#this is the duality of batman

[frownyalfred]

Bruce has million dollar tech in his suit that he sometimes just has to smash into the face of some villain as a last resort and it’s like, whoops, there goes the new prototype fingerprint tech, punching Clayface was too important sorry Lucius

[shyjusticewarrior]

Two things can be and are true at once.

Robin Jason was a sweet, kind kid who cared about victims. He also had righteous rage and violent tendencies towards those he thought deserved it.

Being Robin gave him magic and as Robin he shattered a man's collarbone with no remorse.

[oifaaa]

I will say despite all my issues with the new boy wonder issue this panel is so funny as Jason basically went

[ashoss]

this was supposed to be just a sketch page D:

[armed-with-a-waffle-iron]

Interesting that Stephanie Brown reminds Dick of a young Barbara Gordon but reminds Bruce of a young Dick Grayson. So much to read into there.

Batgirl (2009) #7 & Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Batgirl

They’re both projecting. They’re impressed by what they see in Steph so they liken her to the person they hold in the highest of regards; for Dick that’s Babs and for Bruce that’s Dick.

On the other hand, Stephanie, current Batgirl and former Robin, does in fact draw parallels to both Babs and Dick; the first Batgirl and Robin!! And Dick and Bruce recognise this. Her spirit is relentless and fucking unbreakable and she’s independent to a fault; qualities associated with Babs’ strong character. More technically, she’s light-footed, agile and always pinging around the battlefield, and she’s also cunning, always using her words to throw off her opponents; skills and techniques particularly associated with how Dick operates.

Another important thing to note is that that Dick, now Batman, has come to know Stephanie as the Batgirl, and so likens her to the original Batgirl, while Bruce still remembers Stephanie as his Robin, and so likens her to the original Robin.

Nevertheless, despite what a lot of the bat fandom may tell you, people can be more than just one thing.

[rubydubydoo122]

Being a Jason Todd fan means wanting to believe he crochets/knits, but also wanting his fingers to be kinda messed up from clawing out of his coffin

[thesulkycroissant]

The way Bruce thinks about Dick makes me so emotional

[monarch-apostate]

Front life vs Underground life

[bearforceone3]

bats and robin (ver 1)

[i-am-trans-gwender]

Serious media will have silly fandoms cracking jokes about all the dark things that happen in the series.

Examples: Breaking Bad, Death Note, Oppenheimer, Batman Arkham, Ultrakill, Invincible, Downfall, Neon Genesis Evangelion etc

Meanwhile light hearted media will have fans reinterpreting the story to be as dark as possible

Examples: Animal Crossing, Loud House, Garfield, Wizard of Oz, My Little Pony, Pokemon, Mario, Spongebob etc

When media that falls in between you'll have one half of the fan base treating it like an upbeat sitcom and the other half treating it like eldritch horror

Examples: Happy Tree Friends, The Owl House, Fire Emblem, The Amazing Digital Circus, Hazbin Hotel, South Park, Sonic The Hedgehog etc

[frownyalfred]

love how Gotham goons are like "awh, it's the nice, quippy one" when they see Nightwing and then Dick shoves his fucking escrima stick down their throats until they choke on it and almost die

[g1rl-int3rupted]

The duality of women is having to decide whether I’m gonna be Batman or a Victoria Secret Angel for Halloween

[nenehyuuchiha]

Red Hood crying - Batman Fan Animation

[halfdent]

how people thought Harv would react to learning Bruce was Batman: YOU BETRAYED ME WHAT THE FUCK ? all these years how could you ? you ruined my life ! how Harv actually reacted : *shaking sobbing crying* I know you're Batman please lock me away or do something before Two Face finds out . I need you , I don't want him to hurt you . how people thought Twos would react to finding out Bruce was Batman : YOU BETRAYED ME WHAT THE FUCK ? all these years how could you ? you ruined my life ! Now perish . Two Face: Hot . alright lets go save his ass ...

[batfleckgifs]

not that i'd consider Air you know an indie movie given that its made up of some of the longest standing actors in hollywood but going from Live by Night this studio backed film and then to Air with the set pieces and the color grading and just like the scale is really fascinating to me and i kind really wish Ben gets to do a director cut of Live by Night cos i do feel a lot of it got chopped down in favor of the whole fiasco happening at WB during that time but maaaaan seriously live by night is objectively the "prettier" film

[distort-opia]

What is your ideal ghostbat dynamic?

Oh it's definitely the thrice-divorced snarky middle-aged men performing intricate rituals thing they currently got going on.

