#Firebug

[about-faces]

—Simon Delart

[thearkman360]

How Batman: Caped Crusader wasted Firebug

(MAJOR SPOILERS for Batman: Caped Crusader & Batman #318)

Hoo-boy, this is gonna be a long one...

When I heard that Firebug was going to be used in Batman: Caped Crusader I didn't pay it any mind outside of "Oh, using an obscure Batman villain that's like Firefly who isn't Firefly" and when I watched the episode with Firebug I found him to be a funny little goober villain played by Tom Kenny, that might as well have been Firefly, and nothing more. I was a bit shocked by his death since it was very sudden but other than that I didn't care.

After this I decided to look up Firebug and discovered that he has this whole backstory and motive not used in the show. In the comics, Firebug is a veteran named Joey Rigger that targets and burns down apartment buildings in Gotham City not out of rabid pyromania but out of a sympathetic cause; the buildings are deathtraps! (well at least the first two, the third was just bad luck)

His baby sister was killed after ingesting lead paint chips from the walls of the apartment the Rigger family lived in, his father was killed after falling through some stairs and breaking his neck in a different building they moved into after Rigger's sister died, and his mother had a heart attack when the elevator she was in got stuck.

Joey was serving the military at the time when all of this happened, leaving him with a strong sense of guilt. After coming back home, now with demolitions expertise, he decided to ensure that nobody would ever be harmed by the apartment buildings again and that's why he burns them down as Firebug. His plan is to just destroy the buildings that killed his family and then go back to normal. He even sends anonymous tips to the police so that people can evacuate in time, though he first encountered Batman when he was saving people that were still stuck in the building. Not saying his actions are morally correct, the third building was literally just a bad elevator, but you can't really blame him.

Eventually, Batman foils Firebug from destroying the skyscraper that killed his mother and Firebug tries to suicide bomb himself, Batman, and the skyscraper but jumps at Batman, who dodges, and Firebug falls out of the skyscraper and explodes.

Firebug is a really interesting and sympathetic character. In a way he's a dark parallel to Batman; their families were killed by a part of Gotham City, they have expert training in their field, and put on a silly animal costume and try to enact vengeance on the part of Gotham that killed their families.

In Caped Crusader, he's Firefly with a name change. They have Flass and Bullock mistakenly call him "Firefly", he's a deranged pyromaniac, and he has nothing more than that. Why?! Why not just have him be Firefly? Firebug has had two successors, Harlan Combs (a suburban father that murdered his kid's babysitter) and the third Firebug was some asshole that bought Joe Rigger's shit from an auction.

In the Caped Crusader episode "The Night of the Hunters", Firebug targets the slums of Gotham and tries to burn them down. Why not incorporate his backstory and have these slums be where his family died? In the comics, Joey Rigger was depicted as African-American in his first appearance and then white from then on. I'm surprised they didn't have that be part of the plot. Joey's neighborhood was a slum overlooked due to its African-American population and that resulted in poor living conditions that killed his family. But nah, they just had him be bootleg Firefly.

TV show screenshot: Batman: Caped Crusader

Comic screenshot: Batman #318

[izunias-meme-hole]

These fellas gave me the impression that Caped Crusader might be a more grounded take on the Batman mythos with a clear golden age comic book flair (guys in suits with quirks, Selina, and Serial Killers with gimmicks)

Oh how wrong I was...

Edit: GUESS WHO'S ALSO HERE?!

[fire-in-the-goat]

Firebug (my ponysona) spots Prickly Pear ( @captainzigo 's ponysona) and makes an observation.

[k0zyb0n3rz]

designs and stuff

jervis and jonathan

waylon and kirk

and then firebug :)

[soapylaundry]

caped crusader doodles from like 2 months ago lol,,, I have to add some batman content back to my blog

[bewilderbark]

day 4 - fire spears

this one was originally intended to be a combo of days 4+5, but something about doing that felt a little weird to me... thus, day 5 is a companion piece to this one. play zeroranger

art insight

[yee-honks]

his name is joe.

[alanide-arts]

Stills from my recent lyric video!

(Feat. OCs by @plutobody, @dragonroilz, @keebyz, @dead-litebulb, @knucklebl4ster, @hayaang1, @alm4nditte, RobotAcap, @mrbadmic, xiaochio)

[nippongoto]

ヤエヤママドボタル

ホタルの季節。

R5.11

[jade278]

Tumblr in Gotham

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🧠?~Riddle~Master~? FOLLOW ...

Notes- 440

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👨‍🌾Doctor-Jonathan-Crane FOLLOW ...

me and my lab partners

Notes- 3

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🚔Lock-Up-The-Criminals-!!!! FOLLOW ...

Criminals suck, like if you agree

🦇Dark-Knight-1940 FOLLOW ...

They still deserve sympathy though.

🚔Lock-Up-The-Criminals-!!!! FOLLOW ...

I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU

🦇Dark-Knight-1940 FOLLOW ...

jesus christ, dude

Notes- 217

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😡Gayson-Todd FOLLOW ...

who changed my name?

🤡Clown-Prince-#1 FOLLOW ...

AHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHIU9FSUHHUAFHSHSHAFHUIASFHUAHUIOSFHIOUASHUOIFAHUIOSFHUIOASHFUIAHUSFHAFS

Notes- 426

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🤡Clown-Prince-#1 FOLLOW ...

So whos the best robin???

🦇Dark-Knight-1940 FOLLOW ...

dont.

Notes- 5

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🦇Dark-Knight-2019 FOLLOW ...

I found a time machine

🦇Dark-Knight-1940 FOLLOW ...

what the fuck

⚔Saint-Dumas-Pawn FOLLOW ...

well that cant be right

🦇Dark-Knight-1940 FOLLOW ...

