134 posts
My guilt will not purify me.
(Batgirl 2000 permanently altered my brain chemistry)
I think, after No Man's Land was over, Babs was probably the one to go with Cass to get a full doctor's assessment. Bruce probably read through all the files afterwards but Babs was the one sitting in the room with Cass as the doctor explained all the symptoms of malnourishment he could see, the state Cass's teeth and hair were in, the clear signs of trauma she displayed, all the impact almost 10 years of being a homeless child constantly running from her father had on her. And that's before they even got into all the damage done by the years of David Cain's abuse.
Cass wouldn't have really understood what they were saying. Just noticed that the doctor seemed like he wanted to throw up and Babs looked like if he kept talking in another few minutes she would either start crying or get angry. Which is weird because the only thing on screen is a photo of all Cass's leg scars and she doesn't get the horror. Yeah he shot her when she was six yeah that wound got reopened infected when she was nine and on the run and became an even nastier scar after months of pain. She survived and none of it made her a worse fighter so who cares.
I think Babs, looking at this teenager who's now living with her, under her care, so unbothered staring at an x-ray of her skull with visible thickness in certain places where the bone clearly had to heal over large cracks, would feel the weight of a life in her hands in a way she never had before. And it would terrify her.
mia, side-eyeing roy’s trucker hat and general appearance: are you a trump supporter now?
oliver, aghast: no he is NOT, i raised him better than that 🙄
roy, equally torn between being offended but also wanting to annoy ollie: maybe i am
*2 hours later*
jason, on the phone: why did ollie just call me to yell about you being out of the will and then dramatically hang up before i could get a word in?
roy: omg i was in the will? 🥺
jason: well not anymore
I like to think that Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen are best friends but Bruce doesn’t know Oliver is Green Arrow.
Like Oliver’s known ever since Batman was on the news because that’s his best friend that would totally do that. But Oliver never tells Bruce he knows just to mess with him.
All of the other bats know and help Oliver, they mention things that only bats would know around Oliver and B almost has a heart attack every single time.
Gotham has excepted Green Arrow is one of their vigilantes. Like, he’s Stars but they also accept him, Bruce gets very confused.
Because when Superman comes to Gotham tomatoes and kryptonite get thrown at him but when GA shows up they just wave like they do for the bats.
Bruce figures it out after adopting Duke and feels like an idiot. Everyone laughs at him.
Helena Bertinelli 🤝 Stephanie Brown
Gotham purple-clad female vigilantes that started off unaffiliated with the batfam due to their families criminal pasts and ended up being treated like shit by Bruce while working with him.
Helena Bertinelli, orphan and CSA survivor, protecting the kids of Gotham city in her work as a teacher, in her home an adoptive parent and in her vigilante life as huntress, I need a minute-
Fic I have no plot for but desperately want the character dynamics in: preboot era Helena Bertinelli, Cassandra Cain, and Jason Todd having to team up for a long mission.
Helena having the very weird experience of being in the middle of the kill/no-kill vigilante spectrum for once. Her Exasperated Teacher Voice coming out unintentionally all the damn time and it has zero affect on Cass but absolutely hits Jason like a brick.
Eventually through either a check-in with Oracle or a very tired phone call with Dick, Helena learns about Dick acting out fairy tales for Cass, and harnesses Jason's Theater Kid & Literature Nerd energy to introduce Cass to more classics. Helena is finally able to take a nap without them fighting.
Ranking the best batman because I'm bored.
Honorary mentions: Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Azrael. May you never go near that cowl again for your own mental health <3 Congrats to Damian for handling it in one au without killing people unlike the other three but most of your family was dead in that universe so yeah. You deserve better.
5. Bruce Wayne. Most iconic sure but also the one with the most questionable acts. If I saw his batman coming towards me I simply wouldn't trust it as much as the others.
4. Dick Grayson. Better than his dad although he'd have a bunch of complex emotions if I ever told him that. He's a good Batman but he thrives more as Nightwing so it never felt like a good end point for him.
3. Helena Wayne. Earth 2 Bruce's daughter as Batman with Dick Grayson in a wheelchair as her Oracle and Dick's son as her Robin? Yeah the entire concept rules. I love legacy stories so much. Plus her Batman outfit is my favourite aesthetic wise.
