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#Bruce please stop him
arenjix · 9 months
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Baby Birds and Bat Caves
By IzzyMRDB
Complete
Summary:
Gotham was built on a cave system. Batman has referenced a Bat Cave before. Tim is currently in the cave system. He is in the cave system that he entered from Drake Manor. Drake Manor is right next door to where Batman- The Bruce Wayne- lives. Holy Cavern, Batman! Tim had just accidentally wandered into the Bat Cave’s cave system. OR Tim, having found a weird hole after a storm, decides to go exploring ignoring the fact that This Is Gotham and They Probably Have Cursed Stuff Down There. Luckily, it was just a cave system that spans the entire Gotham underground. Unluckily, Tim is a very curious child.
(Stats/Tags are under the cut)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: Gen
Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Batman (Comics)
Relationships: Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Jason Todd, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson, Stephanie Brown & Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown & Cassandra Cain & Tim Drake, Tim Drake & Edward Nygma
Characters: Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne, Barbara Gordon, Original Non-Human Character(s), Alfred Pennyworth, Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Edward Nygma
Language: English
Additional Tags: Caves, Fluff, Weird Gotham City, Tim Drake-centric, BAMF Tim Drake, Kid Tim Drake, the Bat Cave, Kids are so curious, Smart Tim Drake, Tim please stop running around in gothams cave systems, Stalker Tim Drake, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, no beta we die like robin, Tiny Tim Drake, Tim Drake has the survival instincts of a wet paper bag, Crack Treated Seriously, Humor, Tim looking at the cave system under the city: you know this might as well happen, Bruce please stop him, Child Neglect, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Inspired by Welcome to Night Vale, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Magic shennanigans, BAMF Stephanie Brown, BAMF Cassandra Cain, Edward Nygma Tries, Cryptid Tim Drake, Tim Drake is Crow, Tim Drake is Not Robin, Kid Fic, Stephanie Brown is Starling, Cassandra Cain is Black Bat, Cassandra Cain is Black Bird
Series: Part 1 of Gotham Caves and Reality Aberrations
Published: 2022-03-20
Completed: 2022-06-30
Words: 30,113
Chapters: 20/20
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brie-annwyl · 8 months
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YALL
BRUCE GETTING DE- AGED AND JUST BEING ATTACHED AT JASONS HIP
Jason trying to leave multiple times and Bruce is almost in tears like “are you leaving me? 😢” and Jason’s like fuckkkkkkkkkk.
Imagine baby Bruce being the only version of Bruce able to communicate, but because he’s a child he cannot read social cues that well. Dick and Jason get into an argument over something stupid and baby Bruce is like “is this my fault? I’m sorry. I love you.” And it will be the ONLY time they ever hear those 3 terms in the same conversation with their dad.
Baby Bruce would definitely be VERY physically affectionate. He’s always wanting to hold Jason’s hand or hug him and when Jason finally gets fed up and asks about why he’s being so affectionate.
“This is the only time you’ll let me love you.”
I WILL DIEEEEEEEE
WHY IS MY BRAIN DOING THIS TO MEEEEEEEEEE
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kizzer55555 · 12 days
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Core Gems
So when a ghost becomes injured, they have a last ditch defense where they retreat into their core. And I mean, injured badly where their body is rip apart to the point they can’t hold a solid form anymore. And they basically go into a hibernation state until they are strong enough to form again.
Ellie, Danny, and Dan are all injured in a final battle against the GIW. The organization was destroyed and the ghosts were safe but the halfas ended up being so injured that they reverted to core form and then went to sleep for a bit. When they woke up, they were still weak but at least recovered enough to gain consciousness. And realize…they are in some kind of auction…in the middle of a heist. It appeared that two furries (one in a bat costume and one in a cat costume) were ducking it out. And they…they were a necklace. All three of them had been turned into a necklace with their cores as gems accompanied by sapphires, pearls, and opals. And frankly gorgeous craftsmanship as the metal was crafted around their cores as if to cradle them and the other gems.
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Unfortunately, they were too weak to take a form properly, they could still feel the strain on their bodies. But at least they could still communicate through their auras. Then the cat lady punched a hole in the glass container surrounding them and grabbed their necklace.
