#Bruce has no idea which thing he should have a crisis about first

[celaenaeiln]

Was Dick ever mean to Jason when they first met? Because I’ve seen a lot of fanon where it’s implied/shown that he was, but I haven’t seen anything to prove that it’s canon (and I’m happy you’re back even though you weren’t gone long I love your blog)

Aww thank you!!

Ugh I don't know where fanon keeps getting the idea but Dick was never mean to Jason as Robin.

Let's start with the erased version, otherwise known as pre-crisis.

Jason Todd was born to acrobatic parents and also performed in the circus. Here's the interesting bit: it wasn't Bruce who found out about them, it was Dick who was at the circus and cheered them.

Batman (1940) Issue #357

Where was Bruce? He was busy becoming squid food in Gotham.

Anyway Bruce escapes and meets up with Dick who is still Robin and helps him solve part of the crime. As he's discussing the case with Dick, Dick mentions that there may be a connection to Bruce's case and something Trina Todd said.

Yup! Dick becomes friends with Jason's mom <3

Batman (1940) Issue #358

Bruce doesn't trust her but Dick does and Bruce trusts Dick so he accepts.

So Dick goes to meet Trina and her husband but they've already left to sneak into the villain's lair and get caught by Killer Croc. So he chases after them. Barbara joins in as Batgirl but Batgirl and Robin are too late because Killer Croc has already fed Joe and Trina to crocodiles.

Batman's still fighting his own case while all this is happening.

Waldo the Clown takes Jason to the manor and while Jason's in the kitchen looking for food, he finds the door behind the grandfather clock open, goes inside, and finds the batcave.

He finds a trunk of Dick's old suits as Robin and that's where the iconic pre-crisis Jason Robin scene comes -

Detective Comics (1937) Issue #526

Which first of all Jason why are you wearing other people's clothes without their permission? But anyway Jason hears people coming and finds Batman's busy grabbing information with Selina and so he hides in the trunk of the Batmobile. Robin Dick and Batgirl solve the case on their end and find out there's a trap for Batman so they come in and save Batman and his allies. Jason sneaks out of the car and finds his parents are dead so he tries to kill Killer Croc but Dick and Barbara stop him.

Detective Comics (1937) Issue #526

Dick's just like "oh, you sweetheart."

Dick wants to adopt him but Bruce is like mine because they're both like "It's my fault his parents died, I should take responsibility."

Detective Comics (1937) Issue #526

Dick was really nice to Jason.

Batman (1940) Issue #529

Dick is Jason's idol. He and Dick have a great relationship, so much so that Dick actually passes on the Robin name and suit to Jason.

Batman (1940) Issue #529

I could make a meme out of the handshake scene with Bruce being one hand and Jason being the other and in the middle the hands meet is "idolizing Dick Grayson".

So Dick and Jason had a fantastic relationship.

And then some things happen where this Jason wasn't well-recieved by the audience because of the way writers handled the transition from Dick's robin to Jason's so DC realized that they need to make Jason into his own person with his own personality, looks, and story.

So they magic marker erased the previous timeline and now we have the actual Jason Todd that's actually relevant to every comic that comes after.

Yet in this current timeline too, Dick treated Jason sweetly.

Here Dick's first meeting with Jason, he actually saves Jason from the hands of drug dealers.

Batman (1940) Issue #416

He let go of his hiding spot to get the new Robin out of trouble.

Jason is not at all happy about this.

Batman (1940) Issue #416

And Dick's pissed off because he found out there's a new Robin through a newspaper and he just lost a drug deal he's been waiting on to bailout the new Robin.

So Dick storms off and Jason asks Bruce about Nightwing

Batman (1940) Issue #416

And I'm going to reiterate parts of this post for this part (people please please read this post because tumblr has an image limit and I've explained it in detail there but I can't here)

Dick had no idea Bruce passed on the Robin costume. He finds out through the newspaper because Bruce is pissed at Dick. Like he's so mad that when he told Dick to leave, Dick actually left.

You know how there's a saying about not being able to take back words of anger? Bruce is feeling that heavily. He already had suspicions that Dick wanted to leave but before Dick could tell him, he fired him so he wouldn't have to hear those words. But Bruce is super mad that Dick left anyway. So what does he do? He makes the first boy he sees Robin.

And Jason finds out Dick was Robin when he confronts Bruce why Nightwing knows Bruce's identity. And that gets Bruce more mad because he's now feeling guilty which is when Dick comes to confront Bruce.

After meeting Bruce, Dick talks about what he's been up to since he left and put Bruce in a good mood before he starts tearing into him.

Batman (1940) Issue #416

Bruce looks so wrecked. The guilt and sorrow is tantamount to his pain.

Then Dick asks Bruce why he choose someone new.

Batman (1940) Issue #416

So Bruce tells him. But Dick and Bruce's relationship go way deeper than just friends or family. They know each other. They revolve around each other so Dick calls him out, and out comes the truth

Batman (1940) Issue #416

But here's what it means in terms of Dick and Jason's relationship:

Instead of letting Jason become some sort of spite move, Dick becomes the bigger man and decides to turn Robin into a legacy.

Batman (1940) Issue #416

He passes it down like it was meant to be passed down. Because let's be honest here. The Robin name and costume is Dick's. If he wanted to, he could've taken it back, Bruce be damned. And that was one of Jason's fears.

It's Dick's approval of Jason and them catching the drug dealers together at the end that cements Jason as Robin. It's his acceptance and good will toward Jason that Bruce is grateful for.

Batman (1940) Issue #416

Dick also validates and praises Jason in the comics whenever they meet.

The New Teen Titans (1984) Issue #31

He's basically, "Don't worry about Bruce, if you get in trouble, I'll take care of it."

The only problem is they didn't meet a lot but when they did it was good times all around.

The third version of Dick and Jason's meeting.

In this version holy honking heck. First of all it's a flashback when Bruce fires Dick because he feels like he's too busy with other duties to be with Batman and then after a series of events in present time, it shows that Bruce literally kidnapped Jason and gagged and tied him to a chair. And Alfred's like WTH BRUCE?!

Even more things happen on both sides (curse you 30-image per post tumblr limit) and Bruce essentially makes Jason watch all the videos of Dick and sets Jason's gauntlet test to be a game of tag with Dick.

Dick is completely unaware of all this happening because he's just having fun busting up thugs and playing with Barbara, having no clue that Bruce and Jason are literally watching him livestream through his bike dash cam.

Nightwing (1996) Issue #105

Jason literally shows up while Dick's pondering on a rooftop and is like who're you? Oh wait you're him lol. Move over there's a new robin in town! And Dick's just like WHAT?! He such a little shit about it.

Dick's immediately like okay I'm upset at Bruce but I have to help this new kid out. There's no hesitation, no regret, no anger towards Jason at all. Just pure desire to see him succeed.

Not gonna lie, Jason's just awful towards Dick because he thinks that Dick is his test or something Dick's just like, "can you cool it for a sec?" They soon find out about a huge crime drug activity going on and Dick sorta mentors Jason through it while on the case. I'm not gonna include the panels but it's just Dick and Jason working together. It's fun to read and cute because Dick's protective of him and Jason's like a little bird following a bigger scarier one.

At the end the crime is solved, Jason and Alfred go home, and Dick calls Bruce to tell him this -

Nightwing (1996) Issue #106

Nightwing (1996) Issue #106

He was so, so nice to Jason. Actually it's impossible for anyone to treat Jason better than Dick treated him, not even Bruce was this nice to Jason.

In Nightwing (2016) Annual, there's another story of Dick and Jason's meeting. In this case Dick comes over after Alfred calls him and Jason's sulking in his room because Bruce grounded him. He pulls Jason away and they go on a Nightwing and Robin adventure where Dick talks to him, teaches him, and lifts his spirits.

Nightwing (2016) 2021 Annual

Dick being mean to Jason is pure fanon, it's so fanon that there isn't even a single comic panel that can be used in support of that horrible idea. He never ignored Jason. Dick makes it very, very clear that his problems are with Bruce won't interfere with his relationship with Jason. He treats Jason as an independent person with his own personality and genuinely looks after and cares for him in every retelling. The only thing is they didn't meet very often but when they did, Dick was such a good brother.

[cloakedsparrow]

Bat Family 'Bruce is Tim's biological parent' AU Idea #1

Wherein Jack Drake: a) Regularly tags along on archaeological digs despite not being an archaeologist. b) Commonly smuggles home archaeological finds despite that not being legal. c) Does not believe in curses, hauntings, or any mythology despite the world that he lives in being populated with *gestures at comics* all that.

As a result, Jack is like a magnet for cursed objects and keeps smuggling the damned things home.

The first time little Timmy suspects this is happening, he knows his dad won't respond well to him suggesting the most recent package he sent home is haunted. He knows he'll respond even worse if he tries to get anyone else involved. So he sends his mom a private email explaining what's going on. Janet replies that he's right to be suspicious, that this has absolutely happened before, and that he was right to contact her. She tells him she's sending over a friend who can help and gives him a password that she'll tell the friend so he knows it's okay to let him in the house.

John Constantine shows up within the hour. Tim is certain he didn't drive there (the alert that someone passed through the gates never went off and no one put in a code to open them) but there is a cursed object in his house and John knew the password Janet gave him, so he's mostly just happy to have an adult there to handle the situation. Even if a somewhat bizarre adult.

John takes care of the cursed object and is impressed that Tim reacted to it much faster than most do. He gives Tim his card with instructions to call him if anything like what was happening starts to happen again or if anything else weird starts happening after his father has been to any digs or sent home any strange packages.

As Jack is the aforementioned cursed object magnet, Tim ends up calling John fairly often for someone who doesn't actively work with the occult and is, in fact, a child. John keeps praising him for catching on as quick as he does and giving him information to catch onto other types of mystical/magical wickedness. Tim gets really good at recognizing when magic/curses/spirits are at play.

Then, Janet dies and Jack goes into a coma. Tim is fostered by Bruce for a year and a half and doesn't have to worry about curses or haunted objects for all that time. When they do come across something of the occult, Bruce/Batman has his own contacts, so there was never a reason for Tim to bring any of it up.

Then, the events of Identity Crisis/Crisis of Conscience occur, and Bruce doesn't want to talk to Zatanna (his usual mystic go-to) if it can be helped. He doesn't want to call in anyone connected to most of the Justice League if it can be helped.

So when they come across a cursed object, Tim immediately identifies it and tells Bruce not to worry, he knows a guy who can handle it. The man knows his civilian identity, so they'll have to pretend Bruce bought the object as part of an action or estate sale lot.

John comes and handles it. Before he leaves he comments that he's glad Tim's biological father finally decided to step up and that Bruce better take good care of the boy.

When Tim explains that Bruce isn't his father, the look on John's face clearly shows that he's trying to figure out how to back-step, but not in the expected way. More in the 'I let on information i wasn't supposed to' way.

Which is how Bruce and Tim end up running a paternity test in the Cave at four am.

Alfred and Dick are delighted by the results.

[Alternative ending: John pulls Bruce aside to let him know that Janet told him Jack wasn't Tim's father and that both he and Bruce were on the short list and he hadn't known Jack died or he'd have contacted him already. They have to wait to find out which of them is the lucky one. Either Bruce turns out to be the father and John just lets Tim know he can still call him whenever needed or it turns out John is the father and they decide Tim should still stay with Bruce but John has visitations. Also, Tim might have been showing signs of his Homo Magi heritage when he recognized all these cursed objects. John insists on teaching him to use his magic despite Bruce's unease with it.]

[cephalog0d]

Okay, but like. There's the whole joke about Bruce recruiting children to be his sidekicks, but honestly there's only really one that fits that.

And it's Jason. And the whole story there is, frankly, unhinged. Aaaaand then he died.

(I'm specifically talking about "first post-crisis origin stories" here because Jason and Dick, in particular, have both had multiple major retcons and revisions over the years, and some of them dramatically change how things happened.)

Like okay. Going backwards, you've got Duke who joined/led a whole Robin-based gang at a time when Bruce wasn't even Batman. You've got Damian and Cass, who were both literally born into the world of masks and capes and heroes and villains, so they weren't ever really not going to be part of it. Steph might have taken inspiration from previous heroes but she made her own identity and repeatedly refused to stop involving herself in the vigilante lifestyle. Tim, obviously, basically strong-armed Batman into letting him be Robin, despite Batman's protests.

Dick's a little more complicated just because there's so many versions, because that's what 80 years of comics and multiple universe reboots will do, and there's kind of a general trend that earlier pre-crisis versions were more of Batman being like "hello, child, would you like to be my sidekick" and later versions have leaned harder and harder into the idea that Dick was absolutely going to do this anyway, regardless of what Batman had to say about it. But even in the first post-crisis version, the flashback in Batman Year 3, Dick says he wants to find a way to keep people like that from hurting others again. When Alfred questions Bruce's offer to train him, Bruce says that Dick should learn to do things the right way if he's going to do it. It's not hard to extrapolate that, much like later versions of the origin story, Dick was going to get himself into this one way or another. (Batman (1940) #437)

And then there's Jason. Whose backstory has also had a lot of (sometimes major) revisions over the years (remember when his adoption was, like, some kind of Joker-originated long con? Fucken Nu52, man). But the original post-crisis version is pretty straightforward. Steals Batman's tires, gets caught and sent to Ma Gunn's Secret Criminal School, intervenes when Batman goes to investigate, immediately gets offered the chance to be Robin based entirely on that.

Which is itself kind of unhinged. That Bruce saw this kid who was living on his own stealing tires and went "Hey you would make a good Robin" as his very first instinct.

But if you've never read Jason's post-crisis origin, or it's been a while, it's honestly even more unhinged than that because that arc starts with Dick getting "fired" as Robin specifically for the reason that he got shot by Joker and Bruce freaked out about how the Robin identity has too many enemies and therefore Dick, a legal adult with approximately a decade of training and experience, should not use the identity anymore.

(And it's specifically about the Robin identity, in this version, because when Dick says he's not going to stop the crime fighting thing Bruce's response is basically "I know and I didn't expect you to". Honestly I could also say a lot about this version of the Robin/Nightwing transition vs. later ones and how this one definitely feels like the Heavy Hand of DC Editorial in the fact that they had no contact for so long afterwards, because the interaction really doesn't feel like it warrants that in this case compared to some later versions, but that's a whole other too-long ramble.) (Batman (1940) #408)

And then a few weeks later Bruce turns around and picks up a random kid, a literal child, and goes "Hey you would make a good Robin!"

And I think a lot about how fucking wild that is. And it's not like the people writing just didn't notice. Dick's big argument with Bruce when he finally comes back to Gotham and meets Jason isn't about the fact that Bruce took in another kid, or even necessarily about Dick feeling proprietary over the Robin identity, the thing he's angry about is that Bruce said it was too dangerous for him, an adult, someone who has trained with Batman for a decade and was already highly physically trained before that for his whole life, to be Robin, and now Bruce has turned around and painted that target onto some random new kid. He pushes, repeatedly, trying to get Bruce to justify himself and this absolutely irresponsible decision, and Bruce gives a lot of answers about how Jason was on a bad path and needed this outlet and eventually just admits that he missed having a partner. (Batman (1940) #416)

And like. Dick's right, is the thing. He is 1000% in the right in this argument. If he can't be Robin anymore because of the danger, how in the hell is it anything like a good idea to hand it over to someone way younger, way less trained, way less experienced, and expect that that wouldn't end in tragedy?

And then it did.

And yeah, Bruce, it is kinda a lot of your fault.

[francisofgotham1]

Catholic Bat Family 2 (Inspired by @incomingalbatross)

Alright, we're back on this thing again. So, as stated before, this is inspired by @incomingalbatross's posts and asks about the Bat Family being Catholic and I really liked, so I'll write about my ideas on it. If you wanna see her posts, go check out her blog. Also, if you wanna see the Bat Family Confirmation saints, click here.

So, with that out of the way, let's get creative! (Before we do, though, I would like to establish that Bruce is a good dad in this because that's how it should be).

So far, we've established:

Bruce's origins and current faith (Very Strong).

Alfred is Anglican

Father Brown is in this universe (and so is Flambeau).

Selina started antagonistic towards it, but thanks to a nudge from Bruce and her sister Maggie, she develops her faith on her own.

Dick is "umbrella" at first and not very formal, but joins the Church after Final Crisis (a lot of angst in this)

Jason was fiercely Catholic and wanted to become a priest before dying. When he returns, he's angry a both Bruce and the Church, but slowly he starts reconciling with both (beginning with Jason cleansing at Lourdes). He still wants to become a priest (maybe).

Tim is Protestant, likes debating, is church friends with Clark, and probably converts Kon. Also, the TOUGHEST NUT TO CRACK IN THIS WHOLE THING!

The family splinters after Final Crisis, leaving many dysfunctions unresolved.

Dick and Damian come into the faith while Bruce is "dead", and Jason returns to it, becoming the spiritual leader of the family (kind of).

When Bruce comes back, he and Jason finish mending their relationship and talk about Jason wanting to be a priest.

That leaves us with a couple of things/people to set up: Cass, Steph, Duke, the Rows, what happens to Bruce in the time stream, how Tim comes into all of this (if at all), and more.

First things first, let's talk about the other people.

Cass I feel like she would want to follow into the faith not only because Bruce is Catholic and he's the first person (besides Barbara) that ever treated her well. But because how her code follows very closely with the idea of forgiveness, redemption, and fierce defense that Catholic Christianity is known for (much like Bruce). And personally, her Confirmation saint has to be St. Joan of Arc.

She definitely found a denomination in Hong Kong or Macau, though

Steph is more tricky. From what I remember of her, she is friendly, fierce, calls people out on their bull, has a terrible home life (dad is abusive and a villain, mom is an addict), and clashes with Bruce a lot. She has a strong bond with Cass, Tim, and Barbara, which makes me think that she maybe leans more towards Protestantism but is not devout at all. She still respects the faith of Cass and the others, tho.

However, once she starts going to college, she walks by the campus church and something just... I don't know, starts calling to her. Maybe it's all of the lessons Bruce and Jason gave, maybe it's a reminder of the quiet chapel at the Manor, maybe it's all the times she listened to Damian talk about his lessons, but regardless of what it is, she begins hanging out at the church and talks with the campus priest. Eventually, she comes to Bruce and asks her to be her Godfather and Sponsor.

Duke...I honestly don't know. He seems to be a passionate kid that was raised by parents with good morals, so I wanna say he's Episcopalian, but I don't know. Anyone is welcome to suggest or add to him.

Harper and Cullen would be very angry at the world and would be very shocked a finding out Batman is Catholic. That turns their whole world on its head, and while they eventually come around to it, I don't think they would ever join the Church.

And finally (for today), Tim. He, as stated before, is the toughest nut to crack in this universe. That's because he's just so naturally skeptical of everything, likes to find answers from scratch, and just doesn't have a need to go looking for it. The only thing that I can come up with is looking into the Dominican Order, who's whole thing revolves around education and academia. And since Tim is the most affected by Bruce's "death", that might cause a giant rift in him. He goes to Ra's for help, suffers from a giant crisis of faith, and eventually stumbles upon a Dominican monastery. There, he begins researching and politely debating with the friars, eventually discussing these adventures with a playful but very intelligent priest in England.

This is getting pretty long, so I'm gonna stop here for today. Everyone is welcome to look into the other topics of discussion, share ideas, recommend new ones, and even make a post of their own (just remember to add proper credit. Even though this is not a school assignment, what starts here ends there). Just please remember to keep it civil. Don't forget, this was inspired by @incomingalbatross. Go follow her, she is awesome and posts about things beyond Batman (Doctor Who, Psych, Father Brown, Ranger's Apprentice, etc.).

Anyways, have a good one!!

[geekthefreakout]

Thank you for your "we need to combat people's black and white views in media” post. It’s nice to see someone have a reasonable opinion about something. I feel like a lot of DC comic spaces have the most bizarre takes and honestly think it’s why the state of comics is so bad right now and writers are afraid to take chances or write things that are so generic.

Do you have any unpopular opinions about Babs or Jason? Or anything you would like to see in future comics? You said you enjoyed Jason as a character but what’s your ideal Jason and how do you think he should be written?

Wow, what a lovely ask, thank you Nonny!

First, cuz I know I'm gonna ramble on about the other things- yes, DC is a goddamn mess and at least 48% of the reason is that fans feel especially entitled these days, which makes writers either overly cautious or extremely defensive of anything they try. Fandom spaces can get very toxic very quickly cuz of the whole black-and-white morality thing and the aforementioned entitlement that makes people feel like they get to dictate the direction the art they consume takes. You don't get to do that, people! Stop it.

For Babs- idk if I have unpopular opinions. Like most people, I think she was wonderful and *important* as Oracle, and I wish they would do more than pay lip service to her disability. On the other side of that, I understand that DC Editorial is a mess and that if a writer ever DOES decide to follow through on that "chip in her spine won't work forever" thing, they will need to cut through a lot of red tape to get permission to do so, so I don't really get mad when writers have her as Batgirl still, or have her bounce between Batgirl and Oracle. If she ever does become a full time wheelchair user again, I hope it's done in a respectful way that supports her agency, rather than how TKJ did her. The Young Justice show had an interesting take on that which I didn't mind.

My unpopular Jason opinion is probably that I liked the All-Caste stuff from RHATO N52 and I think letting Jason have a niche as a Bat that deals with mystical stuff and with the nitty-gritty of the criminal underground is a good way to set him apart and give him his own stuff to do outside of Bat Events. Also Generation Outlaw was a cool concept and I enjoy the idea of Jason reluctantly inheriting Bruce's tendency towards "Debatably Accidental Child Acquisition."

That said, my ideal Jason functions as a foil to Batman. I don't want them to be enemies, but I do want them to push each other and challenge each other. I want Jason to poke holes in Bruce's crime fighting philosophy, but to also still have a good relationship with his family. I want Jason to struggle with his own philosophy, as he did in Zdarsky's "Cheer" story, because the way he does things IS riskier than how Bruce does things and sometimes the ends don't justify the means.

I think Jason (like Damian, but Jason is more mature) works wonderfully in stories about redemption and self-discovery as well. Task Force Z had appeal for me in that sense, because I also think that Two-Face (who Jason has history with in his first post-crisis story) ALSO works well in story lines like that.

In the future... Well, my opinion is that there are just too many Bat books and Bat Events. I want DC to let their other characters breathe. My ideal set up would be Batman as a solo series and Tec as a team book, like it was when Tynion wrote it. Then Urban Legends for miscellaneous Bat stories. Nightwing of course with his solo (and please, PLEASE, let that boy stay in Bludhaven and take care of business, stop dragging him back to Gotham every time a rogue sneezes, he has his own shit to worry about). The rest of the Batfam can pop up in Tec and Urban Legends and then be with their respective teams. Titans, YJ, Outlaws, Outsiders, etc. (ETA BoP to this potential team book list of course!)

And then pls no huge Bat Events for at least a year and a half. Let them BREATHE, for fuck's sake!!!!

So... Yeah! Thanks Nonny!

