#minhkhoa khan stan account

[dyinglikeastar]

Ghostbat: A Bruce Wayne/Minhkhoa Khan Ship Primer (part 1)

"I honestly can't think of anybody else he has that kind of relationship with—" Dick Grayson

Ghostmaker, or Minhkhoa Khan, was introduced in Batman Vol 3, issue 100. He is initially introduced as an antagonist or even possibly a new villain for Batman to go up against. At first he sounds like just another self-involved dude who thinks Batman is failing at protecting Gotham, so obviously he needs to come in and do the job for him. But Bruce gets all weird about it, as you do about exes.

But then Dick shows up and we find out that this guy is definitely Bruce's ex some mystery guy from Bruce's past.

He and B had been chasing some Gotham criminal who fled to Singapore and then Dick found himself watching awkwardly from the batplane while Bruce had some kind of jilted ex-lovers in the rain scene (not the first or only one) with some random guy Dick had never seen before and he was like, god this is awk.

Oh my god, the second hand awkwardness. Poor Dick. And then he ends up playing therapist for Bruce about it, because what else are Robins for, am I right?

So this was a pretty life changing moment because hold on, Bruce Wayne had a FRIEND? That he admitted he misses? That right there would be enough for me to build an entire ship around. But oh wait, there's more.

BUT FIRST, a little bit more about Minhkhoa though because this is not just a ship manifesto, but an ode to Minhkhoa Khan because I just think he's NEAT. That, and we already know more than we ever wanted to know about Bruce Wayne lbr.

Minhkhoa Khan

Minhkhoa Khan was the son of a Singaporean business owner. When he was a young child he witnessed his father being violently threatened into selling their company to the extremely wealthy Midas crime family.

It just so happens that it was around that time that Minkhoa's parents had already seemed to notice something was different about him. Using the terminology used in the comics, Minkhoa is a clinical psychopath.

But, according to him, his motivation for for fighting crime is that he sees it more like an art and that solving and stopping a crime is more of a challenge than being a criminal. However, even though he swears up and down those are his true motives, it appears that his parents being threatened and humiliated was the catalyst for him setting off and searching out training.

And this eventually leads to our meet-cute with Bruce in the mountains of North Korea where they are both training under Master Kirigi.

Awwwwwwwwwwww. Also at first, while they're training with Master Kirigi, they go by fake names. Bruce tells everyone his name is "Jack" and Minhkhoa goes by "Anton."

But damn, did that shit get gay af really quick.

They were BESTIES. But then Bruce is Bruce and gets all mad because Kirigi is teaching some LoA wannabes how to kill people and decides to peace out and Minhkhoa (not the first or only time) begs Bruce to take him with him.

Alas, Bruce is Bruce and is all, "No, how can I be motivated by constant pain and sufferring if I actually communicate and develop somewhat healthy relationships?" and runs away. BUT before he can get too far, he's attacked by those same wannabe assassins and oh look, it's your boyfriend bestie that you totally just bailed on coming to save your ass!

And so begins Bruce and Minhkhoa's (or Jack and Anton's) gay little crimefighters in training adventures. They first find themselves in Moscow looking for an ex-kgb agent to train them, but were caught and tortured for god knows how long. God, look at these idiots competing over who can withstand torture the longest, I'd die for them.

And then look at Bruce get all upset about it when they start torturing his boyf-bestie :)

But it turns out it was just a test and they did find who they were looking for, a woman named Avery Oblonsky. She tries to teach them spy things, like seduction and disguises etc, and I love how it's sort of explained that Minhkhoa would naturally excel at these sort of things, seeing as how mirroring people and creating false empathy is just part of his personality, and I love that Bruce was just massively struggling with that part of it. Teamwork makes the dream work, right?

Which leads us to the GAYEST SHIT I'VE EVER SEEN. Or at least the gayest panel I've ever seen that includes Bruce Wayne.

IS THAT NOT THE GAYEST SHIT YOU'VE EVER SEEN? ARE Y'ALL GONNA KISS OR WHAT, DAMN. Anyway!!! Avery says she's taught them all she can and sends them to Canada to be trained by the greatest marksman, Luka Jungo. Bruce has a whole fit because Luka makes him shoot icky guns and then Luka has a whole fit because when they went hunting, Minkhoa shot the deer in the wrong place and he's like welp, this obviously means you're a psycho serial killer and I have to put you down now AND BRUCE PULLS A FUCKIN' GUN ON THE MAN.

