, and we don’t know where Hawkman is as of right now since he’s in the Rann shot. 

Babs forming the Birds as a means of dealing with the Light and the League would make sense, Oliver could step into role of Mayor allowing for Conner Hawke to come into YJ as the new Green Arrow, and we know that the younger crew of YJ is going to come more into play. We also know that Vandel is working with Darkseid and into whatever plan he has for the Anti life equation. Bart becoming Flash could be an option if Wally isn’t brought back till later, and I have no doubt that should Conner die M’ggan will more than likely try to pull off Tim’s clone game to bring him back. 

Would be interesting in lieu of Conner coming back we get Kara and have her show that there is more than just Superman. 

Countdown to Final Crisis

So now we have come to the part where things become interesting. Countdown to Final Crisis covers the events that were supposed to lead to Final Crisis, but some of it doesn’t go anywhere. So I’m just focusing on Darkseid in this case, and if any hints of other stories shows up later in the show I’ll point it out. 

-Darkseid is planing on being the Architect of the universe, and his brother Drax, aka Infinity man (who can be summoned by the Forever people) is killing the New gods. 

Given the images we have so far and what we’ve seen in the episodes, it seems that this could be something that could play out in some way. We know Darkseid is working on creating something, probably the Anti life equation. We have Forager who comes from this story showing up in the show so far. The thing is that in this case we know that the with Infinity Man killing off the New Gods this leads to events in Final Crisis. 

Honestly I can see some of this playing out here slightly. We do have the Forever People around and it would fit into the possibility that a New God is the one that is inside Halo. 

I think for the sake of lenght that I’m going to tackle Final Crisis as it’s own thing over going forward with this one as it’s already really long. 

See Final crisis theory of YJ for the rest. :) 

[panharmonium]

crime is doomed

@brambleberrycottage, here’s the long long reply to your message!  and i’ll tag @padmerrie too, because she’s asked me for my batman recs before, and now I can just send her this!  

Full disclosure, I actually stopped following comic books sometime in 2011, when DC did their big reboot (or one of many reboots, I guess, is more accurate).  I’d already had a love/hate relationship with comic books for years, and the reboot kind of just made it worse - it essentially was DC saying “we’re starting the whole universe over (ostensibly to make it easier to draw in new readers); the characters you’re used to now have new histories/timelines; everybody’s younger, the stories you read before didn’t necessarily ever happen, characters no longer have the same relationships with each other, etc.”  And it’s whatever, you know, comics are gonna do their thing, but some of my favorite characters got erased from existence, and the others weren’t the same people anymore, and I was just exhausted from trying to care - being a comic book fan felt like being constantly jerked around on a chain swinging around Dan DiDio’s head.  I stopped reading when the reboot started, and to be honest I’ve never looked back.

This isn’t to say there aren’t things to love about comics; it’s just that I think you have to approach them with a certain mindset to stay happy, and said mindset is, for me, the following: read what you like and ignore everything else. Literally. Just pretend it didn’t happen.  Because it didn’t, probably, or it won’t have, eventually, and even if it did, no one is ever going to remember it. Comic book continuity is impossible to keep track of; there are too many writers and too many years of stories out there for us to really have one consistent Story, but for some reason the people in charge of DC think this is a problem?  Editorial teams’ hapless attempts to organize continuity in a way that Makes Sense Across The Board are half of what drives me nuts about comics - they result in reboot after reboot of trying to line up everyone’s storylines and make the universe cohesive, but really what happens is that readers just get completely fatigued by trying to keep up with constant new realities.  Case in point - that reboot universe from 2011?  Already getting re-rebooted by 2016, because - surprise! - the 2011 reboot reality was apparently just Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen messing with the timeline and erasing 10 years from everyone’s lives, and now they have do undo the 2011 universe by rebooting the reboot - it makes me want to kick a telephone pole.

It’s just...so unnecessary.  I don’t care if the timelines don’t add up; I don’t care that there are a million conflicting stories in the canon.  Who cares that Batman hasn’t had a birthday in 30 years?  We don’t need a way to explain characters staying young - it’s a comic book.  Suspension of disbelief is fine. We are all pretending that we can tell infinite stories about these people, and time passes, but doesn’t pass - it’s all make-believe.  I just want to read a good story about good characters.  Keep it simple.

Because of that, I tend to be a very spotty reader, because I pick bits and pieces of stuff I like, and then ignore literally anything else.  It’s the only way to survive comic book hell, for me.

So yeah!  Things I have liked:

I grew up during the Nightwing: Vol. 2 run of Nightwing’s solo series, 1996-2009.  It runs from issue 1-153 and is completely collected into trade paperbacks, starting with A Knight in Bludhaven and ending with The Great Leap.  Quality obviously varies between writers and according to your own tastes, but it’s my go-to for Nightwing material.

I remember liking Batman: Prodigal a lot as well.  Nightwing is filing in as Batman while Bruce is away…doing something, I forget what.  I think it’s after Bruce had his back broken by Bane, which is an older classic Batman story.  At any rate, this book has a great scene at the end between Bruce and Dick, and you get to see a lot of Dick hanging out with Tim (Robin #3) as well.

