#cursed gotham

[blu3-ja3]

Eheheheheehe my little cursed Gotham au is buzzing cause

I’m currently thinking about slightly eldritch Martha and Thomas Wayne.

Thomas Wayne who reminds everyone of war drums, determined and rough and controlled. Thomas Wayne, the man who is loud with his emotions, with power and intent that is palpable in his walk. Thomas Wayne who’s will is so strong that denying him is something no man can do. (Many of his coworkers whisper that Death itself obeys Thomas Wayne, as none of his patients die while he is there.)

Thomas Wayne who meets Martha at a gala where they are raising money for a charity and immediately is smitten with this woman who flits around the room, leaving dazed and agreeable people in her wake.

Martha Wayne who moves through life like a dancer, making everyone feel awkward and off balance in comparison. Martha Wayne who could sweet talk a man into selling his soul, but always follows through on her promises. Martha Wayne who smiles like she is sharing a private joke with Life, and you can’t help but wonder if you are the punchline.

Everyone watches as they join together, swearing an oath of love and trust that everyone around them can feel is true as the sky is blue. Their allies and families rejoice because the two are unstoppable, while their enemies panic at the thought of them.

Because Thomas is the sun, bright and unapologetic, almost hard to look at and something no man can control, and Martha is the moon, something that looks soft and trustworthy, but all of Gotham fears her dark side. They orbit each other, and if denying one is impossible than denying both is inconceivable.

Even if you hide from the sun, the moon is always there.

(The day they introduce Bruce to the world is the day Gotham finally sees the stars.)

[blu3-ja3]

Jillian doesn't know much about this guy, she knows he's one of B grade Flash's villains or he at least has one of their tech. She knows he was hired by someone to go after Bruce, not Batman, Bruce Wayne. She knows this guy has caught them all unaware and is currently holding everyone hostage, including her family. Selina, Dick, and Tim have guns to their heads being held by this guy's goons and Jason's holding an unconscious Damian. Bruce is out of the room with this asshole. Jillian hasn't seen Duke, Steph or Cass for a while, Jillian herself is on her knees with a bunch of other of the gala attendees while these goons wave around automatic rifles and laugh about their paycheck.

Finally the main dude comes back, Bruce is with him... He has something strapped to his chest. It's a bomb, oh gods it's a bomb! Jillian nervously meets Selina's eyes because she can't see Bruce, nor can Dick and Tim. She looks up at the Flash villain as he grabs the mic and begins to talk.

"I need a volunteer! Someone who can run-" Jillian stood up quickly, she flinches as the barrel of a rifle is harshly shoved into her back.

"I'LL DO IT! I'll do it, I'll run," the villain smiles seemingly impressed.

"You can't slow down once you start, if you do-" Jillian cuts him off as she walks over to Tim.

"The bomb will blow up, yeah we know. Flash villain; whatever your name is," Jillian walks up to Tim and sits down. She ignores the offended sound that came from the stage.

"What are you doing?" Dick hisses as Jillian removes her heels

"I'm taking Tim's converse,"

"Do I get a say in you taking my shoes?" Tim asked but Jillian kept talking over him.

"because he has padding in them, they're the closest to my size, and I'm not running in heels," Jillian doesn't look up as she starts untying Tim's shoes, Tim just shrugs and lets her continue.

"No! What are you thinking! You can't run-" Jillian turns to glare at Dick, they have a glare off before Dick relents and drops his head.

"I can run, it's the only thing I can do. It's all I do is run, let me do this, let me do what I'm good at," Jillian whispers as she pulls off Tim's shoes and starts lacing up then onto her feet, they're a little tight but she'll survive... Wrong turn of phrase, she'll deal.

Jillian turns to meet Selina's gaze, who looks like she also wants to argue, to fight and convince Jillian to back down. But if there's one thing they've all learned; it's that all the Wayne's, regardless of blood ties or no, were all as stubborn and bull headed as Bruce himself. Selina doesn't say anything but she gives her a small nod and an encouraging smile.

Jillian meets Bruce's gaze, he's been beat pretty bad but Jillian knows he'll be okay. No what causes the pit anxiety and the slight dread is the look of horror on his face. There's panic in his eyes and she's sure that if he wasn't gagged he would be screaming and yelling, well he is but it's muffled. Jillian steals herself and takes a final deep breath.

While Jillian walks up the stage she reaches down and rips her dress so it's not nearly as long. Thankfully her hair was already tied mostly up in a half-do so she lets it down and ties it all up. Jillian is forever grateful to herself for constantly wearing biker shorts under her dresses, her thighs chafe when she's just standing and walking around. She doesn't want to know what they'd feel like after running for who knows how long. Finally she reaches the stage and holds out a gloved hand.

"Oh-hoho! Someone is determined, I like that!" As the villain yells he straps something to the teens wrist, she yelps in pain as something stabs into her wrist. A small trickle of blood begins lazily rolling down the sides of her wrist.

