#Phantom as Joker sidekick

[nelkcats]

King and Joker

The bats were confused when Joker announced he gained a companion. His partner (or sidekick) is strong and has too many powers but looks sad. They tried to ask him if something was wrong but he remained silent. Joker liked to call him "The King", but he insisted that he was only "Phantom". The clown didn't care and continue with the nickname.

"King Phantom" tends to ignore when civilians are evacuated, feign ignorance when someone tries to escape, and has offered the bats bandages and medicine a couple of times. But when The Joker is present he becomes completely desperate and aggressive, as if he is fighting for something.

On the other hand, Joker got a completely new weapon, it was a green sphere that produced lightning but Phantom winced every time he saw him use it. On one occasion Tim swore he heard him whisper "Ellie".

Danny was scared, Ellie was unstable and anything he did could be fatal. When he arrived in Gotham looking for her missing core he didn't expect to find it in the hands of a clown. The clown realized that he had something to bribe him (although he didn't know how important it was) and began to order him around.

Danny hated it, he held back most of the time because he was fighting humans, not revealing many of his powers. And he would have killed the clown a thousand times if it weren't dangerous for Ellie. Joker would never break away from the core by saying it was "good luck", and would lock it in a ghost-proof cell, which is probably where he found it originally. The halfa just wanted his the girl back.

[moss-on-trees]

dp x dc prompt: mentor!phantom au

instead of going on a murderous rampage, jason decides that the best way to get revenge is to be petty. he puts up an ad saying he's looking for a new mentor, making up a 1 star review for batman saying "he let me die. would not reccommend"

phantom, famous veteran hero and notoriously known for rejecting every offer to join the justice league he's ever received, applies for the position. they proceed to terrorise the jl together.

(danny doesn't kill the joker but he drops him in a cell in walker's prison, which means he's as good as dead.)

(to make this even funnier, other sidekicks slowly start applying to work with phantom. i'm thinking conner kent and roy harper but it could be others)

(danny doesn't hate heroes but he doesn't trust their work with the government. he'll lend a hand if there's an apocalyptic threat but he's marked by the jl as a last resort, both because he's crazy powerful, not a team player and because he'll spend half the time pranking the flash since it amuses clockwork)

[flamingpudding]

Fictober23 Prompt: 27 - "I don't know if they will accept this."

Fandom: DPxDC

Rating: T

Warnings: -

A/N: Started writing this yesterday and finished it during lunch break today. So I decided to take a break tomorrow and post this early :D

Danny nervously poked his scrambled eggs as he sunk just a little lower in his chair. His eyes flicked back and forth between all of his new siblings that were currently in a heated discussion not noticing his slow withdrawal from the discussion and acting like he really didn't want to get noticed by them.

"Have you seen Mister Freeze's new sidekick? The white haired one that's probably a Meta with ice powers?"

"You mean Wraith?"

"Wait, I thought the kid was Ivy's sidekick? He helped blow up a facility last week!"

"No, no, no, no! Isn't he with Scarecrow?! I am sure he accidentally screwed up with the Fear Gas ten days ago so no one go harmed! But Scarecrow screamed at him that being new to the job wasn't an excuse."

"Didn't he help Catwoman steal two artifacts a couple days ago? One of them wasn't cat themed though I am pretty sure he was with her that time…"

"Wasn't he also the kid that was with Joker the last time he broke out? You know the white haired kid that was forced to assist him and tripped him right into his own trap and made the whole arrest a lot easier and quicker than usually?"

"It's like the kid switches who's sidekick he is every week…"

"Maybe he is interning with villains before breaking off to do his own thing? We better keep an eye on him."

Danny sank just a little bit lower in his chair and avoided looking at Alfred. Of course Danny knew about his new family's night time jobs, well day time in Duke's case, but when they had asked him if he wanted to take part in it he had declined. They didn't know about his second form, they only thought of him as a Meta with ghost powers that just escaped a horrible situation and now wanted a quiet and somewhat normal life. So they had accepted his decline in going into hero work, especially Alfred and Bruce appeared to be most relieved and happy about that decision at first.

But what Danny hadn't told them was that he might have declined going back into hero work, that didn't mean he would stay completely out of that side of his new family's life. The half ghost hadn't planned on it but it had all started with him accidentally coming across Poison Ivy. She reminded him of Sam in her values, so before his brain was able to catch up Danny asked if she wanted help blowing a facility that was pumping toxic waste into the water. Years of helping Sam with organizing activist protests did that to his brain.

One thing led to another and somehow Danny found himself more often than he liked in his phantom form acting as a sidekick or assistant to the rogues this family was fighting. In a way Danny felt like he was now more of an anti-hero than a hero, still fulfilling his obsession of protecting by finding creative ways to foil the rogues' plans if they get too dangerous or murderous but not really doing the whole righteous hero stick either.

Plus by working with Mister Freeze and Scarecrow at times he also gets to fully live out the mad scientist side of his brain. With them especially he gets to create whatever his weird wired brain could come up with, though, he did 'accidentally' leave behind USBs or papers with his inventions for Tim to find at the crime scenes.

What his new brother did with them was none of his business. If the Bats and Birds suddenly had new equipment in their arsenal that looked eerily similar to his inventions than that was that.

The problem was… his new family probably wouldn't like or accept that kind of turn of events. They were righteous and defenders of justice with moral codes and standards, Danny wasn't sure he could fulfill at the moment. Watching his new siblings arguing back and forth about Wraith, his new anti-hero alias Selina, Harley and Ivy had come up with, made his stomach sink every morning. In fact Danny was getting more and more scared with the passing days that his new family would kick him out the moment they learned about it just like his former parents had done.

He wished he had Jazz's contact to talk this over with her, but because of his situation Bruce found it better to wait a little longer before he could safely reach out to her. Maybe he could ask if Harley could talk with him instead.

A cup of tea was placed before him and Danny's head snapped up (when had he started to look down?) to find Alfred smiling calmly at him. "Master Daniel, I believe a nice cup of tea will help calm down your nerves."

"Thanks." Danny mumbled his hands cupping the cup and letting the warmth of it seep over his hands into his arms to comfort his nerves. He took a sip, eyes going wide for a moment before he looked over to Alfred who was currently taking away Tim's third cup of unfinished coffee while the other was distracted with the ongoing discussion. The old man gave him a knowing smile and Danny couldn't help the small grateful one that formed on its own, though he also couldn't help the slight feeling that Alfred knew what was frazzling Danny's nerves so much.

"Jason, maybe you can get into contact with Wraith?"

"Why the fuck should I?"

"You have a different reputation than us as Red Hood. He might be more willing to talk with you, to figure out his motives and such."

Danny choked on his tea, hurriedly placing the cup back on the table before pounding his own chest in a desperate attempt to get any tea that went down the airpipe out.

"Danny! Are you okay?" Dick was instantly on him, worried older brother vibes and all that.

He wheezed before breathing in relief once he stopped coughing, giving the oldest a barely hearable "I'm fine."

"<tt> Try not to die stupidly like this, Fenton." Damian clicked his tongue and Danny gave him a toothy grin.

"I am already half dead." He heard Jason snort. While the family thought Danny was just a Meta with ghost-like powers. Danny had explained his accident to them and how he died and revived with powers through it when they asked him why he was insisting through jokes that he was half dead. Jason and Dick were the only ones who really enjoyed his death related jokes and puns, the others were more worried about his mental state.

"Leave the death jokes to Todd, Fenton."

"Oh come on, don't ghost me like that! My jokes are just as much to die for then his are!"

"Fenton."

Danny just laughed, while the previous discussion made him fear for the future, he still loved the family he had gotten added into by sheer luck. He had come to quickly love them all and felt like his own weirdness fit perfectly into theirs. It truly made him hope that he could stay with them for a long time and maybe even add Jazz into the picture as well once his whole situation was more secured and Bruce would allow him to contact her and his friends.

Later that day Danny was in the library reading a book on Molecular Structure of the human biology and how it can mutate depending on external influence, as a preparation for his next endeavor as Wraith with Killer Croc, when he felt tapping on his shoulder.

Turning his head slightly Danny startled finding Cassandra in his personal space sitting next to him with a mirthful smile. She gave him a small wave as a greeting before sitting back a little, apparently satisfied with the fact that she sort of scared him there a little.

"Hey Cass." He smiled, putting one of the many bookmarks, Jason had distributed and stored away everywhere in an effort to stop his siblings from creating dog ears in books, on the page he was on before closing the book in his hands.

"You worry too much, relax." She signed with a reassuring smile once Danny had turned his full attention on her. Confused, the half ghost on the other hand tilted his head, puzzled about what Cass was going on about. He did feel rather relaxed right now.

"You being Wraith." Wide eyed Danny hurried to cover Cassandra's hands, like one would cover another's mouth if they blurred out a secret. His eyes hurriedly darted around in their surroundings but aside from the shelves filled with books Danny couldn't see nor sense anyone that might listen in on them.

Cass was shaking in silent laughter as Danny nervously turned back to look at her. "How…"

Slowly she freed her hands from his and patted them comfortingly before beginning to sign again, smiling knowingly. "I saw. Your body language is the same."

"I…" How was he going to explain this? He had gotten found out, was Cass going to tell him to leave now? Was this the end of his new found family life? It came sooner than he anticipated. Blankly he stared at his hands that uselessly lay in his lap on the book cover, one hand slowly moving to nervously trace unseen patterns on the books spine.

Danny did not see how Cass frowned at that action, all mirth gone from her smiles. She did not like her brother was drawing into himself, doubt and fear started to radiate from his body language and Cassander didn't like that even more. She moved a little closer, so that she would have an easier time to reach Danny and poked his cheek mercilessly until her little brother looked back up at her.

"No need to explain." She actually spoke instead of sign just to show Danny how serious she was. "It's fine. Funny even. Like Selina."

"But…" A lump formed in his throat and he swallowed, trying to find the right words. Cass waited patiently for him. "Mom and Dad… my former parents… they didn't accept me as a ghost hero…"

Cassandra nodded but didn't sign nor say anything, seeing that there was more her newest little brother wanted to say but still trying to find the right words for. It was something she could relate to. Unable to find the right words, hadn't she been through that before too. She lay a comforting hand down on Danny's shoulder, once more waiting patiently.

"I… I don't know if they will accept this… this turn of events. Especially in this family. You all are taking the Hero route and I…" Danny swallowed once more. "I can stop, I can change. I just don't… I don't want to lose another family…"

Before Danny knew what was happening he was enveloped in a warm hug, he blinked several times before realizing that Cass was hugging him tightly. He was held like this for a while before she drew back from him, poking him once more to make him look at her once more.

"No need. Don't stop." She spoke her voice, soft and smoothing while smiling at him brightly.

"But…" She shook her head, silencing whatever Danny wanted to say before giving him a mischievous smile, her hands letting go of his shoulder so sign her next words. "You are not hurting anyone, you keep them from killing, from being too dangerous to civilians, not really breaking any big laws. You help us in your own law breaking way. Like Jason does."

"I am not as good as him…" Danny mumbled still unsure but Cass only smiled fondly ruffling her little brother's hair.

"You started to smile more since you became Wraith." She flat out told him, causing Danny to look up at her stunned and she laughed silently. "Keep going. If you go too far, I will be there to pull you back."

"You're like Jazz…" Danny mumbled, finally with a little smile on his face and Cass returned it with a satisfying one of her own before pulling him in for another hug, he returned this time.