[roobylavender]

when you said you prefer bruce's kids not having relationships to each other, do you mean that you'd prefer even those who do have relationships to each other not to have them and for their perspectives to be explored that way, or you'd prefer that people stop trying to force relationships between those that don't have them?

not asking as a gotcha moment, i was just wondering because tim and dick for example are hard to say don't have a sibling relationship with dick calling him his brother ahead of the adoption and them actually spending time together, but what you said was really interesting especially with regards to none of them really knowing jason (including dick who met him like three times?) and also early cass and tim's relationship

tim and dick are complicated for me because 90s batman canon pre-nightwing (1996) doesn't really take seriously the gravitas of dick's problems when he returns to gotham. like he's waaaaaay too mentally sound for me in prodigal and that is a book i have rolled around in my head for a while constantly flip-flopping on how i feel about it but ultimately its dick characterization is so alien and part of it definitely has to do with how fair and dandy dick was when he first met tim which i presume the writers decided to just.. carry over? even though by the time prodigal came around dick's whole relationship and almost-marriage with kory had fallen apart and left him spiraling (to the extent that dick is capable of spiraling. obv we know he compartmentalizes where he's able). not to mention that i simply don't think dick would ever have taken the batman mantle from bruce merely because the latter wasn't "feeling" it at the time like he became nightwing for a reason yknow. and i wish if giving him the mantle was editorial mandate that it had at least been something dick visibly expressed discomfort with not because he doubted his own ability to be worthy of the mantle but because batman wasn't who he ever wanted to be. prodigal was essentially a very easy tongue-in-cheek comfort read to pass the time before bruce resumed the mantle and to me it should have been anything but. it should have been awkward and quiet and strained because dick had a thousand different emotional issues pinging around in his head that tim barely had the background information on to deal with and frankly he wasn't entitled to the details of that drama merely because he happened to wear the costume. obv tim is nosy and i'm sure he would have fished it out of dick in some capacity eventually but i don't think the boy scout vibes of the book would have been there. so i'm not entirely opposed to them feeling like brothers maybe somewhere down the line but i do want it to be harder for them to get to that point than the books portray it to be and in general i want any transition by dick into gotham to be almost suffocating for a while lol

i still (tragically. damningly) haven't read cass's batgirl but i do think the development of that closeness is at least a little more understandable because of how they operate in relation to bruce during the same time period. i'm not sure i want it to be a full out siblings thing because i don't care much for bruce adopting tim anyway—identity crisis and everything that happens in relation to tim after is meaningless overkill to me personally—but i like the idea of them being close friends. and yeah ultimately a lot of the crux of the issue comes down to jason. he's never going to be a sibling to any of these people and i honestly think it's fine like he doesn't have to be

[basilisk06]

It’s been over a week so I think I can post this.

The finale of the Flash was so much badder than I should have been. I get that certain actors and certain events about and within the crew was going on, but here’s my take on how the flash season 9 should have been.

Ep 1-5 (part 1); Rogue war: Mostly the same, but with more iconic characters who played the villains and the rogues who actually appeared. I get they had limited time, but after crisis, Cisco said that most of the villains in the entire Arrowverse came back, so have more iconic villain characters return, and some who we know are still alive (for example Heatwave, tho I read somewhere that he didn’t want to return as the character) or some characters who escaped the prison that the speed force attacked in season 7. Another thing that I’ll put here since I don’t know where else to put it, I actually liked the story with Khione, so I’d keep that in.

Ep 1-5 (part 2); Red Death: There are a multitude of different ways this character and arc could have gone. Option 1: More expensive and lots of legal work, but get the actual Bruce Wayne and try to follow a similar path on the comics (alternate universe where Bruce merged with Barry to become better) or something completely new (Have an older Bruce try to build a suit to harness the speed force like Godspeed and go insane doing so [I heard somewhere that Arrowverse Batman killed joker so that could lean into this idea more]. Option 2: Still expensive: Get the original Batwoman actor Ruby Rose and have her follow the comic origin or the new origin they made up. Option 3: Have the Red death we got be from the Reverse-Flashpoint timeline, since it made more sense, since when talking to Iris, Ryan Wilder said something about a red speedster, so move on with that information. There are a lot of different ways this could have gone, but Eric Wallace is why we got what we got, and we got a crybaby bitch version of the dreaded red death, who didn’t kill anyone, despite the show saying so in the future the original Nora was from. I did like how the real Ryan Wilder appeared to help Barry take down red death. The ending where Joe moves away was sad, though I guess it made sense for both the actor and the character, though I did like seeing Cecile and Joes daughter, since it would have made more Spence if she appeared dung the Armageddon crossover when Joe died, though it wasn’t the worst case scenario . The reveal that Iris is pregnant with Nora was a slight surprise I didn’t see coming.

Ep 6-8: Mainly filler episodes, which could have been much better than the ones we got. First off, and this will be a tangent later, why and what was the purpose to making Cecile a superhero; Virtue, who is an entirely different character than Cecile. Seriously, it felt more like the Cecile and friends show than The Flash. Episode 6 was basically filler, but they could’ve shown us more of Central City outside Barry’s perspective, to help us understand why the city is the way it is. Episode 7 was basically some lore, but mainly lore for Supergirl’s show, they could have told us more about what has been happening in National City since the shows ending and how the characters have been since then as well. It was too bad that Melissa couldn’t come back to the Flash as Supergirl as predicted. Episode 8 was mostly filler as well, since all it did was be an episode in one setting; Star labs. The Chester and Allegra relationship parts were mid at best. Episode 9, was amazing. It honestly should have been a two-parter, replacing episode 8 and having 9 has the second part. The story was amazing, Barry’s birth, the guilt he feels as the Flash, John Diggle’s return and his small story, Wally’s story and the knowledge of the new multiverse Oliver as the Spectre created, Oliver’s return and his story, Ramsey returning and his new plan and his eventual defeat, and Oliver saying that the future we saw that he and Felicity reunited hasn’t happened yet was amazing. His final words to Barry and how Barry finally got closure to his best friends death was so sweet. Thank you Steven Amell.

Ep 8-13 (part 1): Episode 10 though, that was something we have been expecting for 9 years. With the start of the Cobalt Blue storyline and the ending of the series, we were expecting big things. Episode 10 was one of those. The whole, Iris getting a Pulitzer Prize was nice since Nora mentioned that she gets 2 in the future, so that was nice, and so was Khione writing letters to Mark, Caitlin and Frost. Then we get into the good stuff, Barry getting sent back to the past, March 18, 2000, the day his mother is murdered by the Reverse Flash, and his father is sent to jail. Seeing Matt Lentscher return as the real Eobard Thawne was nice, though I wish that after Flashpoint, Matt appeared more and in Tom Cavanagh, no offense to either. The whole, blue crystal thing was a bit confusing for me but it seemed to make some sense. We also got to see the last time Barry got to interact with his parents, which was heartwarmingly sad. But then, we get to that fight on that night. With Barry trying to save Thawne, and eventually leading to the fight we’ve been waiting for for over 9 years. Seeing Barry tell his young self, ‘no Barry, no running this time’ was so good! Barry last words with Eobard were amazing due to it being the only time Barry knew what Eobard was doing before he knew himself, before Barry being teleported somewhen else making Eobard think he won due to Barry seemingly dying in front of him. Then we get a reveal of Malcolm Gilmore , a nearly identical copy of Eddie Thawne in 2049, before being struck by lightning and seeing a folder of Eddie. The only problems that I have with this episode is that we never see what happens to the original Barry Allen, the Flash who got struck by lightning in 2020 and who disappeared in Crisis four years later in 2024. We never got to know him or see his life and original timeline, minus a few words and hints we got from Thawne over the course of the series. Another thing is that we never got to see how Barry ‘ruined’ Thawne’s life in the future. We got a few hints during seasons 2,3,8 and here in season 9, as well as some during his time on Legends of Tomorrow, but we never saw how Barry did it, whether it be the original Barry Allen, or our Barry Allen.

Ep 8-13 (part 2) episode 11: This episode wasn’t that good compared to the two episodes that came before, but it also was not as nearly as bad as it could’ve been. First, the story of ‘ Malcolm Gilmore’ trying to find out who Eddie Thawne was was so good. The return of Korber was slightly surprising, due to her new position in the future as the captain of CCPD (rip). The speed force Nora and team flash trying to find Barry and fight Mark(Chillblaine) under the influence of the crystal was nice. Seeing how powerful Khione was in instantly killing and reviving Mark was so surprising! Iris then goes into labor. And the reveal of Malcolm being Eddie who was brought back by the negative forces and sent to the future by the singularity was a surprising callback that I’m sure all of us forgot. And the bullet still being in Eddie’s heart before pulling it out was so surprising.

Ep 8-13 (part 3) Episode 12: After accidentally killing Captain Korber (rip), Eddie goes to star labs where the 2049 team flash have just defeated the teased and long awaited villain, the Chronarch. After Eddie sees all the times Eobard came back despite his sacrifice, Nora comes to help him, only to be possessed by the blue crystal. After Barry is taken the future and fights the possessed Nora, he talks to Eddie who blames everything on Barry, his death, him being forgotten, and Barry and Iris’s family. After going to visit future Iris, who rejects him , Eddie then makes us his mind, becomes Cobalt Blue, and revived some of the Flash’s greatest enemies. My only problem I have with this episode and the finale is that more characters should have appeared, a big example, Bart West-Allen. I don’t know why Jordan William Fisher couldn’t appear, I’ll search for why later but I do wish he appeared.

For episodes 13, I’ll make another post due to this one being WAY to long.

[sinkingtime]

Remaking the DCU 3 - Enter the Multiverse, kind of

Part 1, Part 1 and a half, Part 2, Part 2 and a half

This one is more vague, as I have vastly exceeded the original scope of the idea, but I still have a few stories I want to get to.

Also, the thing I was insecure about including, which nobody said anything either way so I will proceed under the assumption that it's perfectly ok. That's how that works, right?

We should ostensibly be in the "space arc" that I wanted to get Supergirl off-world to introduce. But before that, I have one more Earth character I'd like to have, right after Red Daughter of Tomorrow.

But before that, let me fill in one of the blanks I had before.

But before THAT, minor insignificant addendum.

...about Azrael

Jean-Paul Valley Jr, the Angel of Vengeance of the Holy Order of Saint Dumas, was the one to get Supergirl's hair. There isn't such an order, he's just a hitman who calls himself that.

His sword is actually on fire, so maybe that could establish her hair was a little super after all. I think preferably not, though, on the grounds that the Legion would deem hair useless and not bother modifying it.

Anyways, the point is that I've been skipping over Gotham-based characters, for the sake of the "Bruce but no Batman" agenda. But this guy doesn't need to be from there, it makes the most sense that they meet him in europe somewhere.

Identity Crisis

This isn't actually an adaptation of Identity Crisis, probably doesn't deserve the name, but maybe there could be a couple references that justify a "loosely inspired by" tag. Maybe.

What this is is the movie right after Lobo, dealing with magic and mass-mind control. I have decided Zatanna is the villain. There will also be Manchester Black, but he turns out to be a fake she set up to take the fall.

She's using her power to join the League, retroactively. There's flashbacks to when she first helped with something and they offered her membership, and mention that she and Jinx actually did some training together, Jonah was an old friend of Zatanna's dad, etc. All of that is a lie, but hopefully by this point we have introduced enough members without comment that the audience doesn't catch up early.

J'onn would easily mess up her plot, so she needs to deal with him early; and I consider his reveal important enough that she shouldn't give any indication that she's dealing with him. We don't know about him until Rebirth, but when we do the general thought should go "wait why didn't he know about OH right she did that thing".

So, before she sets foot on the Watchtower Station for the first time, the first time they learn about Black, she's shown to resist him. She later says she always has psychic defenses active, it's an elementary precaution any decent mage would take. Cue awkward fidgeting from Jinx. Then the two of them then cooperate to cast wards protecting the entire League.

Later, when those fail, Zatanna can blame the nature of Jinx's power for it. The movie could also imply this to be true, if it's happening early enough.

Zatanna's power source is a book that is written mirrored. Call it the Tome of Reflections or somesuch. It is the reason she speaks backwards; it's not that anything she so says will happen, but it's still a necessary component of all her spellcasting.

Her plot is ultimately to replace that with Diana's magic. The innate one, what she inherited from Zeus. She's not even using it, really, and Zatanna is professionally offended by that. (If she knew about the Lanterns she'd freak out.)

Extracting Diana's magic would kill her, but I'm saying that as omniscient narrator, I don't think she should know that for sure. Not that it would stop her if she did, but it's probably best if she tells herself she will be fine, that she'll later agree it was worth it, when both of them are heroes together.

Also, I keep imagining her cutting open her own chest to carve magic symbols in her ribs and heart and whatever other surfaces are available. Sadly, we can't use that, because it would be far too gruesome for this kind of movies, and also because she's not going to win. Spoilers, by the way!

Also also, I was considering making King Shark be a demigod after all, and therefore older than Wonder Woman because she really needs to be the last one. That would make him probably a better target for Zatanna, so that finally convinces me against it. He's just a weird mutant after all.

Anyways, I don't have much to add. Manchester Black was sometimes an anarchist, or at least pretending to be. His "evil plan" should include making public statements roughly in that vein. He could be someone who had previously complained about the League's existence and operations, though I don't think that's important enough to actually add him to previous movies.

He dies, by standard supervillain accidental suicide, except it's staged by Zatanna as a last-ditch effort to settle matters and distract everyone's attention.

The movie itself should be mostly mystery, maybe minor horror, on the grounds of the paranoia that Zatanna's actions are seeding.

After her defeat, Diana claims the Tome. She's also not going to use it, just keep it in storage with her friend's brooch. If we actually see that, there should be a third thing with them, doesn't matter what exactly but it should be somewhat recognizable.

Also this means the brooch was also more powerful than the book, or else that'd be what Jinx "borrowed" for Jonah to use during Rebirth.

Roxy Rocket

This was a minor villain from Batman: the Animated Series. She has since also appeared in comics, but never in an important fashion, as far as I can tell. She was a stunt actress who was addicted to danger, and so kept escalating her stunts until studios would no longer hire her. Then she turned to crime, primarily for the thrill but presumably also for the money. She rides a huge rocket with bike controls bolted on, and mostly antagonizes Batman and friends, but also Superman at least once.

Anyways, I want her to have Lobo's bike. I'd thought from the start I should want someone to use it to become a super; it's kind of a crappy spaceship but for a planet-bound character it's probably one of the best vehicles available. Then I dropped that when I thought that would be Supergirl's best idea to contact the Lantern Corps, but then then I remembered Roxy and have decided to go for it.

We open with her jumping out of a plane, wearing one of those flying squirrel-like flight suits. She's intending to get some air time and then land in another plane. This is not being recorded, she's doing it for fun, on her own money. The receiving plane gets out of position and leaves her to fall, presumably to her death.

Either someone from Hollywood wants revenge for some insult, real or imagined, or she was already involved in crime and is being double-crossed. Probably the later, but if I could come up with a plausible motivation for a (previously) non-criminal, I think it could be better to have the start of her life of crime be on-screen and not a flashback. Probably.

She realizes she's been betrayed and panics, but then gets a wide smile. She wouldn't have tried jumping from that height down to the ground, despite her reputation she's not quite that stupid, but now that it's happening she loves it. She does her best to control her fall, having the best time of her life, then crashes into the desert and slides and rolls a large distance, destroying her suit and getting large friction burns all over her body. She smiles and tries to raise her hand in triumph, whispering that she made it, then falls unconscious.

She's woken up by a voice she doesn't understand, probably with weird camera and audio effects to show us she's suffering from pain and hunger and sun exposure, but the voice is genuinely speaking a non-human language; it's someone that received Supergirl's transmission but also didn't understand it, and is trying to get a response back. This probably means it hasn't been very long since she left Earth, though the exact timing doesn't actually matter.

Roxy crawls towards the voice, with great difficulty, until she is convinced that it's below her, and begins digging in the sand, wondering if she's gone crazy. She finds the communicator and tries to answer, but it's quickly made clear to both that they can't understand each other. What's important is she also finds Lobo's bike.

First she raids the cargo boxes, finds his rations and begins eating and drinking. After that, a little more recovered, she takes a better look at the bike. It's obviously weird and she wonders if it's some prop, but by now humanity is aware that aliens and weird science exists, so she gets on it and tries to get it running.

It flies away at great speed, almost tossing her off, but she barely manages to hold on and climb properly. She's once again laughing, extremely happy. As she leaves, the camera goes back to the ground, we see she left behind the comm and Lobo's two books. Maybe some sand starts burying them again.

We should also get some small montage of her figuring out the bike. In particular, it can take her to space, but she very quickly figures out she shouldn't go that high, and it can take her around the planet trivially quickly. She also has some space guns, that she should have fun figuring out. And either we don't worry about power or there's some universal power converter and she also steals electricity from various places.

Beyond that, it's mostly a standard revenge movie. She figures out who betrayed her and why, starts attacking their interests, they start to retaliate but after some dramatic setbacks she wins. As keeps happening, I'm not sure if she should be a hero or a villain. She was already almost sympathetic in the episode, her main motivation is seeking adrenaline and that could easily be fulfilled by fighting supervillains. But I also need some recurring villains, arguably? So maybe she can stay as a "not so bad" criminal. Dunno.

She uses a version of her cartoon costume, which in-universe will be from an old movie she was in, called "The Ultimate Thrill", which was the name of the episode. Her last or her best work or something like that. We should see the poster but she's not in it, since she was a stunt actress, not a star. I think it would be funny to have her stunt double be the one posing for the poster, so as to say the roles are reversed in-universe. Unless the part were played by someone who does her own stunts, in which case nevermind.

After credits, back at the desert, the communicator speaks up again. The voice asks, in english but poorly, if this is the correct language and can anyone understand them now. Then the battery finally dies.

...next is a bunch of movies I can't actually think of

For that "space arc" that I wanted to have, but don't have any good ideas for.

I wanted to have a movie following Jonah Hex in the afterlife, after the events of Rebirth, but it was bad. Mostly the point was to establish that nothing else in the universe could destroy souls, besides the White War enemies; and furthermore that this was the reason why the Legion's meddling with time failed to make them unexist.

But there's nothing I'm comfortable letting get out of the afterlife, so there are no real stakes I could give the movie, so it was always going to be bad. Discarded.

I also had an idea for a New Gods one, mashing together Apokolips and New Genesis into a single planet, so as to make it be a real society. They'd be in the middle of a civil war, from which Orion would emerge as a Robin Hood-like figure.

That one has potential, I guess. I must have writen and deleted it like five times. For now all that remains is this "maybe".

The Violet Lantern Corps have a long-standing lawyer firm, that absolutely exists in the setting even if I've not had a legitimate excuse to introduce them in a movie. And from Lobo's attitude we can infer there is some form of galactic bounty hunters association. Either or both of them should get some sort of police procedural.

I've also decided Dick Grayson was a lawyer, as his day job back on Earth. That probably means when he first left Gotham it was to go to Harvard, and he only wound up in Blüdhaven after. Unless we just say Blüdhaven has a good law school. Either way, the point is that he'll end up joining the Star Sapphires proper, this may be his movie, or at least he shows up after credits.

Also, whoever was trying to answer Supergirl's call was probably either a Star Sapphire or Lobo's contact to them, since she was using his space phonebook. Whoever it was doesn't need to be particularly important, but should probably at least be mentioned.

Princess Koriand'r originally received visions of multiple "nice" worlds, specifically such that the Light thought it possible she would rather go to one of them than stay with her dying mother. Again, I consider this canon even if I don't think it should have been mentioned. Though I suppose she could have mentioned it in Red, actually; Dick could ask about her Test after learning that his was not standard-issue.

Anyways, someone should probably be in or from one of those worlds. The fact that they are desirable places to go to could mean whatever happens there is low-stakes and pleasant, which would make a good respite in between two tense movies, should there be such.

There should also be an appearance by the planet where the martians ended up. I don't have anything specific in mind for them, J'onn wouldn't have gotten to space and they have no particular reason to care about their former world, but nonetheless it feels like a waste to not have them come up.

Also kinda wanna establish that they can't phase through objects, J'onn only has that power as a result of the teleport accident, regular martians are merely shapeshifter telepaths.

A movie about a world that's been ravaged by a gang of space bandits, maybe slavers so they can ultimately rescue some people. A kid manages to escape and goes to seek a legendary warrior, famed for intervening in several wars through the galaxy. It's Supergirl. She helps him hunt them down, they philosophize about the nature of revenge and so on.

This is a story archetype that's been done many times, but I kinda wanna develop this one more. Can't help but feel it just needs one more gimmick.

I want the Challengers of the Unknown. Kind of. They would normally be a human group, but I'm making them aliens in part as payback for all the aliens who got turned into humans back on Earth. They'll actually appear later, so all we want during this section is a tease after credits. Members of the broader organization they will belong to, some space university or something, showing up to check up on whatever scientifically interesting debris one of the movies may have left behind.

I also keep thinking about the Black Mercy, but that's overplayed actually. Maybe mention that someone got black mercied, but don't show it.

And on the subject of officially running out of ideas, there's a minor character known as Space Cabbie. No real name I can find, though I admit I didn't look very hard. He's in the future, but that's easy enough to ignore, so I want him here, even if just as a minor character in some other movies. He transports people through space, and that's it.

His spaceship probably needs to look less like an obvious Earth taxi, but we have many different taxi designs and there's only so many colours, so I guess some overlap will be ultimately inevitable? But at least it shouldn't look like a New York taxi, since those are the ones we all see in movies.

Also there needs to be a sequel to at least one of these, hopefully more, to give this stretch of the franchise legitimacy. That I need to specify it like that betrays its lack of legitimacy, of course. So moving on.

Lanterns

Poster is one of each of the Lantern rings, threaded on a string that's held from off-screen. In rainbow order, backwards, just because.

We open with Koriand'r and Dick Grayson following rumours that her sister has become a Blue Lantern. He was probably the one that heard of it, on his new job with the Star Sapphires. Along the way they should find at least a bit of further weirdness; the answer is that people from other universes are being transferred here for reasons unknown, but they shouldn't quite figure that out yet.

They do meet Blue Komand'r, but she's an alternate version of Koriand'r instead; and in her universe that's the name of her older sister, who is "a bit difficult, sometimes". The two make good friends quickly. (the bet that resulted on each of their parents naming each of them had a different result, but I don't think they should actually learn that part.)

Together they figure out the "alternate universes" bit, and then Dick excuses himself from the rest of the movie, saying he should try and find Supergirl and inform her, in case she wants to try and contact her brother. The other two continue the main plot, eventually teaming up with one of each colour, plus the group that the Challengers are the elite of, to figure things out. Here in rainbow order:

Red is Atros, better known as Atrocitus, but we're using the slightly less on-the-nose "original" name.

In the comics, his galactic sector was mass-murdered by the Manhunters, robot cops who are the Oans' first attempt at galactic police, before the Green Lantern Corps. He survives, along with four others but he betrays them later so they don't matter, and his mastery of blood magic leads him to harness the power of rage and create the first Red Lantern.

For my version, given the changes to Lantern lore, neither he nor the Oans can be in charge of creating either magic. He's just one more Lantern, and they're entirely unrelated. But the rest works reasonably well.