However, the bat grabbed the other end and it resulted in a sort of tug-a-war. Meanwhile, Danny, Ellie, and Dan were having a back and form commentary on the situation and what they should do. Completely unheard by the other party.
In the corner of their eye, the three halfas finally noticed a third contender. Some kind of clown who was…hold on…holding a gun?! And it was pointed straight at the two fighting furies who had yet to notice him. The ghosts’ protective instincts went into overdrive and they frantically tried to shout, yell, move. Just do something to warn the two but their cries fell on deaf ears. All they succeeded in doing was faintly glow which immediatly caught the attention of the fighting duo. The two turned to look at the strange necklace but right at that moment, the clown fired and a gunshot rang throughout the auction room. Having no other options, Danny and the others poured every ounce of ectoplasm they had to try and phaseshift, making the two furries intangible as the bullets passed right through them, but in their shock, the two jumped away in opposite directions and accidentally ripped the necklace apart. Gems and pearls went flying and the three cores bounced along the ground.
Luckily, the two finally noticed the clown and went to deal with him and his minions who had appeared. Seemingly putting their fight on hold and forming a temporary truce. The three halfas could only watch as the battle finally wound down, ending with the cops barging into the place and arresting the clown and his grunts, the cat managing to escape with half the scattered gems and pearls from the broken necklace along with a few other jewelry pieces (none of their cores though) and the bat leaving through a skylight.
The auction continued and in the end, despite being broken, their necklace seemed to have caught someone’s interest. A man named Bruce Wayne bought up every piece of the shattered jewelry wear. The auctioneers appeared relived that the item managed to sell in the end and gratefully gave it to him.
Bruce had no idea what happened at the auction, but he could have sworn that some of the gems faintly glowed right before he and Selina were shot. If the necklace was some sort of magical item, then he needed to understand exactly what has been brought to Gotham. It was unfortunate that Selena had taken some parts of the necklace but he utilized his vast wealth to make sure all the other parts ended in his possession. Now he would take them back to the mansion for examination.
#Dpxdc#dcxdp#kizzer55555 ideas#Bruce thinks the necklace is magical. He’s technically not wrong.#When he gets home he immediately puts each gem in a glass container to examine them. For the longest time though nothing happens.#They all look like normal gems except for the main three of the piece. He can’t identify what kind of gem they are.#The gems are perfect spheres with various shades of blue (with hints of green and white) swirling around.#The colors almost look like they are moving in slow motion. Still. Nothing happens as he examines them and no strange events happen.#That is until one day he decided to take the gems to be examined by a professional and a villain attacked.#A piece of building was about to crush him when a wall of ice appeared as a shield over him. After that he took them back to the cave.#Bruce looks up thousands of documents about enchanted necklaces and artifacts but finds nothing. He even calls in favors from JLD.#Zatanna doesn’t recognize them but feels some kind of power coming off the gems however it doesn’t feel malevolent (at least for 2 of them)#(The last gem is neutral.) Also Constantine was unavailable (*cough* hiding from responsibilities *cough*)#The other bats get interested in the gems. Tim has a theory that they are some kind of protective charms. Damian agrees.#(Everyone is shocked Tim and Damian agree on something). So while Bruce is continuing his investigation the other bats decide to do some#‘Field testing’ and take the gems out. Consequently the gems end up saving their lives and they discover a few things they can do like make#The wearer invisible. Intangible. Create green barriers/constructs. Create ice. Vibrate when an enemy is coming. And much more.#The bats fashion them into new individual bracelets/necklaces and think they are the coolest thing. They have powered up protective charms!#The halfas just wish these kids would STOP PUTTING THEIR LIVES IN DANGER! What are they MORONS?!#Most of the ectoplasms they recover is used to protect the bats and nearby civilians.#(Dan also trolls people and is mostly protective his siblings though)#People notice the new power ups. A rougue gets his hands on a gem and tries to use it ONCE to attack something but the gems didn’t respond.#Then it froze the rough’s legs to the ground.#Much time later the gems are swapped between the bats and alternated and have just become a new item in their belt#(batman was not pleased but eventually got used to it and begrudgingly accepted that they were useful. Especially when they save his kids)#They come to a Justice league meeting and Constantine finally sees them.#His mouth drops in shock and he frantically asks where they got GHOST CORES?! And this is when the bats finally realise what they have.#And are horrified to realize EXACTLY what they are holding and that these ‘gems’ were technically ALIVE.#Meanwhile the three Halfas have been kinda chilling but also working their butts off to keep this family alive. It was a fulltime job.
