#no matter if it's an elseworlds story and she's a woman

[justvora]

Cassandra Cain should be BATMAN.

Art credits: Karahuset

Honestly, I am not going to expand much on this, even though I could do an essay.

Cassandra Cain should be Batman and take his place and role. Not a "she should be in an alternate future?" No. She should be him in the current continuity, and there's nothing that annoys me more than seeing how in hundreds of elseworlds they've made Damian Batman, but Cass has been left stuck in his legacy.

Why? Simply sexism.

Helena Wayne already said it at the time: the bat is a symbol, an indistinct mantle depending on gender or whatever. Batman is a symbolic figure, not a person, but a legionary entity that exists thanks to its myths, thanks to urban legends.

"She could be Batgirl, or Batwoman", no, darling, no. Those are completely unrelated legacies no matter how much they stick to the Batman nexus. They serve a completely different book in which their own story is told, ceasing to be the pages of someone else's book. And Cass is the only one capable of taking the Bat's book to capture her story there and continue that legacy, not being an extension of it, but a central part of it.

Kate Kane (taking into account the post-crisis continuity) was a self-destructive woman who was expelled from the army for having relations with her roommate and who saw in Batman the inspiration to become a vigilante herself, so she took her military knowledge to create her own "symbol", wearing a completely different mantle that, even so, was based on and inspired by the Bat's icon.

Likewise, the Batgirl title was born in a completely different form and, in the future, she would become an assistant to the Bat-family. Barbara Gordon started in a casual, spontaneous and independent way, wanting to "annoy" her father at a party, but everything would take a turn when she would end up acting more like a heroine in a given moment to stop Killer Moth.

Those are mantles that were born detached from that of Batman himself but that, in the end, have intertwined and crossed. The point is that they do not have the same meaning, nor do they represent the same thing within the fight against crime. In the end it's digging into unnecessary technicalities, but the point is that if Cassandra should inherit a mantle it would be the core one, that of the Bat itself to become "The Bat".

Cassandra Cain is the one who has taken the symbol more seriously than anyone else. The one who most adheres to the no-kill rule. The most apt and who has the best attitude for it.

With this I do not detract from characters like Dick, Jason or Tim, as they are building their own legacy and history away from what has been the history of the Bat.

In the past it was said that she lacked other skills to take up the mantle, yet Batman himself claimed that she was best suited to take up his mantle when needed. She could very well team up with her siblings to do the job, or co-exist with another Batman to complement their skills and increase the fear of criminals given the possibility that "Batman is everywhere".

But I actually consider Cassandra to have very good detective skills. Perhaps not as refined, but her past and the fact that she has been a murderer (even if she canonically only took someone's life) gives her the knowledge of how to prevent murders, both by her hand and by the hand of others; that is, she knows what to do not to kill and still reduce those who have done evil; and, likewise, she knows how a murderer will act, which helps her when it comes to solving criminal cases.

The fact that she has stained her hands only once makes her carry a great weight on her. Among so many things, she became Batgirl to redeem herself and give meaning to an empty life, absent of identity (something that did her a lot of psychological damage, which is why Babs wanted her to develop on a social level so that Cass wouldn't be so isolated); and that's why, more than anyone else, she doesn't want a single person to die. She doesn't want to shed blood in vain, and from the beginning she always put herself before bullets by sacrificing herself (although this was something she did in a "death wish" kind of way, something I personally don't buy into because of how stale it comes across, being a trope of the time, but it still demonstrates her calling and sacrifice for heroism).

She takes the rule of killing more seriously than absolutely anyone else.

"Nobody dies tonight."

"Okay, but... She does not have the deductive reasoning. She is not a skilled tactician. She has no skill at mind games on either side of them."

#1 Bruce Wayne: Fugitive storyline. When everyone figured Bruce was a murderer, Cass was one of the few who didn't write Bruce off. She looked at the victim's body and saw the first clue to Bruce's innocence.

#2 Skilled tactician. She studied tapes of the Brotherhood of Evil in action after her prior loss to them. She studied them so much the next time they fought she owned the three members that attacked her.

No mind games you say? Tell it to Deathstroke who she played mind games with owning him twice.

All this not to mention her body language skills, something that not only makes her a superior fighter to anyone, being the first person who could beat Lady Shiva in a completely fair one-on-one, but also a human lie detector as she is able to recognize the truths and secrets that people hide deep inside. This makes her a completely empathetic girl by understanding people's emotions better than anyone else, making her a more tactful girl.

Anyway those are characteristics to fulfill the bare minimum of being Batman, and she goes above and beyond. It's not just that they meet the necessary skills, or that she has the necessary attitude, determination and self-sacrifice, but that she is the best fit. Cassandra is an equal for Bruce, a reflection of his very person in a good way, though there is one thing Cass can still do unlike Bruce at the expense of all the years he carries on his back: Cassandra can change and be a full person. It is her ability to grow, mature and understand life under a full perception, because thanks to an upbringing next to a real family she can understand the world around her to be a self-made person.

She is not driven by revenge, but by justice. She is not hate, but love and hope.

Cassandra is a woman who believes in giving people a second chance, because she believes in redemption, in change.

Likewise, and to conclude, in the current continuity it is confirmed that Cass is not only Bruce Wayne's daughter (this is indirectly implied in her dialogue with Dinah), but that she is "everyone's favorite Batman".

“ Everyone experiences tragedy. Tim. Bruce. You and me. It's not about the city. It's about how you choose to see the world. Everything else is just an excuse. ”

#Cassandra Cain should be Batman #Cassandra Wayne #She's Bruce's daughter #why #maybe I would actualice this later #sorry for my english #kindoff stephcass #queer #dc comics #lady shiva

[poisonousquinzel]

Listen, I'd have less of an issue with Elseworlds concepts for Harley in live action if we'd EVER gotten an accurate showing of her origin story, the manipulation that runs throughout every second of every session they had together and the sheer and graphic brutality of the abuse she's endured at his hands, but we haven't.

And I doubt we're going to.

Regardless if you want to face it or not, the live action films reach a much larger audience than the animated shows or movies or comics. They're popular, but these live action films have a chance to bring in a Huge outside audience and that's apparent with Harley's surge in popularity after Suicide Squad.

And right now, every version of her origin that's been shown in live action is either a watered down little montage with heavy censoring that can (and Did) leave audiences with a horrifically skewed perspective on the actuality of their relationship, or is reported to be a completely changed and altered dynamic where she's not even a fucking psychiatrist at Arkham, she's a fellow patient.

Like, an important aspect of Harley's origin and the entirely of her character as a domestic abuse survivor is that it's showing that no matter who you are, no matter how much you think "I wouldn't fall for that, I'm smarter than that", or believe that you'd easily pick up the red flags, or that you're trained to see these things so it couldn't happen to you-

That's just not always true. You can still fall victim to these types of people.

Anyone can fall victim to an abusive, manipulative mastermind.

"You little fool. The Joker doesn't love anything except himself.

Wake Up, Harleen.

He had you pegged for a hired help the second you walked into Arkham."

"That's not... No... No!

He told me things, secret things he never told anyone!"

"Was it his line about the abusive father? Or the one about the runaway mom? He's gained a lot of sympathy with that one."

"Stop It! You're making me confused!"

"What was it he told that one parole officer? Oh yes, "there was only one time I ever saw dad really happy, he took me to the ice show when I was 7."

"Circus... He said it was the circus."

"He's got a million of them, Harley."

/ also I think it's important to point out based on Batman's "You and the Joker?" reaction that, despite her relationship with Joker being near the 7 year mark in this episode, he did not Know this "thing" with them was anything more than the standard henchmen/henchwoman type relationship most rogues have with their goons.

And the minute he does, he tries to get through to her. He tries to get through to Harleen. And then in the end, when he's almost got it, she's almost convinced and seeing the truth, he calls her Harley. He calls her by the name she's going by now, not the woman he believes to be trapped inside, but the one in front of him who's crying while her world is crumbling before her eyes.

It does not matter how trained you are, or how prepared you believe yourself to be, it can happen to Anyone. And it's No One's fault except the abuser for the actions the abuser takes.

But you can be the smartest person in the room and still be abused.

However, now, instead, we've got yet another film that's going to completely miss the mark and make a mockery of her journey. And instead of it being a first Live Action appearance for her and many others and whatnot like Suicide Squad was, this film is different.

This is a sequel to a film that's already got a fan base full of apologists for him. A fan base full of incels who have taken him on as their icon, as their role model, and we all fucking know it.

However they portray her character in this is going to stick with people and a lot of those folks are going to happily believe and treat this as if it's the true reality for her origin. No matter what other medias say, this is the accurate one. This is the one that's finally just allowing them to be together and not toxic. This is the one that's "not butchering his character so she can be the victim", he just gets to be his goofy little self and isn't changed so her story can exist.

And the only other live action movie that these people will or have watched that's got her character is Suicide Squad, as it's apparent so many of them clearly do not care about the 3 decades worth of evidence showing their actual relationship.

Cause facing the fact that that crusty ass disgusting man Is, and Has Been, a domestic abuser would make their constant woobification of him all the more difficult.

And why would they do that when they could just keep pretending he's not the fucking problem.

#tw abuse mention #tw clown boy #mentioned #harley quinn #harleen quinzel #dc comics #batman #bruce wayne #that scene from btas lives rent free in my head #from the voice acting to the dialogue to the little 'clev'a?!' 'brilliant' moment ❤️

[hellyeahsupermanandwonderwoman]

Hello. I wanted to ask you something else. Do you think Superman and Wonder Woman can be considered soul mates? In some comics it seems to be implicit. But many Clois fans show screenshots from canon comics, where it is stated that Lois Lane is Clark's "soul mate", which mystifies me. How can a human woman be the equal of a being like Superman? Has no sense. Are the comic writers who write and claim this paid or are they fans of Clois? Sometimes I don't usually read Superman comics because of th

No matter what, whether they have chemistry or not ( as seen in movies or tv) Lois will be written to end up with Clark by writers who believe in them as endgame. Even if the story makes no sense or is rushed, they will say they are soulmates. And this is because they have a set path/agenda/narrative to adhere to due to a mandate or because that is tradition.

Clark and Diana on the other hand found their way to each other over time. It evolved over decades starting at friendship to mutual attraction, to dating to falling in love to eventually having children. So one can say theirs was almost serendipity or an organic evolution than something set even before it began.

Which is more authentic? Some might say all stories matter because we all are different and stories affect us all differently. If one prefers Superman with Lois because that is the classic set up then that is perfectly fine. If one prefers Diana, because one read stories that made one think, she and Clark feel more natural and better together, then that too is fine.

But it is rather interesting these two characters who have their set love interests in Steve and Lois actually became serious love interests for each other. We are not talking flirtation or one date etc. DC made them a couple in several Elseworlds and then canon with the new 52. Elseworlds eventually became the Multiverse. So rather than "what if " stories these events became canon on their respective earths. Clark and Diana have several children across the multiverse and alternate time lines.

Over the years DC has occasionally hinted that Clark and Diana might be destined to be together. Are they soul mates? We think they are more than that. We rather see them as Kindred Spirits or Twin Flames which is even more profound and complex and challenging because the path to each other is not as simple or linear as it is with him and Lois. But for two people who are not soul mates, they sure have a lot of romantic images put out by DC. In fact DC uses Superman and Wonder Woman in merchandising as a couple. The general public buys them , cosplay them and celebrate them in events I would say more than Superman and Lois. So it's all a matter of personal choice really.

#superman #wonder woman #superwonder #power couple

[hotdadslade]

DC’s Failed Shared Continuity

This is a subject that I see touched on a lot but not really addressed, so I wanted to break it down.

DC’s core comics (That is, Batman, Superman, Justice League, etc, and not the elseworld style books like DCeased or White Knight) are generally understood to be happening in a shared continuity. That is, what happens in one book reflects in the other. The series cross over, because they take place in the same universe.

Only that isn’t true anymore.

There are a lot of plot holes that don’t really make sense, but that isn’t what I want to talk about. Instead, I want to talk about the fact that DC has absolutely no timeline, the absolute glut of events happening in and out of main books, and the fact that each DC comic is effectively its own universe, rather than shared between it.

I’m going to address the following examples, just to give people an idea of what’s going on and exactly what I mean when I talk about a shared continuity:

The fact that Alfred Pennyworth’s funeral happened before he died.

The fact that Bruce Wayne was in at least three places at once at the start of Perpetua’s invasion.

DC’s insane event schedule through 2019.

The lack of impact events are having with the readers, such as the fact that fact that the entire of South America went to war, China engaged in mass orgies, and the entire of Britain stared at the sky for days on end and almost no reader has heard about it.

City of Bane’s complete lack of impact in the larger DC universe

And last but not least: Why does this matter, and where does DC go from here?

