#bruce is not the 'lesser' person for not killing.

[charlietheepicwriter7]

V Secret Identities

Dick Grayson V Gotham - Chapter 3

“So, what do you have so far on the Red Hood case?” Dick asked Bruce, trailing behind him on the way down to the Batcave. He felt better, looser, after their fight. Maybe they could fit in a spar before breakfast? 

“Not much.” Bruce’s voice sunk into Batman’s gravelly voice . It was a code-switching thing, he suspected; just being in the Batcave puts Bruce in Batman’s headspace. It happened to a lesser degree when he and Jason were Robin, but once Tim took on the cape, Bruce and Batman became as different as night and day. 

Batman continued, “He’s a ghost in Gotham’s underground. No one knows who he is, or where he goes. Three weeks ago, he started targeting the drug dealers in Crime Alley, forcing them to work for him or die.” He tapped a few keys on the Batcomputer and brought up Red Hood’s file. “Needless to say, he’s developing his own gang at a rapid pace.”

“Red Hood, huh?” Dick studied the only picture Tim had managed to nab of the man. He looked tall, with broad shoulders covered in body armor similar to Batman’s. All features were covered by a matte red helmet. “That’s one of Joker’s old aliases. Any connection?”

“Not one that’s readily apparent. He chose the name for a reason , but until we interrogate him, there’s nothing that indicates a connection.”

Dick flipped through the file, landing on a report detailing the execution of multiple mafia lieutenants. “Nothing he’s been doing really connects with the Joker. Except for the killing.” The heads sent to the police was clearly a warning. Joker didn’t do warnings, not unless he was taunting them. “You said he’s building his own gang, right? Do you think he intends to take over Crime Alley ?”

“He’s certainly looking to put Black Mask out of business.” Batman switched to a video, an alley camera showing Red Hood beating several gangsters to death. “He's taking down the competition to establish his own control over the city's crime. His methods are brutal and lethal. He’s not just stopping criminals; he’s executing them. At the same time, he’s establishing rules in his own territory.”

“Rules?” Each gang had their own rules on how to operate, but in the end, their codes all sounded the same to Dick. 

“No selling drugs to kids. There’s more to it than that, but Hood’s morals are being enforced through violence and fear.”

“So, once Hood’s arrested, everything going to get worse because of a power vacuum. Great. At least this is a concrete difference between Hood and the Joker.” Dick didn’t know what he’d do if Red Hood was a Joker copycat. The name kept bugging Dick. Criminals liked to make names for themselves. It's a way to instill fear, to create an identity that stands out in the criminal underworld. But the Red Hood… it was one of Joker’s lesser known aliases. So why would someone else take up that mantle? Is it a way to mock the Joker, to reclaim the name from one of Gotham's most infamous villains? Or is it something more personal?

Dick asked again, “And we don’t know the connection between them?” 

Batman shook his head. “It could be a symbolic gesture, a way to reclaim the mantle from the Joker, or a means to instill fear. Or it might be something more personal that we’re not seeing yet.” He scowled. 

Turning back to the Batcomputer, Dick restarted the video. It was one of the few they had of the Red Hood. “What does Tim think?”

“Tim’s not on the case.” Dick immediately shot Bruce a glare. “Red Hood is a volatile unknown who has shown remarkable aggression towards Batman. As skilled as Robin is, I’ve asked him to step away from this case.”

“And he listened?”

A sigh. “No. I gave him a few unsolved murders to keep him entertained while we deal with this.”

Dick snorted. “Well, that’s not going to work for long. What’s the plan for when he solves them?”

“Sending him off to Titans Tower. But that’s only if we don’t catch Red Hood ourselves.”

The Teen Titans were good for Tim, especially after the disaster that ended Young Justice. Hopefully Tim wouldn't feel thrown away; maybe Dick should call him more regularly? His little brother needed him, he’d just lost his father , but Dick didn't want to make him feel smothered, Tim had complained about that in past- "There." Dick rewound the video a few frames, then let it play in slow motion. Red Hood redirected a punch to the face, smoothly twisted the arm around, and then threw his attacker over his shoulder, dislocating the man's shoulder in the process. "That's a League of Shadows move." A little further along and- "And that's a move that Lady Shiva created herself."

"His fighting style indicates he's had a wide variety of teachers, perhaps even more than me," Batman said as the Red Hood on screen pulled off a move Dick had only seen Talia Al Ghul perform before.

"Have you asked Talia about him?"

"...She hasn't been picking up my calls."

Joy. "He could be ex-League. That would explain all his weapons and tech. That helmet, it's not just for show. It's advanced, probably customized. Has anyone taken credit for designing his gear?"

"Oracle's keeping an eye on the dark web, but nothing so far. If he is League, nothing's going to show up, but-"

The clack of shoes on stone interrupted them. Alfred had descended the stairs from the manor and was staring at them both, unamused. "Pardon me for the interruption, gentlemen, but breakfast is served."

Dick immediately obeyed the unspoken demand and locked the Batcomputer. "Thanks, Alfie." He smiled, placing a hand on Alfred's shoulder. "But you really didn't have to come down here to get us. The intercom would have worked."

Alfred raised one thin eyebrow. "Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case since you lived here, Master Dick. Both Master Bruce and Master Tim have developed an unfortunate habit of ignoring the intercom in favor of work."

Bruce didn't even have the decency to look regretful.

With their accent into the manor, Dick spoke, "No talking about our night life around Danny, okay?"

Their eyes widened. "He doesn't know?" Bruce asked.

"He's only met Nightwing once, and he's a heavy sleeper. He hasn't found out yet and I want to keep it that way."

Alfred pursed his lips. "He'll be upset when he finds out."

"I'd rather he be upset than him putting on a costume and jumping out the window after me."

"You're worried he'll want to help you?"

Dick glared at Bruce's amused smile. “Yeah, yeah, I see the irony. The best revenge is raising a child just like you , I get it. But I’m already having enough difficulty keeping him away from my police cases, he’d only get worse if he knew I was a vigilante too.”

They got to the dining room before Tim and Danny, giving Dick just enough time to pull a booster seat out of storage. “When did we last use this?” The booster seat matched the dark wood of the family dining room table and chairs, with a cushion to match. 

Bruce looked between the booster and Dick. “Probably when you were eight.”

“I never needed to use a booster seat!” Dick immediately defended, trailing off as Tim and Danny entered the room, Danny holding Tim’s hand. Dick glared; this conversation was not over. 

The table was already set: Bruce at the head of the table, with two seats on the right, and one seat on the left. As Dick was about to ask Danny to sit beside him, Danny dragged Tim over to one of the seats on the right, grabbed his booster seat without a word, and claimed the chair next to Tim. “Danny? What are you doing?”

Danny scowled at Tim. “If I don’t make him eat, Tim’s not gonna eat. So, Tim’s gonna sit here until everyone else is done, and if he doesn’t eat, he can’t have ice cream with us today.”

“We’re taking Timmy to get ice cream with us?” Dick asked as he took his seat across from them.

Tim shrugged. “Apparently.”

“Yes, we are! And you better not have forgotten, you promised!”

“Okay, okay.” Dick laughed. At least Danny and Tim were getting along better than he and J–

Breakfast began with an awkward silence, broken only by the clinking of utensils. Bruce finally broke the ice. "So, Dick, how's work been at the precinct?"

Dick was about to respond when Danny, his eyes lighting up, jumped in. "We just solved a couple of murder cases! They were really tricky, but we figured them out."

Bruce's interest was piqued. "Oh? And how exactly were you involved in these cases, Danny?"

Danny shrugged nonchalantly. "I just helped out a bit. I'm good at noticing things."

With some prompting from Bruce, Danny launched into an enthusiastic explanation, detailing how he and Dick pieced together the clues. Dick sat back and let Danny talk. Danny’s medium abilities weren’t something he’d planned to talk about with his family despite Danny being open about their existence. It didn’t bother Dick that Danny was a meta, but it was like Danny had no hesitation in telling everyone. Kids got trafficked all the time in Bludhaven, especially meta kids like Danny. And Danny was running around telling people about his powers, conning them into paying him to speak to dead family or friends.

Dick was half-expecting to turn on the TV in the evening to learn that one of Danny’s past marks had blabbed and then everyone would know that Richard Grayson’s foster son was a meta. 

“-Honestly, the Hollydale Gang Murders is why I think those cases you were looking at are actually the work of a serial killer,” Danny was telling Tim, to Dick’s alarm. “The murder weapon keeps changing and the victims are unconnected, but there are too many similarities! They were all ambushed, all identifying features were damaged, all dumped in dumpsters–”

“Yeah, but all those things happen a lot with Gotham murders. You have to look for connections beyond that–”

Bruce held up a hand. “Wait, hold on. Tim, you told Danny about those murder cases?”