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shower-phantom-ideas · 9 months
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Danny as Fenton takes a hit that no human boy should survive while in a different city (im going crossover here) and just transforms into phantom and pretends to be all sad that he died. Just for a moment. He then proceeds to kick the baddies ass. Claims he got ghost powers and fucks off. Imagine if Captain America or Batman saw this while failing ti protect him, hell or any hero type. Danny doesn’t think much on it and just goes on with his week. Continues being Fenton of course but what if he runs into whatever hero, but out if costume, saw him do that.
“How are you here? And alive?”
Danny holding a smoothie:”uhhhh I made a miraculous recovery”
He just shrugs it off and goes about his day. It isn’t until he finally gets some sleep later that night that he wakes up in a cold sweat realising he now knows their secret identity. “Oh well it’s neat I guess” starts to go back to sleep only to bolt back up “oh god now they know my secret identity”
Meanwhile said hero is too busy trying to figure out how to help this random kid to even be worried about the fact that they outed themselves. Someone else probably points it out to them and has to explain it twice before it gets thru.
#danny phantom#crossovers#dp x mcu#dpxdc#dp x dc#I like to use batman a lot cause his need to protect these kids probably makes him a little stupid#like imagine him in the batcave looking into fenton now and nightwing comes in starts asking about it#only to have to find out that bruce basically told the kid hes batman#except bruce is tired and worried so he isnt getting it#no B I mean like how does bruce wayne know the kid died. only batman saw it#if you are trying to make some sort of joke it’s not working. now please excuse me I have to figure this out#a sigh and facepalm#B imagine what the kid is gonna think when bruce wayne asks him how he is alive but batman watched him die.#slowly bruce stops typing and leans back from the computer#he freezes#eyes widening#a soft but sharp intake#oh#yea oh B geeze you must be tired if it took this long for you to get ut#bruce with his head in his hands realising he just messed up big time#maybe he should get more sleep after all#as for the mcu I would like to think it was hawkeye or hulk#I like hulk cause it’s also a bruce but I like hawkeye more. guy is very comfort character#clint just kid I saw you die now why don’t you explain that#danny giving him nothing till clints like come on it’s kinda messed up letting me think I let a kid die isnt it.#oh poor me loosing so much sleep watching a young boy become a ghost. I could hardly go on#danny rolls his eyes laying it on a little thick arent we old man#gasp! I will have you know I am only (insert haskeyes age here)#geeze you are waaayyy okder than I thought
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Disgustingly messy and crusty sketch dump but I couldn't get my own terrible theory out of my head and ended up making a bunch of sketches about it. Also at the end a bonus dickbats and Damian doodle bc I was reading an issue of their Batman and Robin run (IDs in Alt)
#dc comics#dc#batfamily#batman#damian wayne#stephanie brown#tim drake#dick grayson#cassandra cain#duke thomas#anyway. zdarsky run sure is something huh?#its still so funny to me that half of 148 was leaked a few days before like someone has it OUT for that book over at bleeding cool ig#i don't necessarily think this theory will come true I'm just imagining how stupid it would be if it did#I'm not super happy with the dialogue in the cass+duke+dick comic but i felt my og dialogue might've read too fanon#mainly just bc cass' last sentence was originally shorter/just ellipses and duke said smthin like ''wait? villain arc?''#which you could easily find in wayne family adventures. even tho it would've been appropriate for this situation 😭#now the dialogue just sounds kind of generic (esp cass') and it's BOTHERING ME AUGHH. this is the comic book fandom panopticon /j#anyway Bruce is in the retirement home in this scenario /j#me n my friends were talking over discord and came up w the cursed scenario that jason is tims robin in this (apart of the 'redemption' arc#-that he's been nail gunned with in this run. god this run is so weird when it comes to jason. like it doesn't outright dislike him-#-like it clearly does damian and (more obviously) cass steph and duke) but the tone of everything w jason is still bizarre#god. anyway yeah i didn't draw him but please picture grown man tank Jason in the robin undies (ala tt 03 but dare i say better)#also the dick being silly sketch was bc the issue i was reading had damian refer to dick as 'jolly'#specifically like ''unreasonably jolly'' or something like that (god i love when ppl find dicks cheerfulness deeply unsettling hehehe)#and i thought it was so funny. bc damian met dick when we has going through his ''bruce is dead'' depression-#-and STILL thought that dick was extremely unserious. he sees happy dick and is like ''what is wrong w you. genuinely''#but at the same time he loves it#i need to stop reading their batman and robin run so scatteredly (or i can just reread nightwing must die...always a possibility)#anyway yeah 👍 bad sketches be upon you#mine
