#batman's crippling fear of bats

[cactuschewinggum]

His kids made him do a wildlife preservation photoshoot 🥰🦇

[ofbatsandballads]

kindness you can’t afford

jason todd x fem!reader

word count: 2.1k

warnings: injured character, multiple descriptions of blood + wounds

a/n: so this is the very first jason fic I’ve written since I was twelve, so forgive me while I find my jay’s voice now that I’m not a preteen. anyways I humbly offer thee my wares.

divider credit: cafekitsune

Gotham’s a shithole. You hadn’t known that when you first moved here. To be honest, you’d kind of thrown a dart at a map and gone where it landed. Alright, maybe it wasn’t literally a dart throw, more so finding the cheapest metropolitan city because New York was tempting but it would bankrupt you. Mostly you just wanted a place to not exist. And so Gotham’s relatively low rent rates and towering skylines were the pick with little to no research.

Gotham’s a shithole. You know that beyond a shadow of a doubt now. It’s surprising, honestly, how little of Gotham’s chaos makes it outside the city limits. One would think a psychotic killer clown that’s prone to gassing a whole city district or a half-plant poison lady or a guy going around dressed like a bat would make national news. And yet, no. You’d known superheroes existed, of course. Superman was the shining jewel in the crown of the country that is Metropolis. Everyone knows about the extraordinary Wonder Woman. It’s not like hyper skilled people working for the greater good aren’t a thing. But Gotham plays her cards close to her chest.

You've lived here almost two years now and you’ve managed to make it through relatively unscathed. An impressive feat especially since you live in the Bowery. The Bowery itself isn’t so bad, but its neighboring district Park Row, more often known as Crime Alley, is about the worst Gotham has to offer. You’ve heard your fair share of gunshots and sirens, and you’ll never forget the time that Scarecrow released fear toxin in the district and you had to shove every towel and blanket you owned against the cracks by the doors and windows to keep it out. However, you’ve avoided being mugged or assaulted or anything like that so far. And you’ve never encountered the vigilantes that run the night here.

But there’s always time for new and exciting experiences.

The loud thunk that sounds outside your living room window makes you jump and starts your heart pounding. You know you should just ignore it. Crawl off the couch and to the bedroom, lock the door. The lights in the apartment are already off, only the television light illuminating the room, so it would be easy to creep unseen. But you can’t. Something pulls you to the window. Maybe it’s the cat killing curiosity, or maybe it’s your own little voice of self destruction, or maybe it’s something else entirely. All you know is that you have to go look.

So you do. And there, out cold on the fire escape, is a man. A very large man. A very large man in a red helmet. A very large man in a red helmet with dual pistols holstered to his thighs. Red Hood. Red Hood is passed out face up on your fire escape. Huh.

You’d heard of him. It was hard not to. The Bat had the most notoriety by far, but it was Red Hood that truly scared the criminals of Gotham. Batman might break your bones, cripple you even, but you’d leave with your life. No such guarantee existed if you crossed Red Hood. Hurt a few innocent people and you might end up with a bullet or three in your skull. Then there was that thing about heads in a duffel bag and Red Hood running crime for a solid year in Gotham, but he’s better now, apparently. None of this is deterring you from unlocking the window, pushing it up, and stepping out into the cold winter air. Not when you see the blood seeping through his body armor start to drip off the fire escape grate.

He needs help and he can’t stay unconscious in the middle of the city. If whoever injured him didn’t find him, the cops would. He’s just as wanted as the actual rogues of Gotham. You think it’s bullshit, which is why you’re trying to find a way to get him inside the safety of your apartment. He’s huge up close. This is going to be very, very difficult. Your mind flashes suddenly to one of your favorite childhood movies and how the princess pulled the dashing rogue around with her hair. You glance down at the street before heading to your bedroom.

You come back out with sheets bundled up in your arms. You’re not even sure if this harebrained idea will work, but you weave the sheets through the gaps in the grates and around Red Hood’s waist nonetheless. You secure a knot and go back into your apartment with the length of the sheets. Your legs are stronger than your arms, so you brace them against the wall and pull. You can feel his body slowly dragging towards you and you pause to check your progress. He’s slumped against the window now. Good. You loop your arms under his, place your feet back against the wall, and pull hard. Your hard work is rewarded with his body breaching the threshold of your window and landing directly on top of you. The air is knocked clean out of your lungs. He is heavy.

It’s a struggle but you manage to roll out from under him and immediately see the massive red stain contrasting against the white of your fluffy pajama pants. A small puddle of blood is emerging on your floor under his left thigh, and droplets of blood have splattered next to his torso. He’s not in great shape. It suddenly hits you what you’ve done. You dragged an injured vigilante, known for shooting first and asking questions later, into your apartment with no plan on what to do after the fact.

What the fuck did I do?

That’s all you can think as you look down at him. Then something snaps into place inside your rattled mind and you run to your bathroom to grab your first aid kit. You’d bought it and learned the basics after Wayne Enterprises ran televised infomercials about the importance of first aid a couple months back. You’re carefully balancing all the supplies in your arms as you head back out to the living room.

The empty living room. No vigilante in sight. Then your world spins. Everything clatters to the floor as you’re yanked backwards by your waist, pinned to something solid and unable to move.

“Who are you?” A growl sounds behind you, modulated to sound semi-mechanical.

Ah. There he is. You think you should be panicking, absolutely losing your shit even. But your brain is moving in slow motion.

“Someone trying to help you,” you breathe out.

“Doesn’t answer the question.”

The grip around your waist tightens. You want to laugh. As if you could’ve made a run for it in the first place. You tell him your name, and explain that you live alone. There’s no one else here but the two of you and you really do want to help.

“You were passed out on my fire escape. I couldn’t just leave you out there,” you explain cautiously.

The two of you stay like that for a minute longer. Then, a mechanical sigh sounds from behind you and the vice grip on your waist goes slack. You turn to him and see that he’s already halfway to your window.

“Hey! Wait! I can help!” you shout, scrambling after him.

“Don’t need it,” he snaps.

“You were bleeding out on my floor!” you exclaim.

You don’t know why you feel so strongly about this. Maybe because he seemed so…mortal. It’s easy to forget that these guys running around at night are people. They’re strong, tough, and capable, but they’re still human. The fact that he stumbles and has to catch himself on the window frame proves your point.

“Please. I promise I won’t take long. Please just let me help,” you beg.

He turns around and even through that unreadable helmet you can tell he’s sizing you up. You’re sure you must be a sight in your fuzzy white cat pajama pants, old Snoopy t-shirt, and fluffy white socks. Honestly, it’s a bit of a ridiculous tableau. Massive armed man in tactical gear opposite a woman in fluffy pajamas, both bloodstained. But either you seem harmless enough or he’s in exceptionally bad shape, because he just slumps against your wall and gives a barely noticeable nod of his head.

You go into autopilot the second you get his consent. A dining room chair is dragged to the center of your living room and Red Hood drops himself into it, the old wood creaking under the force. You go to assess the damage on his torso first. Light slashes litter his waist, none of them are deep enough for stitches. You grab the rubbing alcohol and cotton balls from the floor where you kneel before warning him that it might sting.

“I got slashed. Think that might’ve hurt a bit more,” he deadpans.

“Yeah, that’s fair.”

The torso slashes are light work. It takes all of five minutes to disinfect them and seal them shut with bandages. It’s his thigh that you’re a little more concerned about. There’s enough blood that it’s soaked his tactical pants around where you’re guessing the wound is. You can vaguely make out what appears to be cut fabric, so you’re assuming he was stabbed.

“How deep did the knife go?” you ask.

“Hm. ‘Bout two inches?” he offers.

“Why’d you take it out?” you ask incredulously. Anyone with half a brain knew not to take a knife out of a stab wound.

“No idea. Should’ve just gone runnin’ around the city with a knife wedged in my leg.”

The mask’s modulator does nothing to hide the teasing edge to his voice. Of everything you’d heard about Red Hood, you’d never heard he was such a smartass.

“You know how to do stitches?” he asks.

Great. So he saw the deer-in-headlights look you had while thinking about how to fix his stab wound.

“If you count mending clothing then, uh, sure,” you reply.

The white slits of the helmet stare hard at you before a warped chuckle comes from under it.

“Well, close enough.”

Oh, so he liked to gamble with his health then. Okay. Sure. Great. You could totally do this. Untrained, unlicensed, unsupervised you. You have to stop your hands from shaking as you thread the curved needle. You have to stop yourself from vomiting with anxiety as you push the needle through his skin. He hisses and you immediately feel bad. He’d handled the alcohol without flinching, but the stitches were a different story. You whisper sorry’s with every puncture of his skin you make. Soon enough, his leg is closed up and the whole thing is said and done.

“Okay, should be good to go,” you start, “Well, not good per se, but functional to go.”

A hum and a quick nod of his head are the only response you get before he’s back on his feet. He’s about to climb out your window for the second time tonight when you call out to him again. He turns around and you’d swear he almost seems exasperated.

“Take these with you. You’ll probably need them,” you say as you toss him a water bottle and a small carton of orange juice.

He snatches them easily from the air. But then he just stands there and stares at the drinks in his hands. You think you may have somehow offended him and go to apologize when he speaks.

“Thanks,” he says, mechanical voice catching on the word.

And then he’s gone. Out your window and off into the night. Once you shut and lock the window you feel exhaustion hit you like a freight train. All the adrenaline drains from you and it takes whatever energy you have left to collapse on to your bed and drift off to sleep.

You’ll never know it, but the Red Hood spends the last fifteen minutes of his patrol sipping his orange juice and dutifully watching your apartment window.

You’ll never know it, but Jason Todd lingers across the street to make sure you get home from the grocery store safely, and he scoffs as he sees you feed and pet a stray dog. It’s silly, he thinks.

Don’t you know that now you’ve shown it some kindness, it’ll just keep coming back?

[mysterycitrus]

I know a lot of ppl ask u abt jason or dick but im wondering now, what do u think about bruce? I find him a very interesting character whose characterization is incredibly feeble, both bc of his 80 years of history and the tendency writers have to project their own male fantasies on him. So i'd definitely love to hear ur own thoughts about him. I personally enjoy depicting him as someone morally grey, although my sympatization for him changes day to day. Wether you think he is a good or a bad person, i believe u need to make him dedicated to gotham and the bat as a symbol, and that comes with all its advantages and drawbacks

bruce wayne is sooooo interesting (derogatory) because like u said, he carries the baggage of every masochismo author that decided batman was too woke and should hurt his kids and that supporting gotham’s infrastructure is for pussies. there’s also the flipside of that, where he’s the perfect father who’s waaaay too emotionally regulated for my taste. both of these interpretations are bad imo, and both functionally miss the point.

i think part of this (in fandom) is an obsession with moral angst — u can either be a good person doing good things, or a bad person doing bad things. think about how some characters are crucified while others are babied. someone always has to be absolutely right, and the other has to be absolutely wrong.

in reality, there are a lot of people who are fundamentally kind and fundamentally want to do good that are really terrible to the people in their lives. bruce wayne being someone who relies on having so much control that it implodes his connections to the people around him is an important part of his character. his profound love for his children, for gotham and her people, for humanity in general and his belief in peoples ability to change, doesn’t circumvent the fact that he’s often an emotionally abusive man who hurts others to achieve his own ends. he contains multitudes.

writing him as a functionally irredeemable, violently abusive person is the anti-thesis to the symbol that he himself created. no, i personally don’t believe he actively beats his kids (even though it’s supported in the text). no, i don’t think he’s an irredeemable sadist (as much as frank miller wants u to believe otherwise). to have people like dick grayson and diana and clark and dinah love and believe in u means that there has to be something there worth caring about, otherwise the whole universe is gonna fall apart.

that’s what makes his relationship to cass so interesting — he sees his neuroticism, his dedication to the cause above all else, and does not find it admirable. he finds it confronting and upsetting. and to be clear, cass (like dick) is very much the moral ideal of what batman should be, but still bruce finds it hard to deal with!!

his abject failures — his treatment of the robins, his crippling guilt about jason, his fears of becoming a killer, the impossible load he gives himself to carry — means that when he’s shown as someone who genuinely cares, it makes him more complex. like yeah, bruce isn’t actually a cold hearted person. he really really gives a shit. too many shits, to be totally honest. he’s a morally grey person that wants to do good, but is so terrified of losing control that he keeps others away and hurts them in the process. there’s a reason why his emotional crutch was a traumatised eight year old fr. nothing is more important than the mission, including bruce wayne himself

[jonathan-cranes-mistress-of-fear]

Could you give your top 5 Scarecrow quotes of all time?

Not in any order: and I'm doing ten.

He's more than just scrawny Jonathan Crane, more than just the Scarecrow. He's s scientist, too. A trained psychologist who made fear the center of all his research. The gas was just a tool, one of many. He will show them, these doubters and bullies. These small men. He will show them and then all gotham (and yes, even that other manipulator of fear, The Batman!) that he doesn't need his special gas to strike terror in others. He will show them what real fear is all about

Fear is primal. Raw. Blood pressure increases. Veins in your skin contract. Your immune system shuts down. Even if you attempt to steel against fear, ... it is undeniable. Fear makes us human. That was the conclusion of Charles Darwin. Who am I to argue? I'm a man of science, too. A psychologist. But few know my academic achievements. If you know me at all, you know me as ... the Scarecrow!

But fear reveals the truth, erodes your self-control. Soon you will kill and become that which you hate the most. Soon, the Bat will be broken!

It's gone, Dark Knight-the grip you had on Gotham. Your long reign of fear. I'm sovereign now.

It's not fear that drives the Batman, not exactly. It's loss. The man behind that striking cowl lost something dear to him--something that made him afraid. Something that made him refuse to ever be afraid again. But he is afraid. Of losing Robin. Of losing Gotham. Of you.

I made this just for you. I admit I'm anxious to see what you think. When I work, you're the audience I'm trying to please. I hope you're flattered by that. You should be.

The sinister Scarecrow is free once more -- a living heart attack loose in the dark!

Your fears got the better of you I see. How fitting that I will win and Batman's life will be over... not because of what I have done to your precious city, but because you are scared of what I will do to your friends, your family. They are your weakness, hiding just below the surface. I'm sure that you're scared of what will happen when I tear that mask from your face. What will we find? Your true identity, or proof that without your mask you are nothing. Impotent. Powerless, Afraid.