"Alrighty! When I press this button you don't stop until I get my money! Oh! One last thing," the man smiles slips into something more horrific as he speaks.

"If he goes, so do you! Are you ready? Get set! Go!" The man taps the button and Jillian begins to run.

Jillian is good at this, it's one of the few things she's confident about. She's not graceful or incredibly flexible like Dick or Cass, she's not a great fighter like Jason or Damian. She's not smart like Tim or stealthy like Staph. She didn't have the same level of control over her meta abilities like Duke. But Jillian can run, she can push herself and her endurance. She can keep a steady pace and keep it for as long as physically possible. Jillian can run. Jillian can endure.

•°•°•

Jillian's first move was to get the fuck out of the small space that the gala was being held in. Moving quickly towards the door Jillian burst outside to the busy downtown Gotham streets. She kept a steady pace heading west towards the docks of Gotham.

Worse case scenario Jillian can throw herself into Gotham bay before the bomb goes. Minimal damage to the surrounding areas and the people. She holds confidence that someone will get to the bomb strapped to Bruce's chest soon, if all the police car whipping past her was anything to go by.

For now Jillian keeps running, not a sprint but an easy pace. Jillian's no speedster but she's curious about their endurance, she hasn't gotten much of a chance to go pace for pace with one. She's met Bart and while the boy is fast she wonders if he could keep up endurance wise? Jillian has trained for endurance most of her life, she's been in track for almost a decade at this point. Plus she actively partakes in marathons and endurance climbing...Who's she kidding there's very little chance Jillian could keep up with a speedster.

It's been about a good hour of running, Jillian's sweating and tired but she knows she can keep going. She's on 5th Street now, the longest road that stretches across all of Gotham right next to Gotham bay. Jillian's feet left the concrete and asphalt of Gotham's roads and the hollow thuds of Gotham's board walks and dock ring out under her feet.

There's a drone following her, it has been for the last five minutes, Jillian didn't want to assume it was following her but now she had confirmation. The teen figured it was probably Oracle, so she waved to Barbara hoping to reassure her. Yeah Jillian has a bomb strapped to her wrist but she'll be okay... Probably.

Honestly that was the main reason Jillian left the gala. If she fails, if Jillian can't run and everything blows, in the worst case scenario her family has to only watch Bruce. Though he's probably already out of the vest or figured out how to disarm it or something. That's besides the point, Jillian didn't want them to see her go up.

Jillian is a little shocked when another set of foot steps approaches her and Jillian sees Duke dressed in his typical Signal garb. She sees him smile at her and for a moment Jillian falters as her heart leaps and her stride slows. Jillian sees the consistently blink red light slow. Panic and dread rushed through her body as dawning horror spreads across Duke's face.

Jillian turns on a dime and sprints the short distance to get across the docks. She can hear Duke yelling and the screams of Stephanie as well but Jillian has a single minded focus. Get to the water, minimize damages both physical and mental. Maybe she can pray... Jillian's not particularly religious but maybe if she prayed just once she'd live this.

Jillian feels the cold rush of Gotham bays water make contact with her, when suddenly there's a rush of air. One moment she's submerged under water and the next she's standing on the docks again. Jillian is vaguely aware of a rapidly buzzing and blurring object next to her holding her arm with the bomb.

Eventually her brain catches up and Jillian realizes that there's a speedster next to her. Judging by the height Jillian is guessing it's the first Flash and not Impulse or the former Kid Flash. Jillian has a moment to look behind herself and see Duke and Stephanie running towards her both in vigilante garb.

"Sorrythisisgoingtohurt! HopefullyIdon'tbreakyourwristorarm! Don'twanttoexplainthattoBats," there's a rapid buzzing of what sounds like words before her wrist and arm starts shaking rapidly.

Jillian screams at the sudden intense stabbing around her wrist becomes more intense. As suddenly as it starts it stops and Jillian's arm is let go, there's a rush of air and a spray of water as a blur of red rushes out towards the middle of the bay between Metropolis and Gotham.

Jillian doesn't even process that her legs give out from underneath her until she's hitting the ground. Her breathing is labored and her mouth is tacky, she should probably drink some water. A shiver runs its course through Jillian's body as a breeze sweeps over her form.

There's a hand grabbing her wrist, dazed Jillian looks up to see Duke rummaging through his utility belt. He's not wearing his cowl, it's just his domino mask, it kinda looks like a bat itself. Everyone's masks have all changed, now covering more than just his eyes, it's almost like a cowl with how much it covers. Though unlike the cowl Jillian can see the faint glow of Duke's eye easier.

She's always found comfort in Duke's eyes, they're like little suns. When he looks at her Jillian feels like she's at the center of the sun itself, warm and fuzzy. There's a weight of something wrapping around her and Jillian looks up to see Steph removing her black Batgirl cape and draping it around her. Jillian's attention snaps back to Duke as there's a searing pain around her wrist causing her to hiss in pain.