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puppetmaster13u · 27 days
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Meme Prompt 11
A three-way crossover this time
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chepib3 · 2 months
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dick and clark would have such interesting conversations about being ripped away from your culture and your family and about becoming a symbol of hope and resilience in the face of complete loss and all of those fun topics i'm going to pour my feelings about anglo/eurocentrism into those guys any day now
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Note
Bernard is the one who handles the spiders. Tim can handle many things, but spiders is not one of them
He can’t handle them *well.*
He, of course, protests this statement. C4 and swords stolen from his brother are perfectly acceptable solutions, Bernard
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little-pondhead · 1 year
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DPxDC Prompt:
[this is a long one please forgive me]
Bruce lied to the others about his trip through time. Not all of it! Just…one specific thing.
During the early parts of his timeline hijinks, before Tim realized Bruce was still alive, he had a bit of a respite in between his endless time jumps. (Maybe a certain ghost was helping him out.) With a fuzzy memory at best and a strange itch to investigate the unknown, Bruce had been taken in by an old couple who had no kids but wanted to pass on the family name. And who better than a thirty-something amnesiac stranger who could actually be related by blood?
Bruce, with nowhere to go, accepted his new name, grew out his hair, and quickly got accepted into college for engineering. There, he met two of his closest friends; a redheaded woman who could kick his ass and a wet chicken of a man who could also kick his ass. They both made him nostalgic for something he didn’t remember, and that made him sad sometimes, but the two were always there to cheer him up.
Years passed, and Bruce’s life moved on. He settled well into his new name, mourned his parents when the eventually passed, celebrated his wedding with the redhead, and grieved when the last of their trio fell out of touch. He had a daughter, and then a son! They were both so smart, even if they didn’t share the same passion he had for exploring the science behind the afterlife. (Something about the dead just itched his brain in an infuriating way, and Bruce wasn’t one to let sleeping dogs lie. He just had to find out why he was so obsessed with this stuff!)
Eventually, his and his wife’s research yielded results, and that’s when bits of Bruce’s former life started coming back to him. After the portal opened, he spent his days with his head in a fog, oblivious to the world around him as he struggled to continue his work.
Why did he remember a boy named Dick? Who would name their child that? And Jason…who was Jason? That name always made him sad. There were more names, more faces, but none of them were his. He could never remember what his name was supposed to be. All he had was the one his adoptive parents gave him.
His wife was worried. His daughter was struggling. And his son…his son sometimes hurt to look at. Bruce didn’t know why. He knew he was being a terrible father, but something in him wanted to cry whenever he gazed at those clear blue eyes, just like his own. His son was too smart for his own good, and realized his dad had started avoiding him.
The day his son purposely left the room so Bruce could relax was one that hurt him even now.
Time kept passing, and Bruce was becoming anxious. His brain fog was as bad as its ever been. He had constant headaches, and his hands kept twitching for nonexistent tools on his belt. Something was going to happen. Something had happened. A voice in his head told him it was all his fault.
So in an attempt to clear his head and spend more time with his family, Bruce insisted they all go to dinner at the local diner. His son invited his friends. Even better! More people meant more distractions from his messed-up thoughts. He wouldn’t spiral with the kids around.
And then something exploded.
The last thing Bruce remembered was his son’s (green??) eyes widening in fear and horror as something yanked him violently backwards. He fell farther than expected, through a portal and a green sky full of black stars. A hand tightened on the back of his jumpsuit, hauling his giant body through another portal with a roar of a motorcycle.
