#barbara Gordon

[superbat-love]

Dick: [flaunting his Halloween costume] Ta-da! Guess what I’m supposed to be?

Cass: Fun Batman.

Jason: Batman having a midlife crisis.

Duke: Rainbow Batman?

Damian: Father with a fruit hat.

Tim: Fruity Batman.

Barbara: Batman finally being honest with himself.

Steph: Batman’s ‘Date night with Superman’ outfit.

Dick: …What? I’m supposed to be a Devil Fruit, guys! [points at his fruit stem headband]

Jason: I like my interpretation better.

Bruce: Thanks a lot, kids.

Dick: Well, what are you going to be wearing for Halloween, Bruce?

Bruce: This.

Barbara: You're going as Batman?

Bruce: No, I'm going as Bruce Wayne going as Batmaaan~~~

Tim: Omg, an even fruitier Batman.

[incorrectbatfam]

Bruce: Anyone know how we can resolve this conflict?

The batfam: *raise their hands*

Bruce: Without resorting to violence.

Dick, Jason, Tim, Damian, and Cassandra: *lower their hands*

Bruce: Or childish name calling.

Stephanie, Duke, Barbara, Kate, and Alfred: *lower their hands*

[erinwantstowrite]

this keeps fucking making me laugh (working on chapter 17) because there's no way i can keep "and shit she did" (i don't think it matches the vibe of this scene) but it's so fucking funny. my mom and i keep saying "and shit she did" because i told her about this stupid spot. how else do i word this other than that??? she had shit to do and shit she did!!

[incorrect-batfam-quotes-mostly]

Barbara: What are your three best qualities?

Dick: I’m hot, I have soft hair, and sometimes I cry because I love my friends.

[shihoerusu]

[v4mpir3c4nnib4l]

this is so flat but i dont gaf i spent to long on it to care

[theflashjaygarrick]

Today I want to talk about Cassandra Cain and the 'silent asian' trope.

From what I have read the silent Asian trope is seemingly a manifestation of the far older 'inscrutable Asian trope in Western culture and fiction. The inscrutable Asian trope positions Asian characters as the perpetual foreign other in comparison to a ''familiar' whiteness or Westernness. They are mercurial, mysterious, and 'exotic', hyper-competent and alluring but cold. Considering the white, Western gaze in which American media is created, these Asian characters are therefore constructed to be as distant and mysterious to the audience as they are to the characters. And it is in this way that Cass, even when she was (largely) silent challenges this trope.

I'm going to be analysing issue #2 of the Batgirl 2000 run. (it'll be a long post so I'm going to put this under a keep reading.

Cass is undoubtedly mysterious to the other (largely white) members of the Batfamily but through Batgirl 2000s the reader is made very aware of who she is. This is achieved through close narrative focus wherein the reader is more mostly supposed to be seeing the world from Cass’s perspective, her from other peoples perspective.

This disparity between the inner world the audience is privy to and the external impression of her is made explicit in issue #2. We see explicitly that Babs finds Cass unknowable.

Cass’s shrug is snarky and she is smiling and looks pretty pleased with herself. But Barbara cannot understand what she means, and condescendingly berates Cass for not learning language and therefore not being able to talk to her like a ‘normal person’. Here we have a blatant case of the inscrutable Asian trope, but we aren’t meant to be seeing this story through Babs’ eyes. We’re seeing it through Cass’s.

Damon Scott’s art style here emphasises dynamic and clear expression over looking pretty or normal. Thus allows the reader to see the world through Cass’s eyes where the important information is equally communicated through pose and facial expressions. What would be micro expressions becoming macro expressions through Cass’s eyes. See how Babs’ friendly smile contorts into an exaggerated frown one panel apart. See again the smug and satisfied look on Cass’ face that in universe a skilled detective cannot decipher.

the characters in this (if all genders) are allowed to be expressive even when it is not attractive. The close ups are centred around their faces and their bodies in a way meant to convey emotion and unspoken thought, not sex appeal. Like compare this depiction of Babs and Cass to how Oracle is drawn by Ed Benes in birds of prey.

And unlike the inscrutable Asian Cass is allowed to be bold, opinionated, and snarky when silent. She’s allowed to have emotions so clear on her face that the reader can identify them beneath a full face mask. In a world where casting directors are still saying they don’t hire Asian actors because they ‘can’t emote enough’ drawing an Asian woman as one of the most expressive dc heroines is important.

