#the people of gotham are duke's family and he wants to protect them the way they've always tried to protect him

[amaraudermind]

Something something Bruce love Gotham because it's his home, jason loves Gotham because it's in his soul, Duke loves Gotham because it's his family, Steph loves Gotham on purpose

[flamingpudding]

Fictober23 Prompt: 23 - "No, you won't understand, ever."

Fandom: DPxDC

Rating: T

Warnings: Mentions of experimentation, death, and torture as well as mentions of character death

A/N: Well… this turned out not like I originally wanted it to go. It was once again a self runner while writing. I also advise to have read Prompt 13 before, since this is kind of like a continuation of it.

Duke was worried. Danny hadn't been to school for a couple of days now. That was not a good sign. The library incident had only happened a week ago and Duke had made leaps in his friendship with Danny because of it. The other Meta had opened up to him, well sort of, there was still a lot Duke was aware that he didn't know. But that was beside the point. Point was Duke had now a valid friendship with Daniel 'Danny' Nightingale, one that allowed him to be very worried right now.

Which led to him asking their teachers to give Duke all the materials Danny had missed out on for the promise that he would bring this to Danny's home. This was also how Duke got Danny's address. Even with their budding and reinforced friendship, Danny had pretty much avoided telling or showing Duke where he lived.

This was his chance now. No he was not going to allow any of his siblings to install any sort of heavy surveillance in or around his friends apartment that would breach privacy rules, but he would allow Babs and Tim to keep an eye on any surveillance camera already in existence. It was nice knowing that his family had his back when it came to the safety of his meta friend, but as it was with his family, if not watched they would end up on the side of extreme measures a little too quickly.

Now he understood why they said not to tell Bruce about his friend's status yet. That would have made it worse. Not that his siblings sometimes also already tended to reach into that dangerous area between still okay and too far into paranoia.

Either way Duke was now standing before his friend's registered apartment, schoolwork in hand and ready to knock on the door only for his stomach to drop when he realized that the door was not locked and a gap wide open. It wasn't like Danny lived in Crime Alley but the area he lived in was still not that safe to just leave your door unlocked.

His worries doubled.

After the library incident, Danny had told him about his situation a little. He lived alone separated from his sister, his only family left, in Gotham. He was forced into hiding after a severe incident in his home town through which he lost his parents. Because these Guy's in White still kept their eyes on his friends and sister he couldn't even risk getting into contact with them. Leaving Danny completely alone.

Duke hated that, to think that because of his Meta powers Danny was forced into such an extreme situation. He had wanted to explain to Danny that there were rights in place to protect him but the other Meta had changed the topic too quickly for Duke to bring it up. Explaining just a little bit who these GIW, Guy's in White, were. Though for some reason he couldn't believe that that's what these people were really called, he didn't press further.

Danny was still not opening up to him completely about the entirety of his situation or who these GIW people really were but he had shared enough for Duke to give his family an incentive to look into these people. He knew they had found out some things about this group of people but Duke had yet to take a closer look into that file and the power point Tim had apparently prepared on that whole topic alone.

Either way the door was open and unlocked, Danny hadn't come to school for several days either now too and Duke was worried! Excuse him for only knocking once while shouting Danny's name before just stepping into the apartment when he did not get an immediate answer.

"Danny?!"

He shouted once more once inside and taking a couple steps in he stopped appropriately when he heard a weird squishy sound under his feet. Looking down he realized he stepped into what looked like green goop.

"What is…"

He looked at it closer and then noticed that the green goop was also glowing and spread around the floor in a way you find blood in horror movies. Duke swallowed and placed the schoolwork in hand on the hall table before carefully continuing his way into the apartment, following the green goop.

"Hey Danny? Say something if you are here?" Maybe Duke should have taken Dicks offer to get driven to this apartment, if there was an intruder in his friend's apartment then Duke would at least have some sort of backup. He looked around the place though and nothing indicated an intruder or that a struggle had happened here. So maybe the green goop was just that green goop. Maybe Danny just spilled one of his science projects?

But the moment he reached the main living area he threw all these hopeful thoughts out of the window.

"Danny!"

He rushed to his friend's side having found him sitting against his living room wall. A bigger green puddle of goop was on the ground before Danny and a lot of it appeared to be smeared on his hands and forearms. The shirt he was wearing was clearly ripped and in tears and there appeared to be a wound on Danny's leg, leaking a mix of green and red blood.

The other meta had his head resting on his knees not at all reacting to Duke's calls and light touches to the shoulder. "Danny, hey, Danny? Comeon, can you hear me?"

He started to look around, wondering if Danny had a medkit anywhere in his apartment. He was already fumbling to get his phone out when the other suddenly slapped it out of his hand, glowing green eyes glaring at Duke. "Don't call anyone."

"Okay, but then at least tell me where your medkit is." Duke cooperated, he could find another way to contact his siblings later, for now Danny's health took priority and Danny clearly did not want for duke to call anyone additionally to help.

"It will heal by tomorrow." The other meta stubbornly said but that didn't help Duke's worry.

"It might heal by than but it still hurts doesn't it? So where is-"

"Just let it go!" Danny hissed burying his face in his knees again and Duke sighed.

"Danny, please."

"No." Duke let out another sigh at his friends refusal, and here he thought his friendship with was making progress.

"Can you at least tell me what happened? You didn't come to school and I got worried that these Guy's-"

"They didn't catch me." Danny cut him off once again and Duke felt some of his worry replaced with relief, but there was still a lot left. Before he could voice his next question Danny continued to muttered something, barely loud enough for Duke to hear.

"They killed him." Danny sounded so defeated and his voice was shaking slightly. Duke instinctively reached out a hand. "They killed him, I barely managed to get his core out of there but once I got here it broke anyway. I thought they didn't have a facility here but they have, there were so many and I only got one of them out and yet he still died and…."

"Hey, hey, hey, slow down. Danny, what are you talking about?" Whatever relief Duke had previously felt it vanished in an instant when Danny had muttered the first three words. He could only image the worst of things and from the sounds of it there was something, a facility that did something to Metas like Danny.

"The GIW built an experimentation facility here. They are resuming their damned experiments here." Dukes eyes narrowed. Not for long, he thought, once his family knew where they were that place would be raised to the ground in no time.

"Danny, can you tell me where that place is?" Probably not the best of times to ask his friend this but Duke would make sure that someone was going to take care of that place and that all the Metas there were going to be saved.

"It's no use. You won't be able to do anything." Danny instead muttered and Duke tightened his hold on the others shoulder, trying to make it as comforting of a touch as possible.

"Danny there are Meta rights, laws that protect us. Please, give me the location and I will make sure that someone is going to take care of it." That someone being his family, that he could promise his friend.

Instead of the trust he hoped Danny would give him, the other slapped his hand away and glared at him heatedly. "No! That won't work!"

"I know its, scary and I understand that it's probably hard to trust-"

"It won't work! It never will for us! We are not protected by law!"

"Danny, you are protected by law! The Meta rights are there to pro-"

"I AM NOT A META!" Danny suddenly burst out springing to his feet and distancing himself from Duke, his eyes glowing a vivid green. "I am not a Meta. I am not protected by your damned law, nore are the others! They can hunt us, experiment on us, hurt us and no one will give a good damn about it because we don't count as sentient!"

The other was breathing heavily and Duke couldn't help but get up and reach out in worry once more. Everything Danny had said was still running though his head and he wasn't sure what to make of it, but what he was sure about was that his friend needed help.

"Danny, it's okay. How about you explain it to me? Why wouldn't the Meta rights protect you? What makes you so different? I am I will be able to understand once you explain it to me and then we-"

"No. No, you won't understand, ever." Once again Danny sounded so defeated that Duke really wanted to just grab his friend and hug him. But instead he watched his friend closely, noticing how he clutched at his left wrist, for the first time Duke noticed the Lichtenberg scarring that was running up the other's arms from his hand peeking out between the tears of Danny's shirt. "You won't understand what it means for the law to declare your existence as illegal, to be trapped in their facility, to only be a number to get experimented on, to only be a number among many, to not be seen as sentient, to-"

Duke didn't care anymore as he lunged forward pulling the other into a hug. Ever since the library incident he had known that Danny needed help. He had assumed Danny was a Meta in hiding but it seemed his friends situation was so much worse than he originally thought.

"I will help you, I promise. We will free the others and then get rid whatever law declares you as an illegal existence." He pulled back enough to force Danny to look at him, seeing how the other was staring at him with suspicion and distrust but also there was hope in the others now blue eyes. "Explain it all to me Danny, I promise, Meta or not, I will find a way to help you."

[nightmare-foundation]

PJO x DC/Batfamily AU idea

Bruce- Son of Zeus, legacy of Phobos, blessed by Nyx

Dick- Son of Poseidon, legacy of Apollo, blessed by Hermes

Jason- Favored Son of Ares, legacy of Apollo

Tim- Son of Athena

Damian- Legacy of Zeus

Barbara- Blessed by Athena

Duke- Son of Apollo

Stephanie- No idea who her godly parent would be, but it'd definitely be a Roman God

Details:

-Dick, by 2024, is 28 while Percy is 31. TLT took place in 2005, sooo Percy is Dicks older brother!