"Sorry," Duke mumbles he glances up at Jillian and her breath catches in her throat. The warmth of light washes over her, it feels like it's gently caressing her soul. She'll never hate the feeling of Duke staring at her.

"Mi amores luz,"

The words fall from Jillian's lips like a prayer, it's barely a whisper. But Jillian knows what she says, she hears the words fall from her lips. She doesn't notice Duke's eyes widening slightly but he doesn't say anything. He can see plain as day the panic that washed over Jillian's face for a moment. It's only a moment but it's enough for Duke to pretend he never heard it.

Jillian's had a rough night, she's tired and exhausted. She's not in her right mind right now. She doesn't mean it. That's what Duke tells himself as he finishes wrapping her wrist. The rest of the night is kind of a blur for Jillian.

The Gotham police helped capture the gala crashers with assistance from Impulse and Flash. When Flash was informed that a civilian had the detonator strapped to their wrist he immediately went looking. Signal and Batgirl helped him look and Signal found the girl at the docs. Flash got the detonator off the civilian and left to help Impulse.

Duke, Steph, and Cass managed to slip out before being captured. They got into gear quickly but not before Jillian had volunteered herself. Oracle was the one to find her and Duke was the closest to the docks. Steph came quickly afterwards but not before Jillian managed to trigger the bomb.

When Jillian was escorted home by GCPD she was smothered by her family. Everyone was careful not to touch bare skin which Jillian was extremely grateful for. She really did need her powers flaring and giving her an identity crisis on top of the exhaustion she was currently feeling.

Jillian was laying in her bed when there was a knock at her door. Getting up and wrapping herself in the fluffy robe Cass gifted her Jillian approached her door. When she opened it she was greeted by a soft glow of light. Again Jillian's breath hitched in her throat at Duke's eyes met hers.

"Hey, can we talk?" Jillian snapped out of her daze and nodded not trusting her voice. She stepped aside opening her door more to allow Duke into her room.

Instantly he walked over to Jillian's desk and sat down in the chair there. Jillian closed her door and giggled quietly as Queenie immediately jumped into Duke's lap demanding attention from him. Sitting on her bed Jillian crossed her legs and watched quietly as Duke whispered to Queenie while petting her.

"Are you okay?" Jillian was a little shocked by Duke's sudden question, he didn't even look up from where he was currently petting Queenie. The large black fluff ball was absolutely loving the attention.

"Uh, yeah I think so?" Jillian was being honest, she's tired, her wrist hurts and her legs burn like they usually do after running for so long. Her knees are a little scraped up from her collapsing and she has a headache from slight dehydration but for the most part she's okay.

"I'm alive-" Jillian's words hitch as she says them. She hadn't really taken the time to dissect everything that happened to her and judging by the look Duke's giving her he knew that.

"You ran to jump into the water. After you slowed down..." Jillian wasn't entirely sure where this was going, in her mind she made the right call. If she was going to blow up then doing so in the water was the best place.

"I did it because it was the best option, less damage," She tilted her head back to stare at the glow in the dark stars above her bed.

"Why did you slow down when you saw me?" Jillian's head dropped quickly to look at Duke, she was immediately met with molten gold staring at her.

"I-" Jillian couldn't think of a good excuse, she didn't intend to slow down when she spotted Duke but she did.

"It almost killed you," Jillian's eyes widened as Duke continued, "I almost killed you,"

"But you didn't, I'm o-" Duke cut her off before Jillian could finish.

"If Flash was even a second later then you would have been pieces in the bay," Duke's words were sharp and angry.

"But he wasn't I'm fine Duke, honestly," Jillian began to stand from where she was sitting but hesitated when Duke stood up suddenly.

"I saw it, I watched you jump into that bay and never come back out," Jillian's movements stopped completely at that.

"Duke-" again Duke cuts Jillian off before she could talk.

"No, you don't get it. I couldn't do anything at that moment, I didn't even know I was seeing an alternate!" Duke raised his voice a bit but softened it again when Queenie let out a soft meow.

"I thought you died, Jill. I was so sure you died and I couldn't do anything to help you," Jillian stood up from where she was sitting on her bed and walked up to Duke.

She wasn't expecting the taller teen to grab her and pull her into a hug. One arm wrapped around her lower back and his other hand cradled her head, pressing it gently into his chest. Jillian could feel her cheeks heating up but decided to risk it and wrapped her arms around his hips.

"I was so scared," Jillian could feel the slight shake of Duke's body and hugged him tighter, silently praying her powers didn't flare up.

"I'm here Duke, I'm right here. Nothing happened, I promise I'm okay," Jillian whispered into his chest and just let Duke hold her.