I was a professor of psychology, specializing in phobias. Inducing terror has always intrigued me. Even, as a boy, I liked to frighten things. People, animals, it was all the same. I became obsessed with fear's crippling power. Later, when I became their leading professor of subliminal psychology at the university, I began performing experiments on fear and its subsequent effects. Dr. Long thought I went too far. He called me a lunatic. So now, they will learn the true nature of horror!

I fear nothing and no one. Not even you -- the biggest and worst bully of all, the one who shattered my confidence and buried the pieces in that dark pit of madness -- locked me fast in the grim stone of Arkham. But I'm out now! Risen again! And I am a strong-willed, single-minded, bat-hating machine! I've spent years honing my violent dance -- endless hours mastering the Crane style of martial arts. I am a new Scarecrow -- the invincible agent of your doom... I am the vengeance reaper!

[docgold13]

Batman: The Animated Series - Paper Cut-Out Portraits and Profiles

The Scarecrow

The self proclaimed ‘master of fear and the lord of despair, whom all should cower before in witless terror,’ The Scarecrow has proven one of Batman’s most persistent of foes.  Fired from Gotham University for his unconventional antics, Professor Jonathan Crane became The Scarecrow so to extract vengeance on those who wronged him. 

Utilizing his copious knowledge of fear, chemistry and psychopharmacology, Crane created a specialized hallucinogenic gas that can induce immediate and crippling fear in anyone who comes into contact with it. This gas has the effect of taking a victim’s greatest fears and manifesting them in the form of vivid and convincing hallucinations.  

Donning a costume evocative of a scarecrow, Crane used this gas to commit a string of robberies that aimed to bankrupt Gotham University.  This crime spree attracted Batman's attention and Scarecrow's plans were foiled by Batman.  In their showdown, Crane became infected by a concentrated dose of his own fear gas, causing him to see Batman as a giant, menacing bat creature.  Overwhelmed by sheer terror, The Scarecrow was reduced to a quivering heap and remanded to Arkham Asylum for treatment.  

Actor Henry Polic II provided the voice for The Scarecrow.   The villain first appeared in the tenth episode of the first season of Batman: The Animated Series, ‘Nothing to Fear.’  

[largesleeves]

Thoughts on Absolute Batman #1

Non-comprehensive but still kinda thorough analysis w/ pics :3

Definitely spoilers for issue one of Absolute Batman

Gotham

I think one of the cool themes of Batman is he is closely connected to the city. Batman always has a pulse on the city but this Batman IS the pulse. Alfred describes how he has worked in every facet of the city. Water treatment, sanitation, policy, power and in the comic he is construction. This Batman is more connected to Gotham than ever. He is the nervous system.

I don’t have deep knowledge of Batman but I know a huge part of him is his connection to Gotham and I love how we see even more of this city, characterizing it even more.

Bruce

As mentioned in the Gotham section, I think this Batman is one of the most connected to the city—at least that I’ve seen. Bruce has literal hands on experience with Gotham. He is a multifaceted, skilled worker. He has worked in power, water, sanitation, interned in city hall and construction.

This Wayne has a lot of similarities between Peter Park’s traditional origin story. Some large ones of note are:

1. Both have a dead father figure (uncle/dad) from gunshot

2. Super smart, middle class

3. Captain Stacy / Governor Gordon die(Gordon’s dead right?) saving people

I do think there are a good amount of similarities but more different than similar. It’s very interesting.

I have no proof but I would t be surprised if his mom dies in this first or second arc. Also he is ripped 🥵

Batman

I am very excited to see how the Batman Bruce dynamic is. I don’t think this first issue is enough to tell but I’m curious what it’s like. Almost everything Bruce does is for Batman, for the city.

Batman is very well portrayed as a unit. Borderline force of nature. This is one of my favorite things about Batman but they do it a bit different. Batman does a lot of stuff with paranoia fear but this Batman is brutal, animalistic fear. Other Batman have a larger focus on stealth but this Batman took on a hoard, head on.

The bat tech this Batman has is obviously very interesting too. The batarangs coming off his ears is really funny but awesome. He’s got bull horns now to charge into someone lmao.

The possible cape is my stand out element, even above the axe. The cape being the way it is, controllable and stiff is soooo cool. He has increased reach, cocoon shield, spikes, gliding omg it’s crazy. I think that it was alluded that the bridge technology young Bruce made became the Batman cape. It’s a foldable, structurally secure thing. The axe is very cool and I think defines this Batman’s brutality compared to others. Batman has been brutal but I think it’s mostly blunt/bashing damage. Absolute Batman slices. He easily draws blood. He still technically doesn’t kill, just cripples whoever he deems fit but this is a “I didn’t kill them, they just didn’t get to the hospital within 15 minutes”.

As the series goes on I might make a post about what a cop this Batman is…

Black Mask

A friend I trust, who is a mega Batman fan, was hesitant about Black Mask but now he all onboard after the beginning. I’m mostly unfamiliar with Black Mask but love the art so much. (Mf bowl head 💀)

Misc.

I love seeing operative Alfred. I think the Bat and Alfred dynamic is already great and will develop in a way similar to Daredevil and the Punisher maybe. Sorta kinda allies.

These panels are really cool to me. I love how the cape communicates motion. Batman just LEAPS outta there.

Ok thanks for reading all the way(this means I love you now)

[twcfaces]

@cxpedcrusxder from x

"I think it's apathy that's gotten worse over time. Apathy and fear. How can anyone concern themselves with things like morality and corruption if every day is about survival?"

Harvey spent a lot more time out here than he'd ever planned to. He talked to Batman almost as much as the Commissioner did these days, and it wasn't always about something dire or diabolical.

"It doesn't explain all of it, but from what I've witnessed, fear crippled this city."

He didn't smoke, either, so it wasn't as though he came out here to do that.

"People are scared of losing their homes, losing their jobs, losing their loved ones to one of these gangs--- or the police. I can't tell you how many times a witness has told me they didn't call the cops because they didn't trust them, or because they'd had a bad experience in the past.

How do you keep the right people scared, Bats?"

[the-unspeakable-tsar]

The Batman: Sculpted Chapter One

In the month after Riddler's attack that crippled Gotham, Bruce finds himself squaring off against a serial murderer and their nightmarish creations that are on a crime spree in the unsalvaged parts of the city.

The Bowery was still a flooded mess a month into the recovery efforts. Stepping through the streets, the water would measure up to your knees. He wasn’t himself in that moment; he wasn’t Bruce or Batman. He was a figure wandering through the detritus, searching for something he’d heard over the police radio. The cops couldn’t get anyone out because of the state of the streets, and someone in the area had reported a break-in at a nearby store and described the figure as dressed like a doll. At once, the image conjured thoughts of The Joker and his crew. 

He instantly spotted the location and stood with his back pressed flat to the wall as the figure stepped out. He wasn’t quite ready for the sight; he’d be the first to admit. Their skin looked like half-melted plastic. Not like a mask or prosthesis, but like their skin had been replaced with semi-hard plastic. Their hair was a wig made from a red yard, and they were dressed in a muddied pink dress. It hit him that this wasn’t a member of Joker’s crew. The city seemed to churn out nightmares like a factory sometimes. 

Bruce slowly moved back and watched the figure walk into the street properly. The jewellery could be replaced, and there wasn’t anyone besides him and the doll in the area. Still, anything like this didn’t smell right; things could heighten, and maybe the doll would decide the right course of action was to invade a home. Everything sat ahead of them, and all the paths of possibility were open now. 

He darted across the street, and the figure stopped. Fuck. The water sloshed around the doll's feet as its body made a popping noise that could be heard over the distant sounds of the city. There was a moment that passed between them, and Bruce felt as though there was a wordless understanding that neither of them was getting out of this without a fight. 

The doll released their sack, and a small fortune of gold jewellery spilt into the flooded street. Their knees made a rhythmic popping as they rushed towards him; he didn’t see where they got it from, but in their hand was a knife, nice and shiny and sharper than the devil himself. 

Bruce met them in the middle and made a sweep for their legs; the doll was knocked down and into the water easily, rising from the flotsam with a wet howl. But then it did something Bruce wasn’t ready for. 

It lunged at him with the knife again, and its warped voice squeaked out the words, “Help me…HELP ME, PLEASE!”

It was enough to catch him off, and he felt the knife bury its way into his shoulder for his trouble. He stumbled back, and the doll kept after him, screaming, “PLEASE HELP ME!” 

Bruce continued to retreat away from the doll, staggering toward him with this odd red light cut a trail down the front of their skull, just beneath their plastic skin. The doll’s arms stretched out and made a popping sound as they extended out, long fingers trying to grab him. You’re giving into the fear.

Bruce rushed the doll, a blackjack in his hand for protection and arms open to help this strange creature brought into being by this city. He couldn’t give into the fear or the pain from the wound in his shoulder that screamed for him to stop. But before he could reach the doll, the red light beneath its cheek grew brighter, and he could smell a mixture of rancid pork and plastic as its skull split open with a final, cruel pop.  

Their body did a final, spastic dance before collapsing into the water at his feet. Bruce found himself staring at it, confused and scared. He dug into his pocket and produced the Bat-Radia. 

“Lieutenant,” he whispered into the device. Then he corrected himself, “Jim…I’m outside of Robinson Jewlerer’s on Finger and Fourth. Somewhere in the Bowery, there’s a body here, and it’s in a strange state. It tried to attack me, and their face exploded.”

[pinepickled]

Back at it again to talk about just how much I hate the very concept of Jason 'giving up' on the Joker to return to the batfam.

Like, I see so many people who write meta and fics that claim that the one true solution to the current conflict between Bruce and Jason is for Jason to have a come to Jesus moment about why killing is wrong and to just accept that the Joker will continue to live, doing so for the sole reason of reconciling with Bruce. To me, it just reeks.

I cannot say this enough, but their conflict is not about whether killing is moral or not!!! That is not why Jason just cannot make up with Bruce as things are! Jason was considered one of the only comic book characters to be permanently dead for a reason, his death continues to mean something even after his resurrection for a reason!! The conflict starts in that the man who was supposed to protect him failed to and Jason DIED! The conflict continues because Jason was not avenged at all! His death was meaningless! Completely, utterly, meaningless!

The whole reason Jason goes on his murderquest in Gotham is because he saw newspaper clippings of the Joker, still alive and well, escaping Arkham! He must have thought of all the times Joker escaped while he was just a little kid, how they were constantly rounding the guy up and putting him back, watching the body count that this man has personally caused go up and up and up while they were functionally powerless to stop it. Jason himself says so, directly asking Bruce why he's let the Joker fill entire graveyards with innocent lives!

Under the Red Hood is a well thought out story. It never meant to make the case for whether murder is morally justifiable or not, that was Batman's trauma filled excuse. The reality, as outlined in samiralula01's post, is that Jason's death killed Bruce. He lost his ability to be compassionate, loving, merciful, and more. His little boy was dead. Clinging onto his belief that murder is wrong was just a means to justify to himself why Jason's death would have to go unavenged, and as a direct consequence of this delusion and trauma, which is explicitly said in UTRH, most of Batman's sidekicks have left him! Oracle, Tim, Steph, Cass, everyone except Dick! He's pushed them all away because of this crippling fear of losing them like how he lost Jason, this fear that has made him a colder, less loving man. The fear that turned him from a bringer of justice and hope into a dark shadow.

Jason is right, at the end of the day. He knows the Joker cannot be rehabilitated nor contained, he knows that Bats is just making excuses for himself, and his point of view is further justified by two events: 1, the fact that Barbara was brutalized by the Joker even after Jason died, and 2, that Bludhaven and supposedly Dick was literally NUKED right before Jason went to kill the Joker and instead of running to see if his son was okay, Batman went after Jason.

Batman chose the Joker over his kids not once, not twice, not thrice, but four times.

Jason dying and the Joker living on was the first.

Barbara being tortured to the point of disability was the second.

Dick being nuked and Bats not running to save him was the third.

and Jason having his throat slit by a batarang so Bats could save Joker was the fourth.

UTRH is the story of how Batman does not actually have a solid moral ground to stand on anymore. It displays not only what a broken and defeated man Bruce is, but also implies several times, most notably through the coffin maker's story, that even Bruce believes that Jason is right. He believes that his precious second son deserved to be avenged, not even through bureaucratic or judicial means, but through death. UTRH is a story about Batman, all alone, making huge mistake after huge mistake.

Jason asks Batman to choose: him or me. The Joker or Jason. Your kids or a villain.

Batman chooses.

The Joker puts it the best, after Batman upholds his no-killing rule for the Joker by killing Jason.

"You managed to find a way to win... and everybody still loses!"

[brisbookmark]

The Three Times Jason Wasn’t Saved- and The One Time he Was

Jason Todd x Reader

Warnings: detailed descriptions of torture, angst, character death, blood, needles, knives/ cutting, batfam au where the gangs all here, Robin!Jason, reader can summon weapons, sad ending

One

His head hangs, he doesn't have the energy. His feet barely touch the ground, and yet he makes no move to stand himself up. They're tingly and fuzzy and cold, as are his hands that are tied above his head. 

Jason Todd hangs in chains like a slaughtered pig, and his breathing is hoarse. His dull blue eyes land on the bloodied crowbar laying on the floor. It's his blood, and it makes him groan in pain. Hyper realization of his injuries hits him and he whimpers. It's low, pathetic, and his breathing picks up.

He doesn’t remember how to wear clothes that aren’t covered in dirt and grime and acid. The fabric of his robin suit sticks to his skin, blending with his wounds. Every small move of limb sends fires of pain throughout his body, and he tries his hardest not to make a sound. 

The Asylum wing is freezing and he’s cold, skin almost blue. He shivers every once in a while- it’s different from when the Asylum is scorching hot and he feels like he’s in hell where he belongs. The hair he used to keep so elegantly messy, it's dirty and scorched and matted and greasy against his head.

And he’s scared.

He knows that if he looks up, he'll see pictures. Taped to the dusty and damp walls of Arkham Asylum. Red circles trace each of their faces, and whether or not it's paint or blood he doesn't want to know.

It’s blood, it’s always been blood.

