#The league all ended up in the realms & Jason ended up picking up a child who was asking him questions | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

kimanima-moon · 18 days ago

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I recommend a few, but idk what you like… so, here is a bit of what I found

Ongoing:

Wait, I’m a what? - tldr; after Clockwork dropped of Danny in Gotham he tries to make the best out of the situation which includes helping out some people. Except along the way that led to rumors that he was an up-and-coming crime boss. A rumor he was largely unaware of.

Bus to Nowhere - After being on the run from his parents and the government for a couple of months, moving from town to town, Danny ends up in Gotham City and decides to risk staying in Batman's territory. He'd take the wrath of Batman over live vivisection via beloved parents or being studied and torn apart by the government. Besides, he's not a meta. Being dead is a medical condition.

Stand and Deliver - The heroes of the living world have missed every warning besides the final ultimatum. Can they stop a war they didn’t see coming?

The Human Prince of Ghosts - Danny has been King for a few centuries now, but he's still half-ghost, immortal or not. So every now and again, Clockwork likes to kick him out of the Realms to go play human for a decade or two.

It's usually pretty boring. This time, though, he meets a small child with a camera and a lot of pointed questions and immediately has Dad Instincts about it.

Complete:

Ghosts? As my therapy animals? More likely than you think. - Jason is minding his own business, picking up strange green glowing goops with eyes, and living his not-very-best life.

Meanwhile the Batfamily is tracking down flying dogs, overpowered Metas calling themselves ghosts, and someone is having far too much fun with the boxes around Gotham. But this ain't about them.

Dead Man Walking - None of this was Danny's problem— and he's determined to keep it that way, no matter what the cops, the weird dude in full-on themed body armor, or the secret society of rich people hiding in the sewers of Gotham had to say. If he wasn't getting paid for over time and he wasn't on the clock, then what was he supposed to do about it??

How the Not-quite-dead solve Disputes - Danny was just out to poke his nose at how the acknowledged teen heroes live. He didn't mean to interrupt a fight. But that guy is way too angry, and why are his eyes glowing green?

One Shot:

We all have our Christmas traditions (call it closure) - Tucker spends his Christmas hacking into Bruce Wayne's cameras, y'know, just to see if he can do it. It leads to a lot of things being explained. About both Tucker, and the Batfam.

Dignified Ancient Adults - Danny gets called to the Watchtower to discuss the situation in Amity Park, the atrocities of the GIW, and to set the record straight on ghosts. Here's the thing, the Justice League apparently thinks he's thousands of years old, and he just goes along with it because what else is a halfa trying to hide his identity supposed to do?

He's not the only kid pretending to be an ancient being at the meeting.

Royal Hot Potato - The Justice League tries to summon the Ruler of the Infinite Realms to help them with a ghost problem. They expected Pariah Dark and were ready to do whatever they could to get him to agree to their terms. What they didn’t expect were two teenagers who juggled the title of Ruler of the Infinite Realms like a hot potato while snarking all the while.

Maybe Pariah dark would have been the better alternative.

Does anyone have fic recommendations for dp x dc WITHOUT shipping. I'm not against any ship so background stuff is fine, but I was hoping to read a few that don't focus on romance as a key element.

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jinx-jade · 4 years ago

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Domestic bliss

Jason watched as his hand combed through Marinette’s inky black, shoulder-length hair.

He watched as she curled closer in his lap, seeking more warmth.

It felt like he was watching his life through a window or TV.

It didn’t feel real.

He couldn’t help but wonder how any of this was real.

How did he go from the blood-thirsty crime lord, ready to take a life whenever it was necessary, to being an idiot in love, willing to do anything she asks.

Jason had originally gone to Paris to get out of Gotham, away from the bats for a bit, and to track down a crime boss that had been trying to undermine him.

Sure he had gotten away from the Selfritches bats, and he did take down the idiotic ‘crime boss’ if you could even call that waste of a man that, but he hadn’t expected to meet Marinette.

She was not part of his revenge plan against the clown and bats, but now, there was no revenge plan.

Not with her by his side.

With her, Jason wanted to do better.

To be better.

She helped with that.

She sat with him as he finally let his feelings other than anger and rage exist.

She sat with him when he woke up from nightmares.

She calmed him.

Even his pit madness is calmed by her.

He had told Marinette about everything in his past.

He had told her about the streets, about running on rooftops, about death, both his and the ones he’s caused.

