#hawkfire | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

professoruber · 1 month

Text

Flamebird Analysis: The odd treatment of Bette Kane and her history/experience

Batwoman (2011-2016) #1

Okay so first of all, Kate; rude much?

Second of all... was Flamebird's costume really that impractical? Especaially when compared to Kate's costume.

While admittedly Flamebird's original costume was not exactly the height of practicality...

(Although she still seemed quite capable of holding her own in it)

Beast Boy (2000) #2

However she later does in fact get a more practical outfit which she also kickass ass in.

Beast Boy (2000) #4

And we do know that its Flamebird's second (more practical-looking costume) which Kate burns, as Bette ends up suiting up in her aforementioned spare after Kate fires her...

Batwoman (2011-2016) #3

While I am admittedly not an expert on combat outfits; Flamebird's second costume to me seems like it walks a good line between aesthetic and practicality. It has plenty of flair and style to it, but also appears quite flexible and overall not really too drastically different from Kate's Batwoman costume in this regard (rather hypocritical of Kate to say "you need a uniform" while she wears a long wig for no apparent reason apart from style).

If anything...

The "uniform" which Kate gives Bette kinda strikes me as being less practical for the situation compared to the Flamebird costume which she burned. Like Bette's mask seems to be just a piece of fabric tied around her face, which certainly feels like it should be looser and not be as sleek and flexible as the Flamebird costume.

Building off this, from what I've seen and looked over so far, the treatment of Bette kinda feels like it has a weird... juxtaposition at times between what's getting told and what's being shown, I guess.

Like on one hand...

It's shown by both Bette's comments here and the existence of her old Flamebird costumes that she has been experience vigilante for sometime. Longer than Kate I think, if I'm understanding the timeline all correctly.

There seems to be this odd case of both having Kate and the narrative treat Bette as an inexperienced rookie... while also having Bette and the narrative establish Bette as having been a Teen Titan, who has fought Deathstroke and presumably has years of experience.

Even Kate's codename for Bette indicates a rookie status...

However despite the references to Bette's past career and capabilities, and Bette's protests of being more capable than Kate gives her credit for, and Kate also immediately feeling quite shitty at how harsh she was when firing Bette...

The narrative still, from what I understand, kinda vindicates Kate entirely by having Bette get brutalised to the point of falling into a coma immediately after she defies Kate by heading out as Flamebird after getting fired... so I guess Kate was right? I don't know.

Like I said, I just find all of this quite of a weird portrayal. I've been curious about Bette lately on account of her being the original Batgirl (or rather, Bat-Girl), which is a very iconic mantle to the general "Bat-Mythos" even if Bette herself is far less remembered.

I guess one thing I find especially strange is how this is from the first issues of Batwoman 2011... meaning that this was right at the start of the whole New 52 Reboot stuff and so they could've presumably just retconned Bette's experience to make her an actual rookie sidekick instead of this weird half-measure where they both establish her past experience as canon while also otherwise ignoring it.

There's other stuff which I could go over; such as Bette's coma, her stint as Hawkfire, her enrolling in West Point... all of which probably has room for more detailed specific analysis by someone more familiar with both Bette and also the Batwoman comics (I've only fairly recently started looking into this stuff out of curiosity as I work my way through learning more comic history).

So I'll skip to a more recent appearance by Bette in 2017...

Detective Comics (1937—Present) #967

This whole exchange feels once again like Kate ignoring Bette's history, experience and capabilities. Especially the whole "pass second year in the top 99th percentile of your class and maybe I'll put in a good word with you to Batman" thing. No one else needed be top of their class at West Point, or attend West Point at all, to be a superhero. And it just seems strange to have Bette getting forced down that specific road.

Like; going by publication history, Bette was considered part of the original Teen Titans team due to debuting in the 1960s-1970s period. In fact she joined the team before the likes of Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire and Cyborg (at least in terms of publication anyway).

While I'm not entirely certain how her current age placement in the roster, they did still at least establish her as being a Teen Titan who fought Deathstroke and so presumably in the same generation as Nightwing (even if possibly a bit younger) and other core members. The from what I understand the Titans are currently considered senior and experienced enough to be the current "top team" of the hero scene in canon.