That night, Orphan watched happily how her little brother laughed carefree and freer than he had in a month sitting on Killer Croc shoulders, testing out his newest invention while the rogue was trying to get him off, unsuccessfully so far. Her other brothers surrounded the two and tried to figure out what was going on since Wraith was supposed to be their rogues gallery sidekick and not challenge them like that.

She laughed even when suddenly out of nowhere a USB-Stick hit Red Robin in the face. Obviously she had caught Wraith flinging it in his direction, but she was not about to tell them that. Orphan would let them figure that out on their own, meanwhile she was going to enjoy watching her newest little brother smile and laugh while being the chaos gremlin she had seen in him from day one as he was messing with the rogues as well as vigilantes / heroes of Gotham.

[smallbraintime]

Dp x dc prompt because I had a brain fart.

Danny is just chilling in the ghost zone when suddenly a child. A child who is supposed to be alive rn actually. Danny simply leads the soul back to the living realms and returns it to the small child in a coma leaving a means to summon him.

Bruce wakes up from a coma to his life turned upside down. Mom is the joker and Dad is not with him at the moment. At least he has something to do like reading the note on his bedside table.

As time goes on Bruce goes from little kid who can summon one entity, to a preteen with a magic book and a handful of spells in his pocket, to batman's sidekick a teenage vigilante who uses magic like its second nature, to an adult warlock who is an important part of the justice league Dark.

And Bruce never truly stopped summoning phantom. The being who has been there every step of the way.

[gilly-moon]

Random Danny Phantom thought -

Still to this day, I don't associate DP with the superhero genre. It wasn't until I got confused by the DPxDC crossovers happening lately that I went "oh....right. Danny technically is a superhero, isn't he?"

Maybe it's because to me, Amity Park always felt like some little middle-of-nowhere city that thought it was way more important than it actually was. Danny, Sam, and Tucker just felt like a weird little crew of paranormal investigators or cryptid hunters, not a superhero and his assistants/sidekicks. Even though they definitely make references to being sidekicks in the show.

Also Vlad wasn't some world-altering supervillain, he was just after the Fentons. Plus, no one in the city even knew Plasmius existed for the first two seasons. Yeah he did a bunch of robberies or whatever to get rich, but that happened prior to the show. During the show's course, his antics really only effect the Fentons until season 3 (and even then - he became mayor JUST TO GET BACK AT DANNY...and we don't talk about Phantom Planet anyway lol.) Again, not exactly the kind of villain that my brain would connect to the Joker or Slade, yknow?

I guess in terms of genre, it fell closer to something like Teen Wolf in my brain? Or even Supernatural. I didn't associate it with other superhero shows like Teen Titans or Young Justice that I was watching around the same time.

Anyway, I'm curious if this happened to anyone else or if I'm the only one who really can't vibe with all these DP x bat fam crossovers simply because my brain can't make the Danny = superhero connection.

[ask21771]

DC Comics Timeline

1934

National Allied Publications (the first incarnation of DC) is founded by Major Malcom Wheeler Nicolson

1935

New Fun Comics #1 is published it is the first comic book to contain all original material

1937

Detective Comics #1 is published it is the comic book that would eventually give DC its company name

1938

Action Comics #1 is introduced and with it the first true superhero Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, not only is Superman is introduced but his secret identity Clark Kent is as well also his love interest Lois Lane

1939

Detective Comics #27 introduces the second most iconic superhero Batman created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger along with his secret identity Bruce Wayne as well as his longtime ally Commissioner Jim Gordon

Superman gets his own comic book series in his first issue we learn about his adoptive parents

Detective Comics #33 reveals Batman's tragic origin story

1940

The original Flash Jay Garrick premieres in Flash Comics #1

Captain Marvel premieres in Whiz Comics #2 at this point he was not owned by DC and was considered a rival for Superman

The Spectre first appears in More Fun Comics #52

Superman's most iconic villain Lex Luthor first appears in Action Comics #23

Batman's iconic sidekick Robin appears in Detective Comics #38 as the first superhero sidekick

Batman gets his own comic book series the first issue introduces 2 of his most iconic villains Joker and Catwoman 

The original Green Lantern Alan Scott first appears in All American comics #16

The original Atom AL Pratt first appears in All America Comics #19

The Justice Society of America appears as the original superteam for the first time in All Star Comics #3

1941

Green Arrow and Aquaman appear for the first time in More Fun Comics #73

1942

Wonder Woman debuts in Sensation Comics #1 as the first and most iconic superheroine created by William Moulton Marston 

1943

Batman's iconic butler Alfred appears in Batman #16

1945

Superman's adventures as Superboy are shown for the first time in More Fun Comics #101

1946

Black Canary appears for the first time in Flash Comics #86

1949

Superboy gets his own comic

1952

The Phantom Stranger premieres in the first issue of his own comic

The first Superman TV show premieres starring George Reeves

1954

Superman and Batman work together for the first time in Worlds Finest Comics #71

1955

Superman's dog Krypto first appears in Adventure Comics #210

The Martian Manhunter first appears in Detective Comics #225

1956

The second version of The Flash Barry Allen is introduced in Showcase #4

1958

The iconic teen superhero team from the future The Legion of Superheroes are introduced in Adventure Comics #247

Superman's iconic alien nemesis Braniac is introduced in Action Comics #242 as well as the bottled Kryptonian city of Kandor

1959

Superman's cousin Kara aka Supergir first appears in Action Comics #252

The second version of Green Lantern Hal Jordan appears in Showcase #22

1960

The Justice League first appears in The Brave and The Bold #28 they will go on to become DC's most iconic superhero team and one of the most famous superhero teams period 

The second Green Lantern Hal Jordan gets his own comic book series 

1961

In Flash #123 The first and second Flashes meet for the first time revealing that all the golden age adventures and stories took place in an alternative universe (later dubbed Earth 2) thus introducing the DC Multiverse for the first time

1962

Aquaman gets his own comic book series for the first time

1963

The Doom Patrol first appear in My Greatest Adventure #80

The Justice League and The Justice Society team up for the first time during The Crisis of.  Earth 1/Earth 2 in Justice League of America #21 and #22 it is the first multiverse story to have the word crisis in the title

1964

The first version of the Teen Titans premieres in The Brave and The Bold #54 it consisted of Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad, Speedy and Wonder Girl would later join

The villainous Crime Syndicate from Earth 3 first appear in Justice League of America #29

The First Superhero wedding happens in Aquaman #18 between Aquaman and Mera

1966

The Teen Titans get their first comic book

The first Batman TV series premiers Starring Adam west as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin

The Flash Barry Allen and Iris West get married in The Flash #165

1967

Barbra Gordon becomes Batgirl in Detective Comics #359

1970

In Green Lantern/Green Arrow #76 the two heroes begin traveling across the country dealing with the social issues of the time

In Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #133  the iconic villain Darkseid first appears although it's brief

1971

The New Gods of the Fourth World first appear in Forever People #1, Mister Miracle #1 and New Gods #1 all helmed by Jack Kirby, to this day the New Gods remain one of the most important parts of The DC Universe 

Ra's al Ghul arguably Batman's most powerful and resourceful recurring nemesis first appears in Batman #232 as does Talia whom Batman has an on again off again relationship with

Green Arrow's sidekick is shockingly revealed to be a heroin addict in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85-86

1973

Shazam #1 sees Captain Marvel become a DC property for the first time

1976

The Earth 2 version of Supergirl known as Power Girl first appears in All Star Comics #58

DC and their arch rival Marvel crossover for the first time in Superman vs The Amazing Spiderman #1

Wonder Woman's first TV show premieres starring Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman

1978

The first Superman movie comes out starring Christopher Reeves as Superman and Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor

1979

DC's first miniseries World of Krypton is published 

The tale of how the Justice Society originally disbanded is told in Adventure Comics #466

1980

Batman's first miniseries The untold Legend of Batman is published 

A new series called The New Teen Titans is published, created by George Perez and Marv Wolfman the series introduced a new incarnation composed of Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, ex Doom Patrol member Beast Boy as well as new characters Cyborg, Starfire and Raven, it is this version of the team that made it iconic

Superman 2 hits theaters with the same actors reprising their roles as well as newcomers like Terrence Stamp playing General Zod

1981

Detective Comics reaches issue #500

1982

The iconic Legion of Superheroes story The Great Darkness Saga begins in issue #290

1983

Batman forms his own superhero team in Batman and The Outsiders #1

1984

The iconic Teen Titans storyline Judas Contract begins in Tales of the Teen Titans #42 In it Dick Grayson retires from being Robin and becomes Nightwing 

1985

In celebration of their 50th and in an attempt to simplify what they felt had become an over complicated mythos, DC published the legendary 12 issue crossover event Crisis on infinite earths,  created by George Perez and Marv Wolfman in the story the multiverse was being destoryed by the merciless Anti Monitor and in order to save what was left of creation all the heroes and villains were pulled together from across time and space by his opposite The Monitor, in the end a single universe emerged with a totally revamped history and with only four survivors of the multiverse (Superman and Lois of Earth 2, Alexander Luthor of Earth 3, and Superboy of Earth Prime) to live in a nameless nexus dimension,  many well established characters were killed during the event most notably Supergirl who then had her whole history erased, and Barry Allen The Flash whose nephew Wally West having been Kid Flash up until that point took up the mantle, this is considered one of the most important events in DC history as not only was it the first time everything was changed about their universe, not only was it the first the multiverse played a major role in what was going on, but it was the first real time a story was so massive that it was connected to nearly every other title that the company was publishing at the time 

1986

Frank Miller seminal and iconic story Batman: The Dark Knight Returns premieres set 50 years in the future this darker version of Batman forever changed the publics view of the hero

Alan Moore's 12 issue series Watchmen is published showing more mature and complex characters and issues it is considered by many to be the greatest comic book of all time

Alan Moore's Superman story Whatever Happened to The Man of Tomorrow takes place in Superman #423 and Action Comics #583 showing how Superman's story would have ended if not for Crisis on infinite earths 

Man of Steel #1 is published delving into Superman's post Crisis origins

The first post Crisis crossover Legends premieres in this story the evil new god Godfrey under orders from Darkseid tries to turn the population against all Superheroes 

1987

Batman #404 kicks off Frank Miller's Batman Year One storyline that delves into the Dark Knights post Crisis origins

The post Crisis version of Wonder Woman appears in Wonder Woman #1

A new version of The Justice League appears in Justice League #1 this incarnation will later be known as the Justice League International 

The Suicide Squad appears for the first time in the first issue of their own series

The post Crisis version of the second Robin Jason Todd first appears in Batman #408

1988

The crossover event Millennium happens in which the robotic manhunters try to stop the Guardians of the universe and the Zamarons from evolving a selected group of individuals 

The grim and iconic story The Killing Joke is published in which Joker shoots and paralyzes 

Barbra Gordon

The crossover event Invasion happens in which the metagene is first introduced 

The second Robin Jason Todd is killed by the Joker in the historic Death in the Family storyline after his death is voted on by the fans

1989

Neil Gaiman's seminal and iconic Sandman premieres, focusing on the nigh omnipotent Dream of The Endless,  the series has things like imaginative lands and characters, appearances of other DC characters (some revamped for the series) and beings from classic religions, mythologies and folklore

Grant Morrison's surreal Batman graphic novel Batman: Arkham Asylum premieres 

Batman #442 kicks off the lonely place of dying storyline that introduces Tim Darke and makes him the third Robin

Tim Burton's Batman hits theaters starring Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as Joker

1991

The first Robin miniseries premieres 

The crossover event Armageddon 2001 takes place, in this story as dystopia future is ruled by a superhero turned dictator known as Monarch, the hero known as Waverider goes back in time to prevent this future, many potential futures are shown in this event