2. Helena Bertinelli. The best Batman Gotham has seen so far. You didn't deserve Bruce's disrespect when you were fighting every day in no man's land while he was off sulking in his money. Carried the no man's land story on her back before Cass showed up to help.
1. Cassandra Wayne. Come on. Look at my blog. There was never going to be a chance of anyone else being number one. There's like 5 million posts here about why Cass is the best Batman but to sum it up: Everything most interesting and engaging about the previous Batmans rolled into one character.
Me: Hey WFA, which fun moral and emotional dilemma that fandom usually loves to give to Bruce and the boys are you going to give to the girls this week?
WFA: Cass is feeling so pressured by everything the Joker is doing along with the visit from Shiva that she's debating whether she should kill Joker herself because no one else deserves to risk their life like that and then carry the scars of causing death with their own hands
Me: Fucking fantastic you funky little webcomic. Keep it up.
Someone, "Hey how do you feel out your brushes?"
Me, "Cass blobs."
Someone, "What?" Me, "Cassandra. Cain. Blobs."
Bruce truly hates magic with every pump and beat of his heart.
What kinda curse is Slang, anyway?
“This is the best day of my life.”
“Bro really thought he ate with that.” Bruce physically feels a full body shiver, charged with nausea and cringe. “This is level 10 cringe. Can’t have shit in Gotham.”
Dick is his earth bound angel, but he laughs like a demon at him, holding onto Jason for support, pledging his eternal loyalty to Zatana and her pettiness.
—
“Hey, old bat, hook me up with an adrenaline shot.”
What he wants to say is Jay, do not try and fight with 6 bullets in your stomach.
What comes out instead, through Bruce’s grit teeth and intense, fierce glaring, “Not you trying to go back to your corpse era. See how I only took 2 shots? Very demure. Very mindful.”
Jason passes out from blood loss, but mostly laughter.
—
“Chat, is this real?”
Stephanie barely bites back a full belly cackle. “I think he just asked us if we copied.”
“I wish I was Jason, 15.”
—
“This is not a slay environment. Killing is flop behavior.” He keeps his eyes shut and buries his face in his hands. Trying to convince Damian not to stab someone doesn’t seem to work.
Damian gives him a pat like he’s a pitiful cat. “I’ll only stab the non lethal areas.”
“God, I wish that were me.”
You don't understand, I want Jason and Cass to resent each other.
I want them to walk out of the room as soon as the other steps in.
I want them to scowl every time someone else brings up their name. They try not to, try to disguise it as something else, but they grew up in a family of detectives.
I want Tim and Steph to try patching things up between them by pretending they forgot they invited the other to the hang out and everyone has to play along with the frigid silence. Eventually they stop accepting Tim's and Steph's vague invites.
I want Bruce's heart to ache as he rearranges a patrol schedule because they can't be paired together, not again.
I want guilt to eat at Damian and Duke when they compliment one in front of the other because it feels like stabbing the back of The Sibling Who Gets It.
I want someone to joke exactly once that Cass should have been Jason's Batgirl and that person feels a chill like someone walked over their grave.
I want them to see the worst of themselves reflected in each other.
You see, it's not unusual to have one of the infamous rich guys of the USA on TV, such as Oliver Queen and Bruce Wayne usually on talk shows to talk about their latest project, be it for good (donations) or bad (new LexCorp weapon, this one is for good I swear-).
But that's not the times people love seeing them, no, that's when they go on game shows. And finally, some producer gets the idea, "Why have only one, competing against other famous people like actors or singers, when they could compete against each other! What could possibly go wrong?".
A lot can go wrong. The show is a series of different games across the board, they all have to donate to charities to enter, but also know this is a great opportunity for getting good publicity. At first, it's just fun, games of them working together for a goal, with lots of "turns out the rich are eating each other!" jokes from Queen, comically bad attempts at leadership from Luthor, and Bruce Wayne being a passenger princess during the games "I bring the good luck".
That is until the following games are individual tasks, true competition...and then comes the cheating. Yes, Luthor started it but it also gets ridiculous.
