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prismasartworks · 11 months ago

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Johnny Test: Power Up! - Show Concept

After seeing @mrultra100 's post about his rendition of the JT cast for Primal Eternity and @rominadrawsart15 about Ultimate Showdown, I decided to do a long followup/post about "Johnny Test: Power Up!" I've already explained about the characters, the new world and the settings of this spinoff in 5-6 posts, but now with lots of redeveloping and brainstorming, I'll give you the redefined concept of the spinoff!

But before I reintroduce the stars as well as the whole concept itself, I wanted to explain the reason on why I came up with the spinoff idea and why I wanted to make it official. My opinion is that Johnny Test has A LOT of potential to shine, but executive meddling from the studio, cutting the budget and overall the infamy from the Internet severely dampened the spark and ultimately became dead. And don't get me started on The Lost Web Series, where the animation looked stiff and cheap. Hell, even when the Netflix revival did some things right (though the theme song was not good), lack of attention and exposure basically sealed its fate indefinitely and extinguishing the spark forever. Which is honestly pretty sad for me, because it had some potential, that needed to be expanded. And this is why I came up with a rather BIG change to shake things up and reinvigorate the series with a cosmic bang!

What's the premise of the series?

So, here's the premise for "Johnny Test: Power Up!":

After a mysterious incident, which involved about a powerful machine and a big mistake, Johnny, Dukey, the sisters and many of their friends, loved ones and enemies, as well as a few strangers get teleported to an unknown galaxy very far away from theirs, inhabited by aliens, anthromorphic animals and a few mystical ones in a futuristic environment. For the main team, it will be in the planet, Lumina, specifically in a futuristc and colourful city, named Starfall City. From there on, the team have to go through (mis-)adventures to find the others, the lost memories and a way back home, while encountering new friends, who would help them along the way and fighting off bigger threats than they would ever imagine. All while forming a new bond, that would last through the cosmos and the chaos, while trying to survive in this new world.

Unlike the last iterations, it'll be a mix between serialized and episodic, striking a balance between the comedic Johnny Test side with some anime slapstick mixed in (i.E., making the characters even more expressive) and the more serious and dark ones, with emotional moments, plottwists and so on. The episodes will be longer though, somewhat between 16-22 minutes of each episode, with the exceptions being specials and movies, which are longer. The series will also take two years after the original and the revival (there has been debate about their ages in the revival, until I talked to Ultra about it), which means the characters will be older and since they will be in a new world, they would be redesigned to fit in the adventurous and stylish vibe. There will be also an in-universe explaination on how they got the redesigns. So, while some familiar elements will be there, an overarching story and a new coat of paint will provide some fresh air.

Let's meet the main stars!

While the cast will be a good mix between returning veterans and newcomers, the show will be mainly focused on the Test siblings, their pal Dukey and finally THREE new characters. The group of seven will be the heart and core of the show, with their own personalities, backstories, flaws, character arcs, etc. So, let's meet them!

Johnny Test (voiced by James Arnold Taylor) - The hyperactive and bright leader of his own team. When he was a kid, he just wanted ot have fun by any means neccesary, despite of how irresponsible he can be. He may be a lazy jerk sometimes, he does have a big heart and courage, which will later be very useful. As the years went on, the usual shenanigans bored him out of his mind, but one day, when he saw a video of some sick parkour moves, he was so amazed, that he and Dukey decided to train themselves some parkour. At the beginning, he struggled without any invention, but as time went on, he became better and better, to the point that he is known for his very quick moves, but also for his cocky attitude. Little did he know, that by the time, he would be mysteriously teleported to Lumina, he would face even more dangerous threats and bigger challenges, this fiery boy would ever imagine and even changing his life forever. On the bright side, this new world allows him to hone more of his parkour skills, while exploring the galaxy, meeting new friends and learning things along the way, which would change his perspective in a new way. However, that means, he had to let go of his old habits and mature, in order to be on par against his new and powerful enemies. When the situation is tense, his demeanor would change into a more serious fighter, willing to go even further beyond to protect his friends, his loved ones and his new home. And together with his best friend, Dukey, his sisters and his three new friends, they'll push through the danger for a better future.

Dukey (voiced by Trevor Devall) - The voice of reason and the sidekick of the team. An anthromorphic dog, mutated by Susan and Mary, acting as a older brother figure to Johnny, going along with him during their crazy adventures and many activities, with the recent activity being lots of parkour. Despite their close bond going for years, Dukey still freuqently expresses his concern and distain towards Johnny's less intellegent and more dangerous antics and is especially concerned about his health, when it comes to the latter being used as a guinea pig for the twins' experiements, either for finding a way back home or just out of curiousity, due to Luminian technology. After being teleported into Lumina, not only he and the others have to adapt in the new galaxy, but the situation made him even more stressed and anxious than ever. Didn't help, that one of the new friends, he made, is such a impulsive hot-head, who also goes through even more dangerous antics, which means he had to watch out for that. His friendship towards the Tests and the new ones will be tested time after time, as the threats would become bigger and more dangerous while trying to survive in this new frontier. But in the end, if the situation is tense, the mutt will swallow his fears down and stand up against the enemies, together with his best friends, while also learning important lessons along the way.

Susan Test (voiced by Maryke Hendrikse) - One half of the team's brains and a talented scientist. Always seen inventing stuff or swooning over Gil, along with her twin sister. She is known to think a lot more rationally and logically than Mary, but also less open-minded. So imagine her reaction, when not only she gets sent to a different galaxy, along with the others, but one of her new friends being a magical fairy (leading to Susan often being at odds against Serena, due to their beliefs and the latter not approving of her using Johnny as a lab rat, which is the reason, why the fairy dislikes the sisters) , one being a robot with a happy personality being built in and one being a teenage, alien snail, whose rage would make her look like a rational and calm person. On the bright side, the advanced technology allowed her and Mary to experiment on it, trying to emulate it, while also trying to find a way back home. Most of the times, they would fail spectaculary, but they're slowly learning. At one point, after seeing her little brother and Dukey doing some parkour, she and Mary decided to train themselves, in case if they have to take the situation themselves, not knowing that it would happen sooner than she expected, with bigger threats and higher stakes. Armed with smart glasses and many gadgets, this headstrong girl will make sure, that any bad guy wouldn't get away.

Mary Test (voiced by Emily Tennant) - The other half of the team's brains and also a talented scientist. Much like her twin sister, she posesses a high IQ and does everything with her sister together. Either inventing stuff, using Johnny as a lab rat or swooning over Gil. However, unlike Susan, Mary is more open-minded, empathetic, but less outspoken. Also unlike her sister, she is more open to more hypothetical sciences such as extraterrestrials and cryptids, which caused her to be at odds with Susan, but at least one of her new friends, Serena, likes her a bit more than her twin sister. After getting sent to Lumina, seeing the aliens and making friends with a fairy, as well as the advanced tech, made her more determined to recreate Luminian technology for more groundbreaking results. But because she is less outspoken, Mary is often in the background, while the others shine. This makes her yearning for the day, she would be in the spotlight. Unbeknownst to her, the day would come sooner than she expected. Fortunately, with several gadgets, smart glasses and a quicker pace, Mary would do anything to protect those, she loved the most and defeat the enemies.

Schalot (voiced by Brian Doe) - Despite him not really buff lookng (his body type is slim btw), this teenage, pastel pink snail is the strong and fast fighter of the team, ready for a fight. Described as a impulsive, sassy, moody, introverted (as well as chaotic), yet tough and direct individual, this guy is not afraid to show and speak up his opinions, in form of roasts and shouts to almost anyone. Always armed with a scepter, which has a plasma blade insjde that can pop up with the push of a small button and several throwing blades, he is known for his fast moves and devastating attacks. Heck, instead of running away, he wouldn't go down with a fight (though when he's too overloaded with panic, he would simply faint). His biggest character flaw is that Schalot is so sensitive and hot-headed, that even a slight annoyance would tip him off and he has trouble managing his emotions, due to a traumatic event (which was an alien invasion) at a young age, which lead to losing his parents (He would later find his siblings). In other words, outside of his tough shell is a very vulnerable and damaged person, yearning for comfort, company and happiness. But on the flipside, he is not a full blown jerk, as this snail is loyal and caring, like a big brother to the team, who's willing to protect them at any cost, despite him being the youngest of the pastel siblings. In the free time, he would be seen browsing on his phone, adoring cats and overall minding his own business with milkshakes and sweets.

Serena Rose (voiced by Shannon Chan-Kent) - A shy and timid, yet sweet and kind girl, who's at the same age as Johnny. She just moved to Porkbelly with her dad, when they were mysteriously teleported into a new galaxy. Feeling scared, she tried to find her dad, only to meet Johnny, Dukey, Susan, Mary, Schalot and Ziffy instead. (She will later reuinite with her dad) The amber/yellow eyed girl serves as the heart of the group, taking care of her friends and attempting to solve conflicts. During battle, she moves with so much grace and fluidity, because she did take gymnastics classes before. While she may sound like an average sweet girl to some, Serena is far more special than anyone else: She is in fact, a fairy! Inherited from her missing mother, she has magical abilites of flight with her pink fairy wings and casting spells, with a special necklace. Her biggest flaw is, she is too afraid to use her magic, due to an event, where after being corned by some bullies, her fear lead to an unintenional blast, which also hurt a few innocent people as well. Thankfully, after hearing her story, Johnny and the others will help her overcome her fears and embrace her fairy side, inspiring her to train her skills and use them for good. But be careful! If you commit crime and/or hurt her loved ones, be prepared to be the receiving end of a magical punishment.

