#Joker has a successor

[snowy-butterfly]

BATMAN ARKHAMVERSE FIC IDEA PT1

JOKER AND HARLEY HAD A CHILD AU X JJTIM AU (BEAR WITH ME)

So in the arkhamverse it's hinted that Harley Quinn and Joker had a baby. Now obviously this idea was abandoned, but as I was working this morning I had an idea for a writing prompt/potential fic idea. The child was born but Harley thought it was stillborn and in her grief had one of the goons in the gang send it away. While in the middle of disposing the baby, it starts crying and the goon in a moment of panic or goodness (take your pick) drops the baby off at the orphanage. The babe is well taken care of, but the caretakers notice something is wrong with that child. The child tends to laugh at misfortunes that occur in the orphanage and is growing very rapidly, (think like the clones from stars wars).

#batman #arkham knight jason todd #batman arkham collection #batman arkham series #arkham knight #jason todd #Tim drake #Joker has a successor #harly quinn #Arkham Knight AU #Teenager Tim Drake #Mixing ideas together to make something coherent #it gets worse before it gets better #Oc Arthur Quinn

[fantastic-nonsense]

I SWEAR I remember you writing about this a couple years ago, but I have gone down a total rabbithole of your Barbara Gordon tag and absolutely cannot find it, so: If you were to put Babs back in the wheelchair now without retconning anything major (i.e. her most recent years as Batgirl can't just disappear), how would you pull it off?

lol, no problem! I did write about my ideas about transitioning Babs back into being Oracle once here, which is what I think you were talking about.

To expand on that post, my preferred scenario is that her spinal implant starts acting up (maybe she's been too active. maybe she was too reckless saving someone. maybe the tech's just degrading. make up a reason). Regardless of why, the implant is failing, and she's told two things:

If you don't want to permanently damage the implant you've currently got, put up the suit.

Like Luke explained to her when he replaced her implant after Joker War, there's lots of risks (both medical and technological) to replacing the one she has and no guarantees a replacement will work.

So Barbara, of her own accord, chooses to stop being Batgirl and refuses to replace the implant chip. Unlike the last time she was faced with losing mobility due to injury, she has a choice, a strong support system, two worthy successors...and a role she's ready to truly reclaim the way it helped her reclaim her confidence and identity the first time around.

Make her an ambulatory wheelchair user who uses forearm crutches and/or a cane when she's mobile. Give her agency over her disability. Let her become Oracle full-time again of her own free will. Allow her to (re)-pass on Batgirl to Cass or Steph. And tell a story about accepting and embracing disability in a world where she could theoretically be "healed" again but chooses not to take the risk for personal reasons.

#it would also be an opportunity to talk about chronic pain/degenerative disabilities but that's a side topic #asks #dc comics #barbara gordon #oracle #batgirl #writing ideas

[distort-opia]

Wait if bruce and joker are considered to be kinda like jason's parents then man........ RIP (LITERALLY)

Look, having a murder child is simply something toxic yaoi ships do nowadays. Hannigram's got Abigail, Loustat had Claudia... Batjokes' got Jason.

Batman: Under the Red Hood

Red Hood and the Outlaws #15

Joker has expressed the fact that he sees Jason as a kind of "son" more than once. It's actually a very interesting dynamic, because he doesn't say just that: it's not just about the fact Joker killed Jason to get at Bruce, it's also the fact Jason took on Joker's last identity. He taunts Jason about their similarities, about how Jason might turn out just like him if he lets himself go far enough. It's such a poignant part of Jason's fears that it got turned into something much too literal in Batman: Three Jokers, in which Joker attempts to turn Jason into another him:

Batman: Three Jokers #2

What this means is that Joker considers Jason a potentially worthy successor to him in thwarting Batman... and that's a lot. Because Batman first failed to save Red Hood, and then he failed to save Jason, and in many ways that's why they both exist-- so he relates, and believes that Jason might just hate Batman as much as him, making him able to stand against him. Ugh, I need to stop myself from going off about the fascinating parallels between Joker and Jason, but there's so much there. There's enough there that deep down, Jason himself is afraid that Joker is right, as shown through more than one fear gas episode, and most recently... this:

And then Bruce and Joker team up in his hallucination, which is still sending me because it looks like they're disappointedly scolding their kid together:

Truth or Justice #12

Anyway... yeah, RIP to Jason's mental health, in so many ways.

#sorry for how long it took to answer Anon #and man am I not putting this in the Jason tag. I do not have the energy for the consequences #asks #my comic panels #batjokes

[cloakedsparrow]

Jason’s Attack on Titans Tower Aftermath AU Ideas

1) Initially upon coming back to life (and then again after regaining his mind due to Talia dipping him in the Pit), Jason had a lot of nightmares about his brief but terrifying time captured by the Joker before his death. The nightmares had subsided to the point that he only got them a few times a month before he attacked Tim. Afterwards, though? He has nightmares every night for the first several weeks (and often enough afterwards), wherein his memories of being beaten by the Joker alternate between the memories of him beating Tim. The comparability makes him sick. He’s wracked with guilt but doesn’t know how to fix it.

When Tim recovers enough to return to his regular Robin activities, Jason avoids the kid like he’s still carrying the apocalypse virus. He doesn’t want to remember how much he hurt him or how much he enjoyed it. He’s afraid the kid will flinch away from him in fear and he has no idea what he’ll do with himself at the reminder that he probably scarred a child nearly as much as the Joker scarred him.

Tim finds this behavior suspicious because plenty of Rogues have nearly killed him and never avoided him afterwards. Therefore, he figures Jason must be plotting something and he won’t be caught unaware again. Jason does not understand why he cannot avoid the walking reminder of his guilt Robin all of a sudden.

The eventual confrontation does not go as either of them expected (Tim was not expecting self-awareness, chagrin, and remorse; Jason was not expecting easy forgiveness, understanding, and a borderline blasé attitude about the whole thing).

2) Some of the Gotham Rogues who like the third Robin (such as Poison Ivy, Riddler, Catwoman, Azrael -who is technically more of an anti-hero but close enough) learn that Red Hood had gone after the boy twice, and very well could have killed him on both occasions. They make it their personal mission to be as much (if not more) of a pain in Hood’s ass as they are in Batman’s. Hood has no idea why they all seem to have a personal beef with him at first and is surprised to eventually learn it’s because they all have a soft spot for the kid. He eventually learns why some of them like the Pretender and is so annoyed to learn that he’s actually a great kid and an excellent Robin. Now he can’t even misdirect his anger at the little shit.

3) Similar to the last, only it’s some of the street-level criminals who learn the Red Hood has temporarily taken Robin out of commission twice now…and could’ve taken him out permanently because slit throats and beatings that end in unconsciousness can easily go bad even when you know what you’re doing. They remember (with a healthy dose of fear) what Batman was like after the second Robin died. They remember (with no small amount of respect) what it was like when the third Robin was still reeling him back in. They all keep letting Hood know -in no uncertain terms- that no one is taking that kid out unless they take the Bat out first because no one wants to go through that hell again.