Yet, she stayed despite it all.

She stayed with him even after he had told her about all of the horrible things he’s done.

She didn’t care about what he did in the past.

She only cared about being with him.

She only cared about him.

The first time Marinette had said she loved him was back when they had first started dating. Jason had been in the same place he is now, on the couch reading a book. Marinette walked into the living room having just got home from work, she flopped onto the couch and into his lap. Jason of course gave his greetings as he chuckled at her exhaustion. Marinette said “hello, Good night, Love you,” drifting off to sleep. She had said it so casually, as if was a natural thing for her to say, despite them never saying it before.

That’s what it was like being with Marinette. She was casual chaos, loving, and always wanting to help.

Sometimes, Jason thought she wasn’t real. That she was just a figment of his imagination, and he was still with the league or six feet under. Yet that thought didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would. If she wasn’t real then she could never be hurt or hunted down by any of the people in his life.

Yet here she laid, asleep in his lap.

Jason could feel her heartbeat and breath, and that was enough for him.

Marinette is alive and real.

That was all he cared about.

Not revenge against the bats, or the Joker, or Gotham.

No.

All he cared about was the magic being that is Marinette Wang-Todd-Wayne.

The moment his wife, the love of his life, the reason he’s living, leaves this realm of existence, the world would burn and crumble under his rage.

Marinette had found it a bit odd that when they got married she took both of his last names. Of course, she asked why, and Jason had answered by telling her that if something were to happen to him then she would still have a home to run to, it was so she wouldn’t be alone.

Sometimes, like these moments in time where his life feels like a dream or false reality, he couldn’t help but wonder how he got here.

After his death, Jason never thought he would get to have a family again. He definitely didn’t think he would get married, or have a child.

With that thought, Jason moved his hands from Marinette’s hair to the bump of her belly.

Just two more months till they get to meet their little one.

“Mmm… Hey,” Marinette said sleepily, pulling Jason from his train of thought.

“Hey,” Jason said back, just as soft as to not break the quiet, light air that has surrounded them.

“What are you thinking about,” Marinette asks, reading him as if he was an open book.

“Just… Wondering how I got this lucky,” Jason said after taking a few moments to put his thoughts in order.

Marinette gave him a knowing smile.

“Only Tikki knows,” She claimed, causing both of them to laugh.

The kwamis are still somehow sleeping, scattered around the house.

“Why don’t we move to the bed?” Jason proposes, receiving a sleepy nod from Marinette.

Jason carefully picks Marinette up bridal style, moving them into their bedroom. He lays her down on the bed, making sure she was comfortable before joining her in bed. Marinette immediately snuggles closer, causing Jason to smile as he nuzzled into her neck, placing a few kisses from her shoulder up to her ear.

“Good night, love,” Jason whispered into her ear before drifting off to sleep with a soft smile on his features.

He is content with where he’s ended up in life.

If Gotham’s underground happened to be missing a crime lord then that was their problem. He wasn’t in Gotham, he was in Paris, meaning there was no need for him to have an alter ego.

Well…

Almost no need.

If Red Hood happens to have gotten a new suit design and some magic in the form of earrings and a miniature goddess, then no one needs to know. After all, there is only one person who knows who is under the hood, and that person is currently curled up in bed with him.

Little did he know that in a cave on the other side of the world, a family of bats and birds just cracked the case of the missing Red Hood. They may not know who he is, but they now have a location.

It seems like the Wayne family is going to Paris, France.

#maribat #maribat march 2021 #marinette x jason #jasonette

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svitia · 4 years ago

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hi hello hey here’s a couple of quick oc run downs while i still set everything up

◈ clovis is bazett’s cousin that took over the fraga family when bazett left. after hearing word that bazett died, clovis summons berserker (alter cu chulainn) to fight in the holy grail war; only there’s a lot of shit wrong going on. clovis suffers from a lot of insecurity & abandonment issues as well as abuse she dealt with as a child.

◈ elisaviol is a homunculus created by the gressil family using a mix of alchemy and necromancy. the gressil’s are a small magus family that held a lot of hatred towards the eizberns. her existence in stay night kicks off an early apocrypha war.

◈ seri is basically a gudako replacement in fate/grand order. though, their personalities are completely different.

◈ athanasia is the daughter of leonardo in an alternate universe and master in the fate/extra setting.