Alfred’s Funeral is before his Death:

Alfred Pennyworth dies during City of Bane. We see his funeral in Pennyworth: R.I.P., where we see the family come together and share stories before immediately getting into a slap fight over it.

This unquestionably happens after City of Bane, because City of Bane is when Alfred died. Despite this, Ric is still around:

That little note in the bottom left makes it clear that this happens before Nightwing Annual #2.

The majority of Annual #2 is a flashback, but it specifically ends with the Court of Owls telling Cobb (that is, Talon) that Dick will soon be his, and telling him to move in. This happens in Nightwing 63, when Cobb shows up (aided by Apex Lex’s gift), and starts screwing with Dick’s life. I’ll skip over the most of it: what matters is that Talon brainwashing Dick Grayson appears the same night Perpetua’s symbol appears over the city (in Nightwing 66 and a number of other issues), Dick attacks the Nightwings, fights Condor Red, and then is freed from the mind control all in one night.

Which is great. Except this can’t happen after Alfred’s death, because the symbol of Perpetua (which appears everywhere at once) appears over Gotham during City of Bane (in Batman 81):

So we have one event happening simultaneously in Nightwing and Batman, only one happens before/during Alfred’s death, and the other supposedly happens well after.

Which leads us into...

Batman apparently can be everywhere at once

So up above we have Batman 81. Bruce is, at this point, in the city rushing to beat Bane when the symbol pops up.

Here’s the symbol popping up in Detective Comics (1014) while fighting the Freezes (the city, I’ll note, is normal Gotham at this point, not controlled by Bane):

Bruce is in Paris (in theory, after his coma) in Outsiders #6, and then arrives back in Gotham just in time for the symbol to appear in the sky in issue 7:

Even just while researching this, I realized that it happened in other issues too. The symbol appears in the sky in Batman/Superman issue 3 while Bruce is being attacked by the infected:

It also happens in Justice League, but I can’t be bothered to get pages.

This is all taking place in a shared universe, so the fact that there’s three or four different Bruce’s in three or four different books who are all doing completely different things in different areas is... baffling. DC has always played a bit fast and lose with Detective Comics and Batman, rarely defining which is happening first or what their exact order of events is, but this takes it a step beyond that.

It also leads into...

DC has how many events? and What happened to the infected?

2019 was a year. Specifically, it was the year of the Villain, but it really should have been year of the event, because DC had so many events happening almost concurrently that it was impossible to figure out what was going on when.

You had Heroes in Crisis running from late September 2018 to May 2019 (acknowledged in Batman, Flash, Green Arrow, Red Hood, and Titans, but largely inconsequential and rarely referenced again).

Year of the Villain itself spanned the whole year, with two dedicated series (YoTV and YoTV: Hell Arisen), a huge Justice League arc (14 issues!), literally dozens of tie in issues in main books, and 8 oneshots focusing on specific villains and their upgrades. 

This also tied into The Infected storline, where the Batman who Laughs infected six heroes and sent them out into the universe to torment people. This, too, got a number of oneshots and tie-in issues.

You had Event Leviathan, a six issue series which then got a spinoff and soon a sequel through the second half of 2019, which promised to ‘stretch across the DC universe and touch every character’, which has been, outside of Action Comics (which spun it off), a complete non-entity.

You also had Doomsday Clock, which launched all the way back in 2017 and only finished in late 2019. This was intended to ‘impact the entire DC universe’, with the idea that when the series ended, the rest of the continuity would catch up to it and you’d see the repercussions. It’s effectively been rendered non-canon, taking place outside the universe in a single line in Justice League.

So many things were happening, and they were all stressed as extremely important, but when the chips were down...

Most of them weren’t.

Half the Villain upgrades went away with the blink of an eye (Black Mask hasn’t shown up since his oneshot, and Riddler threw his retirement out in favor of being cRaZy in Batman). Heroes in Crisis had almost no affect. Event Leviathan is waiting on its sequel, having meant almost nothing despite the fact that an entire country was taken over. Doomsday Clock is now effectively out of canon.

Many of these (mostly YOTV itself) lead into the Death Metal event happening now, but that’s the thing: they only lead into that. There’s minimal acknowledgement of those events happening in other books. Even when huge things that should be impossible to ignore happen, they have minimal to no effect on the wider continuity. When is Death Metal happening, in continuity? No idea. What about the infected arc? What about Justice League?

Who knows? DC doesn’t seem to.

Which leads into the finale, the great big ‘are you kidding me’ moment:

Remember that time hundreds of thousands of people died, the whole of South America went to war, and China descended into mass orgies?

No?

Neither does anyone else.

In Wonder Woman issue 50 (and some issues around it), a series of dark gods emerge from (you guessed it) the dark multiverse. Each takes control over a single country, enacting their dark bidding. 

(Brief Suicide CW in the description below)

The goddess of war causes the entire of South America to literally go to war, invading and murdering each other. The mob god causes the whole of Britain to walk outside and stare up at the sky, not eating or drinking until they started to drop dead. A god of indulgence causes the entire of China to engage in bacchanalia, which is effectively a frenzied orgy of celebration and dancing. The nameless god has taken over Saint Petersburg, causing those within to commit mass-suicide impulsively.

And of course this has been happening world wide. Tens, if not hundreds of thousands are dead. We see shots of other places - mass murder in the streets of Hong Kong, for example.

We actually see other heroes in this. The whole arc actually starts with Supergirl fighting Diana, and then while she's briefly out of commission, the Justice League (Bruce, Arthur, Barry, J’onn, Victor, and Kendra) show up to help only to get absorbed by the big bad. That’s when the above panel happens, and then even more heroes get thrown at the problem.

In the end, Diana ‘wins’ - by sacrificing her brother Jason to the Dark Gods. The gods return the Justice League, and undo the damage they’ve caused on Earth. Those dead aren’t actually dead, for example. Time gets rewound... partially. We see the Justice League who only partially remember what happened, but the damage around the area is still there.

This should be, by any metric, a huge fucking deal. Literal gods appeared from the multiverse and fucked over huge chunks of the planet. Hundreds of thousands died and then were, in theory, un-killed. The heroes are aware of this, and have at least partial memories.

And yet it’s never acknowledged. 

This is supposed to be a huge event. The stakes literally could not be higher, and yet I’ve never seen this arc even acknowledged in any other book. This isn’t even a unique thing, either: all of New York (and most of the world) flooded in Doctor Fate and no one noticed outside that book.

So what about City of Bane?

But by far the most significant example of this is City of Bane itself. City of Bane was a huge event. Some of the top selling issues of 2019 were the City of Bane issues. It received numerous ads in other books, as well as major attention. It was the culmination of Tom King’s entire run, and lasted for more than half a year. It involved Gotham taken over by the titular Bane, ruling it with an iron fist and using mind-controlled villains as his own personal police force. It was a huge, game-changing event.

And outside of the pages of Batman (and Gotham City Monsters), it might as well not have happened. Any time it is acknowledged, it’s in the most awkward and confusing manner possible.

Batman and the Outsiders, Issue 6, Bruce is in Paris, Alfred gets a callout from Ra’s, and calls Bruce home: 

Bruce immediately gets on a plane and flies home, landing at the end of issue 7 when the Perpetua symbol goes up.

In issue eight, taking place immediately after, we are lead to believe that the entire City of Bane arc happened in between Bruce flying home from Paris and arriving in time to help:

This is far from the only example. City of Bane tends to be acknowledged exclusively in terms of ‘this issue takes place before City of Bane’ editor notes. The only real thing that gets acknowledged is Alfred’s absence: Detective Comics skips over City of Bane entirely (The YOTV issues taking place before, and then going straight to ‘after), Red Hood and the Outlaws ignores it, and Batgirls acknowledgement is effectively skipping City of Bane itself to go right back to talking about ‘cleaning up the city’ with a one line mention of ‘what Bane did to Gotham’. Plenty of other books either don’t mention it at all, or the mention is so minor I completely missed it.

So why does this matter?

Early on in my time in this fandom, I noted that the more a fan is into DC comics (not the fandom, but specifically the comics), the more they’d hate the comics themselves. This extends beyond what most people on tumblr would consider the ‘fandom space’ - I’m talking reddit, league of comic geeks, comic review sites, etc. The fact is that DC has created a scenario where the more you read their work, the worse it gets. Any individual comic from the examples above reads just fine on its own, but when you read multiple comics you start getting confused about why nothing makes sense. There’s no order to things, no continuity. Things are said in one issue and ignored in the next. Major events are trumpeted as changing the status quo but don’t change a thing. DC is actively pushing away their most dedicated readers, the ones who are going out and buying 5+ issues a week.

So what comes next?

The original reason this all came up was the news that DC’s upper editorial staff had been hit with major layoffs. While nothing yet has been confirmed (this happened only three days ago), the general rumors is that DC is going to be majorly cutting back the number of titles. With Death Metal almost certainly heralding a continuity reboot ala Flashpoint, now is the perfect time for DC to figure out what it’s doing with its continuity, and realistically, they have two options.

Option One: Forsake Shared Continuity.

I’m sure a lot of people would hate this idea, because shared continuity is such an intrinsic part of DC’s history, but looking realistically at sales numbers, there’s some major appeal. There’s far less work to it (important with the loss of their editors), and this isn’t to say all the books will be separate, just that they won’t all be inherently linked. Maybe they keep TEC and JL in the same canon. Maybe Nightwing, Batman, and Batgirl share too. The point is, though, that the fact that Gotham is burning to the ground will no longer reflect on Clark, who is apparently just out of earshot with his thumb up his ass doing nothing.

There’s precedent for this as well. Injustice, DCeased, Criminal Sanity, and White Knight are all stories in their own world that are selling (or have sold) extremely well. DC’s top fifteen issues sold for January to March of this year include seven issues of Batman, one issue of Wonder Woman, one issue of Flash, and then two issues of Unkillables, the Robin 80th oneshot, Strange Adventures (its own continuity), and an issue of Batman: Curse of the White Knight. If you go farther down, it’s more of the same - you have to go through every issue of Curse of the White Knight released, as well as Criminal Sanity, to get to Batman/Superman, Detective Comics, Justice League, and Superman.

I’m not sure this is the best choice, but I can’t imagine it’s not an appealing choice just the same.

Option Two: Fix Shared Continuity.

Without question, DC’s going to be (at least temporarily) paring down the number of books they have, and there’s never been a better time for figuring out what’s going on with their continuity. Less books means less to organize. A reboot and one very determined editor could help establish a baseline to work from, but that would require DC to focus on it as a priority.

I’m sure this is the choice most people will lean for, but it’s definitely the more intensive option, and we can only hope DC decides it’s worth it.

#analysis #dc critical

[handlewithkara]

@peggystormborn I think Iris Barry is the exception for a variety of reasons (imo partially race, partially the committment of the writers to the couple). But Oliver and Felicity did A LOT OF triangles before they committed and some of the writing for them was terrible on the romance front. People like to just remember the endgame, but they forget how terrible the road there was (Laurel, Sarah, Oliver marrying another woman, Oliver having a child with another woman, an entire crossover dedicated to a fantasy wedding between Laurel and Oliver, evil!Oliver being married to Kara). Granted in a lot of ways it was because Felicity wasn’t the original OTP and I think it took Marc Guggenheim a long time to finally accept it (I think he’s one of those writers who deep at heart doesn’t really like romance at all, and just eventually only grudingly accepted it, but I think the earlier seasons feel like there was a lot of latent animosity from the writers towards the storyline). 

(and one can debate how Barry/Mirror Iris is something like a triangle, even if it is a triangle made up by writers who desperately want to maintain the “pure” status of an OTP, I mean, as long as you don’t think too hard about the implications of Mirror!Iris [I also think that the fact that Iris and Felicity predominantly don’t have superpowers makes it slightly easier for them to work as a functioning couple])

People thinking that the writers have handled Kara’s Kryptonian relations poorly doesn’t change that if the topic does not interest the writers they are not going to write it (and if they write something really tonedeaf about it, that is usually a sign that they don’t really care about a topic). It’s a very common trait of fanbases to take certain topics more seriously. Criticisms of co-dependency and calls for therapy are very, very common examples of this in a multitude of fandoms. 

You have this all over the Supernatural ending, with people saying “Dean was acting suicidal for years, it sends a horrible message that the show ends up with him dying” and “John Winchester was a horrible father, it’s a horrible message that the show ends up with him being in heaven as part of Dean’s personal heaven and the show never doing a story where Dean recognizes that John screwed him up and fully breaks ties with him” and “the brothers were co-dependant, the show getting rid of all the characters who are not them and making the ending exclusively about them is a horrible message”. 

I think it’s pretty clear that these things weren’t written because the writers intended to send that message, they just clearly see the characters very differently and many things the fans obsess over they see as just not that great a deal. Fans often latch onto characters and stories because they see part of themselves in them and project their own experiences and their emotions about those experiences into those characters (look no further than Lena’s fans and what they think is most important about her character). Fans also love their characters and want their angst to be explored, while most shows just want to keep the plot going. That’s why you will have amost every fandom clamoring how the show should do a therapy plot for their favorite character. To them that makes sense, they love their favorite character, so them sitting on a couch and talking about their feelings of course is going to sound fascinating. Doesn’t mean that the writers tick that way at all. 

