DC Villains - Bats and Flashes

Okay, so I got an ask from @sardonic-sprite about the DC ask game over here. And since the answer to one of her questions was too long, I decided to put it on a separate post.

48. Favorite villain?

I overthink questions like these.

I'm debating between Joker and Thawne.

I like Joker as a character and a villain cuz out of all of Gotham's rogue gallery, he is the only one who has managed to get on Bruce's nerves permanently and properly. I like his character because he truly is insane and it is that psychological state of mind that makes him scary rather than material things like power, money or crime.

He is the only one who can truly understand Batman. But that's the catch, he can understand Batman where others cannot, but he can't understand Bruce while others can.

And I love the fact (in one of the canons) that if only a little bit had changed, then Bruce and Joker would be leading each other's paths.

I love how Joker knows the exact spots to hit to hurt Bruce. The exact people in the exact ways.

Which is why Joker hates Tim's Robin the most because he's the only Robin which Joker couldn't use to hurt. This is different to Joker Junior from Batman: TAS/Batman Beyond. I'm talking about Robin II: Joker's Gone Wild arc. When Tim was in his beginning stages of Robin and Bruce had to go somewhere so it was mainly him busting crime in the city with Alfred driving him around (it was so cute, I love them <33). Then Joker decided to take a stroll and he stumbled across Tim and was furious because didn't he kill the bird brat?

He tried to hurt Tim and kill him again like Jason, but Timmy was smart enough and cautioned enough from Jason's story to stay on his toes and guard. Which enraged Joker because Robin was Batman's biggest weakness and he couldn't hurt and exploit Batman's weakness. And that just destroyed his only purpose which was to hurt Batman.

And I love that - that Tim is smart enough, but also more careful which makes him the best person to face Joker out of the Robins. Dick can't cuz he's too blinded by fury and emotion. Jason can't cuz... trauma. Steph can't because she just cannot understand the Joker. And Damian can't because though he may be able to defeat the Joker and kill him, he's not careful enough and a biiiiiit over his head with confidence.

But Tim has the perfect position. He learned from Jason's tale. He's the closest to Batman in psyche, but different enough which means that he can understand Joker in a way the others can't and can figure out the madman's weaknesses and strengths. And he doesn't have any direct connection to the Joker. With all this combined - yeah, he's awesome.

(This is excluding the JJ arc which i love and adore and cherish with all my heart btw)

There's also a bit of a Smeagol factor here, though Smeagol is considerably better in terms of crimes. So yeah, the Joker is a good villain character. He's scary because he is insane and truly, genuinely, honestly does not know the difference between right and wrong because he has his own right and wrong.

But Eobard Thawne... ooooooh Reverse-Flash. Love that guy (as a villain and as a character). My favorite portrayals of him are in Justice League: Flashpoint and in The Flash CW show (only in the first 4-5ish seasons and especially in the first season).

I like how he can get under Barry's skin too. And he is the only rogue out of all the Flash's rogue gallery who has been able to truly and completely get on his nerves. Barry was ready to murder this bitch sooo many times. I love how he knows exactly what Barry will hate and exactly how to defeat him and stay one step ahead of him.

I'm still unsure of his motives though, cuz I think it has been retconned a lot? Or at least, it hasn't fully developed. I only know that Barry did something to him in the future and that's why he doesn't like Barry, but I think that's not a good enough motive to warrant all the horrible, horrible things he has done to Barry. Mainly in the JL Flashpoint movie.

God- that movie is so fucking good. Jsjdhiwiajrwh My favorite scene without a doubt is the letter Thomas left to Bruce. Just- skdndjiwiejdw.

My other favorite scene is the final battle between Barry and Eobard. Barry is so overcome with emotion there and Eobard is just... he is one step ahead of him in every race, every battle, every move. He knows which spots to hit, physically and emotionally. And I love that.

I love villains who understand their heroes so well. I would love for the heroes to also understand their enemies as well or just a touch below, so that there could be this little balance, but eh, you can't always get what you want.