◈ sae is the lieutenant of the 13th division and an anomaly. they were found one day in one of the districts in rukongai because of their insanely large reiatsu. it was a bit of goose chase for awhile as sae learned to conceal their reiatsu and hide away in the woods with a couple of orphans they picked up. they were caught not long after taking an asauchi off a shinigami in order to protect one of the kids they picked up. sae is a genius despite their laziness & habit of falling asleep in the craziest place; they tend to gear more towards long range than short range.

◈ tsuyoshi was born through one of orochimaru’s experiments with hatake and tenro (not based on the game) dna. they escaped the lab they were stationed at with their older half brother shitsurai and caretaker mitori at the age of 5 but were found and taken in by konoha’s anbu and placed in (incredibly) kakashi’s care. they have a kouton (steel release).

◈ silla mysterious student and leader of the white dragon house which is aligned with the church. seems to be related to rhea in some way.

◈ sigyn known more commonly on asgard as hylla who grew in the realm of light elves, alfheim, as the half-elf, half-asgardian daughter of freya and eldrinn. her mother, who once trained and led the valkyries, fled to alfheim in sorrow and grief after hela’s massacre. freya fell in love with king eldrinn, eventually having hylla. hylla was loved and adored by her mother, father and the people of alfheim. she is bound to loki by fate. when she becomes the asgardian equivalent of 18 she moves to asgard. as her mother’s daughter she’s skilled in the art of magic and war.

◈ kira a powerful psionic mutant taken into xavier's school for gift children at a young age. her power rivals jean grey's, whom kira dates in their teenage years. she's the host for the cosmic entity kishin who amplifies her powers. kishin originally wished to destroy the world; feeding on kira's hatred for it when she was younger due to the abuse she'd gone through and the societal stigmatism against mutants- but as kira grows older and learns to be more of a person instead of a weapon, loving the world and all the good in it, kishin's morality shifts along with her. kira travels the world with logan.

◈ asha an omega level mutant with the power to create, shape, and manipulate aura; she was found by charles during the events of the movie first class using the cerebro. asha is extremely protective of the younger mutants brought in and acts as something like the team mom. out of all the recruits, she seems to be the one to have the most control over her powers and isn't afraid of them either, making her a powerful asset. her abilities allow for an incredible wide range of capabilities from enhance her own and other's strength to healing to telepathy and so on. her powers are based off the seven chakras.

◈ astaroth is a fallen archangel now archdemon of hell and twin sibling of asmodeus as well as the older sibling of the archangel anael. lives on earth with john constantine. they can shapeshift between male and female forms depending on their mood. goes by the human names venus and david constantine. asmodeus and them are able to grant wishes similar to djinn (judaism) and are the embodiment of lust.

◈ lyta demigod daughter of ares. spent a lot of her life unknowingly feeding off the anger of other people until it drove her mad. lived her life as a pawn for her father's plans to destroy wonder woman but wanted to part of it. after a long drawn out fight with wonder woman ending her lyta's defeat, she disappeared and was never heard of again for months. she turned up again, alongside red hood, starfire and arsenal, joining their team of outlaws. her and jason are currently in a relationship as well as the both of them flirting with tim drake. lyta has similar powers to her father; superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and endurance, being able to summon and control any weapon, as well as minor necromancy.

◈ nezha born zahra al ghul, known among the league of assassins as al sahira. the daughter of ra's al ghul. her parents sold her to ra's in order to repay debts they owed and growing up under the assassin's tutelage is all she's ever known. she's a decade younger than talia but the two were often pitted against each other and grew to see the other as nothing but competition. before damian was born, nezha was an unfeeling killing machine who held no remorse for her targets. unlike talia who seemed to grow no maternal instincts during the birth of her son damian, nezha grew it in her stead. nezha became extremely doting and protective of damian and in the process gained a something of a conscious and a moral compass. nezha later swore her allegiance to damian, acting as a retainer for the young boy as well as something of an older sister figure in his life. she helped damian to gotham and with meeting his father. when damian became robin, nezha stayed with him at the wayne mansion.

◈ azrael deserter of heaven. she loved michael and lucifer so much their fight brought her to depression. during the war she faked her death and hid among humans for centuries. azrael resurfaces after fallen in love with a sickly human; bending laws in order to keep him alive. sadly because she was attracting the attention of heaven and hell & she was pregnant with a nephilim, azrael had to part ways with her human and allow him to die. leaving her and her son to travel the world hiding from angels and demons.