Supernatural can show pretty clearly how there can be a fundamental miscommunication between the fans and the creators. Where maybe writers might think that Dean’s dogged loyalty is his most fascinating trait, while fans might think his angsty woobie appeal is his most fascinating trait and his loyalty is boring or just a jumping off point or even actively harmful. Social media and fandom, I think it just has a habit of attracting people who have problems in their real lives and they are likely to project their own problems into these characters, but that does not mean that the writers are anywhere the same headspace (particularly in regards to how abusive or co-dependant a relationship is, I think just like with John Winchester, writers are way more likely to have a more positive view towards relationship and stories like that, because to them, those relationships are something good in their world because they are drivers of drama, providers of dramatic scenes). 

And I think history has shown, no matter how annoying it is to the fans, new showrunners just will not be beholden to the themes and messages of previous showrunners. They will pay tribute to whatever part of previous seasons they like, but they are likely going to come in with their own spin, their biases and their own takes of the characters. 

(for what it’s worth, I theorize season 4 started out with the plan for a sister season, to explore (via Red Kara and Elseworld and Amnesia) what is Alex without Kara, what is Kara without Alex and they just sort of lost the main plot somewhere in the middle between introducing Nia, introducing Lex and poorly thought out political metaphor) 

Right now, what little we know of season 6 makes one hopeful that it could have a significant Alex and thusly sister focused plot, with Alex playing around with being a vigilante and there being rumors of another young sisters episode. 

What is interesting about this is that either of Alex most likely developments, Alex becoming a hero in her own right OR Alex finally getting her baby and family provide interesting jumping off points for Kara to reflect on her own life. This does not mean that the writers will actually take this opportunity seriously, but it is at least possible. 

Alex has been a physical fighter working with Kara since forever, but her getting her own costume could be a signal that she is getting her own hero identity. Alex being her own heroic person rather than just the no-name who supports Kara ideally should be an interesting change up in their dynamics. Either with Kara cheerleading and supporting Alex they way Alex has always supported her or with Kara realizing that maybe she has to step back a little and let Alex be her own hero and trust her that she can handle things on her own (potentially culminating with Kara leaving the protection of the city and Earth in the hands of Alex). 

I could picture Kara having a relationship with William and eventually rejecting him symbolically but I just really wouldn’t expect it to be about Argo. But I could picture a plot where seeing Alex thrive as a hero makes Kara think she has the freedom to kick back and focus on her romantic relationship or focus on being just Kara Danvers for a while (and in the end realizing that that is not enough for her, I just would expect this NOT to be about Kara Zor-El but about Supergirl, Kara realizing that she needs to be Supergirl to be happy even if being Supergirl has made her life more complicated in many ways). 

On the other hand, if Alex were to finally get her child wish fulfilled it could a be a good story to explore what the equivalent is for Kara (while with Alex, she has always been protective of Kara, so her having somebody else to raise and be protective over would also provide good emotional dramatic potential). 

But it could just as equally be that they parallel Alex being happy with a baby and a girlfriend as their little family with Kara just getting William as the nice unproblematic understanding boyfriend, forming their own family unit albeit without a child. Or it could be Kara just getting gratification of being a supportive and loving aunt. You never know. Supernatural shows that just because the fans are convinced that the show will go one way (Family is about more than blood ties! The show will end with showing how Sam and Dean have evolved beyond “the two of us against the world!” and their family unit now includes Eileen, Castiel and Jack) doesn’t mean that the writers see it the same way. 

It’s very interesting in how this reaction mirrors the reaction to the How I Met Your Mother Finale where the writers thought it made sense to circle back to the start and most of the general audience disliked it because they felt the characters had developed beyond the original premise. But it still shows how this particular pattern of thinking is one that writers are very likely to fall into. 

Finales often have a way of exposing whether one’s (or even the audience in general) perception of the characters and their relationships and perceived moral takeaways align with the one’s of the writers. I don’t even think that that is something that can just be “fixed” by telling writers “don’t be the Game of Thrones finale, don’t be the HIMYM finale”. If powerful writers just have a certain perception of characters, that’s just how they see them and they can’t just break out of. 

I guess one can argue that maybe it’s a sign of poor writing (even if it might be good business sense) if a show supports such a variety of readings till the very end (are we watching a story about co-dependant siblings which should end with them lovingly and supportively letting each other go? or are we watching a show about siblings through thick and thin, more powerful than anything?), but I think in some cases it just arises naturally because of the way fans can project themselves into characters in ways that was not intended by the writers and that can’t fully be controlled by them (and since those projections are heavily influenced by people’s very varied personal experiences you also can’t just please everyone).  

#supergirl #kara zor-el #kara danvers #danvers sisters #alex danvers

[jaytheredbird]

🌞 and 💫 for the ask meme! :D

🌞 Do you have one canon character you love that not many have heard of? What do you like most about them?

@javechan_

Hmm I don't know if he's a lesser known character or if I 'love' him, but from a purely character design perspective: I liked Dane of Elysium (Earth-11) because DC chose to put him in a skirt instead of pants :B. I did not like his personality/characterization that much but I appreciated that DC designed a male version of Wonder Woman & stayed true to the actual WW costume, unlike Wonderous Man (Earth-11).

@wajjs

I do! He's from a kind of forgotten Elseworlds comic, Thomas 'Tom' Wayne aka Robin 3000. But actually, I also like Moon and Aki from those same comics. I think what drives me to them is the potential they all have as characters, plus the good stories that could come from Tom being the last of the Waynes and the last of the Robins. Moon is a very sweet and innocent character, and Aki is very loyal but also very human.

@glaciya

I really want to have an answer for this but I cannot for the life of me think of a decent or relevant one Dx

@spartanbunjess

Henry Adams from the Arkham Knight game. He manages to convince Bruce and Tim that he’s immune to Joker’s infection which leads to them losing control of Panessa Studios for a time. Plus he manages to get Harley to work with him before he’s even captured by Batman showing just how calculating he can be.

@firefrightfic

At first I was struggling to think how to answer this because pretty much all of my favourite DC characters are pretty well known already, but then I remembered the Sandman Universe stories I've been reading, House of Whispers and The Dreaming. HoW focuses heavily on an Hoodoo goddess called Erzulie, who is triple natured, big and beautiful, and has three husbands who adore her! She's also a certified badass who cares deeply for her charges and husbands and goes through some real challenges over the course of the story to keep them safe.

Meanwhile in The Dreaming, you have Dora, a monstess woman searching for her true identity, who is brash and brazen and unapologetic, and I really love her design and personality. Both need some more love from fans

💫 If you could make the crossover teamup of your dreams happen, which characters would you have working together?

@javechan_

I don't have enough comic knowledge to answer this. But, I have occasionally entertained thoughts about a team-up between Deadpool & Red Hood because I think the banter between the two would be interesting.

@wajjs

I'd actually really like a crossover between Spiderman (Peter Parker) and Nightwing (Dick), but! with adult Peter and not his teen self. Their dynamic could be very interesting and I think they have quite a few things in common when it comes to how they approach crime fighting. And Peter already has a crossover with Bruce, so I don't see why this can't happen.

@glaciya

Oh Wade Wilson and Jason Todd for sure! They are two of my favorite fictional characters and I feel like they have the potential to bring out both the worst and the best in each other depending on the situation. Both are two dudes that have been through lots of hardship(including torture and death) but both of them have kept their hearts throughout it all. I think the want to be the ideal hero and the need to ruthlessly kill all evil is at war in both of their minds and they could definitely bond over those conflicting feelings and their previous experiences. 10/10 for two wonderful men with bloody pasts not afraid to Get Shit Done.

@spartanbunjess

If I could make any crossover happen it’d be with Blue Team (Halo), Tom and Lucy (also Halo) and the five Outlaws. It’d be interesting to see how much of a headache they’d give Fred-104 as he is the unofficial dad of Blue Team. Master Chief John-117 would be excellent with Jason as his planning seems to be ‘save as many people as possible no matter the risk to myself’ and he understands the difference between spending lives and wasting lives. Kelly-087 is like Halo’s version of a speedster and id love to see how quick she’d be with access to the speed force. Jason deserves to have his own speedster and she’d be excellent at it. Especially as she’s known for flipping off the enemy and just generally winding them up/snarking at them. The Outlaws would be excellent parents to Tom and Lucy. They’ve been through so much trauma that Jason et al would be best suited to helping them heal and find ways to cope. They need that family atmosphere to flourish. Plus every member is badass. Linda-058 would take both Roy and Jason in a shooting competition and Floyd/Slade would pale in comparison to her.

@bloodthirstymerc

A lot of crossovers come to mind, but my favourite that involves DC would have to be the Teen Titans with the Young Avengers. My main reasoning might be a little controversial and biased, but my boyfriend and I both love TimKon and Wickling and often talk about them meeting and it very quickly became a fave of mine with the four of them together. But I think that all members of both teams would find little factors about each other that they'd get along with.

(I also think that Roy Harper and Clint Barton would have a blast together, obvious reasons why that pairing would be a good idea aside. They're both just messes that I adore wholeheartedly.)

(And wouldn't object to Wade Wilson (Deadpool) meeting up with a vast majority of DC characters either.)

@firefrightfic

Bucky Barnes and Jason Todd. Both have similar elements in their stories. Both are former sidekicks who died and struggled to find their way in the world after, out of the shadow of their mentors. I think they'd be really interesting together!

I'd also adore a series where Deathstroke and Deadshot are forced to work together long term. There'd be so much snide commenting and bullying, and also I'd love comparisons of Floyd as a villainous parent to Slade's... uh... practices. It'd be great fun.

#group 3 #ask game #ask meme

[godstaff]

You’ve read or heard about a comic, I won’t remember the name now, but in this comic lois is old and she starts to question herself for being old and etc ... summarizing the gods transform her into a wonder woman I was so sorry I hate this comic but I'm glad they see the failure that this comic was, turning Diana into lois que what do you think about that?

The comic was a Elseworlds called “Whom Gods Destroy”, by Chris Claremont.

It sucked balls.

In 1997 DC published a Elseworld story called Whom Gods Destroy and well, lets use Wikipedia's summery on the matter: “In the future, Lois Lane and Lana Lang have become old, but Superman is still youthful due to his superhuman physiology. The Third Reich in this future never fell, and Germany is still under Nazi rule. Lois has visions of Superman gleefully killing people, including Lana and her, but they are dismissed as dreams. In the meantime, Superman gets attacked by trolls and harpies, the latter which cause Lois and Superman to crash land a plane into German soil, where Lana - previously kidnapped - is being held. Lois soon discovers that the Reich is ruled by the god Adonis, and Artemis and Athena are trying to kill him. Wonder Woman has betrayed Paradise Island and is now part of the Reich. At this point, it is also revealed that the Greek pantheon is in league with the Nazis, allowing them to employ mythological monsters to fight superheroes. A fight ensues between the German army and the Greek heroines, who die and give their power to Lois Lane, transforming her into a new Wonder Woman. Superman is transformed into an evil centaur by Circe. Lana Lang is imbued with the power of the Oracle of Delphi, and can perform magical feats. She tames the centaur Superman and persuades him of his real identity. She also gives Superman a sex change with her magic, because his "crimes as leader of the Maenads were against women, (and therefore he) must take their part". The female Superman then has to infiltrate the Great Hall of the Reich, which is guarded by the Minotaur. Lois Wonder Woman defeats Nazi Wonder Woman and ties her up with her magic lasso. Finally, it is revealed that Zeus and Hera were playing a chess game, using the world as their playpieces. Adonis is sent to be taken care of by Hades. Lois, Lana, and Superman live together happily ever after. [In a polygamous relationship!]”

The part of the gods playing chess with humanity as playpieces, I totally buy.

Lois transformed in Wonder Woman and defeating Diana, now a nazi operative, seems too much to me, but the point is to make Lois better than the princess of Themyscira, as usual. 

The finale “a la Marston” seemed inappropriate, given  the way they treated their creation.

[fyeahbatcat]

Could you please compile some of the most heroic Catwoman from where we see her true nature as a hero proving that she is more than just thief?

I think I answered this question before, but since I can’tfind the link I don’t think that Catwoman gets enough credit for how heroic sheoften is. Despite all of her flaws probably the best thing about her is that ather heart she’s a good person and she always does the right thing when itreally matters.

I mean her entire second on-going series was about Catwomancoming into her own, figuring out what being a hero means to her, and defendingGotham’s East End. This included finding a killer who was murdering women, stoppingdrug dealers from using children as mules, keeping the gangs in check during War Games, and using stolen gang moneyto build a community center (though that ended disastrously).