And then…and then…and then what?
All of a sudden, Bruce was sprawled in some mud in the middle of a forest, dizzy and coughing from the explosion’s fumes. He’s singed all over, and his ears still rang from the force of the…what happened again?
Bruce sits up, and all of a sudden, he’s in the era of the pilgrims. His memory has been wiped clean, his new name and family forgotten thanks to the hands of time. His adventures through the time stream continue, with him assuming many different identities throughout many different decades.
The memories of being Jack Fenton don’t return to him until he’s back in 2004, once again in his own time and living as Bruce Wayne. A glowing green sticky note informs him that “The Nasty Burger Incident” had just occurred. His “other self” just had his ass dragged to another era, so the time loop would continue.
It also informed him that he had an orphaned son crying for him at Bruce’s own grave.
Well, his forgotten son (that sounded bad, even to him) was supposed to be about fourteen now, right? Bruce hopes he doesn’t have to fight anyone for custody.
#pondhead blurbs#danny phantom#dpxdc#writing prompt#‘Alfred get the Guy’#‘you haven’t even left the house today’#‘my dad senses are tingling and I may need to fistfight another billionaire so have the Other Guy on standby as well’#Bruce becomes Jack Fenton#he went to college and literally built a life for himself at the same time ‘Bruce Wayne’ existed#‘Jack’ just never watched the news#clockwork had to make sure Danny existed so guess what! you’re the son of the bat happy birthday#the nasty burger incident happens but in the two seconds it took to kill everyone#Johnny 13 dragged his ass to another era#he was ordered to by clockwork#I have zero clue how old Bruce was during his timeline shenanigans and idk when it took place either#just work with me on this#please I am begging you#he only got his memories back when the time matches up with Jack Fenton’s ‘death’#Danny loses his dad and then gets him back in the span of 24 hours but now his dad is a billionaire??#well he gets to watch Bruce fistfight Vlad for custody and then stop him from killing clockwork#cause how DARE Clockwork just make him FORGET an entire family he had???#morally grey clockwork#Danny is trying really hard not to become Dan and Bruce is trying really hard to explain this to his other kids#‘no this one is ACTUALLY mine’#‘yes I know I was a teen in Europe when the wedding would have happened’#again don’t know the dc timeline just work with me here#please don’t ask me to continue this I will cry#if someone else does I’d be happy to read it though :))
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rmbunnie · 2 months
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Red Hood Characterization
This is really long so I'm putting a cut here, I've been thinking about Jason Todd's character motivations and the question of whether or not his actions are based in a Moral Code (I don't think so, not to say he's without any morality) and I talk about that in more depth here.
I saw someone say on here that Titans: Beast World: Gotham City was some of the best Jason Todd internal writing they'd seen in a while, and I've been a Red Hood fan for 8 years or so now? pretty much since I read comics for the first time, so I went and checked out and I thought it was good! The way the person I saw talking about it as if it was rare and unusual made me wonder though, because as well-written as i thought his stances on crime were, there wasn't really anything in it that went against the way I conceptualize Jason?
This kinda plays into a larger question I've been thinking about for a while with Jason though, which is that, do people think that the killing is part of a fundamental worldview that motivates him a la batman, and that worldview is the reason he does the things he does?? Because 8 years ago i was a middle schooler engaging with fiction on the level that a middle schooler does, so I simply did not put much thought into it beyond "poor guy :(" but ever since I actually started trying to understand consistent characterization, I don't really see Jason as someone who's motivated by a moral code in his actions the way batman or superman is!