◈ marcia formerly from a big and notorious hunting family, the clarks, marcia went into hiding to live a normal life after finding out her mother was actually her aunt and that her birth mother died in order to fulfill azrael contract and make marcia one of the special children who would become apart of lucifer’s army. marcia was unknowingly given small doses of demon blood all throughout her life until she turned 18 and found out the truth. when she left her family she went to school to become a doctor. when her husband dies from a demon attack, she goes back to hunting.

◈ bilith was once considered the weakest of the princes of hell until she developed a bit of cannibalistic tendencies towards demonkind. she gets stronger the more she absorbs other demons; taking their powers as well. bilith never had an interest in human souls, and only cared about knowledge and strength. she’s the only demon who’s been on earth the longest, making contracts with witches, hunters and humans alike but instead of their souls she’d traded them for a valuable/powerful item; growing her collection of trinkets. during her time on earth she developed an order of hunters that focuses on collecting magical artifacts known as the shield of saint benedict (who was known to protect against moral corruption and supernatural dangers)-- to outsiders they claim they are protecting humanity from dangerous magic items but in truth they hand them over to bilith in exchange for favors, these hunters capture any demons they hunt and bring them back for bilith to absorb. bilith doesn’t damn the hunters to hell either or bother taking their souls, the items they bring her sufficing for they’re deals. still, with all the powers she’s gained over the years she’s still rightfully terrified of lucifer, lilith and azazel and despite her confidence is quite a coward when it comes to them.

#❛ 𝐢. oh no i’ve lost touch with reality again ! ( 🍒 ) ooc.

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thelittleredheadedmusician · 6 years ago

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To Roast or Not to Roast

It’s been a hot sec since I wrote a DC fic but I got an idea about the batkids being asked to participate in a schwanky roast of Bruce and it turned into this! Some light internal angst with a happy ending. Gen Rating: PG Words: 1856 AO3

Dick frowned down at the invitation. The thick envelope made of paper that cost more than most kids in Gotham paid for their notebooks had fallen out of the pile of bills and magazines and postcards when he’d grabbed his mail. It was heavier than anything else in the stack with the cardstock it contained and slipped right out when he’d grabbed everything. He had carried it as though it were likely to explode at any moment or contained deadly poison or was a carrier of smallpox and living in Blüdhaven and having a return address of Gotham those weren’t wholly out of the realm of possibility.

When he’d finally reached his kitchen Dick dumped the rest on the counter and just held the cream envelope in his hands, studying it with narrowed eyed suspicion that only increased as he read and reread “Gotham City Chamber of Commerce” in the upper left corner.

Finally, Dick opened a drawer, pulling a steak knife from within it and tore through the top of the paper. He slipped the invitation out and carefully read the script.

You are cordially invited to a night honoring Gotham’s great businessman and philanthropist Bruce Wayne

The night will feature a four-course meal and conclude with a roast of our guest of honor.

Please RSVP with the card enclosed.

Dick felt his eyebrows raise as he read the invitation again. A roast. Bruce was getting a roast. Bruce agreed to a roast. Bruce agreed to a roast after Alfred pressuring him into it and making the Chamber of Commerce agree to donate a rather large sum of money was more likely. And running his own investigation to make sure he wouldn’t wind up literally on a spit Dick was sure.

He chuckled and shifted the cards to find the RSVP and hope they hadn’t skimped on return postage when he noticed something odd. There was another piece of paper, nicer still than anything he had in his printer but not the same thick cardstock of the invitation. He unfolded it curiously and frowned as he read.

Dear Mr. Grayson,

We hope that you are well and hope to see you in attendance. We are writing to ask if you might consider being one of our special guest speakers for the night. As Mr. Wayne’s eldest son we thought that you might bring a unique and entertaining perspective to the stage. We have also reached out to Mr. Drake-Wayne and Miss Cain-Wayne and greatly hope the three of you would consider speaking.

We await your reply on the matter.

The Gotham City Chamber of Commerce Lucy Plumber Events Chair

As he finished reading Dick let the paper fall onto the counter. He went to collapse on his couch, fishing his phone out of his pocket. They wanted him to speak at Bruce’s roast. They wanted him to roast Bruce. Not that he couldn’t, he did all the time it was quiet easy after all these years and well brooding in a dark cave while dressed as a bat kind of made you an easy target. The question was did he want to roast Bruce in front of these people?