What. The. Fuck

🦇Thomas-Wayne-Batman FOLLOW ...

obviously, because im batman

🦇Dark-Knight-1940 FOLLOW ...

WHAT IS HAPPENING????

Notes- 6

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🐦BEST-ROBIN-#5 FOLLOW ...

this close to revealing his secret Identity istg

🤵Pennyworth-1 UNFOLLOW ...

please just clean your room, master robin

Notes- 1

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😡Gayson-Todd FOLLOW ...

no seriously, who was it?

Notes- 429

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👨‍⚕️The-Other-Doctor-Strange FOLLOW ...

In my asylum, straight up performing it. And by it? well lets just say, medical malpractice

Notes- 18102011

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🧟‍♂️solomongrundybornonamonday FOLLOW ...

solomongrundybornonamonday

🐊Killer-Croc-Morgan FOLLOW ...

GET OUT OF MY FUCKING SEWER

Notes- 1996

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⚡Zeus-God-of-Gods FOLLOW ...

im a god btw

❄DOCTOR-Freeze FOLLOW ...

you're not a god, you're an adult man

⚡Zeus-God-of-Gods FOLLOW ...

im. a. god. ⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡

❄DOCTOR-Freeze FOLLOW ...

❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄

Notes- 483

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👩‍⚖️District-Attorny-1 FOLLOW ...

so glad theres no evil version of me on tumblr

👿Big-Bad-Harv FOLLOW ...

yeah sure

👩‍⚖️District-Attorny-1 FOLLOW ...

who was that?????

👩‍⚖️District-Attorny-1 FOLLOW ...

WAIT WHO WAS THAT?????????????

Notes- 117

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🤡Harley-Queen-#1 FOLLOW ...

green always reminds me of them

🤡Clown-Prince-#1 FOLLOW ...

oh thanks, harls

🤡Harley-Queen-#1 FOLLOW ...

I WASNT TALKING ABOUT YOU

Notes- 147

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💲Billionaire-Playboy-Philanthropist-Bruce-T-Wayne FOLLOW ...

I own tumblr btw

Notes- 1

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🎩Jervis-through-the-looking-glass FOLLOW ...

⏰

oooooooooooooo you want to do a stage play of alice through the looking glass with me ooooooooooooooo

🧱Basil-Karlos-Acting-Tumblr FOLLOW ...

no, the fuck, I do not

Notes- 10/6

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🦇Bat-WOMAN FOLLOW ...

IM NOT BATGIRL, FOR FUCK SAKE. BATGIRL SUCKS

🦇Bat-Girl FOLLOW ...

bro...

Notes- 223

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🔥IM-FIREFLY FOLLOW ...

🔥

🔥Fire_Bug-2 FOLLOW ...

🔥

Notes- 4

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💀My-Mask-Is-Black FOLLOW ...

reblog if you would take a bribe from me

notes -

👮‍♂️Harvey-Bollocks FOLLOW Reblogged ...

👮‍♂️Harvey-Bollocks FOLLOW Reblogged ...

👮‍♂️Arnold-Flass FOLLOW Reblogged ...

👮‍♂️Harvey-Bollocks FOLLOW Reblogged ...

👮‍♂️Harvey-Bollocks FOLLOW Reblogged ...

🦇Dark-Knight-1940 FOLLOW ...

@ commissioner_gordon#1

👮‍♂️James-Gordon-the-first FOLLOW ...

what the actual fuck

👮‍♂️Arnold-Flass FOLLOW ...

oh shit.

Notes- 441

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🌙Knight-of-the-moon FOLLOW ...

I dont think im supposed to be here

Notes- 32

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🧱Basil-Karlos-Acting-Tumblr FOLLOW ...

this face cream feels weird

🧱Basil-Karlos-Acting-Tumblr FOLLOW ...

oh fuck...

Notes- 40

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🤫 shoosh-its-a-spoiler FOLLOW ...

cluemaster was better than the riddler ngl

🧠?~Riddle~Master~? FOLLOW ...

SHUT UP

Notes- 647

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🐱‍👤League-of-Assassins-Admin FOLLOW ...

im coming to gotham soon btw

🐦BEST-ROBIN-#5 FOLLOW ...

dont you fucking dare

Notes- 42017

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👮‍♂️James-Gordon-the-first FOLLOW ...

someone broke the fucking signal

🔦the-dukester FOLLOW ...

WHAT

👮‍♂️James-Gordon-the-first FOLLOW ...

you really need to change your name

Notes- 21

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💪Venom-guy-#1 FOLLOW ...

you guys remember when I broke the bat?

🦇Dark-Knight-1940 FOLLOW ...

delete this

Notes- 1993

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📅Calendar-enthusiast FOLLOW ...

@albertofalcone-holiday-killer stole my thing

📅Holiday-enthusiast FOLLOW ...

you're just mad bc I did it better

Notes- 259

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☂Corn-on-the-Cobblepot FOLLOW ...

SHE TOOK MY FUCKING UMBRELLA

Notes- 58

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🐱Cat-Burglar FOLLOW ...

just found this totally awesome umbrella sitting in an alleyway

Notes- 1

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🍝jade278 FOLLOW ...

how did I get here?

Notes- 278

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[plutonium-heart]

Sum doodles

[caleod]

18-6-23

[fr-familiar-bracket]

[gethrax]

Took some screenshots of ♡him♡ to use as references to "redraw" last night to practice drawing his face in different angles, and decided colour them this morning. I wasn't expecting to like him so much, but here we are! I wasn't gonna post this, but i needed to express how much i liked him somehow

[characterisbug]

Kobra Kid!!

Kobra Kid from Danger Days is a Firebug (Pyrrhocoris apterus)