[Catwoman (v3) #2]

In the first on-going series there was a lot of morally graymoments, when she would do something illegal but for a selfless reason. Theywere plenty of times where she stole for selfish reasons, but no every time.Once she stole a high-tech prosthetic limb to give to a disabled friend. DuringContagion she tried to kidnap the sole survivor of the outbreak who had an immunityinitially for profit, but she ended up helping Robin and Batman find her sothey could develop a cure.

In Batman #392Batman and Catwoman try to go out on a date but keep getting interrupted bycriminals. At one point they go for a walk in the park and save a woman who wasbeing accosted. Catwoman even comforted the woman after the attack.

Catwoman: Guardian ofGotham was an Elseworlds story about an alternate universe Catwoman defendingGotham and battling the psychotic villain, Batman.

In one of only two Catwomanissues from her fourth series that I really liked, Zero Year, proceeding a huge storm a mobster has his goons loot allof the important supply to upsell. Knowing that the poor people in hercommunity will not be able to afford his fees and will be left out in thelurch, Catwoman excecutes a heist to steal the supply back.  

In my opinion Catwoman’s best and most heroic moment happensto also be from my absolute favorite issue from her second on-going: Catwoman(v2) #56, which I had the pleasure of re-reading recently because I’m workingthrough NML for the first time. This takes place during the events of Cataclysm.

Catwoman gets interrupted during a heist by a massiveearthquake. She wills herself to survive and ends up reluctantly helping othersurvivor’s escape the building and mourn the loss of Gotham City and the livesof innocent people who were killed. This issue really encapsulates everythingthat Catwoman is a thief, a survivor, and a defender of the innocent. Shetransforms within from a thief to a reluctant hero. Her first instinct is herown survival, but she quickly shifts into hero mode and tries to get the othersurvivors to safety.

#ask #anonymous

[tessatechaitea]

DCeased #5

I can't remember. Is Superman a zombie or Wonder Woman?

Oh sure. Now that it's a smoking hole, it's suddenly "our" city!

Flash, Wonder Woman, and Superman wage war on the Internet by attacking its foundations. That's the only way to win: by disabling servers, satellites, and underwater transatlantic cables. Otherwise you're just feeding the trolls. Imagine if Superman left a comment telling me I needed to stop blogging because I was endangering the lives of everyone on Earth. He'd be met with a harsh "Go away, dum-dum!" and it would serve him right! The world's survivors need a place to survive so the heroes choose Paradise Island and Gotham City. Sure, Gotham City was going to be covered in nuclear fallout soon but it was currently a jungle safe haven built by Poison Ivy. I'm sure she has plants that can protect against radiation, like sunflowers, Black Orchids, and Swamp Things. Oh, there was one other place that was a safe haven: the Fortress of Solitude.

But it's apparently only for VIPs.

Imagine being the Amazons of Paradise Island and reluctantly allowing refugees of man's world onto the island only to find out that Superman wasn't letting any normals into his home. I'd be fucking pissed! And for good reason even if a bunch of Magic the Gathering playing, turd licking, Watchmen-series dissing hatebeards were all, "Oh! Look how emotional the women are getting!" Poison Ivy makes some rules about not harming plants for people to stay in Gotham Jungle. I hope the Amazons have rules about not arguing about how a Maze of Ith interacts with a Serra Angel and shutting the fuck up about not-all-men. While arguing about whether or not the humans need to flee Earth, Lex Luthor claims he's the most intelligent person on the planet. He then double checks to make sure Batman's dead before repeating the claim. I don't think this is Lex admitting that Batman is smarter than he is. Sure, it's Tom Taylor trying to admit that! I just think Lex Luthor knows there are several people smarter than him but only Batman could figure out who they are. Like Doctor Smarty Pants the Omniologist that Scott Lobdell created during his Superman run. Why can't I remember her name?! She must have been smarter than Luthor! Although everybody Scott Lobdell wrote was supposedly a genius. Imagine thinking you're smart enough to write a realistic genius! Only a dum-dum could be that dumb!

Lex is just the kind of guy to blame a baby for the loss of its homeworld. Dick.

How many tacos do you think Lex could eat in one sitting? I bet it's something embarrassingly small like three. Sans salsa too. Of course Lois Lane punches Lex in the face on the next page. I was totally going to predict it because I totally expected the woman to get super emotional. Also, because the Maze of Ith targets an attacking creature, even though it explicitly states the creature untaps, the attacking creature doesn't have to be tapped for it to work on it. Everybody jerks off while Lex's nose bleeds and Superman fucks Lois softly because he's so turned on by her show of power. Also, fucking softly is the way Kryptonians fuck Earthlings hard. Lois usually can't walk for three weeks after a good soft Kryptonian fucking. Eventually, after feeling safe, zombie Martian Manhunter decided to show up to remind everybody who the most powerful DC hero really is. Sure, his weakness is super common. But nobody thought to bring any Oreos to the Fortress of Solitude. The Flash is turned into a zombie before Firestorm remembers he can make Oreos out of anything lying around and defeats J'onn easily. But now everybody is screwed because the fastest man in the world can now turn people into zombies. Also the smartest man in the world because Lex was attacked first. Mister Terrific should really think about getting his own series now that he's the smartest person on Earth. Superman flies off to stop Flash. He can't outrun him (unless it's for charity, I guess) so he flies around the world the opposite way and smashes right through him. Superman winds up with a few of Flash's fingers stuck in him so now he's infected too! He goes to the Fortress to say a bunch of insipid goodbyes to his family at super speed (Wally connects them to the Speed Force to make it possible. Or whatever) and then tries to fly into space to die in a vacuum. But before he can make it, he turns into a zombie. So I guess everybody is fucked, right? Unless Batman taught Damian how to kill Superman. Unless the last page of this issue, where Superman turns back to Earth and blasts it with his heat vision, is Superman doing the smart thing and incinerating Damian from a safe distance. DCeased #5 Rating: This series is so good your mama wouldn't stop reading it while I carried her groceries in from the car. Zing!

#DCeased #DC Comics #DC #Tom Taylor

[cheryls-blossomed]

Although I don’t consider myself much of a fan of Arrow, I have to get this off my chest. 

When I first voiced discontent about Guggenheim being showrunner of the crossover back in early September, I was accused of being a “bitter” Iris West and Candice Patton fan (because obviously Guggenheim has disrespected Iris any chance he gets in the crossovers, either choosing to ignore the first three years (more egregiously in Invasion!) or relegating her to supportive figure in his portion of Crisis on Earth-X), I got annoyed. Of course I think that the continued disrespect towards Candice Patton, The Flash’s leading lady, in these crossover events is appalling, and I am beyond furious that the disrespect is only continuing this crossover. But Guggenheim is also a horrible human being, in general, as evidenced by his behavior after Emily literally put everything on the line to publicly call out his misogyny last year. Guggenheim, in response to Emily publicly calling him out on his sexism after he also quasi-defended Kreisberg, visibly cut Felicity’s story-lines in season 6. I know that Emily, herself, has mentioned that she has been punished for speaking out. That’s so disgusting, and the right thing to have done is to have not allowed this man to have any more influence over the Arrowverse after he stepped down as showrunner of Arrow. Instead they allowed him, after his awful behavior, to write the crossover. Berlanti Co. ought to be ashamed, honestly. These people don’t care at all about protecting their actresses or their female crew members, for that matter. 

The sole reason why Felicity Smoak, arguably the character who has always been integral to the crossovers (on par with Oliver Queen or Barry Allen, sometimes more so), is seemingly not heavily involved in this year’s crossover (obviously I don’t know exactly how much Emily has been filming for Elseworlds, but I think by any measure it does not appear to be a lot) is because Guggenheim is still mad at Emily for calling him out. And that’s disgusting. Emily is an amazing woman who put her job on the line to use her platform to call out his misogyny. And the fact that she has to continue to be undermined and treated awfully by Guggenheim, because Berlanti and the lot still let him write for the -verse, is fucking disgusting. 

#emily bett rickards #felicity smoak #arrow #anti marc guggenheim #i'm really disgusted by this #because this goes beyond disrespecting characters in the crossover #but literally bringing back abusive men to write for the -verse even if just for a crossover event

[toughguywithbossygirlfriend]

Romance history in the comics ? WonderBat vs BatCat ?

Not so long ago, a BatCat fan cross tagged one of her post about Rebirth Batman #40, surely as a result of the WonderBat development in both Issues #39 and #40 ...

I made a comment about BatCat being from an historical stand point more like a “War/Sex/Hate” kind of relationship rather than a real “Love Story” and of course it unleashed “War/Hate” ...

Over the time I’ve read numerous comments about how much BatCat “love” you can find in the history of Batman and Catwoman , how old their “Love story” is, and thus I was kind of confused with what I could remember from my own youth or recent history ... but I had really a hard time to see any signs of such an old and strong love story. 

So I decided to check the comics for real legit history, rather than just reading another post from other people, who read themselves from other posts, that resume other posts, written out of informations from other posts ...

But DC Comics has a wast History ... and I don’t really have access to all the comics ever published ... so what do you do ? and where do you start ?

I couldn’t and I didn’t go extensively into oldtimers as far as the 40′s, the 50′s, the 60′s or the 70′s ... but usually people agree that prior to the 80′s Catwoman was just one of many villains and any romance was impossible because of that. 

In an Issue from April 1968 of “the Brave and the Bold”, Wonder Woman falls in love for real with Batman after faking it first. A year later Steve Trevor Dies in her arms in a WW Issue of 1969. Later in another Brave and the Bold Issue 1978 Batman puts himself on purpose in danger of death to push Wonder Woman to surpass herself and break the chains that kept her prisoner earlier... it seems she cared enough... Meanwhile Catwoman, no matter the outfit, just wanted to get him into a coffin...

Still I was wrong and there is no point in denying that there are stories were he had a “love story” with Selina Kyle like the one below in the Batman (1940) Serie, but she was always a repentant criminal :

(Bruce and Selina - #308, #317, # 326 from 1981 to 1982)

Unlike the Catwoman in “Rebirth Batman”, the Selina in the Bronze era decided to turn her back on her criminal activities in #308 and that enabled the starting of a relationship with Bruce Wayne in # 317. Bruce knew about her Catwoman identity but he didn’t tell her that he was Batman. Even though she sincerely stopped her criminal activities, he didn’t trust his Girlfriend and she broke up the relationship because of that in #326. After that she had to put again the Catwoman mask and learned later that he was the Batman, she even became his “sidekick” in #392 a few Issues before the end of Bronze Age Batman.

Warning : If You “keep reading”, note that I cover mainly the Modern Age of DC Comics (around 1987 until now). I try to focus on the Batman and Catwoman relationship but parallel it with some important WonderBat moments to get a better overview. This may end up “pro-WonderBat” but it is not “anti-Catwoman”. And you should not judge Selina too quickly or too hard, even if she looks quite messed up. She did go through quite a bad twisted history as well as Bruce, but she didn’t have a caring butler, she wasn’t bathed in limitless wealth, securely sheltered in a great mansion, and for a girl/woman, the corrupted and evil streets of Gotham are a lot worse than for a boy/man ... 

Before the modern age  ... this was a time were between the different series Batman, Detective Comics, the Brave and the Bold,  Bruce had an average rate of one Girlfriend (or Love interests) every 10 Issues ... Julie Madison, Selina Kyle, Linda Page, Vicki Vale, Kathy Kane (Batwoman, no joke !), Patricia Powell, Marcia Monroe, Poison Ivy, Silver St-cloud, Lina Muller, Talia Al Guhl, Nocturna(Natalia Mitternacht), Julia Remarques, ... even Diana Prince and Barbara Gordon fall for him... Some fell in love with Bruce, some with Batman and some for the combination ...

(A few kisses ... but you can find much much more of course)

I always wondered were his Playboy persona did come from ... now I know !... the Bronze Age era. Even James Bond will find it hard to beat the duo Batman/Bruce Wayne ...

Even if there are a lot of older History and more BatCat stuff then WondeBat, you can resume it for Selina Kyle with : “No criminal activities”/”Love story works” vs “Criminal activities”/“no Love story”.

However “Rebirth Batman” is not part of the Bronze Age but of the Modern Age, thus I wanted to check out the last 30 years of WonderBat and BatCat relationships, platonic or not. Compared to the Bronze era Batman the Girlfriend renewal rate of the Modern Age of DC comics has dramatically dropped, surely because mentalities changed and today that kind of behavior would be considered disrespectful to women ... building up a strong love affair with the Princess of the Amazons would have been hard with a guy who changes Girlfriends like shirts ... Bruce Wayne evolved strongly from real Playboy, to ... Single Dad and Family man faking a playboy persona... more suitable to the job but still keeping his charm intact.