So all together this adds up to, as I keep saying, a strange contrast between Bette's stated/implied history and how she gets treated by the narrative.

DC's Legion of Bloom (2023) #1

Last year Bette did make a return as Flamebird (not Hawkfire). Which could mean one of two things...

Kate finally acknowledged Bette as ready/worthy/experienced enough to go out on her own

Bette went screw it and decided she didn't need Bette's permission

Honestly kinda hopping the later cause it brings to mind a bit of the Beast Boy comic which I quite liked...

Beast Boy (2000) #3

Better gets a very stern reprimand from Nightwing (some she admires), and is told she's not cut out for this world and quits. This comes after she's spent most of her appearance in this run being kinda a comedic relief in the form of her repeated failures to bail Beast Boy outta jail (since she's never posted bail before and didn't know how)

But after this..?

Beast Boy (2000) #4

She comes back, with a new (more practical-looking, as I discussed before) costume and beats up several bad guys to help out Gar (who in turn really appreciates her arrival and assistance).

Batwoman (2011) #3

Making this post I've noticed an interesting similarity and contrast between Beast Boy and Batwoman comics in regards to Bette. Both times, Bette gets very sternly reprimanded and told she's not cut out to be a hero and ordered not to be one by someone she admires/values the opinion of.

Both times she defies them and goes out anyway, putting on the same costume both times in fact.

But while the Beast Boy comic portrays her as competent and capable, even having her involvement appreciated by Gar...

Meanwhile in Batwoman?

Batwoman (2011-2016) #4

Bette's defiance almost immediately ends with her horribly injured, and in turn accidentally helps the DEO work out Batwoman's identity.

Two events regarding the same character which that character reacts to in a similar manner but one ends with her vindicated and the other... very much not.

DC's Legion of Bloom (2023) #1

Moving back to Bette's recent appearance in DC's Legion of Bloom. West Point is 4-years in total, and when we last saw Bette she was on her second year at the latest. So with the nature of comic book time, I find it unlikely she'd already graduated.

Her return to Flamebird could also have something to do with Infinite Frontier (I don't fully understand how it works, but apparently everything's canon now again sort of?) re-canonising Bette's competence? That sounds like kinda an amusing thought tbh; multiverse shenanigans happen and Bette wakes up one morning feeling suddenly competent again. Good for her.

Anyway I hope this is a good sign for Bette's character. Even if she's unlikely to be a major player, would still be nice for her appearance to at least depict her as capable. Plus as I said, comic book time means if she does actually stick to West Point, then she'd unlikely to be graduating (and get allowed to be a vigilante) anytime soon. So at that point you might as well just let her go be rich and play tennis since its not like that's a route to her actually doing anything.

Bette seems pretty neat from what I've seen of her, so I wish her the best. Even if Legion of Bloom continues the running joke of her trying and failing to recreate Titans West.

34 notes · View notes

spider-lilliss · 4 months

Text

This is my list of a potential candidates I would like to see in a Teen Titans team:

Crush, daughter of Lobo. Half alien half human, full chaotic.

Tefé Holland, daughter of Swamp Thing. Super powerful super teen angst.

Anita Fite/Empress (I just need her to return somewhere in DC)

Harper Row/Blue Bird. Much more original bat choice than adding the same Robin or Batgirl again.

Galaxy, an alien superhero. She's such a cool character I hope she'll get more explored.

Alysia Yeoh/Batgirl. (She was originally supposed to be Batgirl. DC I beg you to go back to that storyline and make it happen).

Connor Hawk/Green Arrow. I think he would make a great team leader.

Static Shock (no actual reason I just think it would be cool to see him).

The Aerie. I know the wiki considers them terrorist but they are just an extremist activist. Yes they kill people but they mostly fight currapt politicians and bad people. They are so cool and I think they would get along well in a team.

(and Bette Kane might be a nice touch to add as well, same reason as Anita).

Edit: forgot Xanthe, a nonbinary magician (sort of). I definitely want them on the team as well! They're so cool.