Tim shrunk in his chair. It seemed to dawn on him for the first time that Dick hadn’t told Danny about the vigilantism. “Yes? Was I not supposed to?”

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. “Yes. No.” Another sigh. “What’s done is done. Danny, do you mind keeping this to yourself? Those murder cases you and Tim have been working on... I was the one who arranged for Tim to get them. I had to pull a lot of strings to make it happen.”

“Why?”

Bruce sighed. "Tim has a very particular set of skills and interests. Solving these cases is more than just a hobby for him—it's a way for him to channel his energy and make a difference. But it's also something that needs to be kept quiet. Not everyone would understand or approve."

Danny's eyes widened in realization. "So, you’re saying Tim wouldn’t be getting these cases without you?"

"Exactly. And I need you to stay quiet about it. If word got out, it could cause a lot of trouble, not just for Tim but for everyone involved."

Danny thought for a moment, a mischievous glint appearing in his eye. "I see. So, this is pretty important to you, huh?"

Bruce raised an eyebrow, sensing where this was going. "Yes, it is."

"Well," Danny said slowly, "keeping secrets can be tough. Might need a little incentive to make sure I don’t accidentally let something slip."

Bruce folded his arms. "What do you have in mind?"

"A hundred dollars should do it," Danny said, trying to keep a straight face but failing to hide a small grin.

“Danny…” Dick tried to scold, but Bruce patted his shoulder. 

Bruce stared at Danny for a moment, then let out a low chuckle. "Alright, chum. You've got a deal." He pulled out his wallet and handed Danny a crisp hundred-dollar bill. "Just remember, this isn't a game. Keeping this quiet is important."

Danny rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I know . I’m not going to spoil all my fun.” Everyone flinched, but Danny was too busy stuffing away his ill-gotten gains to notice. “Tim’s my first friend who shares one of my hobbies; I don’t want to lose him just because it’s kinda illegal.”

Tim looked touched. “Thanks, Danny. I don’t want to lose you too.”

They finished breakfast with Dick smiling at Danny and Tim–he was so happy they were getting along that his chest ached. As Danny left to use the bathroom, Dick pulled Tim aside. 

“I already know,” Tim said, clearly expecting a lecture. “I shouldn’t have assumed you’d already told him about our identities. I’m sorry.”

Dick pulled his baby bird into a hug. “I’m not mad; I just wanted to check in with you.” He pulled away enough so he could look at Tim. The bags under his eyes had only gotten deeper since they last met, and his hair was greasy, like he’d skipped his last few showers. “How are you holding up?”

First Stephanie, then his father. Timmy was losing so much in such a short period of time. 

Tim didn't look him in the eye. "I'm fine," he replied, his voice hollow and distant.

“Timmy…”

“I’m fine , Dick.” Timmy pushed him away. He was shaking. “This is just… something I have to deal with. It doesn’t involve you.”

“It does involve me because I care about you!”

“Yeah, you cared so much that you adopted a kid without telling me.” Dick opened his mouth, but Tim wouldn’t let him speak. “Oh, sorry, you’re fostering a kid. My bad. There’s so much difference between the two.”

“I’m sorry.”

Tim closed his eyes. “I’m sorry too. I’m not… I shouldn’t be taking things out on you.” Dick reached out for another hug, only to be rebuffed. “I want to be alone right now.” Turning away, Tim disappeared down the hall, leaving Dick alone.

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[bloodyshadow1]

i really love Batfamily stuff, it's so much more interesting than Mary Sue Batman, but I feel like people don't get how the batfam actually interacts with other heroes. Specifically Clark and Diana.

I see so many posts about how the Justice league knows nothing about the batkids and I'm sorry, to me that's the most boring way to do things and completely against characterization and history if it's just the whole league. If you think Clark and Diana don't love those kids as family it's not really my cup of tea (to a lesser extent Barry and J'onn).

I get that there are a lot of batkids and a lot of different comics with different minds behind them so I can only reference what I know and from what I've experienced. Still, I read comics for a while and I feel like my personal headcanons are:

Nightwing should absolutely adore his aunt and uncle, he's nightwing because of a conversation he had with Superman. He was the first Robin and adored in the superhero community. He led the titans, was best friends with Donna.

Red Hood, I think Jason might be a bit more chilly towards Clark, Like everything, after he came back things went to shit, especially after he found out Clark stopped Bruce from killing the Joker to avenge him. but has a lot of fond memories towards Clark when he was Robin. He still has a real love for Aunt Diana, probably avoids her though because she is a reminder of the good times he had as Robin.

Red Robin, things are complicated with him as he was on the Outsiders with Connor and Cassie, and later on the Titans with them. When they were the outsiders, the Justice League probably felt more like the man trying to control them. Later on during the titans, things get angsty so I think that might color Tim's perception of them and favor the way his friends describe them more than what he's seen of them. I think he has good memories, but not nearly as much as Jason or Dick

I don't think I've read any comics about Spoiler, Black Bat, or Signal's interactions with them so I would leave that to those who know more. That being said, I think their interactions would be fun, I think Cass would respect Diana as probably the world's best warrior and I think Duke would really look up to Clark, partially because he's superman, but also he's fun and light, not to mention they both have light powers even if they manifest differently. I don't really know much about Stephanie and her interactions with other heroes tbh

Damian, I think is interesting because I think he actually respects Clark more as a journalist and as Jon's father than he does as Superman. At least at first. Superman has all these powers but doesn't really do a lot of what he sees as big changes so I think at first he considers his powers a waste on small potatoes stuff. He does come to respect him though. Diana, I think Damian adores pretty quickly even if he says otherwise, I think they bond over their love of animals. I also think that Damian respects that Diana will kill if necessary, he was trained by the league of assassins, I understand that as a member of the batfamily he doesn't kill, but I don't think it's right for him to be as antikilling as the rest. I think out of respect for Dick and his father he doesn't kill but he understands that some people need killing.

I'm not trying to yuck anyone's um, your headcanons are your own, but I see so many posts that just don't get how fun interactions with characters are with their canon personalities.

[hanahaki-disease]

Beyond the Farthest Reaches

Hell or High Water - Percy Jackson/DC crossover

“The Line that Separates Us”

Summary:

Even gods are bound by law.

Set After “Driven by a Holy Force” (a future upload that can be enjoyed without spoilers)

*******************************

“Hello Bruce,” Diana smiled and gave him a hug upon their greeting. He wasn’t much of a tactile person, reserving his physical affection for his children or his lovers, but Diana was a warrior goddess and Bruce was a mortal. He simply let her do as she pleases. “It has been a while since I’ve visited the children, how are they?”

“They are well,” He led her through the manor to one of the many sitting rooms, this one was tucked away in one of the far corners of the manor. Some of the furniture still has dust covers over them and the air in the room was stale from no circulation. And he would chose a more used place to converse, those were more susceptible to listening ears.

“Hopefully I will able to see them after our conversation,” Diana sunk into one of the old couches. “I can tell that this isn’t just a social conversation, is it?” He shook his head. “I thought so, go ahead, speak.”

Bruce paused for a moment, shuffling through the questions in his head to determine which one should be first. “Did you know my sons were demigods?”

She nodded and took a sip of tea. “I knew your sons were children of the gods the moment I met them, I could feel their power challenging mine in a way I had not felt since I lived on Themyscira. Who their parents were, I do not know, but regardless,—” she set her cup down. “Had I told you who there were all those years ago, they would have been in danger that could have been easily avoided.”

“Explain.”

“Demigods live normal mortal lives until the age of twelve or thirteen, that’s when the powers their godly parent passed on to them begins to develop more rapidly causing a shift in their scent. It varies on the god mostly, but the stronger the god, the stronger the scent, even before the reach that age.” She said. “Once a demigod realizes their heritage, their scent grown stronger. It attracts monsters, and without the proper training, they could be killed.” Bruce opened his mouth. “And before you ask: no, mortal weapons cannot harm or kill the monsters. They are deemed unworthy and lesser than them, only celestial bronze can hurt them.”

Bruce absorbed the information for a second. Percy had told him this the other night, though not as detailed as he would have liked. He had sat them all down and told him what had been happening to him the past three four years and what was going to happen next summer.

“If you were aware of his status as a demigod, why could you not have helped him on his ‘quests?’ Couldn’t you have gone with him to ensure his safety?” Bruce questioned.

“If I was allowed to help him, Bruce, do you think he would have that many scars on him? If I was allowed, do you think he would have lost his brother? His friends? Do you think I would have let him or his friend hold the weight of the sky as they fought a titan?” Diana snapped at him.