They need to form a debate team, technically with their friends (free cameos for the show), Oliver and the rest of the participants understand that and bring in famous people, yes Oliver brings Black Canary that's his wife and best friend. And Luthor immediately calls on the best lawyers he has "You can't prove they aren't my friends also", which is a bit sad tbh.
Bruce knew he would do that. He is also a Gothamite with a sense of humour. Cable TV says hello to Harvey Dent, aka Twoface, because he is debating here now.
They enter a typical Steve Harvey style of questions, "Oh, you are bringing previous trivia night winners Luthor? that's smart...how did Wayne bring in the Riddler again? stop asking questions you say?"
They enter a mini survivors set, "Luthor brings in specialists from the military, can't say it doesn't make sense!... Mr Wayne, is that Poison Ivy? can he do that?"... and Oliver wins anyway (out of traumatic-experience experience), he brought Dinah again, he's a wife guy.
They enter a round of questions by journalists, points given by originality on evading questions, "So, we had to change our pick Clark Kent bc Luthor claimed it would be rigged, but thankfully Mr Wayne offered an alternative! welcome physicologist- Is that Harley Queen Mr Wyne- Bruce, can I call you Bruce? look me in the eyes and tell me how you are doing this Bruce"
"...Money?"
Harley rips them into psychological shreds, and a non-traumatized rich guy wins (DC equivalent of the Arizona Ice Tea CEO, they deserve it).
They enter rounds of questions about where they live, Luthor loses because he has no clue about the public transportation system in Metropolis, and Oliver acts dumb because he should not know half of the stuff he answers...Bruce gets stuck on the heroes of Gotham question, he is stressed, and he knows he'll be crucified if he forgest any of his vigilantes, and their associates, "Shut up Rick Redhood does count-".
Bruce Wayne forgets to count Batman, and he is saved by Oliver saying "They are bitter exes, let him not count the Bat!", he'll kill him later.
Luthor keeps cheating with professionals, Bruce keeps bringing in criminals, and Oliver wins because the final challenge is a popular vote, and the wife guy always wins.
arrowbat reminds me of the song loml
i just listened to it!!! and you're So right.
I loved loved loved writing their dynamics and the whole "Bruce Wayne always meant more to Oliver than Oliver Queen ever did to Bruce." Because it's Oliver's perspective when he says this, so it might not be true, but it also kinda is??
Because we don't really See how Bruce felt about Oliver, but we can absolutely tell there's care, but also Layers of denial in there ("while he and Oliver had been… him and Oliver.") and he might have supressed a Lot of shit because he knew attachments would make it hard for him to leave (and he Had to leave...)
what im saying.... the song Does fit yeah u opened my eyes
The batkids love “Uncle Ollie” because he’s the cool uncle who comes over and randomly throws things at them to catch in increasingly tricky intervals.
They’re flipping backwards over furniture trying to catch random little darts constantly whenever Oliver’s there to talk to Bruce about JL stuff. They need to catch the thing, which drives Bruce quietly crazy even as he acknowledges it’s a useful test of reflexes.
Uncle Ollie sometimes gets bold enough to try and throw shit at Bruce. This isn’t a good idea for several reasons.
AUs where Thomas and Martha come back to life are significantly funnier if you consider the possibility of them adopting Harley and Oliver.
Bruce needs to cuddle Damian like an emotional support cat while all three of his parents argue in the kitchen. Dick would join, but he’s a bit too shell shocked that his dead grandparents are, you know, standing in his kitchen.
“Okay, so wait, he didn’t finish med school?! I specifically requested it!”
“I’m sorry, have you tried wrangling your feral batch of kittens before? The only one who successfully graduated is Harley.”
Oliver throws his hands in the air while Harley preens, “I finished business school!”
Martha sighs, “So did Lex Luthor, my darling.”
“Okay, well, I’m gonna die before I become a billionaire, so there.”
“Hell yeah, that’s my girl.”
“Sadly, she was discredited once her turbulent affair with the clown started…”
Thomas guffaws. Looking at Alfred like he said the most unbelievable shit in the world.
“Harley. Dated a man. OUR Harley?”
“I was equally disappointed.”
