Batfamily, Wayne Family Adventures Model + text posts (and other stuff) pt2 (masterlist)
ps. you gotta click on some of them in order to read cause I had to make some of the text posts kind of small in order to fit the format. sorry about that!
This flashback of Jason’s death absolutely destroys me
*crying* oh f-fuck
the way Bruce is cradling Jason’s lifeless body while reminiscing the day Jason first put on the costume and thinking about how he needspreserve that happy memory of them together so that the sheer pain of his child’s death doesn’t consume him.
Bruce’s first thought upon seeing Jason dead is to think back on a proud moment of his life: seeing Jason smiling (something he’ll never witness again)
also the line “We’re together at least. One last time together…As it should be.” absolutelywrecked me because here we see Bruce at his most vulnerable, stripped down to his rawest emotions as a father witnessing the death of his son
and let’s not talk about how the domino mask is on the ground, meaning bruce tore it off wanting to look at his child’s face one last time
I don’t mind the labels “Batman greatest success/failure” for Dick and Jason respectively, but I think people don’t understand what they mean. They refer to Bruce’s actions and results in trying to save them from the fate of a lonely orphan that watched his parent(s) die tragically in front of him; they do NOT refer to Dick or Jason’s accomplishments as characters. Bruce saved Dick from becoming another angry, traumatized kid that felt like he had no family. He couldn’t save Jason because in the end, Jason ran away because he felt like a biological mother was his only chance at having a parent that wouldn’t leave him. Because Bruce, unknowingly, caused him to feel that way. That is Batman’s greatest failure, not some unfair criticism of Jason labelling him as the “worst/angry Robin” claiming that he’s a black mark among the Bats. Quite honestly, “Batman’s greatest success/failure” has nothing to do with Dick or Jason as people, only Bruce’s role as a parent to them.
Bruce’s actions in RHATO #25 are unforgivable no matter what, but I often read fics where Jason says or thinks something admitting that he killed Cobblepot because he was hurting people etc. But the issue is…he didn’t kill him. He wasn’t even trying to kill him. At all. That’s canon; Jason explicitly says that (RHATO #35). There would never be a good reason for doing that to your own son, but Bruce beat Jason almost unconscious for nothing.
I can look at Bruce killing Jason at the end of UTRH and keep it as canon because it genuinely was an accident. Bruce probably doesn’t even know he did it. He was clearly emotionally pained and he knew he couldn’t help the son he had mourned for years, not that he had come back to him. Forget the possibility of Jason and Bruce ever fixing their relationship, I can’t acknowledge RHATO #25 as canon and not want Batman thrown in jail. He intentionally hurt his own son like that and that’s not even mentioning the things he said to Jason. Jason was clearly not even fighting back for most of it. It’s disgusting.
Adding onto this about good dad!Bruce, the fact that in issue 27, Jason thinks Bruce hates him and Bruce says something along the lines of “I don’t hate you, but you need a good kick in the ass sometimes to fall in line”
Like that is one of the most basic abuser lines: “I did it because I love you” “I did it for you’re own good” “I did it because you deserved it” “I did it because it’s the only way you learn”
(Not to mention, Willis was also an abusive father. I know Rebirth, Scott tries to try to retcon Willis as a complicated yet loving parent even though before he wrote Jason saying things like he couldn’t sleep when he was younger because he was afraid Willis was going to blow his and his mom’s brains out: “would yell about taking the shotgun of the table and erasing the worst two mistakes of his life. Otherwise, it was hard to find a position where the bruises didn’t hurt[heavily implying beating]” but I’m not really surprised that Scotty hear is being an abuse apologist about not one but two men in Jay’s life. Really it highlights the fact that Jason continuously gets trapped in Cycles of Abuse because it’s all he knows: forgiving shelia for playing a role in his murder, forgiving Willis after the letters, forgiving Bruce over So Many Things. This will never be addressed in canon)
Anyway:
Never mind the fact that fandom saw this and went “See Bruce doesn’t hate Jason! It’s all in his head! He’s being dramatic!” And latching onto the hug at the end ignoring the fact Bruce just told Jason:
A. Roy, the person Jason considers his best friend and the person who saved him from himself, was Fuckin Dead!!! At A Place He Was Supposed To Be Safe At That Jason Trusted He’d Be Safe At!!! But also….