“By the gods, I wish I could aid him, wish I could enter the camp they stay at to help them train for the fight against Kronos, but I cannot!” Tears began to well up in her eyes and Bruce dropped his head in his hand. She was just as helpless as he was, wanting to go and protect them all, protect Percy, but they couldn’t. He was in a world they just could not enter. “And I love them Bruce, they are more than simple nephews to me, and it pains me as much as it does you that I am useless in helping Perseus, in helping Jason.”

“But I don’t understand why you could not tell me who they were. I’m their father, my job is to protect them!”

“You cannot protect them Bruce! This life, the life of gods and monsters and all the things I face, what Perseus faces, you cannot help.” Diana moved to sit beside him. “I know they are your children. I know you will stop at nothing to keep them as safe as they can be, but Apollo strike me should I lie when I say that you and I simply cannot aid him in the way we want.

“The life of a demigod is difficult, it is dangerous, and most often they die far too soon.” Diana cried. “We can help as much as we can when he returns from his quests, train him as best as we can, teach him as much as we can, but in the end we are meant to stand behind him as he rises to his glory.”

“What about Jason? He’s a demigod too, isn’t he? Why hasn’t he been attacked by monsters or sent to that camp Percy goes to?” Bruce stands form his seat, pacing in the light of the window. “What makes one child different than the other?”

“The difference is the prophecy and who the fates deemed worthy to take on that burden.” She answered. “It is also because of the oath the sons of Kronos had taken.”

“Percy told me about that before, but I don’t understand it. It is just a simple oath.”

She shook her head. “To swear on the Styx is to swear on your very existence, and to break that oath, the consequences are dire and extreme.”

Bruce stopped his pacing. “If Jason is believed to be a son of Poseidon as well, then his death is most likely influenced by the Styx. The same of Perseus becoming the prophecy child and the death of their mother.”

“A god cannot be punished so it falls onto the others.” Diana wiped her tears on one of the napkins. “It falls on the mother for temping the god twice. Punishes the sons for the sins of the father.”

“So the death of my son and the sanity of the other are sacrificed because the god that fathered them cannot be punished?” she nodded and Bruce felt like punching the wall.

He could feel his anger rising within him. A fire that burned in the pit of his stomach and channeled through his veins till in reached his hands. He knows his anger isn’t with Diana for she was held back like him, helpless against the cosmic forces that kept Percy and Jason an arm’s length away. His anger, his rage, the wrath he hasn’t felt since the death of his parents, was all for the sea god who forced his sons to live a life of pain and anguish.

Bruce has fought gods. Bruce has battled against beings as old as time and stronger than any earthly deity. He wonders if Diana could arrange a meeting between him and their father.

“So what can I do? How can I help Percy with all of this?” Bruce asked.

“You provide him with a home, remind him of his humanity,” Diana answered and gathered her things, making her way to the door. “You show him he is loved.”

*******************************

TLDR; Diana, as a minor maiden goddess of war, cannot interfere with quests/prophecies since it’s against divine law. The olympians were being very generous by letting her interact with Percy becuase a) if you hurt Percy, you anger Poseidon, and no one wants that, and b) she’s Zeus’s kid. Special privileges and all that.

So yeah…basically

Series Masterlist | Masterlist

[twistpixel]

regarding the difference in jason's actions towards two-face when he learns of willis's murder vs. his desire for bruce to have avenged his own death: rather than a change in morals or caring more abt bruce than willis this case shows jason's own hypocrisy. jason forgives and pities harvey bc hes a deeply empathetic person. i personally think that contrary to what he may say if bruce had died in jason's place, jason would've reacted very similarly to how he did in willis's case. after his resurrection jason latches on to the specifics of joker's continued existence, but inwardly what he's really feeling is a deep sense of his own worthlessness. he sees that bruce has moved on as though nothing happened, as though he never mattered; this triggers a deep sense of insecurity in him because he cannot so easily move on. he's stuck in the moment of his death, 15, waiting for someone to prove to him that they love him as much as he loves them. this discrepancy he feels between himself and bruce leaves him unbearably vulnerable. to assuage his own humiliation and feelings of inferiority he fixes on a problem which rapidly becomes black and white before his eyes: heres what bruce should have done if he actually loved me. id have done the same had it been him. however, as with almost anything jason says or thinks after his resurrection you have to ask yourself is he really being truthful to himself, consciously or unconsciously? when jason encounters earth-51's batman in countdown who did kill joker in response to jay's death, he seems instinctively to find this version of bruce lesser. he says to him 'we're both dead "batman." any fool could see you've been dead inside for years.' jason can't reconcile the caring person he had known with someone who would have become what that bruce did.

i think the reality of the situation is that jason would likely have reacted badly even (or perhaps especially) if bruce had killed the joker because the situation is just so fucked. bruce can't react in any way that jason isn't able to twist inwards into self-loathing. jason is simply unable to admit to himself that what he really wants is not for bruce to have killed the joker, but for his life, his death, his tenure as robin, to have been meaningful; for bruce to have unconditionally loved him as jason loved him in turn; for bruce to continue to love him, in fact to continue to need jason; more than anything though--he wishes he hadn't died, because ultimately he wishes desperately for things to be as they were -- but neither of them can ever go back to being those people.

... the tldr jason thought process is essentially -> bruce doesnt love me bruce never cared about me at all or not in any way that mattered i loved him wholly i would have done anything for him i would have died for him i would have killed for him. but LOL he would not have done that!

I love that you brought up earth 51 Batman because i think about him a lot and I think I’ve said it before how they’re both just hanging out with shuffling corpses BUT ☝️ I would attribute Jason calling this Bruce dead more to how he keeps calling Jason “Jason” and ignoring and not addressing Jason’s attempts to distinguish himself from dead-Jason. I think it’s very palpable to Jason the uncanny valley and horror of the situation because when Jason talks about dead-Jason bruce says “you” for both of them. And yet in the end bruce dives in to help when that Bruce is in trouble even tho he’s sooooo doomed. (Funny as hell for Donna and Kyle to just give Jason space to do that like in context it’s a sad moment but “we’ll just be over here”. )

I do think Jason has hypocrisy ngl but I will also but you here- I think it’s what you’re saying about the desire for proof of love but also with a combo of a change in morals. The difference could lie quality of the bad guy. I mean we get that out of Jason’s mouth, “I’m not taking about X Y and Z” but you’re right that you know, we can’t always take Jason’s word for it. But the other half of that line “doing it because he took me away from you” I think Jason thinks killing people is okay. It’s how the world works to him.

Tbh preface that I don’t think modern Jason feels this way about Bruce anymore, but the joker thing specifically was UtH Jason feeling Bruce was living in naïveté and that Jason’s death would be the thing that took him by the shoulders and forced him to confront that it’s okay to kill people sometimes. It wasn’t, because I don’t think anything is, although I see people saying he would if it were a different character and I get a little :(

Thanks for the ask, sorry I only talked about where I disagreed with you

[samgirl98]

Zombie Son 2/2

Prev

Batman stared at the pictures of Joker’s dead body. Something wasn’t adding up.

The official reports said that Joker had been killed by a guard at Arkham when there had been a breakout. However, Batman had never seen that guard before, and he disappeared right after killing Joker.

The shot had been a single bullet to the head. Almost like an assassin had done it instead of a random security guard who would’ve been scared mindless. Something told Batman this had been done professionally; it was too clean, too quick.

“Still looking at the pictures of Joker’s body?” Dick walked in wearing a pair of sweatpants and a white t-shirt, “maybe you should let it go and count your blessings.”

“Hn,” he grunted. Batman, no Bruce, couldn’t let it go. This is the man that killed his child. Joker was dead now, and he had to know who and why. Batman pulled up the death report again, and he heard Dick sigh.

“Seriously, can you at least go to sleep? The case will be there when you wake up tomorrow.”

He ignored Dick; Bruce didn’t want to admit to his eldest that sleeping had become an ordeal after Joker’s death. He only saw Jason’s limp body; he heard his son’s cry asking for him, only to get there too late. No, working on the Joker’s murder was more productive than sleeping.

“Bruce, you’ve been up for almost thirty hours; go to sleep.”

Bruce looked up when he heard the ping. He had run the guard’s face through a facial recognition program, and it had finally found a match.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Dick said.

It was time for Batman to talk to Waller.

____

Amanda Waller was drinking a cup of wine when Batman entered her office.

“What do you want, rich boy?”

“You put a hit out on the Joker. Why?”

Waller sipped her wine and answered, “I have no idea what you mean.”

Batman threw two pictures on her desk.

“Mark Burkhardt, he works for you, and he was the one who shot the Joker. So, once again, why did you put a hit on the Joker?”

“Listen, Batboy, what the US government does is none of your concern.”

“Anything that happens in my city is my concern.”

“I would’ve thought you’d be happy he’s dead, considering what he did to Robin number two.”