Jason needs some alone time to process the fact that his dad apparently lost his shit after he died and that Tim probably went through hell bringing the man back to something resembling his old self.

4) While he’s healing up after the attack, Tim has plenty of time on his hands to replay the whole thing in his head over and over again. He realizes that Jason is under-informed about the aftermath of his murder. Someone needs to fill in the blanks for him and, well, Tim already dragged one reluctant Wayne back from grief-fueled rage, why couldn’t he do it again? So he sets out to correct Jason’s misunderstandings, address the glowing green elephant in the room, and bring the undead asshole back home.

Jason is not prepared for the concern-fueled, unrelenting determination of his brilliant but somewhat feral little successor.

Bonus: Alfred, Barbara, and Helena are the only ones Tim allows to learn anything of his plans/doings. Alfred figures it out on his own and Tim doesn’t deny it. Alfred believes in the boy and he would very much like to have Jason home, so he just keeps his mouth shut and subtly prepares Jason’s room. Barbara, Tim figures would probably be the most likely to notice something, so he tells her what he’s doing. She understands Jason’s rage and decides to help cover for Tim in the hopes that they can stop Jason from doing anything worse than what he already has. Helena, Tim brings in because he needs someone more mobile than he is while he’s healing, she doesn’t have any history with Jason, and she’ll be less judgmental about some of Red Hood’s methods. She helps Tim because she doesn’t want him getting hurt trying to do it all on his own. Plus, she understands family.

5) Dick learns about everything. He’s pissed that Bruce didn’t tell him about Jason right away. He’s devastated over Jason attacking Tim twice now. He’s also overjoyed that his little brother is alive. All of these emotions lead to him deciding to confront Jason himself.

No plan. No backup. He’s just gonna find his wayward brother and wing it.

He does. Emotions run high. Words are exchanged. Several blows are, too. But in the end, he has his little brother back and taught him a lesson about hurting their baby brother. He’s calling it a win.

The boys all recover together at Dick’s place and don’t tell Bruce anything for weeks.

6) Red Hood: The Lost Days/Red Hood and the Outlaws/The Return of Ra’s al Ghul crossover. In which Talia decides to intervene after Jason’s attack on Titans Tower.

She’s seen Jason using his detective skills and inborn compassion to help all along. She knows he’s not a lost cause like her father. She’d tried using training and suitable targets for his rage to distract him until he can calm enough to think clearly, but if he’s attacking innocent kids at this stage, then she needs to step in more firmly. Either he had some sort of set back and will never forgive himself when he regains his senses and realizes he hurt a child… Or he’s becoming like Ra’s. In which case, she definitely has to stop him.

The confrontation doesn’t exactly go smoothly, but Talia’s not Bruce nor is she a fifteen-year-old. She can handle anything Jason throws at her. And she’ll persevere because failing this boy simply isn’t an option for her.

Once he’s burnt himself out, she gives him more information she managed to dig up on Tim Drake. She can’t tell him exactly how the boy came to be Robin, because no one other than Batman and Robin likely know, but she can drive home the point that he’s an innocent child who is just trying to help people, the same as Jason had been when he was killed. Jason is horrified once that sinks in.

He asks Talia for help. Different help than what she’s been offering so far. The kind that will help him control, if not be rid of, the rage that his murder and the Pit left him with. So she takes him to the All-Caste. He trains. He heals. He teams up with some old friends and becomes a different kind of hero than Batman or Robin, but a hero nonetheless.

When Ra’s returns and decides he needs Damian’s body after several others fail to contain his tainted soul, Talia asks Jason for help. He agrees to take Damian to Bruce. Of course, he doesn’t realize what a spoiled brat the pre-teen is until they’re already on the way. Or that he’s Bruce’s biological son.

7) The other Teen Titans don’t take kindly to Jason drugging them and attacking one of their own. Instead of leaving it for the Bats to handle, they decide to track Jason down themselves. Kon, Bart, and Cassie naturally focus more on the whole ‘you hurt Tim again, we hurt you’ angle. Vic and Kori are cautious (they aren’t going to let any of the teens get hurt on their watch again) but a little more understanding. They want to protect the Teen Titans, but they also want to help Jason.

They explain that they didn’t put a statue of him up because of how much his death hurt Dick. They didn’t want him to keep seeing it and being reminded of the little brother he believed he failed. They tell Jason about the fights he and Bruce got into. Of the attempts both of them made on the Joker’s life. Of the way Dick feared he’d lose his father as well until Tim came along to save him.

Finally, they invite him to join the new Teen Titans, with the understanding that he isn’t going to be left alone with any of the younger members for a while, and under the condition that he agrees to see Kori’s psychiatrist in Metropolis.

He agrees.

#AU #fic ideas I haven't the time for #ficlet #fanfiction #dc #comics #bat family #teen titans #jason todd #red hood #tim drake #tim wayne #robin #talia al ghul #dick grayson #nightwing #bat brothers #batpups

[dandelionlinolinaline]

ok rant time, stick with me.

the reason i don’t like damian wayne is not that i don't enjoy him as a character, it is that he feels like the final nail in the coffin that is 'robin'. now what do i mean by this? dick grayson as robin is obviously fantastical. he is an interesting foil to bruce/batman, he i tragic and complex, but his backstory is very much not real. he feels like a fictional character, so it isn’t a stretch to suspend disbelief and 'buy' him being robin, so to say. the family dynamic he has with bruce is NOT like father and son (argue with the wall on this one), it's paternal, but regardless of age difference in different interpretations, it is very much an unconventional family dynamic.

now, i've never really had a major issue with jason todd as robin (maybe because he has been red hood for basically my entire lifetime), but he was the first step in a direction of a more traditional family; son, father, grandson (and older brother), which i strongly dislike. now say what you will about jason todd, but he was arguably the most 'real' of the robins (in terms of backstory). he has a much more plausible family background (not counting sheila working with the joker) and feels less like the fantasy of dick grayson and more like wish fulfilment of a poor kid (ultimately this is what i think led to his downfall at dc - they couldn’t sell the 'fantasy' of jason todd in the way they could the other robins).

tim drake is where i kinda take issue. he is the 'normal' robin, but is very clearly an 'upgrade' from jason todd. he fits into the socialite life, bruce is significantly older than him (enough to be his actual father), and dick also takes a much more active role as a 'big brother' than he did with jason. tim drake, as neither dick or jason did, seems like the successor to bruce wayne, as well as batman. he is a genius, brilliant detective, rich and well-versed in the upper echelons of society. he is a HUGE leap in the direction of this sort of 'born for the role' idea i really despise for robin.