-Because Gotham actually wards off monsters due to how dangerous it is (you'd think it was the other way around but nope) and the sheer amount of curses, monsters aren't actually all that common in Gotham. It's both safe and unsafe for demigods, given they don't have to worry about monsters, but do have to worry about... literally everything else.

-The entire batfamily wasn't aware of their heritage for the very large majority of their lives. This is because of a mix of reasons- Gotham wards off monsters, they were being taught how to fight anyways, and the family being a bunch of Demigods that live in Gotham of all places mean anything weird is just considered entirely normal. Also, Bruce kept scooping up the kids before Satyrs could get to them. (If this still doesn't make sense, then just deal with it lol I prefer the drama of them all finding out VERY late)

-Hades highkey hates Ra's.

-Lazarus Pits actually come up from the Underworld.

-Duke was the only one who knew of his godly heritage prior to joining the batfamily. He's one of the very few Apollo kids who can manipulate light. He just lies and says he's a meta.

-Diana has had her suspicions for YEARS prior to the Demigod stuff being confirmed.

-The batfamily are actually known as demigods to the Demigod community, and they're all legends, especially Batman and Nightwing. The Wayne family, meanwhile, is known as a Demigod safe place because Bruce keeps scooping up Demigod children. Demigods make bets that Bruce will be the reason another Demigod camp is made lmao.

-When the batfamily find out about their heritage, and Dick finds out Percy is his older brother, he basically bluescreens. Dick has always been the older brother, so to find out he's now someone's younger brother?? It's an experience for him, lmao. Him and Percy are excited to find out about each other. Dick is very determined to be an annoying little bastard.

-Jason highkey hates Ares, and always finds ways to annoy his father. Unfortunately, this has the exact opposite effect- Ares likes that Jason is sticking it to the man. This makes Jason REALLY mad.

-Jason is kind of a mini Ares in a lot of ways, but his Apollo heritage shines through a lot as well. It shows in his love of literature, guns, and mother henning. Appearance wise though? Yeah he's a mini Ares.

-The irony that Dick is a 'flying' Grayson and associated with birds while being a son of Poseidon is not lost on him. Shockingly, Zeus likes him. Percy is jealous.

-Dick isn't allowed to give any teams advice during CTF. Every time he does, that team wins. You'd think he was a son of Athena going off of how smart he is, but nope.

-Percy is really really protective of Dick. The second he hears anything about Spyral, or how Dick has been mistreated by Bruce, Dick has to actively hold Percy back from killing Bruce.

-Dick has a lot of feelings about the whole Demigod thing, especially about being related to Percy. He's compared to Percy a lot, and it really grates on his nerves, but he loves Percy. It's just irritating being compared to people after trying so hard to be your own independent person.

-Duke actually helps tour the batfamily through CHB when they visit. He's been there plenty of times of course :)

-The Ares cabin lowkey hates Jason for being the favorite. Jason also hates being the favorite. He does not want to be the favorite (something he'd never thought he'd think).

-Tim is easily the smartest in the Athena cabin. Him being a son of Athena explains his genius, though he would've been one regardless.

-Barbara is only allowed into CHB because of her blessing. She's suddenly very aware that she chose the name Oracle. Rachel thinks it's hilarious though, and they get along really well.

-Jason and Tim both already knew a ton about Greek mythology prior to finding out about their heritage.

-Dick and Jason are shocked to find out their related via Apollo. Dicks mother was a daughter of Apollo, and one of Jason's grandparents on his mom's side was a child of Apollo. Dick is ecstatic over this information, Jason has no idea what to think. Dick is also happy to find that he's related to Duke.

-Nyx is lady Gotham. She took a liking to Bruce when he became Batman, and gave him her blessing. She also likes the entire batfamily, and they all have more minor blessings from her. Only Batman's true heir will get her blessing. Dick would have gotten it had Bruce actually died. The one who will eventually get it is Cassandra.

[somefanficrecomendations]

2023 BEST READS

A few days late but hey, better late than never! This is a non-comprehensive list of my favorite fics that I’ve read in 2023! Criteria for a fic to be included on this list are:

I read the fic in 2023

I reread the fic at least once

I can rate 5/5 stars without hesitation

The fics are organized by fandom but otherwise are in no particular order.

BATMAN

New Wave by yellow_caballero Batman (gen), 103k, Reverse Robins, Stephanie Brown is Robin Some lunatic in a bat costume is running around Gotham clowning on fools, but local delinquent Stephanie Brown has way bigger problems. When her father and friends start joining mob wars Steph knows she has to do something about it before Gotham collapses. If that means joining up with rich dudes playing dress up, pasty nerds with hacking and photography habits, and throwing on a costume herself, then that’s just what she’ll have to do. Even if Batman works alone. She’s convincing. In which Stephanie Brown rocks the radical nineties and becomes the first Robin, ruining Batman’s life and giving Tim Drake a hobby.

birdsong by ScarlettSwordMoon Nightwing (gen), 22k, Dick Grayson-Centric After getting a face full of Scarecrow’s newest toxin, Dick isn’t haunted by his typical nightmares. No. This one has little green pixie boots. AKA Batman: Ego but make it Robin. Nightwing 60th Anniversary Bingo: Drugs & Toxins

Keep Your Head, Your Backbone, and Your Heart by MrMich Batman (gen) 54k, Dimension Travel, Duke Thomas-centric The last thing that Duke expected on what was supposed to be just a regular patrol was being suddenly thrown five years into the past, coming face to face with a darker, more violent Batman than the one he knew, a broken family, and a Tim who was a foot shorter than Duke, and not even Robin yet.

Loading and Aspect Ratio by JUBE514 Batman (Superbat), 45k, Wings AU A world where nobody has wings, but people think they do, and that changes everything.

Our Bodies & Other Fine Machines by SilverSkiesAtMidnight Batman (gen), 13k, Starvation He has never argued with a punishment, not since he was a toddler, if then. Surely she’ll listen, surely she’ll see this is too harsh, that he wouldn’t be disrespecting her like this if he was simply sulking over not getting his way. He needs that food, needs to be able to eat enough if he wants to be Robin. He’s been hungry before, but back then, it never mattered if he was a little weak or dizzy. It never risked his life or the life of his partner when he was a kid. She turns, sighing softly and pursing her lips. She reaches out to pat his cheek, and for a moment his heart soars hopefully, and he barely restrains himself from leaning into the rare bit of contact and soaking up his mother’s touch. “Oh, Timothy,” she tuts. “This is for the best. And honestly, I think it’s wise for you to cut down a bit on the snacks. I’d hate to have to listen to anyone tittering at the next gala that you’re getting chubby.” And without another backwards glance, she turns and heads upstairs, leaving Tim alone and frozen at the bottom of the steps.

You, Me, and the Humanity in Between by JUBE514 Batman (gen), 65k, Non-Human Robins Bruce is trying his best to protect the city that he loves. He doesn't know how exactly his Robins came to be- they're not fully human, not even at all. All he knows is that he wants to keep them safe.

Little Red by destiny919 Batman: Under the Red Hood (gen), 39k, Series, Jason is Tim’s Parent AU where Tim is younger and has been illegally adopted by his hero, the Red Hood.

A Different Game by Hinn_Raven Batman (multi), 62k, Red Hood!Stephanie Brown, Role Reversal Stephanie Brown died with a mouth full of blood and her eyes wide open, staring at the locked door, hoping still for a miracle, for a rescue. She died in a hidden place, still hanging from the ceiling by her wrists, bleeding out from a wound in her stomach, and no one was with her when her heart gave its last beat. AU where Stephanie Brown dies as Robin and becomes the Red Hood.

bad news, this place is magic as fuck by mikkal Batman (gen), 28k, All-Caste Jason Todd, Magic Jason Jason's on the trail of a killer who's targeting kids in Crime Alley for an unknown magical ritual. Between that and his family who insists on butting in, he's got his work cut out for him. But, as they say, nothing is as it seems.

Wings over Gotham by icarus_chained Batman, DC (gen), 190k, No Man’s Land, Independent Gotham An AU where an altered version of No Man’s Land happened while Bruce was in his late teens/early twenties, and Batman was born in the hellish crucible of a trapped city that was left for dead and then violently retaken. Gotham may pretend to run by mainlander rules for the sake of those who would have died otherwise, but under the surface, Bruce, Jim, Leslie, Ivy and Oswald and their pack keep their own council, and look with jaundiced eyes on the mainland.

A Meditation on Railroading by eggmacguffin Batman (gen), 24k, Hurt/Comfort When he ends up ditched in Atlanta after a fight with his dad, Tim decides to do the only sensible thing: Tell no one and make the 800 mile journey back to Gotham on his own. Because the "call Batman when you're in trouble" rule only applies when he's Robin, right?