Batman clenched his fists. Waller knew she was playing with fire but couldn’t help herself. Riling Batman up was just so much fun.

Batman suddenly slammed his hands on her desk, “Why did you kill the Joker?”

She sighed; Amanda had told Alicia Batman wouldn’t let this go but, oh well, she did her part. What happened next would be none of her concern.

“It was a favor to an old colleague of mine. It was done off the books; officially, the US government had nothing to do with this though they did turn a blind eye to it when they found out it was that terrorist.”

“Who put the hit out?”

“Alicia Walker,” she did tell Amanda to send Batman her way if he ever showed up.

“Why did she put a hit out on him?”

“I don’t know; you’d have to ask her. Now get out of my office.”

Amanda took another sip of her wine, and when she looked up, Batman was gone.

“Hmph, good riddance.” Amanda picked up the phone and dialed Alicia, “The Bat was here. Be prepared to see him soon.”

She hung up before the other woman could respond.

____

Alicia Walker, retired A.R.G.U.S agent, brought up her shotgun and pointed it at the shadowed man in her little cabin.

“I’ve been expecting you; what do you want?”

A lesser person would be coward by the looming shadow of the Batman, and indeed, he was a terrifying figure, what with all the black kevlar and white-out lenses. Alicia wasn’t a lesser person.

“You put a hit out the Joker. Why?”

“Why not,” she retorted, “he was the scum of the earth. Considering what he did to your bird, I don’t know why you care.”

Batman tensed.

“What makes you say that,” he growled.

Alicia rolled her eyes.

“I was part of the US government; we know everything, Wayne.”

Alicia turned her back to the man to get her moonshine. When she turned back around, Batman was gone.

“Hmph,” she took out her phone, “he’s been here. Be prepared to have him appear at your doorsteps. And say hi to my niblings for me.”

____

“Do you think it’s really him?” Dick asked in a whisper.

“Hn,” was Bruce’s brilliant response.

In front of him was a picture of the Fenton family. There was the mother, the father, the daughter, and two sons.

It was the youngest that had caught their attention. It was Jason. A little older but him. Bruce would recognize his son anywhere.

He had pulled up the adoption papers the Fentons had signed. They had found ‘Jay Fenton’ comatose in the streets of Gotham. The only thing the boy would say was ‘Bruce.’

The boy was allowed to be adopted by the Fentons after they pulled some strings.

“It’s him. I know it is.”

“So, what are we going to do now?”

“Now, I’m going to Amity Park.”

____

Jason knew that Bruce, that Batman, would show up sooner rather than later. That doesn’t mean he was prepared to find Bruce standing in his parents’ living room, demanding to let them see Jason.

“What are you doing here?” Jason asked with vitriol.

This was the man that had not avenged him, that had let his murderer walk free. If it hadn’t been for the Fentons, that sorry excuse of a man would still be wasting oxygen.

“Jay lad,” Bruce whispered. He took a step toward Jason; Jay took a step back.

“What do you want?”

Bruce gulped, “I want my son back.”

Jay snorted.

“I’m not your son; I stopped being your son when you let that clown walk the streets. I am the Fenton’s son.”

“Jay lad, please.”

“No! You let my murderer live! How, why?”

“I don’t kill, Jay lad. I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t? You have such an antiquated moral code that you let murderers roam the street and take more innocent lives!”

“Jason, please, I’m sorry I let you die—”

“You think this is because you let me die? Bruce, I forgive you for that, but why in good God was the Joker still breathing? I come back and—and my killer is still around. Nothing changed. No, wait, you put a different kid in the Robin suit. You replaced me rather quickly.”

“He isn’t a replacement, Jason! No one could ever replace you; you’re my son!”

“No, I’m not.”

Jason walked up to his mom.

“I’m their son, and I suggest you leave, Bruce.”

Bruce stared at Jason before nodding reluctantly.

“Very well, but please take this. If you ever need anything, call me.”

Bruce turned to walk away and then turned to look at Jason one more time.

“I’m glad you’re alive, Jason. I missed you.”

“Get out,” Jason said.

When Bruce closed the door behind him, Jason turned and hugged Jack and Maddie, crying.

“It’s okay, sweetie, we’re here.”

“Yeah, Jay,” his dad bellowed, “we’ll always be here.”

Jason let himself be comforted by his parents. He looked down at the card Bruce had left him, crumpled it up, and then put it in his pocket.

@fisticuffsatapplebees @suppengott @mur-ururu @daemonlogical @aikoiya @learning-to-fly-on-my-own @rubber-ducky-your-the-one @overtherose @thegatorsgoose @kisatamao @emergentpanda-blog @skulld3mort-1fan @why-must-i-be-like-this @nappinginhell @onlyhereforthechaos @mlpizza @currant-owo @hoarder-of-gender @malice-of-the-sunrise @regressor-marina @joseph557 @stargirl1331 @yjfk @fandomnerd103

[vee-crytraps]

Bit of a dark question, I know, but who could be pushed to kill for Batsis and what would bring them to that?

Stuff below! Reader beware. It's not too wild but I don't want to ambush anyone with dark imagines haha

In GLB, Damian and maybe Jason- under the right conditions. They'd kill for her if she was murdered or tortured, but the death/torment would have to be extremely personal and horrific. Like really, really bad. I'm talking like having her torture publicly televised, 'recieving body parts in the mail' bad. There would have to be no illusion that she could be safe and comfortable or that she was overracting. If we're talking they go on a full blown murder spree, she'd have to come back in a box or missing a few pieces. Anything reminding Jason of his trauma with the Joker would set him off for sure. And then there is of course, Damian. He's trying to be good, but he is the one who could most easily be pushed to kill if no one is around to remind him of their code. Injustice Damian was all for fascistkillingspree!Superman. If she died even as an afterthought of a rogue he had the chance to kill, he wouldn't be able to sleep until he killed them. Then he'd obviously pit her and pivot hard into the League of Shadows since Bruce wouldn't take him back. HOWEVER all of them would crash out for her in ways that make her enemies wish they were dead for lesser reasons. They won't take lives, but they'd ruin them. Gossip sites got a shot of you in a changing room? Their company goes under within hours, the main offenders are getting blacklisted from every decent job. A rogue steals you away in the night? Damian would like to see them try again with one less hand. If she ever fell into any designer drugs, they'd start torching labs and shipments.

[scotianostra]

On 9th April 1747 Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, the leading Scottish Jacobite rebel was beheaded on Tower Green.

A longer post than normal from me as in my opinion Simon Fraser was one of the most interesting characters in Jacobite history. A man of contrary, he was known to be very kind to the lesser clansmen taking a paternal interest in their affairs. A quote regarding him says that….“Generally he had a bag of farthings for when he walked abroad the contents of which he distributed among any beggars whom he met. He would stop a man on the road; inquire how many children he had; offer him sound advice; and promise to redress his grievances if he had any”

In his own estimate, he took care his clansmen were ‘always well-clothed and well-armed, after the Highland fashion, and not to suffer them to wear low-country clothes’ Lovat was also a brute of a man forcing a young woman into marriage and raping her in an attempt to legitimise the union. Lovat has become more well know lately thanks to Outlander, where in their world he is grandfather to the main protagonist Jamie Fraser and played brilliantly by the fine Scottish actor Clive Russell. Back in the real world he has been in the news in the recent past, I shall cover that at the end of this post.

Born in 1667 into the ancient clan who fought with distinction in the Wars of Independence – Sir Simon Fraser was one of the co-victors of the Battle of Roslin and his sons were close friends of Robert the Bruce, Alexander marrying Bruce’s sister Mary – Simon was the second son of Thomas Fraser of Beaufort who was closely related to Lord Hugh Fraser of Lovat, chief of clan Fraser.

Simon became his father’s heir when his elder brother was killed fighting alongside Bonnie Dundee against the forces of King William III at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689. He was still nowhere near being clan chief, however, and took himself off to Aberdeen University from which he graduated in 1695. Lord Hugh Fraser, the 9th Lord Lovat, was a weak man who unexpectedly signed over the clan leadership to Simon’s father in 1696.

Lord John Murray, Earl of Tullibardine and the most powerful man in Scotland, disputed the succession and fell out spectacularly with Simon in Edinburgh. The young Fraser hothead duly went north to Castle Dounie to try and persuade Hugh’s widow Amelia to give him the hand of her daughter, also Amelia, in a dynastic marriage that would seal his succession. Tullibardine was having none of it and moved his niece to the Murray stronghold, Blair Castle, where he planned to marry her off to Alexander Fraser, heir to the Lordship of Saltoun.

Simon retaliated by kidnapping Alexander and frightening him away, and to make matters worse in October, 1697, he went back to Castle Dounie and forced the widow Amelia into a sham wedding, raping her to consummate the “marriage”.