She wasn't sure how long he held her but eventually he stopped shaking. Slowly Jillian pulled was and looked up, warm honey met her gaze and Jillian heard herself gasp. She felt she was imagining it when Duke's eyes flicked down to Jillian's lips for a moment before meeting hers again.

"Can I kiss you?" Jillian felt like she was going to faint, nodding dumbly. Before she could continue her brain caught up with her body.

"Wait!" Jillian gasped as Duke inched closer, as soon as the word left Jillian's mouth Duke pulled back completely.

"I'm sorry," Jillian could feel tears welling up as she continued speaking, "I don't know if I'll have control, I don't want you to see something horrible or for me to see something you don't want me to see,"

Jillian watched Duke's face morph from fear to concern to something soft. He closed his eyes and for a moment Jillian felt like she was set adrift in the void of Gotham again. She could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry," Jillian whispered softly trying to keep her voice steady but failing, this caused Duke to open his eyes.

"It's okay," Duke smiled, Jillian's heart flutters at what Duke said next,

"I can endure the wait."

Cursed Gotham Masterpost

[smallandangry24]

Headcanon that Gotham accepted the Waynes as a blood sacrifice for the rise of The Batman when Bruce vowed to be the hand of Justice in the city over his parents bodies.

That Gotham is sentient and chose a rain and red soaked little boy kneeling on cracked pavement and grief in supplication as its Champion against The Curse that plagues her waters.

[redlilith5]

DC X PJO

Back when Gotham city was being built Dionysus came across the founding families of this new city the Wayne Family, the Kane Family, the Crowne Family, the Cobblepot Family, and the Elliot Family. The families welcomed him thinking he was a man looking to settle down in their new city. Many things happened during this time but the basics are that Dionysus practically claimed the city to be his (to the immortals, the mortals are clueless) and named it Gotham cause he asked if they got ham and the families misinterpreted as a name. Dionysus blessed the city with many if not almost all of his domains.

He blessed the people with the finest wines, orchards and special plants that help the people relax and be happy. It resulted in alcoholism and addiction. At least they had pretty flowers.

He spread the joy of religious ecstasy though somewhere in between his ritual madness got involved and resulted and quite a few cults.

He taught the youth the wonders of theater and how life was more exciting with extreme dramatics. Gothamite culture evolved to be the most dramatic compared to others people city culture.

They say Gotham was cursed from the very beginning, back when it was but a small village. The reality was that it was blessed by it's patron God. Too bad mortals are stupid. At least the Gothamites loves their city and its blessing, they are the only ones that appreciate the city for what it is.

[thatrandomsarahchick]

Dcxdp thought I just had

What if Johnny's Shadow is Gotham's child?

Like, if Gotham were to have a core, I totally imagine that it would be a shadow core, and given that the city is canonically cursed, what if its child has part of a curse? And that curse is the curse of bad luck?

Thoughts?

[crystalline-tim]

Do you have any more photos of those in your Gotham?

Hm? Oh yeah I do.

Talia is a Lamia. She's been secretly helping us, she's actually not bad. I still don't fully trust her though.

Then Selina, she's a Nekomata. She also has a cat form (between you and me? I think her and Talia have been flirting while they are distracting Ra's)

And Mrs Nora! We think she's a Ice Queen. She really is the sweetest and makes really good food. I can see why Mr Freeze is so dedicated to her. Another reason why we are fighting so hard to break the curse.

[sagaduwyrm]

I write something! I did it! The muse didn't even suddenly abandon me partway through!

Against the Smoke of the City (I Marched)

There is a city called Gotham that doesn't exist, but by god the Daily Planet is going to find it. Or Gotham is so cursed the outside world doesn't even know it's there, but that's nothing in the face of a reporter's curiosity.

Just off I-nine in New Jersey, there is a city that doesn't exist.

Clark knows this because for weeks the Daily Planet has been researching every piece of evidence they could find to prove the city that doesn't exist, did exist.

It started with a piece on the richest companies in the world where the numbers just wouldn't add up. It was Marlene Samson's first big piece, and she was crying when she came to Dean Jones, the Daily Planet's best eye for tax returns and accounting, certain she had to have done something wrong. The rest of the Planet assumed that would be the end of it, extending Marlene their sympathies for running into so many problems on her first big job, but certain it would be solved soon with Dean looking at it.

It was not.

Three weeks later, Dean came in with raccoon eyes, greasy hair, and a four foot pile of files that he had to make Clark help him carry.

Apparently, Marlene didn't do anything wrong, it was just that there was a whole multi-billion dollar company somewhere on the East Coast that existed in government tax data, agreements with other companies, and nowhere else.

It should be noted that even as a company that regularly reported on alien invasions, Superman's love life, and Lex Luthor's newest schemes, this was not the conspiracy the Daily Planet expected to find on an average day.

