#ocd bruce wayne

[itsbansheebitch]

I'd like to thank you for this post. Although it wasn't for me, OCD runs in my family and it really made me feel seen. OCD shows up in a variety of ways. I, of course, did not relate to every bullet point, but that's because mine is different.

It's so cool that people with different/similar experiences can use fandom to come together like this. OCD is so widely misunderstood and it's great to see people speak up about it.

Imagine a DCU where Bruce Wayne’s OCD is public knowledge

Bruce Wayne insists on four or five redundant background checks on every new hire. The Wayne Corporation knows you used to be a henchperson. The Wayne Corporation does not care, as long as you show proof you are getting—or at least pursuing—help. They are willing to provide that help.

Bruce Wayne personally knows the names and families of every person who passes through his building’s doors. This is not strange. Neither is the fact that he greets people like old friends even if they’ve never spoken before. People he knows cannot hurt his family.

Nobody comments on the fact that he twitches a little whenever anyone who works for him calls him “Mister Wayne” instead of “Bruce”—they all understand that “Mister Wayne” is and will always be Thomas, and Bruce still sees gun barrels sometimes.

Bruce Wayne publicly knows how to treat bullet wounds and repair and use medical equipment. He is constantly found reading and rereading medical journals. His parents were shot and he and his children keep ending up in the hospital. It makes sense that he would have this knowledge even if he never personally needs it.

Bruce Wayne clenches and unclenches his hand with a horrific cracking noise every time a gun enters his presence. Polite socialites remove all guns from the decor when planning parties. Impolite ones will invariably find said guns disassembled in their garbage cans after one of Wayne’s children was spotted near the gun and then vanishing from sight for about fifteen minutes. Wayne himself always avoids those areas until the guns are gone.

All of Wayne’s children and their significant others are well-versed in self-defense. Wayne insists on it. This is a not unreasonable precaution; however, the fact that they are all master martial artists instead of just knowing enough to defend against muggers is not remarked upon, because everyone in Gotham knows why.

Bruce Wayne knows every single entry point into every one of his buildings, including several that are not on any maps or blueprints. Wayne Enterprises buildings have some of the tightest security in Gotham. This is not unusual.

Bruce Wayne privately and anonymously donates in large amounts to various Gotham mental health organizations. Everyone knows it’s him, but nobody mentions it.

Add your own Headcanons!

[toobytoobs]

Autism: Bruce Wayne, Damian Wayne/Al Ghul, Cassandra Cain.

OCD: Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake.

ADHD: Stephanie Brown, Dick Grayson.

Neurotypical: Alfred Pennyworth.

None of the above: Jason Todd, Duke Thomas.

[toytle]

as the prophecy foretold

i’ve actually wondered if i had ocd for a while now, but hearing other ppl’s experiences with it never resonated for me. the puzzle pieces didn’t start clicking until i found out batman has ocd too, and what luck, it’s the same kind that i have. bc ofc it is.

[bats-and-birds-24]

Okay, for the Marked AU, I've come up with a game plan;

Tim Drake acquires 3 siblings

Tim basically infiltrates the league to bring back Jason, but along the way picks up Cass and Damian as well. It also has Bruce and Dick growing closer after Jason's death.

I'm thinking it will have roughly 20 chapters, may add a few more depending on how the plot ends up being.

Gotham Gang War

Follows the batfam directly after Tim's story. Focuses more on the world building of Gotham and Jason's reaction to the growth of the Joker Gang and the underground black market in general.

Barbara get's shot by the Joker and Tim gets kidnapped by the Joker.

Also introduces Harper, Cullen, Duke, and Stephanie to the batfam.

Cullen's decision (One Shot)

Follows Cullen's pov as he stays back at the manor to help Alfred. Ends with Cullen training under Alfred so that he can support the vigilantes alongside him.

Gotham's history

Is an in depth history of the Marked AU's Gotham. We get to know previous bearers of the mark and how they coped with the curse.

We also learn more about the curse itself and how it's spreading.

Family Chaos

A rare day off in the batfamily where everyone's at the manor and don't have cases to complete.

A fluff instalment detailing each of the batfamily members hobbies.

Tim and Jason Casefic

Tim and Jason try to clean up a weapons smuggling ring based on Paris island. Involves brotherly bonding and Jason reconciling with Bruce.