THE BATMAN (2022)

I’m a Good Pretender by shipNslash The Batman (2022) (gen), 40k, Dick Grayson-Centric Dick’s mother raised her son to be a star. Dick’s father raised his son to be an athlete. Bruce's new ward is charming (manipulative), dedicated (obsessive), and way, way too smart for either of their own good.

In This or Any Other Universe by wildsofmarch The Batman (2022) (gen), 33k, Dimension Travel There was a new vigilante in his city: a man who smiled too much and talked too loud and knew his way around a fight a little too well. Bruce wasn't bothered by his antics. Except the man also seemed to know a little too much about him. Who was this Nightwing, anyway? OR: Dick Grayson (DCU) accidentally lands himself in Battinson’s Gotham.

DC LEGENDS OF TOMORRW

Countless Roads by nirejseki Arrowverse, DC Legends of Tomorrow (Mick Rory/Leonard Snart), 231k, Medium Leonard Snart, AU-Ghosts Due to a family curse (which some call a gift), Leonard Snart has more life than he knows what to do with – and that gives him the ability to see, speak to, and even share with the various ghosts that are always surrounding him. Sure, said curse also means he’s going to die sooner rather than later, just like his mother, but in the meantime Len has no intention of letting superheroes, time travelers, a surprisingly charming pyromaniac, and a lot of ghosts get in the way of him having a nice, successful career as a professional thief.

Straight On Till Morning by nirejeski Arrowverse, DC Legends of Tomorrow (Sara Lance/Mick Rory/Leonard Snart), 17k, Time Pirates Left alone in the Refuge, Mick and Sara decide they're going to be proactive about their fate. They end up becoming time pirates. Because of course they do.

THE WITCHER

A Beginners Guide to Exploiting the Kaedweni Tax Code For Fun and Profit by Heronfem The Witcher (Aiden/Lambert), 190k, WIP, AU-Modern Setting, AU-College/University Aiden Kett and Lambert Wilkson accidentally get married, and this is honestly probably the least of their problems.

By the Broken Lock That Freed Me by inexplicifics The Witcher, (muti), 46k, AU-Daemons, Accidental Warlord Series Aiden takes a contract on the Duke of Velen. He's not expecting the most interesting part of the whole affair to be meeting the duke's betrothed. His daemon thinks they should keep her. Aiden's not sure how that will work, given that he's already got a Wolf and doesn't know how Lambert and his daemon might feel about adding someone else to their little pack, but it's awfully tempting. And Cats aren't very good at resisting temptation.

Intent by tnico The Witcher (Aiden/Lambert), 18k, Non-Traditional A/B/O, 5+1 "You think I don't know what you're after?" Lambert accuses. "Well, I'd certainly hope you do, by this point in the evening," Aiden (so he says) agrees in a convincingly genial tone. It'd probably be enough to fool someone else on the matter of genuine interest.

SPIDERVERSE

gonna crack a rib (when i get home) by eneliii Spiderverse (gen), 40k, Cannon Divergence Miles Morales, recently landed in Earth 42, has had enough of everyone’s shit and he’s going to save his dad or so help him he’ll lose his mind. Miles Morales 42, just wants to know what the /hell/ is up with his doppelgänger.

MCU

The Hero's Journey; or: What Jasper Sitwell Did Last Summer by pagination MCU, Welcome to Night Vale (multi), 23k, Crossover The thing is, when an agent reaches clearance level five, it’s because they’re valuable, capable of something an exponentially diminishing few can offer in the ranks of SHIELD. Clint Barton, his personal issues notwithstanding, is unstoppable behind a scope. Jim Woo is an analyst and extractor par excellence. Melinda May has infiltrated half the presidential offices of Asia, and Phil Coulson has an instinct for the unusual that could be the basis of an entire TV show. Jasper’s less certain what he brings to the party.

If I Knew You Were Coming I'd've Baked a Cake by OddityBoddity MCU, Hawkeye (gen), 27k, Baking They’re the broken ones. That’s what Clint figures the rest think about him and Barnes. Clint with his eardrums trashed, Barnes with a regiment’s worth of trauma and a psychotic cybernetic arm, put in the same room and told to make nice while the others get to go on missions and do important things and save the world. Well they're not broken. So of course they got bored and tired of being sidelined and decided to entertain themselves. And of course they ended up wanted, running through the streets of Paris with bananas down their pants and gendarmes in pursuit. Of course they did.

[msfcatlover]

Duke in the Reverse!Robins AU be like…

”Eldest daughter syndrome? What eldest daughter syndrome? Nah, just because I’m the oldest does not mean I have eldest daughter syndrome. Sure, I’ve had to mediate between Damian & Bruce, or Steph & Bruce, or help certain Titans find a middle ground, but that’s just being a good leader. And yeah, I’m protective of the younger kids, but that’s just what any responsible adult in my position would do.”

*finds out one of the members of his team has such bad civilian trauma they need to straight-up quit hero work*

“Oh shit… I fucked this up. I was too focused on my own problems, how the fuck did I miss this? Okay, okay. I was already burning out trying to juggle being Gotham’s only daytime hero and single-handedly leading the Titans. I need to pick one. And find some way to make it up to Grant. Jesus fuck, how did I miss this…”

*Tim becomes Cass’s apprentice. Steph & Cass start arguing more often. Steph has her biggest fight with Bruce yet. Steph goes missing.*

*Steph dies*

“After that fight with Bruce, no one backed her up. She didn’t know anyone was supporting her. She died thinking none of us were on her side. If any one of us had actively taken her side, instead of getting distracted with our own messes, maybe this wouldn't have happened. Oh, but am I really expecting Damian or Bruce to be intelligent about feelings? Am I really expecting tact from Cass? I know them too well; it should’ve been me, shouldn’t it? I can’t believe I managed to fuck up worse than I did with Grant…”

*Luna gets taken away*

“Look at what you’ve done, Bruce! Look what you’ve fucking done! You’re tearing this family apart! We all promised to look out for her if anything happened to Steph, and you’re just going to force every single one of us to break those promises?! You’re going to rip away the last piece of Steph we had?!? Look at Dami & Cass! Look at them! You did this!”

*finds out Damian’s training for Tim to be Shadow uses all the LoA techniques he refused to use for Steph, making it borderline-through-outright abusive, almost certainly to try to drive Tim off by making him too miserable to continue*

“I. I can’t fucking believe this. I can’t… I can’t believe it took me so long to realize. Damian, nobody is happy about this, but fuck you. I thought you were trying to be better, you absolute fucking asshole! And I… I don’t even have the excuse of not knowing half of the involved parties this time, or being away, or too busy, I was just looking away because I didn’t want to think about Tim taking Steph’s mantle. I should’ve fucking stopped this the first time Tim came back from Bludhaven. God fucking dammit, how do I keep failing the kids in my care in the same fucking way, over & over again?!”

*was all the way at the other end of the room & looking in the wrong direction to have enough forewarning to actually save Tim from being shot*

“I… I… I… I’m literally the only person who could’ve fucking stopped this. I have all the training, all the abilities, but I went to refill my punch glass, and now Timmy might never walk again. I mean, absolutely blame the asshole who pulled the trigger, but Tim & I were in the same fucking room. Who would even put a hit out on Tim Wayne? There’s no way Tim doesn’t know who’s behind this, but he won’t tell me because he doesn’t trust me, because of course he doesn’t! Look at my track record! When it matters most, I let down the people I love. My parents, Grant, Steph, Tim…”

*Jason becomes Shadow.*

*The Tower fight happens.*

*Jason gets kidnapped by the Joker.*

*Bruce “dies,” and Jason runs away to have the Red Robin arc.*

*Dick only begrudgingly puts up with Duke because Duke’s rather overbearing expressions of protectiveness support are not meshing well with Dick’s “stuck on anger til I personally catch my parents’ murderer” issue*

“…If anyone needs me, I’ll be screaming in the closet.”

[fadelion]

As much as I want to have Duke Thomas take the Jason Todd/Red Hood slot in a Reverse Robins type story, it feels like it'd be easier to put him in the Barbara Gordon Batgirl/Oracle position. Seeing Batman going about and doing his thing, and then being like, "Yeah, sure, I can pull that off," then having absolutely no quit when it comes to digging into dangerous problems that need to get solved and solving them with smarts and grit. I can also more easily see him catching a few in the spine as collateral damage to psychologically get at his mother more than I can see him getting exploded because he decided to dig into his family history. Imagine Duke's first interaction with Batman is when his parents find the Bat injured and bring him inside to patch him up, much like in canon. I don't doubt that Bruce Wayne would repay the favor, and suddenly Elaine Thomas is a person that Batman sends people to for help while getting all the funding and assistance she could ever ask for (and a lot more that she didn't, but she's not letting it go to waste), while Doug Thomas is brought into a construction labor union on a recommendation nobody can quite place the origin of and begins to work his way up the ranks, being an effective advocate for the rights of the city's workers. Actually, maybe Duke's gunshot wounds are a consequence of the mafia trying to get at Doug Thomas on union business. (MLK got popped speaking at a rally for sanitation workers in Menphis, so it's not like it couldn't happen.) Not even strictly villian related, but a product of the general Gotham environment and how almost every system seems to be corrupt on multiple levels. (Duke: "Do you think one bad day would stop me? It's Gotham, Bruce. Sometimes you just have bad days. Then tomorrow happens and you try again.") He's in a wheelchair for awhile, but slowly starts to heal over time for what seems like no apparent reason. At least until the metagene kicks in fully, anyway.