I would limit the destruction to just the planets of Ryut and Oa, which are at war. The Manhunters could still be robots, but Oans in powered armor would probably be better. Atros survives the destruction of his city, hiding in the rubble, having lost his wife and children, and as he watches the army move on his ring appears before him.

He reaches for it once, and when it moves away he screams "Stop that! We have to go!", pointing with his other hand towards the retreating Oan soldiers, where we see one of them take a potshot at the ruins. The ring deems this worthy and flies towards that hand.

He rallies any survivors he can find to fight back, destroying all the Manhunters they can find. Once they run out of enemies he uses his magic to transport his army to Oa. Oa should also be a genuine civilization, not just a dozen old immortals.

Atros' armies run rampant through the world, until one day an Oan flies at him, also wielding a Red Lantern ring. They fight to the death, and as he watches the ring fly away he realizes he has become what he hated, giving him the shock he needs to become at least anti-heroic enough to function properly in the ensemble cast for this movie.

His canonical appearance is good, with the big shoulder pads. Just use his flashbacks to show that Ryut's armies used a version of that armour, so his is retroactively one of them, modified to be Red Lantern-themed.

Orange is John Henry Irons. As he was starting to research AmerTek's crimes, one of the power armor prototypes erupts in orange light, which isn't fading away for no apparent reason. Naturally the company quickly moves it into secure storage, for later research. He switches his efforts towards getting into the team that will work on that, thereby passing his Test; after he gets it he naturally uses it to destroy the company, and also becomes a superhero in his Earth.

He doesn't use a hammer and didn't get a ring, the armor itself being his magic's receptacle. It's still just unpainted steel, but later he crafted the symbol of the Orange Corps into the chest.

He can add other weapons and devices to the armor, to be run on Orange Light, but not immediately. He needs to do research for adapting each. The way that works is that he already comes with a variety of options, and if he collects anything interesting he says he'll work on it and we leave it as foreshadowing for a future appearance.

If he becomes a recurring character after this, it will be by having added dimensional travel capabilites to the armor.

Yellow is Jor-El. The first movie didn't specify one way or the other, but from his talk to the Council it seems possible that he'd warned them about the impending destruction of Krypton years earlier, and then grew increasingly frustrated as they did nothing, until it was too late. I'm running with that interpretation.

In another universe, when he was going to inform them for the first time, he saw a vision of their doing nothing and letting the world fall. So instead he spoke to the people at large, hijacking some sort of public address system they may have had. He was starting to seem like a crackpot, some soldiers approaching to remove him, but then his ring flared into existance. He put it on, raised that hand to call for action, and those soldiers fell to their knees, as well as many people watching through the world.

With the early warning and his magic, they were able to find a suitable new world and evacuate most of the population. They wanted to name it after him, or the Yellow Corps, but he convinced them to go with "Argon" instead.

(That probably also means those names are actually the name of the corresponding element in the kryptonian language, getting translated for our benefit, but we can ignore that.)

Also, because the first movie established kryptonians get their powers from the chemical composition of Earth's air, and I then established Lantern life support is based on your specific species' environment, he doesn't have those powers or know about them.

He still wears the same mostly black suit, but has replaced the symbol of the House of El with that of the Yellow Corps.

Green is Lobo. We do not get to learn how his Test went; instead he tells multiple contradictory stories about it.

He doesn't have his bike, but still carries multiple space weapons which he mostly doesn't need.

He also wears Lantern Rings of every colour except Violet. They don't do anything, of course. Since he can see Koriand'r doesn't use hers, he'll spend the movie pestering her to sell it to him so he can complete the set.

He has the symbol of the Green Corps tattooed on his chest, and loves finding excuses to show it off.

Blue is Komand'r. In her universe, as her mother lay sick, she kept insisting that she would get better, and then they'd travel the galaxy together. Everyone knew she wouldn't, but then one day she suddenly did. The princess grabbed both hers and her sister's hands and tried to drag them away, "to adventure".

The Queen was just starting to say it wouldn't be that easy when the Blue Ring appeared in front of them. She tied it to her hair, which works, and then she did indeed drag them both to another world.

Fun fact: I was considering making tamaranian royals be shaven and wearing wigs, like ancient egyptians allegedly did. I've decided against it for the sake of this.

Nowadays she wears her ring behind her neck, at the base of a braid that's almost as long as her body. She also has the same suit as Koriand'r from "our" universe, a.k.a. a more realistic version of the one from the cartoon and at least some comics, though again with the main colour changed to blue.

Every (tamaranian) year, on the aniversary of her mother's recovery, she brings her to a new, hopefully beautiful planet. Her sister rarely joins them. Last year she missed it on accout of the White War. This time she's just hoping the situation can be resolved in time for her to not miss the appointment again. This could also be a hint for how long tamaranian years are, but I hope that can still be kept vague.

Indigo is Sheko, from the Red Daughter of Krypton comic. She was a judge from a world where the justice system had been corrupted beyond any hope of repair; she's basically the last remaining believer in justice. She declared the crown prince guilty of multiple crimes and sentenced him to death, then the executioner shot her instead. She arose as a Red Lantern and immediately went on a murderous rampage.

She also had some sort of telepathy which she used to "judge" people, which is not standard-issue for Reds but she also didn't seem to have before; I'm also not clear on if those deemed guilty die as a result of it, or she just kills them after.

Anyways, for my Indigo version, her role in her society will be more focused on providing aid to victims, rather than punishment to the guilty. That may mean she should be more of an attorney than a judge, but I like the "judge" title, so let's just say their system is different.

Her Test was during the White War, so innocents were returned, starting with someone she tried and failed to help, then from her coworkers, and so on. She started trying to use her position to aid them, but had to admit it was beyond her resources and instead publicly ask for help, thereby passing the Test and receiving her ring.

However, by that time the corruption had spread enough that some people were White "zombies", further working to spread it and consume more souls. Again she tried to use her magic to save everyone, figured out she couldn't and left for space to seek assistance. Instead she got involved in the War. They didn't save her planet, she's the last of her people, but she cannot deny it was absolutely the right thing to do.

(In the aborted afterlife movie, I was going to show the main universe version of her didn't leave, her magic and soul were eventually consumed and she ended up joining the War on the other side.)

She also always had mild telepathy, which she mostly didn't use because it wouldn't be admissible evidence anyways. Her Lantern magic augments it, so she no longer speaks except telepathically. Maybe she can't, or at least pretends she can't. She also can "absorb" suffering from others, so it's easier to deal for them, though only temporarily.

She still wears her traditional judge robes, though with the colour and symbol swapped out for those of her Corps.

Violet is Koriand'r. We already know her.

Plus maybe alternate versions of one or more actual, named members of the Challengers of the Unknown. They would naturally realize what's going on and try and contact their local counterparts, thereby converging on their planet.

The Lanterns help this group with the research, transporting people and large machines all over the place, volunteering to be tested, powering devices, stuff like that. Together they figure out that space-time is "cracked" and sort of bending "inwards", so that people and things from other universes keep falling in.

Some of them also theorize this could destroy the universe, possibly retroactively; though not all agree on this interpretation. They start a plan to repair it, which will mostly involve them creating more machines and the Lanterns delivering them to key points in the galaxy. When they activate they should automatically push everyone back home; but even if not, they're confident they'll be able to build transporters for them.

The machines activate, nothing happens, and they power down. They check and discover signs of sabotage, so everybody scrambles to check out everything. Most of the devices have been tampered with. One of them also finds a portal machine, seeming similar to what the Science Team said they'd build later, though they insist they haven't yet.

They converge there, though Lobo is missing. After some debate, they decide to cross together, all six Lanterns and a few scientists.

The portal brings them to the outside of the same universe. Should be interesting-looking, but not fully psychedelic nightmare since they'll be spending a reasonably long time there. There are a bunch of highly advanced dimensional machinery, which the scientists are both excited and worried about.

There's also Lobo's decapitated corpse. His Green ring is already gone, having crossed back through the portal and gone off to the local Lantern Sector. We don't know that, because he needs to die offscreen to protect the traitor's identity, but we may see it in flashback later when he or she is ranting about motives.

If possible, have had some red herrings to imply Lobo was the traitor, earlier. He clearly died for getting too close to the truth, which means he was investigating, he suspected someone among them; this is presumably enough for careful scene design and camera work to make him seem suspicious, though I don't have any specific details in mind.

I haven't actually decided which Lantern is the traitor.

Anyways, the group keeps exploring, at least two of them arguing for going back (the traitor is either one of them or "undecided"), until the scientists start figuring out how to turn off or destroy the machinery, then the traitor kills most (but not all) of them before anyone can react. The other five Lanterns stand against him or her, we get a motive rant and a sufficiently impressive fight.

The general gist is that there is a multiversal conqueror, Prometheus, that is expanding in the general direction where all their universes lie. The traitor's world was already scouted by his advance forces, they barely destroyed them before they could report back.

The plan was to turn this universe into a sort of "trap", summoning powerful people from various adjacent ones. From among them he or she hopes to recruit an army that can hopefully stand up against Prometheus'. Also per the traitor's calculations (or whatever scientists support him or her), this particular universe is outside of the army's path, just far enough that they should avoid notice, but just close enough to ambush his forces when the time comes; that was why it was chosen as the staging grounds.

The traitor also needs an advantage to almost stand up to five alleged equals, so:

If Atros is the traitor, he has sorcerous skill far more advanced than Lanterns usually do. His magic may be blood-themed, as a comics reference. He may know how to disrupt other Lantern's magic, or at least mess with their biology in spite of their defenses.

He also has experience rallying an army against a coming conqueror, so it's reasonable this would be his plan.

If John is the traitor, he had a larger humanoid mech waiting, which interfaces with his armor and is powered by his Light. It's full of strange and powerful weaponry, some of it pilfered from Prometheus' scouts.

It's also in character for an Orange to focus on the "gathering" part of gathering allies. They must be prepared. He may be a little manic, in his rant.

If Jor-El is the traitor, he has figured out how to manipulate his magic's atmosphere to give himself superpowers. Either Superman's, or something even stranger and more powerful.

It's also highly in-character for him. He's warning them of oncoming danger, and they are fools not to listen.

If Kommand'r is the traitor, I don't have a particular idea for her advantage, but the betrayal would be extra poignant after the interdimensional sisters have become close. It's worth serious consideration just for that.

If Sheko is the traitor, her telepathy is more powerful than previously advertised, or maybe there are mechanisms that augment it.

She also will be focused on the fact that there's people who need help, she's absolutely willing to do her part, but she's not enough so she also needs them.

After the traitor is killed, the remaining scientist(s) figure out how to reverse the machinery's effect, which prevents more visitors from being dragged, but doesn't automatically send the people back.

They get out to see the rest of the Science Team has moved in and secured the area around the portal. Their instruments did detect the change in the structure of space-time, they are now reasonably certain reality won't cease existing, and will begin working on getting visitors to their homes.

A few months later, they've finished that. Koriand'r uses the Empire's reach to spread the news, direct people to get re-transported. They're also helping with security, and Komand'r (Queen, not Blue) hopes to leverage that into some manner of trade opportunities for them, thereby finally showing some interest in actually ruling her damn empire. At least for now.

The remaining Lanterns make their goodbyes, all promising to keep watch in case that conqueror does come, and carrying the data they'll need to rally their universe's Science Teams to build some sort of transdimensional comm system. If we have remaining alternate versions of Challengers, they also carry a full report. So, the traitor kinda won. Congrats!

Komand'r (Blue, not Queen) also promises to bring her mother here next year, and Koriand'r tells her she'll take them to her boyfriend's world. Unless she was the traitor, of course.

After the credits, in the Director's office in the Watchtower Station, Supergirl is holding back Power Girl. Bruce is cowering at his desk. She screams "HE KILLED THE SUPERMAN!" and her eyes light up, but a display of Red tentacles gets her to back off. He meekly asks what's going on, and the scene ends.

...some more movies here

I don't actually have ideas, just that the next one shouldn't be immediately next.

Challengers of the Unknown

They are basically the Fantastic Four. Actually it seems plausible they are the original idea that the Fantastic Four were derived from, though I don't know that for sure. Anyways.

Lanterns featured the larger group that they are a part of, which has no basis on the comics and I also didn't properly specify; they're probably just referred to as the name of their species and/or planet. But this movie is about an alternate universe version of the actual team, the four, sometimes five named members. I say we go with the five to further distance from Marvel's First Family.

None of them is from the alternates we saw previously. They are travelling on their own, for Science!, aboard a spaceship of their own design that can do that. They don't know about Prometheus, their higher-dimensional trajectory brings them from a different direction, kinda perpendicularly to his army.

The important thing is that they bring us the reveal that timelines created by "time travel" are particularly easy to detect and access. They should find Supergirl and talk to her in particular, explain that time travel actually doesn't exist, and how that really works. She already kinda knew her future had kept on existing, since Rebirth, but she could still get emotional about that and also decide to go home for this reason.

The important thing is the implication that the traitor Lantern was wrong, Prometheus may have been moving in a trajectory to miss this universe, but will presumably correct course as he comes closer, and probably was seeking the Legion's split-off timelines all along. The war will come here. No character has both sets of information yet, but we do, which is always cool when that happens.

The Challengers also sought her intentionally, as she's the single most interesting thing in this universe, from their perspective; they would have some device that can detect her. Again, the implication is that Prometheus' forces may or may not have a similar capability.

The Challengers don't believe there's a way to access her original universe, more or less for the same reason her new one is so easily entered. Action and reaction, something like that. They remain interested in the problem though, and promise to stay alert for any hint of a method, and to come back and inform her if such is found.

No such will be found, I will insist on "no actual time travel" for the sake of things still having stakes, but of course they don't know that. Also the movie presumably also had some sort of crisis or conflict that they dealt with, but honestly that matters less to me than the worldbuilding. Probably someone is attacking someone and they're here just in time to help, the movie ostensibly being a team-up between the Challengers and Supergirl.

With that we can finally have movies openly set in other universes, which means it's time for Power Girl. Actually again there may be a couple more indetermined stuff in between, but still:

So, about that Power Girl...

I'm not lying when I say I'd hoped for feedback on this. Still hoping I'm being over-sensitive.

In the original writeup (for Rebirth), I had Supergirl's brother tell her that the second time traveller, after the Legion deduced she had failed, was "your friend, whom you used to dress in your clothes". At the time I had no intention of bringing that character back.

My only thought had been that he needed some embarrassing anecdote about her, that I should tie that up with some bonus worldbuilding for their future, and that I should take the opportunity to establish the second time traveller was a man, because the Legion is equal-opportunity.

It was only later, after I accidentally invented Prometheus, that I started considering alternate timeline characters. Power Girl is an alternate version of Supergirl, but still distinct enough that either has continued existing at times when the other may have been retconned out. So, her being my second time traveler is too perfect for me to pass up.

I'm still bothered by the implications, and also the fact that Supergirl's brother would have to have known how his sister's friend ended up, but still chose to use that incident to make fun of her. To be honest I am tempted to retcon it away, claim the Legion's future doesn't have gendered clothes and he was instead making fun of her for the frivolity of it all.

But that would be untrue to the original reason for the annecdote, even if I ultimately voided it, kinda (the Legion is still equal-opportunity, because they didn't know until after), and also it would be a retcon, which I oppose on ideological grounds, mostly. So, I can only hope it's not too offensive? Here's her movie.

Justice Society

This is kind of a speedrun of the franchise so far, in the other timeline. Maybe it needs to be broken up; not a full twenty something movies, but perhaps more than one? But for now I will proceed assuming it can all be one.

The poster for Justice Society is a bunch of papers with sketches for various potential logos, and furthermore all sheets are arranged like the poster for Justice League, but mirrored horizontally. Obviously specific logos cannot match up, but they still should look cool side by side, I hope.

The movie starts with the Legion, on the day Supergirl was sent back. That's arguably overkill but we need it for the bookends. We open with her going into the time machine room, but from the other angle, so she's floating towards us. They do the small ceremony, the light show happens, but she disappears and we stay with the rest of the people.

I'd like it if this can be literally another angle of the same moment, filmed from another camera way back then. That may or may not be possible, depending on how exactly her floating is achieved, plus maybe any other technical issues I wouldn't know about.

Anyways, after she's gone everyone stands around stoically, waiting for the end of their universe, which doesn't come. The scientists start frantically checking their instruments. After a moment, the highest military officer present (the guy that Supergirl was talking to) turns to what seems the highest scientist to ask how long is it supposed to take. She looks at all her systems one more time and says "...not this long". Everybody deflates.

Then we would get some opening credits, probably set to some generic soft rock or somesuch, and the title card. Then come three sets of scenes: Power Girl's time in the Legion leading to her time travel, montage of her saving various people right after arriving in the past, and an interview she gives to Lois Lane about six months after arrival.

I'd also like for them all to be intermixed, using Lois preparing the article for publication as a framing device, but I'm not sure it works, since that implies everything is stuff she learned and there's at least two things in the Legion scenes that the people of the past shouldn't learn: that Power Girl is trans, and that she's the second attempt (and they believe the first failed and died). So here in order.

First, we need an actor to be pre-op Power Girl. Given they're rebuilding her "on a cellular level", it could just be anyone and we say any differences were per her request. But I actually prefer to not do that, and get two people as similar looking as possible, both for story clarity and to be able to say she didn't have any particular request, cosmetically. He gets at least two scenes.

First, getting measured for the making of the supersuit. It's again modelled after Superman's, boots and cape still red, but the rest of it is white, and there is no logo. They explain that the first attempt most likely failed on account of faulty historical information of some sort, so they're sending him further into the past, to have the opportunity to research and plan better. Superman is alive at that time, they wouldn't want to offend him. They considered using the Legion's logo, but ultimately decided it's not impossible that some version of it existed back then, better not to risk it.

Second, right after she explains and requests to be remade as a woman. I don't think we should actually hear the request, literally immediately after, with the actor looking slightly embarrased as the scientist responds. He says that yes, they can do that; it's basically trivial given all the other stuff they were already going to do. But re-tailoring the suit is much harder, he's not even sure if they can, "you should really have informed us of this before that was made".

That's also why the boob window; she couldn't fit in, afterwards, and they didn't have the resources to fix it properly so they just cut a vertical slice, at great expense, thus allowing the fabric to be pushed to the sides. I guess that makes it less circular than normal and kind of a diamond or cat's pupil shape, which we would have seen all the way back in Lanterns. Hope some people speculated about that.

I also enjoy having this justification for having the window at all. There's been many through the years, some stupider than others, but I'm reasonably sure it's never been something like this.

I also really enjoy the idea of her trying and failing to put it on, but there's no way to show that in a superhero movie, right? So instead let's say the cast jokes about that in interviews, "we tried so many camera angles and stuff, but couldn't get anything that would fly". And then it would inevitably become a sort of mad quest among certain fans, to get hold of that deleted footage, even if most believe it never existed and it was just a joke.

Anyways, this actor could have more scenes, studying and training for the mission, saying goodbyes to friends and family, stuff like that; or those could go to the final actress. Doesn't really matter, except that at least some training needs to go to her, since logically she'd need to do it after getting her powers.

Then she's transported back to the past, and the very first thing she does upon appearing on the empty Moon is to fly down and plant her feet firmly on the ground, before looking up to see the Earth's status. This one is always standing, and runs a lot; she only flies if required for tactical or logistical reasons. I don't have any deep psychological truths that may be revealed by this difference between her and Supergirl, but I still like to keep the contrast.

Also on the subject of parallels and contrasts, since Supergirl had her hair cut early in her adventure (and therefore presumably had long hair before), Power Girl will start with very short hair, but through the heroics montage we will see it growing progressively longer. Probably at an unreasonably fast rate, since that's supposed to last six months; but maybe it just extends further into the movie. Whatever the case, she ends up settling at butt-length hair.

She arrived in the past 6 years after Jason Todd's death, so the interview is three and a half years before Superman's, and 2 before General Zod came. That also makes it 3.5 years since Princess Koriand'r arrived and 3 since she's been dating Dick Grayson, though that's less important.

As for the montage itself, the only thing of interest is that she saves Victor Stone and his mom from their car crash. That means Cyborg won't exist in this timeline, and therefore also his dad gets to live. The cube itself remains in safe storage at S.T.A.R. Labs, no other scientist having been desperate enough to get stupid with it.

Unless maybe it's related to the end of the world, and both time travellers eventually destroyed theirs. I'm tempted to establish that connection simply for lack of anything better to do with either, but not sure. Let's say "maybe".

After the montage comes the interview, where Lois has various general questions for her. She admits to being from the future, from the Moon, here to save the world from an upcoming disaster she can't say more about for operational security, and various other stuff that it's surprising she'd be so open about.

I figure there may be some oblique-to-casual acknowledgment of her asexuality, as Lois asks about potential love interests (she's very popular, of course) and she denies having any interest. I also picture Lois apologizing, and claiming the more tabloidy questions were not her idea, others at the office insisted. Kinda wanna imply that was Perry, though she'd know better than to name him if that's the case.

At this point the world at large is already referring to her as "Power Girl", and Lois not-so-subtly suggests she use this opportunity to rebrand, as she doesn't find that name particularly dignified. Power Girl agrees she's probably right, but she doesn't care. Per the Legion's attitude towards names, it doesn't matter if it's technically stupid; nobody in the world is confused about it, that's all you can ask for from a name.

She still does share her serial, ac252ac247asc58tf123, and also draws the Legion's symbol for the article, having already determined there isn't any organization using it at this time. That would lead Lois to ask about the boob window, and if we're doing the interlocked scenes this is when we show the pre-op actor getting mildly berated for causing them to have to modify the suit; but either way all she says is "what, you don't like it?".

Also, about that name. That's the first appearances of Supergirl in general, the Legion of Superheroes, Power Girl specifically and Earth 2, respectively. It's also not a coincidence that the first half is the same as Supergirl; they were approximately the same age, and these are supposed to be serial numbers. That can't possibly hold up for any others, but we don't need serials for anyone or anything else.

This also confirms this timeline is a version of Earth 2, as may have been hinted by Power Girl's presence and also the Justice Society. I will be populating it with heroes who are, or could logically have been, from that continuity; not exclusively, but to some degree at least. I also suppose that makes the Legion timeline Earth 0. And then normally Earth 3 is the evil counterparts one, but I'm not doing that, my timelines are strictly "one change, butterfly effect".

Anyways, back to the interview. There's some sufficient generic interview-type questions, as modified by the reality of her being a superhero, then Lois closes by asking if there's anything she wants to tell the world. There's two things.

First, she may not be an alien, as maybe some people had been suspecting (unless the Moon counts), but there is a visitor from the stars currently living among humanity. She wants to have a meeting, in private if need be, for personal reasons.

Second, she needs to meet the Lex Luthor, as soon as possible, for future reasons. She stresses that it is important he receive this message, Lois reassures her the entire world has been waiting for this article and there's no way he'd be the one to miss it, and then they separate.

The very next day, Lex announces he's put all his other business for the month on hold, and is ready to receive her at her leisure, in his mansion in the caribbean. She arrives that same night, finding a fancy dinner waiting for both of them. We may take the opportunity to show she's a picky eater; it nicely contrasts Supergirl again, but it may be a little more unsympathetic than I want for the main protagonist.