Bruce Wayne's OCD

Bruce becomes so overbearing that the batkids stage an intervention after he has a mental breakdown. Bruce ends up getting therapy from Harley and begins to heal.

Bat Training (One Shot)

A look inside the average batkids training at the manor. Also Cullen's training under Alfred. Happens at the end of the year.

Red Hood's Street Kids

Set 4 years after the Bat Training one shot. Jason's 21 during this fic

Jason discovers that he has been adopted as the official father figure of the street kids of Gotham.

The rest of the batfamily promptly decides that they're the kids various aunts and uncles and shenanigans ensue up until Black Mask makes the very stupid mistake of infringing on Hood's territory, and breaking the bones of the kids who live there.

May create more fics but these are the ones I know for sure that I'll write.

[brucie-baby]

pls share your ocd Bruce thoughts. as in your thoughts about Bruce having ocd. Pls and tanks

[big warning for intrusive thoughts, compulsions, paranoia. i do list specific ocd thoughts in this post. please be careful and don't read if those might affect you in any negative way.]

his compulsions mostly lie around keeping his family safe. he spends a while each night after patrol doing a perimeter check and ensuring all the security is online/working (one night he accidentally fell asleep in the cave and didn't wake up until morning - alfred woke up startled to see bruce checking his pulse because you fell asleep without checking and now he's dead he's dead and it's your fault).

he struggles a lot with intrusive thoughts; they're quite difficult to combat because he knows they aren't real but also a fair few of them are based on things that have happened to him in the past so he's more than aware that they're still possible (e.g. your son is dead somewhere, go find him; your friend has turned evil, check you have your defence against them and get ready to use it). he often just gets incredibly graphic images in his head, and he digs his nails into his skin until it goes away.

another thought he struggles a lot with is 'this person is an imposter. they are wearing someone else's face. this is not the person you know'. this is one that he definitively knows isn't true but also it's happened before so it can happen again. it makes him feel a little silly whenever this happens, because his way around it is to find somebody he does trust in that moment and stay near them whilst keeping a subtle eye on the 'imposter', and it makes him feel like a little kid hiding behind his mother's legs at a gala all over again.

there are some positives though!! he's not too sure why but these paranoid thoughts aren't often in regards to j'onn, so occasionally he'll request for j'onn to scan someone's mind to check if they are who they say they are, and j'onn does it with no questions asked. j'onn doesn't fully understand why bruce needs him to do this but he does recognise the spike in anxiety just before bruce asks and the relief bruce feels after, and so he does it because he knows it helps his friend, even if he doesn't know why.

(sometimes, when it's just him and the 'imposter' in the room, he just leaves. he doesn't explain. he doesn't say goodbye. he just leaves. he tells himself that it's to ensure his own safety. he ignores the way it feels like fleeing.)

he has a lot of little compulsions too, like rapping his knuckles against a specific part of the wall before using the zeta tube (if he doesn't, the transport will rip them apart). whenever somebody questions it, he says it's for luck. this leads to the team believing batman to be incredibly superstitious. the only people that know the truth are dick, jason, tim and alfred. eventually he does tell clark and diana, and he stops trying to hide it around the rest of the batfamily, but he does not like people knowing about it.

[batfamfucker]

There are four main types of Batfam fans in regard to how people interpret Bruce Wayne as a dad (/Joking. This is mostly satire and should not be taken seriously):

Fans that think Bruce is emotionally constipated and isn't the best at being a parent but still tries (Differs per person). Don't necessarily think he's absuive but thinks he can be toxic or have unhealthy expectations for the Robins. Can smell the Oldest Daughter Syndrome coming from Dick and have Family Line (By Conan Gray) as their top song on their Dick inspired playlist and Daddy Issues (By The Neighbourhood) for Jason.

Fans that choose to believe Bruce goes to therapy in their own canon. Love B:WFA. Thinks the comic can be cheesy at times and so find a balance between B:WFA Bruce and Please Go To Therapy BruceTM as their middle ground. He struggles. They advocate that Bruce is not a bad parent, he just has bad writers that seem to forget Bruce wouldn't hurt kids, especially not his own. Love the humane moments and scenes he has in BTAS and the early JL cartoons. He may not be perfect but he's not literally abusive. Whores for Bruce being able to admit when he is wrong and for Jason and Bruce reconciling. I recommend Grow As We Go by Ben Platt for this one.