The second worst thing (the first worst thing is him messing with Barry's family) that Eobard has done to Barry is what made him as good a hero as he is now - and that is a key reason why I love their hero-villain dynamic. His mother's death. It was one of the most painful moments for Barry. Mom gone, dad arrested. And yet- he rose from that and became the Flash we all love today.

I guess to answer the question, after much speculation... I'm gonna say Eobard Thawne is my favorite villain. I haven't even covered the absolute genius of a plot that was Season 1 of The Flash. Just- *chef's kiss*. But I'm gonna say Eobard Thawne because Joker is a lost cause who cannot make any sense at all. Which I adore because it is such a total opposite of Batman who makes sense of everything. And- I adore that dynamic!

But it doesn't stop me from having a special place in my heart for my blorbos the batboys WHO HAVE SUFFERED SO MUCH AT THE MADMAN'S HAND LIKE- JASON CROWBAR- TIM JOKER JUNIOR- SJDIFJWODJFNWJFWOIDJR

So yeah, because I am an extremely biased person who yields to my favoritism urges towards the batkids being alive, I'm choosing Eobard Thawne as my favorite DC villain.

Hey, I did say I overthink these sort of questions.

It’s interesting how Ned Stark’s dishonor has such far reaching implications throughout the plot. There’s a great irony in how rigid he is in his honor, yet he too fell victim to lust just as many men have before him. It’s not such a big deal if you think about it. I mean, all he did was to father a bastard, and how many men of his station have done the same? So it gives comfort to the rest of Westeros that even an honorable fool like Ned can stoop so low and be just like them. And we see that Ned’s dishonor affects so many characters. Jon Snow internalizes that he’s the shameful product of it and that causes him to join a penal colony, forever driving his need to prove that he too can be a worthy son of Ned. Catelyn Stark is constantly grappling with what it means to be a victim of it (to the point that she resents Jon and fears for her own children’s claims). It’s something that Jaime Lannister references in captivity, reasoning that he at least remained faithful to Cersei whereas “honorable” Ned Stark cheated on his lady wife. Robb probably saw the effects of Ned’s dishonor on his mother and brother, which probably drove him to break his marriage pact with the Freys and marry Jeyne Westerling (something that hastened his doom). Even Cersei dares to make a sexual pass at Ned while being accused of treason, no doubt emboldened in part by the knowledge that Ned at one point fell to lust. And everyone else knows of Ned Stark’s bastard (to the point that Davos gets some random exposition about how Ned dishonored himself on a fisherman’s daughter). Ned’s one act of dishonor is one of his most recognizable character traits and actually has a lot of implications throughout he narrative as it drives how many characters navigate the world around them. So isn’t it funny how it was all a lie?

isnt it great when u take your adhd meds and instead of using that brainpower for stuff like ASSIGNMENTS. AND PROJECTS. your brain decides the next 6 hours will be brainstorming ponysona names and making oc playlists

sometimes I’m so confused as to why people are mean on the internet when you could be nice. it’s so easy to be nice. like you have no clue who you’re really talking to - maybe it’s a grown ass man or maybe it’s a younger kid, and you could literally be the one nice person who allows them to feel safe and accepted. why wouldn’t you want to do that?

Okay, so 'X actually lives' AUs are not my thing (I'd rather see equal consequences to counterbalance the 'happy ending'), and this is especially true for Molly because Kingsley and Cad are both great, BUT-

During my M9 rewatch, when Fjord, Jester and Yasha are taken, Lorenzo is pleased that they hauled, and I quote, 'Two divine bloods and one half-beast'. Fjord is clearly the half-beast, and Yasha's obviously an aasimar, but that Jester is lumped with her as a divine blood caught my interest.

So tieflings are valuable, then.

I know literally the next line states that their cages are at capacity, but... Lorenzo could have hauled Molly's unconscious body into a cage if 'divine bloods' are that good a find. If a teenage aasimar could fetch 10k gold apiece in the Fire Plane (C1e75), I do wonder if it'd be more worth his while to haul away this prize. (Ofc aasimar prices could be inflated in that marketplace! But even 2k would be nothing to sniff at!)

