Bruce Truly Hates Magic With Every Pump And Beat Of His Heart.

I love Obi-Wan Kenobi because he is a character who is designed to be good.

He is a character who believes in the right thing, who tries to do the right thing, and is innately good. Yet he still fails. Obi-Wan, despite the fact that he is smart, compassionate, loving, loyal, kind, selfless, and humble, all traits of a protagonist, is not one. His fatal flaw is his self-doubt. Obi-Wan is a person who exists to show others the light.

He is a character who leaves you wanting because he never gets what he deserves.

He is a character whose point is: sometimes being good is not enough. Sometimes people are good and they still live in pain. Sometimes a person is good and they make others good and they suffer for it.

when ignoring how fucked up it is, its a wee bit funny to me that steph was the most ethically responsible robin and then the one that bruce treated the worst.

because dick was like 10 when he became robin, what the fuck were you doing making a ten yo go fight crime? plus he was under bruce's care which is like a massive thing of coercion and power dynamics.

jason had like NEGATIVE reason to be robin, he just needed to have a home and therapy probably

tim didnt want to be robin he just thought that batman needed one. and after getting adopted there is once again the issue of being under your virtual boss's care

and Oh God Damian. it was technically dick's fault this time but like kid did not have a choice in the way he was raised and shouldve gotten like happy fun learning to be a kid times not violent child soldier times

all of that compared to steph who

was already a vigilante when meeting bruce

voluntarily chose to be a vigilante

was not under bruce's care or guardianship and had a trusted adult

was almost a legal adult herself

had some fighting experience

like BRO in terms of ethics steph is The Best option and then she was treated like absolute Garbage. wild shit.

nightmare mission trio

dick grayson (5’10” with the body of a gymnast): this is my baby brother!

jason todd (6’3” brick wall of muscle): …hi

***

cass wayne (5’5” with the body of a dancer): little brother!

jason (almost a whole foot taller than her): hiya cass

I think, after No Man's Land was over, Babs was probably the one to go with Cass to get a full doctor's assessment. Bruce probably read through all the files afterwards but Babs was the one sitting in the room with Cass as the doctor explained all the symptoms of malnourishment he could see, the state Cass's teeth and hair were in, the clear signs of trauma she displayed, all the impact almost 10 years of being a homeless child constantly running from her father had on her. And that's before they even got into all the damage done by the years of David Cain's abuse.

Cass wouldn't have really understood what they were saying. Just noticed that the doctor seemed like he wanted to throw up and Babs looked like if he kept talking in another few minutes she would either start crying or get angry. Which is weird because the only thing on screen is a photo of all Cass's leg scars and she doesn't get the horror. Yeah he shot her when she was six yeah that wound got reopened infected when she was nine and on the run and became an even nastier scar after months of pain. She survived and none of it made her a worse fighter so who cares.

I think Babs, looking at this teenager who's now living with her, under her care, so unbothered staring at an x-ray of her skull with visible thickness in certain places where the bone clearly had to heal over large cracks, would feel the weight of a life in her hands in a way she never had before. And it would terrify her.

Constantine’s Kids

I’m going to expand on something I said in a different post. It’s the one about how I think Bruce and Oliver are best friends…

I said how Oliver and Cassandra were the only ones to not have a choice when it came to their training. I still think this is true but I may add Damian and maybe Roy in with them.

This isn’t saying the others chose their traumas, I’m just saying they decided to train and become heroes/vigilantes.

For example Bruce’s parents died and he decided to go around the world to train.

But Oliver was shipwrecked. It wasn’t his decision to start training, he had to so he would survive. The comics and show are different but have the same premises, if he didn’t do the things he did he would have died.

When they got back they both CHOSE to be heroes/vigilantes. Bruce had already decided it a long time ago and Oliver had the list (show) or saw that his abilities could help and decided to do something (comics).

So in NO way am I saying they chose their traumas, but they did chose to become heroes/vigilantes.

I don’t know much about Damian but I think he didn’t choose to train. Of course, I think, he wanted to, but he would have been forced to anyways.