Ziffy (voiced by Andrea Libman) - A small robot assistant with a very lively and happy personality, ready to help the team out on (almost) any situation, while also making new friends with a bright smile. So much so, that even in the most dire situation, they never give up hope and keep looking out to the light. They're also the glue of the group, often approaching with a neutral perspective and making sure, the team wouldn't break up, while also acting as a n assistant to the sisters. (Fun fact, they and the robots created the T-05 multipurpose communicators, that houses a special plasma tether, known as the Neolink, which allows the user to latch onto targets to pull them in, throw them around and so on. It can also be used as a rope or even a whip. The users can even combine their Neolinks to make a longer beam, a bungee cord or even a net for example. It's a very versatile tool for exploration, combat and utility.) . Despite their small size, they pack a lot of stuff, like many weapons, gadgets (ranging from practical and useful to outright ridiculous), etc, in case they would protect their friends in a dire situation, when they need their help. However, they have the tendency to overload to stress out and being too emotional, due to the programming and the AI not being perfect. Especially, when their friends, including their best friend, Schalot, would cause chaos. This would result in Ziffy taking breaks and recharging themselves during the night. Regardless of their flaws, if you are down, expect Ziffy to cheer you up with a smile and lots of fun!

Meet their allies!

Our heroes will not go through those adventures alone, as several allies, both new and old will assist them throught the journey. The newcomers will also serve to help the others develop, while also having their own arcs. So, let's meet the allies!

Mr. Black and Mr. White (voiced by Scott McNeil and Deven Mack) - Two undercover agents working for the General. While they try to do their jobs, most of the times, they fail out of incompetence, which leads to Schalot calling them "Agents Dumb and Dumber". But when push comes to shove, they will put extra effort against the enemies. The General (voiced by Lee Tockar) - The general in Lumina's Area 2.1. Being appointed out of pure luck, he would do his usual thing, which would make him at odds with his second in command, Cynthia, who is more serious. However, when the situation becomes serious, he wouldn't hesitate to go all out with the fight, even though most of the times, he and the army would fail against the most cunning villains. Cynthia (voiced by Nicole Oliver) - The oldest sibling of the pastel snail siblings and the second in command in Area 2.1. Unlike her peers, she takes her job seriously with her massive experience in combat and cold and strict demeanor, with some paranoia sprinkled in. One that, even Schalot himself is afraid of her on a bad day. On the flipside, the pastel green snail is a very protective and mature person, willing to sacrifice herself for her loved ones. Especially her young siblings, though she is protective towards her youngest brother, who is more reckless and impulsive.

Sky (voiced by Vincent Tong) - A pastel blue snail, who is the older twin of Melody. He is a very creative and generous being, who works really hard in form of his artworks and masterpieces. Sky is also protective to Melody, who can be a bit reckless, but not as much as his youngest brother, Schalot. However, being an artist would also leave him anxious and somewhat of a control freak, but despite all of this, his loved ones and friends would help Sky overcome his fears and bring out more inspiration. Melody (voiced by Kelly Sheridan) - A very lively and energetic woman with an eye for talent and fashion, since she is a musician and songwriter. This pastel yellow snail is known for her melodic voice, fashionable looks and positive personality. Being the youngest twin of Sky, they would often collaborate each other for many projects. Despite for being a drama queen, her heart is in the right place and truly cares for her siblings. Even though she is not a fighter, when the situation is tight and it involves her loved ones, she wouldn't hesistate to try her best to fight.

Sissy Blakely (voiced by Ashleigh Ball) - Johnny's old rival(/possible love interest?) and an incredibly confident, yet sissy girl. Often seen competing with Johnny, along with her dog, Missy, but this time, they would also often compete in parkour, since she saw Johnny and Dukey doing some sick tricks, before they were sent to Lumina, so the ladies decided to take up parkour as well. When she is not competing, she would try her best to adapt in this new world, until she finds a way back home. In the meantime, she would also have a mutual respect towards Serena, though she would (rarely) comment, if the two have a crush on each other, when the two are together, which both Johnny AND Serena vehemently deny out of embarrasment. Speaking of the latter, Serena would be confused on why they are fighting and would try her best to solve the conflict, even though the situation is far too complex to understand. She does come in a pinch to help them out every now and then.

Gil Nexdor (voiced by Andrew Francis) - A tall teenager with good looks and charm, that even girls and even boys would be fawning over. He's slightly smarter in the show and would even interact with the teenage residents in Lumina, after he got teleported there. He is still friendly towards Johnny and meets his new friends at the same time, though Schalot isn't impressed, due to his stupidity. But unlike his past iteration, he would have more depth to his character and be more interesting.

Herbert Rose (voiced by Brian Drummond) - A middle aged man, who is Serena's father. He is described as a quiet, yet smart and empathetic man, who tries his best to take care of his daughter, after his wife, Delia, went missing under mysterious circumstances. Prior to the incident, he and Serena just moved to Porkbelly and he was about to take a job as a teacher, as Herbert learned about education and psychology. Ever since meeting the Tests, everytime when there is conflict, especially that Serena became friends with the Test siblings, he would act as a mediator, trying to solve the conflict. Mind you, this doesn't happen that often, due to a busy schedule. But despite the new chaotic situation of them adapting in a new galaxy, he hopes, that maybe, Delia would be out somewhere, alive and well. Oh and he is aware about his daughter being a fairy (due to Delia also being a fairy) and is okay, but he is concerned about her safety. Bling-Bling-Boy (voiced by Lee Tockar) - A rich and snobby genius, who also got teleported into the new galaxy. As soon, as he learned about Luminian technology, he started researching about it and even incoorporate elements with his own inventions. Despite being Johnny's enemy, who is deeply in love with Susan, he does like his presence and even hang out with him and Dukey for fun times, even occationally teaming up with them against the other enemies and villains. In other words, he has a hidden soft spot for them and even Schalot, Serena and Ziffy, despite them interfering with his plans. Also despite the fact, that Schalot is not afraid to show his dislike towards Eugene, either by roasts or even attacks, which really annoys him.

Jillian Vegan (voiced by Maryke Hendrikse) - A very closed off and rebellious girl, who wants to build her own image and become independent, much to her dad's dismay. Arriving in Lumina away from her family would allow her to follow her dreams and later reuinite with Johnny and Dukey, while meeting their new friends at the same time. When Dark Vegan returned, tensions will grow, as Jillian tries her best to grow up and become more independent. Only time will tell, if she can achieve her dreams. Orion (voiced by Ian Hanlin) - A really wealthy, yet hard working, courteous and chill, lilac snail, originating from Nox, who is never afraid to show his kindness and generosity to the less fortunate. At a young age, he and his mom fled from his greedy and mean dad, who was running a company and went into hiding out of fear. Unfortunately, she became seriously ill and without any money for healthcare or even some form of help, passed away. From this point on, Orion decided to help the less fortunate and with the help of his friends, opened up a company, focusing on wellness products. At one point, he met Schalot, who was haunted by his own guilt, after his berzerk form nearly destroyed Starfall CIty and hurting his friends and loved ones and helped him heal and overcome his demons. His efforts worked, when the pink snail managed to stop Orion's father, exposing his shady tactics and saving the employees and other people from his grasp. Ever since then, he's been in touch with Schalot and became very close friends. But maybe there's more to this, than it seems... There will also be other characters, the heroes are interacting in Lumina, ranging from Spritz (voiced by Cathy Wesluck), an owner of a milkshake parlor, to various Luminians and other aliens. Most of them will be one-offs though, with some exceptions.

As for the villains, I already made a post, right here. All my points about them will still stand, apart from Terios being more chivalrous and noble.

What are the themes and goals?

As I mentioned before, the main goal of "Power Up!" is to flesh out the series in a new way, making complex stories and themes, while also keeping the good things about the series and eliminating its weakpoints, both the original and revival had. It also needs much more needed improvements, like better written characters, a more exciting and fantastical world or in this case, a new galaxy for them to explore, having mature storylines with higher stakes and lessions throughout the way, a connected storyline (i.e, finding a way back home, remembering about the past to improve themselves, etc.) Aside from Dukey, most of the characters are quite bland in the two official versions, so another goal is to flesh them out even more, learning more about the new frontier, while also slowly growing up, having more depth and having different morals and goals. This is also a reason, why I introduce those new characters. They'll help them flesh out even more with their interactions and stories for them to listen and learn. For example, Serena would help Johnny to be more considerate to his surroundings with her kindness, Ziffy teaching the sisters to be more optimistic and Schalot helping Dukey to overcome his anxiety. On the flipside, the veterans would also help the newcomers overcome their hurdles in their lives and mature, as the series goes on.

Also, it needs to be better paced, like even when the action will be fast paced, other times, it should be slown down, so that character development would blossom. Not to mention, remove the toilet humor, make the writing more mature and we have something, that can be enjoyed by everyone. That being said, in order to escape from the low-budget past, "Johnny Test: Power Up!" will have better and stronger writing, with three themes being symbols of their new mythos:

Unity - No matter the race and identity, everyone deserves to work and stand together for a better future. Friendships and famiies, as long as they're healthy and really connected, will stand strong against the odds.

Love - Whatever it is self-love, love towards your loved ones and many more, everybody had to embrace themselves to be unique and proud of who they really are. Not to mention, building up confidence and happiness.

Dreams - Even when the world is against it, never give up following for your dreams and keep fighting for it.

On top with those themes, the characters will be alot more fleshed out for this new frontier, with those inspirations for their looks, personalites, etc. listed here:

Johnny - Sonic The Hedgehog (Sonic Prime), his s1 and reboot versions with a few shades of the later seasons, several design elements from Sonic Boom, Luffy (One Piece), Michelangelo (both TMNT 2012 and ROTTMNT)

Dukey - All of his versions in the entire series, Luigi (Super Mario), Yuunagi Tsubasa/Cure Wing (Hirogaku Sky! Pretty Cure)

Susan - All of her versions in the entire series, Chi-Chi (Dragon Ball Z), Donatello (ROTTMNT), Musa (Winx Club)

Mary - Same thing for Susan, Amy Rose (Sonic the Hedeghog), Timmy (Winx Club), Sunset Shimmer (Equestria Girls shorts)

Schalot - Raphael (both TMNT 2003 and 2012), Escargoon (as a design inspiration) (Kirby: Right Back at Ya!) , Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Boom), a few aspects from myself (being an awkward introvert, a phone addict, sensitive side and being the youngest), Batman (but only for parts of the backstory), Strider Hiryu (Strider), Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach)

Serena - Flora and Roxy (Winx Club), Nijigaoka Mashiro/Cure Prism (Hirogaku Sky! Pretty Cure), Cream the Rabbit (Sonic the Hedgehog), Clawdeen Wolf (Monster High G3), Liko (Pokémon: Horizons), Akimoto Komachi/Cure Mint (Yes! Pretty Cure 5 and Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo!)