The crown jewel of Dean's coffee-fueled hallucinogenic research binge was a series of photos of an unfamiliar logo for one Wayne Industries on a variety of products from luxury cars, to prosthetic limbs, to the coffee maker in the office, often covered by a sticker from whatever company didn't want to admit they were reselling the products of a nonexistent corporation. Under each logo was a minuscule maker's mark that said, "Made in New Jersey."

This was about when the whole thing stopped being a personal project and became a company-wide mystery that the Daily Planet was determined to solve.

Diane and Thea were the next to come up with something. They were the history buffs of the group, the ones who wrote about the historical value of such-and-such building or how this event a century ago affected the city today. Real interesting stuff, if a little niche for some of their readers.

"The New Jersey Mystery" it was called.

It was a whole thing for anyone interested in the historical urban development of the New England area. Clark didn't claim to understand it, but Diane said that a large number of historians, amateur and professional, believed that there was something off about the socio-economic development of New Jersey, particularly in the lack of big cities. According to the historical and modern shipping routes, there should have been a harbor city as big as Metropolis in the area, but there just… wasn't. It was, frankly, baffling and mildly concerning to most historians, according to Thea.

It wasn't hard to guess that a missing city and a missing company were more likely than not connected.

Catt Grant was the next to dig something up, finding an old piece from the gossip section about some kind of scandal, written by one Vicki Vale. Dale, the IT guy, managed to find some emails from her time in Metropolis that identified the mystery city as sitting on the Mullica River, next to the Great Bay. Mrs. Vale complained extensively about the swamp land around the city, apparently caused by a dam being built where it shouldn't some fifty years ago, now spread to the entire area. The waters were known to be toxic enough to kill a swimmer, but not dangerous enough for the municipal government to do something.

That was just the beginning of it. Jack found police reports about a mafioso that was to be sent back to New Jersey to be tried with the rest of his group. Stella traced charity funds back to a foundation in the city. Sawyer and Thea managed to make a model of the supposed dam, putting an exact location to the place.

So.

Just off I-nine in New Jersey, there is a city that doesn't exist. They don't know its name, size, or population, just that money comes flowing out, legally and illegally, but people stay in.

And it is Clark and Lois's responsibility to prove that it does exist, and, hopefully, to figure out why it's on no map, spoken by no human tongue, and invisible to satellites and Superman's gaze.

+++

They take a bus first. They'd both prefer to drive themselves, but James Pierceson managed to get an interview that suggested that only people who'd been before could find the city they were looking for. A train was out too, as even if the conductor was a native of the place, it still only had a small chance of passing through the city. That was all James had gotten out of his interview, though. Nothing about the city itself, the company that drew Daily Planet's eyes, nothing. Just how to get in, and a warning to make sure they could still get out afterward.

The bus is their only real option. It's a creaky old thing, grimy in all the wrong ways, but it had the only driver they found that knew where they were going.

Clark stares out the window as they ride, eyes on the road so he knows how to come back if he needs to. He watches as the woods slowly change into swamp land, filled with strange, nasty , brackish water that smells too much like corpses for comfort.

Lois is beside him, typing on her laptop, putting together everything they've found so far, ready for whatever they find in the city. She looks up when she feels him tense against her shoulder, just in time to see the sign as the bus passes.

Turn Back All, nailed to a half-dead tree, rusted red and falling apart.

"Just a little joke folks, the locals aren't fond of tourists so they like to scare 'em off if they can. Just means we're getting close." 

The rest of the bus is seemingly mollified by the bus driver's words, chattering about the fun local custom, but Clark's eyes are on the next sign, peeking out of the foliage on the other side of the bus.

Beware.

The bus goes silent.

Danger.

Leave This Place.

Warning: Death.

They just keep showing up, one after the other even as the sky gets darker with clouds and the rot in the air gets thicker. Some are clearly set up by the city, with neat lines and bright colors. Some are probably made by the citizens, big pieces of wood or metal covered in messy paint. A few are just paint on the trees, dripping like blood.

Go Away.

This Place is Not Safe.

Get Out.

"They might as well have said 'Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here,'" Lois mutters.

Clark snorts, but his eyes stay up. The bus is turning a corner, and a city is finally visible through the thick foliage.

It was tall, is Clark's first thought. There aren't any suburbs of short little houses for the bourgeoisie, no industrial outskirts, just crumbling brutalist architecture and gothic decor right from the entrance.

He can finally hear the city too. He doesn't know why he couldn't before, how it hid from Kryptonian ears, but it echoes in his ears now, gunshots and sirens and screams and whispers. He can't hear anything else on top of the noise, like the rest of the world no longer exists even to Superman's ears. He would have been afraid if his mind had room for it.

The bus is being swallowed, Clark was suddenly sure. The signs were the teeth of the great and terrible city he sees before him and soon they would pass through the maw and enter the place of no return. Soon they would be in the throat and it would convulse and throw them downward and then the city would digest them alive. Whatever was left would not be the same as what entered.

