AITA for attacking my younger brother?

^ Posted by u/originalzombieboy 11 hours ago

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AITA for attacking my younger brother?

The title makes it sound a lot worse than it was so just bear with me. First time poster and doing this on mobile so format might be weird.

I (20M) died when I was 15 and not even three months after my death my family replaced me took in my younger brother (17M now, 13M then). I was adopted at 12 and had a fuck ton of issues but that’s not really relevant. Not long after I had turned 15 my dad and I began having a lot of fights and things between us was pretty bad and then I died.

So I came back to life, some stuff happens and I find out that my family had replaced me taken in the younger brother. Not only did that mean that I became a fucking middle child (which is terrible in itself) but also while I was dead it turns out the younger brother was going around talking about how he was better than me and wouldn’t do something stupid and get himself killed. At that point beating the shit out of him was a pretty logical step for me, who the fuck goes around talking like that about a dead kid?

So yeah, last year I broke into the place he had been staying at with his friends, deactivated the security and beat the shit out of him. I didn’t kill him, I didn’t want to, he just needed to learn a lesson.

We have gotten over it and moved on, we hang out a lot now and spend a lot of time together but my older brother (25M) (also adopted) says that I was a huge asshole and what I did wasn’t excusable. Younger brother and I have dealt with it ourselves and moved on but older brother keeps on bringing it up. So, am I the asshole?

EDIT:

Huh, I did not expect this to get as much attention as it has so here’s a bit more info that people have asked for. Dad knows about everything that’s happened, because younger brother and I have dealt with it ourselves and he knows nothing like that will happen again he thinks it’s something we can easily leave in the past. Older brother has been away a lot (he doesn’t stay in the same city) and hasn’t been around to see the progress younger brother and I have made. Last time he was in town (seven months ago) younger brother and I could not stand being in the same building as the other.

Update:

Older brother has backed off, saying that as long as things between younger brother and I are good now it’s none of his business (bullshit, I know he’s still going to bring it up).

The reason why I always emphasize that utrh era Jason is 18/19 and refuse to let people forget that Jason and Tim are canonically 2 years apart is because the concept of Jason as a fairly young adult with little to no support system is a fascinating concept to me and it goes under explored in both canon and fanon. I think it adds such an interesting wrinkle to the everything and is a great contrast to all the Red Hood shit. I’m thinking about New Earth Jason specifically here, he’s both younger than post-nu52 Jason and more isolated. Most people at 19, even if they can afford to be out on their own in this economy, still have contact with their family of origin for support. Jason is not only estranged from his family with little to no support system (depending on how much you interpret Talia being involved after Lost Days), he’s also doing mob boss shit while he’s still technically young enough to be somebody’s prom date. He didn’t go to his prom because he was probably in Russia learning how to make bombs or something (and because, yknow, the whole dying thing).

Jason is someone who both had to grow up too fast and by all means should be somewhat emotionally stunted. Not only does trauma stunt you he was catatonic for long enough that he’s missing literal years from his adolescence. He’s young enough that he’s still reeling from trauma from childhood and adolescence (late teens/ early twenties are peak ‘desperately trying to recover from childhood’ era).

I think underneath the rough Red Hood exterior that Jason should be naive in ways that people wouldn’t really expect. He doesn’t have much experience with relationships (both romantic and friendships), and it’s been years since he’s socialized much with people his age (he doesn’t socialize much at all he’s pretty isolated). I think even if he doesn’t look young that at times he would slip up and show that he is

Also I just love the contrast. I like the idea that sometimes you’ll hear Red Hood cackle without the helmet on and you’ll recognize traces of that 15 year old kid and then he’ll shoot someone immediately after. Like imagine if utrh was a Boy King of the underworld sorta deal

I feel like Jason todd being a "brick" or super bulky is only half true. I feel like he definitely has more muscle than anyone else (except Bruce), but he has to still be somewhat light to do some of the tricks he does. Like Dick is obviously skinnier because he's more acrobatic and agile than strong and I've always kind of headcannoned that Tim is just one of those people who struggles to gain weight or muscle. So yeah, Jason is going to have more muscle than them. But, I feel like, and correct me if I'm wrong, but too much extra muscle or weight would slow him down and make it harder to do some of the stuff he's done. Like, he's an agile dude. Like some of the stunts he does in Under the Red hood :

And he seems to be light enough on his feet to sneak up on people:

I know there's other examples but that requires some digging I don't have time for at the moment.

I'm still not entirely sure where DC writers got it in their heads that Jason was the bulky stupid one, but it gives me classist vibes tbh. I mean, even through the entirety of under the red hood, he was sneaky, cunning, clever, etc. Anyway, that's a little off topic. I'm trying to say that Jason has more muscle than the majority of the batfam but not a bodybuilder Brickhouse block kind of dude.