B. Jason deserved to be beat so hard that he needed Alien Tech to recover(of which he didn’t use until three weeks in for which Roy thought he was punishing himself meaning Jay was taking on the blame rather than realizing it was Bruce’s fault, another symptom of abuse. And then an entire week after that to heal with Kori’s tech) and would have been, what I think was going to happen, thrown into Arkham(most likely not getting the help he needs mentally nor physically, and, in this era of Jason, would probably have lost his mind to audio and visual hallucinations(I don’t remember if the joker was even in Arkham at this time which would have def made it Even Worse, oh my god). If not Arkham, Bruce was then just going to drag Jason out of Gotham to rot with his injuries alone(like KGBeast after Dick) if the others hadn’t stepped in
ALSO in #27, telling Jason that “he’s never going to be allowed back in Gotham ever. Not even Arkham.” Ignoring the implicit threat that if Jason returns to Gotham, he’ll be thrown into Arkham, Bruce has No Right to kick Jason out of his God Damn Home. Gotham may be “Batman’s city” but it’s Jason’s home. The fuckin audacity. I don’t even have anything to add to that, that’s how angry that makes me. (He also didn’t tell Jason that Dick was shot in the head, cutting Jason off from important information on someone who Canonically considered each other Brothers and isolating him from people he cares about/would want to help. This could totally just chalk up to timing and the issue had already gone to print before it could be added in, I’m not sure but that doesn’t change the fact that, later on, I don’t think anyone ever told Jason dick was shot. How did he find out? Through the grapevine? When he and dick had that whole big bad wolf fight scene? I gen don’t remember)
I remember Lobdell writing something along the lines about #27 of: “editors were so surprised where this issue went! No one was expecting it!” I fucking wonder WHY, SCOTT!!
The beginning point is though: Jason wasn’t trying to kill the penguin. Bruce had also just got left at the alter by Selina. This furthers the point that Bruce uses Batman as an outlet for his anger and aggression not worrying about who gets caught in the path. Bruce didn’t even look into it like with the mayor for the black mask arc(which was the same set up as the penguin). Bruce was just looking for an excuse to let out his failed marriage angst and Jason got caught in the cross fire. It was so easy for jason to get caught at the wrong place at the wrong time because Bruce never trusted him to begin with
All Bruce wants is authoritarian control; through all of this and after Jason still wants his approval, to know if he’s good enough yet in Bruce’s eyes. He never will be and it’s Fuxkin sad
Everything including your tags is perfect.
I hate everything about Bruce beating up Jason like that, and honestly it wouldn’t matter if Jason had killed Cobblepot. What Bruce did would still have been abusive. And there is absolutely no justification I will accept for Bruce’s actions.
There is never an excuse for abuse.
Okay, and actually you know what?
By the end of this particular scene Bruce has done more cumulative damage to Jason than the Joker ever did
And those of you who have seen very many of my posts know exactly how I feel about the Joker
AND ANOTHER THING—
Because I am totally incapable of shutting up and I just remembered this:
Building off the joker thing, Jason said getting beat by Bruce hurt worse than the crowbar
Like emotionally? Physically? Both? It’s vague. But like what am supposed to do with that???
Compare Batman to the Fuxkin JOKER!? Is that what I’m supposed to do??? You can’t just say shit like this and then just….never address it ever again
First we have Jason saying: I’ve never seen you hit the joker that hard before, and you hate him
To Jason saying: after a few weeks of healing, I still hurt worse than when I was getting beat with a crowbar
And the only message I can get that lobdell is trying to send is that: Bruce—Jason’s adopted father—hurt Jason worse than the joker—his goddamn murderer. And this is after weeks of healing. So either A: the beating hurt more whilst it was happening therefore Bruce punched him harder than the clown hit him with a solid rod of metal or B: Jason was in a dissociative shock(due to literally everything going wrong like the supposed death of his friends) or something and didn’t even process the pain till later, and yet when registered it still hurt more
Both of which are Not A Good Look for Bruce
I don’t even want to think about how Jason can totally write of Bruce slitting his throat as an accident to save piece of mind whilst saving the joker to Bruce later on hitting him harder than the joker, it hurting worse than the joker, as a not only a choice but now a purposefully, conscience one. Like what’s going on in Jason’s brain at this point? “He chose the joker then. He’s hitting me harder than the joker now. It hurts worse than when the joker hurt me at 15. Bruce hates me more than the joker”
Let’s not forget either that Bruce also beat him so hard that Jason couldn’t hold a gun without shaking. This could be due to pain. It could also be due to the fact that a gun started all of this for “not following Bruce’s rules”. Or even: Jason subconsciously ties guns to Bruce so when he’s holding it he’s thinking of Bruce and it triggers him.
