THE BATS OF GOTHAM
What are in your opinion the biggest difference between the comic and the fanon versions of the other Batfamily members?
Fanon Dick Grayson: Fanon Dick is an extra sensitive guy who wants everyone to get along and is always happy and quippy. He’s emotionally affirming, gives out hugs often, eats cereal constantly, and depending on where you are in the fandom, his most noticeable trait is his ass. Fanon Dick is portrayed as effeminate to varying degrees and tends to be highly emotive and sentimental. His intelligence usually suffers from this treatment, and he’s often taken at face value for his quips and treated as the Batfamily’s sole comic relief. He’s spontaneous and reckless, jumping into battle without a plan and making things up as he goes along while shooting off a bunch of one-liners.
Canon Dick Grayson: In canon, Dick is balanced with a more serious persona and is often upfront to people’s faces in order to solve conflict. He’s a friendly, sociable guy who quips and jokes around, but he knows when it’s work time and when it’s play time and will always put the job first– even if it means stepping on some toes. Dick has a habit of lecturing other heroes when he doesn’t think they’re taking things seriously enough, but he’ll also coordinate, offer advice, be a listener, offer levity and give praise. Dick maintains the hero community’s respect as a leader, a strategist and as one of the most trusted heroes in DCU because of how in touch he is with his moral code. Dick refuses to compromise his morals for something he thinks is wrong and is known to be as stubborn as Bruce about it. This makes him strict, but it also means heroes can trust him to never back down on what he thinks is right. Dick is driven by his empathy for other people and will sacrifice his personal life for the betterment of others, even going out of his way for neighbors and strangers. Dick consistently puts other people before himself and tries to be there for his friends even though he has a tendency to bottle up his own emotions from them. In some cases, he seems to use his levity as a defense mechanism, a skill he probably mastered through being a natural performer.
Fanon Bruce Wayne: Bruce is the Ultimate Ass Hole with absolutely no redeeming qualities. He “works alone” and is borderline abusive to everyone he works with. He’s often blamed as a deeply flawed person due to the fact that he struggles with emotions. There’s also the Ultimate Bat Dad. This version of Bruce collects orphans and dads them all in his Dadcave by being supportive and noticeably emotionally affirming in their lives. Dick, Jason, Tim, Steph, Cass, and Damian are all his “children” that he literally acts like a father to. He probably has fifty “#1 Dad” mugs.
Canon Bruce Wayne: Bruce is a complicated mix of both. Although Bruce has a reputation as an ass hole, his life first and foremost revolves around helping people. Bruce is a man of actions rather than words, and because he has difficulty being forthright about his emotions, his actions will sometimes come across the wrong way. (In Robin: Year One, Bruce fired Dick after Dick nearly died. Bruce did this out of concern for Dick’s safety, but he didn’t know how to put this into words, thus causing a situation where Dick felt rejected and like a disappointment.) Bruce doesn’t do this intentionally; he’s usually just uncomfortable or unaware of how to go about it. Over the years, the Batfamily has learned to understand and accept the way Bruce operates, while Bruce has learned how to be more of a team player to his allies (albeit, a team player who will still leave his team in the dark when it suits him). Although Bruce does have complicated paternal-esque relationships with most of his proteges, most of the Batfamily does not treat Bruce as a dad because Bruce himself rarely acts like a dad. Although Bruce is extremely limited with positive emotions and his allies get frustrated with him easily, they still know he has a heroic streak at his core and respect him. Bruce is dependable, a man who stays true to his morals, and a mentor figure. He’s also distrustful, abrasive, holds virtually impossible expectations for other people, is difficult to work with, and can drive people up walls with how cavalier he is.
Fanon Jason Todd: Jason is the Ultimate Bad Boy. He’s hyper-sexual, hyper-masculine, hyper-aggressive, obsessed with bread, and a morally depraved ass hole. He’s often used as an antagonistic plot device, such as in Non-Con fics. There’s also a version of Jason Todd that gets misunderstood and secretly wants to be accepted back into the Batfamily. He comes across as stubborn and retains his bad boy street cred on the surface, but his desire to be accepted by the Batfamily persists to the point where he’ll stop killing and “be good.” His life’s ambition is to bond with Bruce again and be loved by the rest of the family. Even though he’s a mass murderer, this flaw gets hyper-glossed over because he’s "doing it for a good cause.”