Ziffy - Pinkie Pie (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), Navi (Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger), Frankie Stein (Monster High G3), Auriana (Lolirock), Smash (Power Rangers: Beast Morphers), XJ9/Jenny Wakeman (My Life as a Teenage Robot)

As I said, the premise of the show will take place mostly in Lumina. There will be times, they had to travel to other planets and galaxies for finding the others, doing some errands or just to take a break (Although evil wouldn't let them rest so easily of course, so they have to watch out.) The team will reside in Starfall City, a futuristic and eco-friendly city, filled with skylines, hover vehicles, glimmering fauna, elevators connecting ground and sky level, sleek buildings and many more, all connected with a combination of highly advanced technology and magic. Inspired by mega cities, like Tokyo, Zenith from Winx Club and the Y2K aesthetic, this city will be the new hub and playground for some parkour and extreme sports. Its residents are incredibly diverse with anthomorphic aliens and mythical beings, all with their own mythos and culture. As for Lumina itself, it'll have luscious and sparkling fauna with jungles, seas and so on. It also has a vere breathable atmosphere.

The show will be inspired by Sonic Synergy (basically a very early version of Sonic Boom), Sonic Prime, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Sonic X, Ratchet and Clank, Rise of the TMNT, Power Rangers, Winx Club, Danny Phantom, Glitch Techs, TMNT 2012 and several shonen elements, all while being influenced by the first season of the original and the revival in some aspects.

In conclusion, the themes, ideas, stories and mythos would help the series evolve and adapt to modern times, removing its weaknesses, while keeping the good things about it in a fine balance. This has been a dream project of mine, I really want to make it fully offical and have to keep fighting for it, in order to shine brighter than the stars.

More concept info coming soon and Happy New Year, everyone!

#johnny test #Johnny Test Power Up!#ramblings #spin off series #concept idea #concept #show concept #cartoon concept #futuristic #space #Dukey #Susan Test #Mary Test #new world #logo design #logo #new characters

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snom-wizard · 1 year ago

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you made me cry and now I want this but I know it will never be as good as this because man is flawed and 😭 😭 😭 😭 just qt cog7,ve crz7tcc6c6e644656r,4stzrxtxrg5xtfrxt

Reformed Gotham Villains TV Show Idea: Ex-Rogues (One Hell of a Long Post!)

Credit to @iceberg-lounge-staffmeme for the original premise: Oswald Cobblepot has gone straight along with some other Gotham rogues he’s hired in the now legitimate Iceberg Lounge, all of whom are social pariahs.

I’m expanding on this to say that several of the city’s ‘A-list’ supervillains are rehabilitated. This was made possible partly by Bruce Wayne’s donations to Arkham making the institution a productive rehabilitation centre (I know, unbelievable), and him bettering the city in general. Every ex-rogue goes to therapy. They all have PTSD if not C-PTSD due to their tragic backstories, something that happened while they were rogues or both, and some have other disorders beside. Realistic mental illness representation! Relapses will probably occur, but they will be portrayed as natural and fixable and no one will return to evil. They’re just trying to keep their and their friends’ lives safe, stable and free from costumed drama of any morality. However, their crimes are forgiven by a select few and forgotten by none. And this is Gotham - there’s always drama. The most infamous villains leaving the scene has opened the door to both more obscure and brand new villains’ ascensions. Don’t you think that would be cool? A break from the same old Gotham rogues featured again and again in adaptations? New characters with their own backstories and themes? ‘Cause I think it has great potential.

The show varies in tone and has sitcom elements, but is overall a serialized drama.

The title card is ‘ROGUES’ being written in large, jagged, erratic, blood-red letters against a black background, a pause, and then ‘Ex-’ typed before it in much smaller, neat white standard font. I can picture a promotional image with the characters doing mundane tasks in the Iceberg Lounge’s lobby, but their shadows are their villainous selves.

Every main character has two leitmotifs: their normal one, and their villain identity’s that’s mostly restricted to flashbacks to that time, flashbacks even further back as foreshadowing and allusions and discussion of what they were like then now. If the villainous one is heard in the present, it means that part of their past is haunting them or even that they’re acting kinda similar. Unless the leitmotif rearranged triumphantly and heroically, in which case they’re applying a skill, tool, piece of information, etc. they only have because of their criminal activities for good.

The ex-rogues are a very close and protective group. Interpersonal relationships vary, but whether two individuals mesh that well or not they’ve overall got an unshakable solidarity and understanding. Once you’ve tried to kill each other enough, a certain tension leaves the relationship, you know? They’ve seen each other at their lowest points. They casually joke and tease themselves and one another about their supervillain identities and activities, which would be irritating at best and triggering at worst from anyone else. Through flashbacks we watch their dynamics evolve from enemies and rivals who happen to have a common enemy to a weird, messed up, weird found family. The Iceberg Lounge crew are the prime example of this, being the core cast. Yet possibly not Gotham’s weirdest and most messed up found family! *meaningful look at Batfam*

The timeline is left vague to avoid such difficult questions as “Wow, they must have racked up a massive body count in those decades of evil, can they seriously be allowed to live among normal people?”. I can already see the giant, meticulous blog posts and videos by fans who’ve attempted to pinpoint dates using tiny scattered details. This is a warning - I’ll preemptively salute your dedication, but the series will ideally be deliberately written to foil you. It operates on comic book time. I will tell you Harley, Ivy and Victor were the first to reform all in a relatively short timeframe (motivated by love or selflessness) and Oswald, Eddie, John and Waylon (motivated by cruelty and/or pride, and Waylon couldn’t make lasting progress until his regressive condition could be reversed) came later. Selina wound down from anti-villain to anti-hero to fully heroic gradually. Plus Nora has been in suspended animation for seven years, previously the same age as Victor. The Batfamily is Bruce as Batman; Dick as Nightwing; Barbara as Oracle; Jason as Red Hood (a violent, ostensibly aloof but ultimately reliable vigilante rather than a crime lord); Tim as Red Robin; Cass as Black Bat; Steph as Batgirl; a teenage Damian as Robin; and Duke as the Signal. The implication is you could be watching a parallel show about the Batfamily in this continuity every episode and there are many ‘crossover’ episodes with it.

Oswald is the group’s de factor leader and responsible ‘dad friend’, often the exasperated straight man. He operates the Iceberg Lounge, which has earned a reputation as a safe space for the marginalized, including former criminals and criminals of necessity. That’s a big demographic in Gotham. His intimate knowledge of the criminal hierarchy and network helps him discern who to trust and defend, and who will only mean trouble. It’s taken him years and profuse effort to convince Batman it isn’t a facade this time; now Batman and Oracle sporadically consult him for his underworld intel and brilliant strategic thinking when they’ve hit a complete dead end in a case. No matter what you need, he knows someone in the city who can provide it. You know how one of the canon Penguin’s most terrifying trademarks is, totally untraceably, manipulating the lives of anyone who offends, annoys or hurts his feelings, even in the smallest and most unintentional way, into ruin and a premature end? Now he does the good version of that. Did you flash him a genuine smile in school, make amiable small talk to him once? Do anything to make him feel like a person with worth? Boom! Debts paid, dream house, dream job, won the holiday you’ve always wanted, your favourite cafe opened right down the street, all equally untraceable. The same service is done for his surviving victims and victims’ families. Still creepy, but the way he sees it he’ll always be creepy - might as well use it to benefit others. He’s trying. He records a journal of acts of human kindness. The Iceberg’s Lounge is the ex-rogues’ favourite hangout, and frequently hosts their game and movie nights in his penthouse. With enough of the social validation he’s always yearned for, he’s much less temperamental and insecure. He donates a significant cut of his income to animal preservation charities and projects, especially bird-related ones, and is the doting owner of a flock of pigeons in a luxury enclosure. He dislikes being called the Penguin, it’s just the insult it was to him as a boy with extra shame. His friends may call him Ozzie.

Harvey Dent is the nightclub’s company lawyer. His services are also available for free to anyone who needs a lawyer, he continues to protest Gotham’s corrupt justice system and he gives legal advice to underprivileged and marginalized young people. He’s the same kind, just, honourable guy he is usually; the main changes are he finds it easier to healthily express and process anger and negotiate with and stand up to his alter. Bruce Wayne is his best friend, they hang out and collaborate a lot. He feels immense debt toward Bruce for standing by him through his fall and recovery. He and the rest (his alter included) have a deal that they’ll do their absolute best to stay out of legal trouble, and if they get into it and it isn’t their fault or at least not worth the punishment they’ll receive he’ll come to their defence. He’s an excellent orator and the group’s reliable moral compass. Two-Face is more relaxed and rational due to Harvey letting out a fairer portion of their anger. He still has a bad habit of property damage. A key catalyst for his improvement was therapy that respected him as an independent, redeemable personality instead of treating him like a disease to be eradicated. He’s cynical, standoffish, unfamiliar with vulnerability and has little filter, but despite his complaints about them he values his friends far more than himself. He dislikes Bruce in person, but is grateful to and admires him objectively, will tolerate him and would save his life if he had to. He and Harvey are actual friends. Borderline brothers eventually, although their tastes and attitudes continue to clash. Harvey doesn’t forgive Two-Face anything he’s done, neither does Two-Face ask forgiveness of anyone, but they understand each other in a way no one else can. Two-Face was born a protector alter. He slowly went off the deep end and became a persecutor, but that benevolent protective instinct has been salvaged. He feels constant, immeasurable self-loathing with his new conscience, but unable to harm his body for Harvey’s innocence releases it onto external targets and through non-physical self-destructive behaviour. Harvey feels a lot of guilt and shame himself and they both struggle with self-harm. They still flip a coin to make trivial decisions sometimes and fiddle with it when uneasy, but a regular heads and tails one. The scarred coin has been donated to Gotham Human History Museum’s Rogues’ Gallery (heh heh). It’s forbidden to them because it to them offers a moral dichotomy of choices, not merely a trivial one, therefore giving a 50% chance they’ll feel obligated to act immorally. They did get plastic surgery on their burn scars, but its main goal was to reduce the scars’ painfulness and inconvenience and the left side of their face remains permanently disfigured. This was a choice to reflect how their mental scars and problems didn’t just disappear when they went straight. Their left eye’s vision is better after surgeries, but below average.