He can't bear to see their faces right now. Barbara, happy and smiling next to Dick as they enjoy a Gotham carnival. They're happy without him, he always held them back. He was too dependent on Barbara as a sister figure and was just an annoying kid to Dick, they're better now. 

Bruce. With a child on his shoulders. The son Jason could never be. A new Robin, one that could properly fulfill his duties. He was the failure, he was never going to be what Dick Grayson was. Maybe his replacement could, his replacement wouldn't let himself get captured.

Barbara and Selina and Alfred who had only ever taken care of him.

All with red targets around them. Everyone he'd ever cared for. Marked.

Everyone except Y/N, who's picture lay in pieces on the ground. Unlike the others, it wasn't taken by Joker's goons, and it wasn't recent.

It was her student ID from their first year at Gotham Academy. She was young, really young, eyes still bright and skin untainted by the scars of vigilante work. And she wasn't even looking at the camera but rather off to the side, caught by surprise when the photographer flashed his equipment. She hated pictures, and going to school was never a part of the deal. She’s mid laughing and so alive and happy in a world where Jason never hurt her. 

He'd stolen it soon after it was taken, sticking it in his wallet so she'd be forced to ask him for his own. You couldn't access the Academy Library without one after all. 

And the Joker had found it in his pocket and took it and ruined it and tore it and left her in pieces in the corner, her name never spoken from the maniac again. 

Jason assumed that was good. Better to be left in silence than threatened and marked for death. Hell, he couldn’t remember how long it's been since he’s seen her, and he softly starts to whisper her name. She promised him a night out once he found his mother, 

No, he couldn’t. 

Maybe the Joker couldn’t find her, hadn’t figured out her identity. He could keep her safe.

"What's that my boy?"

"No.. no," Robin pleads, the voice of nails on a chalkboard sending fear into his every bone. "Not again, not again."

The Joker comes into view and a weak cry comes from Jason's lips. His body jerks and another cough wracks his body, warm blood spilling from his mouth. Broken ribs, internal bleeding, punctured lung, he has no idea what it could be. If only Alfred were here, or Dick. To let him rest as they fixed him up, took care of him.

His chin is grabbed harshly, the bruising making it worse. The Joker laughs, pushing his face upwards and close to his own. He can smell death and acid on this villain, and Jason whimpers again. 

"How long do you think it's been, Jason?"

The robin doesn't answer. He can't keep track. He tried counting the amount of times Joker visited him, but then again, that was most likely more than once a day. And sometimes it was Harley, or a low level goon dressed like Batman and Nightwing and Batigrl and her. 

Time is a blur to him, he's been in pain too long. Everything hurts, even if someone were to save him now, he feels practically gone already. 

He wanted someone to save him.

"What about it Jason? You think Bats will come? Save his precious son?" The Joker prods, mouth wide.

Jason wants to say it. But the words dont leave his mouth. 

"Go on, don't be scared Jason. Tell me, tell dear old Joker."

"HE'LL COME FOR ME!" he yells, and it uses all his strength to just move his jaw.

"Even when he's better off without you?" The Joker asks, and he bends down to lift the bloodied crowbar. 

No. Please, anything but that. 

"He's going to! He has to!" Jason screams, and then tears start streaming down his cheeks.

The metal finds its way onto his hip, sending his body swaying helplessly as he cries. 

"Tell me, who's hurting you?" The Joker asks, grin never leaving his face as he hits Jason again. 

"Please stop, I'll do anything," the boy pleads, desperately trying to think of anything else. If only the Joker would end him now, let him go free.

"Who's hurting you Jason?"

"YOU!" He shrieks, the crowbar smacking painfully across his chest and ripping at the skin. It's like his lungs have collapsed, he no longer has bones. 

"Wrong!" 

"The, the Joker-"

"WRONG AGAIN MY BOY."

Jason looks up at the pictures on the wall, squeezing his eyes shut. Blood pours into his mouth and he spits it out, shaking in his chains. "Batman.. batman is hurting me."

The next hit never comes. "Attaboy," The Joker mutters, and then he leaves.

Two

He returns the next morning. Jason assumes it's the next morning, as he's in a new purple suit. Harley gave him a dosage some odd amount of time ago, it must be a new day. His limbs are numb, his wrists are cracked and bleeding. He tries to keep his tongue in his mouth but his jaw is slack and disfigured, it’s increasingly difficult. 

Jason hasn't slept in days. Dark circles accessorize his black eyes, it's a miracle he can see at all.

The green haired man sets a timer in the corner of the room, and the Robin's brain goes into endless loops of trauma. The crowbar, the explosion that almost killed him. His mind wandered to warm arms pulling him out, thinking Bruce had pulled him from the rubble. Except it wasn't his father at all.

Batman hadn't even tried. 

"Jason." The Joker says sweetly, walking around the boy like a predator. The robin is helpless, he's lost all feeling in his limbs. "I thought I might tell you a story today."

The dark haired boy stays silent. He doesn't cry, he doesn't scream, he prays to a god he doesn't know for it all to stop. A bullet, a poison, the world ends in a fiery explosion, he didn't care.

"Jason."

"Just kill me already," he pleads, voice cracking and desperate.

Loud laughter echoes through the room. Jason's head hurts from the sheer volume, and it doesn't stop. It gets louder, and it carries around, and Jason lets out hushed breaths. 

"I can't kill you boy, we're a great team you and I! Would you like to hear my story?"

Jason closes his eyes in anticipation for today's beating.

The Joker grabs his face again, and Jason is groggy. Fading in and out of consciousness. But as his eyes are forced open and the first thing he sees is a blade, Jason screams.

It's a dull knife, long and serrated and bloody and dirty. And in its reflection is the lunatic's face, grinning like mad. The light catches on the razor as the Joker's eyes go wide.

"Wanna know how I got these scars?" He sneers, and Jason cries. He struggles to get away, hanging helplessly from his suspension. Nothing works, and two goons from the shadows hold him still with no thought towards his bruised and broken body.

He's in agony, and he's begging. He's in insurmountable pain and he can't do anything about it. The razor is brought to Jason's lips, presses to the side of his mouth with dull pressure.

He’s muffled now, and he continues fighting. 

"Just,, like, this!!" The Joker yells, dragging the blade upward through Jason's skin at a slow agonizing pace. He wants this to be slow and torturous, and Jason only cries and shakes. It hurts, god it hurts, he's being cut open, and the blood and tears mix and cause him more pain, 

He almost wishes for the crowbar again and once the knife is finished on one side, he screams again. His blood bleeds from the blade and falls onto the floor, joining the rest from the past days. Months? It couldn’t have been years.

“Such a handsome young man,” the joker croons, erupting into even more laughter. “Tell me what brought the chicks in, your crippling daddy issues or your criminal record?”

Jason couldn’t answer if he tried. The Joker grabs his face, almost smelling his newfound wounds, and then pulls back, leaving him in a hanging sway. 

“Let me go..” he pleads, mouth sore. His bright blue eyes are so devoid of color it hurts, and he closes them. Blood and dirt clumps on his pretty eyelashes. 

“Now I don’t think I can do that dear Jason.”

Joker licks the blade clean, it catches on the man's tongue and cuts him, not that he cares. Jason's glad he's not forced to swallow the damn thing.

Well, be careful what you wish for. 

Its sharp edge is brought down his jaw, down his neck, so close to his jugular veins, if only he could shift and catch himself on the blade, he could end it all. 

He starts crying.

He doesn’t know when he stops.

The Asylum walls go black, and he's shrieking. Harley Quinn brings a bat to his body as the Joker moves his knife, and it finds solace along Jason's cold chest.

One cut. Two cuts. Jason screams more. His throat is raw, he doesn't even know where his terror is coming from anymore, it'd been beaten out of him. 

"Bruce-, bruce stop-"

The Joker laughs. "AHA, the boys learning, don't you see? That's right, that's right."

The cuts are few, and after a while they're bearable. The hardest part to deal with is Harley"s high squeals as she beats him. She calls him cute, handsome, a songbird.

Songbird.

"You can't.."

"I can't what Jay darling? Hmm?? What can't I do?" The Queen of crime pouts, and Jason sees red.

"Don't say that," he spits, finding his voice. "That name isn't for you bitch."

The next time the knife touches his skin, it's coated in acid. And he's yelling for it to stop, he's pleading, thrashing around.

His kicks find Harley and he's flown forward and backward, still chained to the ceiling. Its desperate.

"JAY DARLIING," she sings. "Puddin what else gets our birdie going?? Mm? What makes him sing like a good pet. Oh this is exciting!" 

"SHUT UP-"

"Jay," Harley flutters her eyelashes, bringing herself close to his face. "Baby? Love? Is it sweetheart?" Her mouth is wide, eyes deranged. "Perhaps it's Mister J! He stares into her gaze, and for a second the jester flinches.

If Jason wasn't suspended and restrained, he'd kill her. He knew it and she knew it and Joker most definitely knew.

"Well Jason, kill her then! Do it loverboy, why won't you end her?" He croons, and Harley feigns sadness. 

"I-" he starts, unwilling to let himself hang in shame. How could he do this? 

"Oh come on angel! Why don't you try?" She shrieks, and then Jason is shouting, further tearing into the cuts along his mouth as he brings his legs up, attempting to wrap them around Harley's neck. 

He doesn't get very far. Someone holds him steady, and the stinging knife is brought back to his chest. An H. An A. Another H and an A. 

Straight across his chest, and then it begins again. Jason's breathing is labored from his attempt to retaliate, and he slips back into his daze of unconsciousness. He can't do this much longer.

THE.

Jason can see it in the mirror on the opposite wall. He doesn't remember when that got put there. If he could reach something with his feet he could throw it. Break the glass, pick it up with his feet again perhaps, end this torture-

JOKES.

Jason feels like vomiting. 

ON.

Jason vomits on the ground in front of him. Sweat sticks to his skin and he's pale, he feels a fever growing on him. The knife continues lower to his bruised skin. This couldn't get worse, could it. 

YOU.

The words are engraved on his body, marred by the blood dripping from it. Jason's eyes roll to the back of his head. The trauma puts him to sleep, and the Harley Quinn whispers another "Jay Darling" into his ear before departing. 

Three

Y/N’s picture is gone now, he can't even piece it together in his mind anymore. The scraps are scattered and disintegrated into dust.

This time he hears Harley before Joker, she's hanging off of the clown's arm, looking at him with the adoration of a psychopath. In her hands is a long poker, tip red hot, and she swings it without a care in the world. She giggles as her love comes closer to the half dead boy, untying his chains.

Jason lands on the floor, a crumpled heap of skin and broken bones. His head hits the ground, but it's the most beautiful thing he's touched in a long time.

He doesn't move, curling into a protective ball. 

"Mister J our bird isn't moving," Harley whines, kicking him in the back. He groans, shielding himself as best he could. There's nothing on the ground that's usable, not even a sharp stick or rock, there's a used abandoned needle but it sends him into nausea.

The Joker's laughing brings him back to reality as he attempts to crawl away. The floor is appalling, disgusting, a mix of wax and blood and body fluids that he wished he could forget, but he's let go. 

Jason slams his hands on the cement, using the force to wake him up and pull himself forward. His legs don't work, he's going delirious again, and then there's the sizzle of water behind him.

"Where are you going birdie?" Harley asks, and the Joker takes another step closer. 

"No, no, NO-" Jason pleads. Please let him go, dead or alive he doesn't care. Just get him out of here, make it stop. It's the only word he knows at the moment, every syllable is tortuous to pronounce. He bangs his head on the cement. God he’s going insane.

Stop touching him. Stop hurting him. 

He’s been beaten and tortured and degraded in the worst ways possible. He couldn’t remember what it was like to be human. And still, this was the worst pain yet.

He's pinned down as the hot poker nears his face, the symbol bright red on the end. Like a branded piece of meat. His flesh burns and sizzles as the Joker gives more pressure, and Jason's never screamed louder. 

It's in the intense silence within which he screams with his whole body. It forces its way from deep in his throat, demonic and angry and scared. 

He's hiding a truth from himself, and soon he's not screaming from the burning, but rather that he's stuck here. Forever. 

Edged with the tantalisingly sweet release of death, the Joker will never give it to him. 

The Joker will never let him die, he will never let him go. And now his cursed J is on Jason’s cheek, he’ll forever be the Joker’s pet.

When the brand stick is taken off his skin, Jason is sweating and pale and falls asleep.

"What a shame you couldn't handle it."

x

Y/N runs through the hallway with desperation. She'd tracked down Harley one night and by some god forsaken miracle, the deranged woman had blood on her skirts.

Another miracle hadY/N sneaking into Wayne Manor to ask Barbara to help her, analyzing the blood samples to track down the Joker.

They found something better.

For a second she believed Bruce's high end, most technologically advanced equipment was wrong. Babs assured her it wasn't. That was Jason's blood on Harley, less than two weeks old. 

"Jason?"

The boy looks up, whimpering. He almost doesn't hear her.

"Oh Jay," she whispers from the hallway. She's just a shadow but Jason knows it's her. No one has ever said his name with such gentleness. 

The woman lets out a sob. He's here, he's alive, he's gonna be okay. 

Jason holds back sobs of his own as she runs to him. Her fingers are first to touch him, resting on his chest and trailing over his scars, his wounds and his blood. His torn clothes, the dirt and acid burns. Her hand stops over his heart, beating so slow she would have believed him to be dead.

But this is Jason. He's not dying anytime soon. Especially not if she can help it.

Tears stream down her face as she wraps her arms around him, holding him close. 

He's gonna be okay.

Y/N is immediately supporting him as she conjures a knife to cut him down. His arms are free and he nearly goes unconscious.

She catches him before he can fall. It's not like the Joker when he needs to crawl away like a wounded puppy. He welcomes the other presence in the damp room, shaking. Jason lifts his head, and he doesn't even have to move until she's at his side. It's so different.. he forgot what this feels like. 

Jason forgot what it felt like to have emotions besides fear. 

He curls into her lap, slowly using her body to sit up. 

"Jay look at me, please," she murmurs, holding his face and brushing the hair out of those colorless eyes. "Oh my god I knew it.. I knew you were alive.. Jay I'm so sorry-" she stops herself, kissing the top of his blood matted head.

That doesn't matter now.

"I'm gonna get you out of here, you're okay sweetheart. Stay awake okay? Okay. Stay awake for me please."