Canon Jason Todd: Jason is a decent human being in the sense that he has a well-defined moral code that does get misunderstood– he’s against violent crimes and he strongly believes in protecting the weak. However, he’s also willing to kill and fight violence with violence, which means that he is actively breaking the law and committing mass murder (his kill count is over 100). Jason genuinely believes in what he’s doing. He believes Batman’s moral code is outdated, holding Gotham City back and not really protecting its citizens. Jason doesn’t enjoy killing, but he doesn’t seem to lose any sleep over it either. It’s a necessary evil in his eyes. While Jason takes huge issue with Bruce, it’s not because Bruce failed to save him. He understands that Bruce didn’t intend to let him die. Where Jason does hold a grudge is the fact that Bruce let the Joker live. Jason also shallowly resents Tim for being the “replacement.” Because Jason and Dick don’t have much of a relationship, their interactions are more neutral and antagonist in nature. They barely knew each other when Jason was Robin, and they’ve rarely talked since Jason came back as Red Hood. Overall, Jason doesn’t have many close ties to the Batfamily beyond Bruce and Alfred and it’s unlikely that he’ll ever return to the Batfamily’s inner fold because he truly believes Bruce’s methods are outdated and ineffective while his are making a difference.
Under the cut for Tim, Steph, Cass, Babs, Damian, and Helena.
AU where the Justice League forms like usual, except Batman maintained his “totally a myth” status and has in fact been active for years before the JL forms. He’s very cautious about trusting them, but still joins, and the others sort of accepts that as long as they trust that Batman has a really hard time with trust, it will all work out in its own weird way
Then, one day, in the middle of a JL mission, the League gets in a tight spot. Out of nowhere, this blue and black blur swoops in and saves everyone’s ass. Maybe breaking some shackles that were proving very difficult, maybe disarm a bomb that the League was just a hair’s breadth too slow to reach without help, but whatever happens, the shadowy figure pauses just long enough to say, “Hey, Batman, you know you there are these things called cellphones now and you can just call sometimes, it doesn’t have to be this dramatic?” and bounds away after shouting ‘let’s do brunch! Bring your new friends!’
Batman is mortified.
No one lets it go.
The entire rest of the mission, the whole League is asking so many questions. Who was that? Do you know him? How do you know him? What’s going on? I didn’t know there was a vigilante in this area?? They don’t let up until he talks.
“That was Nightwing.” Batman is mumbling. The JL forces him to bring them to the Brunch. Brunch happens to be in a run-down apartment on the edge of a bad neighborhood, at five in the morning, in costume. Nightwing introduces himself as Batman’s lovechild with justice.
“I did not realize Batman had a child,” Martian Manhunter says, calmly enough that no one’s sure if he’s accidentally plucking a really loud thought out of the air or if he’s trying to make a joke.
Nightwing stares for a moment falling over laughing. He doesn’t get up. Batman starts trying to apply anti-Joker venom but Nightwing just kicks him and laughs until he cries. He keeps trying to wipe his eyes and his mask keeps getting in the way, so he asks everyone to leave so he can please get a hold of himself
He is still laughing when they leave. Everyone is confused. Batman is furious. Nightwing manages to breathe long enough to say, “We’re just so glad you’re socializing now, Batman.”
Superman turns to look at Batman very slowly. “…’we’?”
Jason: Stephanie brown is a food stealing monster. Babs and Cass are better.
Duke: …Anyways Cass and Steph are fun to be around! I’ve only met the OG of the Batgirls once, and I’ve never been more intimidated.
I’m Robin, and being Robin gives me magic.
Artist Dylan Burnett
favorite comic character meme ✦ [1/3] team-ups
You’re here in this hellish place for your son, Bruce. And we’re here for you.
Who’s Ready to Fight? | Batman Eternal #50
For those that missed me at FanExpo, here is the print that I did with the help of Ian Herring. It went over well :)
Here’s the pencils, inks and colours.
Bat Family in Detective Comics #945
DETECTIVE COMICS #950 Written by JAMES TYNION IV • Art by MARCIO TAKARA and others • Cover by EDDY BARROWS and EBER FERREIRA • Variant cover by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details. “League of Shadows” prologue! Celebrate 950 issues of the original Batman series with this extra-sized extravaganza! Cassandra Cain has stayed out of the spotlight on Batman’s team as she slowly comes to terms with the civilized world she was kept away from all her life…but the time for her to step up is fast approaching! Will she ever learn how to fit in among the masses, or will she always be more weapon than woman? Plus: a primer on the history of the League of Assassins, and an adventure with the team’s newest recruit: Azrael, the Avenging Angel! On sale FEBRUARY 8 • 48 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
DETECTIVE COMICS #951 Written by JAMES TYNION IV • Art by CHRISTIAN DUCE • Cover by EDDY BARROWS and EBER FERREIRA • Variant cover by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details. “League of Shadows” part one! The next big DETECTIVE arc explodes here as the League of Shadows goes from mysterious rumor to deadly fact! What’s their plan for Gotham City? And how will their actions affect Batman and his team? On sale FEBRUARY 22 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Jason and everyone else in the batfamily (via jasontodd-is-alive)
we chose to be a family.