It was one thing to tease Bruce and make fun of him when they were in their masks because that wasn’t Bruce, that was Batman. Batman deserved it more often than not and had bigger things to worry about than Nightwing making fun of him in front of a gang of would be arsonists. Batman was used to having his protegee complain about him with various members of the Justice League and Titans, most of them had just about as much right to complain.

It was another thing to tease Bruce to his friends and family. They got it. They either grew up with the guy too or had been sidekicks themselves. There was a something that came from growing up in the shadow of heroes and really only people who had done that understood it. So yeah, him and Babs or Tim or Cass ragging on Bruce in the cave was allowed. They’d earned that right. Bitching about him with Wally or Roy or even Jason and Steph – when they were on speaking terms – was allowed too.

Standing up in front of a room full of Gotham’s elite and making fun of the man that, to them, saved Dick? Yeah, no. Ok, yeah he did save Dick that was true but he didn’t need a bunch of rich snobs thinking he was some ungrateful circus brat, he’d dealt with enough of that those first couple years after high school thanks. Besides, they didn’t deserve to hear Dick’s jokes. Not the ones about Bruce. They wouldn’t understand. He didn’t want them to understand. Those were personal.

Besides, what was he going to say? “You know how you grow up and people tell you you’re ‘one of a kind!’ and all? Yeah, Bruce never said that and for proof please let me point to the three others who are apparently just like me and even with changes to the costume some still think we’re a singular person!” Or, “People always tell me ‘you’re so well adjusted!’ and yeah I am for a kid who watched their parents die. For a kid who was raised and trained to fight crime by a man in a Kevlar furry suit? Well the verdict’s still out.”

Dick could just say no, he wouldn’t do it. Hell, Dick should just say no. It just… He didn’t know. It bothered him. Everything about being asked bothered him.

He kept playing with his phone, spinning it around in his hand, as he thought when he finally remembered why he’d gotten it out in the first place. He checked the time as he unlocked it and yup, Tim should definitely be awake by now. He hit the call button, lifted it to his ear, and waited.

“Nnngh. Whu?” Tim’s voice was muffled when he picked up and maybe Dick underestimated how late the kid could sleep in on a weekend.

“Good afternoon Timbers,” he couldn’t keep the tease out of his voice, not that Dick tried.

“’M on the west coast. ‘S still mornin’,” he protested. Dick winced a bit, he hadn’t realized it was a Titans weekend so yeah maybe Tim got some slack.

“Sorry.”

“’S fine. What’s up?”

“Well I was going to ask you about something interesting I got in the mail-”

“If Steph sent you a live bat it you should blame Jason,” Tim interrupted quickly and Dick paused.

“Um. No. What?”

The younger boy sighed and Dick could just see him scrubbing his hand down his face before pushing it back up to push his long hair back. It was a movement he did often and one that often prompted a remark about haircuts from Alfred. “I dunno. Harper got her and Cass really into Les Mis and then she and Jason ran into each other on patrol the other night and he caught her belting out One Day More or something? I really don’t know. She was talking really fast, you know how Steph gets. Anyways, they started talking and Jason told her something about how Victor Hugo sent his fiancée a live bat in the mail and she thought it was hilarious and well we all remember what happened when she found those websites were you could send people glitter and gummy dicks and poop.”

Dick had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. He did remember that, vividly. Tim and Cass both had a fine coating of glitter over their apartments for weeks after that, though with all the pranks and Cass being Cass there was normally glitter coating their apartments. Dick had gotten the gummy dicks sent to him and work and truth be told they’d been pretty good. Bruce had received the elephant poop. At the office. And Tim had seen and told Kon who’d told Clark and then there was an article in The Daily Planet and Bruce had been forced to give an interview to a very amused Viki Vale about the whole thing when she made a very compelling argument about the failings of a Gotham paper not being able to report on Gotham news and the importance of the press and well there’s a reason she and Lois go toe-to-toe on scoops.

“There was no live animals, though that would have been preferable,” Dick admitted once he was sure he wouldn’t burst out laughing if he opened his mouth.

“What did you get then? A dead bat?”

Dick snorted. “No. At least not today. I got an invitation to a roast for Bruce. And to roast Bruce.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Apparently, you did too.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know how I feel about that.”