A mix between the first two. Was fine-ish when Dick was younger. Didn't help him in the healthiest way but eh. Still emotionally constipated but that happened more so after Dick left and Jason died. Started getting better when Tim came back but was still closed off. Should probably go to therapy with the kids so they can drag his ass about all the things he's done that have actually affected them negatively. Understands his mistakes and is also able to admit when he's wrong, eventually. It's not easy but he starts to do better and learns to be more emotionally available. Still has to get chewed out by Alfred sometimes but definitely better than he used to be and it shows. Reconciliation is slow and gradual but progress is made for everyone involved.

The one's I personally avoid for my own sanity and wellbeing:

Think Bruce is a complete bastard and abuser. Want him to choke. Hate any and all interpretations of him. Some of which will refuse to understand how anyone could have a different interpretation. Will point out comics where, in all fairness, he is a dick but forget that characterisation can significantly differ from one series to the next, as comic characters are constantly passed around to different writers and have been for decades. Not to mention movies, shows, etc.

[house-of-slayterr]

Random OCD Headcannons:

An: cause I’m still in the process of getting diagnosed and I relate to these characters heavily

Mary Kathrine Blackwood:

I’m like 95% sure this is on purpose and intended to be cannon. Her obsessions and compulsions are so obvious in both movie and book it’s hard to ignore them. And she gets massively distressed when she can’t complete one of her “rituals” or something is in her space that shouldn’t be. She speaks in her racing thoughts and ruminates almost constantly.

The Mad Hatter: more specifically Jarvis Tetch

I think there’s a lot going on with this character but he does have some quite odd compulsions. And he certainly has a control problem. I think there’s a lot of darkness he tries to hide and controlling that darkness inside of him is one of his obsessions. I see it in a lot of the version of him but Jervis is the most egregious example. His obsession with Alice and the Tetch virus cause him to do things without thinking often.

Jonathan Crane:

It’s not uncommon for mental health professionals, especially in this universe to be mentally unwell themselves. Crane thinks he hides it well but it obvious to Harley and Batman both that this man has his obsessions. He obsesses over Batman, people watching, fear… specially making people feel his fear. The fear his compulsion tried to drive him to get rid of in himself. Compulsion that drive each of his crazy schemes and attacks. Jonathan would be nothing without the Scarecrow, just a sad broken man locked up in Arkham himself.

Batman & Damian Al Ghul:

Batman has morality OCD, he’s obsessed with appearing morally superior at all times. Going as far to ruin his reputation as Bruce to make Batman seem better in comparison. He cares about all his villains but he has the most unhealthy obsession with joker. Bruce feels like he’s better as Batman, making him fear and avoid just being Bruce Wayne, or ever confronting who that man truly would be.

Not to mention he may have a small obsession with saving children like he wished someone had saved him, he refuses to have a repeat of his childhood. Man is running a damn mini orphanage in his house. Poor Alfred has so much work cut out for him.

Damian got hit with the genetics stick hard. From both sides, he had no way of escaping this in all honesty. He struggles with his morality to, it just comes across as more egotistical then his father. He’s obsessed with being good and being different from the bad guys. He judged daily based on how good he is to family, how good his is as a hero, the type of pet owner and student his is. If he didn’t give into his compulsion he would quickly go insane having no sense of direction without his golden rules he must fallow.

Hannibal Lecter:

Hannibal’s obsession first and foremost is cannibalism, then the human Psyche, then William. Hannibal feels small without his psychiatric knowledge, and he must be the most intellectual person in every conversation. He hates keeping his “equals” around as he sees no one to be truly equal to him but Agent Graham.

Without his cannibalism he would also be nothing. Hannibal has a black or white, kill or be killed mindset, it’s a survival tactic. Become the biggest predator, nobody can hurt you again. Even if he tried to consciously change and get “better” he’d eventually fall back on the compulsion of consuming human flesh to feel safe and superior.

And his obsession with Will, will drive him to do anything necessary even to the extreme, disregarding his own safety to go through with whatever compulsion his brain is telling him at the time. And of course he’s unmedicated through all of this because Hannibal genuinely believes he is controlling himself and in control of his own actions, he’s delusional ontop of it all. Will consumes a lot of his thoughts and time, to way beyond an unhealthy point.

The Riddler:

I think it’s fairly obvious he has an obsession with Riddles. He can’t even do something as simple as have breakfast alone without his riddles. But nobody knows why he’s afraid of the silence without them. But I also firmly believe he has the double Whammy of it being paired with Autism. Special interests can easily be turned into obsessions by the brain and become unhealthy.