Then again, Jason Todd's death happened in Ethiopia, and he and Batman were in the country for different reasons. Maybe it'd be easier to get the Thomas Family killed if Duke stayed in Gotham (Jason was supposed to be on the bench if i remember right) and Gnomon popped up to try to claim his son. Things get wild, there's a spike in Metahumans for a week or two as it seems like almost everybody gets to be one, the Justice League on Batman watch to make sure he doesnt kill the Iranian Ambassador (the Joker, somehow), and while it's written off as an issue with the water supply, some get to keep their powers at the cost of being continually shunned and end up being treated somewhere between a like a leper snd like a living bomb.

The "No metas in Gotham" thing (that I'm honestly not sure ever was canon) isn't a Batman rule as much as a "I'm not trying to get hate crime'd so I'm gonna avoid the city like the plague" thing.

Either way, Gnomon ends up beaten and Thomas family ends up dead at the hands of an angry mob while trying to defend innocent metas from the nonsense of some villian. Only, Duke ends up coming back because Superboy Prime's Source Wall punch decides to reactivate Duke's body and metagene. After coming back and recovering in a city that's still, well, Gotham, he decides that that whole Batman thing didn't work and comes at the problem from the other side, making it his personal mission to get at Gotham's crime problem by putting himself in a position where he can fight for people pressured into bad situations, even more so if Gnomon comes back around, wondering why his son would debase himself by spending time among these fragile humans instead of ruling over them. The Omen becomes the feared figure among the mobs and gangs of Gotham, especially when some wake up to a golden hooded figure standing over their bed, before he whispers a warning and fades into the rooms shadows before the light of day fully peeks through the windows. Stories circulate about certain people being protected, like good teachers, preachers, priests, nuns, soup kitchen runners, respected public defenders, certain cops, generally "good" people or people making a positive difference in a way that earns them the animosity of the corrupt. Perhaps the worst of them wake up badly beaten in a jail cell that's permanently darkened by shadow, the only light coming from a small window on the cell door and the glowing eye painted on the ceiling, evidence of their crimes on their chest or on a trusted officer's desk.

Though honestly, I think I just need to learn more about Jason Todd and Barbara Gordon to make either work.

Or maybe just go to sleep.

[batfsm]

So this gave me an idea.

What if Talia became an actual Rogue in Gotham? She found Jason/was given him and decided to stay. Talia saw how bad Bruce was getting and saw how even with Tim, he was getting worse not better. So she decided to take over Crime Alley.

We say Jason was Red X, an assassin for Ra’s while he had amnesia, so why couldn’t he do that in Gotham?

Talia becomes the head of the Reds and Jason her second in command. Damian comes over once and decides to stay and become the BOSS. He still wants to be Batman but he also wants to be Talia.

Tim’s the first to run into Damian and Jason. He’s the one to figure out who they are and the one who starts to convince Talia to use the Lazarus Pit for Jason.

Dick finds out when Alfred does. Tim drags Talia into the cave because she got hurt protecting him as his civilian self from one of Firefly’s traps. Damian and Jason are called to the cave where Talia explains how and why she’s taking over Gotham. She also explains about Jason and maybe using the Pit, which Alfred agrees to. (Dick doesn’t but Alfred has the final decision.)

Bruce, by the way is with the Justice League during all of the talks. By the time Barbara calls him back, she’s running interference for the others until it’s over with, saying he’s got a couple of children who need him now, Jason’s been in the Pit, talking to Harley, became the muscle of the Reds, and he, Damian, and Talia are back in the Manor. Tim has also been adopted by Talia making him an Al Ghul instead of a Wayne. In fact Dick has been also. Bruce has no children since Talia took them and if he wants them, Bruce has to marry Talia.

(Cass was in the midst of becoming a Wayne but followed her brothers into becoming an Al Ghul. Duke will be an Al Ghul later on also. In fact all of the children are known by ‘last name’ Wayne-Al Ghul. Bruce still pouts that his last name is not behind Talia’s.)

Ra’s is still not allowed in Gotham but Talia’s people are. What the family ignores is that Talia’s people are also Ra’s who is protective in his own way (the guards for his grandchildren and the help for Talia that is actually for Alfred).

[chillinglikeashilling]

Do the Waynes have a family workout YT channel to cover the fact that so many of them are in like peak physical condition despite (mostly) not being tied to very physical jobs? Damian for sure doesn't get featured in the videos because there's only so many children in Gotham who kind of move like the littlest- Robin and besides everyone knows Bruce Wayne is actually very protective of his kids/wards privacy. Plus it can't hurt that its one less person to steal his spotlight, amirite? Duke sometimes appears as an observer but he's always joking about how he's so far behind the others he doesn't want to have proof of it on camera. Sometimes he'll be lifting with Cass and Jason as his trainers since this minimizes movement comparisons to the only Bat who patrols in broad daylight. Jason and Cass are so competitive and it's so funny. All of the videos of the two of them together are challenge videos. The only thing they like more than flexing on each other is flexing on people who post couple challenge videos. Dick is for sure just casually flexing that he could go join Cirque Du Soleil tomorrow. He does do a Basics Acrobats series of video to help support the local circus school. He's actually mostly featured on the School's channel as one of their summer camp instructors/during showcases. Barbara actually makes very helpful videos for people with similar disabilities and ways that they can accommodate exercise routines to work for them where possible. During Disability Pride Month they actually have a bunch of disabled athletes fitness personalities come on but she also has videos talking to less mobile activists (or activists who are actively losing mobility) about coming to terms with that, and the ableist messages around worth as a person tied to activity.

Tim is the camera man. You're not going to catch him slipping here. Plus he can edit the videos to help minimize the possibility this backfires on them. Sometimes he'll get pulled into a weightlifting video the same way they used to do with the camera guy on Worth It, his voice is still very much a big part of the videos.

[insomniac-jay]

I'd love for you to go into more detail about the Watchers and their direct relationship with the Bat Cauldron. We know they are their opposed foes but what is the one-one bitterness like?

After all, Jonah is significantly younger in comparison to Bruce so I imagine Bruce froths at the mouth a bit about being beaten by someone younger and less trained than him.

That last part is sending me because Jonah probably wasn't even born when all the major stuff in the first few years of Batman's career was going down

I want to preface this by saying the Watchers are meant to be the "anti Batfam". They may not have the money, connections, and access their more established counterparts have but they have one thing the Batfam doesn't: stability. If there's a problem, they come together and work to solve it. Very little infighting goes on in their ranks and if it does it's usually petty and quickly resolved. It makes them have more in common with groups like the Titans, Central City Rogues, and others who consider themselves a family.

Now onto their direct relationships.

Jonah and Bruce have the most bitterness between them as leaders do. Think of it as Mr. Incredible and Syndrome if he didn't become evil and instead became a rival hero type relationship. One of the best ways I can make them vastly different is how they operate within Gotham. While Bruce, and Batman overall, have become synonymous with Gotham; Bruce doesn't really know the city. He's the son of billionaires. Jonah, on the other hand, does. He knows all the shortcuts, nooks and crannies, everything.

Bruce may have book smarts and age on his side but Jonah has street smarts and experience on his.

There's also how they deal with their rogues gallery. Bruce sends them to Arkham but let's be honest Arkham isn't doing shit to actually help them. And to be honest I think a lot of them are just fine being criminals unless they get bored.

Jonah is willing to help his rogues get help as long they want and need it. He's seen plenty who need help but don't want it (i.e. the Imai couple, Starlet) and those who both want and need it but don't know how to go about it (i.e. Killer Cupid).

Another parallel is Jason and Vicia. Ah, Jason and Vicia. The things that make your coupling both shocking and sensible at the same time. I told another mutual this once so I'll say it here: Vicia is fanon Jason but well written and a woman. One thing that connects them is their relationship to violence. For Jason, violence is power and force (example is how he attacked Mia Dearden to try and get her to join him). It's how he gets his point across. How he makes a statement.

To Vicia, violence is a tool, a weapon. She's knows what it does to people, how it changes them because she dealt it out during her time as a runaway and was on the end of it when in juvie. It's also the reason why she's not a fan of Batman's unnecessary violence against nonviolent offenders.