The bus stops at a rickety station just inside the city. The bus driver turns to them as the doors open and his smile is friendly but his eyes are distant and tired.

"Welcome to Gotham," he said. "The most cursed city in America."

"Good luck."

[blu3-ja3]

Cursed Gotham

I love the headcanon that none of the Bats are supers, but over time? Gotham is slowly messing them up, one by one.

Bruce smiles at Clark one day in the Cave, and his eyes reflect the light back like a wolf's

Jason suddenly has tiny fangs, but nobody has the nerve to mention it

Alfred literally doesn't die

Dick can jump higher and faster than ever before, but barely notices it

Tim is awake for three days straight and doesn't blink

They're all subtly, but noticeably different. Gotham-blessed, or cursed, or something in between.

[blu3-ja3]

Hi so! Here's a bit of setup for my Cursed Gotham Story... Actually good father Bruce Wayne cause I say so.

So everything is normal for Bruce's backstory, has a happy childhood blah, blah, blah, until his parents are murdered. Travels the world young and becomes Batman once back from his travels, being trained by the league of assassins and Ra's Al Ghul. He becomes the vigilante at 16, developing a non-lethal style of fighting over the next 2 years before he goes to the circus. Dick's family is murder, Bruce at 18 adopts Dick who's 7. I like the idea that Bruce is still a little new to the vigilante stuff, like he's only recently given the mantle of Batman and befriended Commissioner Gordon.

Dick is definitely still murder vengeance Robin to start, like Dick is the most feral Robin and I will always stand by that. Kid is a menace to the goons of Gotham and is absolutely horrifying, more so than Batman himself. Like maniacal laughter while bouncing around performing amazing feats of acrobatics. Nothing to flashy but the kid has a lot of energy. Bruce forms the Justice League and keeps up play-boy himbo Brucie Wayne. Also I think Bruce homeschooled for a bit until Dick was like in his early tweens then Bruce realizing Dick has no friends and has him forms the Teen Titans.

So those two stumbled around as Batman and Robin for like 8 years, Dick's 15 and Bruce is 27 when Bruce adopts Jason who's 9. Dick and Bruce have a discussion about Dick passing on the mantle of Robin and him becoming his own vigilante. Grayson gets some time to decide and Bruce even tells him he doesn't have to give up the mantle or even keep being a vigilante. They compromise and come up with the Red Robin mantle while Dick decides on his path.

Jason is killed by Joker when he's 14, Bruce(32) nearly kills Joker but Superman stops him. This is part of the reason Gothamintes dislike Supes cause wtf do you mean you're stopping him??? Anyways Dick(20) stops vigilanting to grieve his little brother and asks Bruce to stop as well. Bruce continues being Batman not stopping for a moment. Bruce has a 'public' closed casket funeral for Jason after a few months of Robin's death, claiming he's been killed by illness hence the not showing for events as the Wayne's. Gotham is grieving cause they've lost Robin to the Joker and Jason Todd - Wayne to illness.

Timothy Drake at 7 (Tim is smart it's well established) finds Dick Grayson and begs him to stop Batman or help him because he's nearly killing people. Dick is dismissive so Tim goes to Bruce himself and tries to convince him after months of murderous Batman. Bruce gives Tim the mantle of Robin and still doesn't properly address his grief. Dick with the help of Tim and Alfred convince Bruce to stop for a bit. They all agree to the conditions that they'll step in and help Gotham in his absences as Batman. Barbara Gordon(20) becomes Batgirl to help Dick as Batman and Tim is still Robin.

Bruce leaves to travel, meets Talia outside of the LoA by chance, they have a small relationship then an argument causing them to break up. Bruce is back in Gotham after a few (5-6) months of travel. Dick becomes Nightwing after handing the mantle of Batman back over to Bruce. Tim is kidnapped at 9 and turned into Joker Junior, Bruce officially adopts Tim after the Drake's give up rights not wanting to deal with Tim's recovery. Barbara is paralyzed by The Joker and Jim Gordon learns about the Wayne's. Superman yet again stops Batman and Nightwing from offing Joker, Harley Quinn willingly goes through rehabilitation at Arkham after what happened to Tim.

Barbara at 22 becomes Oracle, Selena Kyle and Bruce Wayne start their relationship. Tim takes up the mantle of Robin at 13 after a lot of recovery. Stephanie Brown is Robin during Tim's recovery. Cassandra Cane(14) becomes Black Bat when Stephanie Brown(12) becomes Batgirl after Tim becomes Robin again. Duke Thomas (13) becomes the Signal (Daytime Bat!)

Damien at 8 appears at Bruce Wayne's (40) with Talia is carrying a freshly revived Jason(22) whom she stumbled across while coming to Bruce for help. Talia explains to Bruce her father's plans to possess Damien's body. She also explains how a few months before she took her planned leave Jason kinda stubbled into the picture. Talia was nursing him back to health before Ra's just dumped him into the Lazarus pit. Now he needs to be cared for and Talia is in too much danger to help him.