An: I know a lot of these are comic hero/villains, leave me and my hyperfixations alone 😤 and if I’m forgetting anyone else you think should be on here let me know.

Tag: @mothmans-kingdom @oceansrose2002 @kados-of-chaos

[trafficlightchild]

rip to the wayne (they’re not dead there is just an ocd medication shortage all across the united states)

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Thinking about it, Two-Face would be the weirdest person to date sheerly due to the fact that he would want to be #2 with everything. He can't try too hard with his romantic gestures. It always has to be at least a little disappointing lest he loses the #2 spot and becomes #1.

Can you just imagine. Two-Face and Bruce are dating and Bruce can't help but to tell his partner how much of a good time he's having.

Bruce: Harvey, this is the best date I've ever been on. Harvey: *Screeches* Harvey: Take that back! Say it was the second best date you've ever had! Bruce: But… It wouldn't be true… D': Harvey: Bruce, do you know how fucking hard you make it for us to be your second best relationship when you never fucking go outside and interact with people like a normal human being!????

[unrestrainedbalderdash]

Batman's experience with Joker in Arkham Knight is pretty relatable to my OCD (for anyone who hasn't played it: he has infected Joker blood in him, and after being dosed with Fear Toxin he hallucinates Joker being with him and talking to him). It's like you're stuck with this horrible person living in your brain who you can't get rid of and says the shittiest things (except at least Joker is occasionally funny). You're terrified that you will become this person, that you might be becoming this person, that one day you will start doing the horrible things it says you want to. You're plagued with thoughts of killing the [thing that triggers you, is your brain's "enemy"] It's sometimes at the point where you can't tell what thoughts are "yours" anymore, is it the intrusive thoughts or do you genuinely think this way, are you turning into a horrible monster?

Everyone's reactions to Batman are what you fear society might start acting like - will they shun you, lock you in a cell to stop you, because they think you're turning into the monster?

But the important thing - the Joker doesn't win. Batman doesn't end up killing people. He does manage to get rid of Joker in the end, which might not be that possible in real life, but more importantly, even when Joker is saying these horrible things, Batman keeps going, keeps moving through life, he doesn't let it stop him from being a hero.

It's hard living with someone saying horrible things in your head, but to anyone with OCD reading this: They don't define your real thoughts/values/opinions. You are strong enough to get through this, I believe in you. You're not a monster.

[also disclaimer: if you have (or are questioning if you have) OCD and your experience doesn't match up with this, that's ok, peoples' experiences of the same disorder can be different! (putting this disclaimer because OCD self-doubt is a pain)]

[yarboyandy]

I generally dislike the motion webcomic formatting of Batman ‘66 but without it we wouldn’t have this gem of a panel sequence

[weirdo-from-bonesborough]

i also just grunt in response to things because sometimes you need to acknoledge a person has spoken but you have nothing to say. also i eat hamburgers with a fork and knife for ocd reasons so i don't think that's weird.

[emma-d-klutz]

You guys ever think Batman being like, “I am a monster. I want to kill people, too. I think about it all the time. But I don’t. Because I am In Control,” is him mistaking intrusive thoughts for homicidal ideation? Like I bet if he goes too long without a crisis and leaves his mind free, he starts getting antsy and will, like, see some random woman and start obsessively thinking about killing her, and he takes that at face value like, “I know I am... deep down.. a monster. But I can Control Myself,” and then he does seven compulsions and isolates himself to protect the world from him. And like maybe this would be detrimental enough to his life for it to be better noticed if he didn’t have a new, real life-or-death emergency to take his nervous brainpower within the hour, but he does. 

Do you guys think that?

I think that.

I think a lot of the other Bats inherited this from him, too.

I also think he just, in addition, separately, also has homicidal ideation. 

[bats-and-birds-24]

My OCD keeps telling me to go back to the toxic side of the batfamily fandom, and Tumblr in general.

I may have to take a break from writing for the batfamily and focus on other fandoms or just take a fast from Tumblr as a whole.

[thecoolestghoul]

when the people i cut out of my life remember my toxic tendencies and suddenly we're doing shots in the East Village

(panel from "Eye of the Beholder," more specifically "Gilded Lily")

[memoriesofatimetocome]

People be like my autistic fav this my adhd blorbo that, what about my OCD son Bruce Wayne?