Tullibardine ensured Simon and his father were declared outlaws and when old Thomas died in 1699, Simon was unable to legally claim his title as 11th Lord Lovat which later passed to one Alexander Mackenzie who had legally married the younger Amelia.

Simon Fraser somehow managed to persuade King William that he was no threat, despite having his own personal army, and he was pardoned in 1700, only to be declared an outlaw again the following year over the forced marriage and rape.

Simon went off to the court of the Stuarts in France where he devised the plans that were eventually used in the 1715 and 1745 uprisings. Long before the former, however, Simon was double dealing, giving Queen Anne information about the plans of James, the Old Pretender. He was found out and King Louis XIV clapped him in jail for three years.

Even after he was released he was prevented from travelling to Scotland and thus missed the Act of Union which he opposed.

Still desperate to get his Lovat title and the chieftainship of his clan back, Simon sided with the forces of the new King, George I, during the ’15, and was given back his title as a reward, with Alexander Mackenzie imprisoned for being a Jacobite. The two men would fight in the courts for the next 15 years as to who was entitled to the income of the estate. Simon eventually won and spent his time building up the Fraser estates and wealth, even taking command of one of the Independent Companies of Highland soldiers established by the Hanoverian regime – the Fraser Highlanders.

As I said early Fraser was a man of contrary and to me was very like “Bobbing John” The Earl of Mar another Jacobite who a tendency to shift back and forth from faction to faction, no sooner had Fraser built up this “Hanoverian” army that he started openly campaigning for the restoration of the Stuarts. The Government responded by cancelling his military role.

When Bonnie Prince Charles landed in Scotland he was still playing games.

He allowed his sons to fight for the Stuarts, but stayed at home himself “loudly lamenting the wilful disobedience of children,” as Sarah Fraser has put it. Lovat did meet Charles, however, and expressed his anger at the lack of “siller” which he knew would be necessary for a successful campaign. They met again after Culloden, at which Clan Fraser fought bravely and suffered many casualties, and Lovat advised the prince to get away and re-form his forces. Charles fled through the heather, as we know, and made it to France while anyone associated with the Bonnie Prince was hunted down. The Duke of Cumberland’s troops were not taking any more games from Fraser and burned Castle Dounie.

Lovat managed to make it to Loch Morar but was captured there while hiding in a hollow tree. Although approaching his 80th birthday, The Fox was taken south to London.

He pled not guilty but his trial was a formality and he must have know his fate would be the same as previous nobles, the Earls of Kilmarnock, Balmerino and Derwentwater who were executed for treason the previous year.

At his trial, ever the Fox he insisted strongly upon his affection for the reigning family. Such were the characteristics of Simon Fraser, but of course he was found guilty the sentence, hanging, drawing and quartering was commuted later to a mere beheading by the King.

In a way, Lovat had the last laugh. Newspapers and pamphlets of the time recorded that as he was led out to the scaffold on Thursday, April 9, 1947, a wooden stand that had been erected near the Tower to seat crowds eager to see the execution collapsed sending hundreds plunging down. At least nine people died and dozens were injured, which amused Lovat – the phrase ‘laughing your head off’ is said to date from that event.

According to a woodcut print made on that fateful day, Lovat “with some composure laid his head on the block which the executioner took off with a single blow.”

As I mentioned at the top Lovat has been in the news quite recently. Simon had requested burial at the family mausoleum at Wardlaw near Inverness and the government initially agreed but changed its mind thinking his body could become a rallying point for further trouble. He was therefore buried in the floor of the chapel within the Tower of London, St. Peter ad Vincula. The chapel was refurbished in the 19th century and the floor was relaid. One of the coffins uncovered during the works had the nameplate of ‘Lord Lovat’. The names of those found are now recorded on a plaque on the wall of the chapel.

Fraser folklore, and written in several books says that his body was spirited away from London, the stories even go so far as to name the boat ‘The Pledger’ that sailed north to The Beauly Firth, where he was taken to the family mausoleum, there is even a plaque in the crypt that reads “In this coffin are laid the remains of Simon Lord Fraser of Lovat who, after twenty years in His own Land and abroad with the greatest distinction and renown, at the risk of his own life, restored and preserved his race, clan and household from the tyranny of the Athol and the treacherous plotting of the Mackenzies of Tarbat. To preserve an ancient house is not the greatest credit. Nor is there any honour for the enemy who despoiled it. Although that enemy was strong in his plotting and unrelenting warfare, yet Simon who was also skillful and cunning defeated him in war.“

In 2018 the headless skeleton inside the coffin was exhumed to be examined by experts from the University of Dundee in January this year they announced that the bones in the coffin did not belong to Simon Fraser, but to a young woman. So it looks like his body did end up rotting in The Tower’s Chapel, although the Frasers will still tell you otherwise.

Scottish actor Clive Russell played The Old Fox in the television adaptation off Outlander.

[doctorstrangereview]

0082: The Incredible Hulk #126

Cover Date: April 1970 On-Sale Date: January 5, 1970

This story brings the first appearance of The Undying Ones to a close. It's also the first appearance of bot Doc and The Incredible Hulk in the glorious 1970s. It also introduces Barbara Norris who will lead to a lovely character we all know and love as The Valkyrie. And finally, it introduces us to a new villain name Nightcrawler that isn't a furry blue elf. This is a Hulk story so Doc doesn't show up until the final act.

Bruce Banner is unconscious having just fought The Absorbing Man as his other green dude self. A group of cultists who decided that a battle between Carl and the big green would be a good show to chomp down some popcorn by. Afterword, the kidnap Bruce and take him to an oddly colored, creepy structure called Cliff-House.

Inside a man named Von Nyborg rattles on about the stars being right but not for long. Yup, Roy is still channeling Lovecraft with this story. The cultists throw Mr. Banner on some sort of alter and give him some Vapors of Valtorr. These are what may or may not have attacked The Ancient One in Doc's origin depending on what version you read.

We cut away from the funny dressed and leggy cultists to join General Thunderbolt Ross doing some Hulk hunting. It doesn't really involve the main story so I'll skip over this. So let's get back to the funny dressed and leggy cultists who strapped Bruce to a giant lazy Susan. They want him to change to the Hulk, but Valtorr's finest have robbed him of that ability. If you ever wanted to see the Hulk with whisky dick now's your chance.

The lazy Susan starts whirling around REALLY fast. This is no ordinary kitchen gadget. Von Nyborg name drops a load of mystic entities in an incantation and Bruce flies off the giant lazy Susan to... somewhere else.

Bruce isn't somersaulting directly into The Undying Ones realm. They're sending him into a nearby dimension to meet... the Nightcrawler. Now this isn't the fuzzy elf X-Man who is still a few years away from being introduced. We briefly look into The Undying Ones dimension where Doc is being held prisoner in a weird pink device. Fortunately, The Nameless One has two heads and each one seems to have it's own personality. He can argue with himself without having to interact intelligently with lesser beings. One head frets will Von Nyborg free them in time while the other assures him they will or they can take the bypass through the Nightcrawler's realm if the stars go wrong.

We turn back to Bruce trying not to Hulk out in Nightcrawlers realm. Roy spends a page allowing Bruce to admire the wonders of the realm and then our baddie shows up.

Nightcrawler seems to have clad himself in an Asgardian seconds sale with knockoffs of The Destroyer's armor and Odin's scepter. Back on Earth Barbara is having second thoughts. Von Nyborg is doing the peeping Tom thing into Nightcrawler's dimension and seeing that Bruce isn't quite doing what they need him to do. Von Nyborg kills two birds with one stone by sending Barbara to Nightcrawler and Bruce. She doesn't even get the fun of the giant lazy Susan!

He gets rid of something annoying and Bruce has a damsel in distress to protect from Nightcrawler.

Bruce Hulks out and he and Nightcrawler get down. Nightcrawler projects some sort of darkness from his scepter which blinds Hulkie. We spend the next page and a half with Hulk flailing around in darkness in a cool negative image thing.

The colorist was probably grateful for the break only having to lay out some minimal Ben Day dots. Hulkie eventually manages to grab one of the floating islands which he smashes. It releases light which turns Nightcrawler's realm brighter than the 80s Doctor Who's control room. Nightcrawler ain't too happy about this so he prepares to blast Hulkie. Barbara finally makes herself useful and smashes Nightcrawler's scepter before he can fire. Nightcrawler should have gone scepter shopping on Temu. Nightcrawler now prepares to off Barbara but Hulkie gets her out of the way. Now Nightcrawler is really mad and projects sonic force from the horns of his Temu Destroyer armor. Hulk doesn't like this. He claps and DESTROYES NIGHTCRAWLER'S ENTIRE FIGGIN' REALM!