The crossover event War of Gods happens in which the Greek and Roman gods make war with each other

1992

Superman seemingly dies in the Death of Superman storyline in Superman #75 the issue would become one of the best selling comic books of all time

Tim Burton's second Batman movie comes out, Michael Keaton plays Batman once again Michelle Pififer plays Catwoman and Danny Devito plays Penguin 

The legendary and iconic Batman the animated series comes out completely changing how superhero cartoons are done as well as being the first cartoon of the DC animated universe

Harley Quinn first appears in the Batman episode Jokers Favor she will later go on to become one of DC's biggest characters 

1993

The villainous Bane breaks Batman's back during the Knigntfall story in Batman #492 temporarily putting him out of action

The Reign of The Supermen story kicks off in The Adventures of Superman #500 introducing the new hero Steel, a new Superboy who's a clone of Superman,  the mysterious Eradicator and the villainous Cyborg Superman 

Superman officially returns in Superman #82 to stop Cyborg and the alien warlord Mongul in the process however Green Lanterns hometown of Coast City is destroyed

DC launches the imprint Vertigo the imprint would focus on mature and original stories

The Batman animated series based movie Mask of The Phantasm briefly hits theaters before coming to video it is considered by many to be the best animated Batman movie ever

1994

Driven by the loss of his city Green Lantern Hal Jordan goes on the warpath killing many of his fellow Green Lanterns, The Guardians of the universe as well as absorbing the power of the central Green Lantern power battery he then takes the name Parallax, the last surviving guardian Ganthet chooses Kyle Rayner as the new Green Lantern in the Emerald Twilight story arc starting in Green Lantern #48

Bruce Wayne returns as Batman in Batman #509

The crossover event Zero Hour commences in which Parllax and Extant (formerly Monarch) try to remake the universe by the end of the event several changes are made to the continuity including a complete reboot of the Legion of Superheroes 

1995

The Crossover event Underworld Unleashed happens in which the devil Neron convinces many villains (and even some of the heroes) into giving him their souls in exchange for their hearts desires 

Batman Forever hits theaters this time directed by Joel Schumacher the film has a lighter tone and stars Val Kilmer as Batman,  Chris O'Donnell as Robin Jim Carrey as The Riddler and Tommy Lee Joans as Two Face

1996

The limited series DC vs Marvel comes out in the series the characters of both universes are pitted against each other by a pair of cosmic beings known as The Brothers

The iconic miniseries Kingdom Come is released written by Mark Waid and beautifully illustrated by Alex Ross the story takes place in another universe where Superman and the other heroes have retired and a new generation of violent amoral heroes has replaced them

The crossover event Final Night happens in which the sun goes out by the end Parallax gives his life to reignite it

Superman and Lois are finally married in Superman The Wedding Album

Superman The Animated Series as the second show set in the DCAU

1997

Grant Morrison pens a new incarnation of the Justice League composed of 7 members in JLA #1

The heroes powers are altered by the godwave in the crossover event Genesis 

The second Joel Schumacher Batman movie Batman and Robin comes out Chris O'Donnell plays Robin again while this time Batman is played by George Clooney also Batgirl is played by Alicia Silverstone Poison Ivy is played by Uma Thurman and Mister Freeze is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger,  it is considered one of the worst comic book movies of all time

1998

The Justice League's post Crisis origin is told in JLA Year One

A new superteam is introduced in Young Justice #1 composed of Robin, Superboy and the speedster Impulse the team will later grow to include other members such as the second Wonder Girl Cassie Sandsmark 

Grant Morrison pens the event DC One Million that takes place partially in the present and partially in the 853rd century

1999

The Kingdom Come sequel known as The Kingdom comes out and introduces the on again off again concept known as Hypertime

The original Titans reunite for a new series

A new Justice Society series begins written by Geoff Johns 

The crossover event Day of Judgement is published in which the fallen angel Asmodel takes control of The Spectre and brings literal Hell to Earth, by the end of the even the spirit of Hal Jordan becomes the new Spectre

The third DCAU animated series Batman Beyond premieres,  taking place in 2039 the show introduces Terry McGinnis as the new Batman being mentored by an elderly and retired Bruce Wayne

2000

The fourth DCAU show Static Shock premieres it is the first show to star a black superhero 

2001

Lex Luthor becomes president in Superman: Lex 2000

The crossover Our Worlds at War takes place in which the galaxy fights against the primordial entity Imperiex, by the end several heroes are killed most notably Wonder Woman's mother Hippolyta 

The Superman prequel show Smallville premieres 

The fifth DCAU series Justice League premieres 

2002

The beloved Batman storyline Hush begins in Batman #608 in which a mysterious new villain enacts an elaborate plan to take Batman down during the story Batman reveals his true identity to Catwoman

2003

The 3 issue miniseries Titans/Young Justice Graduation Day is published in which the arrival of a android from the future causes a series of events that results in the death of the original Wonder Girl Donna Troy after which both teams disband

A new Teen Titans series written by Geoff Johns premieres introducing a new team consisting of Cyborg, Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy, Robin, Superboy, Cassie Sandsmark's Wonder Girl and Impulse (who later becomes the second Kid Flash)

The last DC/Marvel crossover story JLA/Avengers is published in which both teams work together to stop the universe destroying mad scientist Krona

A new Superman/Batman series is published, in the first arc Lex Luthor is stripped of his presidency and disappears after trying to use a kryptonite asteroid to turn the population against Superman

The first Teen Titans animated series with a team consisting of Raven Robin Starfire Cyborg and Beast Boy it is one of the few superhero shows to be influenced by anime

2004

A post Crisis version of Kara Zor El is finally introduced in Superman/Batman #8 she becomes the new Supergirl

The seven issue event series Identity Crisis is published in which the Elongated Man's wife Sue is murdered during the investigation several Dark secrets about the Justice League are revealed

The 4 issue series Green Lantern Rebirth is published in which Hal Jordan breaks free of the Spectre and is resurrected to stop Parallax who is revealed to be a yellow fear causing entity that possessed Jordan and manipulated him into becoming a villain at the end of the series the Guardians of the universe return and start to rebuild the Green Lantern Corps

The sixth and final DCAU show Justice League Unlimited premiers

A new Batman cartoon simply called The Batman premieres unlike its predecessor it does not take place in the dcau

2005

a new version. Of the Red Hood is introduced in Batman it is later revealed to be a resurrected Jason Todd

Grant Morrison's meta series Seven Soldiers is published, bookended by two one shots and consisting of 7 miniseries 7 heroes must fight against the Invasion of the sheeda

The Infinite Crisis storyline begins in the one shot Countdown to Infinite Crisis #1 in which Blue Beetle investigates several mysterious happenings in the DCU at the end he's murdered by Maxwell Lord who is revealed to be the leader of Checkmate and wants to kill all super powered individuals

In the Countdown spinoff miniseries Day of Vengance a group of mystical heroes gather to stop a rogue Spectre from destroying all magic

In the Countdown spinoff miniseries Rann/Thanagar war nearly all space faring heroes are embroiled in a war between the two planets 

DC Special The Return of Donna Troy sees the resurrection of the titular heroine as well as the unveiling of DC's new logo

In the Countdown tie in miniseries Villains United a group of villains known as The Six are gathered to fight against Luthor's society of villains

In the Countdown tie in miniseries OMAC Project Maxwell Lord tries to use Batman's secret satellite known as Brother Eye to kill all super powered beings 

In a tie in to Omac Lord gets control of Superman and Wonder Woman ends up having to kill Lord to free him

The events of the year culminate in the seven issue event series Infinite Crisis, acting as the first true sequel to Crisis on infinite earths the survivors of the original multiverse return out of disgust for what the world and its heroes have become later it is revealed that Alexander Luthor and Superboy Prime are revealed to be the ones behind all the events started in Countdown and briefly bring back the multiverse in an attempt to create the perfect reality before being stopped by the heroes like the crisis before it many established characters are killed most notably Superboy by the end Superboy Prime is the last survivor of the original multiverse and is now a full villain having been imprisoned by the Green Lantern Corps 

Batman Begins hits theaters directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale as Batman 

2006

Grant Morrison pens the 12 issue series All Star Superman many consider it the best Superman story ever made

All DC titles jump one year from the events of Infinite Crisis 

The cosmic Monitor race is introduced in the one shot Brave New World

DC's first year long weekly series 52 is published, written by Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, Mark Waid and Greg Rucka as it fillis in the gap between Infinite Crisis and the one year jump the series tells several stories focused on lesser known heroes at the end it is revealed that the events of Infinite Crisis caused a new multiverse of 52 universes to be born

Grant Morrison begins their run on Batman starting with Batman #655 in the first story arc Batman and Talia's son Damian is introduced 

2007

The six issue miniseries Amazons Attack is published in which Wonder Woman's mother Hippolyta is resurrected 

The Flash Bart Allen (formerly Impulse and then Kid Flash) is killed in the last issue of his series

DC's second year long weekly series Countdown to Final Crisis is published like 52 it features several stories this time however it explores recent facets of DC's cosmology such as the Monitor race and the new multiverse

The Sinestro Corps is introduced in the one-shot Green Lantern: Sinestro Corp Special written by Geoff Johns, powered by yellow colored fear the Corps is lead by Hal Jordan's nemesis Sinestro and a resurrected Anti Monitor, as well a joined by Parallax and Superboy Prime, The Sinestro  and Green Lantern Corps fight in a war that spans all Green Lantern titles at the end the emotional spectrum is revealed and the blackest night is foretold 

In the Countdown tie in Death of the New Gods the celestial race is being slaughtered by a mysterious assailant 

DC starts releasing direct to home animated movies aimed at an older audience the first one is Superman: Doomsday 

2008

The Batman event Batman RIP begins in Batman #676 written by Grant Morrison Batman and his allies fight against the mysterious yet malicious Dr. Hurt

The seven issue event series Final Crisis is published, written by Grant Morrison, the story sees the multiverse assaulted by Darkseid and Mandrak The Dark Monitor, in this event both Martian Manhunter and Batman are killed (though at the end it's revealed Batman was just sent back in time) however Barry Allen The second Flash is resurrected 

Grant Morrison pens the two issue Final Crisis tie in Superman Beyond in which the multiverse is further explored and the origin of the Monitor race is revealed introducing Monitor Mind the Overvoid is introduced

Geoff Johns pens the five issue miniseries Final Crisis Legion of 3 world's in which Superman helps The Legion of Superheroes fight against the United force of their enemies led by Superboy Prime in the end Bart Allen is  resurrected as Kid Flash and Superboy is resurrected as well

Christopher Nolan's second Batman film The Dark Knight hits theaters Christian Bale reprises his role as Batman, Aaron Eckhart plays Two Face and Heath Ledger gives a legendary performance as Joker winning a posthumous Oscar in the process, the film by many to be the best Superhero movie of all time

Batman The Brave and The Bold premieres unlike previous Batman cartoons this one is lighter and takes inspiration from the silver age of comics

Animated movies released this year: Justice League: The New Frontier, Batman: Gotham Knight

2009

Geoff Johns pens the six issue Flash Rebirth series fully reintegrating Barry Allen back into the DCU the series makes major changes to both Barry's history and the origins of the Speed Force (the source of all speedsters powers)

Grant Morrison continues their Batman run with the Batman and Robin series having Dick Grayson as the new Batman and Damian as the new Robin