Checking out every comic more or less related to these three (Batman, Wonder Woman and Catwoman), would have already taken far too much time, even if I didn’t digg into stuff older than then “Batman Year One” (February to May 1987)

I didn’t really feel like checking out every alternate world or elseworld because I am pretty sure the “Batman who laughts” from “Dark nights: Metal” would have a lot to tell about WonderBat in these worlds ... so lets keep it mainstream.

I had a relative good Idea, even if not exhaustive, about WonderBat, but I needed more Infos on BatCat. I figured that there was less to read about Catwoman then Batman, and anyway if there was gonna be some romance stuff it would be easier to pick it up on the more emotional Catwoman then with the unreadable Dark Knight.

That’s why I decided to focus mainly on the Catwoman series and started with a mini-serie from 1989 and going on from there ... trying to cover these last 30+ years.

(Catwoman Mini-Serie - February to May 1989)

With this mini-serie I was glad to rediscovered something covering quite well, the things that I remembered from my own comic youth...

I would dare to say “the Title speaks for itself”, No ?!

So she kills a bad guy, while the knight in batsuit saves the girl she couldn’t protect ... then she wants to kill a second one... Batman steps in the middle and she just doesn’t want to listen...  

“It’s to be a War between us” ... Hey, don’t look at me ... I didn’t say anything ... Batman said it ... Just then, she rubs her breasts on him ... and of course they kiss ... Sorry people, don’t throw the stone at Batman he didn’t start the teasing ... she did ! ... She has a beautiful body ... she wants it right there... He is single, may not have had his fix for some time now and I am pretty sure his blood is already boiling ... Dammit, its a guy ..what did you expect ?? Tea time ?? ... of course he gives in ... quit being naive.

Bang !!! That didn’t last long ... as usual,.. Oh, and just for the record he didn’t start the fight either ... but nothing easier to get a guy lower his defense then teasing him with the perspective of Sex ... Selina uses her sexuality as a tool all the time to create distraction, to regain the initiative, (and definitively not only with Batman) ... just like Batman uses fear. Over the years to come it gets obvious that Selina has a problem with males, and she surely has more reason to hate them, than the Amazons, but the constant Support and Righteousness of Batman slowly attracts her to him.

“Lover” ... Is that why every one seems to think this has anything to do with love ??? ... sure I feel the Love, Bats too, i guess ...

So If you think “sex” is “love” or even “implied love” .. I’d hate to break it to anyone but you can “pay for sex” since the beginning of humanity, both sexes used sexual intercourse to gain favors, and in modern times, “One night stands” or “booty calls” are surely things you’ve already heard about, ... and none of this has anything to do with real Love. Even though Sex is usually a part of a Loving relationship. OK maybe you could put “Friendship with benefits” into the “loving” category ... your choice ...

Lets take a time jump to the next serie a few years later...

It is a Serie of 94 Issues ... I confess I am not going through the whole Serie Just look at a few Issues at the beginning starting in August 1993 and a few Issues at the end in July 2001... If there is a positive evolution in their relationship it is to expect that it gets to its peak at the end ...

(Catwoman Serie 1993 -Issue #1 from 1993)

This is a young blond girl named Arizona, and adopted by Catwoman, talking about Selina (the dark haired woman in blue). Selina starts as a “sweet girl” who kicks law enforcement’s asses, works for Bane, and kills bad guys again ... Worst enemy of Batman?, Greatest enemy ?, most deadly enemy ?, you choose ...  BatCat Love ? not in the picture ...

(Catwoman - 1993 -Issue #94 from July 2001)

So, at the end of the serie, 8 years later, with surely quite some rooftop “war between sexes” in between... OK, Yeah it ends with a kiss again,... that she initiated again, ... but if you take a look at his face would you consider that he returns the kiss ? ... Obviously she always considers that there is something between them and he reminds her that they “had this conversation before” ... but i take it I’m supposed to consider “you know that can never happen” to be a clear sign of love... right ?

(JLA 1997 - #46 from Oct 2000 - The tower of Babel)

A little earlier Batman got expulsed from the Justice league and Wonder Woman was kind of really angry at him after years of strong friendship. She surely felt hurt more than anyone. So it wasn’t really “WonderBat” that prevented him from running away having a good time in Sao Paulo (see below)... Diana regrets it because she likes his skills, his warrior spirit, his intelligence, his dedication, his compassion, nearly everything about him but she’s totally into truth, so Bats secrecy and secret identity was a hindrance so far. The Amazon doesn't give up her unconditional trust to a man that easily ... and she feels hurt ...

(Catwoman - 1993 -Issue #94 from July 2001)

It is obvious that Selina doesn’t know Bruce Wayne, but she wants to know him ... so far, IF she’s “in love” with someone it would be with “the Batman”, but is it “true love” for the man below that she doesn’t know or “groupie love” for the symbol ? she’s quite adamant in this last Issue about what made her put on the mask herself : seeing Batman of “Year one” ... Bruce/Batman cares for her but much like in Bronze Age : Criminal activities = No love story

2001 is also the time where Batman reveals to Diana and the JLA that he is Bruce Wayne ... Now Diana can see the real him ... and it is even better than she expected because as a filthily rich he still chooses to put his life on the line to protect others ... you can add generosity, modesty, and others qualities to the guy .. and there is a broken boy inside of him that compels her motherly instincts, or compassion if you prefer ... and a good father that doesn't go unnoticed by the woman in her ... I guess he just added a lot to his “sex appeal”.

For Bats, things started to get a lot better with the Amazon from that point ... If Doomsday Clock rewinds time prior to that period it may erase WonderBat as well.

While Selina still has, lets say ... some heavy Issues with males and relationships ...

(Nightwing 1996 - #52 from 2001)

She dreams to marry Batman, then she kills him in the same dream’s wedding night ... so much for the love story ... then she wakes up in her bed ...

... looks out for some diamonds, trips over Nightwing  and tries to seduce him ... the son of Batman ... yeah, smart move ... maybe she loves him too, he would be her “son in law” after all if she ever got to marry Batman ... then she tries mischievously to push Nightwing to tell Batman hoping the latter gets Jealous ... But by the reaction of Nightwing you can tell Bruce isn’t on the same page as Selina. Why would she do that ? out of “true Love” ? This story makes her look like a slut ... but I think it is not that ... her time in the dark streets of Gotham has ruined her vision of love and sex ... we’ll get a better (darker) picture in the coming Post-Flashpoint Catwoman serie  ... and with the “Gentle Man” in Batman Rebirth #39 and #40 she’s gonna discover the difference between Love and Sex or even Marriage.

A little Jump to the next Catwoman Serie

2002, Catwoman returns (from Sao Paulo ;) ) in a new serie that goes on until 2010 and from the first Issue I would say their relationship is more peaceful, friendly...

(Catwoman - 2002 -Issue #01 from 2001)

It at least looks like a friendship... But you could say that at least her feelings for Batman may be beyond that ... maybe ... 

Still the same rules apply her territory is “In between right and wrong” and ... its a no go for the Crusader of Justice !...

Ironically, the character definition of DC Rebirth for Catwoman and Batman reveals the same rift that is resumed in the above pics... Somehow Tom King seems to ignore that... why ?

But what about Bruce and Diana during that same period ?

That happened during the “Obsidian Age” ...

They kiss !! ... Ok, I can hear you shout “That’s no proof that they Love each other, because Selina kisses him all the time !! ” .. OK, that’s correct, but do they Die together hand in hand ? (obviously Bruce grabbed Diana’s hand and not the reverse)

Not enough ? OK, I’ll take the Challenge ... What about : “Love conquers all ? ... even Powerful Old Magic” is that better ?

Diana is about to be Sacrificed and all her Teammates, including Bruce, have been set asleep by a very powerful sorcerer using powerful Old Magic ... a magical sleep NO MAN should be able to awaken from ... but nonetheless the imminent Danger to Diana causes one, and only one, to awaken and save her ... Bruce ... and Diana knows how old magic works ...

So it wasn’t only Batman’s “will power” that enabled him to beat the Magic ?... could it be that the only other thing that can beat Old and Powerful Magic is the Power of Love ? Pretty sure that if Friendship was enough Clark would have woken up as well ... but he didn’t.

Clearly Bruce roots hard for the Amazon ... and not for the Cat ... and a few Issues after that, in JLA#90, it is obvious that Diana has surrendered her heart to Bruce as well.

(Bruce and Diana - JLA 1997 -  #90 from Jan 2004)

But neither Diana nor Bruce are willing to take a risk with their way too precious friendship. They choose not to act on their, now unquestionable, feelings for each other ...

(Catwoman serie 2002 - #82 in 2008)

At the end of this Catwoman serie: Of course Batman runs after Catwoman ... he is gentle, he tries to help, but says one wrong word ... and she gets crazy, he goes from Ally to Enemy. But he is Batman and she gets cornered ... again as usual when Option “A” and “B” won’t work she uses “C”.

But again she uses the kiss as a tool .. this time to diffuse the situation and she explains in the end that if she could she would stop all that ... with Helena she wouldn’t need the Batman/Catwoman “rush” thing ... isn’t Helena about her real love here ? ... She always has a Girl/Woman (Arizona, Helena, Holly, ...) that means much more to her than “the Batman” ... At least now she knows his real name “Bruce”.

Deep down she knows, that what she shares with Batman isn’t Love its a substitute to fill her empty heart (at the end of the Catwoman 1993 Serie she tells him pretty much the same). Selina is much more messed up than Bruce Wayne. Bruce had Alfred, his Robins, Diana and his Friends from the JL. Selina was alone ... and that is the reason why he tries to help her like he already said it in the first Issue of that Serie : “I believe that deep down, you’re a good person”... 

(Blakest Night : Wonder Woman - #2 from March 2010)

Unlike Selina who would have given up Bruce “Batman” Wayne for Helena if she wasn’t that screwed up ... Diana loves Bruce even more than before, or as a matter of fact more than her mother Hippolyta or closest amazon sisters (Cassie and Donna), ... I think with that level of “Love” between two partners, we can easily agree to qualify them as “Soulmates” ... and I have no doubt that the Bruce didn’t move on either ... trying to help criminals like Selina and give them a second chance is what he does every time it is possible (recently : clayface, killer frost, lobo, ...) ... doesn’t mean he is in love with them ... 

To make it short : Over the past 20 years (1989 - 2011) all three characters evolutions make sense and it doesn't point out to “True Love” between Selina and Bruce unlike with Diana and Bruce. Bruce and Selina just share regular “One night stands” to comfort each other while Bruce and Diana torture themselves by refraining their Love out of fear of screwing up their friendship if they give into their feelings ...

Sorry, but so far obviously no true BatCat Love Story !!! but WonderBat “true deep Love” is canon ... just no sex, no dating, no usual relationship stuff ...

Comes “Flashpoint” during 2011... the Cosmic MOAB

Starting with that event the continuity gets "kind of” thrown out of the Window for WonderBat romance ... but not entirely. 

In the new Catwoman Serie starting Nov 2011 Catwoman did forget Batmans real identity and Wondy suddenly roots for Supes ... Eww ! ... not to mention Steve Trevor returns from the dead again, I think he could compete with Catwoman about his number of lives but I didn’t count ...

In this serie you get from the start a pretty good look at the ordeal Selina must have lived while she grow up... Like I said, Compared to Selina, Bruce was a “Lucky” child with a stable childhood ...

(Catwoman - 2011 - Issue #01 from Nov 2011)

No wonder your relationship Compass spins around like crazy if you were raised in such an environment. Sex is a job, Violence the way to settle differences, Women are Sextoys or beaten to death if not shot by the local dirtbags, and Men are worthless and heartless monsters... Gotham’s darkest side as playground for a young Girl ... She nonetheless keeps a Good heart ... the Dark Knight cannot hold back his need to help her in anyway possible ... She is a really good soul, heavily messed up, but good ... 

Selina doesn’t really care about the Guy under the mask, he protects her in exchange for Sex, ... at least that is what she thinks this is about...

In the last Issue of Catwoman 2011 - Issue 52 from Jul 2016 we learn that in that reality she had a real love years ago.  He was named David, not Bruce,  and he turned out a Bad Guy after faking her his death ... She doesn’t trust any man ... except maybe Batman.

(Forever Evil - July 2014)

SuperWonder era ... Superman and Wonder Woman are together for over a year now but Batman is still in love with Diana like prior to Flashpoint and thus can use Diana’s lasso ... surely the real reason why “There can’t be” nothing else ... even if she was a “Good Girl”. Honestly you feel really bad for the girl...

(Rebirth Justice League - #14 from April 2017)

Diana still mourns SuperWonder ...

Then comes DC Rebirth Superman #20 “Reborn” erasing SuperWonder from continuity setting Diana’s heart free from that ... 

(Rebirth Wonder Woman - #25 from August 2017)

Diana Sleeps with Trevor ...

(Rebirth Batman - #32)

Selina answers “Yes” to Bruce’s proposal ... but she stays a thief... and that was a no go for the last 78 years !??...