Jason had loving parents (I do not accept Willis or Catherine Todd slander here) but lost them meanwhile Vicia had loving parents that lost her. Jason was adopted by Bruce to protect him from the same violence that ultimately ended up taking his life. Vicia ran away from home to protect her family from the violence her being a Metahuman would bring.

Last but not least: Duke and Jahzara. Another polarizing yet makes sense couple.

They have a preestablished rivalry from the school track team. When they're the Signal and Fatale, that rivalry is heightened. Thing about both of them is that they're trying to prove themselves to their respective organizations. Jahzara has a lot of prove as the only human in the Watchers, Duke wanting to prove himself capable as the only Metahuman in the Batfam. Jahzara is continuously improving herself for the long run.

[jasontoddsgaythoughts]

The BatKids as the Gotham Region Gym Leaders

Gym Leader Number Two: Duke Thomas (The Electric Type Gym Leader)

Duke as a Gym Leader: As the newest of the Gotham Region Gym Leaders, Duke did good and quick work of gaining respect from his fellow Gym Leaders, and the people who reside in his domain of Gotham. He’s a natural born leader who is quick to gain trust from his Gym trainers and Team, making them want to oppose a greater challenge to any trainer who chooses to take on the Gym. While he doesn’t have the same drive to train as Damien, or other of his fellow acquaintances, his trust with his team offers no hesitation when it comes to executing Duke’s strategies.

Gym Set Up: Since Duke had his comic debuts mostly start off with a subway system involved, I think it’d be very clever for his Gym to be kept underground. When you first enter the Gym you’ll be immediately taken to an underground subway station, where you’ll enter the subway and be faced by two trainers. They’ll ask you some Gotham trivia and depending on the time it takes you to answer correctly, that’s how much time you’ll have to go through a maze after departing from the first subway cart. If it takes you a long time to answer, the trainers will catch up to you quickly while you navigate the maze. If you answer quickly you should have enough time to make it through the maze without an opponent battle, and be on your way to the second subway cart. There’s a total of three stages to this challenge, with the mazes getting longer and more difficult, and more trainers wishing to battle you as you progress. If you challenge Duke at the beginning of your journey the gym trainers will have teams consisting of Tynamo, Dedenne, Voltorb, and Pikachu. If you challenge Duke halfway through journey the trainer’s teams should consist of Flaaffy, Manetric, Galvantula, and Magneton. If Duke is a challenge to you at the end of your Journey his Gym trainer’s will have teams consisting of Jolteon, Luxray, Magnezone, and Electrode.

Gym Team Roster (Early Journey Edition): If you challenge Duke early into your journey his team will not be as balanced as Damien’s, but they’ll work just as hard to pose an actual challenge. His first Pokémon is Tynamo since they’re tricky to catch, followed by Toxel who because of its poison type thrives on the underground subways, and his ace is a mighty Elekid with a high spirit to fight. If defeated Duke will hand you the TM for Light Screen.

Gym Team Roster (Late Journey Edition): If you challenge Duke late into your journey, his team will have more defense as well as some heavy hitters. The first Pokémon he’ll send out is a Toxtricity that still holds up well with its poison typing, and it’s sound based attacks hit harder by having the echos from the underground subway work in their advantage. His second Pokémon is a Launtern to counter attack any ground type Pokémon the challenger may use for their advantage. His third Pokémon is a Heat Rotom that was given to him by Jason. His fourth Pokémon is a tanky Dracozolt that was given to him by Bruce. His fifth Pokémon is an Elektross that’s hard to hit. His final team member is his ace Electivire who he’s fond of because of the resemblance to his Signal suit. If defeated Duke will hand you the TM for Thunderbolt.

Vigilante Team: Since Duke’s meta abilities allow him to be stealthy himself, his team consists of a shiny Luxray that he captured to match his Signal suit, a Vikavolt for aerial assistance, and an Alolan Raichu and Manetric to help with battle, but also to offer comfort to victims.

Civilian Party: Duke’s party is a bit more toned down than his usual teams. He has a loyal Morpeko that was given to him by his parents, but since joining the Bat-Clan and becoming an honorary Wayne he’s added an Amphoros for better protection (it has signal beam as an inside joke with the family), a Heliolisk because of its playful personality, and a Boltund that he takes on walks with Damien and Jason.

[chinchillinator]

Alright listen up

This is not about who came first, who wrote the script, who has the most cultural impact. THIS IS ABOUT SUN AND MOON ICONOGRAPHY AND SYMBOLISM.

You can say “Vote Spirk because of the long history behind them, they’re the OG” just like I can say “Vote Duke/Cass because they’re both people of color and we need to support representation in media.” Both of these statements are true but they are not relevant.

This poll is about who best represents a sun/moon pairing and the answer is Duke/Cass.

The obvious first reason they represent a sun/moon dynamic is their role in the Batfamily. Duke is the first and only daylight protector in the family while Cass still remains on the night watch. Working in the sunlight vs working in the moonlight.

Next, we have Duke’s powers and Cass’s lack thereof. Not only opposites in terms of meta vs non-meta. But Duke’s powers specifically deal with the absorption, redistribution, and manipulation of light. He is literally a little sun all to himself. While Cass works entirely in the silence of the night. One of her monikers is Black Bat and is known for being one of the most stealthy and quiet members of the Batfamily, literally fading into the shadows, completely unseen.

Now, if you want to get metaphorical, we can talk about their history with within the Batfamily. Cass has a long and varied history with the family, not all of it as a protector of Gotham. For a period of time, Cass led the League of Assassins, a regular rival of the Batfamily. Prior to that, she had been working with the Bats helping to keep Gotham safe, and following her stint as the leader of the League of Assassins, she was again brought back into the fold as a member of the Batfamily. Like the moon, Cass comes and goes, her presence within the family waxing and waning and the good work she does fading in and out. Meanwhile, Duke has always worked for the protection of Gotham, alongside other factions of the Batfamily and the symbol of Robin. Like the sun, his presence is a reliable constant.

They are two sides of the same coin, symbiotic in partnership with the Batfamily. Working in tandem, sometimes in different ways, different hours of the day, different places, but always returning to each other. They are the sun and the moon, opposite sources of light and protection for Gotham city, invariably different, but invariably the same.

[hopelesslyconfusedart]

No, because that is such a wonderful depiction for each of them. Excuse me because i’m about to rant.

WARNING IT IS VERY LONG, BATFAM MEMBERS TALKED ABOUT: Bruce, Dick, Barbara, Jason, Tim, Stephanie, Cass, Damian (not including Duke because i have not read enough material to know him as well, i’m working on fixing that)

Continues under the cut for those who want to read the rant:

Bruce needed someone to save him, but he also needed to get away from death. The moment his parents died was so horrendously traumatic that the small details still come to him constantly as he’s going about life. (ie: Martha’s pearls clattering and breaking, Thomas trying to defend them (in some versions), the flash of the gunshot in the dark alley way, or the the pools of blood left behind)

Therefore he then strove to be like his father, be like the hero Zorro (who’s movie he had just seen) but restrain himself to never have to be the reason he or someone else goes through the trauma of death again. He never wants it to be his hands that bloody another child’s mind. He succeeds to a degree and is desperately holding onto his moral codes because of it. Plus, he would also snap if he killed someone, because he knows it’s easy to kill, harder to protect. Therefore he becomes the figurehead of safety, salvation, and justice that he needed that night in the alleyway.

Dick Grayson watched his parents die in the same way Bruce did but the tragedy of their deaths wasn’t what stuck with him like his father figure. No to him it was the loss of his parents as people, their memories, emotions, entire beings being destroyed because of corruption in Haley’s circus. It’s why, in multiple adaptations, Dick is down to murder to avenge his family. He doesn’t have the mental blockage/trauma around the act of killing specifically. Though he later comes to realize that revenge isn’t what he needs specifically to feel the burden lift off his shoulders.

What he needed as a kid during that time, which he partially got from Bruce later on, was a positive lifeline in the form of a person to rely on. He had it in the earlier comic runs when Bruce wasn’t nearly as bogged down by poor writing and trauma so he took after that. He based his interactions with victims on what he would’ve wanted, somebody to comfort them and uplift them. One of his biggest flaws is how terrible he is at not being himself, trying to act like others (ie: Bruce during his run as batman) and that is because he can’t bring himself to be that other person. He isn’t who Bruce needed, not who Bludhaven or Gotham needed, he is what he needed.

Barbara Gordon, she watched her father go to the police precinct every day. Watched him climb the ladder and grow into many roles there. He was the ultimate example of safety for her. Yet she realized that he was in mortal danger every second of the way. She could lose him at any moment. So she became who she believed her father needed, someone who could support him. In a similar way to the batman. So she readies herself, throws herself into danger with no support, and does it knowing it will take some crime off the streets, Knowing it makes it so there is less of a chance her father doesn’t come home at night.