Jason nods, hanging onto her. If he lets go, she'll leave. He'll lose her and he'll be stuck here again. She'll fade away.

It hurts to move, every bone and every limb is on fire. Then she's grabbing him and they're standing up, she's practically half carrying him.  

Mumbles of his name fill the empty asylum wing. Js and Jason's and Jay's pass her lips as if just repeating it is gonna make him alright.

One step, and Jason crumbles. He can't walk, it's a miracle he can feel his legs at all. "I'm not going anywhere," he mutters. 

She doesn't say anything. She knows.

Footsteps in the background. Walking, jogging, running. 

Maniacal laughs and snarls and spit.

Y/N bends her knees and slings him over her shoulder in a fireman's carry, and then she starts running. Down one hallway and then the next, the Arkham Asylum is a maze.

"Jay, side of my mask, the-"

"Comms," he finishes, holding the button to turn it on.

"Bat? Batgirl, do you read me?" The girl whispers, ducking into an alcove.

"I'm here. Did you..?"

"I've got him. Babs, he's alive, Jason's alive, he's breathing-" It feels so good to say, to not just breathe an empty statement. 

Crying comes from the other side of the comms. Barbara composes herself enough to speak, but even then, emotion hangs in her voice. "Let's bring him home then, where are you right now? Dicks outside the Asylum with Bruce, don't worry about the thugs or the cameras, we have it covered."

"I'LL FIND YOU BIRDIE!" 

"The Joker's here," Y/N tells Barbara and the air hangs with a pregnant pause. 

"Okay, Tim's gonna have you turn right, we got his signal."

The woman turns, ducking into the darkness.

"Y/N,." Jason wheezes, hanging onto her shoulders with the strength he could muster. 

"Jason if this is one of, one of your 'if we don't make it out' speeches-"

"Nevermind," he replies, wishing he had the energy and the ability to smile. She does, she smiles for the both of them- even if he can't see it from this angle. 

"God I'm going to make him pay for this. Writhing and screaming and begging for me to end him," she threatens, listening for the next of Barbara’s directions.

She's told to go right and through a door.

There's two sets of footsteps now.

Y/N continues, trying to fill the silence. The Joker won’t track her voice, the alarms are too loud. "That doesn't matter now, I guess. You're alive and I- we thought you were dead and it took so long for me to accept that, and I still don't know how I found you but I did and Jay I'm so proud of you-"

"Hey this doesn't mean you can give me a speech of your own," Jason interrupts, and she cracks another smile. She’s rambling like she always does when she overthinks, and he closes his eyes to imagine that they’re once again on a Gotham skyscraper with a bottle of champagne. Spilling secrets and laughing like they weren’t masked vigilantes with secret identities. 

"I love you Jason, and you're not leaving me again."

"HAHA I LOVE THIS GAME-" The Joker yells. His psychotic grin fills Jason’s vision as the maniac throws open a hatch, jumping down into the room. Jason is dropped to the ground and Y/N has her sword in hand, stepping in between the two men. 

His vision is blurry, he can’t see anything, and the ground is warm. 

He can’t succumb. Jason stands up again, grabbing a pistol from Y/N’s leg and he shoots. The feel of a gun trigger isn’t unfamiliar. 

Yelling fills the room, as does the clash of metal and fists, Jason smiles as the Joker cries out in pain. Another door opens, there’s girlish laughter now, and so many footsteps. He keeps shooting, dropping enemies like a second nature because he was Jason Peter fucking Todd. 

Jason’s ribs get stomped on again and he loses his gun, and metal echoes on the ground as something is dropped. Three gunshots ring through the room. 

No. 

No.

The Joker and the Harlequin keep laughing in glee, and Jason blacks out from crying again. 

x

Cold hands grab his face. The man who laughs is, well, laughing and pulling Jason’s face close to his own. The smell of death fills his senses and Jason opens his eyes. 

"How long do you think it's been, Jason?"

[punchdrunkdoc]

Just Breathe - Ch. 9

Summary: Six months after the events in Gotham Square Garden, Bruce is struggling to find balance between his role as Batman and his responsibilities as Bruce Wayne. His life is made even more complicated when he learns that someone knows his secret identity.

Notes: This is a multi-chapter, slow-burn Battinson/original female character story with romance, angst, and crime solving!

Also available on AO3

Masterlist

Reference pics and stuff

Bruce adjusted the focus on the binoculars as Beth walked into view.

He’d reverted to spying again.

It was his only option. He needed to make sure she was safe, but he couldn’t keep spending time with her. He was getting in too deep. The panic he’d felt last week at the thought of something happening to her proved it.

He’d vowed after his parents’ deaths that he’d never get close to anyone again. He would spare himself from the crippling fear and pain that came from that kind of loss.

Yet it kept happening. First with Selina, and now with Beth.

Alfred thought it was inevitable - they’d fought about it earlier that night.

“Bruce, human beings are social animals. We’re not made to live in isolation. You’re not made that way. You were always such a sensitive boy, with so much empathy…its not healthy for you to shut yourself away from people.”

“I told you last year in the hospital - what I went through, with my parents…I can’t go through anything like that again. I can’t.”

“So what’s your plan? You’re never going to see this woman again? And just hope the feelings you have for her disappear. Haven’t you heard that ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’?”

“It’s not like that. We’re just friends.”

“Keep telling yourself that. You need her in your life, Bruce. I’ve seen the effect she’s had on you.”

“I don’t need anyone-“

“Yes, you do! You can’t keep going on like this! Spending every waking minute obsessed with this city and trying to right all of its wrongs. When are you going to live your life? Find some happiness for yourself? Do you think your parents would have wanted you-“

“Enough, Alfred!” Bringing up his parents had been the last straw. Bruce had grabbed his gear, hopped on his bike and taken off.

And ended up here, lying on the roof across from Beth’s apartment, watching her write something at the small desk in the corner of her living room.

Alfred was wrong.

He could get over this…attachment…he had to Beth. He could master his feelings and detach himself from them.

He’d turned his phobia of bats into a symbol that now terrorised others. He’d conquered his fear of his own mortality. He’d honed his body and his skills over months and years of hard work.

He could do this too.

He just needed some space. When he was around her, it was too easy to forget the risks. With her bright smiles and her hopeful optimism, she made it seem as if nothing bad could ever happen. That the world wasn’t a brutal and destructive place, and that he could let down his guard against heartache.

But when he was away from her…when he was immersed in the underworld of Gotham, where pain and loss were constants, the price of such a relationship seemed far too high.

So, he just needed more distance. His feelings for her would fade. And then he could continue his mission with no distractions, his heart safely stowed away, not at risk of being damaged again.

With that thought, he re-focused on his task tonight. He scanned the streets below, checking for any suspicious vehicles, and scoped out the rooftops surrounding her building.

There was nothing and no one.

Beth moved within her apartment, catching his eye. She’d finished whatever she was writing and now approached the window across from him. She fixed the A3 sheet of paper to the glass, and he zoomed in on the words printed in thick black lettering:

Stop spying.

You’re being ridiculous.  

He dropped the binoculars and sighed. He was being ridiculous. It had been over a week, and there was no sign that anyone associated with Newsome was looking into Beth. She was right - there had never been any danger.

His phone buzzed. He sat up and rummaged through his backpack until he found the burner device.

It was Beth.

For a split second he debated sending the call to voicemail. Instead, he answered. “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself. Did you get my message?”

“Pretty hard to miss.”

“And are you going to stop? I appreciated the vigilance in the beginning, but now you’re crossing into stalker territory.” Her tone was light and teasing and he closed his eyes against the sound. She was doing it again - sucking him into her bright and carefree orbit.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Are you okay? You sound…off.”

“I’m fine,” he lied. “I need to go.”

“Okay. Take care of yourself out there. And if you need patching up later by the world’s most out-of-practice doctor, you know where I am.”

He hung up without saying goodbye and squeezed the phone in his hand.

He could do this.

He could distance himself from her.

He had to.

———

“It’s me. I don’t know why you’re not answering your phone. I hope everything’s okay. I hope you’re okay. Can you let me know if you are? You’re not the only one who worries…and if I’ve done something…and you’re angry at me…just tell me. Please, Bruce?”

He played the message again.

And again.

It was at once a pleasure and a punishment.

It had been almost ten days since he’d last seen Beth, from that rooftop vantage point. Two weeks since he’d spoken to her in person, the night he came to tell her about Newsome.

And he missed her.  

He missed her smiles and her teasing remarks. He missed the warmth of her apartment and the sense of escape he felt when he was there with her.

He missed the way the light would hit her hair, and the way she would push her glasses up her nose with one finger.

He missed her voice.

So he played the recording to hear it.

Again and again.

But he hated how worried she sounded. How confused she was by his actions. And that ‘please’ at the end…he really hated that. That was his punishment - to listen to the hurt in her voice and know he was the reason for it.

But it was for the best.

He had to believe that.

At the sound of Alfred’s footsteps on the staircase, Bruce shut off the phone and stashed it under some files. He turned up the police radio and grabbed the wrench he’d abandoned in favour of torturing himself with Beth’s message.

“How’s it going?” Alfred asked, reaching the floor.

“I’ve almost finished with the spark plugs. Then it just needs an oil change.” He bent over the engine of his car and tried to avoid Alfred’s perceptive gaze. The older man wasn’t a fan of his plan to distance himself from Beth…and if he knew how difficult Bruce was finding it, he’d launch into another lecture.

“Good. Crowley called from the Wayne Enterprises board. They want to set up another meeting.”

Bruce hummed a non-committal response. He didn’t have time for Wayne business. Last week he’d come across a low rent thug who had a canister of the same gas that had taken him down in the junkyard a few months ago. Bruce had disarmed him before he could depress the trigger, so there was no repeat of the paralysing effects…

But it worried him.

Someone was supplying Gotham’s criminals with chemical weapons, and he needed to find out who it was.

That was his priority right now. And if it created a helpful distraction from Beth, all the better.

“Bruce, you need to take this seriously, the-“

“Hold on.” Bruce dropped the wrench and moved closer to the radio. He thought he’d heard something from the police scanner…

He turned up the volume.

“-points bulletin for for Patrick J. Newsome, caucasian male, late twenties. Red hair, brown eyes. 5ft 10in. 200lbs. Escaped from custody after plea hearing. Last seen at 16:24hrs at the Gotham City Courthouse. Repeat, this is an APB for officers in the downtown area. Be on the look out for escaped prisoner, Patrick J. Newsome. Caucasian male-“

Bruce checked the time on the computer screen. It was past five o’clock. Newsome had been on the loose for over half an hour.

He could be anywhere.

Shit!

He needed to find him, before he could hurt anyone else.

Beth!

He grabbed his phone and dialled her number. “Come on, pick up,” he whispered under his breath, but it just rang and rang. “Shit.” He threw the phone down and raked his hands through his hair.

“She’ll be fine,” Alfred said. “She’ll be at work, in a building full of people and locked doors.”

There was one way to check. Bruce snatched up the device again and opened the tracker app. He sighed in relief when the red dot of Beth’s phone confirmed her location at the M.E.’s office.

“You said it yourself, Bruce. Nobody knows Beth helped that girl. She’s safe, so just concentrate on finding him. Where would he go?”

Bruce paced in front of his workstation. His instinct was to race out and scour the streets, but it would be futile - a needle in a haystack. Alfred was right; he needed to think this through logically.

Where would Newsome go?

What would he do?

Would he run? Put as much mileage between himself and Gotham…or would he get his revenge?

Bruce had studied the man. He’d read his confession. Listened to his interrogation tapes. He knew him, and knew the way he thought.

He was bitter. Narcissistic. With a superiority complex, and no impulse control.

He would get revenge.

“Samantha Sterling,” he said, suddenly. “He’d find her. She was the one that got away.”

Bruce quickly changed into his gear and took off on his bike. He raced through the rush hour traffic, weaving between cars on his way to West Harlow, where Newsome’s last victim lived in a one bedroom walk-up.  

He abandoned the bike outside her building and rushed up the stairs, then stopped as her front door came into view.

It was ajar.

He inched closer, listening for any sounds of a fight or confrontation, but it was eerily silent. He stepped into her apartment, and his foot crunched on something. He looked down. A shattered glass littered the linoleum floor, as if someone had dropped it in surprise.

“Miss Sterling?” he called out.

A faint moan came from behind the couch. He rushed over to find the girl lying on the carpet, blood seeping from a wound at her temple. Her lip was split and bruises were already blooming across her cheeks and arms.  

“Miss? Can you hear me?” Her eyelids fluttered, then opened with a start. She shrank away from him.

“It’s okay. He’s gone. You’re safe.”

She looked around, confused for a moment…then started to cry. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

He helped her sit up. She moaned again and clutched her head. “I’m sorry,” she repeated.

“You don’t need to be sorry.”

“But I gave it to him. I didn’t want to, but he was hurting me. It hurt so much.”

A sinking feeling grew in Bruce’s gut. “What did you give him?”

“I only kept it as a reminder. I wasn’t going to say anything. It was just a reminder, that there are good people in the world.”

“What did you give him?” He repeated, his voice now rough with fear.

Because he knew…somehow he knew.

This was about Beth.

He could barely hear the girl’s response over the pounding of his heart. “The ID card. The doctor's ID card. I stole it from her car when she wasn’t looking. I just wanted a reminder.” She collapsed into sobs. “Tell her I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Bruce froze for a split second, before he whirled on his feet and ran out of the apartment. He flew down the stairs, dialling Beth’s number as he ran.

“Pick up, Beth,” he growled. “Pick up!”

“Bruce?” He almost collapsed with relief at the sound of her voice.

“Where are you?” He barked. He jumped on his bike and kickstarted the engine.

“I’m driving home from work. What’s going on? Why-”

“I don’t have time to explain.” He pulled back on the throttle and took off, steering around cars one-handed, the phone pressed to his ear. “I need you to meet me, right now.” He mapped her route home in his head, and picked a location that would work. “Drive to the parking garage on Battergate road and meet me on the roof. If you see anyone following you, or anything suspicious at all, keep driving and call me.”

“Bruce, I-“

“Please, Beth! Just meet me there. I’m 10 minutes away.”

“Fine.” She disconnected the call. Bruce accelerated. He was technically twenty minutes away, but he would make it in 10.

