#girldad bruce wayne

[rubydubydoo122]

"Girldad" Bruce Wayne pisses me off so much

Understandable.

Bruce pretty much only has boys, except for Cass. And I guess Stephanie, but not really. I mean, Bruce was really sexist towards Steph during her Robin days, but mainly the fandom talks about Bruce being a girldad towards Cass.

But I still understand why it feels odd for Bruce to be called a "Girldad".

Bruce didn't teach her how to ride a bike, or have tea parties with her growing up. He didn't struggle to learn how to tie a ponytail for her, or awkwardly help when she was having her first period, but that's because. Bruce didn't raise Cass, Cass raised Cass. Bruce didn't raise any of the younger girls who entered his life as mentees

Does that mean they aren't going to love each other in a familial way? No, of course not.

But I do think prime 80's comics Bruce Wayne would be a total GirlDad. But as the writing went on, and as he became more of a male power fantasy, Bruce's character changed into someone who was a bit mysogenistic. That Bruce is the one who interacts with both Cass and Steph, not 80's comics Bruce.

But the fun thing about fanon, is that we can mix and match different charactarizations of different characters, use different AUs and tweak backstories.

Though, I do understand certain fandom takes being infuriating and needing to rant about them(trust me) so if you want to rant more about why you don't like "Girldad Bruce" in my inbox, I'm down.

[thy-valhallen]

i like the idea that it's understood in the Batfam that Bruce has a favorite but no one's really sure who it is-- all of them have their own guesses, and it's never themselves (except Steph, who's here to laugh at their theories)

Dick is convinced it's Jason because of how he saw Jason's death destroy Bruce-- like, he knows Bruce would cry for all of them, mourn and all, but... well, he's pretty convinced Jason had a spot in their dad's heart a bit bigger than they did

Jason, if asked, will swear to hell and back it's Dick-- the Golden Boy, the perfect son, the one he had to compare himself to growing up. Secretly though? he thinks it's Tim. Tim, the best detective of all of them, the steadfast kid who stepped in to fix everything without the slightest bit of thanks or appreciation, the nerd who dedicated himself to their crusade with nothing to gain from it. who wouldn't favor that kid??

Tim has known since the first picture he ever took of Batman and Robin who the favorite was, and has never wavered. Dick Grayson, his first son, the one who's pain was reflected so sharply back at him in a twisted mirror that he had to take the kid in-- Dick was the one to bring the Dark Knight to life in the daytime. Dick is his everything-- the boy he loved enough to slow in his life's work to help. Tim was certainly never worth the time, but Dick? Dick is impossible not to love, and to love Dick Grayson is to love with your whole chest

Cass bases her guess off of Bruce's body language, not Batman's, and for that, she thinks it's Duke. Duke is softer than the rest of them, less sharp edges from a childhood shaped by misery or death, and Bruce is less of a drill sergeant with him for it. after all, Duke doesn't struggle with directions like the rest of the Batfam (he so does, he's just the best at hiding it), so he gets less of the terrified, furious leader and more of the tired, worried dad

Damian has no doubt in his mind it's Cass-- at first, because she's the best fighter, and therefore most deserving. she's far more skilled after all, so in this insane family where adopted children upend the hierarchy he knows, it must be dictated by skill, no? no, actually. but then, he sees how Bruce doesn't yell at her, the implicit trust he has in his daughter. the way that they're so very in-tune with one another, it's like looking at a man and his shadow. Cass has to be the favorite, because no one else can look him in the eyes with the same sort of heartbreak he has and comfort him without a word

Duke was an only child before joining the Waynes, so it was a shock to suddenly see sibling favoritism so blatantly when Bruce so carefully and kindly talked Damian down from a rant about his classmates in the middle of patrol. no one else would've been allowed to talk about something so personal and revealing on a Gotham rooftop. it was just continually proven from there; shoulder pats and hair ruffles answered with little scowls, utterances of "son" that were lost to shuffling capes and tiny smiles tucked away in darkness

[casscainmainly]

The very feminine dress Cass wore as a child when she killed that guy probably didn't help her concept of gender

GOD yes every time someone brings this up it drives me crazy. We know from other flashbacks that Cass usually wore training clothes which were not that feminine, so David Cain deliberately chose to dress Cass differently for the kill. Which is so interesting (even more for David Cain than for Cass, since Cass at the time would've had no concept of femininity).