“Okay, well, favorite in law, 1 2 3 go,”
They all say Dinah at the same time, much to Bruce’s dismay. He gets it, but Clark is very kind to him. “Papa!”
Thomas shrugs, “I’m a Virgo, not a liar.”
Jason: Go kill them. Problem solved.
Oliver: You can't just go around killing people Jason.
Jason: I know. That's why you should do it.
Oliver: No, no. I can't go around killing people, either. Bruce will be mad with me.
Bruce: *eyes twich*
Fav ship
Similar to this and my comment on it https://www.tumblr.com/demonic0angel/767278181073960960/hmmmmm-how-bout-some-spicy-dannycass?source=share
Danny and Cass enjoying Ollie's chili, much to the horror of everyone except Batman
(LMAOOOO)
Danny and Cass were enjoying their meal, while their siblings were all dying from the heat of Oliver’s chili. Dick and Duke were trying in vain to drink as much water and milk as they could. Stephanie looked like she was about to pass out. Bruce was also at the table, eating at a slow and measured pace. Oliver was beaming, clad in a pink apron and holding a ladle, as he asked, “Do you want seconds?”
Bruce shook his head, blank faced. Damian scowled through the meal, while Jason grimaced, muttering and glaring at Danny and Cass, “How on earth are you two eating this so fast?!”
Cass shrugged, “Not as bad as Sichuan food.” She turned her head and watched Danny eat for a little longer until he noticed her gaze and smiled at her.
“Are you still hungry?” He asked, licking his lips and Cass stared at him deeply before smiling and then nodding, turning back to her meal.
Damian muttered, “If this isn’t enough to make me throw up, that would’ve done it.”
Bruce sighed. “Do any of you want crackers?”
Jason sneered. “What psychopath eats crackers with chili? Better yet— Ollie! Can you get me a hot dog?! I need something worth living for without Jazz around right now.”
Danny perked up, pausing in his eating to hand Cass a napkin and ask, “Wait, where is she?”
Jason coughed from inhaling a pepper and said hoarsely, “I think she and Tim are eating ice cubes in the kitchen right now.”
Dick stood up and sniffled from the heat. “I think I’m going to join them. The rest of you weirdos can finish the meal.” He dragged away Duke and Stephanie, leaving Danny, Cass, and Bruce eating peacefully in the dining room, with Damian and Jason determined to finish their hellish meal.
Oliver complained, “What! Why is everyone always leaving?!” and then went after them to make them try more of his chili.
Danny hummed, nudging Cass. As she turned, he leaned closer and whispered, “They’re pretty weak to heat, huh?”
She hooked their fingers together with a sweet smile. “Not us though.”
A spoon went flying in Danny’s direction, making him dodge with wide eyes.
“Keep your hands off of my sister or this food is going into your eyes, Fenton!”
dick grayson (5’10” with the body of a gymnast): this is my baby brother!
jason todd (6’3” brick wall of muscle): …hi
***
cass wayne (5’5” with the body of a dancer): little brother!
jason (almost a whole foot taller than her): hiya cass
honestly the more i think about Hal as an often homeless, broke, frequently unemployed, felon who’s constantly five bad days away from a mental breakdown the less funny jokes about him being constantly belittled and bullied by the multi billionaire personally funding the justice league really are.
I’m going to expand on something I said in a different post. It’s the one about how I think Bruce and Oliver are best friends…
I said how Oliver and Cassandra were the only ones to not have a choice when it came to their training. I still think this is true but I may add Damian and maybe Roy in with them.
This isn’t saying the others chose their traumas, I’m just saying they decided to train and become heroes/vigilantes.
For example Bruce’s parents died and he decided to go around the world to train.
But Oliver was shipwrecked. It wasn’t his decision to start training, he had to so he would survive. The comics and show are different but have the same premises, if he didn’t do the things he did he would have died.
When they got back they both CHOSE to be heroes/vigilantes. Bruce had already decided it a long time ago and Oliver had the list (show) or saw that his abilities could help and decided to do something (comics).
So in NO way am I saying they chose their traumas, but they did chose to become heroes/vigilantes.