Maybe a mild one: she grimaces a little, he asks if anything is wrong, and she says no, she's just still getting used to her enhanced senses, then keeps eating. Something like that may work.

Anyways, Lex is a big fan. He loves the idea that, in the future, humanity will seize godhood for themselves. We should see his "angels vs demons" painting, but he's graffitied it with a Legion symbol. She easily recruits him to save the future, and he admits since her arrival he's been looking into rumours of other people with strange abilities, which he wouldn't have credited before, but now he's been thinking about approaching them (and her) about forming some Society together. "Society for what?" "I don't know, Heroes? I'll have the guys at Marketing come up with something".

So they recruit some people to save the day. Still Wonder Woman, and Captain Cold. For Flash I established the older, dead one was Wally West, so I cannot in good conscience bring in Jay Garrick, sadly; he's either Barry again or missing.

I definitely want Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern from before there were space cops and so on. In this version he's not going to be related to the Corps at all, just a local mage, and won't be called that. From his list of titles from Wikipedia, I think Jade Knight works best. He'd have the power I denied Lanterns, to manifest objects made of hard light, but no active manipulation; he can create any tool but then has to wield it normally. Also his magic needs to be a different shade of green. May or may not have the weakness to wood, depending on if he gets enough screentime for it to be showcased.

Kinda want Shade, one of Jay Garrick's villains, who occasionally was a "noble adversary" kind of thing so it's not so much of a stretch to make him a hero. He basically controls shadows, so if Earth 1 had Ebon, this guy could be his counterpart. At the very least, Lex should be interested in recruiting him, even if he doesn't join.

Also Wildcat, though I don't have anything interesting to say about him. I know he taught Power Girl wrestling or boxing or something like that, but obviously that won't happen in this version. Nonetheless, he's in.

Add a couple more people, they succesfully change the future but she doesn't think she'll die, she solemnly thanks her people for their sacrifice and carries on. Honestly, Supergirl was also told how they expected it to work, she just didn't pay enough attention. Afterwards the gathered heroes become the first of the Society, with Lex as their Director.

For the record, he will be good. A little more underhanded than Bruce would be confortable being, which is why he succesfully recruited Cold, but this is definitely a "redeemed" Luthor.

They do heroics, maybe recruit a few more people, and a few months later Koriand'r meets Power Girl in the sky. Still wearing human clothes, but without her fake skin/eyes, and obviously wreathed in Violet Light. She thinks she's the alien that was being called out at the end of the interview; Power Girl is surprised enough that she realizes she's not and asks who, but agrees when she's told she won't betray the other's secrets.

She's here to tell her about the spaceship her systems detected incoming, and also the fact that she has such systems, though she probably knew that, from the future? She didn't, I know I originally said a better future historian would have recognized Koriand'r, but on second thought I realized they shouldn't; Earth 0 Star Grayson, née Anderson, lived and died in obscurity and comfort.

Power Girl theorizes it's probably the kryptonian survivors, though it's a few years too early for them to come. She guesses, but doesn't say, that probably the Kal-El triggered the distress signal early, as a result of the changes she's made to the timeline. Koriand'r is surprised to hear there are any survivors, Tamaran didn't know that. After a little more catching up between the two, they agree to go to meet them, so she takes her hand and flies them into space.

Minor retcon time! The way the kryptonian ship worked was very clearly visually a teleport, but it was never explicitly said, and the technobabble was very vague. Once again I assume that was on purpose, in case they wanted to build up on it later. That's convenient for me right now: we will say that it's actually continuous travel, though in a semi-immaterial state which is what allows them to break light-speed. I already had the martian experiment and the Cult of Mongul's spell also kinda work like that, so we may even go ahead and say every teleportation does.

The important thing is that a sufficiently advanced technology, such as tamaranian planetary surveillance, allows them to detect ships in transit and intercept them, which is what they will do. The ladies meet General Zod's ship around the asteroid belt, where it materializes to allow them to board. Probably Koriand'r had been transmitting a signal asking for parley, it's something the planetary surveillance systems could plausibly do.

The kryptonian atmosphere bothers Power Girl, but she's better able to resist, on account of her augmentations. Koriand'r probably doesn't drop her aura, after seeing her new friend coughing for a moment. Though she'd be fine if she did; this won't actually come up until later, but Tamaran's atmosphere is sort of "in between" the other two; both humans and kryptonians can breathe comfortably, and the later don't get any powers.

Koriand'r translates for the meeting. We may get a scene of her kissing General Zod, for linguistics purposes, on the grounds that these people aren't capable of love and therefore her magic doesn't give her their language. Faroa Hu-Ul told Superman as much, at least, and I've no idea when else I would be able to invoke that clause.

Plus it'd be kinda cool, her trying and failing to talk to them, until she realizes that won't work and just says "Tamaran", pointing at herself, hoping they understand. General Zod does, sighs and takes off his helmet so she can do it, then when she's done he puts it back on before asking her if it worked.

But on the other hand, clearly Jor-El and his wife and kid were love-capable. Presumably they wouldn't be alone, if we have that restriction it would be for the soldier caste specifically. So that begs the question of whether the requirement for Lantern translation is per person, or species-wide. I feel it should probably be the later, because magic, but it does deprive us of a fun visual right now. So, dunno.

General Zod confirms they're after the other last survivor of Krypton, Jor-El's son, whom he saved using illegal experimental technology. Power Girl denies it, it was she who found the ancient ship, and while trying to salvage it triggered what seemed to be an alarm of some sort, which is probably what they're tracking. He confirms that. She claims there are no kryptonians on her planet; she checked, after first finding the ship, in case she needed one to access the systems. Koriand'r realizes some or all of that is a lie, but doesn't mention it.

They keep talking, General Zod admits to his people's plans for Earth, which Power Girl knew from the future and neither of them will allow. He starts getting angry. Koriand'r insists they must claim a world without an existing biosphere, and offers her empire's resources making up for the added difficulty. This is the first time she'll explicitly admit to being tamaranian royalty, which should make Power Girl flinch briefly.

Koriand'r keeps trying to calm things down, but General Zod keeps getting angrier until he orders his people to attack, then immediately does so himself. The others hesitate very briefly before trying their best to capture or kill the two ladies.

Now, the first movie kinda established that the kryptonian power armors are almost on par with a powered kryptonian. More specifically, they defeated Superman the first time, when he was trying to figure out his powers, then he defeated them the second after he had some proficiency. I've never explicitly established this but it's most reasonable to assume Legion faux-kryptonians have equivalent power levels, and Power Girl is a trained soldier, so she'll have no trouble keeping up with them. The atmosphere probably bothers her more than the enemies.

As for Koriand'r, she's a Lantern. They simply have nothing that can threaten her.

So the two are getting swarmed by mostly ineffectual soldiers, while Koriand'r keeps trying to de-escalate and General Zod keeps ranting madly, until he says something to the effect that he'd rather see the mission fail than take her charity. Then he's immediately shot in the back, and before anyone can react Faroa kicks away his helmet and shoots his head off.

Then she drops the weapon, turns towards Koriand'r and kneels without further word. The other soldiers stop attacking, confused. Most of them drop their weapons, a few bow or kneel. Power Girl drops one she was grappling so he can join in.

Once everyone has acknowledged the end of the fight, Faroa apologizes for her superior. He lost his best friend during the planet's destruction, and apparently his mind as well. They will turn around and seek an empty planet to settle, difficult though it may be. They would be honoured to accept any help she still may feel gracious enough to offer, though of course they understand if the time for that has passed.

Koriand'r tells her to stand up, there's no need for that and of course the offer stands. She just needs to bring her friend home, and say some goodbyes. They agree on that and she grabs Power Girl and flies away. The moment they're gone, General Hu-Ul orders the ship start travelling towards Tamaran, on the grounds that a Lantern can easily catch up with them, or even wait for them there.

Koriand'r brings her directly to her appartment, where she applies the fake skin, so we finally see that. It'd really be up to the special effects people to work something out, but I'm imagining a small plastic box, like any makeup, which unfolds spider-like legs to crawl around her skin, applying a plastic-like substance. She dons it hastily this time, so we can see a little orange up her sleeve or down her neckline.

She also quickly writes some letters to unspecified people in her life, as she asks Power Girl if they can talk further after she comes back. She agrees of course, and promises to keep her human identity out of it, now that she has the address and also presumably could have read all those letters if she wanted, but she does need to report what happened to the Society. They both fly away.

Koriand'r delivers her letters but sees Dick in person, to tell him she'll be gone for a while on business, she can't say more for now but maybe she can explain after she returns, in a couple months. He doesn't see her fly or use any magic, but is maybe confused/worried about her having come all the way to Blüdhaven for that.

Meanwhile, Power Girl flew to the north pole, where she quickly found the ancient kryptonian ship and stood at attention outside. Clark emerges, already wearing his Superman suit and thinking she's here on account of future info. She tells him about the other kryptonians, their upcoming new world, and that the Princess promised to come visit soon-ish, she can take him to them if he wants.

He thinks about it for a moment, but refuses. He literally just found out he was an alien, he's lived on Earth all his life and has no interest in leaving. He'd really like to consider himself human, if possible. And also start helping people, like she does. So she brings him to see Lex about joining the Society.

He's having a meeting and dinner with Raven, who will end up becoming the Society's main mage. Power Girl is the one to introduce Clark as "the Superman", which surprises him briefly but he goes along with it. Lex is again excited to meet him, by now he's definitely an enthusiastic superhero supporter. He's also invited to the north pole, to see the kryptonian ship. He and Jor-El's hologram quickly establish a rapport, as fellow men of science.

They eventually move the Society's headquarters to the ship, and start building more structures for heroes that need or want housing there, plus support staff. Kryptonian science allows it to be both comfortable and ecologically sound. Jor-El ends up being in charge of comms for the Society, so all members get to know him at least a little. We also should meet some more new heroes.

I want both Jimmy Olsen and Lana Lang, in their superhero identities of Elastic Lad and Insect Queen, respectively.

She found an alien in distress and helped him, then he rewarded her with a ring that lets her partially transform into giant insect human hybrids at will. In my version he will not be an alien, I'm being much more conservative with those, so instead it's a human (or secretly atlantean) mage. And maybe she fails to save him so he leaves her the magic ring because he's dying; I denied that to Lantern Corps so there could be a Test system, but for an one-off it's not bad.

As for Olsen, he's actually already been introduced, as a CIA agent who dies as part of Lex's evil plan. There's no evil plan this time, so he'll be fine. Instead he gets involved in a secret project to give soldiers artificial superpowers, being the only success, maybe the only survivor. He's sent to infiltrate the Society, working under Amanda Waller. Lex knows about it, and offers him to coordinate on what he'll report back, which of course Waller knows about, and etc. He's a bit stressed about that but ultimately decides to just focus on heroing, leave the politics to the politicians.

On the other hand, I'm not sure if it's yet time to introduce him. Time is already getting vague, but we still need to be a while before BvS time. On the other other hand, the world is already highly changed, and presumably he'd been in that assignment for a while before it got him killed, so it's probably ok to just say he got different orders.

Other than that, one of the minor powered assassins from Steel, not the same one who was in Task Force X.

This is also probably the time for a super they try to approach but find mysteriously dead. I volunteer Black Canary, the original one from Flash comics; she may or may not leave behind a daughter who will be implied to eventually get the same powers and take over the role. (Batman killed her, but we won't be explicitly told that.)

Anyways, the next big thing is Lex and Jor-El cooperating to use kryptonian terraforming technology to try and help Earth's environmental problems. They construct two of the thing that was in the sea, since the one over Metropolis was their ship and they explicitly were only using it because they didn't have two of the other machine. They are placed on the poles.

Wonder Woman wants them to not do that, she's clearly worried, but doesn't want to say why, even when officially ordered. Lex and Jor-El double-check all the maths, in case she'd noticed something they missed, but decide she was probably wrong and proceed. First test goes well, data is promising, but they do have to cut it short due to an unforeseen event (Martian Manhunter, though we're not told that yet).

A little after, Atlantis attacks. King Orm used the test to rally all other kingdoms to his cause. Presumably, he would have tried it in Earths 0 and 1, but since there it was not humanity's project but rather an attack against them, it didn't work. Also this means Black Manta won't exist this time, since he doesn't need a man on the inside.

This is what Wonder Woman was worried about, but she didn't speak because she respects Atlantis' secrecy. She gets a minor reprimand for it, though ultimately Lex agrees she was caught between a rock and a hard place, there are no repercussions for her other than her conscience.

The opening attack destroys Coast City, Atlantis will use the ruins as their forward base. This means Jinx died, so Raven won't need to worry about that. The Society and various militaries rally to defend against them; if Jimmy's here already, this is when he officially goes from "multiple agent" to "liaison".

While the war is going on, Mera and, uh, Green Goblin? Ok his name is Vulko, thanks google. Those two split off to go betray the war effort. She tries to recruit Arthur, but instead finds a note where he tells her not to bother him again, he disavows both of his peoples. He won't be seen in this timeline.

That would also mean his mom will remain in exile forever. Sorry, ma'am.

Meanwhile, Vulko goes to talk to Luthor, much more succesfully. He goes to Coast City with a bunch of supers, including King Shark even if it's his first introduction, to assassinate Orm and install Mera as Queen, since she failed to find Arthur. Maybe he can suspect she didn't try all that hard, but we know that's not true so we shouldn't dwell on it.

Power Girl is the one to actually kill Orm. By neck snap from behind, because obviously.

Queen Mera immediately orders a ceasefire and announces she's giving the surface world "one last chance to surrender". Lex goes to her under white flag, along with Waller and some military leaders from some other nations, to negotiate terms. Which are secretly exactly as already agreed upon between Lex and Vulko. The atlantean peoples are impressed with their new Queen's leadership and proud of their victory, humanity actually gets a pretty sweet deal, and they begin having actual cultural and economic exchange, leading to greater prosperity to both.

Superman and Power Girl toss the terraforming engines into the sun. Maybe introduce a new hero to help with that. Let's say Rocket Red, I don't know if he would be capable of extra-planetary operation, but we can pretend Lex helped upgrade him.

Wonder Woman is sent back to her people, to also establish actual diplomatic relationships, before something like that happens again. She brings two ambassadors along. Lana Lang for humanity, and Lori Lemaris for atlantis.

That's a mermaid, powerful telepath, who was also one of Superman's ex-girlfriends, though not in this version. She uses a wheelchair, but does not hide her tail, it's simply a legitimate mobility need, on dry land. Also she may be a princess, Aquaman implied only atlantean nobles could breathe both water and air; that doesn't necessarily extend to merfolk but I'm ok with saying it does, so long as it's also clear Lori wasn't a realistic candidate for the throne nor does she have any other obligations she's neglecting by taking this commission.

Diana meets her sister, Donna, who should be a little younger, but I'm not sure how much. She's going to be 15 at the time of Dick's Test during the White War, but I never established exactly how much longer that is after BvS, which has been kinda my centerpoint for timekeeping. I guess she'd be between 8 and 12, but also we're still a little before Superman would have died.

Both ambassadors are very popular with the amazons, but unfortunately both of them are straight. Also, Queen Hyppolita lives, thanks to their presence either her accident doesn't happen or at least she's saved.

Some time passes, and we should see, probably in news clips or so, that some people are nervous about all the power Lex Luthor has been amassing. That's two, arguably three, alien civilizations that kinda have diplomatic relations with his Society, rather than any actual government. Mostly people agree he's benevolent, but not everyone is so satisfied.

Some general anti-superhuman sentiment can also start rising, though we wouldn't dwell on that because I specifically wouldn't want to tread on X-men territory.

A bit later, Ace Reporter Clark Kent is investigating the apparent suicide of Gotham City Police Commissioner James W. Gordon. He's walking a dark alley when a person jumps down from the rooftop, tells him not to move. Obviously he knew but he's here in disguise, so he pretends to be surprised and scared. He turns around slowly and sees Batman pointing a gun at him. That hand is shaking, slightly.

Clark tries to defuse, tells him he thought he was an urban legend, that he'll be glad to bring his message to the world, stuff like that; but Batman "didn't lead you here for an interview". So Clark raises his hands and walks forward, slowly, to press the barrel of the gun against his chest.

He looks around at the alley. We see the abandoned theatre on the side. "It was here, right? This is where the monster was born." "This is where the monster will die." And the next thing he tries to say is lost in the sound of the gunfire, and the pain, and the surprise.

Clark falls backwards and dies with the exact same choreography as Martha Wayne did. Same limb movements, same camera angles, same amounts of slow motion. I would seriously give him a pearl necklace if I could think of a halfway decent excuse.

Batman sees that and drops the gun, stumbling backward a bit. He's breathing hard, and turns to the side, hands on his knees, about to throw up. But he doesn't, he collects himself and walks back to the corpse. He hesitates one last time, then bends down to pick up his gun.

For the record, he never thought he could really get the drop on Superman. He was counting on him playing along, rather than revealing himself, for long enough to allow himself to be shot with what he would expect to be a regular bullet.

Also, this means I do need to remove all guns from BvS Batman. Back then I was ambivalent about that, but now it's important for thematic contrast, so officially: all his murders in that movie were done on melee or thrown batarangs, not a single bullet fired from him or his vehicles.

A few days later, the Society is giving an emergency announcement. There's a temporary platform in a park, with a line of reporters in front of it, not including Lois Lane, and a bunch of random onlookers behind them. On the platform, at the back, a bunch of heroes.

Nightwing is in his older, disco uniform. We probably don't get to hear this, but he first adopted it to distance himself from Batman as he started getting worse, since the better suit is definitely Batman-inspired. In Earth 1 he went back to it after Bruce's redemption, before we met him, but in Earth 2 that won't happen so disco will never die.

Chloe Sullivan, she also has a superhero suit, which shows her duties are as a healer, not any admin. Probably green hearts or plus signs, something like that.

The eldest of the Shazam Family, Mary. I guess arguably she shouldn't exist yet, but whatever. Timeline has changed, Billy was chosen even younger, which is probably fine.

Stephanie Brown, as Spoiler, she'll be 14 or 15 so we are under a year from Rebirth, though we don't necessarily know that since we are just meeting her for the first time.

Flash, if we have him.

James Olsen, the Elastic Lad.

Some strong-looking people. Let's say Hourman and two or three nameless generic heroes.

And at the podium at the front of the platform, Lex Luthor is flanked by his two closest friends, Power Girl and Superman. He thanks everyone for gathering on such short notice, says they must be wondering what this is about. Someone at the back asks if he's finally running for President, causing everybody to start screaming over each other. Not completely positive, but mostly.

Lex just stands in silence, smiling, holding out his hands until everyone calms down. The last thing before silence is someone at the back, not the same person, screaming "You have my vote!". Lex takes a deep breath, then turns around and exchanges places with Superman. Now everyone is really paying attention.

He says he will be going to New Krypton, to be with his people and learn about his culture. He thanks them all for welcoming him all these years, and turns around towards Lex to thank him for letting him be part of such an important project, and then he's shot down from above multiple times, bullets shining green. He falls to the ground, reverting back to his martian form.

Batman falls from the sky in a giant humanoid robot. If Orange Irons was the traitor in Lanterns, it is the same model, though with fewer add-ons, just the two wrist-mounted gatling guns. Also black and with bat ears, purely cosmetic.

The heroes mostly scramble to get Lex and all the civilians to safety. Chloe rushes to try and heal J'onn, Jimmy and maybe one other tagging along to protect her. We see from her expression that it's not working.

Power Girl rushes the robot and knees its chest, pushing it back a few metres but not doing any visible damage. Her eye beams also have no apparent effect. Batman focuses fire on her, which she dodges, but only barely, so as to keep his attention. That works, and while she distracts him Mary gets underfoot to invoke Shazam's name multiple times, getting it repeatedly struck by lightning.

We see from the inside of the cockpit, Batman wearing his power armor, as he desperately flicks switches and presses buttons, trying to keep the systems working as more and more of them fail. Eventually all his screens go black, and then he falls. The robot was toppled, but we're still looking at the inside, hopefully the motion is still clear.

Some light comes in as Mary and Power Girl finally pull open the front of the robot. Then the later grabs the chest of his armor, squeezes a little to hold it, and pulls him out. She starts demanding an explanation, he instead says something defiant. Probably something about killing gods, I don't have good wording. He simultaneously flicks open a butterfly knife, edge shining green, and stabs her directly in the eye.

It shatters, harmlessly. We see genuine surprise in his face; he'd never believed the "future woman from the Moon" thing. She smirks and pulls his face closer to hers. "Seems like someone will be going to New Krypton, after all". Then she flies away with him.

At the north pole base, Jor-El reports the criminal and asks for transportation. Shortly after a ship arrives and takes them both, leaving his armor behind for future study.

Kinda want this ship to be Space Cabbie, but actually New Krypton should have their own prisoner transport by now. But maybe they don't, and he has some comment about that? Not sure.

The audience chamber is clearly modelled after the Council's chamber in Old Krypton, but Governor Hu-Ul stands alone. After hearing the charges, she reminds Power Girl that she had originally testified that there was no kryptonian on Earth. She admits to that, but claims it was per his request, and that he wished to be considered a human, not a kryptonian.

Technically true, though he only said that afterwards.

Hearing her say that triggers Bruce to shout something hateful about him, which in turn makes Governor Hu-Ul shoot him through the chest. Then she says she'll accept that as a confession, from both of them, and sentences Power Girl to some amount of community service, on account of hiding Kal-El from their government, which inadvertently led to his death.

Given her power, she's tasked with helping the terramorphing efforts. Digging rivers, leveling mountains, stuff like that. A couple months later, Koriand'r arrives on a regular visit and learns about that. She helps her finish her tasks faster and then brings her to Earth, glad to finally have the excuse to visit.

She explains the deal with the Star Sapphires, which was easily fixed, but also that she's Queen now, which we should see in flashback. Her and the kryptonians stand before Komand'r in the audience chamber. She says they will not receive a single <alien small currency, probably> "for as long as I sit on this throne". She smiles meaningfully as she says that part. The kryptonians and her guards start getting tenser as the sisters stare down each other, but finally Koriand'r sighs in defeat and walks forward.

She gets up to let her sit down, takes off the Gown and tosses it over her head, and leaves, whistling to herself. That thing is their crown-equivalent, I hope that be clear by now. Also she's wearing regular clothes underneath. I don't want to just give her another colour swap of the Starfire suit, but then I never bothered to establish any further tamaranian fashion. Just, something casual-looking but still tight enough to plausibly have gone under the Gown.

Anyways, the kryptonians are left dumbfounded at what just happened, and the flashback ends.

While Power Girl was gone, Wonder Woman returned. She already sorted out her exile, this time she's an officially sanctioned diplomat. She brings along another to go to Atlantis, not her mother, either of their love interests, or her sister; any other named amazon from Wonder Woman. Though Donna may also be with them, on an allegedly temporary basis.

Also for the record, Vulko will be the atlantean ambassador to humans, and his counterpart is Giganta, a genius scientist who gave herself the ability to become giant, but growing makes her proportionally less smart. She's usually a villain, but it's far from the first time I just flip that around.