(i will take the liberty of following dc's example and overlook stephanie brown's robin)

lastly damian. not only is he batman's biological son, he is a prodigy who has trained since birth to be the next batman and is the heir to the league of assassins (i also hate what his creation meant for talia as a character, but i'll let that rest). he is now amalgamation of this slow trajectory towards robin as an heir who is divinely 'destined' to become batman (evidenced by the fact that damian is the only robin to consistently have the surname wayne).

don’t get me wrong, i greatly enjoy damian wayne and think he has an interesting dynamic with a number of characters and has some really lovely character devlopmemt and arcs, but i hate hate hate how robin went from 'orphans make do' to 'the heir apparent to not only batman but bruce wayne' and i. idk, i just wish dc had kept more of the charm and choice that the relationship between bruce and dick.

#i know all the robins have their charm and whatnot #but i've ALWAYS felt that the jump from jason to tim was… #idk iffy #a step down a path i don't like #so to speak #yeah #progressively robin has felt less like a choice bruce makes (to take in a child) and more like an inevitability #think it's why i love the relationship between cass and bruce #it feels similar to the original batman and robin #dc #dick grayson #tim drake #damian wayne #jason todd #batman #robin #batman and robin

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

out of curiosity, is there anything that Tom King has written for/about Batman that you do like?

Nate I'm gonna be so real with you: I like a lot of the spaghetti that King throws at the wall when he's writing. unfortunately you hardly get time to say "hey, that's neat" before he's loaded the spaghetti into a cannon and starts firing it at you at speeds calculated to kill.

an example that I think about absolutely goddamn constantly is King's original character The Help, from the abysmal miniseries Killing Time. The Help starts out as a cool idea: an older, extremely prim killer for hire who prides himself on his professionalism and is less than impressed by the costumed freaks that are just starting to rise to prominence in Batman's early days. he's known and feared by younger criminals, he's prone to critiquing the fighting style of his enemies up to and including offering them pointers, he's aggressively polite, etc. he's fun!

except he can't just be fun, he has to have trained every other famed combatant in the DC universe. yeah, he's better than Canary and the Question and Lady Shiva. oh, and did we mention he knows Ra's? yeah, Ra's actually initially wanted The Help to be his successor, Bruce is just his second pick. King doesn't really do subtlety, you know? he just hamfists his shit in and uses the existing DC lore to prop it up until his story ends up looking like that prokopetz post about how Supernatural ends up being about fighting the devil's more evil cousin Phil because the writers didn't know how to do anything but escalate.

the worst offender by far, TO ME, is his issue of One Bad Day, wherein King decides to take on the incredibly loaded legacy of the Killing Joke and handles it with all the tact of a musk ox by using it as a cheap device to prop up his Hannibal Lecter-esque Riddler. oh, that whole thing with the Gordons? yeah, that wasn't actually the Joker's idea. the Riddler came up with the actual plan, the Joker just carried it out. isn't that scary? isn't that fucked up? don't you want to take the Riddler seriously now? welcome to his twisted mind.

to me it seems like King is a pretty okay ideas guy but can't stop shooting himself in the dick when asked to follow through, which would be funny if the bullets didn't keep ricocheting to hit my favorite characters.

[slytherinnerd05]

So I had to write an argumentative essay in English the other day, and I decided to write about why Cassandra Cain is the best one of the bat kids to take Batman’s name when Bruce retires….

“Even Batman admits his loss when faced with his daughter, Cassandra Cain. He was asked by Batwoman what would happen if he had to fight Cain, all he said in response was “I’d lose.” Given Batman believes he would lose when fighting her, it only makes sense for her to be his predecessor. She is the only one who genuinely wants and can handle the title. She can read body language. She is even more strict than he is with her morals. The only other member of the family who could take the mantle instead would be Dick Grayson. Cassandra Cain is the best choice out of his children to become Batman when he gives up the name.

Cassandra Cain has been Batgirl since 2000. She understands Batman's morals better than any of his other children, as she was raised with her mother, Lady Shiva. She trained to be a silent assassin, meaning her mother never taught her how to speak. When she came into the bat-family she learned sign language first, then eventually learned how to speak. She understands Batman's need not to kill, as she feels the same. They both believe they wouldn’t stop if they started.

While living with her mother she learned how to read body language. Meaning she can read every attack before they strike. She is so good at dodging enemies, that the CIA classified her as a “meta-human” (a human with superpowers, that isn't an alien), as they've seen her dodge bullets. The main reason she can and has beat Batman in a fight is because of her ability to read and dodge his attacks while still being fast enough to counter the hits. She may not be the strongest physically but she is the fastest and the most fluid in her fighting style.

She is the only one who can take his title out of all of Batman's kids. Some of the Batman villains have already seen her as Batman’s successor. Even if Damian, the only other one to want the title, feels like he can take it, he still believes that killing is acceptable, when Batman’s entire gimmick is that he cannot kill.

Ever since coming into the bat-family she is the only one who hasn’t killed. Dick Grayson, who is said to be the “next Batman”, has killed the Joker, after he tortured Tim Drake (long after Jason Todd had died). He has been said multiple times in comics as “better than Batman”, meaning he never should become Batman, as he is the light to Batman’s dark.

In summary, Cassandra Cain is the best choice for the successor to Batman because she is the only one who believes in his morals, she is the only one who wants and can handle the title, and she can read body language makingit simple for her to predict attacks.”

If anyone actually finds this I will be amazed

#essay #batman #cassandra cain #bruce wayne #batgirl #black bat #I literally love her she’s so perfect

[lovelystickymilkshake]

So.

I have more ideas.

Quick background knowledge:

Dick is 13 at the start,

Jason is 12 at the start,

Tim would be 11 at the start,

Damian would be 7 at the start,

Wallace is 13 at the start,

And Roy is 15 at the start.

People in YJ are the same age as the people they would normally be the same age as.

E.x.:

If Roy was the sams age as Kaldur in YJ when both are like 19, then when Roy's 15 Kaldur is also 15.

What if:

Jason is only a year younger than Dick, and Dick finds him before Batman does when he's stealing the tires off of the Batmobile (proudly dubbed the Batmobile by Dick.)

He asks future-zombie-boy whether or not he would like to become his successor.

Kid-who-will-die-because-of-this-decision agrees.

Bruce is against this, but is convinced by Dick's puppy-eyes.

About a year later, when Jason is hanging out with Dick, Wallace, and Roy, He asks Roy if his older brother and Wally have a crush on eachother.

He says it with innocent intentions, but he forgot to whisper, so the others' conversation stops immediately.

Dick, because he's (ironically) an asshole, asks Jason why he thinks that Wally has a crush on Dick.

Jason proceeds to correctly point out all of the behaviors that Wally only exhibits when with Dick.

For example:

He points out how Wally will space out into Dick's eyes as if he could see through his mask, follows him around like a lost puppy who was given food, exclusively uses the princess carry when carrying Dick, e.t.c.