As much as David Cain and Bruce are alike, I actually think Cain likes that Cass is a girl. Unlike Bruce who denies her femininity, Cain is very explicit about it. So in a way he's more of a girldad than Bruce ever was:

It's just interesting that Cass' better father figure is the one who hates her femininity, while Cass' abusive, horrible dad is the one who loves and indulges her girlhood. This dichotomy for sure messes up Cass' concept of gender and her ability to be comfortable in her femininity.

(Panels from Batgirl 2000 #11 and #33)

[martyrbat]

i need everyone to understand bruces actions are always going to stem from his neverending guilt complex and unwavering love for people AND his dedication to be the most annoying cunt in any room

[oleryn]

i love creature batman. no body just his pointy ears and eyes. he’s not even human. he can probably fly. he makes no noise when he moves. how he procures a seemingly endless supply of human children is a total mystery, but they seem to love him, so rescue efforts are usually ignored.

Commissioner Gordon, standing on a rooftop with a cup of coffee and a megaphone: Tim Drake, get away from the Batman. You have human parents and they are going to be very worried about you

Tim, sitting in Batman’s lap as a spindly, clawed hand affectionately pats his head: YOU’LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE, JIM

[tequiilasunriise]

When Steph and Cass get married they don’t take the last name Brown (Daddy Issues™️) or Cain (Daddy Issues Prime™️) or even Wayne (Steph absolutely REFUSES to become a Wayne nosirree), but a secret fourth thing (Gordan).

[jellytheteawolf]

Cass in diff types of traditional cn clothing 🫶

Top to bottom: tang zhuang, qipao, and hanfu! :3

Bruce would totally accompany Cass to a hanfu photoshoot (I am projecting so hard rn bc I've wanted to do a hanfu photoshoot for YEARS but then pandemic and I couldn't go back to China so :(( )

Putting Cass in the pretty outfits I'll never have 💅 (my qipao is kinda pretty but it's oversized asf HELPPPP)

[kittykatninja321]

canonically overprotective GirlDad Bruce sighing in relief when Cass tells him she’s a lesbian

[everwalldigan]

Okay I ranted abt this to my friend a couple weeks ago but I wanted to make a proper post of it. I don’t really care what you think about Bruce’s overprotectiveness, that’s a conversation for another time, what I want to address is Clark’s response to it.

It is really fucking ironic cause his “they’re old enough to know choose their own friends we shouldn’t interfere!” and his flippant, laissez-faire attitude towards his *checks notes* one year old teenage clone that he still refuses to accept as his son is pretty sure what made him be in a position vulnerable enough that he was exploited and groomed more than once.

Dc cannot for the life of them portray male SA victims well but Kon IS a victim and Clark was neither there to mentor him and prevent that from happening, nor there to support him after it did. I have to read more of his comics to make sure but I’m willing to bet Clark doesn’t even KNOW it happened.

This is genuinely not coming from a place where Im blindly defending Bruce’s position but considering that Cass and Kon have about the same social skills/awareness (which is almost none on account that Cass was separated from most human society until she was 17 and kon is technically only a couple years old), I would much rather someone be overprotective than “lax and let them learn through experience!” To the point of literal neglect.

Cass was only saved from kons fate through her body language reading and fighting skills, and her fear/avoidance of most other humans. Had she ever encountered someone who could get around the body language skills, she would have very easily been taken advantage of and Bruce literally has sleepless nights thinking about what she must have gone through and even worse nightmares of the potential horrors she narrowly avoided.

A healthy parenting decision would be the middle ground between both extremes (letting them experience stuff and make mistakes of their own but still being there to guide and step in if necessary) but I honestly prefer to err on the side of too protective than not enough.

[allthebatgirlsaregay]

I love the idea of Bruce not only being a girl dad, but Cass being the only kid he has any amount of general trust for.

Dick: Hey, you know Bruce installed one of those parental tracking apps on my phone?

Tim: Yeah!? I couldn't delete mine if I tried. Even Barbara couldn't help.

Steph: I'm not even his fucking kid and he did it! What bullshit! Right Cassie?

Cass: Oh...Bruce doesn't know the password to my phone so he can't get in

*Everyone's face drops. Bruce does know the fucking password, he just has favourites*

[the-flying-robins]

"Bruce Wayne's a girldad!" - How? In what way?

Look, "girlhood" is not universal first of all, so it's a stupid point already. Secondly, what is it about Cass and Bruce's relationship that makes you think Daddy-Daughter bonding? Is it the extreme emotional repression? Is it the staging a no-holds-barred fight so you can work out your issues?

If it's just having a daughter/daughters that makes you a girldad, where's the "boydad"?