Bruce takes in both boys, Damien and Jason are out for a few months as they both recover. Tim(15) is asked if he'd like to become Red Robin, while Damien becomes Robin. Tim agrees and goes on patrol with the rest of the bat family around Gotham. Jason is still recovering but helps Barbra with being the Oracle.

SO! This is my rough background for the Batfam for my Cursed Gotham story! Jason's story is the one that changed the most but there's a reason for that... I'm excited for this!

Everyone ages when we pick up in our story.

Bruce: 40

Selina: 39

Dick: 28

Jason: 22

Tim: 15

Damien: 8

Stephanie: 15

Cassandra: 16

Duke: 14

Barbra: 38

Jim: 68

Alfred: 70

Cursed Gotham Masterpost

[incorrectbatfam]

[thebibliosphere]

Me and about four other people will care about this, but it has taken me this long to realize that in season 2 episode 9 of Pennyworth (shut up, it’s enrichment in my enclosure) when Alfred is posing as Tommy’s driver and waxing lyrical about how, when he’s in America, he’s going to have a car just like this one. And the car, is a Ford Lincoln Futura.

A Ford Lincoln Futura.

Aka— the original Batmobile as driven by Adam West.

He’s driving the original Batmobile!!!

[blu3-ja3]

I love Brucie Wayne! He's amazing!

Gotham fucking loves Brucie Wayne

Some nice Brucie Wayne headcanons for you all

Hes an idiot and a dork but he makes social events interesting because who else would fall into the chocolate fountain?

At any social event where kids are invited as well he can most definitely be found with the kids, talking to them like they are adults

He never treats anyone as inferior unless they're dicks

He once punched riddler in the face because he interrupted a girls birthday party

He has an entire fashion line that is dedicated to giving people actually comfortable practical clothes

Hes an absolute unit in bed. For both men and women. (either top or bottom)

He once held a man upside down by his ankles and shook him until everything had fallen out of his pockets because he had used to be a bully and was now a dick

Can and will walk teenagers home if its late at night. 

Always tips very generously

He was once in line at a batburger and there was a karen yelling at the poor 16 year old cashier and he walked to the front and just started sticking 100 dollar bills into the tip jar with the nastiest smile aimed at the karen. ‘The more you yell the more i tip.’ (the cashier was, coincidently stephanie brown, and she high fived him)

He has a social media but never uses it unless its to draw awareness to a certain cause or to show off his children. 

He also posts beautiful pictures of gotham, or of mundane everyday things, showcasing the beauty in life

(Is canonically a feminist)

Will protect waiters/servers/janitors from creeps or gotham elite who think theyre better than them

He stopped adopting kids but still pays for as many college tuitions as he can

Funded a city wide disability infrastructure plan so people with wheelchairs could go places too

He once rocked three guys with guns’s shit because they were attempting to molest these little boys

Punched a teacher in the face for making a student cry

Will at any time drop everything the second one of his kids asks him to

There is an entire instagram account dedicated to pictures of him helping old people cross the street

Once a month he visits inmates at the prison and offers them jobs

Genuinely cares for his workers and buys them houses and cars if they need it

Literally created gothams public transportation system and made sure it was free

Teamed up with poison ivy to make public gardens for everyone to enjoy

Funds clean energy research

Any celebrity fan mail he receives he answers personally

One time a little girl asked him to come to her birthday party and he did and brought presents

Taught an entire school basic self defense

Brucie Wayne may be an idiotic little shit but he is the Prince of Gotham and Gothamites would lay down their lives for him more willingly than they would for Batman.

[fantastic-nonsense]

one of my favorite headcanons is that the people of Gotham originally thought Batman was an urban legend not just because Bruce was good at sneaking around and pretending to be a shadow in the night early on, but also because they live in an insanely cursed city, heard "shadowed wraith beats up criminals and leaves them for the police to find," and went "yeah that tracks. it's Gotham, ghosts fighting crime is totally believable"

[deadsetobsessions]

There, in the fog, a pair of glowing green eyes. Who does it belong to?

Surely not that which lays beneath the city, Gotham’s spirit that drowns in the cursed bogs buried beneath concrete and stone. Surely not she, who sobs songs of grief, she who croons silently for aid. Surely not she, madness incarnate, all gnarled shadows and crumbled concrete. Surely not she, Gotham herself, perched along her city’s gargoyles and looks over her own with stone eyes and stone heart that tries to beat like her own.

Her songs were answered with one of her own, a child whose parents were murdered in the heart of her heart. The parts of her that still loved as much as she could wholeheartedly accepted. The child that brought more children- who were all hurt by her and her own and decided she was worth helping anyways. Those eyes did not belong to her own children, those that she pulled the covers of relentless clouds over in order to protect.