tbh my personal read is that he's a very socially-motivated guy, his actions from resurrection to his Joker-Batman ultimatum in utrh always seemed to me like every choice made leading up to his identity reveal was either a. to give him the leverage and skill necessary to pull off his identity reveal successfully, or b. to twist the knife that little bit more when he does let Bruce find out who he is. Like iirc there's a Judd Winick tweet like "yeah tldr he chose Red Hood as his identity because it's the lowest blow he could think of." And I think that's awesome, I think character motivations rooted so deeply in character's relationships and emotions are really fun to read! I also think it's where the stagnation/flatness of his character comes from in certain comics, because if his main motivation is one event in one relationship that passes, and he is not particularly attached to anything in his life or the world by the time that comes to pass, it's a little harder to come up with a direction to go with the character after that, because there isn't much of a direction that aligns with something the character would reasonably want? But I do think solving this by saying "all of the morally-off emotionally driven cruelty he did on his way to spite Batman was actually reflective of his own version of Batman's stance that's exactly the same except he thinks it's GOOD to kill people" isn't ideal. To be fully honest, it seems to me like he never particularly cared one way or the other about killing people to "clean Gotham of crime," he just did everything he could to get the power necessary to pull off his personal plans, and took out any particularly heinous people he encountered along the way (like in Lost Days.) Not to say I think the fact he killed people keeps him up at night anymore than everything else in his life events, I just never really thought he was out there wholeheartedly kneecapping some dude selling weed or random guy robbing a tv store for justice.
Looping wayyy back to my question, Is this (^) contradictory to the way he's written/the overall average perception of the character? Because like I enjoyed his writing in Beast World i have zero significant issue with anything there, I just didn't believe it would be a hot take, like yeah, that is Jason. It's been a while since I've read utrh and lost days, but I don't think my takeaway directly contradicts either of those too bad iirc. Idk all this to say I think Jason killing and being alright with killing is an obvious and objective fact, but i guess i've always seen it as more of a practical tactic than a moral belief, and I think taking the actions made during the lowest points of a character's life where he is obsessively focused on this ONEEEE thing and trying to apply it as a Motivating Stance to everything he's done after that, doesn't really follow logically for me.
#edit: i am so so open to discussion and disagreement on this but please try to have something substantial to say. god bless!#like ofc jason kills but to me it was less “everyone I've ever killed deserves death objectively”#and more “when people are dead they stop doing things like heinous atrocities and trying to kill me"#i don't even think he wanted the joker dead (only) because he thinks he objectively morally deserves death#although the joker is one of the most extreme cases possible and he if does think that he's VERY justified#i really do think it was just about bruce#and wanting bruce to avenge him to show he loved him and he mattered and wanting his dad to give him security#all the killing was about the clown and everything with the clown was about bruce#i've NEVER forgotten the bit in lost days where he has the joker tied up at gunpoint and doesn't kill him#i think if it was only about a moral greater good situation he would have taken him out then and there#if you disagree i'd love to hear why provided you can be civil and not an jerk#also if you disagree PLEASE PLEASE put screenshots and comic issues if possible#i'd love to check them out and form my own stance on them#just know that if you say like. battle for the cowl. or the Tom King batman annual or something i probably won't care too much#comic characterization is ever-changing and inconsistent i truly believe that the best thing to do is just read the important stuff#and try to form your own stances from there#because there's never gonna be 100% of comics involving a character that align with each other perfectly and that's just a given#jason todd#red hood#dc comics
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redsray · 4 months
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I spend my evenings mopping the floor with canon Bruce Wayne and his terrible terrible parenting decisions
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clownprince · 11 months
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really wish more people would capitalize on the implication that joker views jason as somewhat of a son figure in the sense that jason wouldn't be the man he is today if he wasn't killed by joker. it's such a fucked up wretched kinda hilarious dynamic you're all missing out
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pyroreadscomics · 8 months
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I'm going to be withholding judgment until i have Batman 138 in my digital hands (and possibly be exceptionally generous and wait until a week after Gotham War has wrapped) but, based solely on those previews... what the fuck?
Like I recognize that, to Bruce, Jason is an impossible problem. But even still this feels like an exceptionally bad solution.
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teleportationmagic · 1 year
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Continuation of this post about reverse Batgirl ft. Babara.
Cassandra's the first one to run into Babs.
It's been a few years - they've gone through a few more Robins. Bruce picked Jason up off the street, Tim dropped Robin for a second, Jason took it up. Jason died. Tim picked it back up again. There was a memorial to a dead boy in the Batcave, before he came back. Hoodie was on the streets again, no matter how much Bruce resents it.