Koriand'r and Power Girl return directly to the Director's office in the north pole, where the first thing he does is ask them not to reveal that Bruce Wayne was Batman; the Society covered that up. That's probably all he needs to say, since Power Girl is a disciplined soldier and Koriand'r doesn't really care about either of them. But I do have more info, because I just can't help myself, so:

The Society planted evidence suggesting Wayne had been secretly cooperating with the late Commissioner Gordon, using a discreet amount of his wealth and influence, working to take down Batman. Actually it was Luthor who was trying to secretly support Gordon, which is also why the Society never took any interest in that situation.

Some more false evidence suggests that, shortly after Gordon's death, Wayne suddenly fled the country; but that was planted more ineptly, to make the police think Batman did it after killing him. This worked.

As for the man she brought to face neokryptonian justice, they released his identity as Patrick Malone, alias Matches, a minor criminal only notable for having worked under most or all crime bosses in Gotham. The police already suspected he had also done work for Batman, probably under duress; nobody really questioned the reveal of his identity. As for the real Malone, Luthor assumes Batman killed him long ago and took his name, though if he still exists he seems to have taken the opportunity to disappear, and he's glad to let him.

Fun fact: "Patrick" comes from Gotham, the tv series. As far as I can tell, no other version gives him a first name.

Also, Lex is wearing power armor. It's a modified kryptonian power suit, green and purple and modelled after his common cartoon one. He was traumatized by the attack and is never going to not wear it, for the rest of his life.

Finally, once Koriand'r leaves to visit her friends, but mostly her boyfriend, Lex also informs his friend of some new recruits. In particular he wants her opinion on one of them, who was apparently inspired by the attack. Wears power armor and a fancy warhammer of his own design, very impressive work; both painted solid white, and the Legion's symbol on his chest. Calls himself Legionnaire.

She mostly doesn't understand why it may bother her. She doesn't own the name or the logo and even if arguably she could lay prior claim to them, she would not have cared. Also the entire reason she's here is to prevent the Legion's very existence, so it's not like she can complain in their behalf. So it's all fine.

Some more time goes by, but not much, and then Dick's corrupted Test begins. Raven and whatever mage was Returned for her start doing the research, but as soon as they speculate about "love magic" Koriand'r suggests the Violet Corps will know about it, so she should go ask them. Dick immediately asks her to bring him along, thereby implicitly placing their relationship above literally everyone in the planet, thereby passing his Test. They leave together before anyone can notice the problem is over, as far as this planet is concerned at least.

And yes, he should get a violet version of his disco outfit.

The two of them get involved in the White War, and neither is ever seen again. We do not confirm their deaths, gotta keep open the possibility that they fell into a dimensional rift in case we ever want either or both to show up elsewhere. But as far as Earth 2 is concerned, they are missing, presumed dead.

Some appropriate time after, Komand'r reassumes the throne. Her first move is to mobilize an army to lay siege to New Krypton, demanding their ruler's hand in marriage. She gets it, and thereafter Queen Faroa mostly takes charge of all the Empire's paperwork. She ushers the way to greater prosperity and peace, and also a closer economic and cultural exchange with Earth, which finally becomes an actual member of galactic civilization.

As to whether the Queens had a personal relationship, either before or after, neither will ever confirm nor deny. That's why I specifically didn't want an answer to what orientation, if any, Komand'r has.

Eventually their heir will be a clone of Komand'r's mother, the late Queen Luand'r, created in the neokryptonian cloning vats. Queen Faroa will argue the use of them makes the child her legitimate daughter, in accordance with their law and custom, regardless of any peculiarity of her biology. All the nobles are satisfied by that, since all they actually care is that the eventual Ruler be of noble blood, even if they don't want to admit such out loud.

That also means the late Queen's corpse was stored in such a way that retains viable genetic material, though it must be almost a (human) decade since her death. Probably longer, no particular need for them to have had a kid immediately. So let's say Tamaran has ritual mummification, and a memorial planet full of royal corpses, too far from any sun to sustain any life.

The princess' name is Kand'r; I will admit that's the main reason I wanted these two together. Her mother will raise her to be an excellent clerk and keep up the administration of the Empire. In this timeline, they will far surpass the end of the (human) millenium.

Also, Stephanie Brown and Donna of Themyscira should become friends, because that's why I made them the same age, but I don't have any particular ideas for them. Maybe leave them for a sequel.

And that's about it. We've basically caught up with Earth 1, timewise, and leave off with Earth entering a new and exciting status quo. Could add something about Lex and Jor-El starting research into dimensional mechanics, but I don't think it's strictly necessary.

After credits, back at the Legion, we see the day the last atmosphere generator was destroyed. A team of repair technicians deploys, all dressed in a "realistic" version of Booster Gold's suit: the helmet covers their head fully, and all of it is fully sealed. A bit of bulk at the back, not nearly as much as an astronaut's backpack thing, but a little reminiscent of that. And some arm braces on both forearms, which are their computer terminals.

Their leader is Supergirl's brother, though obviously he can't be referred to as such. He's the Chief Engineer, or something like that. But we still may figure it out when his suit sounds an alarm, some info displaying on his arm, then before he can read it an explosion gets him.

His second in command tries to keep the rest of the team on task, but we follow the one that breaks and runs away. The others are screaming at him to come back, until he turns off his comms. He flies through the ruins of the facilities, until he drops to his hands and knees, breathing hard and crying.

The camera pulls back to show us this is the time machine room. The end.

If that was too much for a single movie, my first thought is to split most of the Power Girl stuff into her own movie, probably called just "Power" so it can pretend the original guy will stay, at least a little. That one keeps the Supergirl and Booster Gold scenes, of course. Poster would be the Legion's logo, against black or starry sky background.

...about Prometheus

First off, there is a Prometheus in DC. This is not that; I came up with the character first, then thought what his name should be for about five seconds, then checked to see what they may have used that name for. All I can say about that guy is he won't be showing up or be hinted at in any way, to minimize confusion.

So, this starts in the timeline where Ares' plan worked (from the tags), Steve Trevor and all the soldiers chasing him died at Themyscira's beach. Also I just checked that scene and they don't have planes, actually? I assumed he flew in, because he's a pilot, which would mean his enemies need to also fly in order to get him; but they're actually all arriving on ships.

Whatever, amazons don't fly until later. Still Diana gathers a crew to go out and bring peace to humanity, as inspired by Ares' visions.

Definitely include the one that would have been Donna's Other Parent. Her farewell to Queen Hippolyta is a little more heartfelt than any of the others; they're not a couple yet, but they're both already interested.

On the other hand, no to the one that was to be Diana's dead love interest later. She asks her to come, but only because she's asking everyone to come; they don't seem to have any particular feelings at this point.

The amazons are very successful, arguably extending the Great War by a few years, unless we count it as having ended immediately and then been succeded by their attack; historians will be divided on that.

If Doctor Poison was not removed from Wonder Woman, they recruit her to be the first of the science team. She also becomes a close friend of Diana, though not her lover because then we'd have to kill her off. That honour instead goes to some important guy, a prince or general from somewhere.

By the time World War II would have come, it doesn't, because all human nations already recognize Diana as Queen. Instead at that time she launches an attack to also conquer Atlantis. Aquaman's grandfather shatters her sword, but she kills him with the last bit left on the hilt.

This is before his daughter would have been born. Actually most people from the franchise won't be born, simply because of the huge changes in demographics. Princess Koriand'r is a Violet, but her visions did not include this world.

Anyways, a few decades later a farmer sees a ball of fire fall from the heavens into his farm, which contains a baby. He assumes it's God-Imperatrix Diana's son, and reports it as such.

It's actually not that unreasonable. Nobody knows where amazons came from; the official answer is "you are not worthy of knowing", but she also unofficially encourages the myth that they descended from the heavens, drawn by the last prayers of those dead in the Great War.

The kid's not hers, but she decides he should be, and adopts him. Also gives his ship to her science people to figure out, which is why she names him after the mythical figure, who brought fire from the heavens to help pull mortals out of the darkness.

About two decades later, Earth's joint peoples have made huge progress. They're already mining the asteroid belt, and begun terraforming both Venus and Mars. At that point they detect what seems like more of Prometheus' technology in the north pole, both he and his mother go to check it out.

She and Jor-El should get along well, I think. He approves of her parenting.

They do trigger the emergency beacon and draw in General Zod's forces. But because Mars has cities now, that's where they land and launch their threats and deploy the world engine, which also means Martian Manhunter will stay trapped, presumably forever.

Diana, Prometheus and their Honour Guard all go fight them. That's a bunch of supers, but we don't need anyone specific, just that every soldier there is special in some fashion. They're all wearing spacesuits modeled after roman armour. They easily kill the kryptonians and claim their ship.

Diana checks the ship's computers and learns about the history of the galaxy. The enormity of the conflicts going on breaks the last of the hope she didn't remember she still had, and that's when Ares shows up. After a brief talk she does go with him, both disappearing forever.

Prometheus picks up her sword, which has since been reforged using atlantean and/or kryptonian technology, and crowns himself God-Imperator. After a brief period of the scientists figuring out the arctic ship and the captured one, he leads Earth on a ridiculously succesful conquest of his galaxy.

In about a decade he has gained control of most territories not claimed by Tamaran or the Lanterns, and are starting to threaten war with the former when his scientists figure out interdimensional travel, starting the multiversal conqueror phase approximately at the time BvS would have been, because I vaguely picture all timelines running concurrently. Don't want people suddenly travelling to Victorian World or something.

Also, if Yellow Jor-El was the traitor in Lanterns, Prometheus would have found the same world that gives kryptonians even better superpowers, and his personal armor would be tuned to provide him that atmosphere, either permanently or as a temporary battle mode.

At some point someone needs to wrestle him from behind as he threatens to use his laser vision on something, but he succesfully fights it off and destroys his target and/or the interloper.

For his eventual defeat at the end of his part of the franchise, I was vaguely thinking there could actually be two Promethei, their interdimensional empires overlapping without anyone knowing it, so that the heroes may learn that and manipulate things to pin one against the other. That probably needs too much setup for movies to do it correctly, though.

Also thought Diana (any) could meet him and run some psychological warfare, but honestly probably not. He's likely met Dianas by now, perhaps even killed a few.

And there is always kryptonite, of course. But actually in the comics is usually been a rule that kryptonite doesn't work unless it's from the same universe, which to my knowledge no movie has brought up, undestandably. That may mean I'd be obligated to make use of that, no? Is that how that works? That's probably how it works.

...and then...

...there was a bunch of details that I keep elaborating upon, which were threatening to delay this even more. I have removed them and saved them elsewhere, there will be at least one more post in this series. And so on and so forth, probably.

[danny-chase]

Anyways saw jason being brought into a titans post recently because it seems fandom has this idea that Dick didn't mourn Jason/didn't care about him/whatever.

So anyways. Let's talk about post-crisis because that's the standard when ppl bring up Robin!Jason.

Fanon myth #1: When Dick mourns Jason, he's grieving someone he didn't know.

Canon: Post-crisis didn't have a ton of time to establish the new version of Jason's character, but they dedicated a whole issue to Dick reacting to Jason being Robin, had Jason show up in The New Titans, and frankly set things up so that their relationship was pretty much unchanged from pre-crisis (which was a good relationship).

The issue I just mentioned has Dick start out as annoyed in the beginning because Bruce didn't tell him there was a new Robin and Jason messed up a case he was stalking out. He's a bit harsh with Jason at first, but it's not meant to be something unforgivably mean - it's understandable. By the end of the issue they've given each other like 3 nicknames a piece (shorty, old-timer, kid, Mr. Nightwing, Mr. Robin, etc) and end by bonding over kicking the crud out of some dudes. It takes Dick all of one day to warm up to Jason lmfao, he's mildly harsh on day 1 and day 2 he gives Jason his old costume and contact information and it ends like this:

Batman (1940) #416

Now if that's the only issue you read, I too would be a bit skeptical, like "oh he showed up one time, everyone knows he had to at least pretend to try" and if you're reading through a reading list for Robin!Jason and are uninterested in Dick, you'll miss this next thing.

This is Danny Chase, a member of the Titans. He's searching for reserve members of the Titans because he's bored as he got left home alone when the Titans went to space without him.

The New Titans #52

Remember that there wasn't a ton of time for them to set up Jason's new characterization, but in universe, he still was Robin for about 3 years. In pre-crisis times, Jason did appear in the New Teen Titans, most notably helping save Dick and Raven from Brother Blood. This is something that is implied to be carried over from pre-crisis into post-crisis continuity, as Danny (who wasn't even on that mission) knows about Jason, has a nickname for Jason, and talked to him the week before he died - ergo the Titans, including Dick stayed in contact with Jason after that mission.

So yes, even in that tiny sliver of time that we got post-crisis Jason, the writers went out of their way to establish Dick and Jason's relationship. They couldn't do it more because it was literally like. A year.

Fanon myth #2: Dick didn't mourn Jason.

Canon: This likely comes from Dick being pretty much okay by the time A Lonely Place of Dying comes around. That's Bruce's arc, but that doesn't mean that Dick didn't have one - he, literally did.

In my expert opinion, he looks pretty upset about Jason dying here... and this is his initial reaction, not retconned or anything - this is a direct response to "A Death in the Family". Basically Danny goes "hey i think Jason died" and it sets off this chain of events

The New Titans #55

And that's just the initial reaction. Later in the issue, after taking time to think things through, he fires Danny from the team with part of his reasoning being:

"I've been thinking about what happened with Jason and I honestly don't know if we should be taking responsibility for someone as young as you."

From here, chronologically speaking, he visits Jason's grave and expresses guilt over giving Jason his old costume and notes that Bruce didn't even try contacting him about the funeral, which he had missed.

Next we have a not super well known Secret Origins issue where he confronts his feelings about Jason while stuck hallucinating in limbo, and this issue actually acknowledges the incident with Brother Blood and Jason helping out, which confirms it was brought along into the new continuity. Basically these panels sum up the incident.

Secret Origins Annual (1987) #3

So yeah the "recent emotional turmoil" is Jason dying and Dick's conversation with Bruce (where Bruce blames him for making him need a partner, blames him for Jason's death, punches him in the face while Dick is still injured from the space mission, and kicks him out of the house). And the "drug-induced slumber" is because Dick at some point has started taking sleeping pills, and he feels like shit at the start of the issue and takes one so he can get some rest (which then backfires). Also in this issue, he mentions that he's seeing a therapist (he hallucinates and is like hmm maybe i should call them, before being like, no it's probably fine, I'm just on edge... which rip).

In The New Titans #57, which takes place after this, we see him talking to his therapist, and going to confront Bruce, which now kicks off A Lonely Place of Dying with him in a better place now that he's had some time to talk things out with his therapist and such.

However he still doesn't like bringing up Jason

Robin (1993) #0

Here they brought him up for exposition, but let's not forget the time Dick beat the Joker to death because he brought up Jason's name. He thought Tim had been killed by the Joker too, but the clown saying Jason's name sends him over the edge.

Last Laugh #6

After this he's incredibly upset with himself and locks himself in his apartment and when Wally comes to talk to him he finds him looking at a bunch of old photographs, one of which Dick picks up at the end and stares at, which is labelled "Me and Jason". And further on the grieving ends of things, in Nightwing Secret Files #1 the first story features him hallucinating Jason who leads him through his life story (again exposition time lmfao). And in Gotham Knights #26, when Tim brings up Jason in an argument, Dick looks crushed and Tim just apologizes at that point, because he knows he crossed a line. So yeah. Dick grieved Jason.

Fandom myth #3: No one even cared Jason came back and they were incredibly mean and out of line, especially Dick who threw him in Arkham three doors down from the Joker!!!! Jason was pit mad he deserves none of this mistreatment!!!

Canon: Jason came back right before another crisis, the one Dick was supposed to die in, and actually gloated about Dick dying to Bruce's face, while trying to become a drug lord and trying to force Bruce to kill the Joker. Jason then proceeded after the crisis (which had left Dick in a three week coma - he pretty much didn't have the time/opportunity to respond to Jason being alive right away) to dress up as Nightwing and run around New York City killing criminals and through a bizarre series of events, Dick ends up saving him from being eaten by a tentacle monster and then Jason himself becomes a tentacle monster, and Brothers in Blood is an arc that exists...

Dick is conflicted about Jason coming back considering that Jason is you know, going around murdering criminals as Nightwing. He talks to a therapist but when Jason does ask for help, he does decide to go and save him. So he does well... care, it's just complicated because Jason as Red Hood isn't the Jason Dick remembers.

Jason has actually gone to prison twice. The first time Tim in his infinite wisdom decided now, right after Jason tried to start a gang war where his grand plan was "use the kiddie gangs as fodder" and uniting the gangs under the "good cops", would be the perfect time to give him a second chance.

Now the Arkham thing: when Dick became Batman, he decided to renovate Arkham and get ride of all the torture and shit that was going on, because he had spent some time there undercover and was like, getting tortured fucking sucks.

At this point, Jason, with his second chance decides he's going to use it becoming the "Batman Gotham needs" nearly kills Tim (who literally gets away by playing dead using a bullshit technique to slow his heart rate) and shoots Damian in the chest, and also attacks Dick as well (he's not messing around he literally sprays Dick with fear gas in this fight). He then becomes the Red Hood again and kidnaps Dick and Damian in a ploy to unmask them in front of the internet. The police capture Jason, and Dick pulls some strings to get Jason sent to Arkham - he has to pull strings because Jason doesn't actually belong there

Batman and Robin (2009) #23

And note: the joker just attacked everyone so like he's not in Arkham, he broke out a while ago. And also note: Jason's sane, he's passed all evaluations, he calls himself sane, he is making these decisions not out of pit madness, but because it's what he wants to do. So, why did they pull strings to put him in Arkham? Simple:

"He won't be safe in a conventional prison... there will be a list of enemies a mile long locked up in there with him. Unless he's in twenty-four-hour protective custody, all he'll be doing is fending off attacks."

- Dick Grayson, Batman and Robin (2009) #23

So yeah. He was in Arkham because Dick cared enough not to let him just die. Their relationship isn't by any means good in this period, but Dick very clearly, still cares.

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3

I hope that clears things up. @not-your-regular-nerd, tagging you because you recently seemed to have some confusion about how Dick could grieve other people but not Jason. I'd recommend reading some of the comics I mentioned if you don't think Dick cared about Jason. Him caring about Donna dying is not mutually exclusive to caring about Jason dying.

[stxleslyds]

Robin Jason, a friend and ally of the Titans.

PART 1.

Last Friday I was feeling extra rage-y after the news about the Titans mini with the Titans show line-up of heroes. I still think that a) Jason shouldn’t be considered a Titan or be in the team as Red Hood and b) that him going back to wearing a bat symbol on his chest is just bad but as @randomlut said there is a possibility of that book not being set in DC’s current universe and if that’s the case then okay, I will not complain about it anymore.

But this post isn’t about that Titans book it’s about Jason’s Robin’s appearances in volume two of the New Teen Titans!

Now, this won’t be an in-depth review of those issues from a story point of view, it will be a post in which I talk about Jason’s characterization and interactions with the Titans. Maybe I will even dive a little bit into why I think that the interactions that Jason and Roy have in those issues makes the relationship that they had in New52 very out of place.

Let’s begin!

·         NTT (1984) #19

Jason as Robin appears here only in the last page of the issue. After the current team of the Titans appears to be falling apart Donna calls Jason and others to help in a mission, this team that she puts together resembles the “original” line-up with Robin, Speedy, (Kid) Flash, Aqualad and Hawk.

·         NTT (1884) #20-21

Jason appears in the Titans tower along the OG Titans, when Donna finally tells them what the mission is all about (stopping Cheshire from interrupting a meeting) she asks if they are in on the job, Jason is not only excited about being there but about Batman actually letting him come all the way to the tower. A little bit of what Jason thinks or saw in Bruce is shown when Wally says that he “didn’t think the Batman could be thrilled by anything. He is always so grim.”

Basically, what Jason says is that the Bat isn’t that bad if you get to know him and that he cares about Jason’s education outside of vigilantism. Also, Jason seems to be grateful and very receptive of the things that Bruce taught him, he regards him as a very good mentor.

After everyone decides to help, they get on their jet. Here we have a very important interaction between Jason and Donna, she is telling him how she is feeling about the attitude of the rest of the team and about how she is a little bit lost now that she is in charge of the Titans and then she asks what Robin thinks about the whole thing, Jason is obviously thrilled once more, someone as experienced as Donna is asking him for his opinion? It blows his mind away! Batman never does that, he is always following his lead and never has a say on what they do so, to him, helping the Titans is only getting better and maybe he will ask the Bat to let him join them permanently.

Because they were talking Donna wasn’t paying much attention while flying and after they barely avoid crashing the jet, she apologizes to everyone and once more looks for reassurance with Jason, this time Jason is caught off guard but after Hawk teases him about his hesitation he tells her that “everything’s okay”.

When they arrive to Switzerland (where the meeting will be held) we have Jason’s first interaction with Roy Harper and him also slowly transforming into a burrito, that boy was cold and pissed off about it!

It’s really funny to me that Roy talking about Oliver’s pervy arrows is his very first interaction with Jason, who would have thought that a mad man would later make them besties?

They all go inside a building to get warm and for a while Jason is just chilling while the other Titans are all having an existential crisis, because here is the thing, Jason is a kid, he was presumably 14 here while all the other are in their twenties. Donna is having trouble with her new position as leader of the Titans, Wally is trying to live up to Barry, Garth is grieving his love, Roy is still very uncomfortable about being on a mission that involves Cheshire and Hank is just crazy. The others are trying to complete a mission while their real-life problems loom over them and Jason is just on an adventure with cool people.

Its not much later than Cheshire attacks the Titans, she first takes on Wally because he is her biggest threat and then detonates a bomb, now here I will give a little bit of context, Cheshire does not want to kill the Titans as of now, she just wants to incapacitate them because them being there is making her own mission more complicated, all I will say is that she doesn’t truly have villainous intentions and that she has a very weak spot for Roy.

Anyway, the bomb incapacitates Garth and Roy and Cheshire also managed to shoot Wally so only Donna, Hank and Jason are left standing to capture Cheshire, but here is the thing, Hank doesn’t want to capture her, he wants to kill her.

Jason has interacted very few times with Hank so far and it has always been Hank teasing him but now as Jason is going to fight Cheshire Hank interrupts him telling him that he will do “what has to be done”. Cheshire of course wont fall easily and I think that at this very moment she is thinking that killing Hank wouldn’t be a bad idea because he is going to mess her plans up! But not to worry as she is raising her gun Jason comes in to save his ass!

Jason is not a match for Cheshire and after that she quickly subdues him. But what’s important here is two things, first Jason doesn’t want or consider the idea of killing Jade, he just wants to capture her and bring her to justice, secondly, he doesn’t even want her to kill Hank, who has been violent towards every Titan and rude to Jason every single time that he has interacted with him. What I am trying to say is that this IS Robin Jason, he doesn’t think or act the same as Red Hood will in the future, he has his opinions on what punishments killers should get but he is not there to kill anyone himself.