Batman 2022 Annual

Bruce Wayne, being a character with almost a century of history, has beein paired with so many individuals. There's a lot of relationships he's formed over time, but a particularly interesting type is the people-who-knew-him-before-Batman category. Harvey Dent, Thomas Eliot, Zatanna Zatara, Talia al Ghul... and now Minhkhoa Khan. Obviously, quite a lot of these characters ended up as unequivocal villains Batman has had to fight (Two-Face, Hush) while Zatanna remained a childhood-friend-and-almost-lover. Talia and Khoa are more complicated; they're definitely not heroes, not exactly on the same side as Bruce. But they aren't downright villains either. The waters are more muddled. In Talia's case there's the conflict between her loyalty and love for her father, duty and legacy; this opposition to Bruce's own goals was there from the start. But (to finally get to my point with this tangent) there was no such thing with Khoa, and that's basically my main draw to the ship. Bruce has other people that know him as just Bruce and not Batman, or as the in-between (all unique and complex relationships in their own right), but I can only think of Khoa as someone who was present for Batman being forged. While Talia was there when Bruce was training, she didn't share the same goal of combating crime, but Khoa did. For someone so desperately lonely as Bruce is, having someone to share that road with meant so much. Not only that, Khoa contributed to the formation of Batman by engaging him in the wild competitive streak they share, by pushing Bruce to rise to his level.

Hence... the unique kind of familiarity they have even decades later, despite the numerous betrayals along the way. That's an ideal component to me-- Bruce feeling like he can easily be himself. It's a rarity to him, since he plays so many different roles to many different people. And after Alfred's death, someone so important who knew him utterly and supported him from the start, he clearly missed it. It didn't really matter that Khoa killed dozens of people when he showed up in Gotham and literally declared he'll traumatize Bruce by killing a kid in front of him (which he probably would have done, if Harley hadn't managed to be as persuasive as she was). After Selina leaving him, Dick getting shot, his own father and Bane taking his city away, Alfred dying, losing his fortune and Joker War happening... myeah, I really feel like Khoa showed up at the perfect moment.

Which leads me to another component of their dynamic that I favor, and that's both of them being manipulative assholes and equals capable of kicking each other's asses. Why did Khoa show up with all of his resources after Joker War specifically? Why did Bruce ask him to stay so readily, forgoing the things Khoa had done? Hah. Khoa's undoubtedly been obsessed with Bruce, if keeping tabs on him and seeking out Jonathan Crane to learn fear and hell, even getting a sidekick to mirror Batman having a Robin is any indication. He gets to be close to Bruce and potentially ingratiate himself to him while fully knowing Bruce is using him, and Bruce knows it too-- but he's still allowing himself to depend on Khoa's resources and on him becoming part of Batman Incorporated and the more extended Bat-team. Khoa's always been manipulative; wonder if Bruce ever found out that in The Knight #4, Khoa was the one to tell those assassins Bruce's location, thus orchestrating a situation in which Bruce would finally accept to take him with him. But then, while they were training with Avery, Bruce was manipulative back, and you can literally see Khoa falling in love over it in The Knight #5, after Bruce distracts him with flirting and then steals the book.

At the end of the day, Khoa is a psychopath; perhaps not the sadistic kind, but he still operates as one, and Bruce can not only handle it, but he can handle it well. He's proven himself to be an equal, someone who challenges Khoa to improve and become better. Thing is, psychopaths overlap with narcissists a lot due to a basic reason. For neurotypical individuals, empathy acts as a way to see conspecifics as others, but like-minded others. You see other people think and emote like you, and you register them as human beings just like you. 'I feel what you feel, therefore we are the same.' But psychopaths work differently, in the sense that they often have excellent cognitive empathy, but a dulled affective one. They can tell how people think, but emotionally these things don't resonate with them-- the consequence being that they don't easily register others as equals, like-minded others. It's easy to then see yourself as the most valuable individual ever, as the center of the world, because you haven't truly ever shared that world. Which is why, when a psychopath meets someone they can relate to... they don't just relate, they become obsessed. Much like Khoa has. If all your life you felt you're separate from everyone else, having this kind of connection is life-changing, and you'll do whatever you need to preserve it. Including manipulative and murderous acts. But that's fine, because Bruce is attracted to this kind of thing. He himself has thought at some point about a woman (Jezebel Jet) that he should've known she was villainous and would betray him, because he had been attracted to her. I could get into Bruce's dating history and what it says about his preferences, but 'nuff said.

...Anyway, this got away from me, Anon :)) You probably didn't expect a whole-ass essay, but I hope you enjoyed reading through my personal take on them. I really like Khoa's character, since it's not often you get a morally-grey and complex psychopath like him, in comics. But to summarize my answer, my ideal Ghostbat dynamic is definitely one based on them being equals who know each other on a fundamental level, capable of handling both the good parts and the bad parts of the other; the one that solidified after decades of a push-and-pull between their core principles and ideals.