#cain complex

[sicknessinmotion]

CAIN LOVED HIS BROTHER TOO MUCH. THIS IS WHY HE KILLED HIM; ON BROTHERS.

definition of cain complex // andrew kozma // marco & sebastiano ricci // josé saramago // natalie diaz // josé saramago

[ivoryantlered]

Matthew Nienow, Lupa; Richard Siken, Crush.

[oldfashioned-lovergirl]

[aingeal98]

Ok so you know how back in the 2000s there were a few jokes about Cass's gender likely because male comic book writers thought it was funny she had muscles? I'm taking that and spinning it to villains genuinely being confused about what to refer to Cass as.

Goon 1: Cmon man she's obviously called Batgirl

Goon 2: Well last month I told him he wasn't Batman and all he said was "Try me."

Goon 1: Have you heard them speak?

Goon 2: Yep. Pure gravel. You really swear that's definitely a girl's voice?

Goon 1: Has anyone ever gotten a good luck at her?

Goon 2: At Batman's stealthier, faster shadow? Come on Doug.

-

1 week later

Goon 1: Jerry you're not gonna believe this. The little Bat saved me from getting my brains blown out by Penguin.

Goon 2: Oh nice! Glad you're still-

Goon 1: I asked them what their pronouns were.

Goon 2:

Goon 1:... And they said "Bat"

Goon 2: Well that settles that then. Why are you still referring to bat as they? You want bat to beat you up next time bat sees you?

-

1 month later

Cass: At first I was confused why villains I save keep complimenting me on my nonbinary swagger. But after Duke explained what that meant... I think I kind of like it. Babs am I... Nonbinary?

Babs, frantically tossing aside her prepared 10 point acceptance speech for when your daughter realises she's a lesbian and scouring her database in search of parenting guides for nonbinary adult children: Honey, you can be whatever you want to be

[jokey05]

I genuinely think that by some paradox DC was WAY more inclusive and "woke" in the '90 than now. Like so many POC characters, the firsts queer relationship in comics, many more disabled characters and representation than today. Not all of them were written well, mind you, but at least they were doing something instead of just showing up during Pride moth and then disappearing in limbo forever after a couple of cheesy lines. And we are not talking enough of all the disabilities erasure in the last years.

[its-kinda-snowy]

"Dan, are you even paying attention? This is critical research we need to cover in order to (insert science jargon here)"

[franollie]

a big point of contention for steph and cass in Batgirl 2000 is that steph wants to fight and has the potential to be a really good vigilante, but cass feels a need to protect her when theyre on the field together because she knows steph "isn't good enough yet" and she doesn't want to see her get hurt.

and then steph dies. and cass couldn't save her.

post steph's death, we see a shift in cass's behavior. she was always reckless and blindly trusts her ability to punch her way out of things, but i would argue that she becomes more passively suicidal post war games/war crimes.

then, the two times cass almost dies steph is the one who saves her...steph became cass's white knight...like aughhhhhh

[eldritch-bf]

I had an epiphany.

[remusfinglupin]

The Atlas squad (in actually terrified to finish The Atlas Complex)

🎨: Little Chmura

[venividifettuccine]

you’re wearing his cardigan. i’ve struck a blood deal with his mob boss father, befriended and invested myself in the romantic life of his little sister, and am tormenting him with slutty 3am texts and sunglasses photos. we are not the same

[casscainmainly]

Got an ask about my feelings on Cass being Bruce's favourite that I accidentally deleted so I'm gonna answer here.

Firstly I'm in the 'Dick is canonically Bruce's fav' camp (see fantastic-nonsense's post here), but I do believe Bruce has a special bond with Cass. So I don't think 'Cass being Bruce's fav' comes out of nowhere, especially since she is the closest to having his moral code, and he is definitely not normal about her.

However, this is the kind of statement where who is saying it matters. Comic fans can say Cass is Bruce's favourite because it's grounded in a genuine understanding of their dynamic. But when people who haven't engaged with comics say it, particularly as a rebuttal to one of the Batboys being Bruce's fav, it comes off like Cass is some 'other' option. She's allowed to be the fav because they don't see her as a real character, or because they view her as some paragon of perfection. This is where I really dislike the headcanon.

Because Cass being Bruce's favourite should be a bad thing. Bruce doesn't adopt her until 2008, and for me it's largely because it takes him that long to see her as a person. Early Bruce-Cass, where most of the 'Cass being Bruce's fav' moments come from, is marked by Bruce seeing Cass as an extension of himself. She is his model minority and there are racist undertones in him calling her perfect. His love gets less toxic over time, but this corresponds with his disillusionment over her (see him firing her in Batgirl #48; Cass, in the same issue, is becoming disillusioned with him).

The arc in Bruce and Cass' relationship is them recognising and deconstructing the pedestals they've put each other on. So when people say Cass is Bruce's favourite without context, it misses all the complexity in that dynamic. Personally I prefer what should be their endpoint: where Cass knows she doesn't need to be his favourite to be loved.

[puppycharmz]

CAN YA GIVE US ANOTHER MINI COMIC FOR THE POLYCULE THING- I NEED ANSWERS-

putting my major to good use finally. here are your answers *provides none* (part 1 | part 2)

[himejoshiangels]

cass cain is so emotive and I hate that so many of yall fall straight into the stoic asian woman stereotype thing because like, the only reason cass wouldn't vocalize a feeling is when she would struggle to find the word for it because she literally wasn't taught how to speak. that's so fucking upsetting. She has such big beautiful emotions, she feels so deeply about the littlest things but everytime she has trouble putting it into words she's reminded that she was conceived not to. her abuser did not have her feelings or her pain in mind, only how well she could end a life. can you fucking imagine

[thenonbinarydetective]

"There is canonical mischaracterization in the batfamily" and "they are nuanced characters that cannot be summed up in one word/phrase" are two things that can exist at the same time and more people need to remember that

[aingeal98]

It's about Bruce not being able to love himself and Cass coming along as the idealized version of what Bruce wishes Batman could be (Not to be confused with Dick as Nightwing which is the idealized version of what Batman could never be) and Bruce being so excited and delighted and willing to pour so much love and trust into Cass and then being hit in the face with the fact that all his own flaws still exist even in this "perfect" mini me, they're just more intense to compensate for the intensity of her heroism. You cannot be Batman without the survivors guilt, without the value of every human life no matter how extreme, without the hours of pushing yourself to ridiculous limits and self harming to make yourself a more effective weapon against evil. And he can either accept these as downsides that must exist for Batman to be perfect or he can try and steer Cass down a healthier path. He has to choose the person or the mission and it's one thing to make that choice for yourself and another thing to enable someone to dehumanize themselves to the same degree. He'd never want anyone else to be like him that's the whole point. But she's already there and she wants it more than anything and she views Batman as salvation instead of a curse so what's the right choice? What can he do to help? Perfect for a year or mediocre for a lifetime?

[sveetnemesis]

entirety of the atlas trilogy summed up :