Victor Fries creates decorations out of ice and frost for the Lounge and sells ice sculptures. When not in use, the freeze ray is stored in a hidden safe he alone knows the code to and Selina alone could open without it. He enjoys these jobs and they provide a decent income, but his passion is an aerial, enlarged version of his freeze ray he’s designing, the Ice Restoration Ray (IRR). He hopes it will be able to rebuild the crumbling polar ice caps and cool the warming atmosphere. This global concern is a notable departure from his past where he only cared about Nora and himself. Wayne Enterprises’s medical department is developing a cure for his wife’s terminal disease, Victor having willingly granted it her cryogenically preserved body. Bruce supports his project and has sworn to fund the finished design’s construction. Don’t let his unemotional exterior and detached mannerisms fool you, he’s a kindhearted romantic. He doesn’t mind being called Mr Freeze. Pronouncing Fries like the fried potato strips, on the other hand…

Selina Kyle is a waitress at the Lounge. It’s an open secret among the ex-rogues that she took the job to keep an eye on Oswald and the others with records, but she grows to genuinely enjoy it and their company. She was never insane or sent to Arkham; has never killed (she quips she only ever hurt rich gits’ pride and Batman’s feelings); was a thief, didn’t rob anyone who couldn’t manage without the item and outright returned a couple things of particular sentimental value; and aided Batman and/or fought worse rogues on numerous occasions. All this and currently being Bruce Wayne’s girlfriend means there’s a palpable divide between her and the other ex-rogues. She doesn’t agree with ever being considered a villain, for starters. Her arc is navigating how her identity of so long was inextricably linked to her moral ambiguity and solitude. Who is Selina Kyle without selfishness as a defining trait? Without the exhilaration of crime and no definite commitment to any faction or type of relationship? A pretty fantastic person, it turns out. A person society could admire and respect. But the real ex-villains in her circle have society’s eternal condemnation, so what does that mean for their friendship? Should she leave them behind and prioritize her own advancement? The old her would have. But she ultimately decides to continue serving at the Lounge and spending time with the group because she loves them more than her reputation to the same snooty upper class she used to rob… and ‘cause she’s, barring her impulsive streak and milder thrill-seeking behaviour, the most levelheaded and practical ex-rogue after Oswald. And literally the only one who hasn’t been committed to an insane asylum. They need her.

Waylon Jones is a chef in the Lounge kitchen. Hey, you live poor and homeless as long as he has and have a heightened sense of smell, you develop an appreciation for food. He’s also desperate to distance himself from his infamous cannibalism, which he only did in his crocodilian mental state. His condition gives him green scaly skin, claws and pointed teeth that have made him a persecuted outcast his whole life, but its true nature is far worse than scaring those around him. It’s progressive, slowly consuming his mental processes and further mutating his features when left unchecked. His natural intelligence is average but was formerly reduced to stupid and almost totally animalistic. After reforming, Jonathon Crane invented a drug that keeps the progression at bay. He gives it to him free. Waylon resents his condition deeply. Losing his humanity and higher thought irreversibly is his worst fear. He may be poorly educated, but he’s very clever in a practical, unconventional way. He’s timid, unconfident and mistrustful around strangers and quick to get defensive, used to being perceived solely as a mindless beast or evil freak, and unconditionally loyal and loving to those he trusts. A job that keeps him out of the public eye is perfect. Brushing off his friends’ offers to find him somewhere to stay, he insists he’s fine in his shelter in the spacious underground caverns below the city. This is half because he doesn’t want to cause any more trouble in the society above he knows won’t ever accept him. The other half? Waylon is a champion of Gotham’s homeless population, of the forgotten and abandoned. His shelter is a haven for a community of them too. There have been countless forceful relocations of the homeless, and the police will need to get through him to try it again! He detests being called Killer Croc, but doesn’t have the energy to protest it and risk looking aggressive.

Pamela Isley runs an organization that replants trees, rewilds spaces and opposes deforestation. Her bond with plants makes it very successful, telling her precisely what the flora (and ecosystem by extension) in an area need. Bruce Wayne is the organization’s first and biggest benefactor. She lives in a flat near the Lounge with her girlfriend Harley. They’ve been dating since they were criminals. She doesn’t mind being called Poison Ivy, and happily accepts Ivy as a nickname.

Harleen Quinzel is a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum again. She champions better mental healthcare and public destigmatization of mental illness. Well, they all do, but for them it’s more on the side. She’s slightly rankled to be called Harley Quinn - nobody’d called her that before the Joker, so she associates it strongly with him and her time as a criminal - except by her fellow ex-rogues and the Batfamily, who’ve followed her recovery and she can trust accept that part of her. I’ll call her Harley for convenience. She typically wears a ponytail, a compromise between her pre-insanity tight bun and villainous childish pigtails. Maybe with pink and blue streaks?

Jonathan Crane reversed his fear toxin to produce a new line of anxiety medication that he anonymously sells to Wayne Enterprises, getting the money with none of the credit. He chose this, aware nobody would ever trust a chemical compound ‘the Scarecrow’ made (please do not call him that, by the way). It has less dangerous side effects and better results than any previous medication. He has a mental health information and advice website too. As well as suffering from generalized anxiety disorder before he decided to master fear, and PTSD then and now from his childhood, his toxin attacks were responsible for many cases of anxiety disorders, phobias and PTSD. I mean, the initial idea behind the fear toxin was to show others how he felt all the time. So he really feels a need to give back to the mentally ill. A former teacher, he has a soft spot for children and is skilled at engaging with them.

Edward Nygma is an exceptionally skilled private detective. He also sometimes collaborates with the Bats, who he greatly respects. Prior to his current job he created a popular puzzle game app, a last hurrah for his obsession with games and riddles. He helped John set up his website. A doctor of computer science and nerd genius nerd extraordinaire not totally over his problem of equating his worth and intelligence, he most enjoys the company of his fellow intellectuals and kinda keeps himself to himself more, alternately awkward and reserved and defaulting to his cocky facade in social interaction with normal people. He’s still pretty lonely, not that he’ll admit it. He takes being referred to as the Riddler nonchalantly.

The Joker is dead. He died three years before the show begins. How exactly is never explained (letting you fill in whatever seems most apt to you, my personal headcanon is Alfred kills him) due to being ubiquitous knowledge, but it was very cathartic. The anniversary of his death is almost an unofficial civic holiday, nicknamed Joker Day. The ex-rogues have arranged to annually hold a mock funeral for him. They give comedic eulogies about how little they’ll miss their dearly despised and the countless ways he was an awful person, a different head speaker stepping forward each year in rotation, and bury a biodegradable dummy of him beneath a creatively hand-decorated plaque. The idea is to get it off their chest so the rest of the year they needn’t spare a thought to him. Having had to inhabit both Arkham and the Gotham underworld with him and know him personally, they have a wealth of stories. Harley’s always declined because the scumbag’s given her so much baggage she wasn’t ready to verbalize it before a bigger audience. The Season One episode “Joker Day” involves her volunteering to be head speaker of the fourth Joker Day. Suffice to say, it gets… emotionally intense. After deconstructing his whole character, paying her disrespects magnificently, explaining how her and them overcoming the worst in themselves to live well and happily is the ultimate insult to his memory with his obsession with nihilism and corruption, and knocking the dummy into the grave with her bat hard enough to decapitate it, Harley spots Batman on the rooftop above them, clapping along with her friends. She waves. “Batman! Why don’t you come down? I bet your Joker stories are the best in the world.” He simply quirks his mouth in a smile and says, “Maybe next year. I couldn’t follow that speech.” But besides Joker Day episodes (in the last one, Selina invites the Red Hood to speak in her place and he agrees enthusiastically, reckoning he was more of a villain than she ever was) and a few references here and there, the show doesn’t dwell on him. *cough* The Joker is overexposed and overrated. *cough*

You’ll have noticed the name Wayne comes up a lot. Yeah, Bruce is an important side character. He’s the idol and ‘big good’ of the whole city. The group’s opinions on Batman are… diverse, but even the minority who aren’t themselves indebted to Bruce will defend him on principle and their friends’ behalf. It’s a running joke that the next person foolish enough to kidnap or threaten the billionaire will have absolute hell to pay. This inevitably leads to the episode where a major villain does kidnap Bruce, and the Batfamily get some unexpected allies on their rescue mission…