I like the Robin: Year One trade paperback a lot as well.  I don’t know that it’s exactly a “canon” story, technically (but like I said, canon means nothing in comics; everything is canon if you like it enough) and I liked reading about younger Dick Grayson.  I taught myself to draw by copying pages of this comic in my sketchbook when I was a kid.

My favorite ensemble arc growing up was the Bruce Wayne: Murderer? and Bruce Wayne: Fugitive storyline.  The batfamily (the configuration that I grew up with, at least - Dick, Tim, Barbara, Cassandra, and Alfred) have to work together to prove that Bruce didn’t murder a reporter in his home - and convince Bruce to let them help him.

I also love a bunch of the storylines in the Gotham Knights series - these tended to be more character-driven, which is what I go for.  I especially recommend #18 (Cavernous), #16-17 (Matatoa Parts 1 and 2 - huge character milestone for Bruce and Dick), and #8-11 (Transference).  

I know at some point I also read Batman: Cataclysm and Batman: No Man’s Land, both of which are long ensemble stories dealing with an earthquake that hits Gotham City.  

There are also a lot of animated shows featuring the Batfamily as well: Batman: The Animated Series is the oldest - it’s classic and QUALITY; so well done. Probably the best animated intro to the Batman universe.

I enjoyed Young Justice a lot, though it’s *definitely* not canon and doesn’t comply with the comic book universe - they change a bunch of characters’ ages so young Dick as Robin is on a team with a bunch of people he’s not really contemporaries with in the comics.  I still liked watching it, though.

Damian appears in three animated movies - Son of Batman, Batman vs. Robin, and Bad Blood.  I’ve only watched Bad Blood, and I don’t remember a lot of it, so I can’t comment too much on how good it was.

Now, to respond to your request for Dick and Damian -

I’m not sure how much you already know about them, so just in case - Damian made his big appearance in 2006 with the Batman and Son storyline by Grant Morrison.  Damian is Bruce Wayne’s biological son (though Bruce doesn’t know he exists until this 2006 storyline, when Damian is like…ten years old?  idk). Damian was raised by the League of Assassins, which his mother, Talia al-Ghul, and grandfather, Ra’s al-Ghul, are in charge of.

This is a VERY abbreviated summary, but Damian is basically dropped off by Talia to live with Bruce and join Batman’s fight on crime (to ‘take his place as Batman’s rightful heir,’ technically), but he’s a little shit with no social graces and a horrible attitude and also he wants to murder bad guys, which is not the Batfamily’s modus operandi.  Granted, Damian has not had the best upbringing, so it’s understandable, maybe, but it makes things difficult.

Damian was almost universally reviled as a character when he was introduced. However, things got more interesting when Bruce “died” during the Final Crisis event in 2008.  Dick Grayson (Nightwing, formerly the first Robin) took over the mantle of Batman, and with it, he assumed responsibility for taking care of Damian. (Aaaaand this is where the story becomes a lot like Obi-Wan Kenobi and young Anakin Skywalker, except Dick Grayson is far more cheerful than Obi-Wan and Damian is way more of an asshat than Anakin).  

Being partnered with Dick, whose easy personality, sense of humor, and ability to roll with the punches made him very well suited to dealing with “a ten year-old pain in the ass,” humanized Damian in a way that previous comics hadn’t been able to do.  Under Dick’s guidance, Damian actually started to become much more likable.  He still acts like entitled royalty, but it becomes far more endearing.  I love the way his relationship with Dick develops, and how Damian, for all his snippiness and attitude, really comes to respect Nightwing in a way that he doesn’t respect - or like, even - anybody else.  Bruce, at one point after he returns from being (not)dead, describes Dick’s ways with Damian as “near-miraculous” - Dick is the only person who is really able to get through to him.

So for those two,

Batman: Long Shadows collects stuff from when Dick first takes over as Batman.  I really forget a lot of stuff in this book, but I do remember very clearly the awesome scene with Dick ranting to Alfred about how heavy the cape is and how much he hates wearing it.  

The next 5 trades in the Batman series (Long Shadows, Life After Death, Time and the Batman, Eye of the Beholder, and Gotham Shall Be Judged) - I don’t honestly know that I’ve read every one of them, but they catalogue Dick’s time as Batman, so I assume Damian is in there somewhere.

You can definitely check out Batman and Robin, Volumes 1-4, which ran from 2009-2011 (Batman Reborn, Batman vs. Robin, Batman and Robin Must Die!, and Dark Knight vs. White Knight) for four books whose entire focus is Dick and Damian working together :)

After this, the 2011 reboot happened, and everything got weird for me, and I stopped reading.  Damian ended up dead at some point, which was a big thumbs down in my book, but then he more recently came back to life (comic books, good lord), but my ability to recommend things for you to read about their relationship fails after the 2011 cut-off.

But anyway, that is my list of recs - I am sure I’ve read and enjoyed other things, and there are lots of things out there I haven’t read which I’m sure are good, but this is about as much as my comics brain can handle.  XD  Hope it’s helpful!