No, no. Those eyes belonged to a different child. One that came later who Wailed along side her screams and soothed the madness that roiled beneath her streets.

Her screams were soothed by a child who is her liege, the small one that came and eased the rot that tore her marrow from the bones of her city- her own bones.

Phantom, she ruffles the hair of the boy king. Her gnarled joints and shadowed fangs and clawed countenance does not deter his smile and she loves the child more for it. Far better than the tyrant that tried to use her madness against her own people.

“Hi, Gotham. How are you doing today?”

Better, the gargoyles shifts and grinds. Thank you, my liege.

The boy-king laughs, bright green eyes glowing in the fog she’s summoned to obscure him from her knights. “You did most of the work.”

Not so, the winds whirls in between the white flames of the boy-king’s hair. But we have had this discourse.

Phantom smiles, sadness pulling at the corners of his eyes. She did not know human ways of emotion for she had always been a spirit, but this expression she knows well. It chases at the heels of her knights and now it is in a dogged pursuit for her liege’s heart. Gotham has found new things to hate. The shadows wrap around him.

Go, they whisper as Gotham herself slid back towards the cold stone of her city. Protect. Be happy.

“Okay, okay. But if one of your knights shoot at me again with their weird knives, I’m going to dye their hair neon pink.”

Gotham laughs, spiders bouncing along their webs. They will have deserved it.

The boy-king (hers, her liege, her son, her family, please, Gotham did not want to be alone anymore) laughed again and shot off from the perch she had provided.

[blu3-ja3]

Cryptid Gotham

ok, fake cryptid batfam is feeding me so well right now

like “the rumor around gotham is that a Bat watched the night” type

Bruce meets the JL and they all think hes some sort of meta when in actuality they could probably kill him with no sweat if he was unarmed

Bruce taking every precaution to make sure they keep thinking that way

Robin gets introduced as Bruce’s son/fellow cryptid and they all collectively freak out bc “HOLY SHIT THERES ANOTHER ONE???”

Bruce having to make up some bullshit excuse for why Robin is a child and going around fighting crime (some excuse like: ACTUALLY he’s technically a thousand years old, so this is fine)

the rest of the batfam shows up with just elaborate fucking backstories all based in the original story that bruce made up

dick’s robin retires?

no worries, jason says, he’s currently waiting on his metamorphosis bc their species has to go through that before becoming an adult

jason dies but the backstory was that they were immortal?

no problem, tim explains that sometimes their species goes dormat because they’ve lost too much energy

they acquire steph, but only for a few days?

no worries, bruce explains, sometimes their species goes under shifting to find the right body

one of the ones that I read had Bruce using and recorder and faking having 2 hearts, which Clark could hear, and when the recorder broke, to bring in Robin and explain that Dick was his 2nd heart splitting off of him (The Hearts of Gotham by schrijverr on ao3)

another one was literally batfam pretending to be slightly human versions of the animals they were named after and kon, being desperately in love with tim as he does, decides to uses ttk to create and shape wildly expensive gems and diamonds for tim because he thinks that “birds like shiny things, right?” (tim is rightly very worried that kon, in his dumbassery, decided to make large enough diamonds to completely dismantle the industry) and clark is later shown these diamonds, also very worried about the sheer enormity of these gems (‘a fake cryptid and a real romantic’ series by suzukiblu on ao3)

another one had batfam using engineered wings for fight and flight and their wings were a perfect complement to their costumes

clark meets tim without wings and is freaking out because holy shit he has no wings did he rip them off where are they??

batfam bonds through wing painting and fixing and the jl is in awe of them and their wings

best part is most of batfam does not realize that jl thinks their wings are very real and not mechanics and only realize when one of the younger ones ask abt them (Loading and Aspect Ratio by JUBE514 on ao3)

plz plz plz give me more recs bc i love this trope so muchhh

[vicmillen]

Unhinged Duo

Imagine, worst year ever!Tim meeting freshly escaping GIW/parents! Danny. And also various team Phantom members too, from time to time.

Danny and Tim get on with each other like a house on fire and proceeds to speedrun friendship while running from their respective families. Then they goes on an epic road trip across the world blowing up secret bases left and right, and then another one through the time stream and the realms looking for Bruce. Extremely bonding experience tbh 10/10.

Gods I shudder at how much devastation the two can create if they joined forces.

Anyways after they fished Bruce out of the time stream, Tim invites Danny to visit Gotham. Except when Danny got there he got caught up in lady Gotham's bushtits and ended up trapped in the city until he solved some vague problems for Gotham.

Which is fine really! His newly aquired best human friend #4 (gee isn't that depressing) is there to help. Also after their stint GIW, team Phantom is finally getting long due free time. So the team regroup in Gotham, seeking out online classes or going to Gotham U. So despite the lack of visible stars Danny is actually having a hell of a good time in Gotham.

Now if only lady Gotham is more specific on her request... Damn old spirits and their cryptic messages.