I think the major reason why so many depictions of Batman rub me the wrong way is because, imo, the major character trait of Bruce shouldn’t be his anger or his darkness or his inability to move on from the death of his parents or whatever. It should be his empathy. His compassion. Those are his major flaws. No, seriously. They’re the reason why everything keeps going wrong in his life.
Because he can’t seem to delegate and prioritize? He has that sort of wide-ranging empathy that covers everyone, and it leaves no room for the people closest to him in his life. He cares, and that’s the issue, because he cares too damn much and it’s spread so thin that it goes right back to making him look cold and emotionless and detached. There’s no way he can save everyone, to be what every single person needs, but he tries anyway. And he can’t stop doing what he does because there’s always something going on, and he doesn’t have time to take care of himself or take care of those around him because that’s selfish! Because there’s always someone who needs him, someone who needs saving, and what right does he have to slow down? What right does he have to take a breather, to take a rest from The Mission when he can be out there making a difference?
And that’s probably the reason why so many people keep flocking to him, especially those in vulnerable positions like orphaned kids, because they see it. They see his kindness, his compassion, his genuine desire to help, and they know that it’s real. They know, because Bruce takes the effort to show them. Because Bruce is great at being kind to strangers! We’ve seen it demonstrated over and over again in every piece of media he appears in. He’s great at winning people over, great at getting them on his side, but it soon becomes apparent that they’re not his priority? And it’s okay when they don’t really know each other, but then he becomes a friend, a father, and he still doesn’t make time in his day for them. Still doesn’t hold them in higher standing than the rest of the world, because he can’t prioritize the people he likes. What right does he have to choose?
I just… I can’t see Bruce as being inherently selfish. I can’t see him being cold and unemotional when he wakes up every day (or night) and keeps fighting for a city that doesn’t seem to want to get better. That doesn’t scream logic to me? That screams of someone who feels deeply and intensely, who values hope against all else. Even if he’s pragmatic and pessimistic and a bit (a lot) of a mood-killer, there has to be faith holding him up.
And yk… emotional doesn’t mean he’s good at showing them. Doesn’t mean he knows how to show them. Bruce seems to have that neurodivergent and/or PTSD thing where the stronger, more intense his feelings are, the harder it is for him to actually show them. Maybe because he’s scared, or maybe they just paralyze him, whatever. So you’ve got this odd dichotomy where he can comfort strangers, he can make little kids smile both in and out of costume, but the closer you get to him the more he seems to withdraw from you. Because he feels too much. Because the words get jumbled in his head, and they don’t come out right, or heck, they just sort of… stop, somewhere, or maybe they just don’t even form. We’ve got so many examples of him saying the right thing to strangers, to acquaintances he only knows the name and face of, and so many examples of him phenomenally fucking up when it comes to his kids or anyone that he loves.