One of Batman’s Bronze Age Lovers, Nocturna, had an interesting theory about Batman’s Lovers :

This alone explains why Diana is his greatest problem if he wants to keep his heart safe from “Love”... She has her own way of being very “Dark and Dangerous” but every thing in her drives her to avoid doing the king of “Dark and Dangerous” things that could push him away from her in the way Nocturna or Selina do ...

(Rebirth Batman #39 and #40) 

“WonderBat Love” in “the Realm”

Obviously whatever the Power that is messing up with the Heroes history (Doomsday Clock storyline) is looking for, it seems at least to want to avoid WonderBat at all costs ... first SuperWonder then WonderTrev and BatCat, and now in Justice League #38: Bruce Wayne/Jessica Cruz ?!?...

#wonderbat #wonder woman #diana prince #batman #bruce wayne

[aion-rsa]

How Dark Nights: Death Metal Reboots the DC Universe

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

The end of Dark Nights: Death Metal #7 is the last stop of more than a decade of Scott Snyder driving the DC metaverse’s bus. The conclusion to the Dark Nights saga, which started in 2017 with Dark Nights: Metal and ran through an entire Justice League series before concluding here, closes off storylines Snyder and his creative partner Greg Capullo seeded as far back as their first issue of Batman when the New 52 launched.

And with Infinite Frontier and Future State, DC’s next publishing initiatives, on deck, it’s worth taking a look at what Death Metal did so we can try and understand how the pieces fit together. Because if there’s one thing to take away from Death Metal, it’s that everything fits together. Even if you really gotta stomp on the pieces to get them to stick. 

THE ANTI-CRISIS IS HERE!

The final couple of issues of Death Metal throw a little bit of a curveball at readers. The entire series has felt like it was heading for a confrontation between Wonder Woman and The Batman Who Laughs, the Jokerized Bruce from the Dark Multiverse who (everybody take a DEEEP breath now) led an army of dark Batmen on behalf of Barbatos, the evil Bat god, in Metal; escaped captivity with Lex Luthor’s help in Justice League; betrayed Lex and usurped his role as evil overgoddess Perpetua’s right hand in Hell Arisen; and had his brain dropped in the body of a Bruce Wayne who had been turned into Dr. Manhattan after being killed by Diana earlier in Death Metal (with a chainsaw made from her invisible jet…just roll with it), giving him the nearly limitless power he needed to betray Perpetua earlier in this series. And from this point forward, we’re referring to him exclusively as BWL. Now let’s all go get a glass of water.

Ok, back? Cool.

So the rematch in the last couple of issues of Death Metal is what the rest of the series has felt like it was building towards. And we definitely get a BRAWL: Diana, charged up with Anti-Crisis energy (we’ll get there), is a giant embodiment of her golden lasso, and several times in the issue, she punches BWL so hard he traverses the history of the DC Universe. 

But it turns out BWL isn’t just fighting to dominate the entire multiverse. The Hands are returning. 

The Hands and the Green Lantern Connection

You know how DC time travelers can’t go back and watch the beginning of creation? Whenever they try, they just see a giant hand. This is pretty well established, going back to John Broome and Gil Kane’s old Green Lantern story about Krona, the Guardian scientist who first attempted to see the dawn of time. 

Turns out, the giant hand is part of a race of them: enormously powerful cosmic entities that bear a passing thematic resemblance to Marvel’s Beyonders, only sized up in power a few times. That hand we see when Krona tries to violate the laws of the multiverse, it belongs to Perpetua, and she’s one of them. Now they are coming to judge this local multiverse, and Perpetua and BWL both think it’s going to go poorly. So poorly, in fact, that BWL is asking Diana to join her Anti-crisis energy with his, as it’s their only hope of preventing The Hands from sweeping everything away and starting over.

Crisis Energy and Anti-Crisis Energy

Oh that. 

Perpetua and BWL power themselves up first (in Justice League and Hell Arisen) by harnessing the unseen dark forces of the multiverse – the invisible spectrum that manifests as John Stewart’s Ultraviolet Lantern powers, or the Speed Force’s opposite number, the Still Force, for example. They eventually graduate to eating universes to expand their power. These are examples of what Death Metal categorizes as Crisis Energy. 

Diana is charged with its opposite: Anti-Crisis Energy. This energy is produced by the connective tissue of the history of the DCU, by the totality of the DC Universe’s history. That’s why “everything counts” in Death Metal #6 was a big deal: it was a massive power up for Diana. It’s also an interesting meta critique of DC’s history of reboots.

Crisis Energy is described *by Diana* as being selfish and short sighted, focused on short term gain at the expense of respecting the sweep of history. Anti-Crisis energy is constructive, drawing strength from the depth and breadth of 80 years of DC continuity. 

We have to be careful assigning authorial intent where none may exist. But it is certainly a valid read of Death Metal to see criticism of DC’s accelerating continuity reboot cycle built in. It doesn’t take an enormous leap of logic to transpose Crisis Energy and all of Diana’s critiques over to Crisis Events and some of the fan criticism – short term sales boosts at the expense of the richness of an 80 year publishing history. 

Who Was Right? Wonder Woman or the Batman Who Laughs?

Diana, of course. She refuses to give into BWL’s cajoling, punches him through continuity a few times, and eventually meets The Hands, who come to her wearing the form of…her.

More specifically, they show up as Golden Age Wonder Woman. 

The Hand she speaks with explains to her that they were going to sweep away Diana’s multiverse because of its propensity for gross selfishness, but Diana’s personal heart and generosity touched them, so they’re giving the DCU another shot. Only this time, they’re putting everything back in place: the full history of the DCU, along with a blossoming multiverse. And it’s heavily implied that the barriers between worlds in this multiverse are going to be…less walls, and more suggestions. The price the Hand extracts for this boon is Diana’s existence: she ascends, no longer living as a physical being on Earth Prime. Instead, she joins the Hands protecting the new multiverse from a hinted at but as yet unstated threat.

It’s worth noting here that this evolution of the DC multiverse somewhat mirrors Snyder’s evolution as a writer at DC. His early Batman work, on the “Black Mirror” arc of Detective Comics, and early in his New 52 Batman run is very carefully plotted and paced. They’re written more like traditional detective/horror stories. Similarly, the DC multiverse has been slowly returning to continuity since Infinite Crisis and 52, only very slowly, with rigid rules and boundaries about what constitutes the new multiverse. Remember the Orrery of Worlds? 

The difference, in both Snyder’s style and the cosmogony of DC’s multiverse, are the rules don’t matter anymore. Death Metal, both in how the story is told and where it leaves the DC multiverse, has a certain “FUCK IT, EVERYBODY HAVE FUN AND WE’LL CLEAN UP LATER” vibe to it and if we’re being entirely honest, that’s kind of exciting. 

What Does this Mean for the Future of the DC Universe?

I’ll admit, it hits a little different landing after a year of wild rumors about the future of DC’s publishing line. The journey of Death Metal saw a bunch of new bosses coming in and rumors and threats that they were going to rip the DC Universe down to the studs, and whatever came next wasn’t anyone’s business. 

The end of Death Metal is a jubilant explosion of everything bright and beautiful about the DC Universe – our heroes have made it, and not only did they survive, but they did so specifically because everything in their publishing history saved them. Everything counts now, everything happened, everything mattered, and it’s that counting/happening/mattering that saved the day. And then Black Canary, Superman, Wally West, and Batman play a big metal concert for all the celebrating heroes. With Jarro on cowbell. 

Future State is the next step, in-universe and out of it. Death Metal closes with a group of heroes and villains – Martian Manhunter, Mr. Terrific, Hawkgirl, Lex, Talia, Vandal Savage, and maybe Wally West (it’s not explicitly clear that he’s part of the group and not just visiting) – gathering together to talk about the cosmogony of the new omniverse. Hypertime is healing, the multiverse is growing so infinite that it’s now the omniverse, pasts and futures are opening into what Wally calls an Infinite Frontier (NEXT PUBLISHING PHASE MIC CHECK!). But Earth Prime is no longer the center of the multiverse the way it once was, as you can see from your handy dandy Multiversity map. It’s replacement is actually two worlds: one yet unstated, and one the group of DCU bigwigs is calling…the Elseworld. 

After reading the first batch of Future State books, one could be forgiven for assuming many of those stories take place there. Each book has a blurb about the saved multiverse, and the wealth of new possibilities growing out of the ashes of Death Metal. These books are dripping with multiversal references. But I think that’s beside the point – some of the Future State stories will end up being Elseworlds tales; some, possible futures; and some will slowly integrate to regular continuity. I think the variety is the actual point here; variety of settings, variety of stakes, and a variety of stories and storytellers. 

One would think that emphasizing variety might also lead to variances in quality, but the hit rate for the Future State books is remarkably high. These books are genuinely exciting to read. Several of them look nothing like what DC has been doing before, almost to the point where we can hold a funeral for DC House Art Style. 

The characters are certainly vastly different from what came before, and a couple of them are going to be absolutely huge – watch Yara Flor, the new Wonder Woman. If Joelle Jones’ first issue of Future State: Wonder Woman is any indicator, she’s going to be extremely popular. 

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It has been a long, and sometimes very odd journey to get here, but between the power chords of hope from the end of Death Metal and the completely new jams being played in Future State, it’s hard not to be cautiously optimistic about the future of the DC Universe.

The post How Dark Nights: Death Metal Reboots the DC Universe appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/38iD7SX

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[afaimsarrowverse]

My 15 Favorite Episodes of The Flash:

15.  The Reverse Flash Returns (Episode 2.11/34, Written by: Todd and Aaron Helbing, Directed by: Michael Allowitz)

 „There's nothing you can do about it. This is his origin story, and it's going to happen no matter what you do."

 The one in which: Eobard Thawne meets Barry Allen before he ever met him on this show before.

14.  Flashpoint (Episode 3.1/47, Written by: Greg Berlanit, Andrew Kreisber, Brooke Roberts, Directed by: Jesse Warn)

 "So, what should we call this brave new world that you have whipped up for us? I was thinking... Flashpoint."

 The one in which: Barry lives in a fake reality and holds Eobard in a cage.

13.  Enter Flashtime (Episode 4.15/84, Written by: Todd Helbing, Sterling Gates, Directed by: Gregory Smith)

 "Well, I'm sorry, Jay. If this is the only way to save everyone in the city, I have to."

 The one in which: A bomb is going to destroy Central City und kill everyone.

12. Infantino Street (Episode 3.22/68, Written by: Andrew Kreisberg, Grainne Godfree, Directed by: Michael Allowitz)

 "Piece of advice: stop trying to beat Savitar at his own game. Your goodness is your strength. Call me sentimental. Think the Flash should remain a hero."

 The one in which: Barry teams up with a time traveling version of Captain Cold to rob Argus.

11.  Pilot (Episode 1.01/1, Written by: Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Geoff Johns, Directed by: David Nutter)

 „You can do this, Barry. You were right. I am responsible for all of this. So many people have been hurt because of me, and when I looked at you, all I saw was another potential victim of my hubris. And yes, I created this madness, but you, Barry, you can stop it. You can do this. Now run, Barry, run!"

 The one in which: Barry Allen is hit by lightning, wakes up with superpowers and becomes a hero.

10.  Flash Back (Episode 2.17/40, Written By: Aaron Helbing, Todd Helbing, Directed By: Alice Troughton)

 "Just one thing that occurs to me, I don't need you, do I? Not this you certainly. Oops, you probably should have thought of that before you came back here. Shame... you ran all the way back here just to die."

 The one in which: Season 2-Barry time travels into Season 1 because he needs Eobards help.

 9. The Last Temptation of Barry Allen Part 1 (Episode 6.07/121, Written By: Jonathan Butler, Gabriel Garza, Directed By: Chad Lowe)

 "My name Is Iris West-Allen, and I once met a young man - a superhero - who I called the Streak. The world has come to know him as the Fastest Man Alive, the Scarlet Speedster. The Flash. But no matter what title you choose for him, he'll always be remembered as the protector of our amazing city and it's citizens, as a beacon of hope for us all, and as the man who sacrificed himself again and again so we could live. Today we say goodbye to him. Today we say goodbye to him, not because he was taken but because he gave himself willingly. And in the end, that's what makes him deserving of the greatest title of all: Hero."

 The one in which: Barry is sick, Ramsay is the devil and the Speed Force gets a nasty surprise.

8.      The Once and Future Flash (Episode 3.19/65, Written by: Carina Adly MacKenzie, Directed By: Tom Cavanagh)

 "Cisco told me, or showed me, that you all haven't been a team in a long time. And I know that I'm the reason for that. Iris' death shouldn't have driven me away from you all. I mean, it should've driven me closer. This isn't what she would want. But I'm here now to tell you that no matter what happens in the past, I will not abandon you."

 The one in which: Barry travels to a dark future and learns a couple of things.