There is this whole page where Donna beats Hank against a tree so he stops killing, because that’s not what the Titans do, she explains that if they do that then the public (that is already quite afraid of them) will just fear them more and they don’t need that, plus she believes that he is acting that way out of grief after losing his brother, as she is saying all of this though she is putting quite a lot of pressure on his chest and that might have ended up in her actually killing Hank if Jason hasn’t been there to stop her.

Donna is obviously not having a good time and after this she says that she “has had it” and that from now on Robin should “take command” because “its his group anyway”. Oh man…its clear to the reader that Donna is not having a good time being team leader but she also misses a certain person a lot. She is obviously not seeing Jason there, she is seeing Dick, the person that she is used to take orders from but he is not there.

Jason is aware of this, he might be a kid and might not have as many problems as the other Titans as of now but he is not a fool and he doesn’t want people to see someone else when they look at him, so he confronts Donna about what she just said/did.

Jason is just great in this scene; he just doesn’t want people that he admires to treat him as if he were someone that he isn’t. Just because Dick isn’t there doesn’t mean that he (because he is Robin) can replace him, they are not the same person and they do not have the same experience. He calls out Donna on her behaviour towards him and Donna being an adult takes responsibly for her actions and understands that ultimately, she was hurting Jason’s feelings. We have a kinda wholesome moment when they hug but because this is written by Marv Wolfman and he just can’t help himself, he proceeds to write Jason as a horny teenager. What a way to ruin the moment Marv…

Back to Cheshire, she is about to kick Wally’s face in when she decides to first tell him what he has to tell the others when they wake up, which is “Cheshire remembers”.

Wally tells the Titans Cheshire’s message but none of them truly understands what it means, Hank says that he doesn’t even understand why they are alive. Donna comes to the conclusion that Cheshire might want something from them and this is where Jason gives his thoughts, he says “Doesn’t matter what she wants. We take care of her. She’s a killer.”, its clear once more than although Jason (as Robin) wouldn’t kill anyone he does feel a certain type of way about criminals and wants them to be locked up.

After yet another verbal fight between Hank and Donna the Titans take a cable car to their next location, Jason is shown as exited about the view and the whole experience once more. When they arrive, they find Faraday (the guy that called Donna for help in #19) and he explains a bit more the situation but Jason once more is having trouble staying warm so he goes to the cable car tunnel nearby, but he doesn’t go alone, Roy goes with him because his “costume wasn’t made for this kind of weather either”, in this second interaction between these two we get to see Jason’s detective skills shine.

Jason has been watching Roy and he found his reaction to Cheshire’s message quite sus. Not only is he showing his detective skills here but he also said in a previous panel this: “The Batman keeps telling me to watch people’s eyes. And every so often I notice you become awfully agitated…like something was going on you didn’t want to be part of”.  Zdarsky, hey pal, I am talking to you, look at this dude! He read Roy like an open book, this is Robin Jason, he likes being Robin and he is brilliant at it, he is methodical because he learnt from paying attention and working with Batman, so, you sir are wrong, not only did UtRH disprove your dumb narrative but so does this interaction (along all his appearances in this book).

Roy is impressed by the kid, and yeah, he calls him kid because he is a kid…Roy is visibly older than Jason as he should, do you see it Lobdell? Yeah, there is no dubious age gap between those two as you made it seem. Roy is impressed because between both of them he is the one that is most experienced, not the other way around. How did Lobdell manage to make up a whole as run where not only were Roy and Jason close in age and besties but also Jason was better at vigilantism than Roy and Roy was the one being impressed. It’s wild, wild and bad.

Back to the issue, Jason taken out of the fight quite fast once more by Cheshire and she proceeds to talk to Roy, that’s where we find out that they were lovers and that she feels weak when she is around him because he makes her feel feelings but that’s not all, she tells Roy that he is “the man that fathered my child” …Oh and now she does want to kill him. That’s where #20 ends, so let’s see what happens with Jason in #21.

In the beginning of #21 Jason is conscious once more and when he hears Cheshire’s threat, he attacks her so she can’t shoot Roy, he also says this “Sorry ‘cat’ that’s a definite no-no. Don’t you know mommy’s and daddies should never fight” I, I don’t know why he had to say it like that…the 80s were weird. While Jason is being himself Roy is thinking “Don’t be cocky kid, Jade hasn’t got a sense of humour…” but because he wants to talk to Jade, he tells Jason to go, that he will handle Cheshire and he leaves.

Roy and Jade talk, Donna and Hawk are fighting bad guys and each other and at some point, Jason joins Garth and helps him take down a couple of guys, he also tries to make conversation with him but Garth is still not talking to anybody.

Cheshire tells Roy that he will never hear about their child again and that he needs to let her do her thing and stay out of it because he doesn’t understand what’s going on, Roy doesn’t do what she asks and she “poisons” him. Donna saves a guy that Hank was trying to kill. After Cheshire leaves Roy comes to the conclusion that she wasn’t there to kill the people from the meeting or that she poisoned him, but because they were there and everything went to shit now the people that were getting together are blaming the Titans for the interruption. The whole thing is a mess and the news channel are not nice about the Titans as a whole, but I am not interested in exploring that here. All you need to know is that the people that made Cheshire do what she did to the Titans were the Brother Blood people.

It’s on the jet that we see Jason again, he and the others are going back to the tower. Because the news are painting the Titans as bad when they are arriving to the tower Jason sees a lot of people protesting about them and he feels bad. This was his first job with the Titans and he is a kid, imagine how sad it would make you if you wanted to help and after getting the job done people were mad at you. But even though he is sad about that he takes time to ask Roy if he is okay after he sees him almost running away from the tower, he doesn’t get a response but he isn’t mad about it.

Jason’s stay with the Titans comes to and end and he says that he loved hanging out with them and is grateful for having been invited, he is so sweet!

·         NTT (1884) #24

Here, for some reason, we see Jason saying goodbye to the Titans again and unlike at the end of #21 Roy is there to see him leave.

I am not going to lie though; I liked this goodbye better it feels like it’s more complete than the other one. Here he says that Batman wants him back in Gotham but that if the Titans ever need him again all they need to do is call. He also mentions Nightwing which is funny because he will be called by Donna again in #26 to help the Titans get Dick back from Brother Bloods Church.

I am going to cut this part here because issues 26 to 31 have a lot of Jason content that I want to explore and I can’t put any more pictures here, also this post is already long as it is now!

I just love Jason’s little moments in these issues, him confronting Donna and reading Roy like and open book in #20 are my absolute favourite, I just think this is a nice way to kinda show how wrong some current characterizations of Robin Jason are and what better way to do that than reading and looking into some good stories.

Oh! Before I forget, in #21 Roy leaves the Titans’ tower to go see Jade and he actually gets to meet his daughter Lian for the first time, so yeah, that was a wholesome moment!

[sohotthateveryonedied]

Hiii!! I really love your tumblr posts and I'm pretty new to the Batfam (meaning I have only read fics and textposts about them, no comics) and I wanted to ask about the year Bruce/Batman gets "lost in time". I know general things of what the kids have been doing–Dick became batman and fired Tim from robin, giving it to Damian, everyone thinking Tim was crazy for believing Bruce was alive, (don't really know what Jason was up to though, was he still murderous towards Tim? Does the pit still affect him? Also I have no idea about Cass and Duke, were they introduced at this point??) Anyways, my real question was why was Bruce lost in time, what villain put him there? And how did he get out? And how long was he "dead"? Was Bruce in another reality or like just asleep the whole time? Oh! And how soon did this happen after Damian got introduced to the family–a couple months?

I'm so sorry this is so long, but I hope you answer and thank you!!

(I’m going to try and cover all my bases here by going into how exactly Bruce “died,” what went down during the Battle For the Cowl, what the Batkids did while Bruce was gone, and how Bruce came back. Hopefully it all makes sense?? We’ll see how it goes lmao.)

Part 1 - What Happened to Bruce:

So there was this event called Final Crisis (which I won’t go completely into since it would make this post a million times longer than it already is), but the bottom line is that Darkseid wants to overthrow reality and release his Anti-Life Equation, which would overthrow the whole planet and turn everyone into slaves. (If you’re interested in knowing more about the storyline, here’s a Reddit thread that explains it WAY better than I could.) 

What I CAN tell you is that during his final confrontation with Darkseid, Bruce is hit by an Omega Beam and turned into a burnt chicken nugget killed. Poor guy.

Final Crisis #6

Clark and Diana bring the body back to the Batcave and break the news to the Batfamily. Batman #687 covers a good portion of the aftermath such as Bruce’s funeral, the Batfamily grieving, and Dick coming to terms with his new responsibility of becoming Batman.

Batman #687

Part 2 - Battle For the Cowl: 

Musical chairs time, fellas! After word gets out that Batman is gone, Gotham erupts into chaos. Dick doesn’t want to take over the mantle, Tim needs Dick to take over the mantle, and Jason says “fuck it” and takes over the mantle himself because somebody around here has to. He becomes this murderous psychopathic Batman and starts taking out criminals with deadly force because someone’s gotta do the job, so it might as well be him.

Batman: Battle For the Cowl #1

(Okay honestly, this series had some pretty bad characterization overall, which sucks since it’s such an important storyline. Jason is portrayed as this violent psychopath, which...okay, he was kind of insane after the Pit and all, but not to this degree. Personally, I choose to owe the bad characterization to Bruce’s death because as much as Jason resents Bruce for all he’s done, he does still love him and losing him would be devastating, which would exacerbate his already fragile mental health. As for Damian, this happens roughly three years after his first appearance, so we can assume it’s been a few months since he first joined the family. He’s still relatively new at this point, so nobody knows how to write him yet. He ends up being depicted as if his main two personality traits are Bratty and Assassin-Child and that’s it. It’s all just a mess.)

Anyway, Tim tells Dick to become Batman and stop Jason’s reign of terror. Dick says no, so Tim follows Jason’s lead by saying “fuck it” and putting on the cowl himself. He goes to confront Jason, which ends in Jason beating the crap out of him (again) and leaving him for dead after Tim declines his offer to become Jason’s Robin. Dick goes to save Tim and ends up fighting Jason. 

Battle For the Cowl #3

Dick wins, Jason disappears, Tim is fine, and Dick finally gets his head out of his ass and becomes Batman. 

Part 3 - What Happens to Each Batkid While Bruce is “Dead”?:

Dick: 

As I said, Dick becomes the new Batman a month after Bruce’s death. He’s got big shoes to fill, and it takes some time for him to get used to his new role. He and Damian end up flipping around the classic Batman and Robin dynamic, with Batman now as the fun counterpart to Robin’s edginess. Dick, Damian, and Alfred relocate to the penthouse above the Wayne Foundation building, operating out of a secret Bat-Bunker in the basement.

Batman #688

Jason: 

After Battle For the Cowl, Jason is still batshit insane and determined to make Dick’s already stressful life even harder by becoming a supervillain with an ugly costume and an even uglier hairstyle. (I know it’s just because the artist sucked, but still. Jason is horrifying to look at during this time.) He mostly just gets on Dick’s nerves by running around Gotham with his new sidekick Scarlet and killing criminals as Batman and Robin wannabes. Eventually, Dick has Jason committed to Arkham Asylum and he hangs out there until Bruce returns.

Batman and Robin (2009) #5

Tim: 

Tim...doesn’t do great after Bruce’s death, mentally. Dick makes Damian Robin, his reasoning being that Robin is more of a sidekick and he sees Tim as his equal. By making Damian Robin, Dick hopes that it will give him the stability he needs to keep him from straying back toward the “bad” side. (It’s the right move ultimately, although his execution was pretty messed up since he didn’t discuss it with Tim beforehand, but he’s allowed to make mistakes. Dick’s father just died and now he’s in charge of picking up the pieces of their broken family. It’s a lot to handle.) 

Long story short, Tim has a breakdown, realizes that Bruce is alive, dons the Red Robin identity, and cuts ties with his family to travel the world in search of proof. It’s a rough time. 

Red Robin #1

Damian: 

Our little guy becomes Robin! So proud of him! As I explained earlier, Dick makes Damian his Robin with the assumption that it will keep him out of trouble, and he’s right on that account. He mentors Damian, teaching him how to channel his violent instincts into something productive, and it works! Slowly but surely, Damian makes the transition from bratty assassin to actual hero!

Batman and Robin (2009) #22

Cass:

Duke sadly was not introduced at this point in time, so he missed out on all the pandemonium. Cass, however, has been Batgirl for years by now, but she got kind of pushed aside by the writers after Bruce’s death. Bruce disappears shortly after adopting Cass, but once he was “dead,” the writers sort of moved Cass around for a while, not quite knowing what to do with her. First she was with the Outsiders. Then they got disbanded and Cass tried forming a new network of heroes to take over for Batman if needed. Then she helped out in said network during Battle for the Cowl, taking care of a newly ravaged Gotham. Then Cass gave the Batgirl mantle to Stephanie Brown after she became disillusioned with the role, thanks to the loss of her father and mentor. Then Cass picked up and moved to Hong Kong to “follow Bruce’s plans” by continuing whatever work he had set up for her there. It was all very vague and confusing, and Cass more or less got swept under the rug during this time. Thanks, writers.

Batgirl (2009) #1

Part 4 - How Bruce Came Back: 

When the Blackest Night storyline happens, the Justice League realizes that the corpse buried under Bruce’s grave is apparently not the real one and that he’s actually alive out there somewhere! How wild is that! This is further proven by Dick after he places Bruce’s body in a Lazarus Pit to revive, which has the same result because it’s very clearly Not Bruce and they should have listened to Tim from the start.

Batman and Robin (2009) #9

Anyway, what actually happened is that the Omega Beams that Darkseid shot at Bruce didn’t kill him, but rather blasted him back through time to the prehistoric era with his memories wiped. The Omega Energy inside of Bruce ends up catapulting him through various time periods, which is all part of Darkseid’s plan. With each time-hop, Bruce builds up more Omega Energy in his body which, when he gets back to his original time period, will be unleashed and destroy everything.

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #5

It’s been a little under two years since Final Crisis, though in-universe it’s uncertain exactly how long Bruce has been “dead.” We can assume it’s been a year, give or take. The way he comes back is too scientific and complicated for me to understand, so uhhhh the bottom line is that Tim and a few Leaguers save Bruce at the Vanishing Point and the day is saved! Hooray! 

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #6

(If you want to read about how it actually goes down, then I seriously recommend reading Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne. It’s only six issues, so it’s a quick read and it explains the situation far better than I ever could.)

Bruce eventually reunites with his family after spying on them for a period of time as Insider to see what has changed in his absence:

Bruce Wayne: The Road Home

After that, things quickly settle back into their new normal. Dick and Damian stay on as Batman and Robin. Bruce goes back to being Batman as well, with him handling Batman Incorporated business and Dick continuing as Gotham’s defender. Tim keeps the Red Robin outfit, Steph stays on as Batgirl, and Cass becomes Black Bat. Jason stays in Arkham for a while before filing an appeal to be moved to a regular prison. He kills 82 inmates in less than a week and gets transferred back to Arkham, which he promptly escapes from. It’s a ride, I tell ya.

Aaaaand that’s about it! I hope this answered all of your questions!

[lovecinnatwist]

How do you feel about omega Jason Todd/ alpha Dick Grayson? Maybe Dick didn’t know Jason was an omega until Jason got hit with some of Ivy’s pollen...

GasP Anon what a great idea! I adore JayDick-  Alpha!Dick and Omega!Jason is a bop even if I don’t write it often.

I hope you don’t chaotic mess which is pining!Dick!

Sexuality Crisis Adverted

Tags: Omegaverse, Heat/Mating Cycles, omega!Jason, alpha!Dick 

The moment the dust settles around them Jason knows that he’s fucked. The groan that creaks from his chest is heavy and tight. A side effect- he’s sure- from all the Goddamn pollen. Why couldn’t Poison Ivy chill with it already? It hasn’t worked before and it isn’t going to work now. There’s a series of loud beeps in his ear, signalling the filtration system in his helmet shutting down. Not that it matters when the equipment hasn’t done its job in the first place. He undoes the latches with quick fingers all while Ivy heads out through the giant hole she’s made in the ceiling. 

Not like he’ll let that stop him. The cool air prickles against his face in a refreshing way. It feels wonderful against his quickly warming skin. He tosses his helmet to the side to deal with later. For now he’s got to get that bitch back in jail before she spreads more of the new strain about Gotham. 

He hunts her for what feels like hours. By the time he tracks her back to Robinson Park he’s low on ammo and his heat has finally begun to set in. The familiar cramps and aches make his joints squeak. It’s something he feels more than hears over the sound of whatever Ivy’s latest plan is. He shoots right through another blossom and more dust goes flying. Not that it matters. Even if his heat turns critical he knows exactly how much time he has and it’s more than enough to get her in Arkham. 

A flash of blue and black blurs in the background. His eyes can barely follow the movements between staying focused on Ivy. He dodges two of her attacks and fires. He nearly grazes her but a wall of vines take the hit. He curses and charges forward.

Sharp. It’s one of the benefits of heat. The starling clarity when your instincts are at a fine point does wonders for things like this. Well until the actual fever crashes down and you’re too sluggish and horny to do anything but sleep or get fucked. Jason doesn’t mind either, though with Roy and Kori off-world he’s sure he’s going to be doing more of the former this time around. 

Nightwing makes himself useful and the next time Jason shoots he hits his target. It’s only rubber bullets but her hiss of pain is satisfying. 

The two of them work seamlessly. Which is a feat in itself with the ugly filtration system Dick has on. He looks ridiculous and Jason makes sure to tell him that as soon as he gets a chance. The sound of alpha’s laughter follows him through the air as he performs an effortless flip out of the way. Jason can’t help the quirk of his lips and soon they are putting Ivy away together. 

Not bad for an impromptu team up.

Nightwing hands her off to the police while Jason lays on top of a nearby roof. He’s catching his breath as the fire within him cools a bit. The exercise made him tired but it's a good kind of ache. One that distracts him from the way his lower abdomen curls and unfurls repeatedly. Once he’s no longer struggling to catch his breath he starts thinking it’s time to head back home. 

Soft footfalls land behind him. He scoffs. 

“ What none of the pretty officers down there ask for an autograph? “

He’s teasing mostly but nothing but silence greets him. He pauses and cranes his neck awkwardly to catch the other man’s expression. The wonderment and awe there are foreign.

Dick opens his mouth to speak before closing it. He isn’t wearing that ugly mask anymore so now Jason can easily read his expression. It’s odd considering what a steel trap he usually is. Despite his body's protest he sits up and faces the alpha. 

“ You good? “

He can read the anxiousness in his body language. It’s helpful considering the fact that Dick is absolutely drenched in scent blockers. Jason usually is too but without hood and the impending heat- well he wouldn’t be surprised to be told he stinks. The idea of showering and curling up in his bed with a good book almost makes him purr. Dick says nothing again. He just stands there looking stupid and Jason- well Jason doesn’t really have time for it. 

His bones scream as he stands. The ache is setting in fast but he’ll be good to get home. He’s definitely traveled home in worse states and thanks to Dick he didn’t take too many hits. He stretches and twists, the soft pop in his lower back is gratifying. There’s a slight uneasiness in the air. The longer the silence goes on the more tension starts to form between them. Jason can’t be bothered with it so as casually as he can manage he starts shifting towards the edge of the roof. 

“ So- this has been fun but I gotta go. Need to shower this shit off before the fever sets in. Thanks for the assist. I’ll send my report so tell the old man he doesn’t need to bother- “

“ You’re an omega! “

Jason blinks. It’s probably the worst cut off he’s ever gotten. The lack of tact is new for Goldie and Jason for the life of him can’t shake off his discomfort. If it were another time he would laugh. The stupid way Dick is gawking his hilarious. The alpha smacks a hand over his mouth like he’s trying to keep from saying anything more.

Jason’s eyebrows fly up.

“ Uhhh yea? “

They don’t really talk about secondary genders. Not often or ever really. Sure technically Jason should have a bunch of pack jobs to do but since Bruce hasn’t formally asked him back he doesn’t bother. Cass is pretty good at nest building and caring for the others so there’s never been any need. 

If anything it’s been more of a relief. He’s always been pretty weird about his dynamic. Not because he thought it made him weaker or something. It’s more because the second anyone found out that all 6”2 and 215lbs of him is omega? Well they got this intense kind of look on their face. Kind of like they weren’t looking at a person anymore, more like a piece of meat.

Kinda like- Kinda like- how Dick is staring at... him... now.

The puzzle pieces click together all too slow. 

Dick removes  his hands like he can’t quite help it. His eyes wide in amazement and- huh is it the light or are his pupils dilated? The alpha starts to speak and the words start coming out in a rush.

“ I had no idea that you were an omega- I mean it makes sense- because you’re gorgeous and at first- at first I thought I was gay. Not that there’s anything wrong with that- but like i’ve never been gay- like i’m into omegas always have been but then there was you and you just made me think all these things and feel all this new stuff and gosh I was so confused. Now everything makes sense though because now I’m not gay and you’re an omega and you smell good and fuck do you always smell like this? You smell amazing little wing. I hope our pups smell like you. It’s kinda sweet but spicy, like in a good way. Kinda like warm sheets out of the laundry and chai tea- I just wanna roll around in it and get it all over me- I know that’s kind of weird but like I’m a weird kind of alpha sometimes i’m sure it won’t really bother you too much through like I swear I’ll be a good mate and take good care of you and- God is it weird i’m taking so much when I should probably be taking you to nest? I should totally be taking you to nest. God I can’t believe i’m talking so much when you probably just wanna rest. Or well fuck? We could do that too I don’t mind you probably look so gorgeous all fucked and pupped up- I hope it sticks. I know I’m kind old to not have any pups yet but like I feel like I must have been waiting for you and now- “

Jason’s eyes have been growing widder by the minute. Dick’s mouth is still going and his heart is racing with every word. He’s practically babbling to himself. While Jason- Well Jason  is feeling a little frightened. He isn’t even sure how to stop the alpha either but then Dick is walking towards him taking about mating, sex and pups and well- well Jason has to put a stop to it there. 

He takes out his gun and shoots right past the alpha’s face. Dick had been so lost in his words he didn’t even notice Jason take the weapon out. Jesus just where is the alpha’s head at? Actually he knew where the alpha’s head’s at. It’s why he’s currently got his M1911 pistol between them.

Dick shuts up and Jason welcomes the silence with a silent prayer. Moments pass and when he sees the alpha doesn’t move, he lowers the gun a fraction.

He takes a deep breath. 

“ 1. What ever you’re talking about right now?  Isn’t happening. You’re saying a whole bunch I don’t get- but let me be clear. You are not getting anywhere near me, my nest or my vagina. “

Dick flushes at the word. He opens his mouth and there’s a quick ‘ but Jay’ on his lips. It’s kinda admirable but Jason doesn’t have the time. Heat fatigue is on him and the last thing he wants is Dick Graysosn trying to take care of him or- or doing whatever the hell he’s talking about. 

He fires another bullet this time close enough to graze the kevlar. 