He thought he’d been scared for Beth before, when there was just the possibility of Newsome knowing about her. But it was nothing compared to the terror he felt now.

And this heart-stopping, gut-clenching anxiety wouldn’t abate until he could see her with his own eyes, and know she was safe.

———

Beth leaned against her car, arms crossed, and tapped her foot on the damp concrete.  To say she was pissed off was an understatement.

She’d had the day from hell, with three horrendous autopsies in a row - cases with stories so sad and tragic, she was at risk of breaking down in tears if she thought about them too long. All she wanted to do was go home to her warm, cozy apartment, put on her comfiest pyjamas and eat a tub of Ben & Jerry’s.

Instead, she was on a rooftop in downtown Gotham, cold, hungry and annoyed.

Who the hell did Bruce think he was?

He’d completely ignored her for over a week, then expected her to drop everything and come running the moment he called.

And she’d done it. Dropped everything and come running.

Which meant she was just as annoyed at herself as she was at him.

But he was her only friend, the closest one she’d ever had. And yes, that was a damning indictment on her life - she’d only known the guy for a few months after all - but it was true.

And she missed him.

She wanted to see him, and make sure he was okay.

And find out why the hell he’d been avoiding her.

She’d gotten a glimpse of what a true friendship could be like, then he’d ripped it away with no warning. She’d been going crazy the past ten days wondering what had happened between them. She’d even asked a co-worker for advice, which had surprised the younger woman even more than Beth.

“Camila, what does it mean when everything’s going well with someone, but then you don’t hear from them for a week?”

Camila frowned and glanced around the office. “Are you asking me for help with your love life?”

“No, no, no. It’s not a romantic thing.” At least, not on Bruce’s end, Beth thought. “He’s just a friend.”

“Well, its not that unusual for me to go weeks without hearing from my friends. We just pick up where we left off, and everything’s fine. That’s pretty normal for busy people.”

She and Bruce were both busy people…but they didn’t have a normal relationship. They were both so new to this type of intimacy; both so unaccustomed to having someone to trust and confide in.

Did he regret it?

Was that the explanation? Had she pushed too hard and too fast in her desperation to form a connection with him? Or did he sense that her feelings weren’t strictly platonic and it freaked him out?

Whatever the reason, he needed to tell her.

Speak of the devil…

She heard the rumble of his motorbike seconds before it wheeled into view. He parked below the security camera in the corner of the open roof and wrenched out the wires from the bottom of the device. The blinking red light went dark.

What the hell was he doing?

She got her answer a moment later when he ripped off his cowl and dropped it on the seat of the bike, exposing his face to the empty rooftop. He stalked towards her.  “You need to come with me.” He started removing his cape.

She straightened up. “Hi, Bruce. Nice to see you again. How’ve you been?” The sarcasm dripped from her words.

He sighed. “I know you’re upset-“

“You don’t know shit! You ghost me for over a week then start barking orders at me. I’m-“

“Newsome escaped.”

That silenced her. But she shook off the hint of worry. “He doesn’t know I-”

“He does, Beth. He knows you were the one who helped Samantha Sterling escape.”

She felt the blood drain from her face. She shook her head. “No,” she whispered. “That’s not possible.”

“She took your ID and now Newsome has it. He’s after you.” His gloves came off. He held them and the cape in one hand and stretched the other out to her. “I’m going to take you somewhere safe. I won’t let him get to you, I swear.”

She hesitated, her mind racing. “But what about work? And I don’t have anything with me…” It seemed crazy to be worrying about a lack of clean underwear and toothbrush, but she couldn’t let her mind focus on the more important issue…of what might happen if Newsome found her.

“I’ll take care of it. Just…please. Come with me.”

He looked scared. A man who never seemed phased by anything - a man who took on the worst of Gotham night after night…looked almost frantic with fear.

That convinced her to put her gloved hand in his. He squeezed her fingers briefly. “Thank you.”

He led her to his bike, where he stashed his gear in the backpack strapped to the rear. He covered the rest of his suit with the jacket she remembered from their night under the stars. Within moments, Batman was gone, and the dishevelled, grease-painted Bruce had taken his place.

He handed her a helmet. She shook out her ponytail and shoved the headgear on. “Is all this covert stuff necessary?”

He nodded and swung his leg over the bike. “We can’t let anyone see you with Batman.“

She climbed on behind him and carefully wove her arms around his waist. The bulky armoured suit was hard under her fingers.

“And we can’t let anyone see where you’re going,” he added as he started the engine.

“Where is that, exactly?” she yelled over the noise.

“My place.”

------

CHAPTER 10

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Taglist: @hollandorks @grunge-n-roses5 @xmxrfx @neptunesands @caramelcandescence  @blossomedfloweroflove @wanderdreamer @angelsarecallin @stephenismyking @rabbitdictionary @starshipvelociraptor @yanna-banana @batmanlovesnirvana  @bees-fart-too

[onebadwinter]

The Joker Tropes Part 2

Taken From Here and here

Nether Realm Studios especially seems to love making Joker out to be evil incarnate. In Injustice: Gods Among Us and its sequel, he loses all his cred (and life) once he nukes Metropolis; Harley ditches him entirely, Batman just completely gives up on indulging him any more, even Guest Fighters like Hellboy consider him worthless, and non-Batvillains such as Grodd and Brainiac and even Darkseid loathe him for either Metropolis, or just in general principle. Mortal Kombat 11 shows that even the MK cast see him as a scourge upon the realms, and also express distaste toward him for either his nuking, a previous outing, or because he's seen as a buffoon who cannot be taken seriously (this is usually the case for other villain characters).

About the only person who can tolerate him for long is Lex Luthor, only because they both have the same level of hatred for their respective enemies. Even then, Luthor prefers to keep his distance from the Joker, if only because a bored Joker screws with everything For the Evulz.

In the animated series, he claims to have been beaten as a child when interviewed by Harley Quinn. It is unknown if this is true. According to Batman, he's simply making it up.

In one issue of New 52, he claims to have been driven insane by an abusive grandmother, who also bleached his skin to its present pallor.

In the same continuity, he is one to a baby gorilla he adopts, trains up as a gun-wielding henchman, and ultimately gets killed off for laughs.

In the comic book adaptation of Injustice, it's implied Harley fears Joker would be one, and gives their daughter to her sister, lest he kill the child. It's left ambiguous whether the Joker's even aware of the ruse.

Averted in one story, wherein one of Arkham's doctors realizes Joker's faking insanity just to piss off Batman as revenge for his disfigurement. Another doctor finds the report and excitedly reveals it to the current head doctor, only to learn that  the Joker left it for everyone to read, since the paper's written by Harley Quinn, and therefore worthless as evidence.

In Batman: The Man Who Laughs, it's established that the name "The Joker" was given to him by the media, and he liked it so much that he decided to call himself that.

The same happens in Joker (2019), where Murray tells the audience to "look at this joker" when talking about Arthur. Arthur took it to heart.

Batman: Arkham Knight takes this even further by revealing that being forgotten is the only thing the Joker truly fears.

Just to demonstrate how much disregard he has for his henchmen, a reoccurring motivation for offing his own lackeys is failing to laugh at one of his jokes. Or laughing too late. Or laughing for too long. Or laughing at the wrong joke. He's... unpredictable.

The Joker loves it when people laugh with him, whether genuine or not, but if someone laughs at him, they're most likely already dead.

Joker loves attention and being above the normals, so never imply that he's not interesting or unique. Terry exploits this flaw in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker just to drive him to a Villainous Breakdown.

The Batman Who Laughs. Since the character's first appearance in Dark Nights: Metal, the mere mention of him is enough to put The Joker in an uncharacteristically un-jolly mood and is a good way to get on his bad side. In fact, the dislike of this twisted version of his archnemesis is so great, that when Lex Luthor and The Legion of Doom started cooperating with him against Joker's protests, he quit the legion (after non-lethally jokerizing every other member of it) in disgust.

If you're going to hurt Batman, do it right. One of the supplementary stories for Joker War had him beyond furious with Bane - to the point of promising him he'd kill him in a way he would never see coming - for showing so little imagination in killing Alfred in City of Bane without even letting Batman listen to it to torture him. By his reckoning, if you have a great gag to break the Bat, use it to break the Bat - don't blow it by having Robin be the only one to witness it.

Originally Conrad Veidt from The Man Who Laughs.

Later portrayals base themselves on his actors, with Cesar Romero a popular candidate, and after Jack Nicholson came in, artists such as Alex Ross base him on him, such as the actor's distinct widow's peak and slicked back hair.

During Knightfall he and Scarecrow killed several members of a SWAT team, and one of his last actions in Batman: No Man's Land was to kill Commissioner Gordon's second wife, Lt. Sarah Essen.

One of the alternate realities seen in Zero Hour! was one where he killed Commissioner Gordon instead of crippling Barbara.

Part of the reason Gordon takes over the post of Commissioner in both The Dark Knight Trilogy and Batman: Arkham Series is due to the Joker killing Gillian Loeb. Additionally, the first game in the latter series, Asylum, he sees several of Arkham's guards killed by him and his men.

He's holding a dead cop's corpse in his intro in Injustice: Gods Among Us and using it as a puppet. He also talks to the body of one of the Regime enforcers who captured him once he breaks out and heads to Gotham.

Whether he was driven insane or was already insane and became completely bonkers.

Where he is on the spectrum between "wacky prankster" and "utterly depraved and sadistic sociopath and murderer".

Whether he is a senseless, performative terrorist wreaking havoc for kicks or a deceptively cunning and competent criminal mastermind. Or both. Usually both.

He's no Batman, but sometimes he is a proficient hand-to-hand combatant, Knife Nut or marksman, and other times a flimsy wimp who goes down in one punch. In some of the grittier settings, his raw strength, numbness to pain and viciousness are enough to level the playing field with Batman.

Whether he actually loves Harley Quinn varies. In the animated series, (where Harley first appeared) the writers haveoutright said he's a sociopath incapable of loving anyone, and just sees her as a useful mook. Some other works imply he really does love her on some level (although he's usually still an abusive asshole.)

He can either be Faux Affably Evil, Laughably Evil, just a Monster Clown, or some combination of the three.

At least one such incident implied he would be interested in Batman... but only after he was dead. Again this may only have been a tactic to get under Batman's skin or truthful admission. The readers will never know for certain.

His plot in The Killing Joke is to put Jim Gordon through the wringer hard in the hopes of driving him mad. He'll also try to drive Batman over the edge (particularly, drive him to break his "no killing" rule), sometimes by cutting off all of Batsy's human connections.

The Dark Knight reworks it into Driving Gotham To Senseless Violence with wanton acts of destruction or terrorism, just to prove everyone's as bad as him deep down.

Ironically, a 1952 story has the Joker get himself falsely committed to an insane asylum, to question a patient who knew the location of a cache of money. The end of the story has him Laughing Mad due to a prank Batman used to disguise his identity.

He didn't have his signature laugh. This seems to have been a way to "goofy up" the character to make him less terrifying in the days of the Comics Code Authority. Later on, he'd learn to giggle while remaining terrifying.

He actually committed crimes for moneynote , and wasn't really interested in causing chaos or terror for a joke's sake.

Building off of that, his plans weren't really "insane" until the Silver Age (at which point it's not even fair to say this was exclusive to him), nor was there any question of the character's mental stability.

His obsession with Batman wasn't there, much less the idea that he would pass up chances to kill the Bat or learn his identity. This aspect was probably introduced to explain the Bond Villain Stupidity he (and every Batman villain) had become infamous for in the Silver Age.

His clown-like complexion was actually makeup in his early appearances. He even removed his makeup to disguise himself as a cop, which was referenced in The Dark Knight. It's later revealed that the look is permanent after falling in a vat of chemicals.

The Brave and the Bold #111 and #191 have him team up with Batman to clear his name after being framed for several murders. The first instance turned out to simply be a framing the guilty part occasion but the second instance was actually genuine on Joker's part (except the person Joker seemingly murdered turned out to be faking their death).

He also does this with Batman whenever The Batman Who Laughs is involved (specifically in the Dark Knights: Metal series).

He abruptly ends a partnership with Red Skull when his Nazi affiliation comes out. Red Skull simply wonders why he is so surprised when he thinks that the Joker would make a great Nazi. The Joker is NOT happy about this, proclaiming "I may be a criminal lunatic, but I'm an American criminal lunatic!" It even provides the trope's image. And yes, folks, even an equal-opportunity murderer like the Joker despises the Nazis!note

The exception is mentioned again in the Last Laugh arc where the Joker immediately refused to join the American Neo-Nazi Aryan Alliance group in the Slab after he was offered membership. Joker: I'm evil and all that, but you guys are just plain mean.

Will not harm dumb animals and doesn't condone it. There's no humor to be had in that. Higher primates apparently do not qualify but a lot more effort went into that one.

While in Arkham with villain Warren White, AKA the Great White Shark, Joker calls him the worst person he ever met. He states that while he may kill people, even he doesn't steal their kids' college funds.

Sees nothing funny about someone parking in a handicap spot when they're not handicapped. However, he does think it's hilarious to hurt them in ways that will make certain they'll always be able to park there.

A girl named Janey Bennett, whose class was studying criminal behavior, became pen pals with the Joker while he was in Arkham. When Janey revealed that her father, the mayor of Motor City, was abusing her (exactly how isn't specified, though it was implied to have been really bad) the Joker broke out and, convinced that the authorities would be of no help, tried to force the mayor into admitting to his crimes and giving him Janey (so that he could find a better home for her) by threatening to contaminate the city's blood supply, going through with it (because the ends justify the means) when the mayor refused to give in to his demands. He originally intended to give her to Batman as well so he could protect her but at the end decided to give her to her mom. Joker: I mean, stealing a city blind is something I can admire... but being mean to one's own daughter... that just makes my blood boil.

For a rather literal form of "standard", the Joker's team-up with Carnage in Spider-Man and Batman: Disordered Minds fell apart in part because the Joker, known for his love of theatrics, found Kasady's desire to get straight to killing boring. Conversely, Kasady didn't like the Joker's flair for theatrics.