As much as it pains my lil heart, because she IS my favorite... Beau is right there. A dirt-common human, and probably just as good an example to make Keg get the message.

Has anyone done this? It feels like such an easy shift for canon divergence that then opens up a huge door full of possibilities.

(Just consider the domino effect this would have. M9's disposition towards people/problems likely remain prickly, reduce the likelihood of them teaming up/trusting a lot of people down the linr. Maybe the extra bodies means someone is offloaded and sold earlier, not to be found in the Iron Shepherds' dungeons. What impact would Cad not being there to heal/rez at key moments have? How would Fjord's arc be deviated without his guidance? And Beau's, if she lives, without the impact Molly's death had on her? Aeor and Lucien would, of course, be completely different! Just! Think about it!)

its so crazy that without dream in mcc i genuinely just dont feel the Urge to watch anymore and this is coming from someone who watches other creators who compete but over the past few months ive realized that i just don’t get as excited and find myself becoming bored during events without dream’s constant energy there hyping everyone up like watching dream’s pov made this event seem life or death y’know what i mean like when it came to the fan vote i was refreshing twitter like it was a lifeline and now whenever mcc comes around it just feels like another saturday :( 

Everyday I think about how Misty isn't the antler queen and how she was the first girl to be disproven right off the bat to not be her. You would think it would be her at first right? She's unhinged, she's unable to see the fault in some of the things she does, she murders and murders, and essentially everything that happened in the wilderness is indirectly her fault because she destroyed the box. But she was the first girl to be shown unmasked because Misty doesn't attempt to hide, or maybe she just can't. She's unmasked because we see her nature right of the bat, there's no pretense of normalcy or repression of who she is.

The antler queen is hidden, behind the scenes. She isn't the one who dragged pit girl's body out, prepared it, and served it. It was served to her. If the wilderness is the representation of trauma, then the antler queen is the source of it and the instigator. The center.

If Misty is a hammer used to beat someone to death, then the antler queen is a quiet poison that you don't even know is in your system until it kills you. Anyways here is why I believe with my whole heart that Shauna is the antler queen.

Propaganda time? Propaganda time.

Fun fact: Marigold occupies the specific niche of villain as many comic book supervillains - the more dark the setting, the more she can get away with, and the deadlier of a threat she becomes.

Bug Fables, being a fairly light-hearted RPG, sticks her in "secret boss with horrific implications" territory, where she's not necessarily too dark to disrupt the E for Everyone rating but thinking on the facts presented for more than a few minutes makes everything rapidly enter something adjacent to the horrible implications of Snakemouth Den.

In settings closer to grimdark, however, she could probably become an extremely significant villain fairly easily even while remaining on the backlines, putting multiple main characters into permanent benching, major identity crises, and forced-to-kill-a-friend situations even without having to directly show her face.

In case of a genre upset, she is very much the kind of character where literally all of her plots could be foiled with a well-placed Bugs Bunny reducing her to a comedy bit.

batman secret files: clownhunter

(ID in alt!)

im sort of like, historically repressed but i feel like some of the ppl i know would benefit from a little of that. like u dont need to constantly be in a relationship maybe

it is really fascinating the diy split between the "fuck digital" 90s crowd ala albini versus the later napster/makeoutclub/myspace progression and how both were incredibly native about their own personal ethics of punk while also like. fostering their own underground communities outside traditional commercial industry

thoughts on this?

People like to be dramatic?

it always confuses me how people are like "evolution is linked to age!" when one of the most famous plotlines in the entire story is ash's pikachu refusing to evolve

so many apartment listings are like. 1br 1 bath $600/month and then you click on the listing and it’s a couple renting out their guest bedroom and asking you to be their roommate

challenge level: find a fic for md/z.s without c/q/l characterization

ok i think im good now