7.      Nora (Episode 5.01/93, Written By: Todd Helbing, Sam Chalsen, Directed by: David McWhirter)

 "My name is Nora West-Allen, and I'm the fastest woman alive. When I was a child, my father disappeared in something impossible. Then I grew up and became the impossible. Now I'm trying to live up to the legacy he created so that one day, I'll stop him from ever disappearing. I'm XS. How schway is that?"

 The one in which: Nora meets the younger versions of her parents and screws up the timeline.

 6.      Welcome to Earth-2/Escape from Earth-2 (Episodes 2.13-14/36-37, 36: Written By: Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Katherine Walczak, Directed By: Millicent Shelton, 37: Written By: Aaron Helbing, Todd Helbing, David Kob, Directed By: J. J. Makaro)

 "So, which one of you lounge lizards is in the wrong universe?"

 The ones in which: Barry und Cisco visit Earth-2, where everything is different.

 5.      Out of Time (Episode 1.15/15, Written By: Aaron Helbing, Todd Helbing, Directed By: Thor Freudenthal)

 "Do you know how hard it has been to keep all of this from you, especially from you? Because the truth is, I've grown quite fond of you. And in many ways, you have shown me what it's like to have a son. Forgive me, but to me, you've been dead for centuries."

 The one in which: A lot of stuff happens, that never actually happened.

4.      Flash VS Arrow (Episode 1.8/8, Written By: Ben Sokoloswki,m Brooke Eikmeier, Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Directed By: Glen Winter)

 „There is a difference, Barry, between having powers and having precision."

 The one in which: Oliver, Felicity and Dig visit Central City, but their timing is very bad.

3.      Elseworlds Part 1 (Episode 5.9/101, Written By: Eric Wallace und Sam Chalsen, Directed By: Kevin Tancharoen und Tom Cavanagh)

 "Just focus for just a second and take this seriously, because the world thinks that you're Oliver Queen and I'm Barry Allen, and I would really like to know why! Is that cool?"

 The one in which: Oliver and Barry switch identity and seek out Kara to prove it.

2.      Fast Enough (Episode 1.23/23, Written By: Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg, Gabrielle Stanton, Directed By: Dermott Downs)

 "You will have a father - your real father. Wells has messed with our lives long enough. This is why you became The Flash, Barry. To put things right. You saved a lot of people's lives this past year. Now it's time to save yours."

 The one in which: Barry almost changes the timeline, a member of Team Flash dies and the city is about to get eaten.

1.      Duet (Episode 3.17/63, Written By: Aaron Helbing, Todd Helbing, Greg Berlani, Andrew Kreisberg, Directed By: Dermott Daniels Downs)

 "Everything is better in song. When you speak, it's just words. But when you sing, you open up your soul and let who you really are shine through."

 The one in which: Barry and Kara are trapped in a Musical Nightmare.

#The Flash #favorite episodes #everyone is entitled to their opinion #please respect mine

[korben600]

Why dystopian DC books with Batman Vs Superman inevitably have Superman/Wonder Woman

About an hour ago, I was watching a video by Comics-Explains on Youtube, where the host, Rob, did an Injustice Year One video, and where he brought up a point that I found very interesting, stating that in most of the worlds where Superman goes rogue and tries to take over the world (or is fallen into moral ambiguity) there are two main things characteristic of each of them. 1. Batman opposes him. (This is fairly obvious, it’s the old “Batman vs Superman” argument, it’s a surefire way to make an awesome fight scene.) And 2. Wonder Woman and Superman get together (romantically/morally etc.). This is really weird, not every story where Superman and Wonder Woman get together ends tragically, but almost every good dystopian comic with Superman as the antagonist has this ship. (see, The Dark Knight Rises, Superman: Red Son, Kingdom Come, Injustice)  

I wanted to analyze why this is true, and why it’s so prevalent in these comics. 

The biggest, and most obvious reason for this is the moral systems of the characters, Bruce Wayne has one of the most stubborn moral codes in all of fiction, and second to him is Superman. Bruce’s is extremely well defined (no guns, no killing), but leaves a lot of flexibility. Superman’s is less defined but just as stringent, he has to do what is right, that’s it. What’s odd is that Diana’s moral system doesn’t actually exist as far as comics go. She is, intrinsically, a good person. She’s a hero, she has to be, that’s part of her character. But the thing is, nobody has ever had to define her code to the point of Superman’s and Batman’s, because she just doesn’t have as simplified of an origin story as they do, and that’s where her flexibility lies. The thing is, she should be more certain of her moral code than anyone, because of her lasso, it allows her to have safety in the fact that she knows that what she is doing is right. This compensates for the fact that she doesn’t have as defined of a characterization, because while batman and superman are strong in their convictions because of 70 years of lore and fame, she has a plot point hanging from her hip that allows her to be as sure of something as Batman and Superman are. Unfortunately, her entire moral code is tied into her lasso, and her “truth”, and the truth is that when someone relies on something too much, they can twist it in any way they choose.

This is most evident in the single biggest difference beyond genitalia between her and the rest of the Trinity. She will kill. That is what splits her from her friends. Batman, and Superman to an extent, hate killing, and will do everything in their power to find a solution that doesn’t involve killing, but Diana is very willing to put down someone who she believes needs to be killed for the greater good, and the thing is, she can justify that belief as fact because of her lasso. That lasso allows her to be absolutely sure of her actions, even when they involve an execution. But the thing is, even pure truth can be warped and twisted into something awful if you don’t temper it with a code, which leads to her being correctly characterized as usually following Superman’s lead in these dystopian settings. Batman and Superman have to question everything they do, because they have extraordinary advantages and problems that others don’t (Batman is a part of the 1%, and probably has multiple psychological disorders, Superman is a literal god). For both to keep from hurting people unintentionally, they have to constantly analyze their actions to make sure they are on the straight and narrow (this analysis ties into both of them being associated with mythology). Diana on the other hand is a woman of faith. Faith is the reason she has powers, and the reason she keeps powers, in fact, you could correctly characterize Batman as an atheist and Superman as something similar (look he grew up in Kansas, if he doesn’t say prayer at every meal his parents are going to give him a licking, but he’s very scientifically based because of his biological parent’s culture), but Diana would be a hard-core theist (if you want to get technical, polytheist but the point is she believes in higher powers). 

This allows her to trust in her lasso, and her gods (even though 90% of the time they seriously do not deserve it). However, a lot of these elseworlds stories also show the problem with complete faith in others. When Diana doesn’t question what somebody does, it does not go well, as she will try to enact their will, whether or not they want it, which unfortunately, can have spectacular consequences. With Superman, this is a particularly interesting example. Superman is not a god, but he is the closest equivalent we can get without crossing the threshold into omnipotence, and that is a slippery line to have. What’s important about this is that in these specific stories, Diana doesn’t really question what he is doing, she puts her faith in him, and forgets that he is not a god, and that he is not above her. He is above all else, a man, and she is just as powerful as him (I’ll get to that in a second). neither of them are  subordinate to the other, she’s his peer, and he listens to her. In the best stories, Diana doesn’t believe that she is his friend, she sees him as above her, in Injustice, there is this great point where Mirror Master kidnaps Superman’s parents, and Diana gives a speech to a wary Justice League to convince them to help. They were concerned about Superman’s actions recently, and Diana tells all of them that they should be on their side because them kidnapping Superman’s family is wrong, and she’s right, but the wording is so important. She ends her rousing speech with something chilling, the phrase “I know my place”. In the story, it means that she knows she’s going to be at superman’s side, but out of context, that’s the feminist icon of the world saying the most misogynistic line that can be uttered in polite conversation. She is putting herself at the whims of a man, and this is where the story starts to really descend into suffering.

Because in these stories she is putting herself under Superman, euphemistically, and metaphorically, she now tries to act as Superman does, intervening in global conflicts and fighting for him, but she doesn’t realize that she is influencing Superman. She perceives it as a god and subject relationship, which in the comics generally works fine because she knows better than anyone how flawed and petty her gods are are, but with Superman, she believes him to be better than her, and it causes her not to question him, but instead try to encourage his actions despite not actually questioning him, which unfortunately is really bad for both of them (and consequently the world). It’s like a bad relationship. Diana thinks that she is under Superman, so she doesn’t question him, not realizing that he relies on her, and he values her opinion. He also views her moral code as just as strong as his and Batman’s, so he trusts her. This means that as Diana condones, or even encourages more and more destructive tendencies, it feeds into a cycle. Diana tries to follow what she thinks that Clark wants, and Clark, since Diana acts like it’s okay, goes farther and farther into the abyss. Their faith in each other, without being tempered by an outside source, compounds on themselves. The only way that they get out of this is if their faith in the other was broken, as seen in Superman: Red Son. In it, the point where Diana snaps out of it is when her lasso is broken. She has to save Clark from being imprisoned indefinitely by Batman, but to do that she has to destroy the lasso that was holding her. Not only does she lose her eternal youth, but the thing that represented her faith in Clark was destroyed. Of course, that’s symbolism. Her faith was broken, but it wasn’t because of the lasso, the real reason she lost her faith was that she realized that Superman didn’t really care for her, she had given up everything for him, her youth, her looks, and her body, and he didn’t care for her any more than he did for anyone else, she was just a friend (yes, it’s kind of misogynistic that the reason she turned against him was because he scorned her, I’ll get to the awesome Wonder Woman stuff now).

Now, rolling back to the original point, this symbolism is good and all, but why is this repeating so often in the stories? This addresses the most common, and interesting “how”, but not the “why”. Sure, Wonder Woman’s faith is important, but couldn’t she also go through those same problems with Batman? Well...no. The reason, as always in comics, boils down to politics and power levels. In politics, there’s these principles about alliances, that have flaws but are good for a metaphor. In politics, if you have two countries, your country, and another country (Country A and Country B), and you are hostile, you want your country to be more powerful. However, if there’s a third country that is less powerful than A and B, Country C, that third country doesn’t have to be as powerful as the other two to be in an advantageous position. Country C just has to be powerful enough so that if A and B go to war, C can guarantee that whichever side it supports will win (or at least have a significant advantage). The thing is, in a Batman vs Superman matchup, it isn’t a matter of who’s stronger, it’s a philosophy arguement. Brains Vs Brawn. Does a genius with prep-time beat a powerhouse without? They’re basically equivalent, because they’re ideologies, but Diana is the wildcard in any match-up. Country A and Country B are in a stalemate because both could conceivably win, but Diana is Country C, and she brings two things to the table that make her a valuable asset to both. 

First, is raw strength. To cite the comic “Sacrifice”, Diana had to fight a mind controlled Superman, who has been brainwashed by Max Lord. Now, Max does something very interesting, instead of just controlling Superman, and attacking Wonder Woman, he makes Superman think that he’s fighting various villains, and that they killed Lois Lane. This allows Max all of Superman’s fighting experience, with the bonus that he is fighting to kill, he isn’t holding back. This is horrifyingly powerful, as demonstrated by the fact that he nearly beats Batman to death earlier in the run, and this shows in the fight. It’s brutal, and Diana takes a lot of damage, but here’s the important bit. She holds her own. In a fight with an enraged and unhinged Superman, she manages to hold her own, and minimize casualties, until she can kill Max Lord to end the battle (this is another example I wanted to use from earlier, as the reason that she kills him is that Max says, while under the lasso, that the only way to stop him is to kill him, which lends credence to the idea of Wonder Woman’s code being based around her lasso, FYI, Batman and Superman both had heavy objections to this which are explored in later comics). No plan, no backup, no kryptonite, and she holds her own against the most powerful being in existence. That alone would be a very good reason for her not to be on Batman’s team. Batman is often the embodiment of brains in Batman vs Superman duels, and whatever side of the philosophy/comic debate you are on, the simple matter is that brains and brawn combined are far more powerful than they are alone. Even though she is less powerful than Superman, her capabilities mixed with Batman’s tactics would curbstomp the Man of Steel if he had the Amazon at his disposal.  This makes her a far less valuable ally to Superman than Batman, he already has strength, more strength is kind of superfluous, but if she could justifiably shift the war to Batman’s favor as soon as she joined (Take Batman Vs Superman, the movie. Diana was strong enough to take on Doomsday, chopping off one of his arms, if she were working with Bruce to take down Clark (particularly with that kryptonite gas), the Man of Steel would be dead), she should be on Superman’s team just because a two page comic of Diana bashing him with a kryptonite baseball bat with a Batsymbol on it would be boring (though perhaps a bit cathartic), to say the least. 