The Joker absolutely loathes The Batman Who Laughs, to the point where he drops his usual joking demeanor and is deathly serious whenever directly referring to him, even willing to work together with Batman to face him when it comes down to it. When Lex Luthor goes behind his back to make a deal with The Batman Who Laughs (going against the only condition Joker has for joining his plan), Joker responds by Joker-gassing the Legion of Doom, putting Lex into a series of deathtraps, trashing Lex's Power Armor, and quitting the Legion. In the process, he tells Luthor how he had planned on ruining the Legion utterly on the verge of victory, and as nightmarish as his plan sounded, he claims it is nothing compared to what the Batman Who Laughs is going to do.

While he still gloated about it and found Commissioner Gordon kneecapping him funny after remember that he'd crippled Barbara, the actual act of killing Sarah Essen in the penultimate issue of Batman: No Man's Land is one of the few times the Joker wasn't happy with something he himself did, considering he's seen walking away while scowling afterward, leaves the babies he originally planned to murder unharmed and immediately turns himself in to the police.

Emperor Joker sees the Joker disgusted with a corrupted Jimmy O Lsen tormenting the Superfamily and Batman when they're turned int animals.

Later one he is disgusted when his minions vandalize the Moai on Eastern Island.

Again, when he rescues Lex from The Batman Who Laugh's infected minions in Hell Arisen, the mere mention of his alternate universe rival prompts him to have a very uncharacteristic Freak Out. The Joker: I told you. I told you not to deal with him. You should have shot that thing in the head the second you had it in a cage! It is wrong. It is a wrong thing.

Played more straight in his relationship with Punchline. Only time will tell if it lasts.

There’s also a comic storyline when Hush informed that a dirty cop Office Halmet killed his wife Jeannie. The Joker wanted nothing more than to kill said cop in revenge. Then there’s Batman: Three Jokers where, despite it being being heavily implied he was abusive, the “Comedian” Joker is seen setting up fake tea parties with dolls, clearly trying to substitute them for his wife and child showing that he does miss them and desire to be a family with them.

While The Dark Knight is one of the few times the Joker's clown-like appearance is the result of make-up, he does sport a Glasgow Grin.

While Joker still has the permanent clown look, it's combined with the Glasgow Grin.

While Batman: Endgame would see the skin of his face restored with a chemical called Dionesiumnote , at the start of The New 52, the Joker had the Dollmaker skin his face and then, after he recovered it, spent Death of the Family wearing it like a Leatherface-esque mask. And even in Endgame, his restored face ends up badly burned as the result of the finale battle between him and Batman, though it still ends up restored again.

Gotham sees neither Valeska escape this. After his death in season 2, Jerome (the proto-Joker) ends up resurrected in season 3, but because Dwight thinks his attempt to revive him failed, Dwight ends up cutting off Jerome's face ala Death of the Family and Jerome ends up stapling it on when he catches up with Dwight and while he later has it properly reattached, there's still scars from what happened. Jeremiah, Jerome's twin and the show's true Joker, ends up with the "perma-clown" appearance due to Jerome having the Scarecrow brew something up to spray in Jeremiah's face, but season 5 sees his fateful fall at Ace Chemicals badly scar his face and sear off most of his hair with only stringy patches left.

Averted entirely in Joker (2019), where his clown appearance is entirely makeup, and the worst it gets is painting his iconic smile on his face with his own blood from a car crash. Not even a Glasgow Grin or anything, the blood is from his hand and his face only has a few normal cuts on it.

While Batman is a rather serious character who refuses to kill anyone, The Joker is a rather comical character who revels in death.

Joker's gadgets tend to be rather goofier but much more lethal, such as the Joker Venom that he often uses to kill his victims.

While Batman gets along well with his sidekicks Robin and Batgirl, Joker frequently abuses his sidekick Harley Quinn and has tried to kill her before, not to mention all the times he has been a Bad Boss by killing his henchmen for any reason you can think of, sometimes for no reason at all.

While Batman's backstory is well known, even by the citizens of Gotham who know of the tragedy of the rich Waynes' in Crime Alley, no one knows anything about the Joker's backstory, but most versions he tells are consistent in two things: he was a nobody, and possibly someone poor.

In most adaptations, his voice is high-pitched in contrast to Batman's Badass Baritone.

Why he went by the name the Red Hood has changed over the years: The Killing Joke claims he was a failed comedian driven to crime to support his pregnant wife. The trauma of his disfigurement from jumping in the acid and his wife's earlier accidental death drove him insane. However, even this backstory is questionable, as the Joker himself calls it "multiple choice".

In Injustice 2, an intro with Atrocitus has the Red Lantern wondering what drove the Joker to nihilism.

In the animated series, he claims to have been abused as a child when interviewed by Harley, but according to Batman, it's just another ruse to escape Arkham.

The purple suit and matching pants with either an orange and/or green shirt with a bowtie or tie, remains the definitive Joker look one that many artists and costume designers have given spin on. He is sometimes known for wearing a cool hat but other times goes hatless. Heath Ledger's custom-designed purple long-coat, trousers, blue shirt and green Waistcoat of Style with a tie has likewise become iconic and famous for its contemporary and downright stylish update on the classic look.

The original Red Hood outfit which is a black suit, white shirt, bowtie with an opera cap and a bizarre red dome is also quite famous.

The Hawaiian tourist outfit he wore in the notorious scene in The Killing Joke.

The white suit he wears in Miller's The Dark Knight Returns as well as the white nurse maid outfit with red wig in The Dark Knight is also quite notable.

The Future Joker look from Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker which went with a mime look (black body suit, slicked-back hair) is also quite distinct and unique.

The first issue of Batman with Joker's debut has him described as having "burning, hate-filled eyes" and the moniker, "the harliquin of hate".

The Man Who Laughs had Bruce dosed with a light version of the Joker Venom and he felt his perspective shift into a paranoid vengeance were he felt everyone deserved to be punished for his parent's death just for existing.

Death of the Family had Batman describe how Joker's irises are always narrow when looking at anyone but Batman and that it is usually an indication of negative feelings toward something with Bruce mentioning that his eye are the eyes of someone who hates everything he sees.

In the Justice League storyline "Rock of Ages", Martian Manhunter has to put in incredible effort to reorganize Joker's mind long enough for him to give up the cataclysmic Philosopher's Stone. The briefly sane Joker immediately says My God, What Have I Done? verbatim as he hands it back, before quickly losing his mind and going back to the laughing madman.

The famous example from the end of The Killing Joke, where Batman tries to convince him to allow Batman to rehabilitate him before their vendetta kills them. Joker considers it for a long, somber moment before quietly reflecting that they're both too far gone.

Batman: Cacophony ends with Joker being pumped full of an inhuman amount of antipsychotic drugs to keep him under control while in recovery from a near-fatal stabbing. Batman takes the opportunity to have a relatively-sane conversation with him, though it's somewhat subverted by Joker still being a homicidal sociopath even while heavily sedated.

He even gives multiple reasons on how he came Back from the Dead in Injustice 2 and will go along with whatever his opponent thinks is true, despite being Dead All Along in story mode and only appearing as a hallucination to his ex-moll.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns sees him kill David Endochrine and Ruth Weisenheimer, who were clearly based on David Letterman and Dr. Ruth Westheimer.

During Knightfall, once he realizes that Azrael isn't Batman, his plan's gone to hell, and one too many criticisms from Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert stand-ins, he kills the stand-ins.

In one of the issues for the The Batman tie-in comic, The Batman Strikes, he terrorizes a stand-in for Conan O'Brien. This becomes darkly Hilarious in Hindsight as the real O'Brien voiced Endochrine in the animated version of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. In the series proper, Harley's debut had the two of them terrorize a stand-in for Dr. Phil for the climax.

If you want to know how truly terrifying The Batman Who Laughs is, look no further than the way Joker acts whenever discussing him. He doesn't laugh, he doesn't smile. He becomes calm and serious and simply tells whomever he's talking to that the TBWL is "a wrong thing that shouldn't exist". Someone HAS to be scary if the very thought of him makes Joker act like a calm rational sane person.

In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, the clown has a massive Villainous Breakdown when Terry mocks him for his failed attempts to break Batman.

On the rare occasion Joker gets bored and leaves Gotham, expect everyone to think of him as just a silly clown, until the bodies start piling up.

One issue of the Robin Series had him talking about having Abusive Parents, only for a psychiatrist to tell him it's the seventh story he's told now.

Batman lampshades on this to Harley in the animated series, thinking it's another lie to gain sympathy.

The Killing Joke claims he was a failed comedian driven to crime to support his pregnant wife. The trauma of his disfigurement and his wife's earlier accidental death drove him mad. However, even this could be a lie, as he himself calls it "multiple choice".

It's even discussed in Injustice 2, as Atrocitus wonders what drove the Joker to nihilism. Despite only appearing as a hallucination to Harley in story mode, he spews out multiple theories for his Unexplained Recovery and will say Sure, Let's Go with That in non-canon fights. Was he resurrected by someone, or is he from another universe? Did he escape from either the Source Wall or the Phantom Zone, or is he just an apparition?

Shadow of the Bat #38, Tears of a Clown: He celebrates his anniversary of the day he was a still sane, but hapless comedian, and was thrown out of an exclusive Stand-Up Comedy club for an unfunny act the patrons mercilessly heckled. It was the last straw as he agreed to provide to his family by pulling a job for the Red Hood gang. So he kidnaps all the patrons and reenacts his act with control collars that will kill them when they laugh. Oddly enough, the patrons are hardcore Stand-Up Comedy fans, so they can't remember the number of times they've booed someone. However, even this origin story could be a lie.

It's come to be his primary disfigurement over the original skin bleaching.

In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Terry McGinnis exploits this by delivering an epic Boring Insult so the clown will have a Villainous Breakdown.

King Barlowe proved to be a big one in his Thanatos Gambit in the episode "Joker's Millions" of The New Batman Adventures. In a spiteful Video Will, he gives the clown his millions, revealing in his tape that most of it was fake. Expecting the clown to splurge on it, he won't have enough to pay off the IRS, allowing Barlowe to get the "last laugh" after his death, without the Joker coming after him.

Alan Moore's "I go Loony" from The Killing Joke, an in-panel song-and-dance tune that was eventually made into an actual song belted out in Batman: The Killing Joke.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold has "Where's the Fun in That?" from the episode "Emperor Joker".

Batman: Arkham City ended with him covering The Platters' "Only You (and You Alone)", Batman: Arkham Origins had him cover Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold, Heart" and Batman: Arkham Knight had him provide an original composition, "Can't Stop Laughing".

Action Fashionista: This incarnation of the Joker has a wide variety of garish outfits for every occassion — most of them straight from the comics.

Adaptational Attractiveness: Metal teeth, lack of eyebrows, and tattoos aside, he's still being played by the youthful-looking real life Pretty Boy Jared Leto; especially since the last two cinematic Jokers were a creepy middle-aged gangster with a botched face-lift and a filthy, scarred vagrant (even the mentally unwell clown-for-hire doesn't scream Mr. Fanservice one bit). This version looks more like Marilyn Manson.

Adaptational Nice Guy: A very downplayed example. While he's otherwise the same Clown Prince of Crime we all know and love to hate, he appears to genuinely care for Harley, and even throws her out of a falling helicopter to save her life. Almost any other iteration of the Joker would do that to save his own skin or rid himself of her.

Adaptational Skimpiness: This version of the Joker tends to be shirtless a lot more than he has in any other medium. It mostly seems like an opportunity to show off his tattoos.

Adaptation Distillation: Leto's Joker seems to be less of the "evil philosopher" that Heath Ledger portrayed him as in The Dark Knight, and instead seems to be a cross between the garish, larger-than-life Mark Hamill version from the animated series and the Arkham games, and the creepy, deeply twisted Brian Azzarello version. David Ayer had also stated that he looked specifically to the Golden Age Joker for reference, providing reason for many to believe that Leto's Joker is a modern re-imagining of that incarnation.

Advertised Extra: Heavily featured in Suicide Squad promotional materials, barely appears in the film for more than seven minutes. According to Jared Leto, several of the scenes he shot were not included in the theatrical cut.

Ambiguous Disorder: In Suicide Squad, most of the time the Joker seems... not all there compared to Harley. In addition of psychopathic tendencies, the Joker has random bouts of maniacal laughter, confusion, and slurred speech-like patterns. All attributes that stem from punch-drunk syndrome. Considering he has faced Batman one too many times, it makes sense that the Joker's mental stability is finally catching up to him.

However, come Birds of Prey, they broke up, mirroring the comics where they do have an Relationship Revolving Door. It appears to stick, as Harley publicly calls it quits between the two of them.

His tattoos are very reminiscent of the Joker in All Star Batman and Robin.

Ax-Crazy: Like all the incarnations before him, calling him a violent psychopath is one of the biggest understatements you can make.

Bedlam House: Spent some time at Arkham Asylum, where he met Harley. Then he broke free from it with the help of both Harley and his gang.

Chewing the Scenery: An important part of the character is his theatricality.

Cool Car: A bright purple sports car with underglow lights and a "HAHAHA" license plate.

Dented Iron: It's subtle, but the numerous scars on his body and metal replacement teeth in his mouth are clear signs that his frequent run-ins with Batman are taking their toll.

Disney Death: He seemingly dies in the crash of his helicopter... only to come back to free Harley from her high security prison at the end of Suicide Squad.

The Dreaded: In true Joker fashion, everyone is terrified of him.

Establishing Character Moment: One that takes place before he even makes his official debut in the setting - he killed Robin (a minor) and vandalized his outfit to mock Batman over his inability to save him.

Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Insofar as much as the Joker can love anyone, anyway, but he does seem to genuinely care about Harley. Eventually, subverted.

Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: He considers the brutal murder of a minor as a joke he played on Batman. When he's torturing Harleen Quinzel, he promises not to shatter her well-kept teeth while flashing his own hideous metal dentures. When Harleen later has him at gunpoint, Joker just says "please don't kill me, I'll be ya friend" in a snarky tone.

Evil Is Hammy: It's not The Joker if he's not Chewing the Scenery. And, sure enough, he does.

Evil Is Petty: The graffiti on Robin's costume seems to imply that Joker murdered him just to prod at Batman. It is confirmed in Suicide Squad that Joker and Harley killed him.

Evil Laugh: It's kind of his thing. One notable example is when he chuckles while surrounded by an arsenal of weapons.