Then she grows up, flourishes with guidance and begins to branch away from being who her father needs. She begins to become what she both has needed and needs at that moment. She becomes strong, reliable, capable, and fiercely intelligent. Only to have that growth stripped away by the Joker for the sake of being a part of Jim Gordon and Batman’s storyline. She’s forced into a role in the background, once again forced to watch from the sideline as her loved ones are in danger and she can’t do anything to help. So, once more, she pushes herself, and soon she becomes Oracle. She’s in the background yes, but she becomes the ultimate support, she’s essentially running the show from behind the scenes. Helping her loved ones and contributing, arguably, even more than she had in the field. She becomes everything she wanted to be when she was young, even as life fought her for it.

Jason Todd was born in crime alley (in later adaptations, not his copy paste background of Dicks in the earlier comics) he was born into poverty, violence, and general depravity. It marked every aspect of his life, and yet he was as positive as can be. He had a yearn to learn, to do more, to be more. Yet his background stunted that. When his parents dies they both died in ways that were almost predictable to him. His mom overdosed and his father (in many iterations) dies in jail. He was braced for it so, even though they affected him horribly, it didn’t give him the shock that Dick and Bruce had gotten. No, that was his own death.

During his time as robin he was already trying to be what he had needed. Kind, smart, reliable, and good at what he did. He wasn’t angry and tried to forcefully be the best he could be. You see that starting to wear at him before ethiopia, he gets a bit more violent, holds back less, and gives into his anger a bit. It shows that his trauma is finally catching up. Then he dies, a terrible death, at the hands of someone who has proven there are faults in the world. It makes it worse when he is brought back.

Because the person Jason needed in that warehouse was someone willing to pull the literal or metaphorical trigger. There is no ifs or buts, the Joker wouldn’t have been stopped in the long run by just putting him back in jail. Jason knew that and so desperately needed someone willing to care enough about him to rid the world of a parasitic monster. Yet he never got that, so he then becomes that. He gets violent, figures out that it works, and protects any and all innocents he knows. It’s what he needed and wanted as he watched a bomb tick down on a concrete floor.

Tim Drake had parents, loving and supportive parents (in most instances). They fostered him in a way that made him so inquisitive and genius. He strove for more knowledge. Learning the batfam secret identities at a young age. The people that he needed at that time were batman and robin. So he idolized them, but then Jason died. Tim was forced to watch as batman became someone he couldn’t idolize anymore, so he goes to find who batman needs, he tries his hardest to get Dick back into being robin, yet it fails. So in a last ditch effort he becomes who batman needs. He throws on the robin suit and willingly throws himself in the metaphorical and literal bullet pathway.

He strives to be what batman needs, not what he needs for so long. He emulates the previous robins before him and forces his way into helping Bruce. But then he begins to lose everything around him, his mother dies, his father is hospitalized, then dies later, his best friend dies, he experiences pain unimaginable, everything the universe can do to him it does. He then finds himself faltering because how is he supposed to be what he needs to be for himself at that point? He’s been giving himself to everybody else, so how does he do that for himself. His red robin run introduces him to becoming his own support, who he needs. Eventually he becomes that person, so outgrown (no matter what DC is trying by putting him back in the robin suit every time he sneezes) of his old personas that, even if he still clings to them a bit, most people have a hard time understanding who he is.

Stephanie Brown was given a shitty ass beginning. She was born into very similar conditions as Jason, but with the added bonus of a supervillain father. She grew up watching her mother deteriorate and watched her father being the worst imaginable human being. She grew up watching him as he did these things and knew they weren’t right. She needed someone who could put her dad in his place, protect her mom, and help them thrive outside of their circumstances. Yet she never got that help as a hand out, any help she got she had to fight for, she was learning at a rapid pace just to become better. She becomes so intelligent that outsmarting her father becomes a cakewalk and her first forays into vigilantism are specifically so she can foil her father. Later, after the downfall of her father she is left without as powerful as a drive. She dons the robin mantle for some time and ultimately dies in the costume just as Jason had.

After her revival, she grows even more independently, with Barbara helping her. Her growth as batgirl is phenomenal. She realized that she can fight for her own goals instead of basing her entire time around fighting her past. She lives through trauma after trauma (ie: having to give up her newborn child) only to come out stronger afterwards. It seems as though the person she needed when she was younger was what she wanted her mother to be. Dependable, independent, strong willed, sharp witted, and able to save them from her father. Yet her mother wasn’t able to be those thing when she was young (even if she has now gotten better) so Stephanie became that person instead.

Cassandra Cain was raised as a child soldier. She didn’t know she needed someone until it was far too late. She never even knew how disgustingly David Cain treated her until her first kill. She was so used to being a living and breathing weapon. Body language was the only way she knew how to communicate. So when she first killed someone is horrified her. Extremely similarly to Bruce the death itself is what stuck to her. For her it was the unnatural way the body behaved after death. To her it was as if you were to read a book that someone had written during a slow descent into madness they eventually dies from. The stillness or the body was akin to the scribbles and eventual drag of the pen as the author experienced their passing. It was traumatizing for a girl that didn’t even know the word trauma. So she escaped, fled for the preservation of life, so she couldn’t be used as a weapon.

She ended up in Gotham, where she learned how to use what she was similarly to bruce. Striving to be better without killing as an option. She tried to adapt, though it was hard (ie: learning how to read, write, and speak only to lose her original language, the language of the human body) and began to forge her own understanding of the world. She became independent after Barbara gave her the chance to grow. After Lady Shiva attempted to get her to help her with her own suicide she realized what the world needed and specifically what she needed as a child. She needed someone who embraced humanity, valued life over death, and treated her with human dignity and respect. She became that as she branched away from Gotham, going around the globe and settling in Hong Kong so she could spread that knowledge in an area that lacked it.

Damian Wayne doesn’t know yet what he needs. Because he hasn’t been given the time or age to reflect upon that. As he is right now he strives to be what others want him to be. Even if he refuses to admit it. He wants to be what his mother, grandfather, and father want him to be. He’s grown tremendously as an individual after being given a life with his father. However, that can be attributed partly to Nightwing during his run as batman. He grew to become capable of being a child under nightwing guidance. This was only further encouraged when Bruce came back and took him under his wing. It’s even further expanded on when he travels to make reparations for his misdeeds (ie: slaughtering goliath’s entire species)

Eventually he will become the stability and reliability he was wanting as a child. (As shown in some iterations we have of him grown up or as batman) but for now he is growing as a person mor than as an idea or concept. He is striving to be himself before being what someone else needs.

Thank you for being subject to this long ass rant. Please feel free to correct me or discuss with me if you find anything lacking in my rant, i enjoy the opportunity to expand my understanding of these characters i treasure so dearly.

TLDR; They all have such big individual growth and influences that not a single one of them perfectly aligns, yet they all are their own heroes in their own right.

best depiction of the batfam will always be "You grew up to be the person who would have saved you" but it applies to them each respectively and that's why none of them can see eye to eye and also get up their own asses about things and go to such great lengths to defend their personal brand of justice. Because they can never stop trying to save themselves from their own history.

[a-sour-nectarine]

Reverse Robins AU

New au! A standard reverse au, but spicy. Here's a guide/timeline of all of their arrivals and inductions into the team!

We start with Duke! Duke Thomas, wanting revenge on Joker for driving his parents insane, talks a young Bruce Wayne into letting him join. He does have powers, though. His meta status is the only reason Bruce lets him out in the field. He is jokingly referred to as "The Bat's Signal," as his appearance means that Batman isn't far behind.

Damian is next. Sent by his mother to assassinate the possible competition for his father's inheritance and legacy, ten-year-old Damian attacks a 16-year-old Duke. That doesn't work out so well.

Damian becomes Shadow. Where The Signal heralds Batman's arrival, Shadow follows behind, tying up loose ends.

Following Damian's arrival by three years is Cass. Her story is very similar to what it is in canon, except, she shows up in Wayne Manor as an 8-year-old. She runs straight there, basically.

Cass's brothers adore her. She's probably the only reason Duke visits anymore.

Then Damian dies. And Bruce breaks.

Batman is alone. No Signal, no Shadow.

Then along comes a precocious 13-year-old by the name of Timothy Drake.

Tim forces his way into the Shadow mantle in a desperate attempt to keep Bruce afloat. It works. But Tim doesn't come alone. A girl, who Bruce has fought with before, seems to be a part of the Tim Drake package.

Spoiler joins the team. She and Tim are frighteningly competent, a perfect pair. Bruce jokes that they barely even need him.

(Bruce also wonders when he decided he would allow regular teenagers into this life.)

Stephanie, eager to get out of the shadow her father has held over her, takes on the name of Batgirl. Tim thinks the name is stupid. Bruce absolutely does not cry.

Then Damian returns. He returns from Hell to a house full of laughter and two new siblings.

(He's not entirely mad about it)

He takes the name of Nightwing.

Duke has already claimed Tim, so Damian's favorite sibling is automatically Stephanie. They aren't so different.