“ 2. I don’t know how you apparently missed that i’m an omega but just because I am doesn’t mean we’re suddenly going to ride off into the sunset with me birthing barefoot however many pups you want. That isn’t happening this- “

He waves the gun back and forth between them. 

“ This isn’t happening. “

Dick looks determined and his mouth is in a tight little line. He opens his mouth to speak and Jason raises the gun again. The furrow of those perfect eyebrows is kind of adorable but mostly annoying. 

“ 3. If you even try to come within the radius of my den while i’m in heat i’m going to shoot you, Not in your leg, not in your arm, but right between your pretty pretty eyes. You got that? “

Jason prefers people to pale when he’s threatening them but instead the alpha lights up. 

“ You think my eyes are pretty? “

Jason groans. Alpha’s were such a pain. He never really took Dick to be like a typical one either. He kind of wants to put more thought to it but he can’t when his skin is starting to crawl and itch in a way that’s numbing. 

“ I think you’re pretty irritating, that's what I think. “

The alpha frowns and Jason takes a step back. 

“ Remember the rules Goldie or you might get yourself in trouble. “

He gets a solemn nod. Dick looks troubled as much as he looks confused. The alpha is standing there nodding to himself as if he’s gluing together an invisible puzzle. 

“ Yea- Yea that makes sense. “

Tension eases from Jason’s shoulders but then Dick starts talking again.

“ God I haven’t even courted you and here I am talking about pups and sex like a total knot head. I haven’t given you any gifts or even won any challenges- God talk about stupid. I’ll totally make it up to you Jason you’ll see I’m a good alpha I swear I just need a chance and then I’ll for sure convince you- “

Jason Todd is sure Dick’s lips are moving a mile per minute. There’s also a frantic quality to his movements that look- off but he’s in no shape to be the judge of anyone's state of mind. Maybe he had gotten dosed by something earlier in the night? 

Oh well- that’s a problem for the bats. Jason isn’t having any part of it. 

He hops off of the roof leaving Goldie talking to himself.

Getting back to his nest turns out to be easy which he’s grateful for because the moment he inches through the window is the moment he realizes how tired he is. He practically crawls into the shower. The only reason why he doesn’t skip it all together is because the idea of bringing dirt, grime and pollen into his nest sets his instincts on fire. He bathes thoroughly despite how sluggish and tired his movements are. After all, it's probably the only bath he’s going to be having over the next few days. Besides answering the delivery guy and bathroom breaks he doesn’t plan to do much else. 

Clean and cool he slinks his way to his bedroom, his hair still damp from the shower. He doesn’t have much of a nest going on but the half constructed walls from the other day are at least a base. He pads over to the closet and drags out the rest of his material. His body thrumming with fatigue and need. He knows from experience however that if he tries to sleep in a half done nest he’s just going to be fitful all night and have to do it anyway. 

Better to get it over now. 

He crafts everything together with slow, drowsy movements. One of the edges is a little lopsided but he can’t bring himself to care. He’s got a few things from Kori and a few things from Roy and as usual it all goes seamlessly with the rest of bedding that he kept around the house. He’s got a small pack but it’s his. The soft smell of milk and pup from Lian’s little yellow shirt makes him smile. It’s mute and a little dull but it does the trick. Especially when he keeps everything in the air tight containers Roy made him. 

Nest finished and body clean he crawls into the mess of blankets. It’s soft and soothing against his feverish skin. The contact calms some of the aching that’s been echoing in his bones. He sighs and melts, curling into his pillows as his eyes fall shut. It’s cozy and his and for now that’s enough. He passes out before he can have another thought. 

In the artificial heat, Jason sleeps like the dead. A good nest has always done wonders at keeping him pliant. Something he plans to reap all the benefits of as he takes some time off the streets. He rolls over and stretches, soft fabric wrapping around his ankles. He purrs and nuzzles deeper, a content thrum of safe, warm and happy running through his system. Heat sleep is always some of the most restful.

He basks in the warmth coming from the window, ready to roll over and go back to dreamland. At least he would be if some ass hole didn’t decide to start doing home renovations. 

The pounding sound is annoying. Almost like someone has decided to build an entire Goddamn shelf at whatever time of the afternoon it is. He hisses and buries his head under his pillow. It helps a little until he realizes that what he’s hearing is knocking and it’s coming from his front doors. He groans.

Maybe if he doesn’t answer the person will give up?

They do not give up. 

Jason drags himself out of his nest fully ready to shoot the person on the other side of the door. No one knows about his apartment. He’s always made sure not to give the bats the slightest idea where it is. After all they were too noisy and the idea of any of them being able to show up whenever they wanted gave him anxiety.

He wipes his face and it does nothing to wake him up. When he shouts out a gruff I'm coming the knocking stops. He groans his legs like led as he drags himself to the door. It only takes one peek through the spy hole to see who it is. 

His head falls back and he curses the day the universe decided to tredge his sorry ass back to life. 

“ A bullet between the eyes Goldie. “

He means it to sound more rough and threatening. For the most part though he just sounds tired. He’s gotten enough sleep of course but the demanding furnace of heat is only just starting to burn through his energy reserves. Something about the bodies need to redirect all energy toward reproduction or some shit. Jason always assumed its alpha propaganda but you know what? He welcomes the break because sometimes the only care he gets is from himself. 

“ I brought breakfast? “

Jason winces at the awkward tone of voice. He doesn’t move to open the door and Dick stays quiet for a tense moment.

“ I wanted to apologize for last night and figured maybe we could talk? I got your favourite. Baleadas from that place you like. Add Avocado and Bacon. “

The omega curses. At the mention of food his mouth immediately starts to salivate. With how quickly his heat came on he hadn’t really gotten a chance to prepare. Usually he likes to prep some meals and in the interim order take out. He has to admit that Dick knows him pretty well if the alpha is showing up with food. 

On one hand letting a viable alpha into his home is probably a bad idea. On the other hand he could most definitely take Dick if it came down to it. Decision made he reluctantly starts to disarm the security system. 

“ You try some shit- “

Dick’s worn face appears, take out held up like a peace offering. 

“ And between the eyes I know. “

Jason fixes him with a look and when the alpha doesn’t move he steps to the side to let him in. They head to his little kitchen after Jason shuts the door. The apartment is small enough that they didn’t even go far. He glares at the alphas shoes and Dick is quick to take them off. While he does Jason helps himself to the bags. 

When Dick had said breakfast he had been modest. There are at least three bags. Some with fresh fruits, some with expensive bougie chocolates you can only get up town, Baliedas of course, fresh made guava juice, heat pads, electrolyte drinks and a variety of cramp medicine. He rolls his eyes and digs through a little box that Dick pushes onto the table as he fidgets next to an open chair. 

Jason raises an eyebrow before grabbing the box and flipping it open. A happy trill leaves his lips before he can stop it. He pulls out a semita the smell of sweetness and cinnamon filling the kitchen. Roughly pulling out a chair he takes a seat, his mouth watering before he even takes a bite. When he does he moans happy and light as flaky pastry melts on his tongue. 

God had to be from Aliana’s. Shit was perfect. 

He scarves down one quickly, licking his fingers before reaching into the other bag to pull out a warm balieda in aluminum foil. The food is so good he completely forgets Dick is even there. For the most part his mute alpha scent is blocked away which makes it easy to ignore him. Well except for the soft smiles and what the man must think are sneaky looks thrown his way. 

He gets half way through his second semeta when he finally looks at the alpha who is sitting in the furthest possible chair. 

“ So- we gonna talk about last night? “

Dick has the decency to flush. His color darkens in an interesting way. Jason doesn’t ever think he’s ever seen him like that before. He chews slowly and the alpha groans covering his face in his hands. 

“ Was testing a serum with Alfred before we got the call about Ivy. It’s a new formula and didn’t seem to be working, didn’t kick in until we were half way done. “

Jason makes an understanding noise. It’s a good thing they got things done quickly but still Dick probably shouldn’t have been out compromised like that. He takes a straw and pops it into one of the juices. At the first sip his entire body flutters with alertness. There’s just something about sugar during his heat that could raise him from the dead. 

“ What the hell were you doing out with that stuff in your system? What if you got caught or something. “

The way Dick looks down and his blush travels to his ears is very telling. Suddenly the words from last night return to him. 

‘ at first I thought I was gay ‘

He blinks. Oh my God. Dick actually had a thing for him. Even when he for some unexplainable reason thought he had been an alpha. A part of him is actually flattered that the bone head would jump into the fray to give Jason back up. Not that he needed it but still the gesture had been nice. 

Now here he is, at Jason’s apartment, bringing him breakfast and things to help him with his heat. The scent of insecurity leaks through what must be industrial scent blockers because Jason can barely get a whiff of anything else. He hums low in his throat and blue eyes flicker up to his. Jason tries to read what he see’s there but Dick’s gaze drop down again. 

“ Thought you could use the help. “

‘ More like you wanted an excuse to see me ‘ Jason thinks.

He leaves the alpha to stew instead tucking away the new information he has. Now that he’s full and rested he can actually think a bit clearly. Dick isn’t a bad looking alpha. His skin is a gorgeous gold color that blurs the line between ethnicities. The contrast of his vivid blue eyes almost makes him look like they are glowing. His teeth are straight and he’s got a great smile with plump lips that will probably be nice to kiss-

Jason’s also seen enough of Dick coming in and out of the showers to know how crazy the alpha’s body is. All hard lines with battle scars and marks that make his inner omega sing. Something dark and dangerous wants to push and see how his marks would look amongst the collection. He sips his juice in silence, mulling over the possibility. 

Warmth pools in his stomach, waking up the first tendrils of arousal for his heat. Dick’s eyes look up and he swears he can see the alpha’s nostrils flare. He smirks and then laughs when Dick looks mortified to have been caught blatantly scenting him. 

“ Well this has been nice. Thanks for breakfast Dickie but you should probably get going before my fever flares up. “

When the man stands Jason’s eyes trail down his figure. The alpha jumps under his attention, skittish and shy. 

Not bad, not bad at all. The hunter in him purrs. 

“ Yea- sure totally glad I could help. I’ll just be going. “

The stuttering of his words is cute. Unlike the night before when Dick had basically been vomiting words, now he’s shut like a clam. The difference is endearing. Jason stands and Dick stumbles back. 

“ I uh… hope your heat goes well. If you need help, just call and i’ll do my best to get here. “

Jason fixes him with a look and the expression of sheer horror that crosses the alpha’s face is worth the drama. 

“ Not like that- just like food or whatever? Like if you have cravings or something. “

Dick stumbles over his words but the recovery is smooth. Jason watches Dick putting on his shoes. He heads back over to the plastic bag on the table.

“ Uh huh. “ 

He makes a show of stealing one of the wrapped candies and twisting it out of the foil. Dick’s eyes stare and his fingers. The blue follows, follows, follows until he brings it to his lips. Jason grins as he sinks his teeth in. 

The helpless way the alpha swallows him gives him a thrill.

“ Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on the way out. “

Because now that he’s looking- what an it is.

Dick gives him a terse nod before turning and twisting the knob. He tilts his head as the alpha leaves. When the door click shuts he gives a sound of appraisal.

Yea, Jason wouldn’t mind hittin that. 

After the impromptu visit he starts scheming. 

First, he finds out the ingredients of the serum. It turns out to be a pesky little thing that blurs the line between a person and their instincts. An attempt to make their truth serum recipe stronger. Some shady shit Bruce probably shouldn’t even be dabbling in. But then again it seems like it's okay for the line to blur as long as no one dies. 

He scoffs, tossing his tablet down. 

Focus- no wasting his heat thinking about Bruce. Not when Dick is clearly a better subject matter. He purrs low as warmth pools in his belly.  Reading the report made one thing clear. As frantic as the alpha had been, he had also been genuine. 

Luckily Jason doesn’t even have to do much to get the man to visit again.

His heat fucking drags.

Sure he’s usually quite long but this- this is just too much. Enough that Dick goes out of his way to drop food outside and leave it for him to find. The first time it’s a surprise but by the third- well Jason is opening the door before the alpha can run away.

He looks decadent in his Richard Wayne civies, smelling like expensive cologne and wearing something soft. The dark blue of the scarf brings out the lightness in Dick’s eyes. While the dark grey sweater hugs the man’s muscles in all the right ways. It’s nice to see all of his face too. The way the alpha’s features stand out in the plain hallway is almost overwhelming. Or at least it would be if Jason hasn’t been spending the last 5 days obsessing over him.

He decides to press his luck. Technically he could get away with at least this much, he is in heat after all. He smiles as he accepts the bags, making sure to brush against Dick enough to scent him. The quick little intake the alpha does is precious. It’s subtle of course but with how Jason’s heat stink is practically visible in the air Dick looks like he’s been smite. 

For seven entire minutes the man is stun stationary at the front entrance. It’s almost comical how long it takes him to recover. Jason’s already eaten an entire carton of nasi goreng and an egg roll.

Dick excuses himself under the guise of being late, his cheeks pink. The alpha nearly goes head first into the door frame in his embarrassment. Jason has to bite back his laugh. He busies himself with licking sweet and sour sauce off of his lips as the man retreats. The thought of ‘how cute’ doesn’t leave even when the food is done. 

It shouldn’t be this easy to fall for him. The clumsy way Dick goes about things is so different than anything he’s ever had before. Bless his sweet shy heart but the alpha is anything but assertive. 

In fact it reminds Jason of a romcom. When the male lead is obviously in love with the protagonist and everyone can see it except for him. It sort of feels like that. Though the more Dick tries to cover his tracks the more Jason finds neon signs of tender affection and desire. 

It’s courtship. 

He doesn’t know if Dick realizes it yet, but Jason’s sure as hell accepting it. The thickly drawn line he put down in the beginning is starting to edge away. Every little gift, every text message, every fleeting glance is chipping away at it until it disappears.

When leaves his curtains open a sliver at night, he can catch the alpha guarding his apartment. 

Now logically it could be seen as platonic. After all, Pack mates were meant to watch each other’s backs- especially during heat and rut. Jason hasn’t been there for any of his pack members' cycles, and in turn he never takes it personal when they haven’t been there for him. 

Now that he has it though he never wants it to stop. 

The next day when Dick stops by, Jason spills something on the alpha’s shirt. It’s an excuse. Something that a league alpha would see through. Dick however is absolutely oblivious and Jason takes great pride in making Dick leave in one of his. Stinking like possessive dangerous omega and in exchange he adds the alpha’s shirt to his nest. He also adjusts it to make it big enough for two.

It smells amazing and he sleeps with his face in it. 

Jason enjoys every moment of his heat. He soaks up the attention the alpha lavishes on him earnestly. On day 10 he actually finds himself saying a little thank you to Ivy. His heat isn’t nearly as strong as a usual one but the symptoms are still obvious enough that he has to stay shut in. It gives him more time to iron out his plan of action. Well it’s less of a plan and more like throwing himself at the alpha and taking and having until he’s full.

He purrs thick and heavily. The rumble is so dark it’s almost like a growl but Dick looks completely unbothered by it. He doesn’t mind most things Jason has been learning. The alpha doesn’t shame him for being taller and wider than him. He doesn’t make Jason feel like less than himself, or less than others in his caste. He’s just nice, oblivious but nice and Jason- well Jason has never had that before.

He licks cannoli filling off of his fingers while sneaking a peek at Dick. 

Jason has to hand it to him. He’s doing a pretty good job and pretending to pay attention to the movie. There’s no way he is though. Not with how Jason’s apartment smells like safe, happy, wanting omega. Not with the way Jason is making sure Dick knows just how comfortable he is with him in the room. 

Dick’s scent is mute because of the blockers but that doesn’t mean much against enhanced senses. He can still smell the brief wisp of indulgent pride at providing for him.

The delicious italian food is spread out of the low coffee table like a feast.

One thing Jason could say for certain, the alpha knew how to eat. The baliada’s had only been the beginning. Dick’s brought him some of the best goddamn food he’s had in a while. There’s been slow cooked ribs with all the fixings. A 4 cheese pizza with truffle oil, spinach and grilled chicken with fresh gelato for dessert. Then of course the handmade pasta they’re having now. 

Absolutely perfect and only a fraction of how the alpha has been spoiling him. 

He even made it a point of giving Dick a few challenges of his own. Simple things that he slowly increased the difficulty on. The first day he had asked for something elementary. A blue blanket. Nothing too hard because he just wanted to see if the alpha would. Then- 2 hours later he had the biggest, softed blue blanket that he’s ever seen. Adding it to his nest had been soothing to his instincts. 

Next he asked Dick to take over a case of his. Nothing with a time limit of course but the alpha took it anyway. He used all the information Jason gave up and two days later the bastards dealing to the middle school up north were in black gate where they belonged. That alone had been good- but Jason… Well Jason wanted the best. 

That’s what led him to this little idea. He’s got the most recently released rom com on screen, Dick’s soft blanket over them while he lounges on the couch with nothing but a thin white t-shirt and a pair of sweats that fit him in all the right way. Before Dick had come over he made sure that the place had been absolutely coated in his scent. Which had been kind of easy with how much his heat tends to stink up places. 

He leans against the alpha and feels him stiffen up against him. It’s minute but the man quickly relaxes when Jason purrs soft and sweet. A gentle sound made to relax alpha’s whether they wanted to or not. He shifts and feels Dick’s eyes drop to his chest. He feels hot knowing that the alpha can clearly see his nipples through his top. 

The movie drags on and Jason enjoys torturing the alpha. 

It’s dainty touches at first, just to test the man’s reactions. Simple and frequent enough that he’s sure the alpha knows he’s doing it on purpose. 

So what if he wants to cop a feel off of the alpha who’s courting him? It’s his right. 

He curls into Dick’s side, surprised how his body fits in the curve of the alpha’s arms. His breast presses against a bicep. A purr starts to build in his throat.

“ Movie’s good. “ He lies. 

The alpha grunts the affirmative. It’s obvious that he isn’t able to pay attention. To be truthful Jason would be insulted if he could. After all he’s purposely pumping out a perfume of sweet, wanting, waiting omega that must have Dick dizzy. 

Still the man doesn’t push and Jason’s heart pounds in his chest. 

They reach the end of the movie and Dick seems too quick to get off the couch. Jason stretches and lays down his entire body relaxed and warm. The last bits of heat are whispering out of him which he’s glad for. It means he has more energy and more than that- that he can’t be accused of being compromised. 

He hums as Dick straightens up the leftovers on the coffee table. He’s so diligently good that Jason just needs to reward him. He bites his bottom lip peering up at the alpha through his lashes. Slow and purposely he runs a clothed sock up the inseam of Dick’s black slacks. The way the alpha tenses and stumbles is equal part adorable as arousing. 

Blown blue eyes look at him and Jason’s purr grows. 

“ C’mere. “

Jason is pretty sure he didn’t let any sort of command slip into his voice. It had been nothing but a soft honest call but the way Dick just- lets everything fall to get back to him did things to his ego. Dick stares at him helplessly. Eyes struggling to stay on his face, but darting down to his lips, chest, thighs then back up in rapid succession. Jason sinks into the couch, the soft rumble in his chest merging with the credits on screen. 

“ ‘m feeling a little restless. Would you scent me before you go? “

Jason tilts his neck up, demour and willing. When he cuts his eyes at the alpha he’s sure there’s mirth in his gaze. He can’t help it however. Not when Dick looks like he’s about to short circuit. Almost like the only gravity in the room is Jason and if the alpha takes his gaze away from him for a moment he’ll be floating towards the sun. 

Huh, his heat must be cooling off if he could think up that metaphor. 

The alpha swallows not moving. Jason watches his hestitance gleefully. He knows what he looks like. The hard lines of his body posing in an open and friendly gesture. A wanting gesture that would have a weaker alpha already on their knees. 

Jason smirks, He can practically hear Dick’s heartbeat pounding in his chest. 

“ Sure Little Wing, yea I can do that. “

He can but he still hasn't moved. Jason would snort but he doesn’t want to give away the game too quickly. He wants Dick to move on his own. To see how the alpha will genuinely act if Jason leaves himself open and vulnerable. 

Instead of his neck, Dick lifts his wrist and uses it to drag up and down the smooth expanse of Jason’s throat. Jason’s purr crescendos to the point where it almost hurts. His vocal cords vibrate as his chosen alpha rubs his scent all over him. It’s mute because of the patches- but still undeniably Dick. 

Jason’s eyelashes droop. His entire body is warm content and happy. Dick stares and him and the omega stares back. 

“ I should probably go…. The movie was good, thanks for suggesting it. “

Jason didn’t watch a goddamn thing and he’s pretty sure Dick didn’t either. 

“ Anytime Goldie. “

He means it. The two of them bask in silence, the title screen flicking back up as the credits roll to a close. No one says anything so Jason is content to leave things where they are. He has all the answers he needs. 

“ See you around. “ 

Sooner rather than later? He wants to quip. He holds his tongue however. Patience. Tip your intentions too early and your prey will get away. League lessons ring true even now. He feigned nonchalance while nodding at the alpha.

“ Sounds good. Bring Sushi next time “

There’s nothing left for Dick to prove. Jason has already made his decision.

The alpha smiles soft and sweet. His entire face lightening up at the promise of another meeting.

“ Sure Little Wing. “

Jason grins. 

How clueless and naive. The poor thing had no clue that next time actually meant eternity. 

[miss-choco-chips]

Favorite color

Ever since he was born, his world was filled with colors, a beautiful rainbow at his fingers. He’d look down at them at night, or when his parent’s leaving made him want to cry, or when a horror story told by a classmate in the playground scared him half to death, and find comfort in their silky touch and bright hues.

He was seven when he learned the meaning behind them. And the blaring lack of red signaled the first, but not last, heartbreak of his life.

Blue, green, purple, black… and bright yellow. A teacher, a missed opportunity, a first love, life and death… and friendship. No eternal love for Tim, it seemed.

Well. He hadn’t really expected any different. Who would love him forever, when his own parents didn’t?

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

He had forgotten it, and it escaped his notice for many years. Until one night, following Dick Grayson as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, when he noticed his purple string moving in synch with him. Pointing towards his hero, the boy who had given him his very first hug that night at the circus. His First Love, his Not Meant to Be.

That night, Tim packed up early and went home. He just couldn’t stand the red uniform contrasting sharply with his purple thread.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When Dick left, he thought maybe now he could go back to his old habits, to run the streets looking for flashes of the new robin without the baggage of avoiding to look at his own hand.

No such luck.

The green made a whole lot of sense when news of Jason’s death reached him, tough.

It wouldn't be the last night he’d cry himself to sleep, holding the frayed ends of his fated Almost.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Becoming Robin was both easy and painful. Comfortable, because the blue string pointing him towards Bruce meant this was always supposed to happen; heartbreaking, because it took a kid dying. Because Tim might not have a romantic soul mate, but his hands, that had made a green string break to grant him access to the blue path, were stained red nonetheless.

Wearing Robin’s red, with all the hurt and bad memories it carried, felt like a subpar punishment.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Meeting his Yellows almost passed his awareness. In the middle of a crisis, every adult missing, no mentor to guide him, he couldn’t exactly spare a thought for the kids looking shellshocked at him, each other and their hands.