Fake Shemp: Indie rocker Johnny Goth stood in for Jared Leto in Birds of Prey, in the flashback where he and Harley torture and tattoo the big mafia thug Harley later bumps back into.

Foil: To Batman as usual, but with some new additions. After 20 years, Batman became more jaded and cruel, while the Joker somewhat mellowed out and his criminal activity became more professional. Batman didn't settle down until the death of Superman while the Joker grew attached to Harley Quinn.

In Suicide Squad Griggs' smug indifference about his gambling debt immediately becomes pure terror when he realizes the Joker has gotten involved.

He is so feared that even the likes of Black Mask would rather steer clear of him. Harley's enemies only start gunning for her in Birds of Prey when it's become clear that she's no longer with him.

   G-Y

The Ghost:

There is an allusion to him in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ("HA HA HA Joke's On You, Batman" painted across the chest of the dead Robin's empty suit in the Batcave), but he doesn't actually appear.

He gets mentioned a lot in Birds of Prey, but he's only seen very briefly in some flashbacks, always from the back (including footage from Suicide Squad). There is a whole Deleted Scene where he and Harley have a domestic dispute. Harley leaves the house through the window and the Joker throws her stuffed beaver out through the window. In the film proper, she's just kicked out of the house, with no shot of Mr. J.

Greater-Scope Villain: His role in Batman v Superman. Despite not actually appearing his murder of Robin by this point has driven Batman down a darker, more vengeful path that goes against Batman's traditional moral code; the one that the Joker is always trying to prove is wrong. Batman's rage towards Superman blinds him to the possibility of Lex Luthor being the real threat long enough for Superman to die fighting Doomsday. In a way the Joker's actions contributed to Batman's failure.

Guttural Growler: This Joker is noticeably more snarly than previous incarnations.

Handshake Refusal: He doesn't like to shake hands, as Monster T finds out.

Hell-Bent for Leather: Wears a purple crocodile skin duster at some point in the film.

Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Despite being a homicidal sociopath, he seems to truly love his girlfriend Harley Quinn. Then in Birds Of Prey, he coldly and violently breaks up with her.

Joker Immunity: He appears to die when his helicopter is shot down about halfway through Suicide Squad. To absolutely no one's surprise, he shows up alive and well in the final scene. It helps that he's the Trope Namer.

Knife Nut: And by God, does he have enough blades.◊

Lean and Mean: This Joker, while muscular, is quite lean, especially compared to the heavily muscled Batman.

Love Epiphany: Well, "love" is pushing it, but Joker realizes his affections for Harley when she dives in the chemical bath that ultimately turned Joker into what he is. Symbolic in the sense she was agreeing to join him in madness. Further adding to the complexity of the scene; Joker was tying up a loose end, having used Harley to escape from Arkham. He lead her to her demise and intended to leave her for death but at the same moment realized she had entered his world and his madness. Joker never anticipated the amount of utter devotion Harley would have for him, something inside him just couldn't walk away from her, so he jumped in to save her.

Manipulative Bastard: He manipulated Harley into helping him escape Arkham because she fell in love with him. When she served her purpose, he would have had her kill herself jumping into a bath of chemicals to prove her feelings. He instead saves her from this demise because he has a Love Epiphany in the moment.

Monster Clown: Like the previous film versions, Joker is an Ax-Crazy criminal with clownish makeup. Green hair notwithsanding, his white makeup, red lipstick and absence of facial scars make him look closer to a mime than his predecessors.

Noble Demon: In Suicide Squad, his whole motivation is to rescue Harley Quinn. His commitment is so strong he doesn't even waste time with pranks or petty acts of cruelty. Everything he does is for someone else.

Only Known By His Nickname: He's only known as The Joker, or "J" / "Mr. J".

Outlaw Couple: He and Harley Quinn are lovers and partners in crime.

Sadist: Even though there was only a few select scenes of him, one of them is him torturing Harley. It's disturbingly obvious that he is positively gleeful over it. And he doesn't seem to have lost any sleep over murdering Robin, either.

Pet the Dog: David Ayer confirms that while he did push Harley out of the falling helicopter, his intent was in fact to save her life.

Satellite Love Interest: To Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad. His characterization revolves entirely around Harley, not even getting involved with the main plot.

Scary Teeth: Several of his teeth are made of metal. According to David Ayer, Batman punched his teeth out after he killed Robin, leading him to replace them with metal teeth.

Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: Although he has a presence at the start of the film, The Joker appears to have left Gotham City to be controlled by Black Mask in Birds of Prey, with Roman saying that Joker has already skipped town.

The Sociopath: He's chaotic and remorseless, much like his previous versions. Special mention goes to his murder of Robin, which he topped off by spray-painting a cruel taunt for Batman onto the boy's costume.

Tattooed Crook: His torso is covered in jester-themed tattoos. He also has a few on his arms and face.

Villain of Another Story: He mainly appeared in Suicide Squad, but his biggest act of villainy to date — killing Robin — happened some years before Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, in which he doesn't appear. The spray-painted message on Robin's empty suit ("Ah ah ah joke's on you Batman!") in the latter film can't be anything else than his doing.

Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: Is seen with a rather impressive arsenal of guns and knives. And even says to warden Griggs, at some point, "I can't wait to show you my toys." note Notably, he manages to hijack the gunship which was sent to extract Waller and the squad so he can rescue Harley.

Would Hit a Girl: In the past, the Joker electroshocks and manipulates Dr. Harleen Quinzel into allowing her to fall into a vat of chemicals, in order to become Harley Quinn.

Would Hurt a Child: He killed Batman's sidekick, Robin, while the boy was an underage minor.

You Gotta Have Blue Hair: His hair is bright green.

   "Knightmare" Joker

"You won't kill me. I'm your best friend..." Appearances:

Zack Snyder's Justice League

"You need me. You... need me... to help you undo this world you created, by letting her die."

The Joker meets up once more with Batman in the nightmarish alternate future where Darkseid has conquered the Earth and Superman turned evil. But things aren't the same anymore between the two legendary foes.

See also the Knightmare page for more on that setting's characters.

Break Them by Talking: He deliberately tries to agitate Batman by reminding him of how many people have died on his watch.

Cop Killer: He wears a bulletproof vest with at least two dozens police badges on it. Whether these were good cops killed prior to the apocalypse or servants of the oppressive regime of Superman after the apocalypse is not detailed.

Costume Evolution: He has ditched his garish gangster suits for what looks like either a medical gown or a butcher gown, complete with orange gloves and a bulletproof vest with a dozen police badges pinned on it. He got rid of his "Damaged" forehead tattoo, let his hair grow and put red makeup around his mouth, looking closer to more common depictions of the character.

Enemy Mine: He and Batman had the worst kind of enmity imaginable, but the Earth being conquered by Darkseid is enough of a Conflict Killer for them to call a truce and work together to try undoing this mess.

Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: He utters the line "We live in a society" while gazing upon the devastated landscape in the trailer. This is clearly a Meme Acknowledgement, and it's quite awkwardly used given the context (is there really any society left in this post-apocalyptic world?). It doesn't appear in the actual film, however. The line was improvised by Leto.

Evil Laugh: Even with the world being in such a sorry state and him still being sane enough to acknowledge how bad the situation is, he'll still let some laughs out, even though they sound more subdued than ever.

Evil Versus Oblivion: Even he sees the necessity of teaming up with Batman to try undoing what Darkseid did to Earth.

Future Badass: He survived the apocalypse brought upon Earth by Darkseid and looks like he's geared for guerilla actions.

My Card: He gives a Joker card to Batman as a symbol of their truce. Shall the Dark Knight want to break that truce, he'd just have to tear that card up. The card could be seen strapped on Batman's assault rifle in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: Joker gets a high reminding Batman how costly his mistakes in the past have been.

The Nicknamer: He nicknames Mera "my little fish stick" and Robin "Boy Wonder".

Progressively Prettier: Despite being worse for wear, this Joker is arguably even better looking than his previous appearance, with his over-the-top tattooed gangster image toned down and his androgyny played up. Ironically, this version also more closely resembles the Heath Ledger incarnation.

Thousand-Yard Stare: He has such a stare when looking at the devastated horizon as he starts talking to Batman.

Villain Has a Point: While he’s the one who killed Robin, he gives Batman a minor What the Hell, Hero? for sending “a Boy Wonder to do a man’s job.”

Vocal Evolution: His voice is much softer and higher pitched than it was in Suicide Squad.

[scandalsavagefanfic]

If the Batfam were Lanterns, which color do you think they'd be?

Lantern Corps are like Hogwarts Houses. I can (with my extremely limited understanding of the Corps) make a case for most of the Bats being a good fit for most of the corps.

Honestly, it would seriously depend on my mood, which canon I was using, and which stories I wanted to tell. But I’ll try to keep it pretty brief.

{{{Side note... all the Bats can be Green. But the ones I’ve chosen to be Green are because it fits them best and/or none of the other fit at all. (Also, this is excellent timing because I’ve just learned on Discord the other day that Indigo wearers are NOT compassion incarnate and that they are, in fact, terrible people forced to feel compassion for all the people they’ve hurt... so I will not be using that one at all... not really anyway...)}}}

Bruce: Red/Rage. 

In the early days of Batman, probably Yellow but, lets be real, Gotham criminals aren’t scared of Bruce anymore. He’s not “instilling great fear”. What he is, is a tightly wound ball of barely controlled rage. He fits Red better than anyone else in the family.

Dick: Blue/Hope. 

I feel like this one is easy and obvious. To me, Dick is the hopeful center of not just the batfam but the entire DC universe. If I were to write a Blue Lantern Dick fic it’d probably be centered around the idea that he’s the first Blue Lantern to be able to access the power ring’s full powers without the presence of a Green Lantern OR go really sappy and like, make his brothers Green Lanterns and they’re this juggernaut of a team. Although Red Lantern Dick has just, oodles of potential, I think at his core Dick is an agent of hope, the bright spot to follow through the dark tunnel because it brings you out the other side.

In fearful day, in raging night,With strong hearts full, our souls ignite,When all seems lost in the War of Light,Look to the stars-- For hope burns bright! 

That’s Dick.

Jason: Violet/Love. 

Red Lantern Jason is valid and I may or may not have one in the works but rage is not what motivates him. Jason wasn’t mad at Bruce for not saving him, he was hurt when he thought he wasn’t loved enough to be avenged and was seemingly easily replaceable. No, Jason’s primary emotion is love when his character isn’t being butchered for a cheap shout out to the poll that killed him. No matter how many times his family kicks him to the curb when they’re mad at him, he’s right back at their side when they need him. Read their oath and tell me that’s not Jason (especially post-Flashpoint Jason):  

For hearts long lost and full of fright,For those alone in blackest night,Accept our ring and join our fight,Love conquers all-- with violet light!

Tim and Barbara: Green/Will. 

I’m so set on Green for these two that I can’t even think of anywhere else they might fit. More than any of the others, Will defines them. Tim’s very first story is him being more determined that Batman and Nightwing. He works his ass off to be the best Robin he can be, he stubbornly searches for Bruce when everyone else believes he’s dead, he doesn’t give in or give up when even Dick is trying to convince him that the loss is affecting his mental health... when Tim sets his mind to something, he fucking does it. And Barbara... the Joker crippling her could have ended her superhero career. But she said “fuck that” and didn’t let the clown take the thing she loved so much and built an intelligence empire to support the entire superhero community. 

Steph: Should probably be Green too, 

just because her parents are crap, Bruce treats her like garbage, she had a baby as a teen, and Black Mask tortures the shit out of her and she doesn’t let any of it stop her from doing her thing. No one believes in her and she just... persists. So yeah, I guess I’m gonna use Green more than I thought, lol. Although... since Steph was kind of written to showcase all the self-destructive tendencies that DC kept trying to insist Jason had as Robin... if I were going to play with the Ultraviolet Corps, I’d use Steph to do it.

Cass: Yellow/Fear. 

If Cass doesn’t instill great fear, it’s just because someone doesn’t know what she’s capable of. She may be non-lethal, but she’s terrifying in all the ways Bruce was/wishes he is. I kind of see Yellow Lantern Cass as being a lot like Soranik in Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps Rebirth before she gets pissed at Kyle and ruins things.

Damian: Orange/Avarice. 

At least Damian when he’s young and first shows up. When he assumes Robin, and everything of Bruce’s is his by right. I mean... the oath for the Orange Lantern is “The power is mine, this is my light. Be it in bright of day or black of night. I lay claim to all that falls within my sight. To take what I want, that is my right!” And I think that kind of perfectly sums up Damian’s early attitude. Right now he probably belongs either in Red or Violet depending on what you want to write.

Duke: Green/Will. 

Mostly because he started the Robin Movement (not to be confused with being a Robin) in Gotham to affect change and lead/was responsible for a bunch of kids. It takes a lot of strength and will to look around you and try to change the things that suck. Also... none of the others really fit for him.

[awkwardbluefish]

One Life Against Millions

On the run | Failed escape | Rescue

Summary: If you could save the world what is one measly life to get in the way? Even if they have to die.

A/n - Sorry this weeks been busy! I’ll keep doing Whumptober but it won’t be on the right days

Jason was scared. Not like he would ever admit it to anyone though.

The Joker was out of the asylum again. No one knew how he escaped this time. There were no dug holes in the walls or the floors. The security cameras had been tampered with so the only thing the bats and Commissioner Gordon and his beefy detectives saw was the Joker cackling at the screen for a good full on two hours before going to bed, not before wrenching his hand across his neck in a slicing motion.

No, Jason wasn’t scared of the Joker. The fear loses value after dying by the man apparently. No, what Jason was scared of what Joker could do. What he was doing now. What he was doing to Tim, his annoying smart but dumb as a bag of bricks brother, right now.

Joker had planted nuclear bombs around Gotham. No one knew how he got his filthy hands on them. All they know is that they are deadly and will kill every residence in Gotham under less than ten minutes. Every hero available was searching for them, looking for them to stop the destruction of their home and the death of millions. Jason would be still searching for them too, if he knew it wasn’t a damn fluke.

The bombs were real. They were very real and very much were nuclear. He remembers seeing it, small but deadly. His stomach had dropped down into his boots, his ribs squeezing his heart and his hands felt clammy. But the thing was, there was no activation on it. There was nothing Joker had done to it so he could activate the bomb. All there was was a spray-paint of Red Robins symbol crossed out in a velvet red.