Geoff Johns pens the 8 issue series Blackest Night in which the heroes of Earth as well as the seven colored Corps of the emotional spectrum take on the Black Lantern Corps, lead by the dark cosmic entity Nekron and composed of the reanimated corpses of fallen heroes and villains by the end of the event 12 characters are resurrected 

Geoff Johns pens the miniseries Superman Secret Origin in which Superman's post infinite Crisis beginnings are explored

A movie adaptation  of Watchmen hits theaters this year directed by Zack Snyder 

Animated movies released this year: Wonder Woman, Green Lantern: First Flight, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies

2010

The weekly 24 issue miniseries Brightest Day is published written by Geoff Johns The series follows several of those who were resurrected during Blackest Night as well as their purpose

Grant Morrison's miniseries Return of Bruce Wayne comes out in which Bruce travels through time finally arriving in the present and becoming Batman once again

Grant Morrison's Batman Incorporated #1  comes out in which Batman forms a global team to fight the terrorist organization Leviathan 

Animated movies released this year: Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Batman: Under the Red Hood, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse

2011

-The first live action Green Lantern film is released in theaters it stars Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern

-In response to declining sales and interest DC uses the mini series Flashpoint to reboot it’s continuity, the new continuity is called The New 52 

-A new Justice League series begins written by Geoff Johns the first arc explores The New 52 origin of the team and makes Cyborg a founding member 

A new Batman series begins, written by Scott Snyder the first arc sees Batman go against the mysterious Court of Owls

-The animated series Young Justice (based on the comic of the same name)  premiers

-Animated movies released this year: All Star Superman, Green Lantern-Emerald Knights, Batman Year One

2012

-Green Lantern the animated series premiers and is aired on Saturday mornings with Young Justice and one minute shorts starring various DC characters on Cartoon Network, this is referred to as DC Nation

-DC releases a new company logo

-DC releases Before Watchmen a group of miniseries prequels to the iconic 1986 story 

-DC creates a series of ongoing comics that are first available digitally 

-Christopher Nolan's final Batman Film The Dark Knight Rises premieres with Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Tom Hardy as Bane

-The New 52 version of Earth 2 is introduced in its own series

-Simon Baz becomes the first Muslim Green Lantern

-Arrow premieres on the CW starring Stephen Amell as Green Arrow

-Animated movies released this year: Justice league:Doom, Superman vs The Elite, The Dark Knight Returns Part One

2013

-75th anniversary of Superman

-Teen Titans Go (a comedic parody of the 2003 series) premiers

-Beware The Batman premieres, it is the first Batman animated series to be done in cgi

-Man of Steel premieres starring Henry Cavil as Superman, it is the first movie to be set in the DC cinematic universe

-The New 52 has its first line wide crossover entitled Forever Evil written by Geoff Johns in which  the heroes and villains of the DCU fight against The Crime Syndicate of Earth 3

-Animated movies released this year: Dark Knight Returns part 2, Superman Unbound, Flashpoint paradox (after this movie, nearly all animated movies take place in the same continuity)

2014

-75th anniversary of Batman

-Batman Eternal, a year long weekly series reintegrates Stephanie Brown into The New 52

-Futures End, a year long weekly series integrates Terry McGinnis into The New 52

-The year long weekly series Earth 2: Worlds End sees Darkseid go to war with Earth 2 

-The highly anticipated miniseries Multiversity premiers exploring The DC Multiverse written by Grant Morrison 

-In the aftermath of Forever Evil Lex Luthor not only joins the Justice league for the first time but discovers Batman is Bruce Wayne

-Jessica Cruz first appears in Justice league, she will become the first Hispanic Green Lantern

-The Flash premieres on the CW starring Grant Gustin as The Flash, it  takes place in the same continuity as Arrow

-Constantine premieres on NBC

-Gotham premieres on Fox

-Animated movies released this year: Jla Adventures: Trapped in Time, Justice league War, Son of Batman, Batman: Assault on Arkham

2015

-The month long event Convergence takes place, it not only reintegrates the pre-New 52 Superman and Lois back into the DCU, but also revives every previously destroyed universe and continuity

-Superman and Lois' son Jonathan is introduced in Superman:Lois and Clark

-DCs two most iconic cosmic villains Darkseid and The Anti-Monitor fight in the Justice League story Darkseid War

-A new line of ongoing series that reimagine various Hanna Barbera characters is released

-DC moves it’s publishing office from New York to Burbank

-The 24 issue weeklong series Batman and Robin reintegrates Cassandra Cain in to the New 52 

-A new Supergirl show premieres on CBS it will later be moved to CW and will become part of the Arrowverse continuity

-The show Izombie (based on the vertigo comic) premiers on the cw

-The first incarnation of DC Superhero girls premieres as a YouTube series

-Animated movies released this year: Justice league throne of Atlantis, Batman VS Robin, Batman Unlimited Animal Instincts, Justice league Gods and monsters, Batman unlimited monster mayhem

2016

-DC initiates it's third major reboot this time called DC Rebirth which aims to merge the pre and post Flashpoint continuties  at the end of the one shot (written by Geoff Johns)  that starts it all it is revealed that the new 52 was caused by Watchmen's Doctor Manhattan, a host of new and revamped titles are also introduced 

-DC gets a new logo

-Legends of Tomorrow premieres as the fourth show to be set in the Arrowverse continuity 

-The show Lucifer premieres (very loosely based on the vertigo title) on Fox (later moves to Netflix)

-Preacher (based on the Vertigo title) premiers on AMC

-Justice League Action premieres on Cartoon Network 

-Batman and Superman meet for the first time on the big screen in Dawn for Justice

-Suicide Squad gets its first major motion picture

-Animated movies released this year: Batman The Killing Joke, Batman Return of The Caped Crusaders, DC Superhero girls Superhero high, Justice league vs Teen Titans, DC Superhero girls Hero of the year, Batman unlimited Mechs VS Mutants

2017

Dark Nights Metal event premieres, written by Scott Snyder this event introduces the dark multiverse as well as the demon Barbatos who dwells there also introduced is The Batman Who Laughs a dark multiverse being that's a combination of Batman and the Joker it is also the only crossover event to have Dream of the Endless as one of the characters 

The 12 issue bookend to DC Rebirth Doomsday Clock premieres,  written by Geoff Johns it is the first crossover between the DC and Watchmen universes and effectively completes the reboot it also introduces a new explanation for the DCU  called The metaverse

Both Wonder Woman and The Justice League make their silver screen debuts this year

Animated movies released this year: Justice League Dark, Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, DC Superhero girls intergalactic games, Batman and Harley Quinn, Batman VS Two Face

2018

A new Justice League series comes out written by Scott Snyder it deals with the aftermath  of Metal as well as virtually revamping DC's cosmology the most notable new character to appear is the nigh omnipotent Perpetua 

The critically panned  miniseries Heroes in Crisis premieres in which the heroes try to solve the murders of a bunch of other heroes

The DC Imprints Black Label and Sandman Universe begin this year, Sandman Universe features series starring characters from the beloved Neil Gaiman series while Black Label tells out of continuity stories aimed towards adults

Black Lightning premieres on the CW as the latest show to be part of the Arrowverse 

Titans premieres on streaming as both the first live action Teen Titans show and the first one aimed at adults

The first Aquaman movie premieres in theaters 

Teen Titans Go to the movies premieres as the first Teen Titans movie to premiere in theaters 

Batman Ninja premieres as the first DC animated movie to be made in Japan

Animated movies released this year: Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, The Death of Superman, DC Super Hero Girls: Legends of Atlantis

2019

Iconic Batman character Alfred Pennyworth is killed by the villain Bane in Batman #77

Batwoman premiers on the CW as part of the Arrowverse 

Watchmen premieres on HBO as a sequel to the comic

Young Justice returns on streaming 

The very first show centered on the Doom Patrol premieres on streaming 

A new DC Superhero girls show premieres on Cartoon Network this one set in a different universe than the previous incarnation 

Harley Quinn gets her own show on streaming it is the first DC Animated series aimed towards adults 

Shazam's first movie comes out this year

Joker comes out this year and wins 2 Oscars 

The original animated Teen Titans return in the movie Teen Titans Go vs Teen Titans 

The Arrowverse is rebooted in the massive CW crossover Crisis on infinite earths 

Animated movies released this year: Reign of the Supermen, Justice League vs. the Fatal Five, Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman: Hush, Wonder Woman: Bloodlines

2020

The sequel to Dark Nights Metal premieres this year entitled Dark Nights Death Metal, in this event the heroes are pitted against Perpetua and The Batman Who Laughs (now called The Darkest Knight), at the end all past events are declared canon and DC is given an omniverse for the first time in its history

Long running DC imprint Vertigo is ended

Batman loses his fortune in The Joker War story

Stargirl premieres on streaming (later moved to the CW)

Harley Quinn and The Birds of prey costar in their first movie

Wonder Woman gets her second movie Wonder Woman 1984

Justice League Dark: Apokolips War premiers as the final move set in the shared universe started in Flashpoint paradox by the end of the movie the continuity is rebooted 

Superman: Man of Tomorrow premieres as the first movie set in the new continuity 

Animated movies released this year: Superman: Red Son, Batman: Death in the Family

2021

At the beginning of the year a two month line wide event called Future State happens showing possible futures of the DCU

In the aftermath of Death Metal a new publishing initiative is started called Infinite Frontier is started introducing a bunch of new and revamped titles it is also the name of a six issue miniseries written Josh Williamson that acts as the first part of a three act meta story

Superman and Lois premiers on the CW

An extended 4 hour cut of the Justice League movie called the Snyder Cut premieres on streaming it is considered to be much better than the theatrical cut

The 5 issue miniseries Justice League Incarnate premieres as the second act of the meta story it  also acts as pesudo sequel to Multiversity it is also written by Josh Williamson

The second Suicide Squad movie premiers in theaters it is considered to be much better than the first one

Animated movies released this year: Batman: Soul of the Dragon, Justice Society: World War II, Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One, Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two, Injustice

2022

DC's parent company Warner Media merges with Discovery to create Warner Discovery

Dark Crisis premieres not only as the third and final act in the meta story written by Joshua Willamson  but as the first major crossover event to have the word crisis in the title in 14 years, in this story the Justice League is thought dead and the remaining heroes must fight against Pariah and The Great Darkness, by the end of the story the infinite pre crisis on infinite earths multiverse is restored and the Justice League disassembles promoting the Titans to the premiere super team, Amanda Waller also begins working with a mysterious organization known as The Light in a plan to kill all super powered beings on earth

A sequel to Flashpoint entitled Flashpoint Beyond premieres organizing all of DC's cosmological structures (including the omniverse) into one unified whole called The Divine Continuum which is categorized nto 2 parts (space and time) by the end of the miniseries 13 lost original  golden age characters are introduced to the DC Universe

The New Golden age one shot comes out picking up where Flashpoint Beyond left off and doing things such as giving the back story of all but one of the 13 new characters,  introducing a new version of the Helena Wayne Huntress, and setting up the first Justice Society title in over a decade as well as a new Stargirl miniseries (as well as others)

A new Peacemaker show premieres as a Spin off of the last Suicide Squad movie

Neil Gaiman's Sandman gets an adaptation on Netflix

The preschool show Batwheels premieres on Cartoon Network

The Batman premieres in theaters with Robert Pattinson as the caped crusader

Black Adam gets his own theatrical movie

The animated DC League of Super pets hits theaters

DC Superhero girls ends it runs with a crossover film entitled Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse

Animated movies released this year: Catwoman: Hunted, Green Lantern: Beware My Power, Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons

2023

In the aftermath of a fight between Batman, Robin and a demon Lazaruz chemicals rain down on the earth affecting everyone especially those with super powers this is the Lazarus Planet event

The Dawn of DC publishing event happens unlike previous publishing events new titles will be rolled out across the year instead of all at once

The Titans start operating out of Bludhaven in a new series

The 2 month line wide event Knight Terrors happens in which the new villain Insomnia traps nearly everyone in their nightmares

My Adventures with Superman premieres on Adult Swim as well as streaming

The Flash gets his own theatrically released movie 

Blue Beetle gets his first movie that also acts as the first movie to star a Latino character

[mae-mae-me]

Literally whipped this up in like 10 minutes, so it's terrible. Anyway;

At age 8, it was like all of the barriers that had been erected had come down in one fell swoop.