I know next to nothing about Roy so idk if he wanted the people to train his in archery and marksmanship or not so do with that what you will.

But if Oliver didn’t train he would have died. If Cassandra didn’t train she would have been killed.

Of course, Cassandra didn’t know it wasn’t normal and she couldn’t communicate even if she didn’t want to, but she was still forced. They were the only ones (I think) that had absolutely no choice except to train or they would die.

Also, in the comics (Green Arrow Year One), Oliver saves a bunch of slaves from China White, I think. He found his old ship and could have escaped but chose to save the people instead. I’m not saying he didn’t have a choice for that, I’m saying he had to learn archery to survive.

Please comment your thoughts!

Ranking the best batman because I'm bored.

Honorary mentions: Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Azrael. May you never go near that cowl again for your own mental health <3 Congrats to Damian for handling it in one au without killing people unlike the other three but most of your family was dead in that universe so yeah. You deserve better.

5. Bruce Wayne. Most iconic sure but also the one with the most questionable acts. If I saw his batman coming towards me I simply wouldn't trust it as much as the others.

4. Dick Grayson. Better than his dad although he'd have a bunch of complex emotions if I ever told him that. He's a good Batman but he thrives more as Nightwing so it never felt like a good end point for him.

3. Helena Wayne. Earth 2 Bruce's daughter as Batman with Dick Grayson in a wheelchair as her Oracle and Dick's son as her Robin? Yeah the entire concept rules. I love legacy stories so much. Plus her Batman outfit is my favourite aesthetic wise.

2. Helena Bertinelli. The best Batman Gotham has seen so far. You didn't deserve Bruce's disrespect when you were fighting every day in no man's land while he was off sulking in his money. Carried the no man's land story on her back before Cass showed up to help.

1. Cassandra Wayne. Come on. Look at my blog. There was never going to be a chance of anyone else being number one. There's like 5 million posts here about why Cass is the best Batman but to sum it up: Everything most interesting and engaging about the previous Batmans rolled into one character.

set sometime nebulously after infinite crisis

dick: i’m glad that jason’s getting better

cass: what?

dick: yeah, after that whole dunk in the lazarus pit thing, i’m glad the side effects are finally wearing off

cass: side effects?

dick: mhmm i think he called it lazarus pit madness or something? i’m not really sure, but it basically made him lose control over some of his actions and do some things he regrets now

cass:

cass: that’s the dumbest fucking thing over ever heard

dick: what?

cass: i’ve been in a lazarus pit, my mom put me in one after my half brother killed me and i never had any ‘madness’ because of it

dick: but… he said…

cass: jason has been lying straight to your face he wasn’t affected by some outside force he knew what he was doing the entire time

dick:

dick: i’m gonna unpack that later when i have time for my world to fall apart again, right now, i need you to go back a few chapters what do you mean your half brother killed you??? you have a half brother???

cass: and a half sister too

dick: …what…

Everyone: girl dad bruce 😔😩😌

Barbara:

What everyone pictures when they say girldad Bruce: Guy who adores Cass and treats her like his little princess and lets her get away with everything and will stay still while she does his hair and paints his nails.

What Barbara has seen that actually fits the girldad label in the most toxic of ways: Projection, holding her to the same impossible standards he holds himself because she's Just That Good, isolating her, possessive and threatened by the thought of her dating aka shotgun dad, in denial that she can be anything less than perfect in a way that actively hurts both of them, that kind of specific girldad misogyny where she IS his little princess but this is Not A Good Thing half of the time. Or even most of the time depending on who you ask. Her father's favourite son in the sense that he doesn't particularly care for anything girly she might be interested in and dismisses most of them as a waste of time, but LOVES sparring and solving cases with her. Swings between overbearing when she's doing well and neglectful/dismissive once she messes up. Give Barbara Gordon a hammer and let her bonk Bruce Wayne on the head with it at least once. She's earned it.

Note: This is preboot Bruce and Cass. New 52 and Rebirth Bruce and Cass are a lot healthier but also a lot simpler.