The way she runs into her is... unorganized. She's launched by a creature straight into the side of a townhouse and flips so that her legs frame the redheaded teenager instead of making contact, before launching herself back into the fight and wrestling the thing to the ground. She leaves it tied up, and intends to make a quick visual check before moving on to the other three creatures that are rampaging through Gotham (Joker did a Thing) (Don't ask) when Barbara sticks out her neck and tells her to stop. Asks if she has a plan - asks if she knows where they are.
That is a negative. The situation is quickly evolving, and its all hands on deck. Barbara offers to help - she'll moniter Twitter and TikTok, see if she can give Cassandra any information that'll be useful. She even has access to the police networks - she can really help her out!
Bruce, through Cassandra's ear, is very much against this. But Barbara will stay in her home (which, while uninsulated (anymore), is not actually unsafe) (well, any more unsafe than the rest of Gotham) so she gives her a comm (That's not why I gave you extras, Batgirl!) (You said if I lose them. Lost one.) and heads out to fight giants. Barbara guides her through the city, taking her from stop to stop - she doesn't just keep social media open, but instead she surfs through city plans and sewer routes. Cassandra follows her directions - sweeping up and down Gotham. Barbara knows, by the end of it, that her contributions helped. Significantly.
She asks if she can stay on full time. Not as a vigilante, no, but just as a helper, someone to collate all the information they needed, to point Batgirl in the right direction.
Cass is hesitant. Bruce is hesitant. Steph wants to meet her first, but is also hesitant.
It doesn't help that, during their next mission, it turns out that Barbara had patched herself into their comms network through the one they gave her. She's picked up a codename in the meantime - Oracle.
It's Duke who ultimately argues her in. It's clear she won't stop - hell, which one of them actually stopped when they were told? And while Steph has complicated feelings about this, but she can't quite argue that he's wrong. (Jason also has complicated feelings about this! But he outwardly, he comes down hard on Let Her In, Actually) (Tim and Damian are on side I-haven't-met-her-yet)
Moreover, he continues, she's not actually in danger physically. In terms of new vigilantes, she's relatively safe, all things considered.
So Oracle is pulled into the fold. A lot of her work in the beginning is done out of her laptop, but as time passes (and she gets better and better at what she's doing) it evolves into more complicated stuff - actual hacking and archival stuff.
Cassandra, on the other hand, is growing up. She's been Batgirl for eight years, now. Damian and Duke change their suits, but Cassandra just adjusts hers for height. And now she is a mentor, to a girl older than when she picked this suit up.
"Maybe." Steph reflects. "Your just getting old. In general. Midlife crisis time."
"Older." She replies, tapping her on the shoulder. "Anciiiiiiient."
"Rude, so rude."
Batgirl was important to her, undoubtedly so. But it belonged to Gotham, and to Bludhaven. Cassandra had stayed there for so long, had based herself in those cities. She remembers, being younger. In the year between Cain and Bruce, travelling the world, and helping, where she could. And she helped here, she really did, but. But.
Barbara stays as Cass's main support, but eventually she starts helping out with the Robin contingent. It's Cass who teaches her the fundamentals of self defence - defence being the operative word there. She builds up her skillset so she can run away, instead of the more offensively focused approaches of everyone else. And while Barbara works with Jason, Tim, Damian and Duke, even, occasionally, she's always most used to working with Cass.
(Steph is taking this well! Steph is taking this like an adult, who knows her position in whatever this is is secure! She is not jealous of the proficiency of a teenager! Shut up Damian!)
But the thing is not everyone is Cass. And Barbara makes a bad call - sends Hoodie into a situation he wasn't ready for, and while he made it out alive it was by the skin of his teeth, with a week's worth of rest in the Batcave.
Cass tries to explain to her that it's not the end of the world. That everyone's alright, that people lived. It's a visceral experience, for her - arguing down to a girl who believes unshakingly that this is her fault. That nothing can change that, redeem that. It's Steph, in the end, who can wheel herself into Commissioner Gordon's home and share that same experience - of not knowing. Of miscalculating. Of doing better, next time.
It's to the both of them that Barbara argues that she should be able to do fieldwork. Not forever - she doesn't want forever. But. If she has experience, if she knows what it's like for the rest of them on the ground, maybe this wouldn't have happened. Maybe she can keep herself from making this mistake again.