[rubydubydoo122]

I saw the invite to rant about "GirlDad" Bruce and instantly ran here. *shuffles notes*

Okay so one thing that i noticed about fandom girldad Bruce is that he doesn't actually have to do much with Cass. He doesn't have to put in the work to be understood by her since she just "gets" him because of how she understands body language. She's "easier" to be around because he doesn't have to actually talk in a way that his other kids understand. He doesn't have to put in the work to understand and put a voice to his own feelings and emotions in a way that won't hurt who he's talking to.

To me that really feels like an eldest daughter doing all the emotional labor for her father and it infuriates me, maybe because it hits a little close to home. It feels like a cop out on Bruce having to put in work to be a good parent, because sometimes being a good parent is a struggle and you have to learn how to be one. Letting your kid do most of the work in communicating so that you have a good relationship is sucky imo.

Bruce being a girldad is fun and honestly very cute a lot of the times but some aspects/ways that people write it dont sit well with me sometimes.

Ok rant over thanks for listening:)

I always love listening to people rant about the Batfam.

And yes, just because Cass is Bruce's favorite daughter doesn't automatically make Bruce a "Girldad".

(I'm about to slightly trauma dump here) I'm a victim of the "Daddy's Girl" to "Daddy issues" pipeline.

When I was growing up, I was always seeking his validation-- because being the youngest daughter, I was spoiled by my dad until I reached puberty and he basically stopped loving/respecting me-- so by the time I was 10/11, the only way I could earn that validation from my Dad, was by listening to him tell me about his life (aka, he trauma dumped on me, even though I now know that he shouldn't have been forcing those issues on me) And that in itself

In most fanfics, bc Cass is the bat who can read people, she becomes the family therapist, especially towards Bruce, which isn't a healthy father-daughter relationship. So Bruce being a "Girldad" is only beneficial for Bruce, and not Cass.

Yeah, I completely understand what you mean anon. Basically what most Fanon does is make Cass a "Daddy's Girl" but fails to make Bruce a "Girldad" and that's probably why it rubs you in the wrong way bc it's one sided.

[brokenbrds]

[casscainmainly]

I know people love saying 'Bruce is a girldad' and I totally get it, we want to show how much he loves Cass and that she's his daughter. But Bruce's initial love for Cass was largely predicated on how not girly she was. He openly dislikes her girlhood throughout Batgirl 2000 (including but not limited to: dismissing her civilian identity, berating her for any romantic attempts, weakening her friendship with Stephanie, undermining her relationship to Babs, etc. etc.). Cass' femininity interferes with his ability to project onto her, so a lot of the time he just dismisses it. Is it really a coincidence that Bruce's only adopted daughter is one who wasn't raised as a girl?

[theglidingbat]

They should give him more daughters OMFG

[intriq]

As your forceful best friend I demand girldad!Bruce Wayne...?

Bringing an infant home after saving her

Raising her as his own

Being a good dad

- 🌻

your wish is my command [not me doing this while im sick. sooo not me. totally. absolutely, even. wdym i've told you im sick i'm not ur delusional /silly]

credit to cafekitsune for the divider!!

girldad!bruce who is a little lost on what to do at first. He's never cared for an actual baby before, so what's he meant to do?

girldad!bruce who eventually seeks Alfred out for advice. Maybe even browses online on what to do.

girldad!bruce who panics the first time the baby cries, because he's so lost! he doesn't know why she's crying. most of his kids were grown when he took them in, he's used to always being told what was up. with this tiny little lady he's got absolutely no clue.

girldad!bruce who felt like he was going to be prepared for everything this small infant could throw at him when he first saw her and decided to bring her home. he wants to think he's learned from his fuck-ups with his older kids, so surely he'll do better by her, right?

girldad!bruce who absolutely loses his mind any time she cries and nothing seems to soothe her. he wonders if he's already done something wrong, screwed up with yet another kid. where had he gone wrong this time, he wonders?

girldad!bruce who does everything in his power to make sure this kid is happy.

girldad!bruce who is relieved when he learns that the constant crying is from her teething. he's glad to learn it wasn't because of him. he's not very emotional, but he just nearly cries out of relief when alfred tells him about it.

girldad!bruce who tries just about every trick in the book to help soothe the pain she's feeling while she's teething. and when i say every trick, i mean every trick.

girldad!bruce who constantly stops to think to himself before he does anything. what will be the possible consequences of his actions? will his choices make her hate him in the future, in the long run? would it make her happy?

girldad!bruce who just wants to be a good dad. as good as he can be. he wants to do things right, even if just once in his life. he doesn't wanna fail this child who seems to small in comparison to him.