[disregardcanon]

but like, yj true blood au

prepare for the weirdest thing i have written in weeks

there’s two parts of this: the bart centric one and then the batfam one

bart centric 

everyone’s vaguely concerned that the small speedster never eats anything. wally was literally always eating, even now that he’s retired. plus, this kid is tiny and doesn’t seem like he’s growing or anything? 

so at some point, the team all goes out. and barbara’s like yeah guys get whatever you want, it’s on me. and bart’s like oh cool, and he orders a bottle of b negative. 

and barbara’s debating whether to spend the forty bucks and watch this child struggle to drink nasty fake blood, or just tell him fuck no you’re not doing that for a prank. and she decides to let it slide and some of the other kids at the table are like dude you shouldn’t do that batgirl’s paying and some of the others are like dude what if there are like, actual vampires here that get offended when you can’t down that shit. 

but when the drinks come, bart’s fangs come out and he downs the bottle of blood. and everyone’s like WHAT THE FUCK how did we not know about this? and he’s like i never mentioned it but i never tried to hide it? come on guys i wasn’t subtle. and jaime’s like how did i not notice this and also oh my god i’m b negative wtf 

“i’ll come out of the closet and the coffin at the same time, i’m a gay vampire” and everyone’s like okay and then someone awkwardly asks how old he is and bart tries to pretend that he’s thousands of years old and he met all of them in the future and jaime’s like uh no there’s no way, and then bart blushes and he’s like “i’m actually sixteen” because he was turned when he was fourteen and it’s been two years since then. and everyone’s like oh okay alright this isn’t weird at all. (and jaime’s just thinking about how it’s probably less weird for his fifteen year old ass to be crushing on bart now that he knows he’s actually sixteen, right? someone validate jaime’s feelings okay) 

babs and tim both try to be cool about it because bruce and alfred are both vamps (at 117 and 223 respectively) but this guy’s a baby and even though he’s good at hiding it because he’s bart and he’s good at this lying thing, he doesn’t really know HOW to be a vampire for various reasons. one being he’s just that young, the second being his maker is the Worst (it’s eobard thawne (who is 578 but that’s not relevant) and he only chose to turn bart because he’s the flash’s grandson and he wanted to get at the flash by putting his bloodline under his dominion and also kind of ending it because dawn and don are both dead and bart was the only grandchild) and bart is eventually able to run away and finds himself with nathaniel, working on the plan to get back to the past. 

other tidbits

one time bart definitely compels garfield to turn into a chicken during a team meeting or something and while it’s hilarious, it also comes with a discussion about consent and no-nos of vampire powers and previously moded jaime doesn’t talk to him for a week afterwards. 

somehow thawne realizes that he was bart’s maker and shit goes down, because in case you’re not familiar with true blood lore, the maker bond is a very strong thing in this universe and the maker can compel their children to do shit so thawne realizing he has that sort of power over the flash’s grandson/sidekick has... ill effects. 

batfam vamp sort of things

alfred was turned when he was 72 years old (in 1865). in the 1870s he crosses the pond over to america and takes a job with the waynes as their butler. in 1899, bruce is born and in 1907 thomas and martha are killed. 

bruce leaves to become a super awesome warrior man overseas in 1916. in 1924, he shows up to wayne manor almost dead at 25 years old, and alfred makes the decision to turn him instead of letting him die. 

they keep mainly to themselves for the rest of the 20th century, and batman becomes a legendary figure in gotham. 

in 2007, bruce takes in dick grayson and dick becomes robin. bruce drops the vampire bomb as soon as he drops the batman bomb, and dick immediately decides that vampires are the Coolest and he wants to be one. 

he realizes later that’s not the case, and he doesn’t know if he would ever want that. 

in 2008, vampires come out of the coffin, and bruce does too because it’s kind of obvious at this point. he has been keeping up this act for about a century. 

barbara is decidedly against the vampire thing and would never want to turn. she was as certain of that in 2012 when she became batgirl as she is now. 

jason todd becomes robin 2013, tries to get bruce to turn him a ton (even though he’s only 14 and turning that young is awful, just ask bart allen) 

he dies at age 16 in 2015, and the al ghuls don’t give a choice. he’s reborn then, and he isn’t certain that he wants to be anymore. 

tim drake becomes robin a bit after that, and is just as excited about the vampire thing as jason was. he becomes less excited once he meets red hood. 

stephanie thinks that being a vampire is overrated but definitely enjoys the raunchy romance novels, which she leaves around for bruce to awkwardly find and throw away. 

cass cain was turned at age 12 to make her the “perfect warrior” and she comes to them scared and messed up and always stuck at least partially in the childhood she never really got. 

content warning for this bullet: damian can’t exist as the physical child of bruce and talia (because they’re DOUBLE vampires okay, it was never going to happen) but ra’s found their closest living relatives, stole their reproductive materials at gun point basically and then found a surrogate. eventually damian, who was designed to be the perfect al ghul/wayne hybrid for ra’s’s nest finds bruce and the batfam through a “son of the batman” sort of plot. 

i don’t know enough about duke thomas to write a proper backstory but he looks cool and i’m including him. he’s here somewhere.