He was Damian Al-Ghul Wayne, son of the Bat, Ibn Al Xu'ffasch. He was Danny Fenton, the hero Phantom of Amity Park, King of the Infinite Realms.

He was both. He was neither.

He was an assassin. He was half a ghost.

He was both. He was neither.

Wait. Where was Phantom? Where was his other half? Where was his counterpoint, his soul mate?

He didn’t have time to worry about him though – his personality change had been noticed, despite utilising the rigorous training that had been taught to him in this life. His Mother – Talia? Maddie? Which was his? – chalked this up to his father citing his soft heart.

Ha. What would she think if he told her that he remembered another set of memories? What would Grandfather think if he told them he was half a King?

No, best to hide the information, until he could reunite with Phantom.

He was sent to his Father, the Bat, to receive training. Who was his father? Bruce, with his mission of cleaning up Gotham? Jack, with his mission of hunting down ghosts?

Both. Neither.

Gotham, with its shadows, with its violence was as different to Amity Park as it could be. One man, and his sidekicks cleaning up the grime and the despair that seemed to fill it up to the brim. The rogues here were so different to what he was used to, to what he remembered. Joker, instead of Freakshow. Poison Ivy instead of Undergrowth. Mad Hatter instead of Nocturne.

They were so similar yet so unlike.

He grows up, looking for a moment where he can finally look for Phantom; where he can hunt down a natural portal and embark on a quest to find his wayward partner. He waits, biding his time. Phantom had waited thus far; he can wait a couple more years.

He walks through the Zone, hearing from other ghosts of a ruler who reigns over the Realms with an iron fist; a ruler who although isn’t violent isn’t kind. It makes him smile to think that he – Damian Wayne, titled ‘Demon Brat’ – is the one who was essentially the moral compass of the two.

As he gets closer to Phantom’s Keep, there is so much nostalgia, so many mementos of his old life. A telescope that he loved, a constellation that he was particularly fond of. The love that Phantom had for Danny Fenton was quite literally palpable here.

And then they meet. There is still a bond between them, despite the many years apart, despite the burden of kingship on Phantom.

They were different, sure – unable to fuse as they once could before, but they still knew each other, inside and out. They embrace, talking, crying, laughing. Something that Damian didn’t know was missing was filled in, a perpetual ache gone.

He was Damian Al-Ghul Wayne. He was Danny Fenton.

He was both. He was neither. He knew who he was.

He was one half of Danny Phantom.

Dcxdp #22

Danny's human half dying as collateral during a fight. That human half goes into reincarnation and is reborn as Damian Wayne. He isn't born with all of his memories but he definitely feels that something is wrong. they would get their Memories Back at about 8 and have a horrible time dealing with being an assassin. Danny would try to stick to the personality they already had before but there's definitely slip-ups of them being like yeah this is wrong and Talia thinks they take after their father because of it. 

The first thing Danny does when they're not being monitored by their mom or the bat family is to look for Phantom. Phantom to have run away to the ghost Zone and has built a reputation as a merciless ruler. He's a good ruler and he's not a tyrant but  he doesn't have the reputation of kindness. Damien as the moral compass of the duo is really funny to me.

 There's a situation later that involves ghosts which is where Danny/Damian and Phantom meet again. I want there to be a very big misunderstanding that heroes think Phantom is obsessed with Damien but in reality they are literally other halves of a soul. Phantom keeps doing and saying things that no one else would get away with around Damien. Phantom would be saying things like making fun of his height or giving him nicknames but as far as anyone else sees Davian doesn't even flinch.

Danny/Damian and Phantom have lived Separate Lives for a while so they don't automatically fuse into one person. I think they would fuse for a few hours just to feel themselves be one Soul again but they have Separate Lives so they can't stay that way. The bat family is very concerned with Damien continuing to talk to the obsessive ghost that keeps possessing his body.

[unfortunately-i-love-it]

yeah so uh, Shadow Joker eh? 

this whole thing started with me thinking about a PhantomThief!Mishima, and then i started drawing stuff based off this one fic i read and then we got to here. oh well 

i might turn this into a comic maybe??? depends on how hard finals slaughter me, but I’ll cross that bridge when i get to it 

also here’s the lore on this guy cuz i legit spent too much mental energy scraping through the wiki figuring out how shadows and personas work and then coming up with a way it could work for joker 

Basically, since someone’s shadow is a manifestation of their distorted desires, then a Shadow Joker, would be the manifestation of the protagonist’s (I’m gonna call him Ren from here on. cool? cool) distorted desires. What might those be? Well, during his awakening, Arsene notes Ren’s strong desire to help people and makes him think about whether the resolve he’s shown in the past was valid or not. This becomes the basis of the rebellious will that allows him to forge a contract with Arsene. But now with Shadow Joker, that desire to help people has been distorted into a kind of mix of hero and savior complex. So instead of just helping people in need, on some subconscious level he has started to see himself as the only one that can help and save people. 

In personality he’s about the same as regular Joker. But that’s only at first glance. He’s much more unpredictable and dangerous, basically taking the whole “wildcard” thing very literally. I’d also like to think that all of Joker’s theatrics become even more emphasized with Shadow Joker.  

For his palace I was thinking of him seeing the whole of Tokyo as his stage, wherein he’s an actor in a play of which he is the hero. For this I was kinda looking to the “The show’s over” on his all out attack screen, as well as hero = play, play = theatre, theatre = stage, and all that jazz. I’m still not exactly sure on how it’d look; maybe just the city as it is at night with open stages everywhere, spotlights floating through the dark nigh sky both as aesthetic as well as acting as traps for the thieves to avoid, so if you step into one of them the security level goes up. Or maybe each area that they go through would be like a different part of a theatre, so the treasure room would be Shadow Joker’s changing room and the final confrontation would be on a grand stage, idk. One thing is though, I think that his Palace Tokyo would feel really empty. Like there’d be people, but they’ll be more like faceless ghosts kinda milling about, so not at all like the ATM-guys or robots in Kaneshira and Okumura’s palaces. Also probably no cognitive versions of the other thieves or anyone else he knows, as I was thinking that Shadow Joker would be going by an “I don’t need anyone but myself” idea, and since he’s the all-powerful hero he doesn’t need “sidekicks”.

His treasure is his Phantom Thieves mask, as that would be the source of his distorted desire to help, cuz it’s the thing that represents him getting his persona and being able to help people on a larger scale in the first place. 

When the other thieves first enter the palace, they won’t be in their thief outfits, as i think Shadow Joker’s desire to help would still outweigh him seeing them as a threat -- plus they’re people he knows. He’d talk and interact with them like regular Joker would, but maybe a bit more openly and with more theatrics, so the other thieves will have some trouble with thinking of him as a legit threat and not just their pal who’s a bit too quirked up. But when Shadow Joker realizes that they’re here to steal his mask, the switch flips completely, and the others have to really scramble to get out with their lives.

Then follows the general infiltration thing and blah blah blah. For the infiltration I thought it’d be neat if they go through all the different districts (that are walkable in-game) and the safe-rooms would be the areas where confidants hang out -- The Untouchable in Shibuya, Crossroads Bar in Shinjuku, Gigolo Arcade in Akihabara, Takemi Medical Clinic in Yongen-Jaya, etc. 

There might also be a progression reason for which the gang will have to go into Shinjuku Academy, wherein the safe-rooms would be Ren’s classroom and the roof. Maybe there’s something in the school that they need to clear before they can progress through Aoyama-Itchome and go to Shibuya, idk.

The treasure room would be in the Leblanc attic (because ofc). 

For the boss battle, when the other thieves try to steal his treasure but get caught on the way out (cuz that’s what always happens to these fools), Shadow Joker takes the mask from them and actually uses it in the battle, which allows him to switch between a number of different personas as a mechanic. Their levels and attack would be comparatively lower that the thieves’, but the sheer number of skills at his disposal as well as his unpredictability would be trouble enough. 

there might also be a phase two, where he rips off the mask he’s wearing and replaces it with his original phantom thieves one, and ends up transforming into a fusion of himself and Arsene, so now he’d be technically using only one persona, but with higher stats 

(also i was entertaining the thought of this being the general theme of the palace and this being the theme of the final confrontation. i feel like the first one’s just kinda eerie enough to suit prowling through your friend’s subconscious)

and then pertaining to the design itself, i was basing it off of the regular Joker outfit but spiced up with more flamboyance, because to Ren, Joker would be like the epitome of him feeling like a hero. I kept the mask on to also keep that Joker vibe going, however i made it a more extravagant variation on the original, to kinda push the theatre vibe. I also gave him a cape -- i think that one’s self-explanatory. The walking stick is to give him even more flair, but also uh, concealed weapons is like the perfect Shadow Joker thing to do. Basically think of Lucious Malfoy’s wand-walking stick but with a dagger instead of a wand.

anyway I want it to be clear for the record that I have never once looked up the shadow joker tag on here before i started drawing this but i’m glad we all share the same braincell when it comes to his outfit, fellas 

(also holy FUCK @waifujuju‘s Shadow Joker design is so fucking clever, i am in awe)

that PhantomThief!Mishima thing is still in the works by the way, though i’ve hit a roadblock trying to come up with a persona for him. So far i’ve been thinking of something along the lines of Merlin but idk, it doesn’t seem rebellious enough so the only thing that fits is the vibes, and even that’s a maybe. this whole process has also been exacerbated by the fact that i’ve got a really cool costume going for him that involves a bolt-action rifle which i am very fond of and very reluctant to let go off. all this to say, if you’ve got any ideas please shoot me a message or write a comment cuz rn my brain is kinda frying itself trying to think through this. ty

[maxwell-grant]

Should Fantomas & The Shadow collide or should the former be only the echo of horror by the time the latter makes his debut? (Also, on a more cheerful note, might one please ask if you have thoughts on The Ghost Who Walks?).

I’ve talked before about how Zemba is the closest we’ve ever been to an official encounter between The Shadow and Fantomas, even if Gaspard Zemba, clever as he may be, is nowhere near as nasty as Fantomas. I imagine a proper Shadow x Fantomas crossover would be somewhat like Zemba, but with far more convoluted disguises and much more murder;

Fantomas being “an echo of horror” can be interesting, if the two exist in the same world. Maybe part of the reason why The Shadow can inspire such fear is because the image of evil he evokes is similar to those of supervillains who haunted the scene long before he came around, and he’s taken lessons from them. Timeline wise, Fantomas presumably died in 1913, but he still had adventures published long after WW1, and of course Fantomas cheats death all the time so, it wouldn’t take much to justify him somehow still being active.