Now, there’s also a second reason that she is consistently on the Superman side of things, and it’s alluded too often in her series, which is that she is an ambassador from Themyscira. Diana is a diplomat, which are incredibly important in all wars, and especially in battles involving the superhero community. She is a member of the Trinity, a feminist icon, she lends credence to whatever she is involved in, which is why she is on Superman’s side so often. When I said that there are two things that happen in dystopian DC stories with Superman on the wrong side, I was lying...well sort of. There are three things that occur, but two are interconnected. Wonder Woman is with supes, Batman is opposed to Superman, and Batman is right. This is just a facet of the character, Batman is intrinsically less powerful than Superman and most of the caped community, which allows him to have a more grounded view of reality. Unfortunately, it also makes him more morally suspect to the rest of the caped community, as he has to use cheap tactics, and dirty tricks to stay relevant, which doesn’t endear him to his peers. When there is a war, Batman is always on the right side, because with his tactics, he has to be, or nobody would follow him. But this is where Wonder Woman comes in. Often, when Superman is falling from grace, he has a cushion of credibility built over saving the world multiple times, and when Batman is opposing him, he has to work against his persona as the most sketchy person in the room, though he has the boost in being on the right side of the argument (FYI, he may not be at that exact moment in the comic, but history will always vindicate Batman). They are not necessarily equal by any means, one can have more influence than the other, but this is where Wonder Woman comes in. Again, she’s Country C, she has credibility of being an outsider, having enough power to speak her mind freely, and she’s a part of the trinity. Now this is where it gets dicey. Both Batman and Superman often have similar amounts of credibility, but the difference is who is right? Batman is always right (or the comic is presented so that he is correct), so his credibility will rise as time goes on, Superman’s credibility, despite being initially higher than Batman’s, will fall because he is just on the wrong side of history. And Wonder Woman drags out this dilemma of who to follow. If she were to add her support to Batman, the conflict would be over, there would be enough heroes around that would listen to two members of the Trinity saying the third, a near all-powerful god, has gone rogue, and side with them, especially as time goes on, and Superman is proven to become worse and worse. The civil war may not end quickly, or in favor of Bat’s and Wonder Woman, but it will be heavily skewed in their direction. However, when she lends her credibility to superman, he still eats away at that credibility, but it’s going to take longer for people to reach their points of no return. This delay allows for Superman and Wonder Woman to do more, such as try to rebuild from the hits their reputations are taking, and more specifically, for more plot to happen. This is why writers use this so often, with wonder woman on superman’s side, it’s not just a straight Batman vs Superman fight, it can be drawn out into a political mess, dragging in more and more characters, and encompass multiple worlds if necessary, which gives writers more room to work with, and allows for elseworlds that are powerful enough to become Superman: Red Son, Kingdom Come, and Injustice.

Also, disclaimer: This article may make it seem like I am opposed to Superman/Wonder Woman. I am not (though I will admit to shipping Bruce and the Amazon). I am merely pointing out how in multiple comics, Superman goes off of the deep end because Wonder Woman isn’t asserting herself to either tell him he’s going off of the deep end, or work with Batman to take him down. Writers just tend to turn Wonder Woman into a lovesick woman to accomplish this. Superman/Wonder Woman can be written really well, and end well, but Diana needs to be an equal participant or bad things will happen. 

TL;DR: The reason that Superman/Wonder Woman is so popular in bad futures in DC is because Wonder Woman would curbstomp Superman if she were on Bat’s side. Also, I don’t hate Superman/Wonder Woman, I just think that some writers use it to make the plot of Batman Vs Superman stories longer (which isn’t a bad thing). 

#Superman/Wonder Woman #Batman Vs Superman #analysis #this took way too long to write #I don't hate Superman/Wonder Woman

[cwdcshows]

Batwoman - S1 E3 - Down Down Down

So Kate would like her sister Beth back - sure, I get it, but come on, any remotely reasonable person would know that the odds of that happening virtually nill.  To start with, even if she were a well adjusted person, which obviously she's not, picking up where they left off after 15 years would difficult.  Not impossible, mind you; they'd show that often enough on Unsolved Mysteries when estranged family members or adopted children would get reunited with biological family and new bonds would be made - at least for sure at first and while the cameras were running.

But those are under ideal circumstances, which these are not.  Beth is not Beth anymore, she's clearly seen some shit; and more than that, she's evidently become a murderous psychopath and arguably unhinged from reality.  She's not the little girl you knew, Kate; and for that matter, neither are you.  Again, it's been 15 years.  I can't remember if they said how old they were when the accident happened, I think maybe 11 or 12, 13 tops; so just as a numbers perspective they've been out of each other's lives long than they've been in them; and even if each has continually been in the other's thoughts the last 15 years, that's a long time apart, especially for that period of life and development, that neither of them bears much resemblance of whatever memory they have of one another, to say nothing of how much they may have idealized or even maybe twisted and vilified that memory.  Kate says this as if Beth disappeared a few months ago and that she knows a more recent version of her sister this woman could conceivably return to - imagine your own sibling wanting to have the same relationship you had at 12.  I'm pretty far removed from 12 at this point, a couple of times over, and the relationship with my siblings is not the same as it was then; and I wouldn't want it to be.  I get that Kate might lament missing out on the interim developments, but especially in the case of Alice/Beth, that 15 year span in between has arguably more significance than your run of the mill estranged family member; because it's resulted in a person who has not only been traumatized, ostensibly, but who themselves have become a dangerous person.  One who is responsible for actions that can't just be ignored for the sake or family reunion. To much the same end, I can't help but wonder what's taken Beth so long to come back and enact whatever it is she's doing in Gotham or why she's doing it.  15 years is a long fucking time to be this crazy and hell bent, before she seeks satisfaction.  It's conceivable she was locked up for a period of time or something, but it seems like the only reason they made it that long was so that it could be a long enough time for Beth to be unrecognizable and her identity be in doubt.  It arguably would have made more sense to make her disappearance a more recent thing - maybe 3 years and present the possibility that it somehow coincided with Batman's disappearance; and then have her hide her face for some reason, maybe because she became disfigured or something.  At least then she'd have a clearer bond with an adult Kate. The way they framed the TV ad with Tommy, I honestly thought it was meant to be another security firm, similar to the Crows; and it was mainly later when someone mentions have having contract with the Crows that I had to go back to see that the ad was for real estate or whatever. Still, in hindsight I'm slightly disappointed, because having someone like Tommy and knowing who he is from the comics, the idea of him being in charge of a rival security firm and in the business keeping people safe would be, objectively, a terrible thing, but from the creative, dramatic perspective, loaded with all kinds of now missed possibilities. Jesus, Tommy, we get it, you have an incredibly small penis and are desperate to overcompensate.  I can't tell which of us cares less, me or Kate....It's probably a draw. So many things to unpack with this break-in at the Wayne-Tech vault. First, and I guess they've referenced this before - Luke actually has contact with Bruce, or at least that's the implication with Luke saying he'd better inform Bruce.  So unless Luke is just covering and making it seem like he's actually in regular contact with Bruce, but is in fact just as clueless where he is as the rest of the world, Bruce himself is not missing, he just up and left Gotham - which is dumb and out of character, generally speaking.   Second, who is running Wayne Enterprises?  The building Kate broke into in the first episode was boarded up and seemingly abandoned; and there was no clear indication what the company overall was up to, but ever since she initially made her way into the building, now she comes and goes from Bruce's office - presumably mostly because of the access to the cave - yet there doesn't seem to be any implication that she's take on any sort of role within the Wayne Enterprises company; right?  So who's even in charge? The last one I guess would be just a general observation that they're taking a long fucking time to origin story here.  It's episode 3 and haven't even caught Kate up to where she was last year during the cross-over.  Instead they're dicking around with this whole mistaken identity with Batman for way too long; though I won't be surprise if by the end of this episode they decide to have Kate declare her independence from "Batman" by adding the final touches that make it clear she's not the same person.  But they should have gotten there already, mainly because of the fact that they've already established as a fully established and active vigilante/hero in her own right a year ago and they're backtracking, which makes little sense. Wait, why the fuck would Bruce have Wayne-Tech develop a gun of any kind?  Don't give me that shit that "he had it developed in case the suit ever fell into the wrong hands." Fuck you.  Settings the apparent literal magic woven into this special material the suit is made of that can cause a bullet to bounce off it; yet was simply enough for Luke to alter to fit Kate; surely there must be a world of alternate options for safe-guarding this sort of tech before Bruce fucking Wayne of all people commissioned a gun that could best this miracle armor - especially rather than fast track R&D of the material the suit was made of to make it cost effective enough to make it available to law enforcement and anyone else who might benefit from such incredible protection.  I mean, surely just by virtue of being bulletproof doesn't in itself make you the end all, be all of unstoppable threats, right?  Because by this logic it seems that Bruce equated the effectiveness of the suit as somehow more dangerous than the weapon he had designed to undermine the effectiveness of the suit. Oh, okay, "If Bruce built that rail gun, he built something that could stop it" - talk about your fucking rabbit holes.  So Bruce developed the armor for the Batsuit, which he then in turned developed the gun to take out the Batsuit should the need arise, but now we're supposing that he then must have developed something to stop the rail gun.  So would he have wanted to work on something that could take out the thing that can stop the rail gun? What about a thing to stop the thing that stops the rail gun? I often like to say for most shows "the lie is better" - as in, whatever pretense or lie a character tells, often that would have been the better truth or reality for the story to work with; and in this case, the "lie" that the rail gun had a gps tracker hidden it arguably should be true.  Don't get me wrong, it's a good bluff; and it might a dubious idea should that rail gun inexplicably become commercially available, but definitely while it's in the R&D stage and especially being so dangerous, it should not have been left to chance and some steps of tracking it should it be stolen should have been taken. Oh, man, I hope the elevator with the wait staff in it make it out alright. No, I'm serious, out of all the characters they've introduced, the only ones I could actually give a shit about are the ones they never bothered actually saying two words, yet they seem more sympathetic virtually anyone else whose life is presently in peril. I know they've stuck close to Tommy's backstory, yet somehow they've managed to make him a pathetic, whiny bitch instead of psycho he should be.  Mind you, I was never much a fan of Hush, so maybe there's no good way to do that character the way he's written in the comics. Well fuck.  I swear to God I wrote that part about the wait staff long before I got to the part where Tommy actually killed the wait staff... Now I don't care what happens.  I mean, I don't want Tommy to win, but I don't give a shit if the other characters plummet to their deaths.  Not now they've killed Charles, Mike and Michael B.  That's right, they have names. Charles was a dancer, studied at Julliard.  Michael's going to have a baby with his long time girlfriend, but he didn't know yet; she was going to tell him when he got home.  Mike didn't have much in particular going on, he was just living day by day, trying to figure out life.... Damn you Tommy!!  Damn you all to hell..... Like, Kate's step-sister Mary's alright; she's cute, but I can't decide if she's pulling a Bruce Wayne and only pretending to be a party girl to cover for her being a secret street doctor; or if she legitimately is trying to lead both kinds of lives.  Other than the that, I don't give a shit if he pushes the button. Wait, are any of those people in the elevator that crashed alive?  How?  They made it a huge point how high up they had to go to get to the party and none of them were on the elevator very long before Tommy stopped them; it's not like it only crashed one or two floors; they achieved free fall.  Presumably that should have hit with a force no one survives, I would think. At least the hair looks better than in Elseworlds. I mean, if you can just get the upper hand on the fucker and take him out, is it really "stalling" versus just getting the job done without needing to neutralize the rail gun?  Obviously it's a good advantage to have, but if you can just as easily engage Tommy without neutralizing it, it's kind of moot.  Sure, there's risk, but it's like you're 100% bulletproof even without the rail gun; you still have a vital part of your head exposed, so there's arguably a degree of risk with any engagement and doesn't seem that different. But I bet in spit of this, Tommy's going to last long enough to get his hands on that special gun one last time, but right before he can pull the trigger, the light turns green and the weapon is neutralized. Oh, gee, I wonder if Kate will need to use the double-ended grappling hook she learned about conveniently earlier in the episode....Nah..... Hmm....so the suit can cause a bullet from the best commercially available handgun bounce off it; should Kate even be able to feel Tommy standing on her hand?  Or, I guess, should it hurt?  How would that work? The save by Beth might be more meaningful if she hadn't killed a guy earlier in the episode; or showed any kind of signs that she should be rehabilitated and that this was a positive step forward.  Instead it seems more like a plot convenience; and a pointless one, because what does it achieve?  Are we supposed to see hope for her now? Wait, "she could have found one of Beth's recitals online"? From 15 years ago?   Probably not.  I had to look to be sure, and Youtube wasn't created until 2005; and I know there were no doubt precursors to Youtube, but I honestly can't think of any; at least none of any prominence and certain none that I can think to find now to look up some video that might have been put up back before 2004.  Streaming video was rare back then; at least as much as I recall it. Yet another reason they shouldn't have set the "accident" so long ago. Augh, I remember catching the tail end of this episode when watching a Supergirl episode a few weeks back; and seeing the whole "what should we call her?" exchange; and it's just as stupid now as it was then that any of the characters are struggling that hard to come up with "Batwoman".  I mean, seriously, "Batchick"? Fuck you.