#battle for the cowl

[glitter-stained]

Battle For the Cowl AU where Jason doesn't hear Bruce's will but does find out about his death which triggers a psychotic episode*, in which Jason steals the cowl, convinced it's Bruce's body and Bruce is simply sick, and takes care of it like a very sick patient and keeps telling Bruce to wake up.

Dick arrives convinced Jason is planning something nefarious with the cowl, and is blindsided to find a Jason who hasn't slept or showered in days, has lost ten kgs and keeps feeding an empty cowl cold medicine while telling it to hold on and it's gonna get better and sometimes he's calling him old man sometimes it's Batman sometimes it's Bruce sometimes it's dad and sometimes it's mom. He cannot stop shaking.

*psychotic episodes can happen in the context of bpd without necessitating further diagnostic classification; acute psychotic breaks can also happen during high stress situations, depressive episodes, high fever, extreme hunger, neurological conditions, some infections, etc, etc. Here it's due to the stress grief and bpd/cptsd.

[theartistonthemoon]

The biggest reason Cass is the only natural option as heir to The Batman comes from the fact that every other character’s growth relies on them at some point either removing themselves somewhat or completely leaving the Bat symbol behind. Cassandra is the outlier whose found a reason to live on as that same symbol.

We can argue day and night who the best vigilante, detective, fighter, hero, strategist, or whatever is but none of that changes who can survive being the symbol without losing themselves in the process of following Batman’s footsteps.

[shyjusticewarrior]

"Nothing Jason says can be taken for truth."

"I believe you."

[gffa]

Just so you're aware, when everyone thinks Batman is dead they absolutely do know that Nightwing is the head of the Bats in Gotham.

[yj-polycule]

Listen. Listen.

Battle for the Cowl is such a poorly written story with so many out of character moments from literally everyone in that story, but nothing, and I mean NOTHING is funnier to me than the progression of Jason Todd asking Tim to be his Robin, Tim smacking Jason in the head with a crowbar that materialized out of nowhere, and then Jason stabbing Tim in the chest with a Batarang, all while the both of them are wearing Batman suits.

[somewherefornow]

DICK GRAYSON/NIGHTWING in BATTLE FOR THE COWL (2009)

[stratfordsympathizer]

These panels from Battle for the Cowl always make me lose my mind because Dick and Jason are having this incredibly intense, brutally violent confrontation in Jason's new Batcave and airing out years of resentment and pain while snapping each other's bones:

And then this is Tim like twenty feet down the hallway:

[malfiora]

my read of Battle for the Cowl is two siblings fighting over a toy that neither wants but they just don't want the other to have it

[notmoreflippingelves]

Actually going insane over the implications of Jason asking Dick to be the Robin to his Batman in Battle for the Cowl.

Like I initially took it at the purely surface-level of Jason wanting a partner in the general sense. Which made sense, it's a huge responsibility and a lonely one so an assistant/sidekick/partner seems a no-brainer if you can get one.

But then I really thought about it, because Jason is not asking Dick to be his partner in the general sense; he's not even asking Dick to be his Nightwing. He's asking Dick to be his Robin.

And they both know exactly what Jason means: "Be the light to my darkness. Be the smile to my scowl. Be the hope to my fear. "

He's saying "Be 'Robin'; be the embodiment of Love and Justice and Goodness. Be the exceptional person that you have always been. Be the slightly-less exceptional person that I was when I wore your colors. Be the person that I was in the process of becoming and might have been (or might still be), if only Joker hadn't clipped my wings."

He's saying "I am prepared to become vengeance, become the Night. And I will go further than Bruce ever dared to, because it is what is needed. I will be the necessary evil. But you don't have to be. If Batman is Gotham's curse, Robin has always been its blessing. I will be the brutal punishment to our world, and I am asking you to be its incandescent gift."

He's saying, "Be for me, what we were for Him. Be my anchor, my comfort, my hope. Remind me what it's all for, why it's all worth it. And remind yourself as well."

He's saying "Be 'Robin' again--for both of our sakes."

[everwalldigan]

It is actually HILARIOUS to me how different Dick and Jason’s coping mechanisms are😭 like I’m reading battle for the cowl and the sheer polarising reactions to Bruce’s death are giving me whiplash.

Dick, just lost his second father figure, youngest brother almost got killed by his crazed brother, his third brother going out dressed like 80s Batman, Gotham city falling apart at the seams, literally burning to the ground: this is fine

Jason: IM GONNA FUCKING KILL ALL OF YOU

[littlefankingdom]

I was reading Battle for the Cowl again, and I caught something: Alfred is the one who gave Damian the Robin's mantle, not Dick.

(Alfred giving Damian the Robin's suit, telling him he must prove he deserves it, and the next time Damian is shown in the story, he is in the Robin's color)

Everyone and their mothers in this fandom, especially Tim's fans, blame Dick for that, but it was Alfred! This is already the second time I caught a batfam's member being blamed for something Alfred did. You cannot keep getting away with this, old man!

[glitter-stained]

Jason isn't actually OOC in BFTC.

Or, more accurately, the problem with Jason's character in BTFC isn't that he's OOC. Daniels, or the characters, never treat Jason's behaviour like it's a normal Jason thing to do. Nobody's out there saying "oh classic Jason shooting a child in the chest haha!". And aside from like, you know, Jason's other traits are preserved: he's smart, one step ahead, has convoluted schemes, fancy gadgets, is generally scary competent, semi-suicidal, exhibits typical signs of bpd, has an unhealthy association between Batman and godhood, and his weak point is his mental health and general emotional vulnerability.

No, Daniels and Dick don't think he's doing it because he's Jason. They think he's doing it because he went insane. Like, he wasn't brave enough to confront the truth about his tragic backstory, despite their repeated efforts for help, and he lost whatever what's left of his mind.

And that's what crazy people do right? They torture people and shoot children. They lose their values. Because, yk, they're cowards.

Of course Jason isn't behaving like Jason! He's getting the Joker treatment of dc villainification 101. And now I'm thinking about that last panel of Jason again.

Because like, sure, it reads as "Jason killed himself because he was crazy and too deep in to accept change." But also I can't stop thinking about that parallel between Jason falling at the end of BTFC and the Joker falling into that cuve.

The problem isn't that Daniels doesn't understand Jason Todd. The problem is that Daniels despises mentally ill people and doesn't understand trauma.

[couldeatthatgirlforlunch]

Jason Todd is so relatable to me, this is literally what I tell my friends and family when they try to convince me to have a more positive attitude because "things will get better"

Also love this moment where they draw him like a blob while he's dressed as Batman

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3

[shyjusticewarrior]

Ngl if Tim asked me nicely to behave then broke me out of prison I'd listen. RIP Jason but I'm different.

[gffa]

There's something so fascinating about how earlier Jason thought to himself that Bruce only took Dick on as Robin to save himself from madness, now here he is, in a really bad place, asking Dick to be his Robin this time. The original, the one he thinks saved Bruce from madness. Jason is dressing it up as winning this fight and being the victor here, but you wouldn't have to take that huge of a leap to see it as some part of Jason wanting to be drawn back into the light, because he thinks Dick Grayson can do that for him, too.

[lizardpersonyknow]

Credit to theactorbat on tiktok