Thinking about Duke's childhood always fucks me up more than anyone else's. The city got flooded. Then it literally turned into an occupied, closed off zone when he was like eight. There's no food coming into the city, he literally had to fish in the places that are not for fishing (flooded metro station).
His grandma was sick - and look, I know how hard it is to find meds in this situation, both from personal experience (not for me and my family tho) and from my friends' struggle, but when it's your grandma, it is hundred percent worse. And you can literally die at a drop of the hat if the guy in charge or some randos just want it so.
Then Joker's terrorist attack on Gotham, leaving his parents missing. He had to go in foster care, and bouncing from family to family who are in it for paycheck, from bad to worse.
The struggle to find his parents when police doing a fucking great load of nothing. Discovering another terrorist plot. Barely saving your life in the ensuing fight. Getting kidnapped/'invited for a conversation' by "police" which turns out to be, on fact, not police - which hey, it could be worse, right. But then getting dragged into a team of other teens - one of them dies trying to diffuse the bomb. A school shooter subplot. Getting hunted by the police, for real, mandated by the city government. Getting kidnapped by fucking comics version of some kind of Republican secret society.
Then having to go against one of the creepiest Gotham villains alone. Almost plummeting to death.
And then, dude, his parents! Are found! And they are mentally disabled, to the point that they can't be without supervision, and he can't really be alone with them because they will attack him!
Investigating Victor Zsasz, one of the most fucked up serial killers in Gotham. Getting almost killed.
And that's not counting anything about his biological father! Nothing about his friends and former teammates turning against him! Nothing about his time with Outsiders! I bet I forgot something else!