I don’t know much about Damian but I think he didn’t choose to train. Of course, I think, he wanted to, but he would have been forced to anyways.
I know next to nothing about Roy so idk if he wanted the people to train his in archery and marksmanship or not so do with that what you will.
But if Oliver didn’t train he would have died. If Cassandra didn’t train she would have been killed.
Of course, Cassandra didn’t know it wasn’t normal and she couldn’t communicate even if she didn’t want to, but she was still forced. They were the only ones (I think) that had absolutely no choice except to train or they would die.
Also, in the comics (Green Arrow Year One), Oliver saves a bunch of slaves from China White, I think. He found his old ship and could have escaped but chose to save the people instead. I’m not saying he didn’t have a choice for that, I’m saying he had to learn archery to survive.
Please comment your thoughts!
I don't think that the civilians in the DC universe are picky with regards to who's saving the day, per se, but they are very attached to their respective local superheroes and are extremely sensitive and scrutinizing if someone unfamiliar shows up. Like there is a general understanding that superheroes aren't tied to their respective cities 100% of the time, but there's also a very intense Local Civilian Vibe Check if you're superheroing on someone else's turf.
POV: You have just stopped a rampaging supervillain in downtown Metropolis (You are Booster Gold):
Clark (as a reporter): Mr. Wayne, have you ever thought of having more children?
Bruce: You mean, adopting?
Clark: Adopting. Abducting. However you got the last four.
Bruce: …
Saddest DC members in my opinion with no explanation and there will be people missing because I haven’t read that many comics;
Cassandra Cain. Hal Jordan. John Constantine. Helena Bertinelli. Kara Zor El. Oliver Queen.
Will probably add more to this and please comment your thoughts.
I eventually want to write a whole post or two talking about the differences and similarities of Ollie and Mia and Bruce and Cass because both are fascinating in how they basically get their adopted daughters only a few years apart and how they view and treat them. But one of the most intriguing differences is in how Ollie and Bruce treat the idea of their daughters killing
Bruce is sent footage showing Cassandra's first and only kill at the age of 8 and he immediately believes it to be fake because he can't imagine Cass ever being able to take a life since she understands her mission and his no killing rule to her very core. So even the idea of Cassandra being able to kill is something he doesn't believe and refuses to even think about.
Ollie meanwhile sees Mia kill a man on her first night out before even becoming Speedy because the city needed all the help it could get at the time and the man who was accidentally responsible begged Ollie to kill him to prevent more damage and Mia out of fear and believing his threats of more pain and loss shoots an arrow killing him. And while Ollie is shocked he doesn't blame Mia. He understands she thought she was doing the right thing and is clearly already kicking herself enough as is so he just comforts her and never blames Mia for his death. In fact he blames himself for letting her out with him in the first place.
It's just one of the many interesting parallels you can draw between these two father-daughter duos
I'm always on my Bruce acted like Damian when younger shit, but I'm also on my Oliver was eerily similar to Cass when young bullshit
Look, that man might have been stranded on an island for a year(s) but no other person would get into that situation and decide that the most reasonable choice was to dismantle the drug ring on the island with nothing but a bow and barely any training.
So I like to think that Ollie was always a little fucked, just uncomfortably wrong in a way that most people wouldn't understand. that actually being why Bruce likes him when they first meet.
Him being unnaturally quiet, not when speaking of course, it's Oliver Queen, no one can get him to be quiet when speaking unless he wanted to, but quiet in the way of being able to sneak up on people without even trying. Just appearing in a room and scaring everybody, even when someone is keeping an eye on him, he'll inevitably slip away and reappear a few hours later in a place that he's not supposed to be.
when Bruce and Ollie first met, Bruce liked him because he kinda scared the shit out of him, there was a look to him that just set off of the warning signs in Bruce's head and of course that means that he needed to friends with Ollie immediately.
And later, when Bruce's mouth inevitably got him into trouble, he never had to worry about what would happen after he won because Oliver would always jump in first. people learned very quickly that you can't fuck with one of them without the other being there too.
in the first few months of Oliver being the GA, Batman comes to Starling for something and tries to slip away after being spotted, but Oliver is able to hunt him through the city. No matter what Bruce tries, GA is always two steps behind and getting closer. finally Bruce is able to lose him at the edge of town (Oliver doesn't lose him, he just knows that Batman is leaving and sees no reason to keep going after him) and decides right then that the Green Arrow is never allowed within Gotham, that no other vigilante is allowed in Gotham.