Long story long: Jason’s hands—his steady marksman hands—shake because of the beating he went through at Bruce’s. Conditioning maybe? “Don’t use guns and if you continue to do so I’ll make you afraid of them”.
(Something-something this could also technically tie into Jason giving up guns to use a crowbar for Bruce’s comfort now-a-days something-something emotional manipulation, gaslighting and mental turmoil to get Jason to fall in line and using his want/need for a family/literally any good, genuine connections with anyone against him as a weapon and saying it’s privilege he hasn’t earned yet something-something Jason is so different from his first appearance as red hood because trying to reconnect with the family is literally chipping him away yet his 15-year-old inner child needs Bruce to choose him over his murderer and he still cares about Bruce so much that he can’t just walk away, wanting things to be okay and fine and good something-something this could actually be a really interesting plot line to show how being with the bats and trying to align with them is running Jason ragged, filling him with anxiety because no matter what he does he’ll never be good enough and highlights his need to be perfect, wanting to reach unattainable goals trapping him in a sunk-cost fallacy loop something-something but since it’s Bats + Co. Jason’s “actually just being unnecessarily difficult and if you would just listen,we know what’s best for you” it’ll never happen so instead we get “look at all of these cute fluffy family interactions. Hey, hey, Jason remember that time you were murdered good times. Fuxkin hilarious actually” something-somethingnow I’m just rambling)
Like No Wonder Jason thought/thinks Bruce hates him. What other message is he receiving? And if him being difficult is him being distrustful of bats/Bruce? Jason will always come running when Bruce calls like the good little loyal solider he is, yet Jason is always “the one who doesn’t put in the effort to make anything work” even though Jason’s the one constantly putting shit like this aside to make everything work, even though whenever he leaves he’s at his happiest, even though Jason’s constantly the one giving more than taking in their compromises for Bruce to accept him. Just….No Wonder, really, No Wonder
Loyal Henchman: Honestly I think I’d rather go to Blackgate again.
New Guy:
Nightwing: Okay, first of all? Rude.
New Guy:
New Guy:
New Guy: what the hell
*a few minutes/eternity of puns later*
New Guy: Okay yeah I get it now.
Nightwing: *slapping the handcuffs on* See? Puns ARE effective combat measures. Batman never believes me.
Jason:
Red Hood: What the hell, man?
Thug: Sorry, boss.
Red Hood: Not your boss, Jeff.
Thug named Jeff: You say that now, but Dan’s working on a PowerPoint that I think you’ll find very interesting…
Red Hood:
Thug named Jeff:
Red Hood: Just put the nice lady’s purse back.
Thug named Jeff: Right, sorry, boss.
Red Hood: Not your… oh, forget it.
Red Hood: [grumbling] …KNOW I……better than……freaking PowerPoints……nerd bird……corrupting respectable minions…
Thug named Jeff: So this means you’re coming to pizza night, right?
Cass:
Black Bat:*stares*
Criminal:ohmygoshimgoingtodie
Black Bat:
Criminal:*sweating*
Black Bat:
Criminal: *on the verge of a nervous breakdown*
Black Bat:Leave.
Criminal: Yes sir, Miss Batman, ma’am.
Steph:
D-list Villain: [horrified gasp] YOU!
Spoiler: Aw, you remember me.
D-lister: DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TAKES TO GET GLITTER OUT OF THIS OUTFIT???
Spoiler: You call THAT an outfit? Please.
D-lister: Hey, now just you wait one second. This is a…
Spoiler: *knocks out distracted villain wannabe*
Tim:
Very Evil Minion: I’ll just be on my way then. Have a nice night, Mr. Red Robin, sir.
Red Robin:what
VEM: Oh, we’re not allowed to fight you anymore. Boss’s orders.
Red Robin: Huh. Tell Luthor I said hi, and hey, if you ever want to make a career change, you know, to something legal, you can always try Wayne Enterprises. They have a good ex-criminal work rehab program.
VEM: I think this is why we’re not allowed to fight you anymore…
Damian:
Robin: *unsheathes weapon*
Criminal No. 1: oh hell no
Criminal No. 2: Just once can’t we get a non-feral bat?
Criminal No. 1: ‘Come out East,’ they said.
Criminal No. 2: Did it have to be freakin swords?
Criminal No. 1: ‘Plenty of opportunities,’ they said.
Criminal No. 2: I’m going to get rabies or tetanus or something.
Criminal No. 1: Well SCREW THIS. I’m going back to the guy with arrows.
Criminal No. 2: Where do they even FIND these kids?
Duke:
Signal:‘Sup.
Bank Robbers:
Bank Robbers:
Bank Robbers:
Bank Robber No. 4: I thought you were all vampires.
Bank Robber No. 2: Yeah, it’s like two in the afternoon. How’d you even get here?
In a bid to get Red Hood to come back to crime-bossing(1)(2), his former goons get together and plan a nice surprise for him.
The next day: BREAKING NEWS: JOKER CONFIRMED DEAD
They did good. Boss is happy and didn’t even contradict them once when they called him boss. He even shooed Batman and the little stabby Robin away from them.
On the contrary, I believe he fully embraces this because “It took Bruce ten years to get 2, and it took me eight months to get 34, so HA”
Okay now I’m just picturing Bruce and his (small) collection of Worlds Greatest Dad mugs in the Batcave and then we head over to Jason’s safe house and he has an entire wall dedicated to his collection of 34+ Worlds Greatest Dadmugs.
Okay but what if Jason adopts an actual child kid also, and so one day he shows up to the manor with this cute little eight year old, a twenty year old, and someone probably older than Bruce and introduces them all as his kids
I headcanon that Jason is the only batfamily member in possession of Damian’s baby photos and uses this as leverage to get whatever he wants from either Bruce or his siblings
I’m a huge sucker for all of those Jason and Damian becoming brothers in the League scenarios, so I imagine that Jason begged Talia to give him copies of all the photos she has of tiny Dami and she just handed them over (she is still, to this day, unaware of the sheer amount of power she had placed in Jason’s hand that day)
Jason probably added a couple photos of his own from over the years that they were together :)
He haphazardly brings this up one day during the middle of a family convo and the entire family just stops dead in their tracks and all turn towards him like like a starving pack of wolves
and from then on it’s just a mad scramble of who can get Jason to hand over the photos first. The manor is in absolute chaos during this time period.
I have so many more scenarios in my head revolving around this hc lmao
The photos eventually got out (“what was I supposed to do Damian? Rip off Cass?” “Why would you even put yourself in that situation?” “I wanted to choose the movie”).
And now Damian is on a mission- collect everyone else’s baby photos to make a very large collage (no ulterior motives here, I have no idea what you are talking about) to display front and center in the house.
Absolutely
Cass asks for those baby photos? Jason’s handing them over on a silver platter, this man may be reckless, but he’s not an idiot.
DC comics culture is watching fifteen thousand different versions of Batman’s parents’ murders and his subsequent gritty and dark descent into vigilantism when all you want is fifteen minutes of him interacting with his seven and a half adopted children in an even vaguely healthy way
We NEED to stop slut praising Nightwing. He is a monogamous king that got massacred by modern comics. You know we do need to slut praise? Bruce Wayne. NEVER has there been a bigger slut than him and we need to appreciate it more. This man has had the most love interests out of ANY of the other characters and he is not getting the recognision he deserves
Danny Phantom powers!Jason au, where instead of using his newfound ghost powers to fight crime/get revenge, he just fucks with the entire superhero community.