Wayne Enterprises cures Nora early on. I mean, Victor probably would be less pacified if it still seemed hopeless. The cold open is extended to a montage of the couple becoming friends, falling in love, getting married, that establishes not only their healthy, committed relationship but that they have their own whole lives. They’re successful in their respective fields and have lots of friends. Nora’s parents died previously of natural causes, but Victor is close with his. They watch movies and have in-jokes and plan holidays. And then Nora starts to get sick. And it turns out to be terminal. She loses her job and falls into depression as it worsens, pushing away her friends and giving up all activity. “I need more time,” she begs brokenly. When Victor decides to invent his crysostatis chamber to buy her more time, it’s the first thing in months that puts light back in her eyes. “I can give you more time.” His boss Ferris Boyle order the project shut down out of callous miserliness. Victor goes behind his back to save his wife and we fade from a POV shot of her being anaesthetised to the title screen. Her revival is at the beginning of the episode. Though naturally concerned about her husband’s condition and crushed their physical relationship is dead, she’s overwhelmingly glad his suit is sustainable and she’s permanently cured. She thought her life, and their life together, were over, and as she puts it knowing they aren’t is “all [she] needs”. She ecstatically walks and runs around the room after having been bedridden for weeks and leaps into Victor’s arms. They hug. Nora remarks she’s pleased the suit at least makes Victor strong enough to lift her effortlessly. She’s crying, Victor’s been crying the whole time. Bruce is sobbing inconsolably - when Selina remarks it’s out of character, he replies he’s been wanting to cry about their love story ever since he learned Mr Freeze’s motivation, but couldn’t because he was Batman. It’s exactly as beautiful as you’d expect such a long-awaited reunion to be. Then Victor’s smiles falters. He asks for the two to have some privacy. Alone, he explains just what he’s been doing in Nora’s hibernation. No omissions, no sugarcoating. He was a supervillain. He funded his technology through crime and has innocent blood on his hands. She deserves to know, and hear it from him. They’re both tearful once more, for different reasons. She reacts how a sane person would: disbelief, betrayal, fury, heartbreak. He’s resigned to it. “If you can never trust me again, let alone enough to be my wife - if you never want to see me again, you can go. I wanted you back so you could live, not so I could have you.” She goes. The rest of the episode is Nora’s acclimatization to her new situation and her husband’s strange yet charming friends, who attempt to comfort and get to know her. Selina in particular takes her under her wing. Nora goes to an ice rink so early it’s deserted and unmarred, and skates for the first time since her diagnosis. While she puts on her boots, we see a flashback to her in the doctor’s office being told she’ll never do it again, and she struggles to stay composed, but cutting to her home she’s distraught and defeated in her husband’s arms, her trophies gleaming on the mantlepiece. Then the moment her boot blade touches the ice, a beautiful, stirring instrumental of bittersweet pleasure overtakes the previous silence. She’s amazing. She halts and holds her arms out in her triumphant finishing pose - shot from behind, an applauding audience and camera flashes appear in front of her before fading to just her, exhausted and free and alive, alone on the silent, frozen expanse. By the denouement Nora has cooled down enough to talk to him again. She expresses her gratitude for him preserving her life and acknowledges he sincerely loves her, but says she doesn’t know what to feel about him and she’ll be keeping her distance for the foreseeable future. “I need more time.” “I can give you that.”

Nora is a side character of similar relevance to Bruce. She gets her own arc of reclaiming her life, adjusting to and reasserting herself in a radically changed Gotham. The love of her life becoming a serial killer and crime boss is a huge blow to her positive outlook and view of humanity, causing her to be haunted with the fear that every good person is a just bad person waiting to happen, of what she could have done if she’d lost Victor and getting justice for them both was up to her. Would she have been the same? Or worse? Her new friendships teach her to trust again and show her that good and evil are choices we make, not fixed states of being. She’s a champion figure skater. She rises right back up to take her crown in the next championship. “The standards must have gone down while I was on ice!” She gets along best with Selina, Bruce, Ivy, Harley, Harvey and Waylon. She and Victor rekindle their bond, platonic and eventually romantic. He isn’t the man she married, he can’t undo that. But maybe he can be a better one. Knowing she’s okay makes him much more sentimental and generous. I just want them to go to the winter fair on a date and have a snowball fight, okay? For them to sit in an igloo and Nora to check her phone and confirm it’s below freezing, so after evaluating the risk, Victor removes the hand of his suit, she pulls off her glove and buries her hand in the snow to cool it down and they hold hands as long as they can. For her to breathe on his helmet and draw a heart in the condensation, followed by ‘I’ and ‘U’ on either side, in lieu of a kiss. For Victor to make her hot chocolate exactly how she likes it on a sleepless night. For Nora to discover his suit’s exhaust jets expel hot air, so if the positioning is right he can still give warm cuddles! When she learns of his crimes in her first episode, she throws her wedding ring at his feet before leaving. The culmination of their relationship arc is them having a wedding vow renewal ceremony, with her reaccepting the ring. I just want them to be an actual happy couple! Is that too much to ask?

Talia al Ghul is a recurring character. She remains an assassin, but is an anti-hero who becomes wholly independent of her father’s abusive power in a debut two-parter in which she’s the protagonist and wins a League of Assassins civil war between her and Ra’s. Bruce and her are on good platonic terms. Selina respects (and is quietly intimidated by) her competence and experienced motherliness toward Damian and Jason. Throughout the two-parter Selina is seemingly outshone by the old flame at every turn and feels insecure, until a heart-to-heart. Talia opens up that the upbringing that made her so insanely competent came with a boatload of mental issues, and she respects Selina’s resilience and courage when she’s so keenly, overtly aware of her flaws and weakness. “Under my father, there was no trying, no points for effort. Only success or failure. Perfection or utter inadequacy. It’s made me formidable, but… if I couldn’t be sure I’d succeed at everything I do, I wouldn’t be able to do anything. Passing that fear onto my son is my greatest regret. I doubt you can fail him more than I have. But you? You try. You make the effort knowing you may fall short. Today you’ve been so uncertain of your skills, even your worth, and I’m sorry for adding to that, yet you keep trying to help and make a difference anyway. You know the power of your best without needing it to always be the best, and therein lies your strength. I admire that. I admire you.” So they bond over thinking love was conditional, with Selina always feeling unworthy and Talia holding onto her worth to her father by a thread. The episodes involve flashbacks to Talia’s nightmarish childhood training and finally one of her subjecting Damian to the same (albeit with genuine love and tenderness between sessions), only to realize it and take him to his father. The climax is Talia, Batman, Robin, and Catwoman fighting Ra’s al Ghul together, telling him he won’t be hurting anyone - least of all their family - again; Selina is content to mostly play support, assured of her place in the family and unique strengths. Talia and the Gotham City Sirens subsequently have girls’ nights when she’s in town. She visits more often for her family and friends, but still not very frequently. Being that awesome is busy work! She’s considered an honorary ex-rogue.

Not all the homeless children in Waylon’s underground shelter have parents around, whether because their parents/former guardians are dead or in prison or abandoned them or got separated from them some other way, like during the process of immigration. Waylon is especially close to and protective of these kids, since in my canon his mother died when he was born (baby Waylon was too big), his father immediately took off and after raising him horribly his aunt disowned him when he was sent to juvie. He isn’t letting them feel alone in the world like he did. There’s a main group of three or four kids that get the most focus, for time’s sake. Though it takes him some time to call himself it upfront, he is their dad in everything but blood. They’re referred to as “his kids” by everyone including himself even before that. He has a subplot of coming to terms with the reality that the streets, or retired sewer tunnels but same difference, are not the proper environment for the kids however much he loves them that ties into his greater arc of learning to how live amongst other people and taking the place he deserves in society, which both culminate in him getting a home on the surface and actually adopting the main kids. The rest he struggles with saying goodbye to and trusting new guardians with, but ultimately lets them go to good, Wayhe Foundation-approved homes.

Harvey and Two-Face have an emotional support animal, a black and white kitten, with that half ‘n’ half face cats sometimes have who’s blind in her left eye, named Schrödinger (Schrödie for short). They adore her. Her presence and affection are so grounding and soothing she can help them out of dissociation, flashbacks and panic attacks. Feeding and cuddling her add extra stabilizing routine to their day. It helps that Two-Face could never bear to harm her, not even emotionally. Funnily enough, he adopted her. When their therapist suggested a pet might be beneficial, while Harvey was willing to consider it he thought it was beyond stupid; they had enough responsibilities, including each other, without a needy, annoying animal thrown into their complicated lives. But weeks later they’d been having a bad day and he switched in to find his alter had entered a cat shelter. He was leaving… when he saw her. The nameless kitten’s family had left her behind moving house. Whether the abandonment was deliberate or accidental the staff didn’t know. She was obviously unhappy in the shelter, but nobody had adopted her yet, often at least partly because of her disability. To this day Two-Face can’t say what came over him. Him being asked his reasons and deflecting is a running gag. The truth is he saw everyone had left her behind and wanted to show her they shouldn’t have, that she deserved love and care. Harvey awoke the next morning to the sound of purring and a weight on his lap, better rested than in ages. Selina’s black cat Isis is a maternal figure to Shrödinger.

John and Harley get along swimmingly. They connected over their common interest of psychology while villains and he is practically her father figure. They can often be seen having psychology talks and their ability to analyse their friends’ mental states and issues off the cuff kind of freaks the others out, who agree Harley at least is scarier as the uncompromisingly honest and precise psychiatrist.

Waylon, John and Oswald are good friends, each having known lifelong social rejection. John and Oswald can talk birds for hours.

Oswald conversely relates to Selina for the opposite reason: they were both caught in the middle between abiding the law and breaking it, being ‘civilized’ and basely selfish; they had more ground than the others to go straight, with his business long being partly legitimate and her merely a thief with strict standards. He empathizes and tries to assist with her high society drama. His arc involves unlearning his classism and habitual arrogant veneer - faults Selina is more than happy to rid him of, having a rough, destitute background herself - and the lingering mess of self-esteem issues linked to them.