Unconventiona list? Yes. Am I completely delirious and daydreaming? Absolutely. But this are my top choices of characters I think would be interesting to see in a Teen Titans team.

DC please give them more comics I am dying here.

41 notes · View notes

blanddcheadcanons · 2 months

Note

Plastic-Man and Booster Gold are supportive of Bette Kane and her being Flamebird.

‎

#plastic man #eel o'brian #patrick o'brian #booster gold #michael carter #bette kane #flamebird #hawkfire

29 notes · View notes

the-antiapocalyptic-man · 6 months

Text

Bette Kane, the Flamebird

After spending time as Batgirl to her aunt Kathy's Batwoman, Bette moved to LA and split her time between training and competing as a tennis prodigy and operating as a member of the Teen Titans' West Coast chapter. She eventually changed her identity to "Flamebird" on the suggestion of Jimmy Olsen. They claimed to have once used the identity undercover along with Superman as Nightwing in a miniaturized alien city, but Bette couldn't tell if Jimmy was pulling her leg. Regardless, she took to the name, Nightwing and Flamebird reuniting whenever their respective Titans teams found themselves on a mission together.

Bette would eventually be drawn back to Gotham after the appearance of a new Batwoman in the city. Operating undercover as "Hawkfire", Bette began to unravel the Mystery of Batwoman, discovering it wasn't one but three individuals: Ryan Wilder, Rocky Ballatine, and Bette's cousin, Kate. Rocky retired from the role and left Gotham shortly after, but Kate and Ryan would split the responsibility as (unofficially) Batwoman Black and Batwoman Red. Bette herself was jokingly recruited as "Batwoman Green" after Dr. Isley briefed linked her to The Parliament of Flowers to save her life as a battle, but the link and related powers seem to have faded.

Bette retired Hawkfire and returned to Flamebird and her place with the Titans...until, some time later, a pair of Kryptonians calling themselves Nightwing and Flamebird appeared and things got real weird...

#dc #headverse #fanart #au #redesign #bette kane #batgirl #flamebird #hawkfire

37 notes · View notes

simbasomba · 3 months

Text

Your letting me go?

..Yes. Now leave before I change my mind.

16 notes · View notes

sebeth · 1 month

Text

Bette Kane

#Bette Kane #bat-girl #flamebird #hawkfire #batfam #bat family #dc comics #dcu #teen titans

8 notes · View notes

aspecialgift · 8 months

Text

Miscellaneous members of the Batfamily. I finished making these many months ago and forgot about them :c

42 notes · View notes

moonfromthe1890s · 5 months

Text

The last of the batfamily

#bette kane #hawkfire #hawkfire dc #batfam #batfamily #dc #dc comics #dc comics fanart #dc comics redesign #moons art

14 notes · View notes

king-shango-the-great · 8 months

Text

Why does DC not show any love to Hawkfire (formerly Flamebird, aka Bette Kane) these days? 🤔

🦅🔥

Hawkfire is the cousin of Kate Kane, aka Batwoman. Bette plays the Robin role, to Kate's Batman.

#Hawkfire #Bat Woman #Bat Family #DC Is Life

10 notes · View notes

dc-megatournament · 11 months

Text

DC Mega Tournament

Round 1

Please vote for who you think would win between the 2 characters and not who you like more.

#dc #dc comics #dcu #dc mega tournament #justice league #batman #batfam #hawkfire #bette kane #the question #renee montoya #birds of prey #teen titans

10 notes · View notes

frosty-the-killer-doll · 7 months

Note

POISON MARY FLAMEBIRD HEADCANON AU GO

OKAY SO WE ALL KNOW MARY HAMILTON IS BASED OFF BETTE KANE WHO COMICS-WISE IS KNOWN AS BAT-GIRL, FLAMEBIRD AND HAWKFIRE.

In the Arrowverse, she doesn't have a codename (not even as tech support like Overwatch) until she becomes Poison Ivy 2.0, AKA Poison Mary.