Cassandra points out that she'd onboarded under certain conditions. Barbara pointed out how much the rest of them risk their lives anyways, how they'd started much younger then she was. Stephanie taps the metal of her chair once. Twice.
She tells her how she lost her legs. That could happen to her too. Think on it.
They give her three days. In the meanwhile, Cassandra thinks as well. About Batgirl. About America. About the League base she'd found when she went to fight her mother, about the dead men left there.
People needed help. Gotham and Bludhaven, they had people and she'd learned the investigative skills she needed to help, on her own. And Barbara needs the legitimacy, the confidence. A mark of her confidence.
She discusses it with Stephanie. Stephanie brings up that Barbara might choose to do the sensible thing, actually, and Cass replies with a single upturned eyebrow.
She doesn't. And Batgirl is passed down again. Cass puts together another costume.
She won't leave. Not just yet, but she knows she will. When she brings it up to Bruce he maps out his own route, when he was new to this, working through Asia and Europe and Africa, picking up mentors and teachers who gave him the skills he needed. Maybe she'll learn something too. Something irreplaceable.
In the meanwhile, it becomes clear pretty soon that Babara's absence from the comms presents its own problems. Stephanie cracks her fingers, and decides to take the task up. Learning is a slow process - she predates the internet just enough for it to be slower, unweildy - but they trade. Old combat experience for tech experience, mixed in with social engineering. Barbara spent years cracking passwords through finding vulnerabilities in the code, whereas Stephanie shows her how to make the right phone call.
(Something else that is becoming clear is that Batman is getting older. He's not been a young man, by the time Cassandra had joined him, and he was getting no younger. There was time for a successor.)
(They just hadn't meant for it to be this soon - )
Bruce dies. Tim goes looking for him, leaving Robin behind, Jason following close. Duke, Damian, and Cassandra gather in the Batcave to decide upon a legacy. (Steph wants to tell them to roll dice for it.) It's not about pride, except in the ways it is - Duke as the most of experienced of them, Damian having known Batman alone and Cass as the one who'd worked under him the longest. There are objective metrics they could use for this, but it's not an objective contest.
"Trade it." Steph suggests, after a half hour of deliberation. "We still need Nightwing and Signal, and whatever Cass wants to take up now. Set up a rotating schedule, until you figure out the best fit."
"It'll be noticeable." Damian hisses, but it's a contemplative hiss.
"He did this alone, didn't he?" Cassandra points at each one of them and he inclines his head. "Yeah, but still. He thought that Batman had to be alone, that it was his to bear."
"It can be ours." Cass says, the simplicity feeling like a bell. Her eyes dart from brother to brother, something like certainty settling in the room. "All of ours."
There is also the matter of the child leaping through Gotham city, trying to avenge his parents. The ache of it brings Damian to his knees. The fifth Robin flies next to Batman, Batgirl on their side.
Robin and Batgirl start the beginning of something, slow and fumbling. That's a first, Stephanie remarks, and there's agreement across the board there.
Dick is Damian's robin, and Duke's, and Cass's. Barbara is Cass's Batgirl, and Steph's and Dick's. Tim and Jason send messages, from time to time - progress reports and stories. Damian has half a conniption when he hears that they're going up against the league.
Barbara partners with a bunch of other Gotham vigilantes - the Birds of Prey. Steph organizes them from her position in the Batcave, running comms and tracking movements. Barbara is by far the youngest of them, but her presence is appreciated, nevertheless. Dinah toys with taking her on as an apprentice.
Bruce comes back. Jason and Tim piece it together, and the pull on him, stumbling back into the present. Batman takes to the skies again - going from three keepers to two.
Then to one. Saying goodbye to Gotham hurts, when Cass leaves - but she leaves with a promise to come back, a kiss on the cheek for Stephanie, a hug for Bruce and Duke.
Barbara gives her a comm as she leaves. Takes a promise that she would keep it, no matter what. And that's a promise Cassandra keeps - voices of Batgirls old and new echoing through it.
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allgremlinart · 1 year
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sometimes I truly hate posting anything from comics with mildly political insinuations because there will always be some fucker in my notes like “UHM actually-” dog. its not that deep. receive el block 💗
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that was so fucking unhinged of him
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