“Neither do I,” Dick admitted. “I don’t know what I’d say. I don’t know what I’d want to say.”

“You could say no,” Tim said levelly. “I haven’t even seen it yet but I’m probably going to. Too bad they can’t ask Jason since he’s legally dead and all, he’d love this. Or Barbara. Let her roast him, she’s good at that.”

Dick smiled and shook his head, imagining those two tag-teaming. It wasn’t hard, they did it on the comms some nights and it was some of the most vicious and scathing remarks he’d ever heard. Thankfully, it was rare they were levelled at him. There had been times though and those had been rough.

“I don’t think any of what they’d say is fit for the general public,” he said dryly.

Tim gave a noncommittal hum. “Steph and Harper. They’d just rip into him for being a rich white guy.”

Dick sat up straight. “That’s not a bad idea Tim.”

“What? Have Harper and Steph do it? Um, I still haven’t seen this thing but I’m fairly certain they asked us cause we’re his kids but not like an actual child like Damian.”

“No, I know exactly who it should be. Thanks. Have fun with your friends this weekend, I’ll come to the Manor for dinner sometime this week.”

“Um ok? Bye?”

“Bye!” Dick hung up with a smile.

He pushed himself up over the back of the couch and grabbed the letter off the counter. There was an office number under the signature and while there was a chance she wasn’t in today Dick figured that being Events Chair meant you worked weekends. Besides, it’s not like he couldn’t just leave a message.

She picked up on the second ring and Dick’s smile grew. “Hi Lucy,” he pushed as much charm as he could muster into his voice, “this is Dick Grayson. I just got your invitation to Bruce’s roast and while I’m honored that you invited me to speak I just don’t think I’m the right person for the job. However, I do think I could put you in contact with someone who is. Have you reached out to Bruce’s cousin? Kate Kane? She’s a delight and if her barbs at holidays are anything to go by I think she would be perfect.”

#dc comics #dick grayson #bruce wayne #tim drake #batman #nightwing #fanfiction #my fic #writing #own writing #batbros #the batgirls are better than you

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ethanalter · 7 years ago

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Ben Barnes on breaking bad in 'The Punisher'

Ben Barnes as Billy Russo in The Punisher. (Photo: Netflix)

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the second half of The Punisher‘s first season.

When Ben Barnes accepted the role of Billy Russo on The Punisher — the new Netflix series starring Marvel’s famous gun-toting vigilante, Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) — he knew that a dark future awaited his character. After all, in the comic book realm, Russo frequently dispenses and endures punishment as the gruesomely scarred villain, Jigsaw. And though the show changed some details about Billy’s origins — making him Frank’s longtime friend rather than his longtime nemesis, for example — his ultimate fate wasn’t likely to be altered. So for Barnes, the question wasn’t “Will Billy break bad?”; it was “When will Billy break bad?” The show’s producers didn’t mind making him wait to find out. “They were fairly clandestine even with me about any sort of twists and turns,” the British actor tells Yahoo Entertainment. “We were shooting Episode 5, and I was thinking to myself, ‘Is there going to be a turn? Is it going to happen?'”

Turns out that Barnes had to wait only one more episode. At the end of the sixth hour, “The Judas Contract,” Billy emerges as one more member in the conspiracy that odd-couple allies Frank and Micro (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) are working to unwind. That revelation sets the two on a collision course that ends with Frank essentially creating the man who will become Jigsaw.

We spoke with Barnes about the scene that reveals Billy’s true nature, and why his memorable role as Logan on Westworld made him a better bad guy.

Yahoo Entertainment: Were you excited to play the moment where it’s revealed that Billy has been part of the conspiracy against Frank all along? Ben Barnes: We did a read-through of each episode before we started filming them, and I remember the read-through for “The Judas Contract” very specifically. Our showrunner, Steve Lightfoot, was there, and so were some of the executives from Marvel and Netflix. We finish reading the episode, and there’s the reveal of who Billy’s in league with. I remember Steve going, “Billy Russo, you dirty, dirty boy.” I just looked at him and went, “You wrote it!” [Laughs] They were quite excited about that turn because after that point, Frank Castle is battling the powers that be in a more general way, as well as his inner demons and stuff. So it’s nice to get a little bit more specific about it. The truth is that there’s not really any kind of a traditional big bad [guy] in the comic book sense in this particular series. It’s an origin story for both of the characters in a way. While they’re at odds by the end of the series, they haven’t become each other’s nemeses yet.