Years down the line, after the JL is up and both of them are in it, Bruce questions whether he should tell Ollie that he's the Bat, but Oliver already knows, has know since the first time that they fought side by side, because no one has fit so perfectly beside him since those days in school. the days that he was the blinding sunlight in front, the fist that everyone paid attention to, so no one noticed the dark shape in the shadows Oliver had cast, the knife that you didn't even realizes was there until it was being pulled out of your ribs. of course Oliver knew that Bruce was Batman, he would have shot him with an arrow on that first mission if he hadn't.
anyways
Silly Batfam headcanon that David Cain (who introduced his daughter to a lot of his contacts during her upbringing) in his younger days used to be... a lot more involved in politics.
So, one seemingly slow day in a certain american inteligence agency:
CIA agent, entering the room in a panic: Sir, Bruce Wayne has-
Head of the pentagon: The playboy millionaire? Why do I care what he has done?
Agent: Because he has publicly adopted Cassandra Cain, sir!
Pentagon head: Cassandra Cain?
Agent: Yes, sir.
Head: Daughter of internacional assassin David Cain?!
Agent: The one, sir.
Head: THE GUY WE HIRED TO KILL KENNEDY AND COVER IT UP THIRTY YEARS AGO??????
Agent: Exactly.
Head: I thought her daugther had disappeared and was missing or something, how has she been adopted by Bruce Fucking Wayne?!
Agent: We're looking into it. She's using forged legal documents but it's definitely her, should we arrest her?
Head, grabbing the agent by the collar: That's the girl who beat every single UN-wanted assassin on earth before her age hit double digits, you idiot! If you so much as lay a finger on her she will break it and then come after me for seconds, no one touches her!
Agent: Ok, sir, put me down, please. *Head lets go of him* Should we put all of Wayne Mannor under official protection, then?
Head: Yeah, yeah, that sounds about right, wouldn't want something bad to happen to Cain's new father that could send her on a vengeance quest.
Agent: Do you think the Batman knows the Waynes are harboring the singular most dangerous non-meta teenager on Earth?
Head, about to have a heart attack: Oh, God, if the Batman goes after Wayne it could send Cain into a rampage. Establish emergency communications with Batman, appeal to his good nature, offer him whatever he wants, he can't go after Cassandra Wayne!
*One day later, on a rooftop in Gotham*
Batman: Speak, I'm busy.
Agent: Yes, I won't take much of your time. My bosses want to- who's that?
Batman, without turning to look at the figure behind him: That's Batgirl, my partner. But you were talking to me.
Agent: O-of course. Listen, there's a new dangerous criminal here in Gotham you will wanna hear about.
Batman: I thought your bosses didn't like working with me?
Agent: we don't wanna work with you. We want you to leave this criminal alone, as we believe she's looking to turn a new leaf. That, and she might probe a greater threat if provoked. *hands him pictures of Cassandra during the adoption announcement*
Batman, thirty years of poker face training:
Agent: She is Cassandra Wayne, new adopted daughter of Bruce Wayne.
Batgirl, noticing the inmediate shift to proud-happy-proud when the agent refered to her as his daughter:
Batman: I've heard about her, Bruce Wayne seems very fond of her already. Very well, I will leave her alone, she hasn't done anything bad as far as I've found in my investigation anyway.
Agent, sighing in relief, looking down a second to pocket the pictures: That's great to hear, it's a pleasure to- *looks up and both vigilantes have disappeared*
*a few roofs away*
Batman, walking in absolute silence:
Batgirl, pullings his sleeve: Fond of me?
Batman, nodding, red under the cowl: Fond of you.
I want you all to appreciate the effort I put in to refining my Cassandra Cain thoughts into something vaguely coherent because most of the time when I think too long about her it sorta devolves into me blubbering like a baby on the floor and mumbling something like "ooooooooh she just... she just cares so fucking much... so deeply mannn."