He's gone when she's murdered. Blown to bits by the Joker after a bond-tearing fight with Tim pushed her from Gotham. Damian can't make himself attend the funeral, but the Joker doesn't live much longer. He visits her grave only when the blood on his hands has dried.

Tim is wrecked. His best friend is dead and it's his fault. He runs. It isn't the first time. It won't be the last. Duke chases after him.

When they come back, Duke is crippled. He lost one leg at the hip and the other below the knee. Prosthetics can only do so much. He doesn't interact with his family for months.

Until a masked Spoiler-Copy ambushes him in his apartment, demanding to know who killed the Joker.

He says Nightwing did. Now there are three people who know that truth. The fake Spoiler seems incredibly angry.

Duke panics and calls Tim. Damian went dark months ago, but Tim can find anyone at any time. He will know how to alert Damian. But he doesn't. Someone is running around, leaving a trail of blood, tainting Stephanie's memory. He confronts the imposter.

It's not an imposter. It is Stephanie. And she is directing all her Lazarus-Pit-Rage at the person who drove her away in the first place. Tim himself.

Damian comes back to Gotham to try and calm his little sister.

It doesn't work, but at least she isn't trying to kill Tim anymore.

Duke becomes Oracle, unable to completely leave the team behind. They don't know how they survived without him before.

Damian finds a tiny Jason Todd, stealing the tires off the Batmobile. Jason fills the void of The Shadow left by Tim's graduation to Crimson Shade.

Then Bruce dies.

Jason doesn't believe it. The only person who agrees is Tim. They set off to find someone who can help them. That person is Ra's al Ghul.

In anger over the Tim's refusal to become the next Demon's head, Ra's kills him. Jason convinces Talia to help him, and she resurrects him with the pit. Tim returns to life with two goals: protect Jason and retrieve Bruce. Ra's al Ghul is the path to both of those things.

Jason is afraid. As soon as they have enough information to find Bruce in the timestream, he sends a copy to the JLA and deletes the original.

Tim is a little broken. His two objectives clash. He rises up in the League, until he is high-profile enough for Damian to find him.

Damian has been searching for a year. He is Batman. He's adopted a child. An acrobat's son. Steph has passed the mantle of Batgirl on to a 14-year-old Cass.

Damian confronts his mother. She is romantically involved with his 18-year-old brother. That's where Damian draws the line.

Tim, Jason, and Damian return to Gotham. Bruce has been brought back, Dick becoming his Shadow. Damian is furious with Bruce and Duke for letting that happen, he leaves.

He goes to Stephanie. Stephanie exists in the only part of the world the Bats will not touch. If they acknowledge her, they have to acknowledge that she is a criminal, a crime boss, sitting on top of an empire.

Damian joins her. It's a family business. Spoiler and The Prince of Gotham are names whispered in the alleys, criminals who hunt criminals. They use Talia's connections for their own gain. She is a terrible mother, but she is their terrible mother.

Damian balances Steph out, and she calms him down. Their existence is still ignored by the larger family.

Dick is inconsolable after Damian leaves. Bruce sets him up on a playdate with the commissioner's daughter, Barbara. They get along well, despite the three year age gap.

Barbara is smart. She notices things about Dick, and she notices things about the new Shadow.

Cass trains her and passes the name of Batgirl down, as Steph had done before.

Years later, Dick understands the implications of being a Shadow. He becomes Robin. Barbara, painting herself a comedian, counters with her own name of Sparrow.

She doesn't want to admit it, but Batgirl comes with too much baggage of it's own. It's easier to make it a joke.

[robinraeken]

The Alphabet With Batman

Description: Clark Kent wrote a children's alphabet book for a new member of the batfamily to welcome them and make them feel more at home. If you decide to illustrate this pls let me know cause I wanna see.

A is for Alone

In the beginning, Batman was on his own. “I work alone,” Batman said.

B is for Butler

Even though Batman said he was alone, his trusty butler, Alfred Pennyworth, was there for him every step of the way.

C is for Commissioner

One of Batman’s most trusted allies is Commissioner Gordon. They work together to solve cases.

D is for Detective

Batman is the world’s greatest detective. He solves big mysteries to help people.

E is for Ebony

Ebony is the color of everything Batman wears to blend in with the darkness of the night.

F is for Fox

Lucius Fox helps Batman keep his identity a secret so he can pay for things like the Batmobile and the Batplane.

G is for Gotham

Batman patrols Gotham every night to protect it from dangerous villains.

H is for Hero

Batman is a hero. He saves the people of Gotham from danger all the time.

I is for Injustice

More than anything, Batman hates injustice. He wants everyone to be treated fairly and to have justice served where it is due.

J is for Joker

Joker is Batman’s arch-nemesis. He makes sure the Joker gets put in back Arkham every time he escapes.

K is for Kevlar

Batman still has to protect himself from getting hurt so he wears kevlar, a tough material that protects him from knives and bullets.

L is for Love

You might wonder what it s that motivates Batman to do what he does. It’s a big secret so you have to promise not to tell anyone. But Batman’s motive for everything he does is love.

Batman loves Gotham so he protects it. Batman loves his friends who help him. He protects them too. And many, many others that he loves.

Batman might have said, “I work alone,” but it was never true.

M is for Many

Batman has many, many sidekicks and he loves every one of them very much.

N is for Nightwing

Nightwing is Batman’s oldest son, the first Robin. He kept Batman from feeling alone and was a light in the darkness.

O is for Orphan and Oracle

Oracle was the first Batgirl. She helps Batman and the others from a computer. Orphan could easily take down any of Batman’s villains on her own.

P is for Parents

Losing his parents might have been a painful experience for Batman but if he hadn’t experienced that pain, he never would have taken in his kids.

Q is for Quit

Knowing how it feels to not have family, Batman will never quit trying to be a good father for his kids.

R is for Red and Robin

Red Hood is another son of Batman. So is Red Robin; he’s the smart one. And then there’s Robin. Batman has had lots of Robins but each of them are just as vital to the dynamic duo.

S is for Spoiler and Signal

Spoiler considers Batman her father since her real father is not very kind. Signal is a metahuman. He’s still adjusting to becoming a part of the family.

T is for Together

Batman may have said, “I work alone.” But the Batfamily works best when they work together.

U is for Unstoppable

Together, Batman, his friends, and his family are unstoppable.

V is for Vigilantes

The Bats for a family of vigilantes; vigilantes are people who decide to take justice into their own hands.

W is for Wayne

Batman was never alone. Bruce Wayne was never alone, even after his parents died. Alfred and Commissioner Gordon and Lucius Fox were there. Eventually, Bruce was there for Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Cassandra Cain, Timothy Drake, Stephanie Brown, Duke Thomas, and Damian Wayne when they needed a father.

Not only was there a family of Bats. There was a whole family of Waynes.

X is for Xtra

You can always count on Batman to be extra, especially when adopting more children.

Y is for You

Because if you’re reading this story, that means that you’re also a part of Batman’s family and he loves you very much.

Z is for Zzzzzzz

Because with that many kids, Batman must be a very tired dad.

~Written By RobinRaeken at 10pm

[hintofcolor]

More batfamily headcanons because I have so so many:

Duke has a lisp

He also has deadpan humor which his siblings love especially when their in masks and civilians can’t tell whether he’s joking or not

Duke has managed to hide exactly how chaotic he is from Bruce

Nobody told the league what dukes power is

It took them 2 years to figure it out

All they were told is that he was a meta and the all the bat kids had the time of their lives messing with them

He managed to convince a chunk of them that he could communicate with bats

He and tim together are a nightmare

Duke and Tim are the same age

Therefore they really love playing around with the twin stereotypes (twin telepathy, sharing all the same things so forth so on)

(“Oh you two are related” “yeah we’re identical twins”) (“I mean obviously I was born first” “were not” “yes I was I remember kicking you out of the way”) (“yeah Bruce couldn’t tell us apart so we were color coded” “I was red he was yellow” “I’m still not sure he didn’t get us mixed up”)

Tim gets all of his bad habits from dick

The not sleeping, not taking care of himself ,becoming obsessive over cases, holding himself to an impossible standard then hating himself when he fumbles along the way. blaming himself for things he can’t control so on and so on

No one has pointed it out because no one thinks either of them would handle the news well

Tim shattered the knee cap of Gotham academy’s quarter back in school when he overheard him call Damian a slur promptly ending his very promising football career

Dick has a playlist for each original titan member full of songs that remind him of them

Kori proposed to Dick

He cried

When angry, and I mean really angry, there are very very very few people who aren’t afraid of Dick

The people include: Alfred, Wally, kori, Roy, Barbara Tim and WonderWoman

Superman has backed away from Dick before

Dick has also made the justice league stop and take a step back because they didn’t want to get in his way

The bats are the only heroes who tend to get immediate respect because of their symbol

They hate it and tend to go out of their way to prove that they can earn the respect

Tim is one of the few people who can trick kryptonians, telepaths, and bats

There’s no special reason he just got really good at lying trying to get out of schoolwork when he was a kid

Nobody can maneuver and manipulate Bruce like Tim can and it frightens a lot of the hero community

His siblings however think it’s hilarious

If all in a good mood the Wayne kids are nightmares at galas

One time Bruce was accidentally shoved into a food table by one of his goblins

Which started a food fight

It was all over the front pages and everyone thought it was adorable, him humoring his children

The contact photos for all of them on Stephanies phone are strawberry shortcake characters she thinks each are

There’s a gold star chart in the bat cave no one knows how it got there or who started it

They also have no idea how they get a star added to their names each one has spent more time then willing to admit trying to figure it

Also trying to figure out if Bruce is doing it or Alfred

It’s Bruce

And he just randomly puts them on

He finds it entertaining how competitive they get over it

Dick gets cold really easily so in Gotham he’s practically always cold

So there are giant incredibly soft blankets on every single couch or chair in the manor

Mainly because the manor stays fairly cold because Jason runs hot

Bruce always keeps it cold even after Jason died

Since coming back Jason stays cold and nothing helps

He doesn’t mention it to Bruce

Jason’s blood glows

Not neon like a glow stick but it has a shine to it

It’s also jet black

When he gets really bad flashbacks he feels all of the injuries that caused his death which leaves him on the ground writhing until he passes out from the pain

He also tends to bleed when he gets to worked up.