Harvey’s arc is him overcoming the guilt complex, negative self-image and instinct to suppress his ‘problematic’ emotions and deny his suffering he internalized during his abused childhood and learning to not feel responsible for everyone else all the time. These flaws were reasons why Two-Face got as bad as he did and the basis of his resentment toward the dominant alter, since Harvey had refused to take any action about their father’s abuse or tell anyone he had DID, depriving Two-Face of his own identity and independence; so their relationship improves parallel to their respective individual growth. He’s a cool uncle to the Wayne children. Dick, Barbara and Jason knew him before the accident. Two-Face’s arc is him becoming more empathetic, attuned to others and mastering healthy coping mechanisms for his rage, basically figuring out who he is besides the anger he’s only allowed himself to feel for most of his existence. He doesn’t do so well with Bruce’s kids and hates the awkwardness of switching in in their company. Until he turns out to get along great with Jason and Damian. Harvey has a chance encounter with his heartbroken, estranged ex-wife Gilda Gold, who’s embittered that he didn’t tell her about his DID through years of friendship and marriage and tired of waiting for him and holding out hope just for him to relapse again and again. It goes badly. (“I showed you all of me. I trusted you with all of me. Even the parts that were messy and painful, and that I was ashamed and afraid of. But you had a whole other person in your head, who could have seen and heard things I meant only for you, and I had to find out not from you or him or anyone I knew, but the news because your alter was going on a fucking killing spree! I didn’t know what was going on! I barely even understood what DID was! And you weren’t there. I felt like I didn’t understand you, or know you, at all.” Harvey protests, reaching for her hand, “No. You knew me better than anyone -” She recoils in cold misery. “But not well enough. I know it’s always been worse for you than it is for me, but I don’t think it’s good for us to keep this cycle going. If you couldn’t even trust me then, how can I possibly trust you now?” He stutters and can’t respond. She walks away to avoid breaking down in front of him, with a final “I’m sorry”, and he falls to his knees.) This launches a relapse arc for the duo that climaxes with them attempting to steal their scarred coin back and the others staging a forceful intervention in the aforementioned Rogues’ Gallery (“How did you know I’d be here?” Harvey asks. “Two of us are psychologists and all of us have intimate experience with mental illness,” deadpans John, “it’s a miracle your relapse even got this far.”) Interestingly, while he goes along with it out of desperation and despair Two-Face is the more lucid and reasonable in this arc - Harvey is in control for most of it, slips first and drags his alter down with him, and the theft is his idea. This role reversal horrifies them both. Once they’re detained, Harvey theorizes it means they’ve reached an equilibrium of moral potential. Now he isn’t ‘the good one’ and Two-Face isn’t ‘the bad one’. They’re just two deeply messed up people free to do whatever they choose. That autonomy, and trusting themselves with it, is terrifying, but they agree it’s worth it and infinitely better than giving themselves up to chance. They subsequently stop coin flipping for good and throw the scarred one into Gotham Bay.

Eddie’s arc is being repeatedly smashed in the face with humble pie and then learning to accept hugs.

Harvey, Two-Face and Selina are the only ex-rogues to know Batman’s secret identity, and the Batfamily’s identities by association. Harvey’s known for many years, and just told Two-Face recently when between Two-Face’s internal growth and their support system he could take the gamble that he wouldn’t or at least couldn’t use the information wickedly. The resultant shared experience of constant, painful and/or hilarious dramatic irony brings the three closer. Eddie specifically knows the Signal’s secret identity. He tells no one, but is on friendly terms with him.

Waylon and Harvey are ‘I blacked out and next thing I knew my body had gone on a murderous rampage’ besties. Harvey is the best at getting through to him in his crocodilian mental state. In return, remember that relapse Harvey has? Waylon is the one who ends the museum fight by restraining him with a hug, his stony expression melting into empathetic sorrow as Harvey’s pleading rant that he needs the coin dissolves into hopeless sobs. Harvey can sew well - an entire wardrobe of half ‘n’ half clothes doesn’t make itself - and adjusts Waylon’s clothes to fit him and makes his homeless friends new clothes.

Victor and Pam are close friends. We see the history of this friendship and how it influenced their lives unfold through flashbacks. In the present of the episode, the group and Bruce are fighting for the the building and activation of the IRR, design finally perfected, that authorities fear will be weaponized maliciously. First they were just two jaded misanthropes stuck together in Arkham. (“Humans are the worst,” mutters Pam. Next to her, Victor’s frown deepens. “I emphatically relate to your sentiment.”) Then they bonded over their shared heartache, and helped each other rediscover their empathy and humanity. (Victor slumps miserably in the cafeteria, his words more a soliloquy than addressed to the metahuman poking at her food on the opposite bench. “As sharp as the sting of a loved one’s death is, the limbo my wife must be preserved in sometimes seems worse. So close, yet so far. Alive, but cut off from any kind of life she might have with me or choose for herself. A hollow existence of imprisonment, loneliness, darkness and cold, when she has the capacity to outshine the sun.” Pam doesn’t appear to be listening. Her eyes are trained on Harley’s exchange with the Joker across the room, as she’s manipulated into doubting herself and returning to him. Then suddenly she speaks: “I… relate to your sentiment.” Her voice breaks. When Victor realizes she has romantic love for Harley, he urges her to “Go to her. Harley may or may not reciprocate your feelings, but what she most needs right now is a friend.”) Later he’s delighted to hear the women get together. They really became a duo once Victor got into environmentalism. After a new low point in his villain career with Nora’s location left unknown in his lair’s destruction, he fled to self-imposed exile in the North Pole. At least he could be in peace with the pure, eternal beauty of the ice and snow, untainted by the greed and callousness of… what was wrong with the ice? Why were the ice sheets so small? They shouldn’t have been cracking nearly this rapidly at this time of year! He earned his PhD in cryogenics, he knows ice, the North Pole should not look like this! These were the most majestic sights he’d ever seen, he’d dreamed of showing Nora them. This would not do. He stormed back into Arkham. (“Dr Pamela Isley! I request your assistance! I have dramatically underestimated the severity of the global warming crisis. Your expertise is botany, but you have a thorough knowledge of climate science, do you not?”) Though surprised he could be invested in something besides Nora, Pam was pleased to have an ally and downright gleeful to have someone who will sit through her intricate presentations on climate change’s causes and effects. Victor’s ‘zap the ice caps back to their right size’ plan impressed her, but she pointed out it would never get off the ground. It’d be next to impossible to acquire such a large amount of resources. And even if he didn’t get caught before it was assembled, everyone would assume it was a superweapon and it would be shot down. It really was a shame how his criminality undermined his noble cause and stripped him of trustworthiness and effectiveness - what? Stop looking at her like that! Soon they both go straight explicitly to aid their environmental agendas. The episode ends with the IRR beginning construction and the rogues having a celebratory dinner. Victor thanks Pam for supporting him through this. She thanks him for showing her friendship when she didn’t think she was capable of it and it’s clear the feeling’s mutual. “A toast,” he proposes, Nora smiling at him in pride, “to humans not being the worst.” Pam laughs, getting a comparable look from Harley. “Now that’s a sentiment I emphatically agree with.”

Victor, Pam, Waylon and Oswald are the ‘I was outcast and by, and fundamentally isolated from, the rest of humankind due to physiological characteristics and believed all humans were inherently and inescapably bad, therefore lashed out in anger unable to accept that I could be loved’ gang.

The ex-rogues invent the game ‘It’s Called Commitment, Dammit!’ They take turns recounting the most embarrassing, absurd, or difficult experience they’ve had or knowledge they’ve learned purely for the sake of their villainous ‘gimmick’, concluding with the titular exclamation to rationalize their actions. The funniest, most compelling story wins. There are other games with this system, ‘Coolest Batman Fight’, ‘Most Humiliating Defeat By Batkid’, etc.. These stories a running gag, often heard in part with no context.

The flashback episode “Welcome Back, Dr Quinzel” shows us paralleled sequences of Harley’s three first days at Arkham Asylum: as a newbie doctor trying to appear undaunted by the asylum’s version of normal; a patient lost to herself laughing madly, attacking the guards and graphically swearing she’ll avenge her and “Mistah J”’s arrests; and reformed veteran doctor truly in her element and respected by patients and staff alike. In the first she befriends her mentor and guide Dr Joan Leland, who closes the section with a warm, encouraging “Welcome to Arkham, Dr Quinzel”. In the second Joan is put in charge of her treatment and (not that Harley registers it in her insanity) destroyed to see her like this, solemnly saying the title phrase to her when Harley is restrained. In the third they cathartically reunite as equals and hug. Harley thanks Joan for never giving up on her, and Joan returns that she has herself to thank more than anyone for getting her life back. Harley also becomes a similarly kind and supportive mentor to an overwhelmed new therapist.

A Gotham City Sirens girls’ night out episode. Set when they’re criminals, Pam hates all humans except these two and Harley is still dating the Joker, to explore their relationships at that stage of their lives and Harley’s attitudes to her abuse while it was ongoing. The three women have each had a bad week. Selina got arrested, which, like, never happens, to her embarrassment. Pam was unable to stop the oldest trees in Gotham being cut down and is keen to plant new trees and fertilize them with the men responsible’s corpses. And Harley lost a fight with Batman that left her ribs “a little banged up”, so it hurts to laugh. She casually blames herself for losing and getting the Bat’s attention and the incident is why she wants a night away from the Joker. (“You know how he gets when Batman beats him! He’s been all…” “Homicidally furious?” asks Pam. “Terrifyingly obsessive?” deadpans Selina. “Huffy!” is what Harley comes up with. The others exchange a worried look.) The best friends only see one way to blow off their steam, a Sirens tradition: joint crime spree! At the start Pam asks Harley to lay off on the explosives for tonight because she’s extra conscious of carbon emissions and Harley, despite loving explosions, agrees, a sign of their friendship. Most of the episode is antivillainous hijinks, like museum and clothes’ store heists and attacking a cop they catch threatening to shoot a black boy. Selina does her best to prevent casualties of innocents and not in self-defence. The group conflict is Harley refusing to accept she’s being abused, no matter what evidence and arguments the others present. This plot thread builds up to the climax - their demolition of the construction site on top of the felled ancient grove. After an episode of deflection from and downplaying of the topic of the Joker and her own emotions, Harley splinters at their needling and vehemently denies she’s an abuse victim, simultaneously brutally, skilfully taking out a squad of security guards. “How stupid and pathetic do you think I am? I’ve studied abusive relationships, for God’s sake! If I was bein’ abused, I’d know and I’d fight. You see this? *knocks out a guard* I’m a fighter! I’m an adult, I’m tough and intelligent and capable, and in case you forget, a motherfucking badass! I thought you saw that. That’s why I love you, and these girls’ nights! I get to be, all of me, and trusted. Respected. But apparently, you think you know me and my life better than I do!” Pam protests that her situation is the Joker’s fault, not hers, but Harley can’t hear it. She whips around to reveal she’s crying. “Is it so hard to believe someone could love me?” Pam inhales sharply, stung. “Is it so hard to believe someone could love you without it hurting?” she asks gently. Harley trembles, clenches her hammer in a death grip and screws her eyes shut. She impetuously decides to bring the building site down her way, both to prove her power to her friends and push them away in a projection of her self-hatred. Her way is throwing all her many explosives at a central support pillar and shooting the most potent one to detonate it. Big boom. Several people die; and Pam’s vines burn as thick black smoke pours into the sky, Selina and Pam respectively watching in horror. Harley grins desperately against the flames. Pam declares girls’ night over and storms away. Selina offers to let Harley stay with her, but Harley laments that she almost killed her and insists she’d just be trouble, then snaps, “Just leave! That’s what you do best, right? You doesn’t have to pretend you’re something better for me of all people.” Selina flinches. “Got me there.” Alone, Harley begins to chuckle. It grows to shrieks of maniacal laughter as she clutches her chest and crumples to her knees, gradually combined with wheezing, coughing and sobbing, visibly forcing herself to keep smiling. Her agonized hyperventilation calming down replaces the credits music. The last sounds we hear are her ringtone and a faint, shaky “Mistah J? Can you c-come pick me up, please?”