AND THEN HE FUCKIN' SHOOTS HIM!!!

Bruce Fucking Wayne! Known Gun Anti! Shot a motherfucker to save his boyfriiiiiiend omg. And then said boyfriend picked the gun up and k worded the guy and they have a whole lovers spat about it and a super metaphor-y gay breakup scene.

Literally, what in the heterosexual explanation.

So after THAT, they obviously split up, but then Minhkhoa is Minhkhoa and basically just stalks the poor guy across the globe. For instance, when Bruce tracks down the world's greatest knife thrower in Dublin to learn from him, Minhkhoa just randomly shows up and demands that Bruce homoerotically fight him over it and this guy is so valid.

Next they conveniently run into each other in the Gobi desert where Bruce is supposed to be meditating on grains of sand and Minhkhoa tries to demand another homoerotic sword fight, but this time is the anniversary of The Thing and Bruce is simply not in the mood.

But Minhkhoa Khan is nothing if not a king of consent! He doesn't keep nagging him, he just sticks his swords in the sand and cops a squat next to him and flirts in the only way either of them will ever understand and I think that's beautiful.

The next (and last) time they run into each other before current time is in Argentina. Minhkhoa has stalked him there too and he's realized that Bruce is finished with his training and is headed back to Gotham. He tells Bruce that he's not ready, that his emotions are going to get in the way of the mission and probably get him killed within the first six months. Then, he begs Bruce to play house join him in fighting crime.

Bruce says no and we have yet another break-up scene, in the rain, no less.

And that brings us up to current events. Minhkhoa gets wind of the Joker War apparently and shows up to tell Bruce what a shit job he's doing and how he can do it better, ends up tranq'ing Bruce, Harley, and a slightly homicidal teenage vigilante going by the name Clownhunter and locking them all in a room together in order to each Bruce a lesson. He says the kid's a killer and Bruce is irresponsible for letting him live, but uh, somehow everything works out all okay in the end I guess because this happens?

Bro? Introducing him to the FAMILY? Good lord he's down bad. Also I think Bruce might be having a slight mental breakdown, but it's all good because LOOK HOW HAPPY HE IS.

God they're such dumb boys. And that almost brings us up to speed, stay tuned for ghostbat ship manifesto part 2: old married husbands shenanigans.

Part 2

#ship manifesto #ghostbat #bruce wayne #minhkhoa khan #dc comics #batman #ghostmaker #bruce wayne has a type #minhkhoa khan stan account

[dyinglikeastar]

Ghostbat: A Bruce Wayne/Minhkhoa Khan Ship Primer (part 2)

"I need your help." — Bruce Wayne

Part 1

So, part one covered most of their backstory and the events leading up to Ghostmaker's introduction in Batman #100. I gave a brief summary at the end of part one about what happened when Ghostmaker came to town, I want to dive into that a little deeper just to give the full picture of just how unhinged Bruce is at the moment. If part one was an ode to Minhkhoa, part two is going to focus on Bruce because there are some pretty juicy bits that, in my opinion, just make the ship that much more interesting. Spoilers ahead, if anyone is wanting to avoid them.

Bruce Wayne

So the thing is, Bruce is kind of going through it. Well, Bruce is always going through it, but this time Alfred is dead and thanks to the Joker stealing all his money during Joker war and the government being on his ass about it, Bruce is literally a millionaire instead of a billionaire broke. So, in order to save money/be more efficient/be more connected to the people of Gotham, he leaves Wayne Manor and the batcave behind to live in a brownstone in the city. That means now he has to depend on mini caves and caches throughout the city, Oracle, and actually reaching out to The Family (tm) when it comes to fighting crime. He also can't just blow shit up anytime he wants and have it replaced anymore. <sad face>

Oh yeah, he also has neighbors now. The Batman has neighbors. My dude is truly going through it. No Alfred, no Batcave, no endless supplies of money, no Selina. Just a guy and his closer-than-appears-in-mirror impending mental breakdown. (If this ship primer turns into a Why I Think Bruce Wayne Is Having a Mid-Life Crisis essay, no it doesn't.)

But seriously. Ghostmaker comes to town, tranq's him, locks him in a room to kill or be killed, thinks, "Hey, what Bruce really needs is to be traumatized more, specifically regarding the deaths of young teenage boys..."