Jason hadn’t stayed around longer. He had left, feet pounding against concrete and them two wheels of his motorbike staining the surface with charcoal stains. His mind was blurry and he had stupidly, amateurly hadn’t told anyone that it was a fucking fluke. The only reason he knew they had figured it out was because of his comm. Everyone was worried, terrified for Tim. They knew what Joker was capable of. He had a damn body count to remind them exactly how deadly he truly was. And Jason was apart of that body count, he was a reminder that the Joker was far from human. He didn’t show mercy, he had no sympathy. He was a monster.

“The bombs are our top priority.” Batman cut in, and it was Batman because no emotion was laced behind his voice. No emotion that his son was most likely already fucking dead. No emotion because showing emotion as Batman made him weak.

“Bruce-“ that was Diana. Her voice was angry, trembling in outrage. You could hear the fury in her voice, the anger she had no qualms about squashing down.

“No.” Batman cut her off, voice flat. “Get the bombs. Get them out of the city and somewhere safe. If we don’t everyone in Gotham and beyond is dead.”

Diana inhales sharply and Jason snarls, low in his throat as he presses on the gas. He knows where Tim is. He can get to him. Damn what that bastard says.

“What about Tim?” Damian whispers, voice small and quiet. He shouldn’t be here. He should be in bed worrying about school and assignments. He shouldn’t be out here, trying to figure out why his father wasn’t even trying to save his brother when there were enough heroes to collect the bombs and save Tim.

There’s a shaky inhale. A moment of hesitance and Jason can’t help the finally float through his head. A bit of Bruce Wayne, their dad. It doesn’t last long. “One life is nothing compared to thousands.”

Jason’s ears ring and its not from the outrage that follows that simple sentence. He swallows, chews on the inside of his lips and reached up and yanks the damn thing from his ear. It tangles in his hair before falling to the road without a sound. Its not broken, they were built to last. If they wanted to find him, they could use that. Meanwhile? He’s saving his brother. He doesn’t care what anyone says.

He’s pushing the speed limit on the motorcycle, the wind whips at his cheeks, tugs at his hair, pulls at his skin. He presses on the gas harder, turning corners so fast his cargo pants brush against the road and his elbows bleed as the skin is scraped off. The blue screen shines on top of the handles, the blue dot slowly closing in on Tim’s flashing red one. He was nearly there.

It takes barley a minute at the speed he’s going but it feels like an eternity. Because Jason knows what its like to be tortured. He knows what its like, that helpless feeling swelling in your chest and telling you that they will come when a voice whispers in your head about why would they? He knows the crippling fear, the claustrophobia and panic that keeps the blood pumping in your veins. He knows the feeling of hopelessness because he’s been there. And now is brother, his baby brother could be feeling those exact things. And knowing Tim, he might be feeling recognition because he thinks he’s not important enough, not over the mission. for Jason, Tim would always be important enough.

The bike skids to a stop, the force slamming his chest into the handles and bruising his ribs. With a cough and a muffled groan, he jumps off, kicking the stand and being patient even when he wants nothing more than to go in guns blazing. He needs to be patient, needs to make sure his bike is hidden in case anyone saw. He needed an escape after all and the bike, no matter how uneasy the ride will be, is his- their escape.

It’s a rusty shed. Go figure. Jason studies his surroundings and the only entry point was the door. There were no windows and no other ways to get in or to get out. A fence surrounds the shed, the wire cut in multiple places leaving holes big enough to walk through. The walls of the browned with rusty shed were spray painted with vulgar words, hearts around initials and a couple of ‘Fuck Batman’s.’ No wonder why Joker chose this place.

Right near the entrance theirs a cut in the wires. Its big, in both height and length. If Jason needed to, he could run through there with Tim without it being too much of a struggle.

Inhaling the putrid air Jason is careful as his boots crunch against rotting leaves. The air is hot, suffocating and Jason really should’ve listened to his conscious and take off the damn jacket. He was sweating as if he was in a boiler, sweat running down his back and white shirt clinging to his skin. The sweat was cool against the hair.

The leaves crunch under his boots and Jason stalks towards the door. Its crooked, the hinges hidden in the grass and fallen leaves but somehow the door stays up with enough residence that it wouldn’t be an easy escape or easy to enter. Swallowing thickly Jason kneels against the rusted shed, hands barley grazing the steel and catching on a rusted nail. If he leant on the shed, he feared the noise would warn the occupants of his presence. He needed to know Tim was alive, he needed to know why Tim was targeted. He needed to know.

Jokers echoing laughter pierces his ears and Jason resists flinching back. It was just a laugh. A laugh wouldn’t hurt him. He leans closer, hand taking out the gun attached to his waist slowly and cautiously. A crack of bones has bile simmering in his stomach and the following scream brings the taste to the back of his throat.

“You know you were always the Robin I despised,” the Joker coos sickly sweet and Jason keeps the snarl trapped between his teeth, “and I killed one! Then you had to come along just when Batman was finally getting interesting.” The playful drawl comes to a stop instantly and Jason chews on the inside of his cheeks. “He was hurting people. Killing them nearly. It was so fun, so exhilarating to watch! And then you came along!”

A scream tears through the night and Jason jumps to his feet. The steel slices his hand as he wrenches it open and crashes heavily against the mud, grass and leaves behind him. Joker whirls around, bloody grin dripping down his chin as he meets Red Hoods furious gaze.

“Come to save the baby bird?” He coos, stepping on Red Robins mangled and shredded foot. A muffle groan echoes on the walls as Red Hood aims the gun right in the middle of Jokers forehead. “I’m surprised. No one ever wanted this little bird. I know B didn’t and that spunky little Robin? Oh he loathes him! I’m surprised you of all people showed up to save our replacement! He’s better left for dead-!”

The shot of the gun resounds in the room. Blood splatters across the walls, a stark contrast to the brown rusted steel. A sharp scream escapes from Tim’s lips as Jokers blood and parts of his brain splatters across his face.

Jason rushes forward, cupping Tim’s bruised and swelling cheeks in his palms. He wipes away that things blood with a soft coo, hushing the crying noy. “Its okay Timmy. He’s gone and I’ve got you. You’re safe and no one is going to hurt you ever again.”

[sparrowsabre7]

Ok this was in my drafts from ages ago and I forgot to post so it’s here now: 

So with Arkham Knight completed I wanted to discuss the story and some of the things I liked about the plot.

For my money Arkham City is the most entertaining of the series plot-wise. It is wide in scope, incorporating a large group of Batman’s rogues, with a lead villain who has a commanding presence. It is the quintessential Batman plot, full of twists, focusing on his dynamic with the Joker and is a big ‘ol actionfest.

Arkham Knight’s plot on the other hand is quite pedestrian by comparison looking at the villain plot: Scarecrow wants to take down Batman and cause chaos in Gotham and a mysterious new villain appears to help. From this standpoint, Arkham Knight is nothing special. However, as a character study of Batman, it goes much deeper than any of the previous games, and deeper even than any of the films. Most of those dealt with “Why does Bruce Wayne become Batman?” whereas Knight asks the question “What does it mean to BE Batman?”

In this respect “Be the Batman” is more than just a marketing tagline. We really delve into what makes Batman and Bruce Wayne tick and their relationships with the world, their allies, and enemies.

We’re going to delve into big spoiler territory now so be ye warned.

Batman in this game is in an interesting place. Crime is supposedly lower than ever when Scarecrow’s plan starts falling into place, yet he’s hitting criminals harder than ever, working tirelessly in his war on crime. His modifications to the Batmobile make this immediately apparent, adding numerous heavy weapons and armour. One of the unlockable Arkham stories indicates that adding more weaponry has been something Batman has fought for years, according to Lucius, but he had a change of heart some point between City and Knight. We learn soon enough that Batman is on borrowed time. His blood is still infected with Joker’s own and is actually beginning to turn him. This is his last assault on crime, one final push if a cure cannot be found. As a result, he is pushing his allies further away than ever. This alienation was seen in a small way in the epilogue DLC “Harley Quinn’s Revenge”, keeping Robin at arm’s length and mostly avoiding contact with his allies entirely.

This is one of the key themes of the whole game and, personally, if I were to choose one word to sum up Arkham Knight it would be “family”. “Asylum”, “City”, and “Origins” were all solo efforts on Batman’s part, with some input in his ear from Oracle and Alfred, and a brief appearance by Robin. This is the first game to really have the Bat-family on board proper and this really informs a lot of the game and Batman’s motivations.

He pushes them away because he knows he’s dying. He pushes them away because he wants them to get used to the idea of him being gone. Most importantly, he pushes them away because he believes this will keep them safe. This is underlined when Scarecrow’s fear toxin kicks in. Thanks to the hallucinations provided by it, we are shown two of Batman’s greatest failures in his eyes, along with his raison d’etre: the crippling of Barbara Gordon, the torture and murder of Jason Todd, and the death of his parents. The former two are clearly never far from the dark knight’s thoughts and show why he genuinely does fear for his allies safety. This ends up, in the obvious ironic twist, putting them in greater danger. By keeping them at arm’s length and withholding his plans, the Batman is a less effective force. He doesn’t consider that they are safest together, working as a team. His allies come to his rescue a couple of times during the course of the game, Nightwing saving him from Penguin’s thugs, Catwoman saving him from an unwinnable fight against The Riddler, Oracle aiding him during the defence of the GCPD and Robin not saving him per se, but defusing some of the Johnny Charisma’s bombs while Batman is unable to move.

Another key subplot is Batman vs Joker. Even after his death, through his blood and the fear toxin, Joker is resurrected as a hallucination, a dark Jiminy Cricket pestering and needling the caped crusader at every turn. This is the ultimate Joker, no less potent for not being “real”. He represents everything Batman hates and fears, because he is not only The Joker, but the darkest parts of Batman’s mind, all the what ifs, the maybe should’ves, all of this tumbles out of Joker’s mouth, taunting the dark knight with his own insecurities. It shows Batman’s human side a lot more than any previous game, shows he can be afraid, he does have doubts, can fail, can falter. This is something which clearly plays across his mind throughout the game and leads him to the ultimate conclusion of the game which I will touch on in a bit.

The Joker has always been key to the Batman mythos. He was that in Batman #1 so nearly as long as the Batman has been in existence. Having him manifest as a facet of Batman’s subconscious is both a neat narrative trick (and way to skirt the “Joker is dead” thing without cheapening the end of “City”) and a useful dynamic in explaining who Batman is. Much of his existence has been spent battling The Joker and it’s clear that there is a side of Batman in “Knight” that almost misses him in a sense. His presence also plays up the yin-yang of their relationship and eventually culminates quite literally in a battle in Batman’s psyche.

Near the game’s ending Scarecrow unmasks Batman and injects him with a heavy dose of fear toxin. This causes Joker’s personality to be brought to the fore but at the same time empowers Batman’s own power of fear, showing the clown prince of crime his own greatest nightmare: being forgotten. This is ultimately delivered personally by Batman, bursting from the shadows of his own mind and subduing the Joker side, locking him away forever, enforcing this with the time tested phrase “I am vengeance, I am the night, I am Batman.” This is said, as another blogger pointed out, as much to himself as to The Joker. This is a declaration that he is Batman, he is no longer Bruce Wayne. To paraphrase “Batman Begins”, as Bruce Wayne he can fail, be killed, and simply die, which is when we come to the ending.

Upon the final villains being rounded up he initiates the Knightfall protocol and removes his mask. This is a clear symbolic gesture as he is leaving Batman behind on the rooftop with the Batsignal and reverting to Bruce Wayne. He flies back to Wayne Manor and it explodes, destroying the whole building. It’s not made explicit but it’s fairly evident that Bruce has faked his death, very publicly killing Bruce Wayne, now that he has been revealed as the alter ego of Batman. Gordon’s narration states that “this is how the Batman died” but it’s really how Bruce Wayne died.

The final scene shows Thomas, Martha and young Bruce Wayne stand-ins walking down an alley past a theatre, visually recreating Batman’s origin. There’s a gunman, there are broken pearls, this is the birth of Batman as we remember. This time however, Batman already exists. A shadow appears on the rooftop behind the criminals, towering high before spreading shadowy wings and fiery demon eyes alighting as it swoops towards them and cuts to black. It’s clear this is more than a symbolic statement as the criminals react to this “Knightmare” and are clearly terrified. Ultimately it’s up to interpretation, but I think, either it is The Batman in his purest form, shed of the Bruce Wayne identity, free to be more than human (with the use of Scarecrow’s fear toxin apparently), or it simply a psychological manifestation. After Scarecrow’s gas flooded Gotham’s streets, perhaps the residual effects left a lingering memory of Batman that was burned into their consciousness.

Either way it’s a true and final realisation of Bruce Wayne’s goal for the Batman. To become something eternal, supernatural even, that will watch over an protect

[redchu12]

Alright Tim Drake doesn't go to batman in this story.

Jason never died, and he gave the position to steph, one Bowery kid to another.

Barbra catches tim when he's stalking the bats. Instead of turning him into them, she decides that she now has a errand boy/apprentice.

Now the bats will come to pick up info or talk to babs, and they find a 12-14 year old tiny kid, working on a computer, getting coffee for Oracle, or practicing on the acrobatics set up that babs put up for dick, but he never uses it.

Tim is a small guy, bit he will put you in crippling debt, get your house taken away, and then send you flowers. Because he is a vindictive ahole. Never cross him, or fear the consequences. Or you know trying out arsen. You never know when you'll need a good distraction.

Jason coming by the clock tower: Hey Babs! Are we still going to- HOLY S#/+ IT'S A GREMLIN!

Tim: I am not! A! Gremlin! Why does everone say that when they see me!

Barbara: Because you're in the dark with a laptop chugging mountain dew, and red bulls. That is why you keep getting called a gremlin.

How Yim started working with Oracle.

Tim answering the door at his house:Hello?

Babs with an unholy grin on her face: You work for me, or I tell batman that you stalk him, know his identity, and neglected? Holy crap kid, you need like 7 good meal, a nap and a hug. You know have a mentor!

Tim: I-wha-huh

Babs: I'm glad you agreed, to the tower!

And that is how Tim meets Barbara, gets a job, and a weird sister thig??? He's unsure about the last one.