Nightcrawler is like "I ain't dyin' here!" and transports everyone to the nearby Undying One's dimension. They all conveniently wind up on top of Doc's prison.

That was lucky! Nightcrawler decides he's going to claim this dimension for his own and goes to single-handedly fight every single Undying One himself.

Hulkie tries to free Doc, but he can only be released if someone else takes his place. Doc is willing to die there to protect Earth. Barbara has other ideas and hops into Doc's prison which expels him as soon as it has Barbara in it's grasp. She feels this is her redemption for helping Von Nyborg send Hulkie to Nightcrawler's dimension. Doc casts a spell to send him and Hulkie home in a cascade of yellow, orange and red.

Not only are they back on Earth and right in front of the Sanctum Sanctorum, but Hulkie has become Bruce again avoiding major damage to the streets of New York City. Doc brings Bruce into the Sanctum, gives him some clothes and says they're both leaving. Bruce is puzzled as this is Doc's home. Doc feels that maybe it's time to go back to his medical career as a consultant. Obviously he won't be working for Dr. Benton. Bruce and Doc part ways.

As I've mentioned several times before, Doc goes into a brief retirement. I don't know the real world reason for this. Doc may not have been overwhelmingly popular at the time, but he was major enough to interact with numerous Marvel Universe heavy lifters. I certainly would love to know the editorial thinking behind this decision. Depowered Doc will be absent for nearly two years. He'll be a member of the ensemble Defenders for a while. And after that he'll get book length solo adventures in Marvel's try-out book, Marvel Premiere. This will lead to another solo series. There's lots more Doc on the way!

This is a Hulk story and Hulkie does all the heavy lifting. He gets thrown into Nightcrawler's realm. He destroys said realm with a clap. (I love that one!) It's not even Doc's show once they all arrive in They Undying One's dimension. Barbara makes the heroic sacrifice and Hulk barely lifts a finger. Doc gets them home and packs it in. Definitely not Doc's finest hour. Still, it's well written and knows who needs to have the action.

The story introduces a lot of elements that carry over to the present. Nearly everyone appears again and weaves there way into import aspects of the Marvel Universe. Hulk, Doc and Namor will found The Defenders. The Undying Ones will return during the early phases of their adventures and will even drag poor Barbara along. Barbara even becomes important later on. It should be considered at least a minor key issue.

[zahri-melitor]

I missed writing up my Helenapoll thoughts so here we go:-

Joey Cavalieri – I think Cavalieri does some interesting complex things with Helena’s background and in grounding the fundamental trauma that made her Huntress, from the ‘danger of being raised female’ to ‘danger of being a Bertinelli heir’ to ‘danger of mob connections’ to ‘danger of being a vigilante’. It has a level of realism that you don’t generally get in the regular DC comics universe in regards to some of these topics.

Chuck Dixon – Dixon’s the one who cemented Helena into Gotham and put the work in to establish her rocky relationships with everyone else. He gave us Robin III: Cry of the Huntress which set up Tim and Helena’s relationship, which I adore. He gave Helena a clear role in Gotham as the outsider, which is not always fair on her, but provided plenty of conflict for plot momentum and let her yell at Bruce more often. I think Gotham would be lesser without Helena having that position in the group.

Grant Morrison – so DC One Million is unexpectedly good Helena content, to my surprise. It’s one of the few places outside that uses her experience as a teacher really naturally in terms of how it frames her views and actions as a vigilante (apart from all of those regular Helena solo stories where she goes off hunting down the abusers of her students, of course. Which is apparently the ONLY plot anyone can come up with any time Helena gets pitched for a short story/single issue)

Devin Grayson – ooh let me get spicy for a moment. I think Nightwing/Huntress is bad Dick Grayson. I’m less convinced it’s truly bad Helena. Now the fallout from this by creating the ‘you stole my man’ narrative that ends up being the overarching topic of the Helena and Barbara dispute (even though they have multiple other fascinating points of contention) is irritating, but it’s interesting in terms of Helena testing if this helps in any way with how she relates to the rest of the Bats. (It fails) In terms of her other stories, I don’t actually mind Fear of Faith or Spiritual Currency, but they’re very one trick only (She’s! Catholic!) with Helena. They are helpful in building the reasoning for why Helena joins with Pettit.

Greg Rucka – it’s the man himself! Cry For Blood is easily my favourite Helena story, and his hand is obvious in all the best parts of Helena in No Man’s Land. If you don’t like Rucka’s Helena, you don’t like Helena.

Gail Simone – I maintain that Simone took a very complex situation, with Barbara and Helena’s layered antagonism over Dick, the Bat(girl) costume and the two betrayals surrounding it, their differing moral stances on when killing is acceptable and why, their mutual lack of trust from previous failures and personality clashes, and found a way to work through it so they weren’t at eternal loggerheads. They were both justified in their dislike for each other, but finding a way for them to become friends (with screw ups along the way on either side) and move them away from that eternal ‘two women cannot be friends if they’ve ever been attracted to the same guy’ canard was just a really important moment for their mutual stories. Plus it was the first time anyone had really given Helena time to be in a title with more than one other woman (Zinda and Helena and Dinah getting drunk and kicking heads together is something that can be so special).

Tony Bedard – oh the other Birds of Prey writer we tend to ignore. The interesting thing with Bedard’s run is that he gives Helena the space to work as the BoP field leader, given Dinah’s absence, which is a role nobody would have considered for her until Dinah resigned. It’s a growth period for her.

Ivory Madison – I like Huntress: Year One. I really enjoyed it as a story. I think Madison had a lot of fun drawing out the parallels and future echoes in it, and I really just enjoy the background competence given to Helena even at this early stage as she learns to be a vigilante.

[navree]

All this discours about Jason and Bruce toxic relationship and how Bruce would kill Jason if Jason kills Dick and how Bruce and Dick will never love or see Jason as family and Jason is destined to be alone and miserable. it's all making ME miserable. your interpretation is what I want, you're the only bitch in this house I trust Amelie

I mean, yeah Jason and Bruce toxic relationship, in the same way Bruce has a toxic relationship with legit everyone in his life at this point because the people writing him are physically incapable of letting him grow and change and heal and treat people in his life better, is there any one of his kids they haven't had him beat up at this point??? And you know what, I'm sure Bruce would kill Jason if he murdered Dick in cold blood, because Bruce has a tendency to go murderously apeshit when one of his kids dies. Do you know how I know that? Well I know that because of that time Bruce set out to murder the Joker for killing Jason and then didn't stop him from being blown up in a helicopter for killing Jason and didn't do anything except ask that his body be found because he killed Jason and then routinely nearly beat him to death for killing Jason. It's similar to that time Dick actually for real beat the Joker to death with his bare hands for killing Jason; 'bruce and dick will never love jason or see jason as family' my absolute ass!

This doesn't even touch on the fact that, like, of all the members of the Batfamily who'd logically view Jason as family no matter what, Bruce and Dick are the MOST likely, because they knew him first! They knew him longest! They were there when he was a little boy, they have the longest bond with him, they're the ones who remember who lived with him and loved him before his death and most crucially, they're the ones who had to learn to live without him. They, along with Alfred and to a lesser extent Barbara, are the ones who've only ever grieved Jason the person, the ones who had to navigate the trauma of what his death to them as people and to their dynamics and their sense of order in the world. Bruce turns into a crazy person; Dick is inconsolable when he finds out! Like, I'm sorry, but there are no two people less likely not to be obsessed with reintegrating Jason back into the fold. Like, yes, these people all have unhealthy and deeply toxic relationships to each other, but that's not something you can really look at from a Watsonian perspective; it's the fact that comics are so decentralized people are almost simultaneously doing their own thing, as well as DC's inability to really know what to do with their characters or understand what character development is, along with their constant reboot bullshit. Singling out Jason's relationships as being somehow uniquely toxic is just laziness at this point.

Also I refuse to buy into any ideas of Jason being alone and miserable, sorry but I'm not gonna look at a teenager with a history of abuse and victimization and hardship and tell him that it's all he'll ever know, especially not when giving up and giving in isn't in Jason's nature and we have alternate realities that show that he's always able to rise above.

[remarcely]

After receiving a lengthy comment on one of my recent ao3 works, I’ve spent most of my morning thinking about how fanfic writers portray Jason Todd.

People write fanfic for a few reason, one big one is they don’t like the canon and think more can be done with the characters/plot. It’s not the only reason, but it’s fuelled plenty of fandoms over the years.

Jason is a difficult character to write. He’s been handed around countless writers, had some good stories and some bad ones. He was unfortunately relabelled as the angry Robin, killed off in a way that a lot of people were not happy with, and the legacy he left behind in-universe affected every character. 