Once the reveal happened, I wanted to go back and rewatch Billy’s scenes up to that point to see how that reveal was teased in your performance. Obviously, I did know it was coming, and I was asking all sorts of questions about my involvement in things, but they wouldn’t tell me exactly what they had planned for the future. I would want to know what my involvement had been in Frank’s past — I needed to be up to date on that stuff at least. So when I’m playing my game of cat-and-mouse with Dinah Mandi [played by Amber Rose Revah], I could sort of pick and choose as an actor what moments are feeling a little more genuine or whether he’s a ruthless liar through and through. I thought it was interesting to see for the first time in a Marvel series such a slow burn in terms of character. You genuinely don’t know what side this person is on.

What sort of discussions did you have with Jon Bernthal about how much Frank knows, or suspects he knows, about Billy? We had a lot of discussions about their pasts, and we actually shot some scenes that may be being saved for any future seasons that might come about. There was exploration of their history as friends, and we see them together as partners and as “Uncle Bill” in terms of his relationship to Frank’s family. In a lot of these universes, the “villain” has done something that’s wronged the hero in such a way that can never be forgiven, but in Billy’s case, a lot of the other characters have done much worse things in terms of organizing the massacre of his family or trying to keep him at bay. I think that Billy’s betrayal is only keeping information from him, which in the grand scheme of the Marvel universe is not the worst crime that’s ever been perpetrated. However, because of their closeness and their brotherhood, it seems so much more.

Barnes with Jason R. Moore in The Punisher. (Photo: Netflix)

And for my money, Billy is actually kind of broken from when he’s a boy, so Frank is the one man he has respect for. He sees something of himself in him, and I think that’s what makes the betrayal sting for Billy too. Because when you’re playing these characters with such different shades of morality, it’s important in portraying that character to believe everything I’m doing is absolutely on the level. I actually feel a bit sorry for Billy in certain circumstances. What he’s doing is out of self-preservation and love, and it might be for the wrong, but I wanted to play it that he cares very deeply about Frank. I don’t think the story really works unless Frank holds a special place in Billy’s life.

In a sense Billy is already broken, so his final transformation into Jigsaw — when Frank slices his former friend’s face on glass — is a case where he finally looks on the outside the way he does on the inside. Yeah, absolutely. I sort of saw it in stages, like a game of Jenga. Billy was essentially orphaned and abused as a child, and that’s corrupted him a certain way. But from being in the military, he’s built up this kind of incredible mask, which is based on the way he looks, the way he dresses, and the way he treats women. It’s all this giant mask, so the idea of the shattering of that mask is the final thing in terms of losing how he sees himself. That’s part of the idea of using mirrors in our version — as this cautionary tale of narcissism. And that’s stacked up against the idea that he could have brain damage in some way, which they mention in the last episode. I have no idea what they’re going to give in terms of how the Jigsaw character will be revealed, but I certainly have my ideas about how it could work, and how he could be a more traditionally threatening figure in the Marvel universe.

How important was your role on Westworld in terms of transitioning from the heroes you played early on in your career to the more villainous roles you’re playing now? It looks like you’re really enjoying being bad. It certainly helped prepare me in terms of the boldness of my choices. Earlier on in my career, I felt like if any accusations were leveled at me, it was that my performances were a bit traditional and what people were used to. So I made a decision that I’m just going to be a bit braver, and I think that Westworld allowed me the opportunity to do that — to really kind of stretch my legs in terms of mischief. Obviously, the two characters are very different; Logan is more of a pain in everyone’s neck. One thing I asked is that he never say something that wasn’t true. There was one line where he had to [lie], and I told [the writers], “It’s really important to me that Logan never lies.” He’s weirdly a bit of a moral compass for the real world, I think. Of course, I have to be on his side because I have to play him! But yeah, I did want to take some of that momentum through to The Punisher and be a little more broken and evil and malicious. I’m having fun pushing where that can go.

Will Logan be back in Westworld‘s second season? I am back a little bit in the second season, which is not something I necessarily expected! But I am back, and I will say that everything that I’ve encountered so far is different. I have not read full scripts or anything, but it’s certainly flipped me upside down in terms of what I was expecting from the series. No one’s going to be disappointed in terms of it pushing the envelope!

Season 1 of The Punisher is currently streaming on Netflix.

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