Roy is currently dying (heh) laughing on the floor while Dick and Wally blush as Wally struggles to make a defence.

Dick, who was not expecting anything that accurate, begins to wonder if he was hallucinating.

Wally brushes it off, (definitely very smoothly.)

Wally asks Jason why he thinks that Dick has a crush on Wally.

Because revenge and all that ✨️Razzle-dazzle✨️

Dick, who actually learned from Wally's experience, quickly clamps Jason's mouth shut.

The first Robin was being Robin, and Y'know, chilling.

He had established the YJ team a few months ago, already extremely close

But suddenly, he's kidnapped by the Joker!

(*gasp!*)

The Joker sells him to the Court of Owls and he becomes an 'emotionless' soldier.

Back at the Batcave, everyone is worried.

Batsy had called everyone he knew in the superhero community to the batcave via the zeta-tubes and blindfolds.

This concerned the other heroes, as the batcave was famously impenetrable to all those he didn't trust, and he sure as hell wouldn't trust them like this in any other circumstances.

He explains the situation, and asks them all for help.

The Boy Wonder was well-liked by all the heroes in the room at the very least, and they all agreed to help.

It was when the Batman unwrapped his cloak that they acquired another fact.

The fact that Kid Flash, the sidekick who was commonly seen wearing a smile, was sobbing uncontrollably into the Big Bat's chest while on his lap.

And somehow more surprising, Batman was allowing it, even comforting him like a concerned parent.

Supes hear Batman whispering both to the small child he's comforting and also in a com-link.

Superman gestured to Martian Manhunter to establish a mindlink, and revealed to the others that the rumors about how Batman was heartless were unrealistic.

He relayed everything Bruce was saying, the sentence standing out the most being:

"See Kid, they'll help find him. It'll be alright."

Barry rushes in with no blindfold and scoops up his nephew.

Not that anyone else noticed at the time how he knew where the batcave was beforehand.

Unfortunately, the tracker that had been hooked up to Dick's heartbeat... stopped.

Despite this, the search continued. Partly because they were desperate, mostly because Dick G(r)ayson (that auto-corrected to arson-) was too much trouble to be killed in one go.

While looking for his beloved older brother in spirit, Jason becomes Robin and is killed by the Joker when he's 13.

This greatly affects KF, who had sworn to himself to protect Jason after his supposedly deceased bestfriend had gone missing.

As part of the deal he mentioned to Jason, he visits Jason's grave and swears to confess to Dick if he ever found him again.

Regardless of their efforts, Dick is not found until a year later, a bit after Jason is resurrected.

When Jason was resurrected, he is sneaking about the halls when he is stopped by a strangely familiar Talon.

When the Talon wraps his wings around him, he figures that he has been caught and will be tortured for sneaking out.

However, he hears from outside of the feathery cocoon, a talon guard passing by, who asks the familiar Talon if he has seen "Thalia's new toy."

The familiar Talon apparently shook his head, as Jason heard the Guard's footsteps descending down the hall.

He is rushed out of the halls and into what seems to be a larger than normal solitary confinement room.

When he is released from the Talon's wings, he sees a... nest(?) in the corner of the room.

He has not escaped the Talon's clutches yet however, as he is lightly picked up as if he weighed nothing and carried off to the nest-like-bed in the corner.

The Talon plops him down in front of him and starts to detangle Jason's hair, clicking his tongue when undoing the tougher knots.

Jason just sort of sits there, eyes wide as he recalls his missing older brother doing the same thing before he was kidnapped.

Jay slowly turns around and sits criss-cross

(-That's such a funny name for it-)

And gently takes off the Talon's mask.

He gasps as the newly-found Dick Grayson merely chirps inquizitively

(I dunno if that's a word-)

And continues brushing his little brother's hair.

'The Gray Son" is unsure of why he felt the need to protect smol child (as he had dubbed him in his head,) but he decided to trust his instincts.

And his instincts were telling him that he belonged in a home far away from here.

Maybe the fact that the black dye in Smol Child's hair had been scrapped off from the knots had helped him realize that fact.

Maybe the fact that his frozen heart had thumped one beat when he had a sudden flashback to being held in some redhead's arms had helped him realize that he needed to get Smol Child and himself out of here.

Back with the other, non-brainwashed-or-killed-child heroes, they had found that the tracker connected to Dick's heartbeat worked again, even if it was just for a single second.

Kid Flash, who had been checking the moniter borderline religiously, had easily noticed it and quickly traced it.

"Batman, Flash, I found him!" He calls out excitedly.

Batsy and (Straw-)Barry rush to his side, and quickly form a team and a plan.

Back with Dickie-now-a-literal-bird and 'Smol Child' ❤️ , Dick has been trying to speak to Jason in literally every language he knows.

Sadly, the one language he forgot was English.

However, due to being forced to train and hang out with Thalia, Jason knew that both Dick and a kid named D knew Arabic.

So at the moment, Jay was trying to tell Dick that they had to kidnap an even smaller child through charades.

Dick had trouble understanding Smol Child's interperative dance, so he went to go and get the other person who he felt the need to protect.

Incidentally, this includes jumping out of a window.

Jason may have also forgotten that his sibling could fly, and thought that he couldn't save his older brother again and began crying.

(Look, it's been a tough year for 'im, alright?!)

Dick returns to one Smol Child crying while the Not-Infant was nestled in his arms asleep.

Naturally, seeing his (albeit mostly forgotten,) little bro caused the bird part and the human part of him to panic.

He swept both smaller children into his arms and covered them and himself with his wings.

That night, all slept more soundly than ever since the start of that horrid year.

To be continued if you guys want more or have suggestions?

Here we go, this story is now on wattpad, it's called "In the Talons of memory."

Continuation:

Lost.

That's what he was.

Wally West knew that, most boys liked a girl by his age.

Most wanted to have fun with said girls.

Most were normal.

And yet, here he was.

His heart never skipped a beat for a girl he wasn't related to (Of course he worried about his family,) but instead...

He thinks that he's in love.

Not thinks, knows.

He is absolutely sure that he is hopelessly and utterly in love with a certain Dick Grayson.

The problem is, he doesn't even know if Dick's alive right now.

Back with 'Smol Child' and 'Not-Infant' and Dick, Not-Infant was translating Arabic from Dick to English for Jason.

He wanted to

#talon!dick #birdflash #batfam #dc comics #richard grayson #help #tim drake #jason peter todd #jason todd #damain wayne #damian al ghul #royjay #jayroy #dickwally #au #fanfic #dcau #dcau fanfic

[comicarc]

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐑𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐧?

What does Robin represent and what impact has it left on those who took the mantle?

wc: 393

When I became Robin, I wanted it to become a symbol for Gotham. The Bat represented darkness, fear, and all other terrifying aspects of the city. Meanwhile, there was me, his sidekick, the colorful boy wonder meant to contrast the dark knight. I wanted to symbolize hope, love, and a second chance. In some ways I did. I attracted others who wanted to make Gotham better; others who wanted to heal the city or themselves. 