Now, we have to contextualize Mary growing into a more prominent vigilante field worker (like Luke's journey) through the lens of her own self atonement. Alice took the fall for her crime and Mary let her. In what we now know as the series finale post-cancellation, even Alice is trying to recover and become better. So Mary decides she needs to do the same.

to ME, Poison Mary's abilities weren't completely wiped out. They went dormant and grew weak enough that its power didn't conjure dissociation, but it's still there, festering, waiting to burst out if she's under the right amount of stress.

Killing a guy, running a clinic, both your sisters leaving you, your closest friends not telling you about their homoerotic tension until they were already together, the guy you like finally accepting his PTSD, and a new big bad popping up from the desolate part of Gotham they bombed sounds stressful enough, right?

The new big bad is their fucking fault... that news crew getting attacked is their fault... Mary does not like it when bad things are her fault.

SO when her powers do start to pop back up again, she is obviously terrified. Convinced she's going to hurt someone, again. But she's not dissociative or obsessive or too powerful. She doesn't feel a pull to Poison Ivy. Her powers have become her own. So she chooses to use them wisely this time around, and protect Gotham from outside both the Batcave and the Clinic.

Remember when Hawkfire had pyrotechnic abilities?

WELLL after a forest fire, birds can help a forest regrow. The bark is burned enough to make eating the inside of the tree quite easy. They spread seeds from elsewhere over the devastated ground. A slowly regrowing forest is basically what Mary's power level is at at this point, so... FLAMEBIRD.

ALSO to me Mary gets splashes of green in her Flamebird costume akin to these designs as a visual reference to her time as Poison Mary

and also look at this pic of Supergirl as Flamebird

BLACK AND RED LIKE BATWOMAN!!!!!!!!!!

I think Arrowverse Flamebird's color scheme would be mostly red and black to show her loyalty to and affiliation with the Bat Team but again some green for Poison Mary and some yellow in the red to imply fire

ALSO remember there's okay there's like a tumblr post about how characters should wear costume colors that aren't related to their superpowers so that it surprises people, and Flamebird having a name like fucking Flamebird with mostly non-nature colors on her costume WHEN SHE HAS FUCKING PLANT POWERS? ultimate surprise attack.

ALSO give mary hamilton a fire gun i love hawkfire's tech

#frosty answers #arrowverse asks #arrowverse polycule au #mary hamilton #bette kane #flamebird #hawkfire #bat-girl #bat girl

5 notes · View notes

disco-troy · 2 years

Text

BETTE NO

#dick looks so annoyed #bette what do u mean??!?!??!?!#bette kane #dick grayson #lilith clay #omen #flamebird #hawkfire #robin

46 notes · View notes

blanddcheadcanons · 7 months

Note

The Nightwings don't actually have that much beef with one another despite other heroes thinking otherwise. The Flamebirds though? Those all have immense beef with one another

‎

#nightwing #robin #dick grayson #lor zod #van zee #flamebird #hawkfire #ak var #bette kane #thara ak var

25 notes · View notes

msperfectsheep-posts · 1 year

Text

She's a material girl

#Bette Kane #Mary Elizabeth Kane #Flamebird #Batgirl #Hawkfire #I wanted to try emulating a comic style with her and I chose the design of her that I personally like best #(The big bangs really separate her from a lot of DC blondes LOL)#drawing this took a while but it was good practice #dc

21 notes · View notes

steph-the-4th-robin · 1 year

Text

Bat Family Fight

End of Round 1, Fight 16

#batgirl #batman #stephanie brown #robin #bette kane #young justice #batfam #batfamily #dc #dc comics #the spoiler #nightwing #flamebird #hawkfire #batwoman

9 notes · View notes

rocket-man-major-tom · 8 months

Text

Another fun thing to consider with a Hawkfrost redemption AU is the possibility of HawkFire (Hawkfrost X Firestar). Something about Firestar choosing to be nice and help him after the evil things he had done really stirs up something in Hawkfrost's heart quite a bit. Of course, Tigerstar isn't going to be too happy about his son developing feelings for his arch nemesis, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

#warriors #hawkfrost redemption au #hawkfrost #firestar #hawkfire #firehawk #tfw when you have your gay awakening because your dad's enemy decides to forgive you for trying to kill him and gives you a second chance #and also he's really hot

2 notes · View notes