#the cluster that is bftc

[kindlingkeen]

I see a lot of references in fics that say dick sent Jason to Arkham, but I haven’t been able to find a canon comic that shows that no matter how hard I search. Is this actually a canon thing? If you know

Hi anon, the answer is yes, but with a whole bunch of qualifiers.

So this all takes place for the most part while Morrison was writing Jason (*shudders and retches*). Jason is not the anti-hero we meet in the Under the Hood. He’s a completely unhinged villain. Like off his rocker, so out of character there’s no way it’s actually Jason Todd. I mean he’s drawn with orange-red hair and wearing what looks like an inflated red condom on his head—can you get any more OOC???

This is in the aftermath of Bruce’s “death” and after the Battle for the Cowl events where Jason was running around Gotham as a murder-happy Batman killing criminals and beating down the Bats on the regular. He’s basically just being used as a prop for Dick to have a villain to fight, with no real consideration given to Jason’s actual character.

Dick eventually beats him and takes up the mantle as Batman, which Jason does not take very well. Cue more crazy pants behavior and violent murdering. Eventually Batman!Dick bests him again and tries to offer help…

Which Jason predictably refuses …

And Dick ends up turning Jason over to Gordon.

Off to Arkham Jason goes, although technically it’s the legal system that sends him there. This all takes place in Batman and Robin (2009) #6.

If you skip ahead to Batman and Robin (2009) #23, Jason’s been in Arkham for a couple of months and he wants out. Bruce is back from the dead and insists Jason’s in Arkham for his own safety.

Dick also feels that Jason should be kept in Arkham, but again for his safety (this panel is confusing because Dick and Bruce, the big dorks, are both dressed as Batman while having a conversation with each other).

But Jason gets his way and gets transferred to Gotham City Corrections.

Once there he kills a bunch of guys, gets himself transferred back to Arkham, and en route escapes/gets broken out.

So there you have it.

I’ll just end by saying that many of the fics I’ve read that reference Dick sending Jason to Arkham also reference the Joker being there and Jason being traumatized by exposure to the Joker.

As far as I know, there’s nothing in the comics that shows this to be true. I also haven’t seen anything in the comics that explicitly states the Joker was elsewhere. So until someone points me in the direction of that comic (pls do if you’re in the know!), I think the idea of Jason and the Joker in Arkham together can still be considered fair game (I mean he wasn’t an active Gotham villain during that arc, so where was he, on holiday in Aruba?).

Thanks for the ask, anon! Hopefully this clears things up for you! 💙