My successor was a rowdy kid. A little too excited to beat up criminals to be considered normal. He too wanted to help the Bat, and in some way give himself an outlet for his frustration and trauma. He became Robin. He died.

The third gave up everything to become Robin. Mainly to help Batman, but to also use his extraordinary skills. He was a popular kid. Had loving parents who were alive. And even figured the identity of the world’s greatest detective. He became Robin. He lost his whole world.

The fourth was trying to change her destiny. Become a hero to fight her father and those like him. Her predecessors set too high a standard that she thought she could not achieve. Her pedestal for those before her led to her demise. She too became a Robin. She died.

The fifth had no childhood, for he himself didn’t know how to have one. A mother who knew no such thing as motherly love, and a father too busy to raise him. The only consistency in his life was fighting. A child soldier, trained since birth to become super-human, to become perfect. He became Robin. His quest for perfection left him isolated.

I wanted Robin to bring others a sense of relief, a joyous aspect of their lives. I wanted Robin to represent my parents. But the only thing Robin has brought is pain. Pain that changes a person, turns them completely different. Jason Todd died at the hands of the Joker to become a traumatized drug lord going by Red Hood. Tim Drake lost his parents, his home, his friends, and even his identity to become Robin. Stephanie Brown was too burdened with expectations of living up to her predecessors. And Damian Wayne tried to be too perfect. 

I regret making Robin out to be a hero, for that is the villain in all our lives.

#dc robin #red robin #nightwing #dick grayson #jason todd #tim drake #stephanie brown #damian wayne #batman #character study #angst

[chernobog13]

R.I.P. KEVIN CONROY - THE VOICE OF BATMAN

I was extremely saddened this morning to learn that Kevin Conroy, the man who  has been THE voice of Batman for thirty years, has passed away from cancer.

Conroy first won over audiences and comic book fans with his spot-on portrayal of Bruce Wayne and Batman in Batman: The Animated Series (1992).  This also the start of the DC Animated Universe.

He continued as Batman in the spin-off animated film, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm.  The film was loosely based on the comic book story Batman: Year Two, and is considered by many to be the best Batman film - live-action or animated - ever!

Conroy returned to voice Batman again when The New Batman Adventures (1997) premiered, which - even though it featured different character and production design, was a continuation of B:TAS.

In 1997 there was a three-part World’s Finest crossover between Superman: The Animated Series (1996) and The New Batman Adventures.  Conroy’s Batman met - and briefly fought - Tim Daly’s Superman, before both heroes teamed-up to take down the Joker and Luthor.  This crossover was later complied into the straight-to-video The Batman/Superman Movie: World’s Finest.

This was followed up by Batman Beyond (1999), where Conroy portrayed a much older Bruce Wayne who, very reluctantly, passes on the mantle of Batman to a young successor.

Following that, Conroy and Batman returned to the present day for Justice League (2001) and Justice League Unlimited (2004).

Along the way, Conroy voice Batman for additional, straight-to-video films, video and computer games, and would even record messages on answering machines (remember those?) for friends.

Conroy again returned to the role in the 2009 animated film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.  Here he was reunited with actor Tim Daly, who returned for the first time as Superman (actor George Newbern voiced Superman in the two Justice League series).

The two men would reprise their roles a year later in the follow-up film Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (2010).

Skip ahead to 2016 and Conroy’s Batman appeared in Justice League Action, a fun-filled, action-packed series that took refused to take itself too seriously while telling great stories.  Conroy was the only original Justice League voice cast member who returned for this series.

The final time I encountered Conroy as Bruce Wayne was in the Arrowverse’s Crisis on Infinite Earths mega-crossover in 2019.   It was a surprising departure from his previous portrayals, as this Bruce Wayne was bitter, deranged, and more than a little homicidal.

It’s a shame to lose a man who has defined Batman, and entertained millions of people, for so long.  However, we are extremely lucky that he left such a large body of work for us to enjoy.

Rest in peace, Kevin Conroy.

#Kevin Conroy #Batman #Batman: The Animated Series #The New Batman Adventures #Superman #Superman: The Animated Series #Batman Beyond #Justice League #Superman/Batman: Public Enemies #Justice League Action #Crisis on Infinite Earths #DC Comics #DC Animated Universe

[gigachad-joker]

The Joker: A Comic Masterlist

Disclaimer: This list will be subject to changes (comic addition and comic removal), as well as possible changes to its labeling system as this list is continually adjusted. If you see that a certain comic is missing please message me and make sure to include the comic's official title, number, and series of origin. The timeline organization of both single issue and collected editions is based on biased research.

Single issues with several following numbers are to be read as a collected edition.

This list will also include a link to where the comics below can be read for free.

Batman Comic's 1940 to 2011

These single-issue comics follow the familiar formula of, 'hero catch's villain'. In my opinion, they really showcase Joker's goofiness and criminal intelligence.

Batman #1, Batman #4, Batman #5, Batman #7, Batman #11

Batman #16, Batman #23, Batman #37, Batman #40

Batman #44, Batman #55, Batman #73, Batman #148

Batman #163, Batman #251, Batman #286, Batman #291

Batman #294, Batman #321, Batman #450, Batman #451

Batman #496, Batman #546, Batman #563, Batman #570

Batman #596, Batman #614, Batman #625, Batman #643

Batman #650, 649, 648 (Jokers more, 'there in the background')

Batman #655, Batman #663

BATMAN R.I.P: #676, 678, 679, 680, 681, 682

Batman Detective Comics 1937 - 2011

Batman DC #124, Batman DC #128, Batman DC #149, Batman DC #168

Batman DC #180, Batman DC #193, Batman DC #332, Batman DC #341

Batman DC #338, Batman DC #365, Batman DC #475, Batman DC #476,

Batman DC #532 Batman DC #569, Batman DC #570, Batman DC #617,

Batman DC #623 Batman DC #661, Batman DC #737, Batman DC #740,

Batman DC #741, Batman DC #781 Batman DC #826,

Batman DC #870, 869, 867, 866

Batman DC #875, Batman DC #879, Batman DC #880,

Link to comic Here

Gotham Central

Issues #12-15

Link to comic Here

Batman Confidential

Issues #7-12 Link to comic Here

Batman: The Man Who Laughs

Batman The man who laughs explores the idea of what would Batman and Joker's relationship look like if it had continued from Batman #1.

Link to comic Here pgs 1-70

Joker #1-15 2021 AND The Joker: Clown Prince of Crime (1975-76) series

The Joker: Clown Prince of Crime Series is a spin-off series with other villains such as Lex Luther, The Riddler, The Creeper, and more.