The problem with a crossover between The Shadow and Fantomas is that the story would have to end with at least one of them losing and dying, and neither of them can really afford to do that. Fantomas can’t die because it’s almost a rule of Fantomas stories that he always gets away at the end, and The Shadow can’t die because, well, he’s The Shadow, and neither of the two would be willing to walk away without ensuring the other is put down permanently. Grendel vs The Shadow only got away with both characters surviving by having Grendel time travel back to his era at the last second, and Grendel is considerably less horrible than Fantomas (I’d even argue Fantomas is worse than The Joker in some aspects). If The Shadow fails to rescue his agents from being targeted by Fantomas, or lets Fantomas escape, it looks way too bad on him. But if Fantomas doesn’t kill any of them or doesn’t get away with some grand and horrible crime, there’s hardly much of a point to having the Fantomas be here instead of some less horrible, less slippery supervillain. It’s a similar issue I have with The Shadow crossing over with The Spider, where it’s an idea that makes sense on paper, but they operate by such different rules that trying to mash them together could end up not doing any favors to either character. 

Now, if this were set in some bigger pulp fiction crossover where the rules of individual characters are put aside to serve the needs of a bigger story, then we could start considering circumstances for these two to collide, or in particular, how and why is Fantomas still alive after decades to the point The Shadow has to take him out, how many people are going to die until he’s stopped, and what bigger forces might be at play here. Something to consider.

The Phantom is absolutely a character I should have at least one big essay on locked and loaded, considering how iconic and well-known he seems to be virtually everywhere on Earth outside of the United States. Even people I know who have zero experience with any pulp heroes still recall The Phantom, and funny enough while writing this post I was told by my mom that she used to receive Phantom comics by the mail, and of course there’s the whole fact that tribes in Papua New Guinea paint his semblance on their war shields, which is WILD and definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever heard of associated with any character. 

He’s one of the few proto-superheroes I got to actually read in physical form growing up. I remember this big collection of the original Lee Falk strips at a library in the local mall and every now and then I’d grab a couple of them, and what really stuck out to me back then was that he was a Pirate Superhero (I don’t actually recall if he was a pirate, but the stories where he stormed into ships to pick fights with pirates stayed with me to the point I will always associate The Phantom with pirates), something I’d never seen before and even today I still think is a KILLER combination that has yet to really catch on in media. 

But besides from that, I actually don’t have much to say on The Phantom yet, other than he’s just a really, really solid character. I’ve talked briefly on him here where I point to him as the first example of a character who’s both a pulp hero and a superhero, as a character who is an incredibly strong contender for the title of First Superhero, and who absolutely would be considered just as integral to the whole thing as Batman if only he just happened to debut under the right circumstances. I haven’t taken the time to really dig into his history, and he seems to have a lot of it, including several cartoon adaptations and adaptations exclusive to non-English countries like Scandinavia and Sweden. I will get to it eventually, but part of the reason why I haven’t is because usually my goal is to go to bat for characters that I think are either severely misrepresented, or severely unknown, and The Phantom isn’t really either.

He has one of the most iconic costumes in the history of the medium (even if I don’t consider him the first superhero, he was inarguably the one to wear the first superhero outfit), he’s got a great lore that can easily lead to so many other kinds of stories and sort of kickstarted the whole “legacy superhero” concept, he’s got a unique home setting as Kit Walker but you can put The Phantom anywhere you want, he’s suited for big goofy swashbuckling punch-ups as well as grim and bloody action sequences, he’s a masked adventurer with a dog sidekick, which is usually a winning combo. He’s got a ton of comics, he’s got cartoons and videogames, he got a big flashy blockbuster, he’s got a superteam alongside Mandrake and Flash Gordon, he’s really done very well for himself on a global scale.

Most of his virtues and selling points are very self-evident and  even if he isn’t The First Superhero (and I don’t think he needs to be), even if he isn’t particularly popular at the moment and is stuck in legal complications, this is one character I really don’t see ever dying or being completely forgotten. He’s always going to come back, in some form or another. Even if in-universe he really is just a guy with guns, training and a costume, outside of it, Kit Walker did succeed in becoming an immortal ghost of legend, even if not to the audience his author probably intended. 

[neon-mooni]

Injustice 2's storyline has got to be the dumbest storyline I have ever played through.

So Superman is a power hungry tyrant.

Robin was raised by The League of assassins and not taken in as Bruce's sidekick, and whining about how his life is hard or some s**t.

Wonder Woman is an evil tyrant and says that Superman is a god or some s**t.

Cyborg is an evil Tyrant and also says that Superman is a god or some s**t.

Joker was killed by Superman.

The Flash got kicked out of the Justice League, who with the exception of Batman, are evil for some dumb a** reason.

Meanwhile Grodd is working with Braniac.

Wonder Woman is mad that Supergirl actually wants to save people from dying and starts whining that she's not siding with evil tyrant superman that's a god.

Aquaman is a whiny bit** and says screw everybody outside of Atlantis. You're on your own.

If you choose to side with Superman, Superman bonds with Braniac's ship and turns batman into a slave. Supergirl is locked in a cage.

If you choose to side with Batman, He doesn't kill evil Tyrant Superman, and instead puts him in the phantom zone.

This storyline is straight up a**.

[necroalx]

My problem with P5R new ending (spoilers)

I’ve been asked in my curiouscat about why I have problems with P5R ending a bunch of times by now, and honestly, I can't really put it in a way that wouldn't sound personal since my dislike over the matter comes from a personal appreciation of how the themes were handled in both versions.

With that being said feel free to ignore my POV:

First I would like to mention the things I loved about P5R (with spoilers ahead):

-The gameplay improvements were just perfect.

-Akechi's character arc was top notch for me, exactly what I wanted from him and I feel very satisfied with his new interactions.

-Sumire characterization during the first 8 ranks of her confidant were pretty cool.

-The individualization of the thieves until December, I loved the showtime attacks If anything I would have wanted they added more of those between more of the thieves too.

-Maruki is an incredibly well written character and Daiki Itoh's direction for relatable antagonists shines through him, he was really what P5 needed, the timing of the new semester events may be debatable for me, but I loved everything about him.

-Also loved Jose even we didn't get that much of him.

-The final boss fight was amazing!

Anyway My problem with the P5R ending is (Also, obvious spoilers for P5 and P5R):

-Retroactively diminishes the meaning of the original ending:

P5 vanilla original ending was in a way, the ultimate message about changing the world in the most healthy way possible, seeing it as the way it should be FIRST.

There were theories about this being an altered reality, and this is proven right by the events of the last semester in P5R.Also, with the mere existence of the events of P5R new content, the original ending becomes now an inconclusive story. Which makes it ultimately a lessened ending, because "this isn't the way the story should end".

-The theme of rebellion against an unjust society gets pointlessly messy and lost in transition:

Yes, I get the subject of facing reality is a way more important topic and way more down to earth, the thieves disbanding the way they did and going their own separate ways is indeed thematically fitting and shows some growth coming from their experiences in the new semester. Still, the game being written by a different person, plus having a scenery of "kids dreaming about their perfect world given to them by a overprotective father figure" seems to in a way tarnish and overwrite their experiences gained through the whole story.

I understand this is not the message meant to be conveyed by this new ending. I know and for sure love that in Royal the thieves don't exist just for Joker's sake was their whole characters aren't defined just by his actions anymore. BUT with those things mentioned above, all these change feels like a "correction" made to express how "japanese societal expectations were ultimately right all along things are not always like how we want and you have to deal with that" instead of the original ending's more positive outlook towards the future, that's now seen as a naive handled view of how things should be, and ultimately as I mentioned before, inconclusive.

Things are clear in that regard for me, (In the original, without Maruki's existence in the plot, the thieves were granted a world were they could do "whatever they wanted", between the limits of their own cognitive knowledge of how the world worked, after defeating Yaldabaoth and getting the holy grail treasure to basically "grant them that wish" as a reward after the fusion between mementos and the real world is finished. In P5R new ending, the change is made evident by having Morgana not steal the plug from the man in black chasing the thieves Van and the thieves not taking Joker home in the new ending to give the "more realistic" approach to that matter.)

This conclusion couldn't exist until P5R came out. Since now the entirety of the new Semester concept lies on the basis that the Phantom Thieves subconsciously granted Maruki his power and caused the whole "actualization event" through wishing someone could make those ideal realities for them, with Maruki being the only one capable of seeing the world the way they would've wanted to be because of their interactions with him. I actually give them credit for this since this is a brilliant detail and makes his tragic antagonistic role even more appealing.

But that leads me to my real and biggest problem with P5R new ending:

-The phantom thieves becoming secondary characters after being the main characters and vehicles to the story in the original game and through the 80% of P5R's story.Now people would call Kasumi waifu bait and other things, hell, even I memed about it before, the reality is, she's the most important tool Itoh and the new writers used to built this new ending, she is the most important character (besides Maruki himself obviously) to make the player empathize with Maruki's motives and actions, she is a victim of her circumstances just like the rest and she's "rescued" by this overprotective father figure character found in Maruki, but he was taking away her freedom as a consequence, thus making her relevant to the game's theme of rebellion. But then she faces that reality and she has to grow out of it by... "insert Itoh favorite writing trope of the protagonist beating the crap out of the heroine to make her come back to her senses" (Same thing he did with Marie in golden). Which is ok I guess, it can be a forgivable writing sin since the built to this was pretty well done. But then... there's nothing.Kasumi is presented and forced into scenes and moments so the player realizes "this character is important, more important than the rest" from very early on, it goes from scene to scene while the original events of the vanilla game still happen, and she was not the only one of coruse, Joker Akechi and Kasumi having their little arcs separated from the rest of the cast was obviously building towards something. But then going against everything Joker did in the original game, (and through 80% of P5R since those events are still in the game obviously) he chose both Kasumi and Akechi (twice in his case) over his other friends. Yes, the thieves were trapped on their fake realities, yes they came to the rescue in the end FOR Joker. But at this point they were: Not fully aware of who Kasumi really was and her involvement with these developments, not aware of the alliance between Joker and Crow, not aware of the weird palace that's been there the whole time. ALL because Joker and Mona kept these things secret from the rest, why? What's the sound logic behind this? Why would Joker not trust his friends with such important information after all they went through? Why are they reduced to convenient sidekicks after they saved his life and proved themselves capable of doing the impossible when they all decided to work together? Why? It makes no sense. They all have been through so much with him, just days before they all were inside the velvet room alongside Joker, finding out about his most intimate aspect and sharing an irreplaceable moment of realization and conviction of together. Just for them to become anticlimactically trapped on their dream worlds and completely forgetting about Joker and their true bond with him. Sure they come back to their senses AFTER Joker triggers their true memories with some words, but this SHOULDN'T have happened after all they went through after their fight with Yaldabaoth. Call it bad timing in the writing sense, but it was a testament of how separated they become from their original role in the new story, all for the sake of these new additions. And still, we can ignore that, I can see over that and say "well it's the ultimate tentation they were never tested through", but here's were the problem lies, besides the fact of Joker never telling his friends about the things I mentioned before, he is now a fully self insert character, when 80% of the original story (which is just the vanilla game honestly) he was written as Joker being his own entity, with his own sense of justice very clearly defined and a focus towards his friends as his most precious part of his life. This is suddenly thrown to the garbage in the new semester.

Why? Because now the player has to make a choice that the original Joker wouldn't make in the original, chose Akechi over the other phantom thieves. It honestly feels like a huge regression.Don't get me wrong, I appreciate Akechi's new confidant and his amazing dynamic with Joker being exploited the best way possible. I do, I am a fan of Akechi's character archetype and his characterization in both vanilla and his new scenes in royal. I am a sucker for antagonistic villainous characters getting a proper redemption arc in convincing ways. But the price was too high for my liking.