In the rest of this Cass goes to find a missing man who she saved earlier in the issue. Oracle has located him in an abandoned derelict prison and Cass immediately throws herself into the situation. By the time she gets there however the man is already about to die. He’s been beaten too bad for anyone, even a Batgirl, to save him. And when he dies Cass stands there watching as the light leaves his eyes. She becomes brutal, although not murderous. And he when he dies he gives his wife the last letter he ever wrote. He asks this Batgirl to gave his final words to his wife.

Of course Cass does. And sees the tears drying in the widow’s eyes as the woman reads what he said (we don’t know what, Cass does not either). No other well meaning words or gestures can bring the relief and peace to that woman that his letter did. Seeing for the first time what the written word can mean to people Cass goes home to Oracle’s watchtowers and begins to try to learn to write.

And there we are one again introduced to the external perspective that sees Cass as unknowable. Who cannot begin to imagine what about seeing a man die after failing to save him would encourage her write when she never was interested before.

But we know. To the audience she is not inscrutable but instead a traumatised yet perfectly understandable young women. We are walked through her motives. see the world filtered through her point of view. Even with her speaking two words throughout this issue it is hard to call her silent.

[franollie]

Day 6: Meta (spideytorch au!!!)

Extra stuff about the au that i cooked up under the cut

in this au, cass is taken in by babs when she's 15 just like in canon and babs still plays her role of cool mom figure in cass's life, tedbabs are exes who work together in close relation to the timemasters, and tim is a kid who was studying under ted (like an apprentice or something idk don't think too hard about it). after getting stuck in the time stream, the four's dna scrambled and mutated them into amalgamations of different variations of themselves throughout time. they work as vigilantes and are funded by kord industries (tim became the face of the company after ted faked his death to stay out of the limelight)

steph is functionally just spider-man because she deserves to be spider-man (she keeps web-fluid refills in her thigh straps). backstory wise, she was bitten by a radioactive spider yadda yadda. using her new found powers, she created the persona webspinner and stopped her father, cluemaster. when more villains started popping up all over the city, she took it upon herself to make stopping them her responsibility.

[chocor0se]

halloween has passed but here is what i headcanon the batfam dressed up as

Dick - a circus clown (just to spite the joker bc he’s not even a good clown)

Barbara - daphne from scooby doo (i just get the vibes)

Jason - a character from any musical (he sings songs from the specific musical all night)

Tim - cat-woman (he almost forgot it was halloween so he got made a cat costume last minute and it ended up looking like cat-woman so he decided to lean into it [im just pushing the stray!tim agenda lol])

Steph - a witch (she uses magic tricks all night which actually looks real despite her just using methods like sleight of hand and smoke bombs)

Cass - a knight (she’s wearing an actual suit of armor)

Damian - hiccup horrendous haddock ||| (he watched a httyd movie marathon and was hooked)

Duke - robin (he switches from robin to robin throughout the night from dick’s uniform to steph’s)

Alfred - vampire (he barely changes except for adding a cape and fangs to his outfit)

and finally…

Bruce - he goes as batman, but the worst batman costume he can find. the colors are off, it’s tight in some places and big in the other, and he kinda just looks stupid.

[incorrectbatfam]

DC Comics Election Day headcanons #24

Dick once showed up to a red carpet in a suit directly ripping off the Discowing design

A Gotham-based movie studio made a stop motion Batman movie and Tim was the voice of a young Batman in a completely off-base backstory where he got bitten by a radioactive bat

Barbara has a phase where her closet was basically just a bunch of 3/4th-sleeve sweaters

For Anonymous

To get your own personalized headcanons, check this post.

[shyjusticewarrior]

Batkid halloween costume headcanons

Tim and Duke decide to dress as Nightwing and Red Hood, Tim being Nightwing and Duke being Red Hood.

Damian also dresses as Nightwing. Neither knew about the other's costume plans and both refuse to change.

Cass and Steph dress as each other's Batgirl.

Dick dresses as Barbara's Batgirl and Barbara dresses as Dick's Robin.

[the-bat-bros]

Canon Nightwing Fun Facts Part Two

(From someone reading Nightwing from rebirth to current)

-he has an advanced degree in forensics?