Joker 2021 #1-15 is a different series following the events of Infinite Frontier #1 involving Jim Gordon getting contracted to kill the Joker. To best understand this series I would suggest reading Batman: The Killing Joke, Joker War, and Black Mirror first.

This link will give you access to both collected editions.

Batman: The Killing Joke

Originally released in 1988, Batman: The Killing Joke was adapted from the 1951 short story The Man Under The Red Hood. This comic was also adapted into an animated movie in 2016.

Link to comic Here

Batman: A Death In The Family

A Death in the Family begins when Batman relieves Jason Todd of his crime-fighting duties. Jason begins a search for his biological mother but ends up being tortured by The Joker. This leads to his presumed death.

Link to comic Here

The Three Jokers

 The Three Jokers is a 'spiritual' successor to Batman: The killing Joke and Batman: A Death In The Family. Batman, Batgirl, and Red Hood (now Jason Todd) explore a lead on The Joker, who, as the title suggests may have been 3 different men this whole time.

Link to comic Here

Batman Europa

Batman is about to be taken out by a virus that has no cure and his only salvation is The Joker.

Link to comic Here

Singular Stories

Batman: Cacophony

The major plotline is that someone has taken the Joker's poison and created a new club drug called Chuckles. It's taking over the street scene.

Link to comic Here

Jokers Last Laugh

Joker finds out he has cancer and starts a riot

Link to comic Here

Batman: Joker Switch

Joker gets a joke played on HIM! TW: Body horror

Link to comic Here

Batman: Dark Detective

Joker attempts to run for president

Link to comic Here

Batman: Joker Times

Joker agrees to be psychoanalyzed on live TV

Link to comic Here

Batman: I, Joker

Link to comic Here

BATMAN NEW 52 2011 - 2015

Batman New 52 carries multiple Joker storylines. Below I have sectioned them out for your consumption:

Death Of The Family: Batman New 52: #13 - #17

Batman Zero Year starts #21 and we see Joker's first appearance in Zero Year in issue #23.1 and then again in #24. Batman Zero Year then ends and

Batman Endgame begins at #34 - 40.

From #41 - #52 onward we begin Batman: Superheavy and start to tell the story of Mister Bloom. This storyline also leads to the amnesia of Bruce Wayne and the retired Joker storyline.

Link to full comic Here

Batman Detective comics faces of death VOL 1

Batman Faces of Death: #1 pgs 1-30 (Joker gets his face cut off by Dollmaker)

Link to comic Here

Batman: Death Of The Family (Extra)

This version of Death Of The Family also contains Detective Comics 16-17, Catwoman 13-14, Batgirl 14-16, Red Hood and the Outlaws 15-16, Teen Titans 15, Nightwing 15-16, Batman and Robin 15-17, Batman 17.

Link to comic Here

Batman: Zero Year ARC 2

Arc 2 of Batman's Zero Year is titled Secret city. We delve into Bruce Wayne’s past with the Red Hood Gang and his run-ins with aspiring District Attorney Harvey Dent!

Link to comic Here

Arkham Unhinged

I have never read this and do not know what it is about but it seems to have a similar format to Legends of The Dark Knight.

Joker is in issues: #7-9, #26-31, #35-37

Link to comic Here

Legend of the dark knight (1989-2021)

These are stories that can be told anywhere in the timeline, past, present, and future.

The 2021 run: Joker is in issues 2 and 3

Link to comic Here

The 2015 run: Joker is in issues, #4-6, #7-10,

Link to comic Here

The 1989 run: Joker is in issues, #50, #65-68, #105-106, #142-145, #162-163, ##200

Link to comic Here

BATMAN: REBIRTH 2016

Batman Rebirth carries out multiple Joker storylines. Below I have sectioned them out for your consumption:

Batman Rebirth: #25

Batman Rebirth #26-32 The War of Jokes and Riddles'

Batman Rebirth #48-50 The Best Man

Batman Rebirth #66

Batman Rebirth #86-91 Their Dark Designs (this leads into the Joker war)

Batman Rebirth #93 - #101, The Joker War

Link to comic Here

Journey to the joker war is just a fun little prelude to the joker war #1023 and 1024

The Joker War (Extra scenes)

As part of the Batman: Rebirth series Joker manages to steal Bruce Wayne’s fortune. With his newfound riches, he proceeds to take over Gotham city leading to an epic, explosive, battle.

Link to comic Here

Joker war collateral damage, the aftermath of the joker war.

Doomsday Clock

Doomsday Clock is a story about what happens when Doctor Manhattan, in all his logic and power, becomes aware of the inherently illogical, nonlinear main DC continuity

Joker shows up in issues; 4-7

Link to comic Here

2019 Onward...

Batman: Last Knight On Earth

This is not part of any series and is under a black label meaning its not part of the DC continuum

Link to comic Here

Joker Killer Smile

Joker gets psychoanalyzed.

Link to comic Here

The Joker Presents: A puzzle box

The G.C.P.D have a mysterious corpse, a magical box, and a murderer's row of the city's most dangerous villains sitting in a jail cell. Now all they need to figure out is what exactly happened.

Link to comic Here

The Joker: The Man Who Stopped Laughing

The world once again holds its breath as The Joker strikes again! But how far is he willing to go this time?

Link to comic Here

Thank you, everyone. Please don't forget to reblog and share! @lankylordoflevity @katekanemybeloved @killerant @unordinaryachilles @luxamea @the-hopeless-fanboy @gothamsfinestdummy @muslyedirector @icedgarlic @gothamurbanist @creature-of-the-night-esq

#joker #joker comics #the joker #death in the family #death of the family #three jokers #batman #batman: the killing joke #comics #comic book #batjokes #bruce wayne #dc universe #europa #batman europa #batman x joker #batman new 52 #joker new 52 #batman rebirth #joker rebirth #dc new 52 #dc univerise online #dc #comic recs #comic books

[distort-opia]

I always wonder what woud happen if bruce finally got what he wanted and got joker all figured out. Would he get bored of him? I think thats something that joker himself is scared of

It's definitely something Joker fears, yes. In Batman: Death of the Family, he basically jumps off a cliff rather than hear Bruce utter his name or his history, so panicked that he doesn't even consider that Bruce could be bluffing. As to Bruce figuring Joker out... hah. Arguably, he already has.

Bruce has always been obsessed with understanding Joker, and especially during his first decade as Batman. At the basis of it lies both a need for control and the hope that Joker could be rehabilitated, because if Bruce understands Joker, then maybe he could predict him and prevent his crime sprees. Perhaps Bruce could help Joker, have the leverage of Joker's humanity to use in order to reach him.

Detective Comics #1027 -- Many Happy Returns

It's an essential component of their dynamic: Bruce desperately asking "why?" and Joker laughing in his face, symbolizing both Batman's need for constructing meaning and Bruce's need for connection and understanding. Something that Joker eternally resists.