I have mixed opinions on Under The Red Hood. I own the comic, I’ve read it, and I did enjoy it as a storyline. Do I like Jason as a morally grey antihero/villain? Yes. Do I think he deserved more than to be used as a pawn in the succession of Batman, Talia’s plan to send Damian off to Gotham, and essentially being a distraction? Yes.

Not that he could have been ‘good’. His anger was justified from his perspective- because nothing worthwhile changed. He died and, sure, Bruce changed the way Robins operate and the gear to add extra protection, but that’s still a child soldier. Jason was the first Robin in line to the grave, even if the major deaths were retconned later on.

It’s his anger at Tim- which yes can be accounted partiality to being replaced and pit madness- that I disagree with. Jason died as a kid because of Robin, no matter which way you spin it. That anger at the injustice should have been spun to his brutal protection of any child. Tim shouldn’t have been excluded, if anything he should have been protected more.

A lot of the stuff I write is AU I don’t write Jason as a villain much currently but I’ve always enjoyed the more anti-hero leaning Jason. I don’t care about him killing, being a crime lord, or antagonising the Bats.

I can see everything his character is and has been and still wish his hand of cards had been better.

My personal opinion, which means shit all to any one else and you are very welcome to take with a grain of salt, is Jason's villain-arc should have been him acting solitary, separate from the League of Assassins. One gripe I have with fanfic is others writing that a non-league affected Jason would go straight back to Bruce. I don’t know about you, but if I were in Jason's decomposing dress shoes I’d be pretty pissed.

As I’m writing this now, I really want to create that story myself- which is the whole point of fanfiction.

This is longwinded and could be put in better words, but these are the only ones I’ve got I’m afraid. Fanfiction can be a change to canon and it’s characters, some good and bad, but always different. It doesn’t mean we ‘don’t even like the character’ or aren’t a true fan. Every portrayal will variate from the original.

Robin in the past has been viewed as a generic side kick, with very little difference between Robin 1 & 2. Their designs were near identical, their creation based on being Batman's partner, and No.2 was quite literally voted by the readers to be murdered. Of course they will be different as they grow and change with their audiences, they are stories.

Jason Todd is not the same character he was 40 years ago and he will continue to evolve for the next 40 years. Fandom will defer from canon as it picks an audiences favourite parts and ignore the lesser liked. I don’t try to write Batman comics, I personally have no interest of doing so, I am perfectly happy writing short online works about what I like from the stories I’ve been provided with.

If you don’t like fanon, read canon. If you don’t like canon, read fanon. It is as simple as that, there is no need to start insulting peoples understanding of your favourite characters because they hold different opinions to you. Enjoy comics without policing others.

Do not send any hate to the comment I am referring to if you come across it, they are welcome to their opinion, even if could be construed as rude.

[cer-rata]

Hard agree with all of this, but I do think that it's fair to say that the flanderization, overuse and dehumanization of some of these villains makes the reasoning kind of hard to swallow. Most of Batman's villains started out as significantly less heinous than their current depictions. Even if the point wasn't about understanding them, they existed within a realm where the amount of harm they did was conceivable and understandable as a thing a human could reasonably get up to. Their motivations were things that people might not agree or sympathize with, but we could comprehend it. There was murder yeah, but a lot of it was more off the wall schemes that required him to be a proper detective, bank robbery, kidnapping public officials, regular low level crime, the mob. Gotham didn't always have 15 separate sadistic serial killers. The big bad villains were the exceptions to the rule, criminals that were on a different level and had to be tackled in ways that weren't necessary for the average thug. And even then it wasn't usually just violent terrorism and torture. Even Bane wasn't just some wild inhuman sadist, and he's basically Batman's Doomsday. The steady creep of the horror and violence that his rogues represented over the years has lanced a lot of the nuance present in the idea that they're you know, human beings. Batman's ideology make sense when dealing with a human being and all of the intrinsic complexity there, but some of these villains aren't being written as true characters. It's one thing for a character to represent a concept like chaos or madness or whatever, but there's this weird desire to represent the Joker as more than just some dangerous crazy guy, but a force of nature. He becomes such a symbol of incomprehensible abstract evil that he doesn't resister as a human being anymore. Batman's morals apply to people, and if the narrative is working hard to dehumanize his villains, and not critically as commentary, but with the suggestion that it's RIGHT to assign a lesser person hood to them, then Batman's morals seem ridiculous in the context of his own story.

A side point that I'd like to make is about the oversaturation of some of these antagonists. The desire to push these increasingly heinous characters over and over eventually starts to damage the suspension of disbelief. The idea that the world they live in is so wildly incompetent that canonically the Killing Joke and A Death in the family take place in the same year is insane. The absolute narrative frequency with which the joker causes truly horrific scenes and is back on the street doing it again is so stupid. Part of the reason everyone talks about putting an end to the Joker is because his plot armor makes literally every other option of dealing with him completely inconsequential. It takes the quiet implication that Batman's quest is a Sisyphean task and makes it parody. If Batman doing things by the book has basically no effect on the harm the Joker causes, it makes everything seem pointless. For some reason no institution can hold him for long...because he's so...crazy? Heroes that would willingly kill him just never get involved, other villains that should also want to deal with him just don't or get outfoxed, hell the state just continues to put him in the SAME asylum he keeps breaking out of. You mean to tell me that corrupt ass Gotham PD doesn't have anyone willing to just execute him in custody?

Professor Pyg is in my mind a much more viscerally disturbing character that clearly is beyond help, but he doesn't invalidate the basic premise of Bruce's mission because Batman stops him, and he stays stopped for long enough that it doesn't feel like he's haunting the narrative and calling the logic of the setting into question. I think sometimes saying that Batman should kill is a misplaced complaint about these stories retreading the same conflicts with the same characters over and over while also raising the stakes to keep people shocked and engaged. Not to mention writers who don't even just miss the point, but clearly wish he was Rorschach instead, and by extension also don't get the point of Rorschach in the context of his own story.

Let me stop here, I'm getting a headache.

I hate Bruce's "I don't kill because once I start, I wouldn't be able to stop"

Like I simply do not buy it. Murder is not a potato chip Bruce. I think he is full of shit and a messy bitch who lives for the drama. I am certain Bruce has some kind of valid reason for not killing, but I don't believe that this is it.

[liaracooper]

I have an idea.

So, I have been trying to design a superhero character for a story I'm writing, but I'm sure if the powers she has make her overpowered. I'm looking for opinions.

So firstly, she has healing powers, but she has to sing to heal the person. She can't use them on herself, and she can't heal diseases like cancer or anything.

Then her other abilities are:

1) Steel claws, where her finger nails grow into solid steel and extremely sharp claws. 2) Near complete invulnerability to everything except iridium. 3) Enhanced metabolism. 4) Extended lifespan, but not immortal. 5) Near unlimited energy. 6) Enhanced Reflexes. 7) Enhanced Strength, but she's not quite as strong as like Homelander or Soldier Boy from The Boys.

Her weaknesses are:

1) Iridium. It does completely block her power but it drains all of her energy to the point where she can barely stand. 2) Limited stamina. 3) Lesser intelligence, she's stupid but she definitely isn't a genius. 4) Lose of control, if she gets to angry she can lose control. She 'blacks out' and goes on a rage filled rampage, killing anyone in the area. It's not like Bruce Banner and The Hulk, but more of like, for lack of a better term, an animal's survival instinct.

Thoughts?

[whispered-into-the-void]

It's fucking weird that DC keeps making new anti-batmen, evil-batmen, that sort of thing, and just ignoring the ones that already exist?

Like they kind of touched on this in the Dark Knights Metal event - Owlman (Earth 3's Evil Batman) gloating to Evil Baby Batman that Evil Baby Batman, the Evil Lantern Batmen, all these Dark Multiverse Batmen were "dumb ideas," but he's the "original" Evil Batman and so he'll survive the next Multiversal Rebirth - but I'd say even Owlman is a step further than I'm happy with.

Like one of the current antagonists of Absolute Power is Failsafe, Batman's Batman, essentially a robot Bruce designed to stop him if he ever killed (it's slightly more complicated but whatever). The last major villain in the Batman solo was the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, a split personality he developed that was Just Batman, that lacked the human elements of Bruce Wayne, so it could continue The Mission if Bruce Wayne started to fail (it eventually took over the robot)

The last Major Multiversal Villain was The Darkest Knight, also known as The Batman Who Laughed, who used an army of evil Batmen from the Dark Multiverse to take over all of reality in Dark Knights: Death Metal (that's where the Owlman interaction earlier came from). The Batman Who Laughed was a Batman who killed Joker, got infected by Joker Venom in a kind of Dead Man's Switch scenario, and became a Jokerised Batman. Interestingly, we actually learned all of this in a crossover event from 2018, Dark Knights: Metal, where he arrived on Earth Prime as part of an Evil Justice League from assorted worlds in the "Dark Multiverse," gathered by the god Barbatos. Specifically, an Evil Justice League composed entirely of Evil Batmen filling each role.