Kills a whooooole bunch of people, which, you know, Batman is usually kind of...opposed to?

And they fight for about a minute, then Bruce gives him the old It's Too Easy To Kill speech and pouts at him and the big bad simp Ghostmaker folds like a cheap suit lmao

Ya'll are embarrassing fr. Not five minutes after he escaped the room where Ghostmaker locked him, Harley, and Clownhunter in until one of them killed the other, Bruce is like baby wait pls don't go lmao EMBARRASSING.

Anyway, you could call Bruce's general attitude and personality in this new arc character growth and maturity and learning or you could take my route and be like healthy behavior? From Bruce Wayne? It's a red flag for me. Asking for help? MY Bruce Wayne? Just doesn't add up.

No but seriously, I am literally loving Tynion's Bruce. He is so vulnerable and yet still very Batman. It's weird to see him reaching out and asking for help tbqh, but due to current circumstances it makes complete sense and good for him for not being a complete idiot about it. Still, this is a ship primer and it does seem to be one specific character he prefers to reach out to and it makes me lose my miiiiiiind.

These panels in particular make me want to chew my own face off. Bruce isn't able to use his comms to tell Oracle where he needs a pickup, so he just starts blowing shit up, of course. And of course, he does it in morse code and of course Minhkhoa picks up on it.

AND THEN.

This bitch just jumps out of the damn building assuming Minhkhoa will catch his ass.

Which he does, obviously, because that's his baby girl he's an awesome, very skilled crime fighting super hero.

Now, I don't know what Minhkhoa's voice sounds like, but what I do know is that, "Oh would you have?" was spoken at least three octaves higher than his usual voice like a hysterical wife. I just love that scene SO MUCH. Bruce just flinging himself out of a building, knowing Minhkhoa is going to catch him. Chef kiss. 10/10. Fuckin perfection.

Also, Babs doesn't seem to like or trust Ghostmaker, which is totally fair, but listen, Bruce ain't having it.

I literally feel like I'm overdosing on Bruce Wayne ADMITTING HE NEEDS OTHER PEOPLE. Whew. What's that, though? You want more examples of Bruce being vulnerable and trusting and needing his Khoa more than anyone else? I got u, I got u. During the Fear State arc they're dealing with Scarecrow and all his minfucky bullshit and who does he want? Khoa.

YEEEEEAHHHHHHHH THAT'S THE GOOD SHIT. Bruce Wayne saying I need your help. Holy shit. Yes. Good.

And who, you ask, does Bruce literally trust with his mind? Like, who does he trust to literally look inside and walk around his own goddamn mind and help him unscramble his compromised brain?

Just the clinical psychopath who's tried to kill him on more than one occasion <333

And who is it that helps figure out what kind of fuckery was going on and brings Bruce back to the land of sanity?

Yeeeeeeeah. :)

And if I could just scooch in here with a little bonus Khoa love, look at him. Wanting to learn empathy, wanting to understand Bruce better. And Bruce teasing him! God I hate them when will they kiss

So yeah, for those playing along, that makes three or four times that Bruce Wayne has uttered the words "I need help," without having some kind of emotionally repressed brain explosion over it. Let's see. He:

Asks Minhkhoa not to leave Gotham, to stay and help him with the city.

Doesn't explicity ask for help, but does jump out of a building, trusting that Minhkhoa will catch him.

Straight up asks Minhkhoa for help when he realizes his mind has been compromised by Scarecrow.

And in issue #121 we see this:

Which leads to Bruce asking Minhkhoa (again, yes he's asked him more than once) to take over leadership of Batman Incorporated. Dick told us that he asked once, years ago, and it didn't go well, but this time Minhkhoa acceps and becomes the new leader and also starts training Clownhunter (instead of killing him! Character growth!) which brings us up to date.

And with that, I shall leave you with a couple of screenshots of Minhkhoa and Bruce being both 8 year old boys and old marrieds:

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope someone at least can share in the level of unhinged I am over this ship right now and please feel free to share and spread the gospel of ghostbat. ♥

#ship primer #ship manifesto #ghostbat #bruce wayne #minhkhoa khan #ghostmaker #old marrieds #minhkhoa khan stan account #minhkhoa khan is a simp and it's embarrassing #he wants to kiss bruce so bad it makes him look stupid #but bruce always looks stupid so that's okay #friends to lovers to enemies to stalkers to lovers #bruce is always so fucking smiley and goofy around him what the fuck