Batman (2016) #67 -- All The Way Down

But the paradox is that, at the same time, Bruce doesn't entirely want to figure Joker out. This is partly covered by a bigger pattern of behavior for Bruce that I talked about before-- the fact that, despite verbally supporting the rehabilitation of his Rogues, Bruce tends to be mean-spirited, distrustful and paranoid when it actually happens. In many ways he thinks of the Rogues as his; they're all in the dark, they're all wrestling with various kinds of demons, and Bruce includes himself in it. This is most apparent in Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth, in which Bruce's biggest fear is the fact Arkham would feel like home. So... if the Rogues truly rehabilitated, what then? Where would that leave him? Bruce has a crippling fear of abandonment as a consequence of losing his parents, and it extends to this.

It's true for Joker more than for anyone else, I suppose. Bruce refuses to let Joker die, even in bonkers circumstances in which his code would allow for it. He also has apparently known all along what he needs to do in order to... undo Joker. If Death of the Family established anything, it's that Bruce never needed to kill Joker in order to get him to stop. The end shows that Bruce knows Joker very well, and thus he knows that the thing Joker fears most is the ghost of his own past. All he needed to do was hint that he had uncovered Joker's history, and Joker basically committed suicide. Yet Bruce hasn't used this before, and he hasn't used it against Joker since.

But I absolutely need to mention the controversial and dubiously-canonical Batman: The Three Jokers (intended to be a spiritual successor to Batman: The Killing Joke) that explores the idea that Joker might've been separate people over time (but not really). This comic is disliked for very valid reasons, but it does something very interesting, at least in the realm of the hypothetical: it shows that Bruce has known who Joker was and where his family is all along. Coupled with the fact that this comic specifically connects The Comedian to New 52 and Endgame... it implies that at least in this story, Bruce wasn't bluffing when he said he knew Joker's real identity in Death of the Family.

But he doesn't use it. Not in Endgame, not in The Three Jokers. I talked about this story more extensively here, but the reasoning that he does it to protect Joker's hidden family is very weak, because Bruce could just omit the fact Jeannie and her child survived. If he's worried about the paper trail, it's ridiculous to assert that Batman doesn't have the resources to fake their death certificates or bury the clues. Hell, the press wouldn't need to find out, he could only tell the truth to Joker and watch him unravel as a result. But he doesn't! In his own words...

Batman: The Three Jokers #3

So... this comic basically goes to show that Bruce wouldn't get bored if he figured out the "mystery" of Joker. Rather that he'd just keep it a secret, and maintain the status quo (even though it's painfully selfish and destructive of him to do so). And even if you see The Three Jokers as out of main continuity, Death of the Family remains as a testament to the fact Bruce knows Joker. He knows what might get Joker to stop, but he's only ever threatened it and never resorted to it since, despite seeing proof of it working.

At the end of the day, Bruce getting bored with Joker is unlikely. It would be a real possibility if their dynamic was based only on Bruce's curiosity and obsession regarding Joker, but it isn't. That's simply a component of it, one of the pillars. Bruce needs Joker in other ways-- bigger ways, that overshadow knowing Joker's name. Joker needs to remain an equal who can oppose Batman... and thus, he keeps coming back, whether he likes it or not. Bruce drags him with him; and I wish I was being metaphorical, but this is literally what Bruce did in Going Sane and the nebulous time between Batman (2011) #48 and Dark Days: The Casting.

The tragedy, though, is that Joker would never trust Batman to still be there outside of the murder and the mayhem he thinks Batman needs. The thought of Bruce caring about him outside of his Joker persona is an impossibility... because Joker utterly hates who he used to be, and sees no value in himself (or anything, for that matter). He can't comprehend Bruce valuing him as a human being, worth knowing or saving.

#man I got long again #hope this was a fun read Anon #asks #long post #batman #bruce wayne #joker #batman meta #batjokes #batjokes meta #my meta #suicide mention

[stealthnoodle]

Also in honor of how horny we all are about 11/20, here are some E-rated fics that I've especially enjoyed involving the events in the interrogation room! (All are NSFW, of course, and please mind the tags on each one.)

On the sex comedy end of the spectrum:

• paint the town, take a bow by futuresoon

Kurusu’s acting strange. Kurusu’s acting strange. Kurusu’s acting strange. (Akira tries the time loop thing, but gets a little sidetracked. Goro has no idea what’s going on.)

• Winner Take All by HoneyCorvid

Every previous competition had been done for the love of the game; Goro had been expecting the duel to be that way, as well, and hadn't bothered to think of anything like a prize. He certainly wasn't expecting what Akira asked for. Joker always managed to flip his expectations on their head. (Or: sometimes your crush is going to kill you in eight days, so you might as well shoot your shot while you've got access to the target.)

And on the "ohhh that really fucked you both up huh" end of the spectrum:

• bleed me dry by ethyxx

Akira watches the footage from the interrogation room.

• bruise pristine by catteeth

Sometimes, Akira wonders if he's lost a part of himself in that interrogation room that he'll never get back, if he'll spend the rest of his life wondering what Goro looked like when he shot his cognition point-blank in the face. Akira thinks too much about the interrogation room. Goro isn't sure how to handle it.

If you want something longer and plotty that's both fucked-up and sweet:

• first step by futuresoon

“Mementos is gone, yes, and both the God of Control and his successor have withdrawn, but there is…a remnant, sticking to the other side like a thorn into flesh. With the power of a Trickster, it can be safely removed.” (Akechi’s got a Palace, sort of, and Akira’s the only one who can enter it. Now he just has to figure out what he’s supposed to do in a Palace with no Treasure and no Shadow--and if his tag-along even wants him to see what’s in there.)

(The epilogue is especially 11/20-relevant but you should read the whole thing if you haven't, it's great)

#persona 5 #shuake #fic recs #it's a beautiful spectrum #i'm so normal about them being normal about each other

[intriq]

Jupiter

Jason will always have the comparison of the first Boy Wonder on his shoulders.

The first Boy Wonder who set a template. A mold he had to fill into. A set of rules and actions laid out by his predecessor. The successor of his legacy. Jason wanted nothing more than to meet Bruce’s expectations, to impress him. To be seen as Jason, the second Boy Wonder. More than just the second boy who became Robin.

Jason did his best to do just that, he really did. He really wanted to make him proud. But yet his efforts were met with “Dick would’ve done this”, and “Dick wouldn’t’ve done that”. Everything he did was never good enough. Always scrutinized and put under a microscope. Jason just wanted to be good enough. He could be great, he just needs one chance. That’s all he needs. One chance and surely he will truly be the second Boy Wonder, not just the second Robin. He scrambles at any opportunity to prove himself. He just needs to do something great at least once and Bruce will be proud. He’ll be happy with just doing it once.

Jason can’t help but be envious, every time he looks at Dick. What about him is so great that his every attempt is fizzled out, sparks replaced by the beaming rays of his light and past accomplishments? Jason can do everything he can. What can Dick do that Jason can’t?