This is ignoring the fact that Flashpoint Batman became a significant villain for a time during the City of Bane arc; ignoring the Infected arc between Metal and Death Metal where TBWL "Jokerised" a bunch of characters like Shazam, Supergirl, and Jim Gordon; ignoring the fact that the New Team in Absolute Power (the current event), Task Force VII, are a bunch of Amazos filled with Alternate Universe versions of the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh; ignoring the Joker War, where Joker got his hands on all of Bruce's tech, gear and money; DC just can't stop making Evil Batmen! And it already had more than enough!

As mentioned, you've got Owlman, Thomas Wayne Jr. of Earth 3, an Evil Batman from a Morally Inverted World with its whole Evil Justice League, the Crime Syndicate of America/Amerika, if you're wanting a straight-up Evil version of Bruce Wayne; if you want a highly-trained, highly-skilled tactician who can go toe-to-toe with metahumans that he has no right to beat, you've got Prometheus; if you're looking for someone with a brutal streak and a mission opposite to Batman's, you've got Wrath, a lesser-known Anti-Batman who's kinda of somewhere between Prometheus and Killer Moth; and speaking of which, if you want someone with the gimmicks, gadgets, and over-the-top theatrics of Batman but with a decidedly more Villainous streak, Killer Moth is right there!

Honestly, I feel like DC needs to buckle down and either reintroduce all of them separately or find some way to put Wrath, Prometheus and Killer Moth in a comic together, maybe in a sort of Battle For The Cowl situation. I think it could be fun, watching Bruce struggle to combat three different "Anti-Batmen" with vastly different motives and methods. Hell, bring back Lincoln March, the New 52's Owlman, and you can even have a fourth. Failing that, just use each of them, and really stress the things that make them different.

[hedgehogcryptid]

I'm sorry op, but my opinion about this is: Absolutely Not.

I understand their stories hold several points of comparision, but I feel the basic relationships between them are fundamentally different, so I can't say they have the same vibe at all.

And maybe the problem is that Zabuza and Haku don't have enough screentime for kishimoto to fuck up their character development, and that dc comics lack any kind of internal coherence, but here goes:

Whatever "flaws" Haku had for the kind of lifestyle they led (meaning his kindness and reluctance to kill, mostly), Zabuza still never called him anything short of a genius. They did not hinder his potential. They did not make him less or inconvenient or problematic. Their relationship had problems, yes, for sure. Most of them on Zabuza's part, and mostly of the bad comunication kind. But Haku's nature and actions were never framed as defects. They were just facts, that Zabuza knew to keep in mind and did not blame Haku for.

And there's also the fact that Zabuza is in no position to save Haku from much of anything. He's as much a victim of their shitty system as Haku is, he's under the same imperatives to be harsh and cruel as everyone else. Even so, he made space for Haku to remain soft and kind, but their context is still fucked fucked. Their tragedy is mostly caused by that hostile environment.

Now, Bruce absolutely does consider Jason to have inconvenient flaws. Even within his post-crisis robin run, if to a lesser extent than in later stories. And he even makes a big deal of character traits Bruce himself shares, and has been shown to not particularly care about. That Jason is at times too violent and too angry and that he allows his feelings to get the best of him during their work (even when that excess anger comes from an overabundance of kindness). We see Batman directly or indirectly causing people's deaths, but Jason beating up an abusive pimp is somehow going too far. The whole Garzonas thing is framed as Jason's personal failing, even when we have no confirmation that Jason did it on purpose.

And Bruce has none of the excuses that can be made for Zabuza. He had every available resource to afford Jason an easy, uncomplicated childhood, if it had occurred to him. Vigilantism is by no means the default setting for talented children in the DC universe. Not the way becoming a soldier is in Naruto. So every mistake Bruce makes, however understandable from his perspective, rests solely on his head. Jason's death is a tragedy of Bruce's own making.

I don't know if this is going to make sense to anybody, but Zabuza and Haku (from Naruto) and Bruce Wayne and Jason Todd have the same vibes right?

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

Who's ready to feel pain again?

Here's an angsty eldrich horror prompt to make you cry <3

Au where Danny is blind and Damians younger twin. He was raised basically being told he was abandoned by his mother for his blindness and that his brother was healthy and happy with her. Meanwhile Danny's life was a living nightmare. No one wanted to adopt a blind kid in a small city like Amity Park, so he stayed stuck in the crappy little orphanage with neglectful caretakers. He hated this place and everyone in it, though he had no doubt his life would be much better if he hadn't been blind.

Danny was killed when a drunk driver purposely ran him over for something as stupid as ableism. Unfortunately, dying as a person with a lot of sorrow and angst in his heart inside Amity Park basically ensured he would become a spirit. That, or it had something to do with the Fentons expiramenting on his corpse.

No one could have known he would be so powerful though. Or that he would be able to "see" after his death. He soon became obsessed with finding the woman who abandoned him in this tiny city in the middle of nowhere and making her pay.

First, he needed a lair. He found out from research -aka possessing his mothers ninjas that felt like her and by extention, himself- that his father was Bruce Wayne- the Batman, and the first time in forever his heart filled with want.

He wanted a father. Someone who was kind and caring and who would protect him. Someone who would want him in turn.

He wanted brothers who would play with him and tease him and teach him him how to be like them.

He wanted sisters who would stand by him and hug him when he had a bad day and help him get away with things he wasn't supposed to be doing.

He wanted a family. The family Talia had cheated him out of. The life Talia had cheated him out of.

So he picked a mansion. A horrible dilapidated old thing, literally half falling apart. One pulse of his core transformed it into a billionaires dream. Everything was pristine as the day it was built. The gardens outside changed from weeds and grass taller than he was to beautiful paved garden paths, forever in full bloom.

This of course drained his energy and he fell asleep, never taking notice of the "For Sale" sign out near the gates

Needless to say, once he awakened he was not amused to see a couple unboxing thier belongings and taking over his home. He just wanted to scare them. He didn't think throwing heavy boxes across the room into thier heads would kill them, but it did. He killed them and there was no going back.

It was only a few hours later that he discovered whoever he killed within his lair would become a ghost.

A weak ghost fully under his control.

So he continued killing the people who moved in, but was sure to always give them a month to move out, signing a warning on thier calenders. Some left. Most didn't though, and became lesser ghosts.

His obsession with the picture perfect family allowed him to develop the power to trap any one person in a painting, but only one person per canvas and he had to have a full view of thier body and he has to do that double L thing with his hands and line them up in the center.

Once he lures his mother home with a mysterious letter addressed to her mentioning her League he wastes no time trapping her and hanging her portrait in the grand entryway.

He did the same with his Father, inviting Bruce Wayne and his wards to speak about someone committing corporate espionage in his company. Danny didn't actually know what that was but it sounded important, and the end goal wasn't to fool them but to get them here. Sadly nothing seemed to go as planned. First Jason snuck into the mansion as Red Hood a week before the planned meeting time and saw something he wasn't supposed to. Namely one of his victims. So he ordered the spirits to pin the startled Jason to the wall as Danny trapped him.

The painting came out better than expected. You could tell he was startled even with his helmet covering his face simply by his body language. The multitude of transparent arms coming through the wall to pin him made the scene all the more haunting.

The bats grew more concerned with each day that passed with no word from Jason and as the day on the invitation grew closer they begin preparing to go in groups. One group goes as civilians and the other sneaking about as vigilantes and trying to find Jason while Alfred and Barbara stayed behind to keep an eye on them and the mansion respectively.

Cue them arriving at the mansion and being forced to play real life Pac-Man and free thier kin from thier paintings while avoiding getting trapped in one themselves.

Eventually one of them discovered they could actually use the furniture around the house as weapons and Danny couldn't phase through it and they told the others about it so they didn't have to keep relying on Jason's unexplained ability to punch ghosts.

Eventually they manage to temporarily defeat Danny and escape the mansion. It was so hard on everyone listening to him sob from where he was pinned on the ground, begging them not to go. Promising to be the best little brother, the best son, he promised to be good.

Bruce took it the hardest. He had failed another of his children but he needed to get the rest of his family out of the sprung trap before the weaker spirits dug Daniel out of the rubble and the mansion is pulled back into that pocket dimension and captured them again. They had been here a while and he was fairly certain his family could go for a round 14 but he wasn't sure they would last beyond that.

So they left. But Bruce silently promised himself he would come back for his son. He kept repeating it over and over in his mind like a mantra to block out his sons desperate cries as they left him behind.

Needless to say the ride back to Gotham was mostly silent as his children processed everything that happened.