By the price I mean; You literally CAN'T get the new TRUE (complete) ending without choosing to keep your promise with Akechi, which means, you can't see the full extent of the story conclusion, Maruki's and Kasumi's arcs won't get any closure and you will only get a now "diminished" ending (the vanilla original ending), if you don't chose to keep your promise with Akechi. A "personal" promise and one you never told your friends about. The worst part of this decision is, the whole reason Joker and Akechi's dynamic works so well is because they were originally written as pretty oposite characters with their own unique distinguished quirks morals AND sense of justice. But then, suddenly, at the climax of the story, Joker is just a self insert blank state? That just does not work.

As for Sumire, once she's brought back and awakens again, her character arc ends, she becomes just another sidekick like the rest of the thieves, which makes all the built her character was used for... what? It's not really pointless, since it brings the story to this point, but what's left for her? What's her role now? She goes back to being Kasumi in the metaverse and the optional aspect of her confidant makes this transition to her going back to being Sumire feel kind of ambiguous and also inconclusive. Yes I know she is honoring the memory of her sister and that she has accepted her reality, that's true, but the development comes to a sudden turn when she suddenly becomes just another one in the crew behind Goro and Joker. All the phantom thieves had their roles cleared out beforehand soon after their insertion arcs were finished, Ann was the conscience of the team, always asking "are we doing the right thing?" Yusuke was the same, always second guessing every choice with a worst case scenario since as he said in his awakening "in order to see true authenticity, one has to be dispassionately realistic", Ryuji was always the one going for it and wanting things getting done he's the focus, Makoto is the advisor, so she became the clear headed tactician, Futaba was the tool device, she became the medium to the ends always finding ways to work around towards their goals, Mona is the heart and the hope representing their wish to inspire society through their actions, Haru was the kindness, a reminder of what are they trying to inspire and a source of tolerance the thieves were missing until she joined in. Sumire was... what? This honestly bothered me, made me feel the whole journey was just a bad joke, because now not only the phantom thieves were reduced to mere sidekicks, so was the one character with most promise in the story while Goro became the player's beating husband through Joker, a testament of the choice he made of choosing the image they made the player have of Akechi, the one person Joker couldn't save, the one who's beyond saving at thins point over the friends and family he did saved. By the way, as contradictory as it may sound, I loved the twist, having Akechi's life depending on the final choice for true freedom, it was clever, it added the right heart wrenching moment right before the climax, what I didn't like was how clear it was made at this point how little the other thieves mattered. Why? Have the phantom thieves ever sent a calling card without having giving their full agreement? Especially when a new important development could come up from their actions at the last moment? Not until this point, Goro's life was on the line here, he was an ally now, he was a phantom thief member, they all agreed to this. But were they informed of this last minute development by Joker, you know, so they could all agree to what was the right thing to do like they all had swear to do every time? No, because Joker made that decision himself, because all that mattered was the player decision the self insert decision. Hell not even a cheap text group chat scene, nothing.You can say "this is a personal thing between Joker and Goro and a personal choice for Akechi". Well sure, yet they were all about to put their lives at risk for this, like they've been doing this whole time. They would've argued they deserved to know this, even if they had reached the same conclusion at the end, but with this, in a story that focuses so much on details, whatever oath the phantom thieves had before this, became meaningless. The player can once again just like with Yaldabaoth chose to ruin everyone's chance for true freedom by choosing a selfish self inserted reasoning out of the blue to get a "bad end". Honestly, I also felt the original bad end in vanilla P5 was bad but this? This was worst, this took things to another level, sure the angst was well written and the suffering masked behind this fake happiness was very clever, but its also so cheapened because at this point, why would the player care about those other characters if you make this choice? They were sidelined so bad that their "happiness" becomes just flavor to the story and to be honest, the good decision was just as selfish because of this. I have no problems with the final boss fight, it was honestly amazing and almost made me forget all that happened before when I first played it because it was just so over the top and emotional, I honestly loved it. But then comes the final cut-scenes. Skip Joker going back to prison (why even bother with that though? He literally went just for 10 days and every value of the sacrifice he made in the original was now lost because of the new semester events), skip the the decisions the thieves made about their futures, their display of individuality was great but they don't matter at this point anyway. And here's the final insult, yes I am salty because the "main party" didn't take Joker home, but not because they didn't go through the action of taking him home, but because they weren't really doing anything relevant if anything at all after being the main characters the whole game (except for the new semester) No closure for them just quirkiness and flavor for the sake of a "reality" based message, felt cheap and dismissive, like someone not wanting to go through the trouble of writing something for characters they didn't create or even like. Why did I called the P5R ending lazy you ask? Because they didn't bother making an ending at all, but just to rewrite the original in a way the message of "reality" is settled over, sure their individuality is highlighted by not taking joker home and them being focused on their own different things on their lives, but so they were in the original, this ending and them being sent away was made at the price of the relevance of the thieves bonds with Joker once again, I would've been ok if we at least got to see more of THEM as individuals through the ending or even just as a group, hell this was the final time we'll see them and they were our most precious allies, maybe give us some time with them for the sake of the experiences we had, they did that with Golden's epilogue after all, why not here? But instead, we just see them just go around town being quirky and sneaky distracting the corrupt policemen while Joker gets his new cut-scenes goodbyes with the new characters in the game, because they deserve closure as well for sure, yet they do so over the others? In my opinion, at this point, no. But they did just that, they declared with this change that, the phantom thieves members weren't needed and their futures and story were irrelevant, it was all about Joker, Goro, Maruki and Kasumire, the rest were just sidekicks and these scenes were more important so the player can get what happens to these new favorites, all at the price of the original team relevance. That, was my problem with the new ending. Of course I'm happy to know about their futures and choices through the credits, but that's just lazy, they were more relevant than that in the original, but now they're just afterthoughts shown through credit scenes. No relevance whatsoever in their final moments in this story. It certainly hurt seeing them being this diminished after the original made me care about these characters so much.You can say to me "well, there's still the vanilla ending for you" but no, I said it before, retroactively that ending has become irrelevant and inconclusive, which means this is now how the phantom thieves are represented as, Joker's sidekicks, not a team of bandits and misfits working together as a unit like it was in the original. Again, this is my very personal take on the game new ending, feel free to disagree and call me a clown, but the original made a huge impact on me, the events of P5R ending wounded my appreciation for this story, not it's characters, not the theme, just the future they'll write for these characters from now on. That is all.

Sorry about this Essay lol, but this is the only way I could fully communicate everything It made me feel wrong about this new ending. It was not just a matter of preference for me.

[tim-wayne-bird-brain]

AU where roles are reversed. Heroes are villains, and villains are heroes. Anti-heroes can just be whatever, it's up to you.

i think joey did one but i’m gonna throw my hat in the ring

batman is the stuff of nightmares. he’s the founder of the “justice league,” a group dedicated to subjugating earth (and the universe) to their whims. to the public, he’s big and dumb and smiley, but it’s all a facade. his true self is a criminal mastermind of epic proportions

the people of gotham know to fear the bat. but when he starts to show up with a child, then a legion of sidekicks, people call for a change. they stop trying to save robin when he pushes a police officer off a building and laughs.

dick grayson becomes the first robin with little remorse. he has seen and experienced so many bad things, isn’t it his turn to deal it out? in a way, his time as robin is especially ruthless. he’s less of a child and more of a phantom. when he’s sixteen, he goes to the court of owls and takes the title that has always been his--talon. he leaves no survivors.

jason todd was in the wrong place at the wrong time. but joining batman means security and safety and no more sleeping on the streets, so he goes along. when he’s fifteen, he’s killed in a skirmish between gotham’s hero, joker, and batman. he’s rushed to the lazarus pit and revived, then nursed back to health. when he returns to gotham, it’s as red hood. he doens’t know how to accomplish anything without killing anymore, but he’s been given leeway as long as his end goal doesn’t change. he has to put an end to batman once and for all.

tim drake is a perfect, dutiful child. he stays out of the way and only speaks when spoken to. that is, until he hires a hitman to kill his parents. batman knows this, and offers him a position. if tim is loyal and does not stray, then bruce will give him whatever he desires. and tim? tim wants power. he doesn’t kill as much as the other two robins, but he’s much worse than they were. you see, tim takes things down from the inside. he is the go-to for torture and pain and interrogation, as well as any hacking needs. he loves his role as mastermind more than anything else.

stephanie brown was never expected to amount to much. her father was a better hero than a dad, and he was a shit hero. so she sets out to take him down, and if a few casualties occur along the way, then so be it. when she meets tim, it’s a match made in hell. good thing these two demons relish in the flames.

damian wayne was raised in the league of shadows compound, trained to one day be the force to defeat batman. bruce, however, is two steps ahead, and kidnaps damian when he’s ten years old before molding him into a small assassin with a taste for blood.

cassandra cain, damian’s foster sister, is taken as well. the pair are an incredible duo, once bruce brings them into the dark. she’s the most efficient killer in the world, and it’s good that she’s on their side rather than against it.

duke thomas grew up in a city where the only way to survive was through crime. he tried, he really did, but soon enough he fell into the we are robin gang. something about him stood out to bruce, who brought him into the group. he’s the kindest of all of them, but knows to keep it hidden. kindness is weakness with these vampire bats.

ig joker is gotham’s main hero? he dies in the same battle as jason, and is replaced with the sirens who do a much better job than he ever did

[kylo-ren-jepsen]

I'm going through my whole movie collection in more or less alphabetical order. (More or less because some of the kids movies my daughter wants me to wait & watch with her and series will be watched chronologically.) Ima post a pic of my copy, where/why I got it, & a little review.

Following the success of The Lego Movie, Will Arnett's gravelly-voiced & self-centered version of Batman got his own movie. The film opens on the Joker hijacking a plane of explosives and announcing his team of various Gotham villains both popular and obscure. As usual, Batman thwarts the rogues- this time with a kick-ass song- but he also lets down the Joker who thinks he's Batman's greatest nemesis. Joker and the gang later crash the gala but immediately surrender, causing Batman to become suspicious. He is certain a bigger plot is brewing, so he and his new ward/sidekick Dick Grayson/Robin steal the Phantom Zone projector to trap Joker there like Superman did to General Zod. This was part of the Joker's plan, and he escapes the Phantom Zone along with Lego versions of villains from various other properties: The Wicked Witch of the West, Gremlins, Daleks, Voldemort, and more. Batman & Robin team up with the new Commissioner Gordon as Batgirl & the spurned rogues gallery to take on this villain dream team. Batman learns that he doesn't have to always work alone and that being part of a team is not a weakness.

Besides the great voice cast including Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, & Ralph Fiennes, Lego Batman is rife with references to the earlier Batman movies and comics that nerds will chortle at. It highlights some of the most obscure DC villains like Condiment King, Eraser, and Polka Dot Man. It's got well-rounded humor for both kids and adults, superhero action, & a feel-good ending.