-he isn’t a fan of modern tech (mostly the idea of cell phones and social media culture) in the rebirth run. He still has a landline.

-he says that he likes the dial tone. That even as a boy in the circus, he could pick up a phone anywhere and hear that tone. It’s always been something steady in his life

- he had a secret lair in the subway tunnels of Blüdhaven and his password to get in is “Robin”

- He has a rolling batcave. A literal semi truck turned into a bat cave. It has everything you’d need, plus a bunch of Nightwing-y extras (a cabinet of unhealthy cereals, a turntable with vinyl records, and assorted gym rat stuff like a glute-master.) Batgirl made it for him.

Will add more parts as I continue reading!

[gffa]

I AM IN GODDAMNED TEARS. THE THING THAT PUTS ALL THE BATS' IDENTITIES TOGETHER FOR VICKI VALE? THAT DICK GRAYSON AND BARBARA GORDON ARE ABOUT TO FUCK RIGHT ON THE DANCE FLOOR IN FRONT OF EVERYONE. THAT'S IT, THAT'S WHAT GIVES THEM AWAY. THE TWO FREAKS WHO CAN'T STOP EYE-FUCKING EACH OTHER. NEVER HAS THERE BEEN A MORE PHENOMENAL WAY SOMEONE FIGURED IT OUT.

[toomanyf4ndoms7]

Cass, you are very funny.

Barbara, I’m very proud of you, that must have been hard to admit. (Joking.)

[flwrkid14]

👻 Gotham Halloween Special: Tim Drake Edition 🎃

Halloween in Gotham isn’t exactly normal — not when the villains see it as an excuse to get extra creative with their outfits and the city lights are already eerie. But the Batfam? Oh, they go hard.

🎃 Tim Drake’s Halloween Highlights:

1. The Costume Switcheroo

Tim suggested they all do a “casual switch,” which sounded easy enough. But somehow, somehow, they all ended up in costumes that make NO sense on anyone else:

• Dick as Red Hood: Complete with Jason’s leather jacket, a foam helmet, and a lot of attitude. “You’re not even holding the gun right,” Jason hisses.

• Jason as Robin: No one’s seen him this self-conscious in a long time.

• Damian as Nightwing: “How do you even FIGHT in these pants?!”

• Tim as Batman: “I get why he’s so dramatic now; this cape is an entire weapon.”

2. The Trick-Or-Treat Conundrum

Tim decided to help patrol the streets and give out candy in costume, which meant… people recognized “Batman” was handing out full-sized candy bars on the corner. Pure chaos. Someone yelled, “Bruce Wayne’s back! He’s handing out candy!” Tim just went with it.

3. Haunted Wayne Manor

Tim went all-out on the haunted house theme, using every security gadget in the house to create creepy effects and hidden jumpscares. Even Bruce got spooked by an unexpected “Jason, is that you?” soundbite.

4. Pumpkin Carving Competition: Wayne Family Style

Let’s just say… it got competitive:

• Dick’s pumpkin was a gymnastic Bat-symbol that ended up collapsing.

• Jason carved a Jack-o’-Lantern “with a twist” (the twist was the Joker’s grin, and no one wanted to talk about it).

• Damian carved an extremely detailed battle scene.

• Tim? Carved out a fully functional Bat-signal pumpkin with LEDs.

5. The Mystery Fog

Tim accidentally (or maybe not accidentally?) set off a fog machine inside the Batcave after trying to add a “spooky ambiance.” Now there’s a perpetual mist rolling around every time someone enters the cave.

6. Finally… The Group Costume:

Somehow, Tim convinced everyone to do an Addams Family theme. Bruce as Gomez, Alfred as Fester, Tim as Wednesday, Damian as Pugsley, Jason as Lurch, and Dick as Cousin Itt. Barbara laughed so hard, she couldn’t even breathe, especially when Bruce got weirdly into character.

And as for Tim? He’s the one setting off all the ghost projections in Wayne Manor, orchestrating creepy sounds, and every few minutes, going, “Wait, did you guys see that shadow?” Just keeping everyone on their toes.

Happy Halloween, Gothamites! Stay spooky. 👻

[asongofstarkandtargaryen]

Dickbabs crumbs from the newest Wayne family adventures episode: