#hush (dcau) riddler

[riddle-me-ri]

Idk why but I LOVE the idea of the riddlers Having a dog that is there best friend and major weakness (I imagine most of there dynamics would be similar to Holt and cheddar from Brooklyn 99) but what do you think? How would the riddlers be with a pet dog?

a/n: ohh a few of them would be so happy…some…not so much lmao, you’ll see

Content Warning: none really, I don't think lol

The Riddlers with a Pet Dog Headcanons

Arkhamverse Riddler: 

- No, nope, absolutely not!

- He hasn't the time or a means for a…filthy reckless dog!

- Edward can't waste time to train it or feed it or play with it (he barely feeds himself)

- He also doesn't want some mangy mutt messing with his tools or making a mess in his shop.

- That isn't to say he's never wanted to have one, ever…every little boy dreams of owning a pet, or especially a dog.

- But like many other things…Edward has just grown to be too good for certain things.

Reevesverse/Dano Riddler:

- I can see Edward easily getting overwhelmed…

- Even if the dog has a calming demeanor…just to have another living breathing thing in his vicinity (other than his rats, of course)

- Edward knows the bare minimum of taking care of a dog…but he's just unsure of the dog's personality at first. 

- If Ed isn't all in on his plan yet, with time and patience, he does become very grateful to have a loving and loyal companion. 

- The dog often protects Ed when they go out on walks and scares muggers away. 

- He doubted he would ever come to own a dog like most proper children do…but better late than never it seems. 

Gotham Riddler: 

- Most likely to adopt/gain his pet dog from picking him up off the street. 

- Not without some arguments from his inner self about how the last thing they need to worry about is a dog. 

- Ed does all the research. What type of breed it could be, mannerisms, how to care, what to feed them, etc. 

- Of course, he also teaches the dog all sorts of tricks--he's gotta be the smartest dog in Gotham. 

- (Definitely wants his dog to be smarter than Oswald's)

- (Also tries to refrain from naming the dog Oz)

- (If he does, he'll insist its for the the Wizard from the Wizard of Oz)

BTAS Riddler: 

- Much like Gotham Riddler, he'll definitely have fun training the dog and teaching it various tricks. 

- Also most likely to build obstacle courses for the pupper as well!

- Has debated entering his dog into dog shows (likely will if he wasn't…a wanted criminal)

- Ed loves his doggo and has always wondered what it would be like to have one. 

- He's probably one of the better dog dads out of all the Riddlers

- Definitely one of those people that dogs just love automatically (and no it's not just me showing favoritism shhh)

Zero Year/Capullo Riddler: 

- At first, he is likely against owning one..

- Eddie can't be bothered to take care of something that doesn't revolve around him or benefit him. 

- Plus, like Arkham Riddler, he just doesn't want to waste his time tending to a dog. 

- If he did have any, he would likely only train them as a means of protection or to use as a distraction. 

- Ed will do the most bare minimum of care for the dogs, again likely to just use them for some overall plan. 

Gotham City Sirens Riddler:

- He's the dad that says he doesn’t want a dog, but becomes best friends with the dog. 

- Eddie will definitely train the dog to search and hunt for clues like a loyal basset hound. 

- He treats his dog much, much better than he does most people (which may not say a whole lot but…you know what I mean)

- One of those dog owners were the owner, and the dog started looking like each other and mimicking each other.

- He likely takes his dog with him everywhere, not just for the sake of clues but because he trusts no one else with them. 

Telltale Riddler: 

- Edward feels he's much too old to take care of a dog.

- However, I imagine he does have fond memories of owning dogs in his youth. 

- I can see him appreciating a dog's intelligence and loyalty to their owners. 

- His dogs were always the most well-behaved but also curious like their owner. 

- Every now and again, he does miss a couple of his dogs, especially in the rare moments he feels really lonely. 

- Edward is glad he was able to give them a decent life before he became…what he is now.

Young Justice Riddler: 

- Somewhat like Dano Riddler, he's a little overwhelmed. 

- But Eddie is also super ecstatic.

- Assuming this, Ed also had an abusive dad (or parents), he's living out a childhood dream finally having a dog. 

- Eddie doesn't let them out of his sight and definitely takes a ton of pictures. 

- He enjoys training and teaching the dog tricks like other Riddlers. Of course, his dog has to be brilliant! 

- Lives up to being a proud Dog Dad

Hush (DCAU) Riddler: 

- Didn't want a dog but became the dog's favorite 2.0

- Like Gotham, his dog is likely a stray that followed him home after walking back to his lair after a run-in with Batman. 

- Ed does take care of the stray, and a bond does surely develop. 

- The dog even sometimes comes up and tries to protect him from Batman, much to Batman and Edward's surprise. 

- When this happens, Eddie gives the doggo a big reward. 

- It just feels nice to have someone he can depend on and not judge him.

[sleeplesswooper]

I had a dream where I was trying to meet my group of friends to watch the FNAF movie. I got there earlier than they did. Then I heard footsteps getting closer behind me then I blacked out. I heard clinkin and footsteps then woke up in front of the ticket register with a handcuff on my left wrist when I saw it hung up on front of me. Then looked to my left to see Riddler from the Batman Hush movie and he said "Two tickets for Five Nights At Freddy's please". Then woke up. Mf handcuffed me to him and I DIDN'T EVEN SEE THE MOVIE IN MY DREAM.

Anyways here's the doodle💀

[tryingtothinkofabetterusername]

Yes, I've seen Batman vs. Robin and read the comic version, and I think both are really good; the film is different from the original, but it is an adaptation, so changes are inevitable - also, I think it is a solid example of how two versions of the same general idea can co-exist and be distinct to explore individually. Incidentally, the fights were amazing; in general, the fight choreography in the DCAMU is among the best you can see in any superhero material.

I understand they had to limit the Robin count to just Dick and Damian because there just wasn't time to flesh out all of them properly; but even with shorter time, I concur the filmmakers should have been clear that Kate was Bruce's cousin (I suppose it was implied by the fact that she met Dick when they were both children as their parent took them to fancy rich parties that one would need to be wealthy to attend; nevertheless, it is something that should have come out of the subtext into text at least a little). Fitting in my idea of unexplored potential, I think they maybe should have combined Jason Todd and Tim Drake, like they did in the DCAU, which would further explain Bruce's initial reluctance for Damian to become the new Robin, beyond the inherent danger. I feel like they were at least going to introduce Cassandra Cain at some point, but they were forced to end things before they could (and seriously, wouldn't it be sweet to see Damian get to be the big brother for a change? Both children of the League of Assassins, yet changed to become superheroes).

On another change, I know the changes to Hush were quite unpopular; personally, didn't both me a lot, although I do understand. Shifting it to Riddler alone essentially erases Tommy Elliot's relevance and making him merely a plot device. I think it might get credit for being unexpected, since newcomers wouldn't see it coming and people familiar with the comics would be expecting something else entirely, therefore both would be surprised.

I would do two changes to the Hush film: add occasional flashbacks to Bruce and Tommy as kids, so we can understand the depth of their friendship (it doesn't need to be a lot. In Batman: Arkham Shadow, there were only 5-10 minutes of Bruce and Harvey Dent's past together shown, and it managed to be engaging and heart-warming, and gave a comprehensive sense of their bond, which reinforced the eventual heart-breaking fall of Harvey); and second, I would've made Tommy an active participant in the scheme - at the end after Riddler's death, have Tommy in the distance, out of sight, and make a wry remark like "Don't worry, Bruce; you won't have to mourn me much longer. Poor, pathetic Riddler. Couldn't keep his mouth shut long enough to... hush." With the dead body in the alley and later factory being one Tommy altered due to being a master surgeon; thus, setting up the Heart of Hush adaptation.

Sorry to use screencaps for attention, but hey, if you don't like the words, the images are still brilliant and beautiful.

Anyway, it's half a decade since Apokolips War, which was quite divisive, and I understand why. It went hard on the misery and loss angle, then ended on the ultimate downer ending where the heroes win, but they still lost.

*Aside*

Has the antagonist winning in the first part of the narrative, him being defeated in the finale, but even the triumph involved significant loss; the filmmakers wanted to mirror The Flashpoint Paradox, since it had the mutilation and deaths of many until a complete erasure of the universe.

Pardon this self-indulgent tangent, I would have split AW into two movies; first film of the final Apokolips War being the initial preparation and invasion of Apokolips, maybe some other subplots too, then ending with the Paradoom decimation, and part two being most of the movie as it was, if expanded to fill time lost by dividing. Also, solve the last problem with magic instead - Constantine could use a forbidden spell to restore the universe, which would still piss off the Spectre, thus carrying him into the Tomorrowverse (although, I do understand the thematic symmetry with a universe that began with a Flashpoint, ending with one).

*Main subject*

Despite Apokolips War perhaps being too grim and maybe gratuitous with the violence, overall it was generally exceptional, with it closing numerous plot threads of the DC Animated Movie Universe (albeit, some probably warranted further development), however, I'm probably obligated to love it in some ways as it had the culmination of the relationship between Damian Wayne and Raven, which was the most unexpected, yet most enthralling and best developed.

Yet I think there was an issue inherent in Apokolips War, that is it ended the DCAMU when there was still so much potential to explore. I'm pretty good at creating ideas, but not that great at developing them. That said, I had a bunch of possibilities that may or may not have been good to explore. There were more details in the following, but I've cut it back to minimum to be mostly relevant to our power couple, individually or together.

Teen Titans film with Starfire as lead. Invited by Blackfire to Tamaran. Seem to reconnect, but Blackfire was setting her up as trade/hostage/something to villains. Starfire and Blackfire have a final fight that echoes times from their childhood training, then the coup, but this one ends with Starfire reluctantly delivering a killing blow. Donna Troy, Bumblebee, and particularly Raven would be involved as Starfire realises that her Titan team mates were her true sisters - cheesy, but a nice way to further portray their bonds.

Batman film. Primary plot a gang war triggered by Black Mask. Lady Shiva observes in background, but then approaches Robin to request that he take command of the League of Assassins. He refuses, but she countered it was his birthright more than Gotham, yet respected his decision, while noting she will wait and ask again later.

Teen Titans vs. Terror Titans (or new HIVE? Bring in Slade's ex-wife) Maybe one member in the villain group knew Damian when they were both young, and she expressed romantic interest in him to his confusion and Raven's jealousy. I know the jelly love interest thing can be cliche, but I think it'd be fun to explore that side of her, especially if she is eventually reassured by Damian who doesn't realise the issue the entire time.

Teen Titans/Justice League Dark film. I think a way to further justify Raven's contempt for Constantine in AW would be due to this film in which Zatanna takes Raven as an apprentice. Few Titans tag along, including Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy. Main villain necromancer - or at least serving the main villain. Anyway, dead people from the heroes' pasts are brought to fight and undermine them. Beast Boy would obviously face Terra. Starfire would face Blackfire. Robin would face Talia, Deathstroke, Heretic, and Ra's al Ghul - which the necromancer/villain would taunt him about bringing death where ever he went (which would ultimately be a factor that kept Robin from confessing his feelings to Raven at the end of this film and start of Apokolips War); Raven herself would face Arella and the people of Azarath, aggravating her earlier guilt again. Zatanna would face her father, but she overcomes her insecurity and beats the necromancer, which made the undead thralls regain control of themselves; while some will remain bitter like Deathstroke and Blackfire, some like Talia, Arella, and Terra would absolve their loved one of fault for their deaths and/or soured relationships (I know having Talia slightly redeemed would be odd considering how evil she became, however, I felt like it was a weirdly unaddressed fact that despite her original moral ambiguity, she wasn't such a monster until Bad Blood, which I think was due to the Lazarus Pit, thus it'd be nice to give Damian some more positive closure with his mother; hell, could throw in a cute detail of her expressing approval for Raven as worthy of her son). Perhaps a twist of Deathstroke not actually being dead, rather simply allied with the main villain for another shot at revenge against Damian and Nightwing too later. During battles in the film, Raven's chakra prison holding Trigon would begin to weaken, thus setting up that struggle in Apokolips War, so it doesn't seem so abrupt.

I have a few more, but that's just some basic ideas that I think would have been enjoyable to explore. Maybe someone could be inspired, if not take these ideas and make them into something better.

Raven: I guess neither of our lives are very funny. But I'll tell you something about yourself that not even you may know: you may be insufferable, but in your heart, you are a kind and generous soul.

Raven: Unfortunately, this is my home. I have to watch him. Damian: It's not your home. Home is the place where... when you have to go there, they have to take you in.

Raven: You probably think I'm weak. Damian: Raven, you're one of the strongest people I know.

Damian: When I asked you to join me in leading the League of Assassins, I wasn't doing it because you're a good fighter. I... I had feelings for you. If you didn't, you made the right decision. Raven: It wasn't that at all! I left because my father wants to kill you. After everything, I couldn't risk that.

Damian: Remember, father: justice, not vengeance. Save them. Save her.

Damian: You brought me back. Raven: I had to take the chance.

[the99thfanboy]

That's my boy

[just-an-enby-lemon]

The funnier part of the movie Hush to me is that they still made Thomas Elliot the most suspicious man ever but than instead of going to the most obvious plot twist in comic history the just killed him and went "nah, the real Hush is Riddler that little bitch, did I ever told you he is a C-lister here? Yes? Well than let me tell you again".

The proposital funnier bit is Dick happy shock that Bruce actually got to date Selina instead of their normal kissing and pining stick and Damian giving Bruce the talk (though the "cover your drink this time" is a bit victim blaming and unconfy).

[captainshazamerica]

Since Eddie boy is winning my fav rogue poll...

[rulesofdisorder]

what is with the dcau’s need to change the ending of their comic based movies.

i just watched hush and some changes i can understand even if i don’t like them, like having babs’ batgirl instead of huntress because babs has already been introduced and helena hasn’t, and not having jason or tim show up because they’re really trying to push dick and damian as bruce’s only sons. but changing who hush actually is?? and making it the riddler?? kinda dumb not gonna lie. the movie was still good but i don’t see the point in changing who hush is, hush being tommy elliot is so much more intriguing and the hush storyline is so beloved i can’t imagine that people were happy about the change when the movie came out

[hiero-green]

Top 5 Batman portrayals? 👁️🫦👁️💕

OOOO OK OK

So Misha said they don’t have to be live action portrayals so there’s a mix in here! This was also SUPER HARD TO CHOOSE so for the record these aren’t so much ranked as they are a nebulous cloud of a top 5

Kevin Conroy in B:TAS/TNBA/JL. This was probably pretty predictable. Come on. He’s first voice I hear in my head while thinking about Batman (a close second tho actually is something like his voice in Arkham Origins and the Hush movie! Idk their actors tho) and he played one of if not the most important Batman portrayals ever. To get NUANCED about this briefly, I do have issues with the DCAU’s later writing for Bruce, namely how everything about him seems to get so grimdark and edgy compared to his warmth and gentleness in B:TAS BUT how and ever SO. Kevin Conroy king forever 👑

Robert Pattinson in The Batman. You know I love me my Rpatz. I can absolutely understand why he might not be someone’s favourite, especially if they’re a fan of the classic depiction of Bruce, but what I really love about him (and this extends to Riddler too!) is that despite being different in some ways on the surface, all his traits ultimately come from the same core character and experience as depictions that feature more galas, swimwear models and ski trips in the Alps Brucie Waynes. He’s both a very grounded depiction of a deeply troubled man yet he toes the line between the “realism” of ‘verses like the Nolanverse and more camp superhero stuff so well and he has so much potential for his sequel, as well as of course giving us the chance to see him be a detective!! Finally!! To mention Robert himself then, he did such an amazing job playing Bruce. I love Robert Pattinson, I really do, I seek out movies with him in them, and still every time I see him in a movie, Rob completely melts away and it’s just… the character. There truly are few actors I can say that about, but I feel it so strongly for him, and his Batman portrayal was no different. (Also autidm bruce yuh). I also love his dynamic with Jim, Rob and Jeffrey are so good together.

Bruce in Batman: The Imposter. A non-actor one on here! Admittedly I don’t read as many comics as I’d like, but Batman: The Imposter was one I had to buy in May after seeing The Batman and having it recommended to me. For a lot of the same reasons I like The Batman 2022 Bruce, I like B:TI Bruce. I find with him that there’s such a… a softness to him. When he’s Bruce, there’s such a quietness, almost a meekness to him. He really reads as very pained but still somehow managing to find a kindness in his heart, even when he’s so isolated from the world. I also think it’s interesting — if slightly concerning — that Alfred is pretty much gone from Bruce’s life. A while after Bruce comes into Alfred’s care as a child, Alfred can’t handle him anymore, sends him off to boarding school, and dips from the Wayne family completely. Absolute worst Alfred I’ve ever seen, we do not stan. BUT my point is that, while I feel like there’s a chance the author wrote Bruce to be alone for the sake of cliche lone wolf edgelord, it just makes his shy nature outside of the Batman suit stand out to me more. Even so alone, he hasn’t lost hope. And. The page where he’s talking about his effect on Gotham, and he sheds a tear from under the cowl. Yeah. Yeah it got to me. Also! He’s the closest we have to a canonically autistic Bruce!

David Mazouz in Gotham. Okay. Okay. Gotham is not well-written, nor do I like the fact that Bruce plays a part in the show at all, I don’t like him being on a path to Batman from the moment his parents die. HOWEVER. I think David is a fantastic depiction of a young, struggling to grieve, anger-filled, doesn’t-want-to-feel-powerless Bruce. He’s a kid trying to understand himself and the world that’s been turned upside down on him, and David portrays a great balance of innocence and blooming maturity. Also, the older he gets, the more he looks like a perfect Bruce I swear to god. Even if I don’t like Bruce’s role in the show, I always thought David Mazouz was a great fit.

Bruce in The Batman 2004 cartoon. This one’s just fun. They don’t really touch on the darker aspects of him and they don’t mention his parents much at all (they don’t pretend they never died, but they’re very *very* vague and rare about their mentions of them) but I just think he’s really fun. He’s young and energetic but he’s not a party animal, and I think he’s interesting as a,, surprisingly stable Bruce. He also doesn’t have as much separation between Batman —> Bruce and Bruce —> Brucie as other depictions which I think is interesting! He feels very genuine and always like himself, but they’re also not afraid to show him being self-destructive or neglecting his needs for his work.

BONUS MENTION BECAUSE I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS: Ben Affleck in the DCEU. Okay okay OKAY I do not like the DCEU. I really don’t, and I think Bruce is grievously miswritten (???) in BvS. But. Ben deserved better. I can very easily see him as Bruce. I think he makes a very good older Bruce, AND he was great in the party scene in BvS where he meets Clark and they butt heads. Same as with Henry Cavill, they deserved to play better written versions of their characters.

Thank you for the thought provoking ask, Mish!!!!

[chibi-reviews-things]

Superman: Man of Tomorrow

I grew up reading nothing but Batman comics, I lived and died for Batman related media.  As my sophomore year of high school was coming to an end I had spent countless hours at my local comic shops, I had several long boxes of nothing but Batman comics, the first Keaton Batman movie had just come out three years before, and I was loving all of it.  Then something really great happened, Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, not knowing it at the time, helped launch the DC Animated Universe with the award winning Batman: The Animated Series.

Their work on that show would quite literally leave it’s mark on the DCAU both in design and story telling for decades to come.   The DCAU has always had the trademark look that can be traced back to the Batman series and in my opinion the look and feel of the characters hit it’s apex with the release of Justice League: Doom.  While the DCAU would never really be eye popping when it came to it’s visuals, often very flat, minimalist design work, and even less attention to background frames and perspectives, it was the characterizations of the beloved comic source material that just made them all enjoyable.  

So why all this background on myself and the history of the DCAU, well because this new film, Superman: Man of Tomorrow, is easily the most beautiful thing to come out of the DC animated workshop and it’s a huge departure from what the DCAU has delivered in the past.  The first hour of this movie had me transfixed with it’s visuals.  Cinematic framing, depth of field, fully animated faces for the all of the primary characters, richly detailed and seemingly hand painted backgrounds, I was just completely in awe of it.  

I would tell you to watch it just to enjoy the beauty of it, because sadly this original retelling of Superman’s origin is unbelievably awful.  It’s on par with the horrible decision making that led to the recent Batman: Hush animated film that for some reason could not actually tell the story of the Hush villain but instead made the Hush character an alias for the Riddler (sorry if I spoiled that, but sorry they fucked up and I don’t care if I ruin what they ruined for Batman fans).  

The setting for Man of Tomorrow is a in near future Metropolis.  Ipads and video calling are all things that Clark Kent, newly minted intern at the Daily Planet, uses to stay in touch with Ma and Pa Kent back on the farm.   Clark is struggling with whether or not he should fully reveal himself to the general population or continue to be a mysterious do gooder dressed in black bike leathers and aviator goggles.  He has no idea where he’s from and all he has to go on is the fact that human entertainment has very rarely painted aliens in a good light.

Then at the launching of a new Lexcorp rocket Clark’s world is thrown into chaos when Lobo the bounty hunter arrives looking for the last Kryptonian.  From there things just get more and more messy.  This retelling of Clark’s first days of being Superman is disjointed, faces that really never had any part in his origins are running around, and worse yet Parasite’s origin is tied to weapon Lobo tries to use on Clark but instead catches some unsuspecting civilian who becomes the power leaching super villain.... oh wait that’s right he, for no apparent reason, becomes a kaiju size monster.

It’s such a mess, and the resolution of the conflict for the film is even more ridiculous.  Yet I’ll still tell you to watch because honestly the first hour of the movie is just jaw dropping beautifu.  Then, as the plot becomes a mess and the budget for the animation dwindles, god you can literally watch it get more and more sloppy as the movie nears it’s climax, it turns what little promise the first hour had into one of the worst stories told by the DCAU yet.  Man if Justice League: Doom had looked like this ten years ago I would have died and gone to comic book heaven.

6/10

[ankford]

Honestly the movie version of Batman: Hush kind of showcases the biggest problem WB has with handing these properties. Far too much weight is put on recognizable stuff and dumbing down plotlines, even to the point where you are downright weakening the storyline you’re trying to adapt. Take the Batman: Hush movie which is meant to fit into the current DCAU and then compared it to how they handled Batman: Under The Red Hood back in the day. Instead of dumbing down the plot so you don’t leave new audiences behind, you write around it. Want to make Red Hood make sense? Show a scene from Death in the Family. Bam. Now you’re up to speed. Instead Hush removed C-list characters in favor of highlighting characters that already get plenty of time in the spotlight. Instead of just having Killer Croc be there (who isn’t even THAT obscure mind you!) you just dumb down Bain. WHY. The biggest problem is of course: Thomas Elliot. The Thomas Elliot solution is great, and the mystery plays into the strength and weaknesses of the different characters.. but no. Just have it be Riddler. Riddler did it because people like his aesthetic. So now Hush, the actual character Hush, is never going to show up in the DCAU again and The Riddler might be dead. Two birds with one dumbass stone.  Why even bother adapting one of the better Batman whodunnits if you’re just gonna change the solution to the freaking mystery??

[davidmann95]

Batman Starter Pack

I’ve been through this routine once before (including the preface that I recognize there are a million other lists exactly like this on every comics-related site out there) but after having shared some starting points for Superman on Miracle Monday, I figure my second-favorite guy with his own personalized set of crime-fighting pajamas merits the same treatment on his own special day.

Assuming you’re forgoing a more traditional celebration of DC’s Batman Day - either having your parents brutally shot to death in front of your terrified, uncomprehending young eyes, or finishing your criminology degree and engaging in anonymous back-alley karate fights with circus clowns in response to the same - looking into some solid starting points for the character is a respectable alternative. Especially given some of his most classic adventures have recently come under some degree of critical reevaluation, while the likes of The Lego Batman Movie, the much-missed Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and the resurgence of the 1960s Batman TV show alongside contemporary developments in the comics have done a great deal to change the general perception of the character. So once again, here’s ten stories in a recommended - but by no means strict - order that should, as a whole, give you a pretty decent idea of what Batman’s deal is and why you should care, all of which you should be able to find pretty easily on Comixology or a local bookstore/comic book shop.

1. Batman: Zero Year

What it’s about: The current ‘canon’ take on his origin, it’s a pretty straightforward take on Bruce Wayne’s return to Gotham, early forays into crimefighting against the Red Hood Gang, and assumption of his familiar mantle...until the Riddler, a city-wrecking superstorm, and a literal bone monster get involved, culminating in a final act that has a sleeveless, dirtbike-riding Batman trying to save a post-apocalyptic Gotham whose citizens have become hopeless slaves of Edward Nygma’s merciless totalitarian riddle kingdom.

Why you should read it: This comic is bonkers, in absolutely the best way. Writer Scott Snyder has repeatedly said that since the previous major take on Batman’s origin in Year One was so iconic - to the point that, unlike Superman’s regularly refreshed history, it remained solidly in continuity for 25 years - no attempt at hitting the reset button could feasibly follow in its footsteps, and so the only way to make it work was to go as far in the opposite direction as possible, hence Dirtbike Batman and a Gotham of neon pink skies. And for all that, it works remarkably: it’s perhaps the least subtle Batman comic of all time, but it’s a solid look into what drives him, why he does what he does in the way he does it, and the beginnings of his relationships with some of his closest friends and enemies in the context of a mad, blockbuster story ranging from scraps with cops and gangsters to a race against time to literally save a city from death by fire. It is in many ways perhaps the most proudly and bluntly Batmaney Batman story of all time, the core of his world as screamed through a megaphone.

Further recommendations if you liked it: While maybe the most iconic work from their time together, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo worked together on the main Batman title for 5 years and almost 50 issues, in arguably the most acclaimed run of Batman comics of the 21st century; I’d primarily suggest checking out Court of Owls, their first and for me best collaboration, but their entire tenure is worth your time, collected across 10 volumes. If you specifically want to indulge the off-kilter “wait, Batman’s doing what?” sensibility of Zero Year further, after his time on Batman proper Snyder wrote All-Star Batman, working with a number of iconic artists on some of his weirdest Batman comics; his later The Batman Who Laughs operates in much the same mode. If you’re mainly interested in the sort of Big Batman Event Story this and Court of Owls wrote the modern template for, Steve Orlando and companies’ Night of the Monster Men is maybe the most thoroughly entertaining example. And as a respectable recap of Batman’s life since his origins, while many longtime fans are ambivalent at best on it, Batman: Hush is an effective sampler platter of Batman’s history and relationships that’s proven enduringly popular among new readers.

2. Gotham Central

What: Set from the perspective of the grunts of the GCPD, Gotham Central shows what it means to be a cop in a city where you’re a pawn of the Bat at best, corrupt or a casualty if you’re not so lucky.

Why: Certainly the most acclaimed Batman-related ongoing ever published, there’s no book that better sells the ‘street level’ take on his world that so many want; Batman himself is largely a background presence, feared and resented by our actual leads as they go up against the incidental fallout of Gotham’s particular brand of horror. And all that’s before you even get to the Joker story that directly inspired The Dark Knight. While Gotham’s more traditional heroes may rarely show up, there’s no story that better explains why they’re needed, and what it means to live in their wake. And it’s Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka and Michael Lark doing a cop book, so even Batman aside it’s worth your money ten times over.

Recommendations: Gotham Central may be a cop comic, but the cities’ most iconic officer in Commissioner Gordon only makes one or two appearances since he had retired at the time (an obviously temporary condition). If you really want to see him in action, you’re looking for Batman: Year One. Typically cited as one of the all-time great Batman stories - and it absolutely has some of his definitive moments and iconography - at heart it’s Lieutenant Jim Gordon’s year of figuring out how to make it in Gotham without losing his soul in the process, and it was that infusion of grim crime noir into the world of Gotham that defined the aesthetic Gotham Central operates under. If you’d like to pursue that particular line further, Batman: Turning Points is also worth hunting down, showing Batman and Gordon’s relationship develop over the years in reference to major upheavals in Batman’s world, and Batman: The Black Mirror, operating under a similar tone and showing Dick Grayson working with Gordon during the former’s own time in the cape and cowl, in a mystery connecting to both Batman: Year One and my next recommendation. Additionally, Kurt Busiek and John Paul Leon’s Batman: Creature of the Night provides an entirely different and disturbing type of ‘street-level’, ‘realistic’ view of Batman.

3. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

What: A decade after his retirement, an unprecedented Gotham crime wave forces a middle-aged Bruce Wayne out of retirement as he proves unable to resist the call of his demons. But even as he fights back the Mutant gang and recruits a new Robin, his resurgence has caught the attention of familiar enemies, and the political shockwaves of his vigilantism will ultimately bring him face-to-face with his oldest ally in a fight he simply can’t win.

Why: Commonly held up alongside Watchmen, which is a...touch of an overstatement in hindsight, while aspects of its politics and portrayal of the Dark Knight in question have aged somewhat questionably it’s regardless a justified classic by a one-time master of the medium at the top of his form, packed from top to bottom with brilliant storytelling, jaw-dropping moments, and a redefinition of the character that not only shapes him to this day, but the superhero genre as a whole. Definitely and very reasonably not for everyone, but essential to Batman as he exists today.

Recommendations: Frank Miller’s presented numerous followups to The Dark Knight Returns, and while The Dark Knight Strikes Back and All-Star Batman & Robin The Boy Wonder are hardly lacking in lively experimental flavor or gonzo charm, they’re an acquired taste at best: if you want to see more of this version of Batman’s world, you’re safest going for The Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade, a one-shot portraying the events leading up to Batman’s retirement a decade before DKR. For other seminal Batman stories that either don’t quite live up to the hype or have aged questionably but are all-in-all still probably worth looking into, check Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On Serious Earth, Batman: The Long Halloween (followed up by Batman: Dark Victory) and possibly The Killing Joke.

4. Batman: Ego and other Tails

What: Before he was widely lauded for DC: The New Frontier, Darwyn Cooke was a storyboard artist for what we now know as the DCAU family of cartoons; his pitch for the job included a 14-page Batman story that years later would be edited and expanded upon to become Batman: Ego, where a catastrophic series of events leads Bruce to consider leaving his mission behind, forcing him to confront his demons more literally than ever before.

Why: Stories that question Batman’s sanity and his place in the world are a dime a dozen, but none like this, probably the deepest individual dive of all time into what exactly makes Batman tick. To say much more would spoil the amazing central conceit, but from his moral code to what he does or doesn’t give up by forgoing his life as Bruce Wayne, there are few aspects of his world this doesn’t touch on one way or another. Plus, while Ego may be the lead, the modern collection is stuffed full of other excellent Batman comics Darwyn Cooke had a hand in one way or another.

Recommendations: Most significantly, the collection also contains Selina’s Big Score, a Catwoman heist comic that leads into Ed Brubaker’s seminal run on the character, which are spread out over three trades that are absolutely worth picking up. If you’re interested in another story in the DCAU style and tone that goes into darker territory than the cartoons would typically dare, try Mad Love, the definitive Harley Quinn story. And if you want another headtrippy Batman comic that delves into his psychology, you’re looking for Death and the Maidens, intended at the time to be Batman’s final confrontation with Ra’s Al Ghul and featuring a conversation 65 years in the making.

5. Matt Wagner’s Dark Moon Rising titles

What: Eventually branded under the title of Dark Moon Rising, this series is actually made up of two six-part tales: Batman and the Monster Men and Batman and the Mad Monk, each Matt Wagner’s retelling of a classic Golden Age Batman story, from an era where the supernatural was not quite so distanced from Batman’s usual world.

Why: On a simple level, these are just some real good Batman comics; Matt Wagner’s a phenomenal fit for the character, these are nice and standalone, and Batman has to escape some deathtraps, which is always a treat. But the introduction of the truly bizarre to Batman’s world - by a standard that allows for coin-flipping disfigured District Attorneys and maladjusted widowers with freeze-rays as all part of the regular scenery, anyway - can be something of a hurdle, especially for new readers. In that regard this is a perfect introduction to the more outré side of Batman’s job, cushioning the transition with wild pulp adventure and thrilling horror in a series that feels entirely of the same world seen in the likes of Year One, even as Batman fights a vampire who is also a werewolf.

Recommendations: If you enjoyed the look at a Batman who’s still somewhat figuring out his limits and the parameters of his operation, you’re in luck, as Year One-era Batman stories formed their own effective subgenre for the character for awhile, primarily in the series Legends of the Dark Knight, which had one of the better hit-to-miss ratios for Batman ongoing titles, and Batman: The Man Who Laughs, Ed Brubaker and Doug Mahnke’s take on his first encounter with the Clown Prince of Crime. If the pulpy noir approach is what appealed, I’d say you might be in the market for Batman: Strange Apparitions, the collection of Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers’ highly influential 1977-1978 tenure on Detective Comics (plus a preceding couple issues by Englehart drawn by Walter Simonson, and a couple issues by Rogers without Englehart), a major step on the road to Batman as he exists today which also featured the - at the time - unexpected return of one of the Golden Age villains Wagner features.

6. Nightwing: Better Than Batman

What: Under the thumb of the Parliament of Owls, the Courts’ international equivalent - if with more up his sleeve than they expect - Nightwing finds himself in deeper than he ever could have imagined as he falls under the ‘mentorship’ of the mercenary Raptor, who not only leaves Dick questioning lessons he had previously taken as gospel, but tumbling down a rabbit hole through his own past that threatens to destroy the life he’s built for himself in the present.

Why: There’s no comprehensive look at Batman that doesn’t involve the family he’s built for himself, and this in my mind is the definitive story of the original Robin. Touching on his heritage, his early days as the Boy Wonder, his modern MO as a dashing international superhero with a pinch of espionage, and his connections with the rest of his crime-fighting family, the heart of the story is his relationship with Bruce: their days as Batman and Robin, their differing methods and ideologies, the complications stemming from their distinct backgrounds, and how their brotherhood ultimately saved them both. More than any other single book it underlines the foundation of what makes Dick Grayson work, and by extension the entire concept of the Batman Family.

Recommendations: Better Than Batman is the most compact and satisfying example of what defines Robin and the Batman Family as a whole, but if you’d prefer something more expansive in scope, Batman and Robin Eternal touches on many of the some ideas. For both a solid look back at Dick’s career back when wearing pixie boots, as well as the origin of one of the other two major templates for Batman’s sidekicks, Robin/Batgirl: Year One collects a pair of cult classic stories, Batgirl in particular being the one to check out. As for the third, while Jason Todd’s most iconic story is unquestionably Death in the Family, its actual quality hardly lives up to its enduring imagery and impact; you’ll be best served looking at his return from the grave in Batman: Under The Hood. Alfred’s the other major foundation of the family, and for him I’d probably recommend the soon-to-conclude All-Star Batman arc The First Ally. As for the rest of the family, for hitting the most members in one package I’d recommend James Tynion IV’s run on Detective Comics - beginning with the trade Rise of the Batmen - which returns or recontextualizes a number of fan-favorite characters under an umbrella of incredibly solid Batman Family adventure stories.

7. Paul Dini’s Detective Comics

What: Collected across Batman: Detective, Batman: Death and the City, Batman: Private Casebook, and Batman: Heart of Hush, Paul Dini - one of the main architects of Batman: The Animated Series, and much of the later DCAU as well - serves up a run of almost uniformly excellent, largely done-in-one Batman adventure stories.

Why: Iconic storylines may draw attention to a character, but the brick and mortar of the greats is laid on a foundation of just plain good comics, month-in and month-out, and there are few better examples for Batman than with Dini’s tenure on Detective Comics, especially with the likes of J.H. Williams, Don Kramer and Dustin Nguyen in tow. They may not be stories that redefined the character for a new generation, but they’re simply and unassailably Quality Comics of a sort rarely achieved.

Recommendations: For a more old-school example of the same principle, Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’ classic tenure on the character is as good as it gets, featuring the likes of The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge - the first comic since his earliest appearances in the 1940s to portray him as the killer clown we know today - and the first appearance of Ra’s Al Ghul. The multiple spinoff comics of Batman: The Animated Series such as the multiple iterations of Batman Adventures and Batman: Gotham Adventures also have a solid hit-to-miss ratio in that regard. And if you’re interested in more of Paul Dini’s Batman comics, Batman: City of Crime with Alex Ross is one of the characters’ all-time great stories, and Dark Night: A True Batman Story with Eduardo Risso is a powerful autobiographical piece on how Dini’s life and work collided in his darkest hour.

8. The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told

What: Exactly what it sounds like, this trade collects standout Batman stories from across the first 50 years of his history.

Why: The trouble with comics is that not all of a characters’ best material is necessarily in individual trades, or single runs - just stick to those and you’ll miss out on some stone-cold classics. There have been plenty of collections attempting to gather up the ‘best of the rest’ to rectify that though, and of those I’d particularly recommend the edition above, filled from top-to-bottom with not only delightful artifacts like The Batman Nobody Knows! and A Caper a Day Keeps the Batman at Bay!, but definitive stories such as The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne! and Death Strikes at Midnight and Three.

Recommendations: For a similarly charming - though I believe far more difficult to track down - retrospective, Batman from the 30′s to the 70′s is certainly worth picking up if you ever happen to see it around. If you find older Batman stories appeal, it’s worth checking out both The Batman Chronicles, collecting his earliest appearances in the 30s and 40s, as well as Showcase Presents: Batman with his 60s adventures, and perhaps the more recent run Batman ‘66, a direct continuation of the Adam West/Burt Ward TV series. You might also be interested in The Brave and the Bold #200, featuring a 'teamup' of sorts between the Batmen of two eras. If what mainly appeals to you is the thrill and comic value of seeing Batman in bizarre situations you’d never see now, Showcase Presents: The Brave and the Bold might be your speed, containing Bob Haney and Jim Aparo’s madcap tenure, as well as Neal Adams’ relatively recent lunatic masterpiece Batman: Odyssey.

9. Planetary/Batman: Night on Earth

EDIT: This list was written prior to allegations made against Warren Ellis. It’s your money, but while I’d still recommend checking the book out of the library - the quality of the work isn’t going to change now that it’s out there in the universe - if you’re looking to pad your bookshelf I might recommend skipping to some of the books suggested below in its place.

What: “Mystery archaeologists” Jakita Wagner, Elijah Snow and The Drummer are a group of superhumans investigating beneath the skin of the Wildstorm universe to uncover the wonders and terrors lurking in its darkest corners. On a trip to Gotham City to apprehend serial killer John Black, his own abilities trigger when cornered to rotate them all through different realities...and in other versions of Gotham, they find they’re not the only ones looking to bring Black to justice.

Why: Planetary built itself on distilling artifacts of 19th and 20th century pop culture (typically by proxy) down to their most essential ideas and iconic values as mysteries to be unveiled, whether 1920s pulp heroes, Godzilla, Sherlock Holmes, 80s and 90s Vertigo comics, James Bond, John Woo revenge flicks, or any of a dozen others. While the other two Planetary crossovers break with formula, this applies it to the biggest modern 20th century icon of all, as a group of hardened Warren Ellis-y superbeings entirely unfamiliar with the concept of ‘Batman’ are forced to run a gauntlet of over 60 years of his most iconic takes when their versions of justice collide. As far as I can tell regarded as a footnote in Batman’s own history, it’s regardless one of his all-time greatest stories, extrapolating him in every direction at once to find the core that unites them all, topping it off with the no-shit best Batman moment of all time.

Recommendations: Most obviously, soon as of the time of this writing Warren Ellis will be tackling a full-scale Batman project alongside longtime collaborator Bryan Hitch, The Batman’s Grave, which I couldn’t be more excited for and obviously recommend checking out. For other stories taking a particularly off-kilter look at Batman and his world, whether through unusual styles or with versions of the character entirely unlike anything ever known, you’ll want to check out the trades of Batman: Black and White, an anthology running as a backup through numerous Batman titles eventually collected in trade, showing a gauntlet of top creators doing their own brief takes on Batman and his world, kicking off no less with another Ellis-written Batman story that powerfully sums up his drive. If you’re looking for something more specifically in the vein of Night on Earth though - a stripped-down, iconic Batman that acknowledges the odder parts of his history and confronts deep emotional truths about himself amidst high-action spectacle - then the current run on Batman proper by Tom King and company is something I’d certainly recommend checking out on the understanding it comes with ups and downs. 

10. Batman: The Black Glove

What: From his great lost love to family he’s never known, from the basement of the GCPD to the bowls of Arkham, from the secrets of the past to the horrors of the future, from the ends of the Earth to the inside of his mind, the grip of Batman’s greatest enemy reaches wherever his shadow falls. Collected variously as Batman and Son and Batman: The Black Glove, Bruce Wayne finds himself matched against a seemingly disconnected series of challenges ultimately pointing towards the machinations of a greater threat; one that has constructed his downfall across decades, weaponizing his own mind and history against him as they build towards breaking the Batman once and for all.

Why: These issues are the start of the best Batman comics of all time. They’re absolutely fantastic all on their own, make no mistake; the first arc introduces one of the most significant Bat-family characters of all time, The Clown At Midnight is a criminally underrated classic, and Club of Heroes has J.H. Williams III drawing what amounts to 7 Batmen and 3 Robins being trapped in the plot of And Then There Were None. But more than that, these issues lay the foundation of a 7-year run by Grant Morrison built around mysteries that reach across every facet of Batman’s world, which not only reinvents him as a character, but is frankly and simply the best sustained run on a major superhero of all time. This should by no means be the first Batman comic you ever read, but make no mistake: everything leads to this.

Recommendations: Well, for one thing there’s the rest of the run. Before moving on, you may if possible want to check out Batman: The Black Casebook, a collection of numerous Golden and Silver Age comics that Morrison drew on significant plot and thematic elements of for his work, and Dark Knight Dark City, a supernatural thriller and one of the best Batman-as-detective comics out there which ends up forming much of the spine of some of Morrison’s biggest developments. From there, the rest of his run is collected across Batman R.I.P. > Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn > Time and the Batman > Batman vs. Robin > Return of Bruce Wayne > Batman and Robin Must Die! > Batman Incorporated > Batman Incorporated: Demon Star > Batman Incorporated: Gotham’s Most Wanted. 

While much of the impact of the run was immediately dismantled (in large part by Morrison himself, who’s had similar experiences in the past and wanted to show the ideas he introduced off on his own terms here), slowly but surely creators are coming around to what he was doing and have followed up accordingly. Grayson - one of the most beloved DC titles of the last several years - follows the original Robin as he infiltrates the superspy agency Spyral introduced in Batman Incorporated, and leads directly into the previously mentioned current excellent run on Nightwing, which itself has a direct sequel to Morrison’s Bat-tenure in the arc Nightwing Must Die! The major DC event book Dark Nights: Metal by the team behind Batman: Zero Year is itself a direct sequel to several of Morrison’s biggest DC stories, his Batman run most of all. Morrison himself at one point announced plans for Arkham Asylum 2, which rather than following up on his graphic novel Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On Serious Earth is apparently a direct sequel to his Batman epic starring Damian Wayne as the Dark Knight; hopefully it will one day see fruition. Finally, if you’re simply looking for something on a similar wavelength of bizarre, lurid international pulp mystery mixed with wild fist-pumping superhero action and character moments, the ongoing crossover Batman/The Shadow - soon to end and be directly followed-up by The Shadow/Batman with the same writer - is easily one of the best of its kind of cross-company team up and absolutely a descendant of the type of Batman comics Morrison’s tenure produced.

[riddle-me-ri]

if you’re comfortable writing this, could i please request the riddlers with an s/o who has a daddy kink?

a/n: ooohhh this will be interesting lol I skipped hush (dcau) riddler only because I was kinda running out of steam and I felt like I was repeating certain points rip so sorry in advance, but also also special shout out to Snow @fallingpapersnow for her input for Young Justice Riddler’s section, I was a little stuck on how yj would manage and needed an expert opinion so much thanks to her for the assist! 💚💚

Content Warning: mildly suggestive dialogue and scenarios related to daddy kinks

The Riddlers with a S/O That Has a Daddy Kink

Arkhamverse Riddler:

W-What did you just call him? 

Of all the authoritative names he permits you to call him, i.e. sir and mister and such..

He doesn’t recall…ehh…daddy being one of them. 

He’s put off by it at first (man has unresolved dad issues mind you)

However, when you blend it in with the normal “sir”s and “mister”s. 

Ed sees it as another form of having dominance over you (as he should, mind you)

Ed grows to tolerate it, only allowing you to call him that when you two are alone.

He’ll still prefer sir over daddy any day. 

But he won’t snear at you begging him, daddy, to make you cum only Edward Nygma can.

Reevesverse/Dano Riddler:

Edward is unsure about it.

He understands the reasonings behind it (hi dad kink meet mommy kink)

It will be awkward at first, he doesn’t exactly see himself as “daddy” material.

He’s just Eddie, he still blushes when you call him baby.

He’s practically a tomato when you call him daddy

That is unless…until The Riddler begins. 

When he’s in full get-up you only call him Riddler or Daddy and nothing else. 

Edward quickly gets used to the term, it makes him feel bigger without having to don a mask.

Gotham Riddler:

It surprises him at first.

But he’s so into it. 

If it were season 1 Eddie, probably not so much.

However, as he’s slowly giving into his more dominant and confident personality…

Being called Daddy by you just fuels that personality more. 

Ed smirks proudly whenever you refer to him as Daddy.

He enjoys “disciplining” you (so do you) when you two are alone. 

Edward absolutely relishes in the dynamic.

BTAS Riddler:

Man’s face is flushed red so badly right now.

Umm…this is new territory for him. 

Ed is game to try although it’ll take some getting used to.

You may have to explain to him the dynamics, but no fear, Edward is a fast learner. 

Once he understands the logistics, he is all in. 

He adores the attention, a sort of power trip, but not one he will take advantage of. 

Edward enjoys spoiling you when he can as much as he does teasingly chastising you. 

Edward was usually the one that was putty in your hands, but it’s nice for the roles to be reversed every once in a while.

Zero Year/Capullo Riddler:

Oh, he's so into it. 

Probably is, he would be the worst fucking daddy. 

The power trip would totally go to his head.

Unlike the others, he will absolutely take advantage of it. 

He's very much into chastising and correcting you. 

And he loves it even more when you try and act like a brat.

Ed will promise a fulfilling reward for you are being a good girl/boy/kid

But honestly man's would just do the bare minimum.

TWOJAR Riddler:

I mean this kink is basically a given with this Ed.

He's prime daddy material 

He is the dominant one in the relationship.

So to have you into the idea of seeing him as "daddy", is perfect for him.

This Edward gives you the best praises. 

He doesn't care if you call him daddy in public.

Ed would actually much prefer it if you did. 

In fact if you don't, he has punishments that are just as harsh as he praises are sweet.

Gotham City Sirens Riddler:

He’s surprised at first

But definitely into it. 

Edward loves to have you perched on his desk.

Or have you sitting on his lap while he works on a case at his desk.

Ed also thrives off the attention and your submissive nature towards him.

But he won't make you or pressure you to do something you aren't comfortable with.

Much like other Riddlers, this Ed prefers to keep the dynamic to a private setting. 

Random note; Ed definitely knows he has fucked up somewhere when you don't call him daddy or other endearing terms.

Telltale Riddler:

Pfft more like granddaddy (*gets shot*)

Edward is aware he’s very much your senior.

Any terms to further prove that he’s the older one, the smarter one, the more dominant one…he’s all in for.

Daddy included.

Although he much prefers it when you use that term when the two of you are alone.

Especially when you two are engaging in some explicit activities. 

He won’t ever admit it, not directly, but it definitely terms him on when you whisper it in his ear.

Or if you do something that would normally agitate him, but soften the apology with “daddy”

Young Justice Riddler:

Oh boy…oh dear…oh god…oh jeez. 

Absolutely clueless and speechless on what to do or how to react to this info. 

But he does adore you and want to make you happy, some he does his homework. 

He almost has a heart attack reading some of the material but it does help him. 

If you want this kink fulfilled you have to encourage him

As well as give him pointers, no matter how cringy it maybe at first. 

Or how to keep the momentum going despite him flushing red and stuttering his words. 

With time he does get more confident and comfortable with it. 

Literally the sweetest daddy too

[aspiecrow]

All the DC asks :P

1. “Duet” from the Flash or “Mayheim of the Music Meister” from Batman the Brave and the Bold?

“Mayhem of the Music Meister”. “Duet” pissed me off so much on so many different levels. The fact that they think making an original character whose powers aren’t even music-based and just slapping the name “Music Meister” on him is enough to make fans of him happy, as well as the fact that it has Kara and her abusive dickhead boyfriend Mon-El get back together after a day of being broken up (for VERY good reasons) just made me furious enough that I couldn’t enjoy one single part of it.

2. Do you like the arrowverse? If so what’s your favorite show?

Nope. I loved the first season of Supergirl (in spite of a few problems), but then the CW got its hands on the show and completely destroyed what it was.

3. First comic read?

A UK reprint of Batman. It was already about halfway through “Hush”, but I followed along relatively easily and really enjoyed it.

4. What introduced you to the DC universe? Was it a show, comic or movie?

I think it was the New Batman Adventures cartoon, but it might have also been the 60s show (which got repeated a lot on TV over here).

5. Favorite character?

A three-part tie between Batman, Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown.

6. Favorite cannon ship?

Tim/Steph.

7. Favorite non-cannon ship?

Raven/Cassandra Cain.

8. Pre-N52 or N52?

Pre-N52, of course. Anything good in the N52 (of which there were very few) could have happened without the N52 (and, in some cases, like the basic story of the Court of Owls, would have been better if they had).

9. Rebirth or N52?

Rebirth. There’s still a lot wrong (the treatment of Cass and Steph, for one), but overall, it’s most definitely a step in the right direction.

10.  Death in the Family or Death of Superman?

Hmmmm, both have their good and bad points. “Family” paved the way for Tim, but “Superman” paved the way for Steel and Superboy. I think I’ll go with Death of Superman, though, purely because Death in the Family had the whole “vote to kill or save Jason” thing, which was quite the hot mess.

11. Favorite live action movie?

Batman (1989)

12. Favorite animated movie?

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (also my favourite DC movie overall)

13. DCEU or DCAU?

DCAU, definitely. However, while I hated Man of Steel and Suicide Squad and really didn’t like Dawn of Justice, I loved Wonder Woman, so I’m hoping we’re on track with the DCEU (though I still refer to it as the DCCU, because I’m pedantic).

14. Favorite member of the trinity?

I love them all, but Batman has a slight edge.

15. Dark trinity or trinity?

Trinity.

16. Outsiders or Titans?

Titans.

17. Teen Titans or Young Justice?

Young Justice.

18. Favorite animated show?

A tie between “Batman: The Animated Series” and “Justice League/Justice League Unlimited”.

19. Favorite superhero family?

Batman Family

20. Young justice(show) or Teen Titans(show)?

Teen Titans.

21. Do you watch Teen Titans Go?

Hoo, boy, that’s a can of worms. Initially, yes. I actually didn’t mind it. It was a goofy show that wasn’t meant to be anything other than that. It sucked that it was on and Young Justice (which had gotten a lot better with Season 2) was constantly sidelined and then cancelled, but I tried not to let that affect how I watched the show. Then they started insulting fans of the old Teen Titans show and getting progressively more mean-spirited. I dropped it like a hot potato the second that happened.

22. Favorite Robin?

Tim Drake.

23. So you prefer Superman and Wonder Woman, Batman and Wonder Woman, steve Trevor and Wonder Woman or does it even matter?

I’m okay with Batman and Wonder Woman, but honestly, I’ve never been a particularly big fan of any of them. The Superman and Wonder Woman pairing needs to die in a fire, though.

24. If you had total control what would you change?

Oh, God, what WOULDN’T I change? This’ll probably have to be its own post, honestly.

25. Batgirl or Oracle?

I’m assuming this is which mantle I prefer Barbara Gordon as? In that case, Oracle, no question.

26. Whos your favorite Batgirl?

Cassandra Cain. I love Steph, but she REALLY shouldn’t have been Batgirl.

27. Batgirl and the birds of Prey or Red Hood and the Outlaws?

Batgirl and the Birds of Prey, because as far as I’m aware, it’s not written by a disgusting human being.

28.  Favorite comic run?

Scott Peterson, Kelley Puckett and Damion Scott's run on Batgirl.

29. Favorite comic artist?

Alex Ross or J.H. Williams III. I really like Jim Lee too, but just as an artist.

30. Favorite comic writer?

Gail Simone, Greg Rucka, Paul Dini or Dan Jurgens

31. Do you like The Joker?

When he’s written well, yep! Of course, that goes for more or less every character.

32. Who do you think is the most overused or overrated characters?

Harper Row. In her first few appearances, I really liked her and she definitely has a lot of potential. However, throughout “Batman Eternal” and “Batman and Robin Eternal”, she was shilled constantly, especially at the expense of Stephanie and Cassandra, and it’s infuriating.

33. Batman the animated series or Superman the animated series?

I love Superman: The Animated Series, but Batman: The Animated Series is just amazing.

34. Legion of Superheros or Batman Beyond?

Batman Beyond. I never really watched Legion of Superheroes.

36. Justice league or Justice league Unlimited?

Both.

37. The Batman or beware the Bat?

Neither. I hated both of them.

38. Who do you think is the most overlooked or underused character?

Stephanie Brown and Cassandra Cain.

39. Do you watch Gotham?

Yep, but it’s awful and like watching a trainwreck. Season 4 is marginally better (props for actually getting someone who isn’t white to play Ra’s al Ghul, even if they’re still butchering the pronounciation), but it’s still a dumpster fire.

40. Do you like marvel?

Mostly. I’ve hated what they’ve done with Spider-Man ever since One More Day (which turned Peter into a villain, because only villains makes deals with the devil, especially once that erase a child from existence), and the whole “Jubilee’s a vampire thing” is crap (Jubilee is my favourite character, and the fact that she lost her powers but freakin’ Peepers got to keep his is atrocious), and let’s not even get started on Nick Spencer and his bullshit. But there’s still a lot I do like.

41.  Jon kent or Damian Wayne?

Jon Kent. Damian has grown on me (even if there’s been this disturbing “Damian is Bruce’s one true son” trend in the comics lately), but Jon is just adorable.

42. Renee Montoya or Vic Sage

Both!

43. Kate Kane and Renee Montoya or Apollo and Midnighter?

I’m a firm Kate/Maggie shipper, so Apollo/Midnighter.

44. Barry Allen or Wally West?

Wally West. Barry Allen has two modes: mind-numbingly dull or “Let’s steal Wally’s personality”.

45.  Kara Zor-El, Stephanie Brown or Cassie sandsmark?

Stephanie Brown

46. Kord Industrues, Wayne Tech or Lex Corp?

Wayne Tech

47. If you could have any characters powers who’s would you have?

Superman’s

48. Favorite villain?

Constantly changes, but as of me writing this, The Riddler.

49. DC Bombshells, Injustice or Kingdom Come?

Haven’t read DC Bombshells yet, and I hate Injustice, so Kingdom Come.

50. Injustice or the Arkham games?

The Arkham games.

51. Justice League or League of Assassins?

Justice League.

52. Are you excited about the upcoming Titans show? What about Young Justice?

Sort of. I’m cautiously optimistice. Definitely happy that Steph’s finally getting to appear in an adaptation (just worried that she’ll not be handled well, especially since Young Justice Season 2 ended with Tim and Cassie getting together for literally no reason). With Titans, I’m quite bitter that we’re probably not getting Cyborg, and I’m worried about the age difference between Raven’s actress and the rest of the cast (they should all be the same age).

[juspeczyk]

Do you have anything else to say about your "Harley+Jason" Arkham Knight AU? I thought it was pretty interesting and I wouldn't mind knowing a bit more about it.

THIS IS SO SO SO LATE AND I APOLOGIZE..................... i’ve been replaying the arkham games recently though and it has cleared a few things up/helped me solidify some stuff so here we go

jason wasn’t kept on arkham island until shortly before the events of arkham asylum. it’s stupid for him to be kept on arkham island. batman has a fucking cave on arkham island. of course he would find jason there. joker is stupid but he’s not that stupid. so he and harley kept jason somewhere in gotham, or maybe even in metropolis or bludhaven, possibly switching locations every once in a while so batman wouldn’t get wise. they eventually moved jason to arkham island for the titan party intending to pit him and batman against each other, but obviously, bats defeated joker and that never happened.

talia al ghul and the league of assassins found him and picked him up from arkham during the events of arkham asylum. if you go to the morgue during story mode you can find ra’s al ghul’s corpse, but if you go back to the morgue after completing story mode, ra’s corpse is gone; it follows that talia and a couple league ninjas came and got him so they could put him in a lazarus pit, and when talia ran into jason on the way, she picked him up with the intent to nurse him back to health (maybe as a sign of good will/peacemaking towards bruce). talia trained him and helped him build the militia for his activities as the arkham knight. she may not have agreed with him entirely, but she recognized that it was his thing to do, his closure to get, so she didn’t stop him.

harley loved jason. she saw him as a son. that doesn’t excuse the abuse she willingly watched and participated in, nor does it mean he owes her anything. she couldn’t handle the idea of hurting a child in cold blood, but she could handle the idea of giving a child “tough love” with the goal of breaking his ties with batman (which she saw as abusive and endangering) and making him into his own person who could stand up for himself. in her mind, she was helping jason to become a better, stronger version of himself, one who didn’t need batman telling him what to do or using him as a pawn. as such, when jason went missing and was presumed dead, it was a huge blow to harley. she was a complete mess during arkham city and most of it can be explained by shitty writing but it can also be explained by the amount of emotional trauma she had been through/was still going through at the time. to expand on this:

arnold wesker, the only friend she had who was interested in reforming and thus her only non-villain support network, had been released from arkham with a clean bill of health prior to the events of arkham asylum, and it’s almost certain that one of the conditions of his parole was that he couldn’t associate with criminals like harley. without him, she reverted to being a villain for the sake of villainy, leading her to justify extremely horrible actions-- like habitually torturing and brainwashing a child-- and robbing her of the only stable, rational, grounded person she could turn to for help or guidance throughout the entire game.

jonathan crane, who is implied in much of paul dini’s work (dcau + arkham asylum) to be a father figure to harley, is presumed dead after arkham asylum. she has now lost both of her father figures, scarecrow and ventriloquist, and thus has lost any option for unconditional support.

jason todd, her surrogate son, is presumed dead after arkham asylum. she was locked up for a large part of arkham asylum’s plotline. had she been free, maybe she would have found jason and kept him safe. for the entirety of arkham city and its prequel material she is living with the idea that she is responsible for her own son’s death. however subjective and flawed it is, it still eats her up.

during arkham city, every single one of her remaining friends and associates deserts her. just take a second and think about that. every villain that harley has a decent relationship with is in arkham city and not one of them is trying to help her. she is watching her family die, one by one, and she is trying to singlehandedly save the man she loves-- in her mind, the man who functions as the father of her child, jason-- and nobody is helping her. in fact, some people she probably thought she could trust are actively sabotaging her.

poison ivy refuses to get involved with anything.

catwoman has no intention of staying in arkham city longer than it takes to get her own things back from hugo strange.

scarecrow is presumed dead.

riddler is too preoccupied with his own plans (and possibly helping scarecrow make a comeback*).

killer croc is nowhere to be found.

sure, clayface is hanging around, but he’s not really trying to help joker get better. he’s just doing it so he can impersonate joker.

deadshot doesn’t give a rat’s ass what happens to joker.

penguin and mr. freeze both have good reasons to actively work against harley. so does two-face.

batman-- who harley is desperately counting on to save the day, even though his failure to rescue jason has put a massive dent in her faith in him-- lets joker die. yes, it’s joker’s fault for being a dumb-ass, but harley’s never gonna admit that. in her eyes, batman practically murdered joker. batman. the guy who’s supposed to save everyone. that fucked her up, yo.

penguin killed bud and lou? like? she doesn’t even have the simple basic comfort of her beloved pets? what the fuck? it was so unnecessary and i’m still upset

*in arkham city, one of riddler’s trap rooms has fear toxin in it. you can’t physically approach it, but you can zoom in and clearly see the upside-down batsymbol/jack-o’-lantern face painted on the canisters. this leads to two possibilities as far as harley is concerned: first, that nobody told her scarecrow is still alive and she’s been operating this whole time thinking he’s dead and mourning him, or second, that somebody did tell her, and she’s trying to help scarecrow make a comeback as well as save joker, which would make her even more frazzled. i’m leaning towards the first option because it makes more sense within this narrative, and i’ll talk more about that in a bit.

it’s possible that scarecrow and jason somehow met post-asylum and teamed up. in arkhamverse canon, this doesn’t work because jason was already the arkham knight when the events of arkham city happened, but that’s dumb and makes no sense given the timeline, so i’m scrapping it. however, canon did give scarecrow and the arkham knight a weirdly close relationship, one that went beyond simple business. (i’m not saying ~*~*~they were “close”~*~*~, i’m saying that they seemed to have a mutual personal investment in defeating batman that overruled their status as enemies. don’t make this gross. if you try to make it gross, i will come for you, and i will not be happy.) so maybe scarecrow and jason teamed up for survival in arkham city without realizing who exactly they were working with, and then once that revelation hit, they already felt somewhat indebted to each other. it’s also possible that they hadn’t met at all and that jason contacted scarecrow after becoming the arkham knight. idk. it’s a mystery so far.

talia is alive during the events of arkham knight. the league came and got her just like they came and got ra’s. there is literally no reason for her to still be dead given that we have the canon precedence-- three times over-- of ra’s being killed and then brought back. the concept that talia is dead in arkham knight is stupid and misogynistic and serves no purpose whatsoever other than to give bruce More Manpain(TM). it’s bad, and the writers should feel bad, and whoever approved that writing should feel bad, too.

it was scarecrow’s idea to bring harley into their plot. jason was just fine leaving her to die in arkham city or letting her rot in jail, but scarecrow has One Single Redeeming Quality, and that quality is his Good And Wholesome Platonic Love For Harleen Quinzel. he knew that he owed her big time for not being around in arkham city and he also recognized that she deserved to be a part of their plot to take out batman.

harley cried like a baby when she realized the arkham knight was jason. it was ugly. she was ugly. he was kind of uncomfortable and reeling from the sudden return of the person who (intentionally, by the way) caused him to develop stockholm syndrome. but they dealt with it and everybody came out kind of friendly.

the plot of arkham knight would not have happened without harley. she operated as a buffer between jason, who is fundamentally trying to do the Right Thing, and jonathan, who is fundamentally trying to do the Wrong Thing/His Own Thing And Screw Rightness. their infighting would have made the scheme collapse if harley hadn’t been there acting as the glue to hold it all together.

harley also kept the other rogues out of their way as best she could. it was super lowkey and the rogues probably never realized it was her. one would think she’d want revenge against them for deserting her in arkham city, but no-- by this point, she’s tired. she’s tired of fighting over meaningless things like territory and money and reputations. she doesn’t even have much of a will to live past exposing batman as a fraud who doesn’t save everyone and then killing him. so she’ll set up the people she cares about to be safe, even if they don’t necessarily care about her anymore. she arranged for selina to be taken by riddler before the arkham knight or scarecrow could get to her, because she knew selina would figure out a way to escape eventually. she conveniently forgot to mention that scarecrow’s fear toxin wouldn’t affect poison ivy. she also arranged for two-face’s bank robberies and hush’s attempted takeover of wayne enterprises to happen on the same night as the arkham knight takeover so that batman would be extra busy.

(note: she knows bruce wayne is batman. she has known since she and joker unmasked jason and figured out who he was. however, she keeps convincing herself that There’s No Way Bruce Wayne Is Batman, There’s Got To Be Something More To It Than That because knowing who batman is tips the scales in the bad guys’ favor, and that goes against everything she knows. the Good Guys are supposed to win! they’re supposed to save the day! that’s why they’re Good Guys! that’s why Bad Guys show up and do Bad Guy Stuff! that’s How It Works! except now batman has shown his true colors, and she wants everyone to know that he’s not really a Good Guy after all, because he didn’t save jason and he didn’t save joker, and he didn’t save scarecrow, and he didn’t save her. now that she sees him this way, she has no problem taking advantage of the knowledge of his secret identity.)

hush has been involved in the arkham plot from the very beginning. harley has a lot of practice patching people up, but she’s no doctor, so she eventually turned to tommy elliot in order to help her with jason’s more severe injuries. tommy was the one who operated on jason after joker shot him in the chest. (joker intended to kill jason, but what was left of the robin costume slowed the bullet enough that it didn’t kill him immediately; he would have bled out and died if harley hadn’t convinced joker to go get hush and save the kid.) he confirmed that bruce wayne is batman and later helped harley, scarecrow, and the arkham knight form a plan that struck at batman from every angle.

the events of batman: hush have taken place prior to the events of arkham asylum, but it makes no sense to me that batman, who goes to arkham all the time and has a batcave on arkham island and is supposed to be the world’s greatest detective, somehow didn’t know that one of his greatest enemies was working at arkham asylum and/or didn’t do anything about it, so i’m scrapping that and keeping the hush subplots from arkham city and arkham knight only.

speaking of hush’s subplot in arkham knight? HE ALREADY KNOWS BRUCE IS BATMAN? THAT WAS LITERALLY THE WHOLE POINT OF BATMAN: HUSH, WHICH HAS ALREADY HAPPENED BY THE TIME ARKHAM ASYLUM TAKES PLACE? IT’S LITERALLY MORE DIFFICULT TO JUSTIFY HIM NOT KNOWING BRUCE IS BATMAN THAN IT IS TO JUSTIFY HIM KNOWING AND USING IT TO HIS ADVANTAGE? hush tried to take over wayne enterprises and was going to hack the batcave and maybe become batman himself in order to run around doing dumb shit and smearing batman’s image or at least send all of bruce’s computer-operated machinery out against the city. none of this “whAT dO YOU MeAN BRUCE WaYNE IS bAtMAN?/1//1/!????!?!?!?!?1///!!!!??/?!?!1?” nonsense. not in my house

harley and what’shername who got infected with joker virus? christina bell? gay

but on a more serious note christina bell was literally harley’s last hope for happiness again and LOST CHRISTINA just like she lost EVERYONE ELSE

@DC/ROCKSTEADY: WHAT DO YOU HAVE AGAINST HARLEY QUINN BEING HAPPY AND LOVED

wayne manor didn’t blow up. that’s angsty. that’s way too angsty. or at least, if it did blow up, nobody was inside and there were already at least 3 different contingency plans for every batkid/bat-associate ensuring that they have nothing to worry about money-wise and that they have a place to live and plenty of school/career options

yes, every batkid. they’re all here except maybe damian. dc/rocksteady can get the fuck outta here with that 3 robins and 1 batgirl BULLSHIT

me? pulling the one good thing chris nolan gave us and sticking it in the arkhamverse, allowing bruce to fake his death and run away to france or italy or wherever with selina or talia and both of them living a quiet, relatively civilian life? more likely than you think!

there may not be a batman anymore but that just means more attention for all the batkids and various bat-associates that have popped up over the years and lemme tell you if you thought gothamite criminals were scared of one batperson running around just imagine how terrified they’d be to find out that there’s like 30 more who’ve just been waiting for a chance to step up their game

scarecrow never gets better. good. serves him right. i have no legitimate reason to believe that becky albright exists in the arkhamverse but you can’t tell me she doesn’t and that she isn’t sleeping like a baby after seeing scarecrow get dosed with his worst ever batch of fear toxin on live tv

idk what happens to harley. maybe she becomes the red hood’s partner in crime (fighting). maybe jason calls her out on her abuse and they never speak again on friendly terms. maybe she also runs off to italy or france or back to brooklyn. maybe christina bell never actually died and they get together as Clown Idiots 2.0. idk! it’s painful to try and imagine her in a post-arkham world! it’s painful to imagine a post-arkham world in general!

so yeah in short nothing is the same after the events of arkham knight but you know what. i’m sick of bat-stories that maim and kill and emotionally brutalize women and children for the sake of making bruce suffer and mask it under narrative progress. he’s suffered enough. they’ve suffered enough. you can make a plot happen without seriously hurting anyone. so how about instead we just let bruce retire and live the happiest life he can and let everyone who’s part of his legacy step up and shine and make him proud and make themselves proud!!!

[riddle-me-ri]

If the Valentine's Day event is still happening I'd like to try NSFW alphabet with Pre Hush Eddie please. Random letters being A E G M N and it's definitely not my name in alphabetical order. Deadass my relationship with that Eddie is "it's complicated" blame the twist LMAOOOOO

a/n: oof i hear you anon, my feelings toward the dcau hush movie eddie is incredibly complicated lol, like i love his voice and design and attitude but but my god that twist just undos…so much lol but I gotchu hope you enjoy and congrats on being the first to do the NSFW alphabet prompt lol

Content Warning: brief mentions of sexual activity but nothing outright explicit. 

Hush(DCAU) Pre-Hush Riddler - NSFW Alphabet (A, E, G, M, N)

A - Aftercare (what they're like after sex)

This is probably the moment in time that Edward is the most relaxed. He's sweet, sentimental and extremely present with you as he lays an arm around you to pull you closer to him (he also worries deep down you will leave please don't leave)

E - Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they're doing?)

He knows what he's doing on the basis that he's not a buffoon and clearly he's learned what happens during sex or how it should go…but expect the first couple times to be incredibly awkward for him.

G - Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Ed takes it almost ridiculously serious at first. Worried that it may ruin the moment or you may make fun of him for it later, it will be up to you to help him relax and be comfortable to laugh and joke around during sex.

M - Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Please, please praise this man. Tell him how much you want him, adore and admire him..how lucky you are to be with him. There is no greater turn on for him than you being all into him and giving him the attention he has always craved. 

N - No (something they wouldn't do, turn offs)

Absolutely will not be into any sort of impact play, no hitting, slapping, not even spanking I don't think. It brings bad memories for him and his beatings with Batman so yeah…nothing like that.

[riddle-me-ri]

Hi, I'm a big of your writing and wanted to request something please. How would the different Riddler react to the reader dying in their arms, possibly due to the work of another villain or saving Ed from and accident. I'd also love to see this for the different hatters and scarecrows but if that's too much to ask I totalumderstanding.

Thank you very much, please keep writing your amazing stuff 😁😁😁

a/n: oohh angst I love it! I can most certainly do that for you! I will say that is a lot to ask in one post lol, but I will do the Riddlers since it’s been a hot minute, and I may continue and do the rest of the dork squad when I get the chance or if someone requests it. Also I left most of how the injuries were sustained up in the air, so you could imagine what caused them. I’m glad you’ve been enjoying my writin💚

Content Warning: death mention…multiple times, a wee mention of violence, and some blood/gore mentions, and heavy angst.

The Riddlers React to Reader Dying in Their Arms

Arkhamverse Riddler:

Much like most everything else, he's absolutely in denial. 

You're already gone but in his panic he believes shaking you will jolt you back to life. 

For a moment his mind clears and he tries to patch you up, tries CPR, tries anything…

But there's no denying it…you're gone and all he can do is just hold you. 

Edward has promised himself early on in his childhood to no longer cry for anything or anyone. 

But no one else is there to stop the flow as he clings to your lifeless body. 

And unfortunately for Edward there's no one else to blame…

Reevesverse/Dano Riddler: 

Edward is hyperventilating through the mask. 

He was always afraid of this. 

From the moment he let you step foot in his life as the Riddler.

Edward is doing what he can to patch up your gunshot wound.

But there’s so much blood, like it was one of his crime scenes. 

Your pained screams rang in his ear. 

The only thing that was louder was the heavy silence that fell in the room when you were gone. 

Gotham Riddler:

No…no…NO…NO…NO!

He WON’T LOSE YOU!

He CAN’T LOSE YOU!!

Edward tries to mend your wounds.

He shakes his head as you tell him goodbye, to find someone else.

He shakes his head, he knows that no matter how hard he may look, even if he did.

There would never be anyone compared to you.

BTAS Riddler:

Edward is in a state of sheer panic. 

He’s cradling you while trying to think of a solution. 

The ambulance is on it’s way but not nearly quick enough.

He tries to make you comfortable as possible, trying to stop the blood. 

Your breaths are choppy and every exhale was getting shorter. 

All he can think of to do is tell you he loves you over and over. 

You tell him you love him too before you pass. 

Zero Year/Capullo Riddler:

Somewhat like Arkham Riddler, he’s in denial.

For once, his ego doesn’t get in the way. 

He doesn’t care how it looks when he falls to his knees next to your limpless body.

He doesn’t care that his clothes are being stained in blood. 

Edward was used to bouncing back whenever he faced any shortcomings…

But he doubt there was any coming back from this.

The one person who tolerated him long enough to see past his persona was gone.

TWOJAR Riddler:

Edward is frozen; as if time stood still.

He saw the fear and pain in your eyes as the knife that was driven into you slowly pulled out of your body.

It wasn’t until your body fell that Edward found the momentum to run towards you.

The assailant is gone, but Edward is more concerned about you.

Your body convulses as you struggle to breath, choking on your own blood.

He calls out your name, begging you to calm down, that everything will be okay.

Before you die, you hear a soft choked whisper; “I’m sorry.”

Gotham City Sirens Riddler:

This is what he feared the most. 

When you began dating him, he was always worried about his work catching up to you and him.

For once, he loathed how he was right all the damn time. 

He’s instantly trying to heal you, but you keep asking him to stop with your dying breath.

You just want him to listen…something he often struggled with.

You ask him not to live in regret, that this is what you wanted, and that it’s not his fault. 

Edward nods understandingly, before you die and small tears begin to fall.

Telltale Riddler: 

Edward wasn’t scared much of anything…but this was his worst nightmare.

He’s torn between going after the person who did this or staying by your side. 

When you call to him, that answers the question for him. 

He can heal you–He WILL heal you. 

But you have to be strong, you have to hang on, you have to stay with him…

Yet, Ed can’t deny your body going cold and your heartbeat slowing down to a stop.

He whispers quiet apologies before reaching and closing your eyelids so you can rest in peace.

Young Justice Riddler:

Eddie is an absolute mess.

He’s fighting back tears, but they still fall continuously past his eyes.

His voice cracks even more as he begs you to hang in there. 

He scrambles to get an aid kit, to stop the bleeding and try to get your breathing regulated.

Deep down he’s kicking himself, maybe if he was more competent you didn’t need to come in and save him.

Your trying to reassure him, that no matter what everything will be okay…

But nothing is okay when your eyes close and your head rolled back.

Hush (DCAU) Riddler:

For once Ed wished he would go instead. 

He’s the one with cancer, he’s bound to die.

He’s more than willing to go if it meant you got to stay.

Edward knew you wouldn’t agree, but none of that matters now as you’re slowly fading. 

No matter how hard Ed tried to rack his brain on how to save you, he knew all he could really do was make you comfortable.

He tries to appear strong for you, as you two share sweet memories and sweet nothings. 

At least he was able to be with you for those final moments before being dragged back to Arkham.