He will bleed from his eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and fingernails

Its mainly his eyes tho

Pride doesn’t happen in Gotham. At least not parades because while you have all of the bats and even certain rogues protecting it the city ‘doesn’t want to take that chance’

While Gotham is a lot of things homophobic is not one of them (there are homophobes but they are are few and far between and it’s extremely risky for them to say anything hateful out loud)

So during pride month a lot and I mean a lot of people hang pride flags. Typically never the same one twice. It’s the most color Gotham sees during the year

And the big event is a gala at the manor open to everyone

Harley, ivy and Selina are the guards for it.

It’s free admission but has donation stations and all proceeds go to multiple LGBT+ charities and organizations

It’s a huge event and has been going on since Dick suggested it when he was 12

They have held it every year since and never once has it gone poorly

Barbara has punched Bruce after he told her one night when she was batgirl that she couldn’t have any more coffee

Cassandra is a very tactile person and will cling on to whichever family member is closest to her

Her and Harper are really close and it terrifies the rest of her siblings

Stephanie and Harper started a club called the ‘honoraries’ for the kids that aren’t legally Bruce’s but still live in the manor

Stephs mom travels a lot for work so when her mom is out of town she lives at the manor

She’s there often enough that she has her own room

However she is always out of the house before the sun even rises on the days her mom comes home because of how excited she is to see her mom

Cassandra is scared of dogs

[verymuchimmortalcat]

To Have Several first Meetings

Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month Day 1: Meeting for the first time

ao3

@maribat-bdbwm

Marinette had known she was adopted since she had been twelve and had a project about genetics in school. Her parents had explained to her that her mother had given her up for adoption since she wasn’t in a situation to take care of her and didn’t think her father would be able to. Marinette’s mother had passed away soon after and while Tom and Sabine had her father’s information neither of them had ever contacted him. They left the option up to Marinette, and at the time she hadn’t cared, she had two loving parents and she was happy.

.oOo.

Marinette meets Batman for the first time when she’s 14. Wonder Woman had been in contact with them from the beginning of the hawkmoth situation, but after Heroes Day Batman insists on speaking to the them. As they enter the Watch Tower she can feel Cat Noir buzzing with excitement next to her. She’d laugh but she’s too nervous to do so.

Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are waiting for them. Marinette’s glad there aren’t more heroes around, Cat Noir looks like he might explode in excitement. They sit down at the table and Batman speaks first, “You need training.”

She’s well aware of that, but the way Batman says it irritates her, but she ignores it. She’s here because Diana asked, and because Batman is right about their lack of training.

Superman speaks up then, “We can help you with that. You can use Titans Tower for your training-”

“-And due to the nature of the threat you face, the two of you and the rest of your team is welcome there anytime.”

Marinette doesn’t point out that the rest of them are temporary heroes, it will probably alarm them more. She knows Cat Noir is probably jumping at the offer but she wants to know “why?”

Batman’s the one to speak, “if you’re going to protect Paris, then you’re going to need to be trained well.”

Marinette doesn’t know why Batman has a sudden vested interest in Paris’s safety but she’s going to go along with it. They do need the training and it will be nice to talk to more heroes their age.

“And the Justice League won’t interfere in Paris?”

“No.”

“None of them? You have a very large team and not all of them are here at the moment.”

“I will ensure everyone is informed.”

Marinette drops it, Batman sounds sincere.

.oOo.

Cat Noir and Ladybug make their first appearance in Titans tower that weekend. Cyborg and Nightwing are the ones waiting for them. They meet a lot of heroes. There’s Robin, Red Robin, Superboy, Wonder Girl, Kid flash, Solstice, Ravager, Beast Boy, Raven and apparently there are more of them usually but those are the ones she meets.

Civilian names are a whole another thing. Ladybug, Cat Noir and the Bats don’t share theirs but then there are the others. Cassie of course doesn’t have a secret identity. And Kon, Bart, Kiran, Rose and Gar don’t really mind telling another super hero. It’s a bit weird how forthcoming they are with their identities, Marinette’s had the no sharing identities rule hammered into her head for over a year now, and meeting the Teen Titans is making her question that rule.

As time passes and the miraculous team grows larger and the heroes become permanent, Titans Tower becomes steadily more occupied during weekends and training relaxes into hanging out.

They still train of course, the bats help with figuring out hawkmoth and Mayura’s identities, pretty much everyone helps with the actual fighting, and Raven helps with the more magical aspects. She meets pretty much all of the teenage superhero community over the course of a year. It’s pretty cool.

.oOo.

About a year after they start their training, they figure out Hawkmoth is Gabriel Agreste and Mayura’s Nathalie Sancouer. It’s not surprising but she knows they’re all worried how it’s going to affect Adrien, who as they learn is Cat Noir.

Marinette is fifteen when Hawkmoth’s reign over Paris ends.

Paris celebrates for days. But Marinette can’t bring herself to feel anything anymore. It’s not that she hasn’t been dealing with her emotions with the constant trips to the tower it’s just not letting herself feel anything in Paris becomes normal.

Her parents start to get worried and as much as she would love to calm down their fears she can’t. Luka, Juleka and Alya are the ones who join forces to convince her to reach out to her biological father.

When she gives in and asks her parents, they give her his contact information happily, assuming that’s what had been bothering her all this time. Marinette doesn’t correct them.

It takes Marinette a few weeks to call him but she does call him.

.oOo.

It turns out he already knew about her; he had just figured waiting until she was older was the better approach. Marinette wasn’t really sure what to make of that but he had invited her to his house in Gotham to spend a week getting to know him and the rest of his children.

Marinette accepts his offer happily. It would be nice to learn more about her father and his family (beyond what her research turned up with, Gotham reporters didn’t seem very sensible), and get out of Paris for a while.

.oOo.

Marinette is met by M. Pennyworth, who’s their butler, at the airport. Her parents had let her come on her own after M. Wayne had assured them that she would be safe. There had still been an unnecessarily large number of people to send her off at the airport, though.

Their ride to Wayne Manor is filled with a good amount of nervous rambling, from Marinette’s part. Alfred (he had insisted upon being called so) asks her about school and friends and Marinette goes on a lot of tangents as she talks about everyone in Paris.

There several people waiting at the entrance when they reach the Manor. If she wasn’t anxious about meeting her family, she would probably be more amazed at the beauty of the Manor and the surrounding grounds.

She waves awkwardly at them and says, “hi, I’m Marinette.”

The shortest boy among them, Damian she believes, turns away and walks back into the Manor. Her father turns as if to follow him but he’s stopped by the second tallest of her siblings, Marinette doesn’t think she’ll ever get used to the idea of siblings but she finds she quite likes it, “I’ll go check on Damian. Bye Marinette, see you around.”

She waves at him silently and all of them fall into silence, Alfred having left them. Would it be too late to turn away now?

There aren’t enough pictures of Bruce Wayne’s children on the internet, with the exception of Tim Wayne, for her to recognise all of them but she's pretty sure the one who finally breaks the silence is Jason Todd, returning from the dead created more than enough reading material for her research.

“I'm leaving. Nice to meet ya,” and then heads off. None of the others seem to think it’s strange, so she doesn’t dwell on it.

Mr. Wayne clears his throat and says, “we should probably head inside.”

“Truly one of your brighter ideas B,” Tim says and the other two laugh. They introduce themselves as Cass and Duke once they’re inside and Mr. Wayne tells her she can call him B or Bruce like the others do or whatever she’s comfortable with, Marinette nods in reply. And then she’s being dragged along to somewhere deep in the Manor by her new siblings and they’re talking about some kind of prank war that they’re apparently in the middle of.

Marinette grins. This is bound to be interesting.