Jason doesn’t want to copy him to be great. He doesn’t need to. He’ll prove himself, one way or another. That’s why he’ll do this on his own. To help his mother, to go out on his own.

But each time, in each universe he is the second Robin, he will always fail. His shining opportunity snuffed out by the cackling and cruel wickedness of the Joker. Each time his opportunity to make Bruce proud always winds up his demise. He was meant to be a star, but failed.

But like Jupiter, perhaps there was never a chance for him to be a star like Dick is. He could never hope or dream to achieve the greatness Dick did as Robin.

@fallingwaynes has the other part of this angst! We decided to team up and write somethin' together hehe. They wrote Dick Grayson's end, while I wrote Jason's.

credit to @saradika for the divider!! [its literally so pretty, like??? hello???]

#jason todd angst #jason todd #jason todd fanfiction #angst #dc universe #maybe he was never destined to be good enough #not in bruce's eyes at least #but hey #at least he tried #fanfics #dc fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic #intrique's dc things

[somequeerthing]

The best successor to Batman is… Harley Quinn. No wait, really. Here’s why -

If there ever comes a day where batman needs to be replaced again, it shouldn’t be Dick, or Tim, or Jason, or Steph, or even Damian.

The best 'successor' to batman... imo... is Harley Quinn. I think if DC was smart they'd set her up for it, and given how popular she's been lately I could see a world where it happens.

She's also a weird little nerdy damaged freak like Bruce, she has a similarly screwed up relationship with joker, her own anti hero love interest in Ivy, a similarly difficult relationship with heroism, and I think she'd be a great maternal figure to a new Robin.

Don't even call her batman, just put her in the same position. Here’s the elevator pitch, Harley is where shes at in the HBO show and the dceu - broken up with joker, seeing ivy, less unhinged and murderous and not really sure what her place is. She doesn’t want to be a true villain but she’s got too many ties to her old life for her to be able to commit to being a hero. Ya da ya da something happens Batman dies. Maybe the robins too, maybe not. And Harley steps up. Maybe joker does some fucked up shit to make her want to, maybe something happens with ivy or maybe in the chaos of a batmanless Gotham she finds a little orphan in danger, maybe by joker. Someone uncared for by the system that resonates with her. She rescues them. One reason or another she decides to take up the mantle. Cue her navigating a seedy underbelly she was very recently a part of, reckoning with the past harm she’s caused, being a surrogate mother, fighting for the rogues to get actual help because she can empathize with them (and is a phd board certified psych). She maintains her day job and alias as harleen quinzel, psychiatrist (in this world maybe no one knew they were the same person) You could have her taking sessions with villains she fights. A much more grounded figure than Bruce ever was, someone with true experience in both worlds but who, like Bruce, cares about the people he fights, cares about trying to be better and make amends. She’d retain her humor and her unique character we’ve all grown to love all while maturing and learning to be a hero.

#harley quinn #Batman #dc #dcau #comics #robin #Harley #harlivy #harleen quinzel #HBO #nerdy #Gotham city #fic #seriously someone make this #dc pls

[grassbreads]

Tell me how I, the gal with terminal "can't stop thinking about Tai Sui" disease, read hundreds of thousands of words of Mo Du over the course of months, starting right after I finished Tai Sui, yet it took me until right now in this instant to put together the Fei Du->Zhou Ying parallel

Like. Here's the favored son of a man who is incredibly powerful and morally bankrupt. He hates his dad and would be quite happy to commit patricide, should he get the opportunity, but he doesn't directly do so because it wouldn't suit his schemes. He has spent his entire life since his teenage years painstakingly putting together the chess pieces necessary to both destroy his dad and unravel the truth of a grand unknowable conspiracy that has haunted his entire life. He's a genius and the way his mind works is utterly incomprehensible to everyone else in the world, even those who know and love him best. The right kind of placid smile from him can be the most terrifying thing anybody has ever seen. He is willing to use himself up and toss himself out completely if it is the means to the final end of his schemes.

It's just that with Fei Du, the whole point of him is that he's not nearly so terrible as he thinks he is. He's not a psychopath. He's not cruel, regardless of how much empathy he may or may not naturally have. He's just spectacularly traumatized by his childhood. And the presence of Luo Wenzhou in his life both saves him from spiraling down into his original epic self-destructive plot and allows him to access his buried human emotions.

Then, 5 years later, Priest came back to revisit some of the same ideas and turn absolutely all of them up to eleven. She wrote a man who doesn't just think differently from others, but who perceives the world so wildly differently from anyone else that his experience of existence is utterly incomprehensible to his peers. She wrote a patricidal prince who doesn't just want to destroy his father and his company, then tear out the truth of a criminal conspiracy, but rather wants to destroy his father and his entire country, then tear out the truth of the sky itself. She wrote a man who genuinely doesn't give a single damn about anyone other than himself and his tiny tiny selection of loved ones. Who would destroy the entire world in a fit of vengeance and who uses his own willingness to kill innocents as leverage against others. She wrote a man who plans to achieve his goals by way of epic self destruction and does exactly that, leaving the main character's loss of him as the central beating tragedy in the otherwise best possible ending.

She also wrote a story in which, when Zhou Ying's closest and most loved person realizes the dark and scheming truth of him, rather than saying "I can fix him; I don't think he's really so bad," he says "yeah, this is my cousin and he's a terrible menace who tries to destroy the world sometimes. I love him more than anything."

You can absolutely see how Priest's interest in similar ideas informed both characters. It's just that Fei Chengyu didn't succeed in raising his perfect little sociopath successor, but Emperor Taiming and the demons of the impassible sea absolutely succeeded in Jokerizing Prince Zhuang. They just couldn't possibly anticipate the kind of monster that the demon of the east sea would become.

#ok technically this is a bit of a called shot for me about Fei Du #I'm still in the middle of book 5 #but like. he's not gonna die or go full evil. he's the love interest in a danmei #and the story up until this point has VERY clearly been about lwz showing Fei Du how human he still is #and pulling him back from the brink of something dark #it's an I can fix him romance #so it'd make no sense for the story to make a sudden 180. and I think priest knows better #mo du is about a good man trying to force himself into darkness and being saved #and about how he never realized how much he wanted that salvation. but he did want it. it drew him to lwz I think #tai sui. as others have said. is about the tragedy of trying to save someone that GENUINELY does not want to be saved #that shakes off your attempts to help them whenever possible and is genuinely good at doing so #idk man I just love fucked up little guys #tai sui #mo du #silent reading #fei du #zhou ying #prince zhuang #andie reads silently #also side note. but it was SO hard to decide which blog to put this on lol #it's part of my mo du liveblog. which goes on main #but also tai sui meta. which goes on morethanwonderful #augh. #long post #tai sui spoilers