Jason Todd’s death storyline was perfectly executed because they killed him figuratively (killed his innocence) before actually killing him. It’s a tragedy because he died in two separate ways. And the reason his resurrection is just as much a tragedy is because only one of the things killed can be brought back and it wasn’t the thing that made Jason who he is (his innocence and kindness).

Jason Todd: If you don't murder this man right now, then you don't love me

Bruce Wayne: dude...

Might write a fic where Dick from a different universe accidentally universe-jumps and runs into Jason, who's still the younger brother he's on pretty great terms with, and tries to discreetly puzzle out how his Jason becomes Red Hood while trying get back and Jason plays along, nearly totally convinced that this isn't the Dick he knows, especially once he dials Bludhaven, but it's immensely funny convincing this far more trusting and close version of his brother that in this world, Bruce has gone evil and Jason's one of the only people working to stop him.

Imagine being a short twiggy malnourished teen then waking up years later in a body without the scars you remember and you have your father's build now and you might be his height too. (Jason sees someone in the mirror and it wasn't himself)

i firmly believe in teenage dirtbag dick grayson

🎥 -> Official DC Page on TikTok.

Jason wanting Bruce to (let him) kill IS about a clash of philosophies but it’s also fundamentally about grief and how love is shown and perceived and responded to and how you cannot truly know what you weren’t there for.

Jason hears Talia say he’s unavenged and he reads a newspaper about Bruce returning the Joker to police custody. Then he does more research and even tries to see Bruce’s reaction to him first hand in Hush.

But he does not actually…see or know the in between. Newspapers don’t tell you everything. A few encounters three years after your death don’t tell you everything. Jason does not know how people actually mourned him. Post-Crisis Jason only saw ONE of the many many times that Bruce tried to kill the Joker because of him. He doesn’t see Dick or Babs crying over him.

Even if he saw it, the way they love him after his death is SO messed up that he might not be able to recognize it as such anyway. (How can you tell that he was my biggest failure and don’t be like Jason and he wasn’t trained/careful/etc enough is still rooted in loving you and yet grieving you so terribly they mistreat you and your memory?)

Red Hood is about moral codes but it’s also about people changing when you’re not looking, and reaching out over and over and pushing everyone’s buttons to see if they’ll still love you and they don’t but they do and having them reach out to you and you refuse to accept it because none of you can reconcile your messed up ways of caring too much about something that is broken and different than you wish it was.

Currently working on The Ghosts of the Gotham Opera House and I crack myself up with Jason and Peter's interactions sometimes

“What the fuck kind of name is Quinjet?” 

“Oh yeah, 'cause the Batplane is so original.” 

“Also what are the Avengers?” 

“A team of heroes who come together to save the world in times of great need.” 

“Oh we call ours the justice league.” 

“Seriously?”

“Yeah because Avenger’s is so much better. Why are you avenging shit? Just stop it from happening first.”

“I’d argue with you but your point is kind of valid.” 

“Of course, it is. Dumb ass hero names.”

Batman #650 (2006)

Batman and Red Hood (2011-) #20

Red Hood and the Outlaws (2016-) #25

“Bruce works out so he can carry Jason around like a baby” he is dragging him by the broken edge of the boy’s helmet, knuckles digging into his eyes. He is definitely strong enough to carry him but that’s not the point. He thinks Jason deserves this.

Task Force Z #6 (2022)

Catwoman (2018-) #57

Bruce and his habit of flattening his son onto the ground and standing on top of him like a lion does to its prey, while saying degrading things.

Batman (2016-) #138

And would you look at that. He finally lowered himself to face Jason. After rendering him completely powerless.

Imagine being the writer for UtRH and putting together a whole fight segment together where Batman and Red Hood work together to take down a team of bad guys, and Jason falls into step perfectly from him and Bruce's old training- giving a taste of nostalgia of what was and could have been. Batman leaves Jason an opening that can be used against him, a moment of pure faith that they're on the same side and Jason uses the chance on their common enemy and its like just *THE* moment in the middle of this arch.

And SOMEHOW you are still thinking that the emotional impact of that would be negated just because you end it with Jason killing a nazi??? Like killing a nazi is supposed to have made him unrelatable and evil to the audience???

I just think most people who read comics like the idea of bad guys getting some comeuppance, that's the fantasy that is being sold. How did you not realize this would appeal to a huge portion of your market?

Source panels below:

Shoutout to my favorite Jason variant I am ur number one fan

batman: under the red hood

[ID: Jason Todd laying on the ground in a puddle of his own blood. The Grand Theft Auto ‘WASTED’ banner has been edited over him. END ID]