I don’t think the show should have many legacy villains who reuse an older villain’s gimmick. However, I do have an episode in mind for a second Scarecrow. This Scarecrow is a former abused henchman of John far cleverer and more ambitious than his boss credited him for. He’s tweaked his fear toxin recipe to be the most potent yet (and work on Pam and Harley) and got upgraded gear. He is targeting John specifically, and hunts down his friends to cause him pain. John is incredibly guilty, which every attack worsens, because the citizens and his friends’ suffering is the direct result of his evil actions. He invented the base toxin, he himself even pushed a low-level henchman to supervillainy! But his rampant remorse paralyzes him, too afraid of making things worse; of course, Batman gets trapped or otherwise delayed somehow by the Scarecrow’s overarching plan and it falls to him with his total immunity to fear toxin to save the day. The final nail in the coffin is Harley getting gassed. Her eyes widen and she backs into the wall, shaking her head and mumbling, “No” repeatedly. She tries to act defiant, unresponsive to John’s efforts to ground her, and protests against whatever threat she’s seeing, but her tone is pleading. He reaches toward her. She instantly flinches away and falls to the floor in a trembling, hyperventilating ball. “Okay, okay! J-j-just go easy on me this time…” It’s obvious who she thinks she’s talking to. John is aghast. He quickly sets into cool, orderly, murderous rage. Oswald had figured out the Scarecrow’s hideout and was going to send it to Batman (and the non-indisposed vigilantes) right when he got gassed. John does so for him, but proceeds to take body armour, a gas mask just in case and a gun in preparation to drive there himself. The Scarecrow floods his lair with fear gas upon detecting him. He moves through it, implacable, unwavering, and corners and terrifies the terrorist. “I’m going to make you wish Batman found you first.” He proceeds to beat the crap out of his imitator using his trademark underhanded, manipulative tactics (e.g. he steals the Scarecrow’s weapons after he runs out of bullets). During the fight the Scarecrow unmasks him, but he seems mildly inconvenienced at worst. At last Scarecrow II is helpless. John sees his petrified eyes and severe flinching away from his abuser, even shot exactly like Harley’s, reminding him how horrible it is to both feel that and cause it in someone, and throws the scythe aside in horror and disgust. After handing his successor over to the Bats, he gives him a sincere, non-justifying apology, tells him that he understands his pain and from one Scarecrow to another, it isn’t worth it. His friends are furiously concerned. He downplays both the accomplishment and the situation’s seriousness, claiming the rush of adrenaline and hysterical strength stop him feeling a thing. “Oh, wait,” he says, still apparently calm, “it’s wearing off.” He faints into Edward’s arms. In the hospital, he’s given the revised fear toxin antidote just to be safe. He wakes up with Harley clutching his hand. She congratulates him and he downplays it again, but thinks twice. He reveals his resistance didn’t apply to the new strain in such large quantities - he was hallucinating the entire time since the mask came off. How could he keep going? His worst nightmare is losing his friends. The first people he’s cared about and have cared about him in most of his life, who “taught me there are things stronger than fear.” The more their screams rang in his ears, the sharper his focus and righteous drive became. That’s how he held back from killing again, because he wanted to prove the old him was dead. The Scarecrow II recovers in Arkham and reforms, though he never forgives John or joins the group to all their understanding.

Selina initially lacks faith in her and Bruce’s relationship. She was on her own for too long, hurt and disappointed him over and over, did everything she could to claw out her place in his family… it seems unbelievable that he could forgive and love her after all that. That she could be worthy of love. A part of her remains proud of the years of hard, painful work she did to build her emotional walls, and can’t accept it’s time to tear them down. In the same vein, she struggles to think of herself as a worthy mother to the Batfamily kids. The episode “Cat Among the Robins” has her join the Wayne siblings (minus Duke) on a special mission. Her relationships with all of them are explored, but most of all Jason. The stressed, troubled young man tries to stay professional, exaggerating his coldness and throwing himself into the mission as a distraction from a rough patch in his and Bruce’s relationship. Her and Jason’s insecurities are compared. Her afraid to be a mother, him afraid to be a son. She keeps wanting to talk to him, but doesn’t get the chance. The intro is a flashback to Catwoman minding a young Jason, freshly Robin, on a rooftop. She’s sitting, he stands. They’re quickly endeared to each other. He dramatically relates the night he met Batman, the audacity of his tyre theft impressive even in Selina’s book. (“You have a way with words, kitten. You could be a writer someday,” she says. Jason’s eyes are starry. “You think so? So does my English teacher! Well, she hasn’t actually said the writer part, but -” he whispers proudly in her ear - “I’m pretty sure I’m her favourite student.” Selina ruffles his hair, and her every word brings him closer to seemingly exploding with joy. “Why wouldn’t you be? I remember school at your age, my teachers would have killed for a kid like you. You’re gonna do great things when you’re bigger. Listen, when you’re rich and famous from your epic novels about a brave young hero vanquishing evil, don’t forget to dedicate one to me. For being your inspiration.” “Deal!” Jason offers her his hand and they shake.) The end has them alone on a rooftop again. Jason is preparing to jump off the edge - “I was right.” asks Selina softly. He falters. “What?” “You’re bigger and you’re doing great things.” He turns to face her and removes his helmet for the first time, face unmistakable yet a far cry from the blissful boy she used to babysit. He sighs and smiles weakly. “Well, I had good inspirations.” She talks him through his worries (literally what I just said about her relationship with Bruce but familial rather than romantic) and assures him. Their framing and positions are reserved from the flashback, him sitting and her standing. “Being hurt and lonely isn’t who you are, it’s what stops you being who you are. And Jason Todd,” she concludes crouched down to his level, taking his hand tenderly, “who you truly are, and will always be in the hearts of those who love you… is a massive nerd.” He bursts out laughing. “You laugh, but all your books are still in your room.” “I know,” says Jason, smiling fondly in remembrance of Bruce’s gesture. Then his expression is clouded with dawning realization. He scrambles to his feet. “Oh my God, I never finished 1984! I died halfway through! Can’t even remember what happens, now I’ve gotta reread the beginning, dammit…” Jason picks up his helmet and hurries to the edge again while Selina shakes her head in amusement, only for him to suddenly double back and hug her like the mother and son they are. He whispers, “Thank you.” She strokes his hair. “Anytime, kitten.” Yeah, she doesn’t need to worry about being good mother material.

Pam and Harley marry at some point, around the middle. The proposal episode, “Pamela and Harleen”, is set on their dating anniversary, the one that marks their relationship outlasting Harley and the Joker’s. Some previous anniversaries having been ruined by other supervillains, Bats and police and sheer circumstance, they’re eager to make this day perfect. Of course, life has other plans; but together they make the best of it. The ending is finally a picturesque, peaceful romantic moment as they watch the sunset over Robinson Park. Pam looks over to see Harley down on one knee, holding out a gold ring with a flower of rubies on it. She flushes and raises her hands to her mouth. Harley says, getting a little choked up, “I’ll be honest, I drafted and redrafted a big speech for this a dozen times. But in the end I gave up. As someone who’s made a living out of breaking down and clearly articulating even the strongest, deepest, purest, most layered feelings there are, I don’t have the words to say how much I love you. So I thought I’d just show you instead. Dr Pamela Isley, do you wanna marry me?” Pam puts on the ring and takes her hands. “Dr Harleen Quinzel…” She pulls her to her feet. “I really, really do.” They hug and Pam unconsciously causes growth spurts in plants all across Gotham. The wedding ceremony takes place in Pam’s personal botanical garden. They both wear clothes that reference their classic villain costumes: Pam a gorgeous, elaborate dress self-constructed out of foliage and flowers complete with a flower crown, Harley an alternating red and black suit with diamond embroidery that the Dent system made with pink and blue plaited pigtails. Ivy grows a bouquet in the moment and Selina, the chief bridesmaid/maid of honour of Harley, catches it offhand with her Catwoman reflexes. Bonus if Bruce is there with her. Extra bonus if Bruce is there as Batman, who the brides give a special “inbatation” as thanks for sparing and saving their lives and supporting their rehabilitations when they did not make it easy for him. Pam selects Victor to be her best man and he squeals with delight. His heartfelt speech makes Nora (pre-official reconciliation) warm up to him a little and she compliments it and his new friendships near the end at the party. He offers her a dance “for old time’s sake”. She hesitates, then takes his hand and smiles. “Not just for that.”