[pinnwheeling]

updated persona5!rotbtd au sketch! 

i changed a few things from the original sketch and i redid cass like three times before i was happy with her - god this is gonna be a nightmare to line lmao. character stuff  below! 

jack as joker - second year who transfers to shujin high from the country after being wrongly accused of a crime + one of the founding phantom thieves. lives in the lucky cat cafe as part of his plea deal. persona - jack frost (but a different design to the smt ver) 

bunnymund as morgana - talking animal sidekick who annoys jack and hangs out in his schoolbag. on a quest to find his purpose and regain his human form. persona - easter bunny? not sure lmao 

merida as ryuji - second year and former star of the archery team before she got in a fight with the coach and the club was disbanded. most students avoid her because of this and her bad temper persona - somethin with a bear

astrid as ann - second year member of the volleyball team and spurred to join the phantom thieves in retaliation for what happens to her best friend heather. the other dragon riders are the rest of the volleyball team  persona - stormfly 

rapunzel as yusuke - third year and adopted daughter of the famed artist gothel who is the one who really draws the paintings her mother is famous for. is forbidden from going outside except school and gothel oversees all her friends.  persona - like a manifestation of the tower

anna as makoto - the younger sister of the prosecutor elsa arendelle and member of the student council, given extracurricular tasks by the principal constantly + surrounded by big expectations. kristoff and hans are also student council members  persona - something with snow or a reindeer? 

hiro as futaba - chronic shut-in who refuses to go outside since the death of his older brother. lives in the lucky cat cafe with cass + jack but jack doesn’t even know he’s there for a few months. communicates thru chat using an alias. persona - baymax

hiccup as haru - a shy third-year who is the son of the viking corp targeted by the phantom theives. his father is exceptionally overbearing following his mother’s death + lost of his leg and constantly trying to get him to take an interest in the company. accompanied by his service dog toothless who helps give him confidence (toothless does not have a persona)  persona - nightfury 

cassandra as akechi - the famed ‘detective maiden’, a highschooler that through her connections (her father is the chief of police) helps solve real crimes with the police. vocally disagrees with the phantom thieves and works with elsa on their case.  persona - moonstone related 

flynn/eugene as kasumi/sumire - third year who transfers to shujin high at the same time as jack and expected by the school to do rather well as he bills himself as a ‘school star.’ secretly struggling real bad persona - i have no idea i’ll come up with something

elsa as sae - prosecutor on the case of the phantom thieves and eventually one of their targets. older sister of anna and extremely work-driven and shuts herself away from anna entirely.  

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Danny starts casually chatting about the Justice Leagues weaknesses when it comes up in conversation, like not just kryptonite but things like how they overextended thier left arm or tried to avoid putting too much pressure on a bad knee and how to take them down quickly and easily.

Bernard frowned, "Should you really be telling us this?"

Danny shrugged. "I mean, it's not going to make them any more dead than they already are. And if they're not dead in your world than you can relay the information to your Tim so he can kill them easier. My Tim won't mind sharing."

Bernard and the others stopped walking from the shock and Danny picked up on something being wrong, "Your Tims are supervillians, right?"

As it turned out hiss Tim was a bird themed supervillian but was never one of Batmans sidekicks, he did however train under everyone else he did in the Robin and Red Robin timelines and maybe more.

Phantom was Tims supervillian/antihero boyfriend. Tim began his origin story by idolizing Batman and Robin. Once Robin was replaced with Jason Todd Tim developed his first crush on Jason and did not take it well when he found out about the Joker torturing and killing Jason.

Tim hired Deathstroke to kidnap and torture the Joker for months one end and film everything in secret. He wanted the Joker to be broken. To cry and beg for mercy. It took a while but Slade loathed to leave a contract unfulfilled and little orphan Tim had paid him a pretty penny upfront with the promise of a bunch of zeros once the contract was fulfilled and a copy of the video was handed over.

As it stood, Tim had successfully taken over the world a few times but only as a means to an end before throwing it away. His Tim has done a lot of unhinged things and is probably the worst (best?) villian the world had ever seen.

Danny Fenton, Bernard Dowd, Kon-El, Stephanie Brown, and Tam Fox appear in a warehouse surrounded by demons.

Kon didn't hesitate to throw the first punch and the rest of the abductees were quick to follow suit. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the demons fell apart rather easily with is great for defeating them but not so great for trying to capture one to find out why they were summoned in the first place.

Once all the demons were gone they began talking amongst themselves to figure out what they all had in common, which it turned out they were all dating different versions of Tim Drake.

Danny asked the group who knew about the "feathers" thing and everyone raised thier hand. Okay, so they all knew. That should make things easier.

Bernard tried calling Tim but it only rang once, to which Danny reminded him that this world's Tim might not know who he is or even have the same number. Spooky then pulled out a flip phone with an ominous glowing green screen and made a call.

Tim could be heard on the other line asking him if he was okay and why he was using the emergency phone. Danny explained what he could and Tim promised to find a way to get to him. They said thier goodbyes and loves yous before hanging up.

Danny held up his phone, "Interdimentional phone calls, courtesy of my mad scientist parents." He then had to explain it wouldn't work for them because his phone was keyed into the dimension he came from and his Tim was using it to track them down, so even if he did have the means to recalibrate the signal it would be a bad idea right now.

The others weren't too happy with this but they understood.

They opened the door to the warehouse only to discover they were in a freaking desert. Crap. Out of the five of them only two could fly and none of them had enough supplies on them to travel the desert on foot but they couldn't stay here. Who knew how long it would take for his Tim to track them down. Flying was thier best bet but Danny, being the oldest would have to take two.

Danny shot his love a text warning him about the desert and to be prepared for that if it should be necessary. He got a text back a moment later acknowledging it and worrying over him. He felt so loved.

Now it was time to talk to the others and figure out a plan of action.

[natsubeatsrock]

Should our heroes kill?

So remember how I said that I'm glad that a problem detractors of Fairy Tail have is people being too forgiving? This is part of the reason why.

I can't think of a time I've seen people seriously complain that anyone didn't kill another character in Fairy Tail. Gray had to rush to catch Juvia in Phantom Lord, Erza could have killed Jellal back in Tower of Heaven, and fans are glad as their potential ships are still not unconfirmed by death. The closest thing I can think of is fans being mad that someone like Lisanna didn't die. However, not too many people are going out to say that any character should have killed any other.

That feels kind of weird.

Don't get me wrong. I like that Fairy Tail fans don't have the desire to see XYZ character get killed off for ABC reasons. That should be expected from the guy that says forgiveness is generally good. I'm glad that Natsu isn't expected to kill too many of his enemies or that people aren’t sad when he doesn't finish off someone like Jellal or Gajeel or whoever.

At the same time, this doesn't feel normal.

Like, I know of only one person who has encountered My Hero Academia that actually seems to like Mineta Minoru. Pretty much everyone else seems to either not like him or outright hate him. It's common to see him excluded from fan depictions of Class 1-A and be glad when bad things happen to him. I think it can get to be a bit much at times, but I see where it comes from.

And then people wish for his death. And I have to stop. Ignoring in-universe issues his death would cause for the school, I find it troubling that fans can talk so casually about killing a character in a universe who isn't a villain. I get that the dude's a huge pervert, but Himiko Toga kills people unapologetically and has an actual fanbase. Something feels off about fandom priorities.

And of course, there is the big one: Batman. For the uninitiated, Batman has one famous rule: he does not kill his enemies. While there have been characters he has killed in the past, these are exceptions to this rule. Generally speaking, Batman is not one to kill even the worst of enemies. Part of this is why Zack Snyder's depiction of the character in Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice is so contentious with fans, along with his insistence that Batman killing is within character. (among other stupid comments by him)

This all comes to a head in the famous story Under the Red Hood.  Before the actual story starts, one of Batman's sidekicks, Jason Todd, was kidnapped, beaten, and presumably killed by the Joker. (Thanks to an IRL fan vote, of all things.) It is later revealed that he's back as the titular Red Hood and is mad that Batman didn't kill the Joker because of what happened to him. A lot of fans sympathize with Jason and believe it was wrong for Batman not to break his rule to avenge Jason Todd. 

Though, I think that Batman's response to Jason's plea provides an important answer to this question. He admits that all he's wanted to kill the Joker, however, he refuses to allow himself to. Many interpret this to mean that he thinks he's strong for not killing the Joker. However, I interpret this to mean that he feels he's too weak to kill just the Joker.

And that is an important difference. Anyone who's even remotely aware of Batman knows that he should have no trouble killing the Joker if he actually wanted to. Some even argue he does exactly that at the end of the Killing Joke. The issue is whether or not he can draw the line at only killing the Joker. He could start by killing the Joker and end up becoming the very thing he's worked to destroy. 

Thankfully, the troubles of this aren't lost on Batman. In The Dark Night Returns, he even comments on how doing that means that he’s murdered people. To put it in another way, Batman’s one rule doesn't exist because he thinks of himself as a hero. It's there to prevent himself from becoming a villain.

That is an important question to ask. Is it within a character's nature to kill another human being? When Deadpool pulls the trigger on the person responsible for his mutation, we know it to be within his nature. When Spiderman doesn't kill Uncle Ben's killer, we know that to be within his nature.

I don't know that people fully understand what they ask for when they say "someone should just kill a character". You're asking them to take the life of another person. From our perspective, these characters aren't real and have no technical agency. At the same time, the people in-series are real within their own universe.

Does it make sense for this character to take the life of any character? Would they be willing to make exceptions and kill a specific character for a specific reason? Is this the start of a change in their character or does it not affect them much?

Of course, there's a reason this comes after the talk about forgiveness. A lot of the same kinds of questions you'd ask regarding one character forgiving another are similar to if a character would kill another. Part of the reason is that the choice a character is often faced with is if they should kill a character for something they did or forgive them. Considering I've talked about the forgiveness angle, let's talk about the killing option. 

I think that if you're going to set a character up to kill another character, go through with it. Don't set a character killing another and then fake us out by having them give the kind of weak version of forgiveness I talked about earlier. Have them die and get it over with.

If you want to have them change, set that up well in advance. Give them a reason not to want to kill them or to see them dead. (Note: there is a difference between the two.) Don't give them a cheap conversation about how "this isn't like you" or "you should do the right thing". Give the audience good reasons for why we should believe this specific hero shouldn't kill their specific target.

Rising of the Shield Hero somehow managed to do both in its anime adaptation (I've heard things are different in the original version). I don't love that Raphtalia was faced with a situation to kill and decided to not to go through with it. On the other hand, I appreciate that, when Naofumi had to make a similar decision, it was made under different situations. He decided to save the lives of his tormentors to help someone he actually cared about while coming up with a creative punishment for them instead.

That brings up a fun topic to end on. A lot of people argue that crimes against oppressors, whether they're abusers, ruling classes, or something similar, are justified if done by their those they're oppressing. This is something that I'd normally keep for the topic to come but it's worth talking about in the most extreme case possible - when it comes to killing them.

One of the most hotly debated points about Avatar: the Last Airbender has been its ending. It’s established early on that Aang has to defeat the Fire Lord to keep the world in balance. However, as the end draws near, it becomes clear that Aang has issues with how that may mean killing him. In the end, he is able to find a way to defeat the Fire Lord without having to shed blood. However, many fans think that he should have killed him and keeping him alive was a mistake. (In fairness, I was of this opinion until I saw the actual resolution of this conflict.)

At the same time, I’ve talked about Scar from Fullmetal Alchemist and his revenge quest. To be clear, I get why he went after State Alchemists but think his overall quest wasn’t good. I stand opposed to a lot of people who are very much willing to justify his entire quest, despite any and all drawbacks and in-series issues that his quest has. Mind you, this is one of the big reasons he starts the series out as an antagonist. In their mind, Scar killing the alchemists is a valid form of judgment and justice for their actions.

I bring these examples up to make an important point. Comeuppance comes in many different forms. Sometimes, it can mean getting one over the people who wouldn't think twice to help you. Other times, it can be making people hurt the same way they've made you hurt. I think that we do well to recognize that in our handling these types of dynamics, not everyone will agree with the conclusion your character makes in how they deal with abusers. Recognize that as you write these situations.

Or just don’t write abusers in fiction and let fans argue over ships, I don’t know.

To be continued...