The episode right after the Harlivy proposal has them telling everyone the news and starting wedding prep over about a week. It’s all very heartwarming and fluffy, but also, known to the audience but not to them, Harley keeps narrowly missing assassination attempts while they’re together (they do get a little suspicious, but are too caught up to dwell on it and, well, bad things happen a lot in Gotham). The mysterious would-be assassin seems to have a very deep, personal hatred for both of them, and just gets more motivated the more she sees how nice, happy and in love they are. It turns out that years ago her husband was thoughtlessly murdered in front of her, by not Harley but Pam. She was already distrustful of redeemed supervillains and thought they were let off easy. Seeing an engagement ring on Poison Ivy’s finger at their celebratory dinner in the cold open - seeing murderers and terrorists enjoying the very happiness, security and love they callously stole from her and countless other innocents - was the last straw. She wants to give Ivy the exact same grief and trauma she gave her. In the climax she gives up trying to be subtle and just corners them in an alley, sprays Pam with potent pesticide that briefly incapacitates her, cuffs her to a fire escape and aims a gun at Harley point blank. The couple sympathize and empathize with her upon hearing her story, which of course only makes her angrier - how dare they be so kind and understanding as if it makes up for everything they’ve done? Her grievance against them is so salient that they They manage to talk her down, Harley in particular with her psychological ability, arguing that: murder feels shitty, even if it’s someone you believe deserves to die; your first murder always feels extra shitty and you will miss the part of yourself that it takes afterward; the ‘right back at ya!’ style of revenge seems wonderfully just and cathartic, but the risk of recreating your trauma is your own PTSD resurfacing enhanced by guilt; and the penal system is still, you know, bad. Initially she holds fast and scoffs that they should have thought of all these great arguments against killing people before they became supervillains. But the more they sway her, the more her merciless facade cracks until she breaks. “No! You don’t get to ruin my life and then ‘save my soul’! You don’t get to be the heroes here! I’m the one in control!” “Yes, you are,” rasps Pam. “Our lives are completely in your hands. Harleen has a loaded gun pointed at her, and I don’t need to tell you how afraid I am. It’s up to you to pull that trigger… or not. It’s up to you to save yourself.” The widow looks between their pleading expressions, her hand shakes and the gun clatters to the ground. She promptly runs out of adrenaline and crashes, processing that she spent a whole week actively and wholeheartedly trying to kill another human being. Harley gives her the number of “the best therapist I know”, who turns out to be Joan Leland. She never forgives them, but can begrudgingly empathize with them somewhat and chooses to focus on her own life and wellbeing. Meanwhile, Harley and Pam are reminded that for all their progress, the consequences of their past choices will never fully leave them alone; what they can control is how they deal with them and how they behave going forward. They’ll probably never balance the scales, but any good they put into the world is worth it. In that dinner at the beginning, they toasted to “things being perfect”. At the end, sharing some much-needed alcohol, they toast to “being better”.

Kirk Langstrom, aka Man-Bat, is permanently cured by John in a Halloween episode. Since reforming, John finds Halloween the worst day of the year because it’s the anniversary of many of his crimes and all his biggest-scale ones. He spends each one holing himself up in his lab to work on some massive project, neglect self-care, wallow in guilt and self-flagellate for the surrounding week, the apparent lost cause Man-Bat being this year’s. However, the main focus character besides Kirk himself is Waylon. He’s trying to enjoy his present and how much he’s gained; namely, people who treat him like a normal person, allowing him to finally see the appeal of the holiday where people treating you like a horrible monster is meant to be fun, which was previously just his everyday and very solidly Not Fun. He’s taking the orphan and/or runaway kids he takes care of at the shelter trick-or-treating and he’ll be damned if they don’t have a good time. Naturally, Man-Bat escapes. This is a horror episode! Kirk’s backstory is that five years ago he created his vampire bat DNA serum to try to cure his recently acquired deafness (“I just wanted to hear my family’s voices again…”), became Man-Bat, accidentally killed his wife Francine, got captured by Batman and couldn’t be released from Arkham because all cures developed until now proved to be only temporary. His first transformation and Francine’s death is the cold open. His children, Aaron and Becky, were placed in foster care and have not yet found a forever home (the Gotham social system isn’t that great). They befriend Waylon’s kids while trick-or-treating early on. They just want their dad back, especially Aaron who’s older, thus remembers more of their parents, thus is more traumatized. Waylon then bonds with Kirk over losing and struggling to recover their own humanity; agonizing, traumatic chronic transformations into an animalistic monster; and feeling like their pain and fear is all they are and they can never be anything else or make up for the mistakes that haunt them and blood on their hands. Though Batman and John do their best, it’s ultimately Waylon who’s able to reach the man inside the beast. This is also when he admits that his kids are fully emotionally his kids now because Man-Bat and another, actually malicious supervillain who breaks out of Akrham endanger them. Until now he’s denied that because he couldn’t trust himself with a parent’s level of responsibility for such fragile, innocent people. But by acknowledging and articulating his understanding of parental love him he can remind Kirk of his own for his kids, which is the final push that inspires him to fight through his animal instincts so he can help save both of their children and a number of other Gothamites from the true villain’s evil science plot. Kirk regains custody of Aaron and Becky at the end. He’s a minor recurring character from then on. Also, to come back to John, helping Kirk makes him realize he should just let himself live and stop obsessing over even his worst mistakes and that excessive self-punishment isn’t actually constructive or good for anyone.

Pam and John, the world experts on evil mind-altering chemistry, help Batman and the Signal finally cure the Joker toxin afflicting Duke’s parents. This is a show about happy endings. Duke, Elaine and Doug’s is long overdue! By the end of the episode it’s implied they silently figure out the Signal, who they like, respect and have bonded with over science and traumatic experiences with and who John says he would have loved to teach, is Bruce Wayne’s ward Duke. It’s the ultimate vindication of Bruce’s no-kill rule and unwavering belief in humanity to have the villains he spared not simply no longer hurt, but actively improve lives and the state of the world, even perform direct acts of kindness toward him and his own family. Dark, gritty hellhole Gotham that never improves much is a fine setting and atmosphere in Batman’s earlier stages. But after all these years of heroes struggling and fighting and sacrificing for it, I want to show that dedication has tangibly meant something. That it wasn’t in vain. From the Batfamily themselves to the ex-rogues to the ordinary citizens, things really have got and will continue to get better. The promise that started it all, the one a boy made on his parents’ grave, can be kept. I think this might be the most optimistic Batman story I’ve ever seen. I like that. Batman is an inherently optimistic character, so why shouldn’t his stories match?

The Court of Owls could be major antagonists later on? Like, its intricate underground conspiracy and need to control Gotham contrasts the protagonists’ desire to lead simple lives and leave all that kind of business, and their personal harmful means of control, behind. Its deep connection to Gotham’s history both mirrors the irreversible impact the protagonists have had on that history and contrasts their capacity to brighten its future. The Owls are essentially a thematic foil to the ex-rogues. As the ex-rogues learn to let go, they keep tightening their grip. Where the found family consists of unique, eccentric individuals encouraged to be themselves in the best way possible, the Court is conformist and stifling and its bonds toxic and emotionally distant. And it would be funny for the protagonists to not be intimidated by them whatsoever. “Before we get into our… disagreement, I’d just like to commend you on the appropriateness of your gimmick, what with owls being the natural predators of bats. I’m biased in favour of birds, of course.” A cult leader stands up straighter and her glare at Oswald intensifies. “The Court does not have a gimmick,” she snarls. Oswald spreads his hands genially. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. All the best villains have one - ” A hurled knife grazing his ear and nicking a few hairs cuts him off. He says under his breath, “No need to be rude about it.” Later in this plot arc, he smoothly outsmarts, humiliates and incapacitates a number of the Court’s elite members in a fight. “You know something about owls? They’re associated with intelligence and wisdom. In truth, their brains are so well adapted to their specific hunting methods and evolutionary niche, they leave little room for the human definition of intelligence. Owls often fail to solve logic puzzles. They mostly can’t be trained. They make fatal mistakes at a higher rate than other birds of prey. In their preferred context they’re extremely competent, but outside it? Due to their narrow, short-sighted focus, they’re really quite stupid. I did say it was an appropriate gimmick.” “For the last time,” the leader snarls, stumbling toward him, “we are the all-knowing, all-powerful Court of Owls! We don’t have a -” He unceremoniously knocks her out and rolls his eyes. “Oh, get over yourselves.”

Bruce and Selina get engaged partway through the final season. The episode contains a flashback to a classic Batman/Catwoman escapade ending with her betrayal and abandonment of him to a trap, mocking him for trusting her. We glimpse her regret, he doesn’t. (“You’re better than this!” he cries. Guilt flashes across her face and she turns back slightly, but hardens again. “If you really believe that, you aren’t quite the world’s greatest detective.” Her formerly playful voice is heavy and joyless.) She proposes to him at the end of the episode. He confesses he was actually thinking of asking her soon. She murmurs, “Guess I’m still a step ahead of you.” He smiles and they kiss passionately. “Guess you are.” They marry - a small, private, individualized wedding prior to their fancy public wedding that’s just a formality - in the series grand finale. Harvey is Bruce’s best man and they have a tearful hug when he accepts the proposition. Harley, Pam, Nora, and Holly Robinson are Selina’s bridesmaids, her sister Maggie her chief bridesmaid. Her something borrowed is a silver necklace Nora wore at her wedding; something blue is a sapphire brooch Bruce bought her years ago after stopping her stealing it the previous night; something old is a frayed ribbon from her mother, the only thing of her she has left; something new is a flower Pam grows for her to wear in her hair. Her speech examines in-depth how he broke down her fear of intimacy, apathy toward the world and other people, need to control every aspect of her life and filter it through her barriers, and overall made her a better person ready to face the unknown with her hand in his. The world’s two weirdest, most messed-up found families are united! Oh, and an evil conspiracy may reach its culmination and nearly kill them all. But that’s not the point.

The series altogether ends in a montage of the group’s ordinary lives and the positive impacts they’ve had: Victor and Nora snuggled on the sofa watching a news broadcast of the IRR expanding the North Pole; Waylon being a welcomed, comfortable guest at the adoptive home of a kid he’d looked after on the streets, whose parents he had to learn to trust in the earlier episode they were adopted in; an evidently depressed teenager managing to stagger out of bed to take John’s new and improved antidepressants; Harley and Pam at a nature reserve in Kenya with Harley cooing over hyenas and Pam regrowing removed forest; and an extended family portrait in Wayne Manor with Selina, Talia and Harvey as well as the entire Batfamily and their pets, among plenty more scenes. Over it the protagonists give a narration that imparts advice for self-improvement and a hopeful message to not give up on yourself, “because you’ll be amazed by what you’re capable of. Up to and including being happy and loved.”

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