After, when Young Justice was officially formed, he firmly avoided looking at Bart, Superboy and Wondergirl. Their eyes followed him, pleading, but he’d learned no good ever came from strings that weren’t red.

And the red in his soul wasn’t from love.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Despite himself and his best efforts, they grew closer. Life or death situations had that effect on people, after all.

His own reluctance, which had in turn provoqued Kon’s anger, Bart’s dejection and Cassie’s confusion, slowly began to crumble. He was helpless in the face of their unrelenting friendship.

The strings grew shinier, stronger, healthier, the yellow a stark contrast to frayed (dead) green, cold blue, distant purple. Scary black.

Tim still despised the rainbow in his fingers, but… he could maybe withstand the sparks of yellow he’d catch from the corner of his eye, knowing just who were at the other end.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It wasn’t exactly team training. Greta, Anita, Cissie, Slobo and the others didn’t join them, for whatever reason. It was always the four of them, leaning on and learning from each other.

When Kon’s strength frustrated him, when the world around him seemed to be made of bubbles and sea foam, Tim stayed late at night every weekend to help. Every spare moment directed towards coaching him, again and again, through exercises he had to come by himself (Clark was no big help, here), until exhaustion made his muscles tremble and Kon’s anger had burned out from frustration to soft acceptance that he just wasn’t like the rest. Until he could hold still and let Superboy trace the side of his jaw with a careful finger, and exchange proud little smiles when his face remained unbroken.

Bart being raised by video games had the expected outcome; he had little to no practical, day to day life knowledge. He was the closest living thing to a Looney Toon. Which was fun and good when crime fighting, his crazy ideas often saved their ass last minute, but unacceptable if integrating him into society was to be considered. So Tim would take him out, hand in hand so he didn’t forget himself and ran on his own, to leisurely stroll down busy streets, arcades, schools, libraries. Talk to people in parks and visit recreational centers, barter with street vendors and ask the little boy selling flowers on Jump Street how his mother is doing. Whatever Tim could think of that would soften Bart’s cultural shock.

In that regard, Cassie was a godsend. With her own attentive mentor, and raised like a normal girl until she obtained her powers, she was the most well balanced member on their team. Tim had started to feel a little restless (how can he help her, how can he convince her to stay…), when he noticed her frustrated, sad face whenever Donna was mentioned on Tv, when any reporter or older hero compared the two Wonder Girls. Familiar as he was with imposter syndrome, Tim would rest his arm around her shoulders and turn to the rest of the team, loudly reminding everyone to ‘speed up guys, Cassie here’s already done with her training routine’ or slump tiredly against her while complaining about ‘how immature they are, I can’t deal, thank God you’re here to remind me competent people do exist’.

It was familiar, to help them along. To nudge them forward and watch their backs as they went, firmly making their way towards being the awesome men and woman he knew they’d become. Lending a hand here and there, working on steading their foundations, so he’d be remembered fondly when they inevitably took off and went on with their lives.

He was used to that, to looking for ways his fated people would want him around. Being a good brother to Dick, an eager student to Bruce (a good mourner for Jason).

What he wasn’t used to was reciprocation, though.

Tim had learned how to fly from the best, from Dick Grayson himself.The boy with no powers that looked at gravity and laughed, sayed “thanks, but no”. But there were some things only a true meta could experience, ways to move his body just so, to take advantage of wind currents to either speed or slow his movements. Kon also visited him in Gotham, unknowing or uncaring about its meta restriction, risking pissing off Batman himself just to spend time with Tim.

There was Bart, kind, cute, friendly Bart, who would stop eating and playing around to drag Tim to the training grounds and run laps around him, as silently as he knew how. Making Tim used to fighting against someone quicker than him, lighter on their feet. To count incredibly soft steps even when they made no sound, and use other senses to pinpoint exactly where the next hit was going to come from. And after they were done, there was always a warm smile and some sweet treat (always different, as if Bart was determined to figure out Tim’s preferences by trial and mistake), the new knowledge and delicious prize worth the dirt in unmentionable places.

As stated before, Cassie was an absolute godsend. But it wasn’t just because she was easier to deal with than the rest. Or because she understood the pressure he had on his shoulders, being raised in the shadow of two incredibly renowned heroes. When Tim’s position as leader had been taken away (after Bruce’s plans for taking out the league became known, and ‘what if he has the same for us’), she took him aside. Hugging him, promising him the team’s anger was going to pass, that she could see why those contingencies might be necessary, that even if she was officially in charge, she’d always defer to him when it mattered. Her trust in him and his heart was unshakable, firm as the arm he’d put round her when self doubt arose its head.

(It wasn’t supposed to be this way; if they reciprocated, they didn’t owe him, and then how was he supposed to keep them close? To convince him to stay, to love the boy with loveless fate?)

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Jason was unexpected, but Tim couldn’t hold it against him. Even there, bleeding out in the Tower, he felt… at ease.

His predecessor was back. Bruce’s son was back. The prodigal Robin had returned, by some miracle. Tim’s shift had come to an end; even if he died here, he had succeeded in keeping Bruce sane, and now that the real deal was in town, Jason could take over and everything would go back as it should have been. Everyone (B, Dick, Babs, Alfred) would be happier. Maybe they’d mourn him, for a bit, but with such a joyous occasion as a beloved one returning home, it wasn’t like grief could stay for long.

Someone yelled, near. Warm hands shaking as they touched his face infinitely careful, small fingers intertwined with his in a very familiar hold, a strong and slender arm around his back as he’s being held in a half hug. Cries, pleas, demands.

And while nothingness claims Tim, drags him to a well of black, yellow still clings to his eyelids. A touch that keeps him warm even though unconsciousness is supposed to be so cold.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Death and life. Damian.

Tim can see the first one, what with all of the brat’s attempts to end him. It’s the second one that has him stumped.

He knows not all strings go both ways. His purple one, for example; even if Dick was Tim’s first love, everyone and their mother knew Babs’ was his. Dick had a string pointing towards Tim, but it was a mentor-student one. Same as the one he and Bruce shared. Jason, too; Tim’s side of the string was the green of Almost, while the former Robin’s color was black (Tim taking his place as Robin, and being the only one in the family offering his hand again and again despite his murderous actions, was in some poetic sense the death of an old role, and the birth of a new family dynamic).

Damian, though… Well. He was almost sure they had the same color for each other (how else to explain such dangerous rage), but really, unless the kid was willing to share, it was only suppositions for now.

His only comfort remained the three beams of light, of a yellow almost golden in its healthy shine.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

When Tim changed his suit following Conner’s death, everyone thought it was an homenage. A way to pay tribute to a hero that was his closest, dearest friend. A way to never forget (as if he could, ever, with the lifeless line of pale beige, once yellow, dangling from his twitching finger).

They weren’t wrong, but it wasn’t just that.

Red had always pained him, in a deep, almost forgotten place. A thorn on his side, scratching against his heart. For the longest part, yellow had filled him to the brim, until hurt and yearning had no place inside him. With Kon’s warmth missing, red bleed in the place between Cassie and Bart, despite their best efforts to close ranks and keep it out.

Their sad eyes followed him during the funeral, knowing what the color meant to him. Just how much he was hurting himself, right now. But, lost in their own grief, there was little to be done.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

By the time Tim got the call about Bart, he already knew.

He ignored the ringing phone, holding a sobbing Cassie in his arms, both desperately clutching at their only remaining yellow string.

Between the two of them, color like blood seeped.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Every so often, when Ra’s voice in his ear became too familiar for comfort, where lines draw in sand begane to erode and blur, he’d raise his hand, eyes locked on the three yellow strings, and watch as Cassie’s moved, disappearing end pointing always in her direction.

He was fairly sure that, wherever she was, she was doing the same. Reminding herself he was alive as well, hadn’t left her behind.

Her absence from his life was necessary, finding Bruce a priority, and the red of his new suit (his new name) was proof of just how deeply it all ran. But it didn’t mean he wasn’t yearning for her lighter color.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

They were back, and he was hiding.

He wanted to run to their arms, hug them and never let them out of his view, far from where he could protect them (keep them). He wanted Kon’s hand on his face, delicate despite his strength, un-trembling when Tim’s own would softly join it on his check and held it there; Bart’s fingers between his own, too steady and constant for the boy who didn’t know how to sit still; Cassie’s arm on his waist, his own on her back, as they shared the weight of the world in their shoulders.

And because he wanted so damn much, he couldn’t do it.

He was covered in red. His first love discarded him, his Almost died so Tim could have his Teacher, his Life and Death was so heavily focused on the last bit… his hands lacked red, but oh, how much he leaked of it in his soul.

He couldn’t let them die again, be stained by his twisted fate; even if it meant he could’t hold them close any longer.

Letting go was more painful than holding on, but he was used to it by now.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

They find him. Of course they do; even without Kon’s senses, they all have beams of gold pointing them towards him, like Dorothy’s yellow brick road.

Tim knew it, was ready for it. And as such, had prepared the words that would push them away, to where it was safer.

Or so he thought.

“We are not leaving you.”

“Who cares about fate? You are ours, Rob.”

“It’s been long enough, Tim. Time to come home, we are done waiting.”

He denies them, shakes despite his usual iron clad control over his body, heart wrenching painfully at their decided expressions.

“You don’t understand. I’m Red Robin now. I’m not… I’m no good for you.”

“I could literally snap your back with the flick of a finger, shut up with that ‘I’m dangerous’ bullshit.”

“Yeah, even Bart could be dangerous given the right circumstances, you aren’t the only one here to watch for. It doesn’t mean shit to us.”

‘

“That’s right, I- wait, what do you mean ‘even Bart?”

“Not the point, Imp.”

They don’t get it. He takes his mask off, wants to give them a good look at his eyes, to read his emotions there and finally realize what’s wrong about him.

“Almost all my strings have something to do with death, or were touched by it. Don’t you see it?” He raises his hand, despite knowing they can’t see his strings, only their own. “I have no red here, only blood. I can’t… I’m not safe to love. I’ll never be loved.”

Kon snaps, something he had rarely done since their Young Justice days, hands on Tim’s shoulders, seemingly torn between shaking him and pulling him close. The latter wins.

(As it always does)

“This is love, you idiot! WE love you!”

Tim chokes on something (saliva, his own breath, emotions). Gasps, tears coming to his eyes unbridled.

He feels two pairs of arms joining the first one, a cocoon of warmth and unconditional love forming around him.

Bart’s sad eyes watch Tim from under Kon’s hug. “I don’t have red either, Rob. Romantic, platonic, filial… who gives a fuck”, he shrugs, before hiding his face against the red of Tim’s uniform. Uncaring of all it represents for him or perhaps doing his best to defy it.

Cassie just holds them all in the circle of her own embrace, forehead to the back of Tim’s head. Her hold is the tightest, and he just realizes- she lost all of them, didn’t she? To death and grief, all too far to touch, and now that they’re back in her arms, there’s little chance of her ever letting go again.

“Love has more than one form, Tim.”

He shudders in the middle of this weirdly emotional dog pile, and thinks. About Bruce and Dick’s pride when they successfully taught him something new. Of Jason’s reluctant smile when Tim first tugged him along to some joined patrol, sneakily edging him closer to the family with every interaction. Of Damian, who would often look down at his own hands (and Tim would honestly kill someone to know just which color the young boy had for Tim) and then at him, with something like hope in his green eyes.

He thinks… yeah. And this one…

(He gives up, closing his eyes and snuggling deeper into Kon’s chest, knees buckling but staying up thanks to his three rays of sunlight holding him in place between them.)

This one’s shape might just be his favorite.

[bigskydreaming]

Its just never not gonna be a huge pet peeve for me when people make a thing about Robin as Mary’s name for Dick being a retcon. I’m just like, yes, and? What does that actually CHANGE, and also its a thirty-year old retcon. Like, its just...that’s a really long time, you guys, lol, just like the ‘Dick was fired’ retcon is even older, and like......I just don’t see anywhere where “well it wasn’t like this decades ago” is used as an actual invalidating argument for major things pertaining to other characters. *Shrugs* You can find retcons in EVERY character’s stories, but these are the sticking points, apparently.

Thing is.....do people actually adhere to this as a reason not to like the Robin-as-Mary’s-name-for-Dick thing because the fact that it was a retcon actually bothers them? Because if so, that logic would seem to invalidate a TON about the Batfam that people DON’T seem to have a problem with. So rather, it just always comes across as attempting to use the fact that this particular take from canon wasn’t the FIRST take on the subject, as like, an attempt to just invalidate something people don’t like for other reasons.....and the only other reason I’ve ever been able to come up with for why people have such a problem with that origin for Robin, is because it grants Dick a close personal connection with the name that can’t be dismissed as irrelevant or not emotionally significant, and one that other Robins can’t really ‘compete with.’

Except problem there is....none of the other Robins could compete with Dick here anyway, if it WERE a competition, which its not....but like, the part fans of other Robins who don’t like Dick for whatever reason tend to overlook so often is that Jason and Tim are legacy characters....and DICK’S legacy characters in particular. 

I focus on Jason and Tim here because Stephanie wasn’t created to be a legacy character - she became Robin later on after her creation, but she wasn’t created to BE Robin. I’d argue the same is true of Damian, because I think the catalyzing impulse behind creating Damian was to have a biological son for Bruce, or specifically a son of Bruce and Talia’s, and as much as I think Damian being Robin was always an inevitable part of his character trajectory after that point because of the importance of the Robin mantle in the DC mythos and the Batfamily in particular....again, I don’t think he was created to BE Robin, specifically.

But Jason and Tim WERE. They just were. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it. They’ve grown beyond that - or at least they had until DC decided the best way forward for Tim was backwards - but no matter what they became, the catalyzing impulse for creating Jason and Tim was to make a new Robin.

They were created as Dick’s legacy characters. Not just to be partners for Batman, but to be inheritors of the legacy Robin mantle. To step into a role that was made relevant and made popular by Dick’s character.

And I think some fans are bothered by that, but its like....that doesn’t make it less true? Unless you can come up with a compelling argument for how you can look at Jason or Tim’s debut or early character concepts and not see it as ‘they were created to be a Robin’.....they’re Dick’s legacy characters. And I don’t think there’s any reason that has to be limiting, or makes them less than any other character....the vast majority of DC’s character staples ARE legacy characters. They’re still full-fledged characters in their own right, its simply relevant to the how and why of their creation. Like I’m not a Hal Jordan fan at all really, and I’m a huge Kyle Rayner fan. Doesn’t mean I’m not very aware of the fact that Kyle is a legacy character of Hal’s. Kyle does not exist, if Hal didn’t exist. You can’t remove Hal from the equation and be left with much if any substance for Kyle to begin from....no matter what Kyle later became, under his own narrative power, due to his own stories and characterization.

(And yes, I know Hal’s not even the first Green Lantern or the origin of the Green Lantern as a legacy in universe or out of it, but Kyle’s origin and story is directly connected to and stemming from Hal and his story in a way that’s simply not true of Kyle and Alan Scott or John Stewart or Guy Gardner...even while Kyle still has strong ties with each of them. Kyle’s story began out of Emerald Twilight, Hal was the catalyst for his creation, they’re tied in a way Kyle isn’t to various other GLs. Hal may not be the initial GL and Kyle may be a legacy character for MORE than just Hal, but he’s very much Hal’s legacy character at the same time).

So the thing about trying to move away from or steer around the idea that Robin was Mary’s name for Dick.....I don’t see what that accomplishes, even if you do dismiss it as ‘invalid’ whatever that means, because its a retcon? And I see a lot of posts and fics that ACT like it changes something, but....does it? Does it change the fact that Tim and Jason are still Dick’s legacy characters? Does it change the fact that in-universe, Dick’s still the one who made Robin notable enough to warrant having a legacy at all? Does it change the fact that out of universe, Dick’s character is still the reason that Robin was popular enough to warrant having a legacy character made in the first place? Does it change the fact that the Robin mantle in the existing DC universe and our outside perception of it, in all practical senses, would not exist if not for Dick’s character, and Jason and Tim at least and in particular, would not exist either? At least, not in the way that they do now?

It seems to me to just attempt to make an illusion of stripping away a layer of emotional significance between Dick and the mantle that the other boys don’t have.....but even WITHOUT that, Dick and the mantle still have the layer of significance that is - he literally created it and its initial popularity - that no legacy character can ever share with the originator of the legacy they embody. With this being true of all legacy characters and legacy originators, across the board.

But lessening the emotional attachment Dick has to the mantle HE created - for WHATEVER reason - doesn’t actually accomplish anything for the other characters, it doesn’t add anything they didn’t already have.

But flip it the other way around....lean INTO the emotional significance of Robin as Mary’s name for Dick.....I’d argue this is as much to the later Robins’ benefit as it is to Dick’s. Because the more emotional weight you give the mantle for Dick, the more emotional weight you give to Dick’s blessing with regards to the other Robins bearing it later on. And even though Dick didn’t choose to make Jason Robin post-Crisis (but that’s a retcon! He made Jason Robin himself pre-Crisis! Where’s the shouting about that? Where’s the constant pushback against people saying Dick resented Jason for being Robin with “oh that’s just a retcon though, originally, pre-Crisis, Dick gave Robin to Jason himself and they were really tight?” See what I’m getting at?), and even though Dick was initially opposed to there being another Robin at all after Jason.....Dick still did ultimately give both of them his blessing, not just Damian...and when you lean INTO the weight that Robin as his mother’s name for her son gives the mantle for Dick.....you simultaneously boost the impact and weight it has for his brothers, as that then extends to becoming Robin as Dick’s name for his brothers.

And thus rather than it just being a name they all bear at one time or another and have in common....it becomes, and REMAINS....a family name, tying both Dick’s first and second families together, with him and his interpretation of Robin not being more IMPORTANT to just him more than the others, but more RELEVANT to how he acts as the bridge, the connective tissue not just between his first family and his second, but also the bridge and connection to the source of Robin, the inspiration, the reason this name they ALL bear exists....as well as then to the later Robins themselves.

And personally, I think that makes for a stronger emotional connection between Robin and Batkid in regards to ALL of them, not just Dick.

But also, back to the pet peeve note....the Venn diagram that is people shouting “Robin as Mary’s name for Dick is a retcon” and people shouting “lol canon what canon, fuck canon, I don’t know canon” is waaaaaay too often a single circle, and that gets filed under things that make me go hmmm. Cuz isn’t that interesting. 

About as interesting, like I said, just once more with feeling....as the people yelling but retcon though about how Robin isn’t that significant a name for Dick - beyond y’know, him just coining it as his own unique persona why should that matter lolol i digress - while at the same time yelling - i have no objections here, you’re doing great sweetie, more of this, more more more about how Dick definitely resented and hated Jason for being Robin, as he did not make Jason Robin himself, see, that was retconned, that means it no longer counts and only the retcon matters now.

Anywho......

[fancyfade]

so ive been debating editing chapter 3 on my fanfic to make 1 scene line up more from canon. (chapter 3 is this one, where the characters deal with the aftermath of battle for the cowl, Tim finds out Damian’s Robin, and Dick and Damian move to the penthouse)

I’m debating making the Tim finding out Damian’s Robin scene a little more canon compliant along what happened in Red Robin (link) for a few reasons, the main of which is in the scenes that I’m writing next (like... chapter 47 lol), Tim and Dick do have to talk about what transpired when Dick made Damian Robin. Potential reasons for change

In my fic Tim kind of just left on his own without a push, but I’m not sure if Tim would have left on such bad terms if there wasn’t the complication of Damian antagonizing him and him feeling as if Dick was picking Damian over him (even though in the comic we saw Dick trying to de-escalate and get Tim’s back, it still felt that way to Tim)

I dislike the way some of this was handled in the comic and I can’t really comment on it in my fic if I just retcon it out

it seems fair-er I guess if Tim is allowed to have flaws just like Cass and Damian and Dick all have flaws in this fic. i know many tim stans think otherwise, but punching a ten-year-old victim of child abuse in the face out of anger is wrong.

the con side is obviously this involves Damian getting hit and that kid has been through so much already. I’m really trying to figure out how it works with character dynamics vs like. give the poor kid a break-ness.

anyway if I did decide to replace the current chapter 3, this is what it would be replaced with (only the first scene, the second would be the same). If you are a reader of the fic feel free to leave your comments. I would do an “oh and I edited chapter 3″ note before the relevant stuff was mentioned if I go through with this, I wouldn’t like expect everyone to know what happened. Some of the dialogue is not like exactly like in canon (cuz thats boring and also to match with what I wrote the first time) but the feeling/ beats should be similar

Gotham’s finally had a bit of lull in the violence, and Dick is just wondering how he’s going to do this.

He’s accepted that Damian’s his responsibility – seeing the kid shot in the chest made that perfectly clear, as much as he would’ve liked it to be otherwise. He felt like he was way too young to be watching out for a kid in any capacity other than cool older brother, especially a kid who’s as difficult to get along with as Damian. He was a great fighter, of course, and he knew it – Dick’s not sure he’s ever heard the kid be humble about anything. To make things worse, Dick feels like he’s constantly stuck in the middle between Damian and the kid he actually views as his younger brother – Tim, who Damian tried to kill. Evidence in point:

“Robin?!” Tim asks once he’s gotten back on his feet and Dick's explained his plan – away from Damian, who's still recovering from surgery.

“You made Damian Robin?!” Tim asks again.

Dick sighs. He’s in the cave, in a Batman costume he feels doesn’t fit right at all with the cowl off, and Tim’s still in his regular clothes. He has no idea how to explain this to Tim – no idea how to make him feel like he’s not being replaced. Dick never wanted to be the one doing the replacing – he remembers how much it hurt to find out that Jason was Robin from the papers, and that was after he officially stopped being Robin. Tim never quit – and Dick’s not about to make him – but he has to come home to the guy who tried to kill him getting his name.

“Tim, I know this looks bad, but Damian needs this.”

“Remember when we thought Bruce was going to retire after Crisis?” Tim asks. “Batman and Robin was supposed to be us. You and me. Not you and the psychopath that tried to kill me.”

“Tim, you’re not my sidekick, you’re my partner – ” Dick takes a step towards Tim with his hand out, prepared to offer sympathy, but Tim shakes him off angrily.

“Obviously not!”

“And Damian needs me way more than you do. If we don’t keep an eye on him, he’s going to kill again.”

Tim scowls intensely. “That should really not be an endorsement for being Robin, Dick! He’s a killer! He belongs in jail!” Tim swallows a little and then lowers his voice out of shouting range. “Dick, he didn’t try to kill me because he for some reason thought it was the only way to stop me from doing something bad, as far as I can tell he just wanted to replace me. We’re talking about someone with absolutely no sense of right or wrong.”

“Of course he doesn’t have a sense of right or wrong. He’s a ten-year-old child who was raised as an assassin from birth!”

“Lots of our villains have really sad or sympathetic reasons for doing crime, that doesn’t mean we team up with them.”

“Are you serious?” Dick asks. “This isn’t the same, Tim.”

“How not?”

“Well for one,” calls Damian's voice from the stairs, and Dick can't help but cringe and think not now – “I'm a lot better than them.”

Dick's cringe only intensifies when he turns around to see what Damian is wearing. His new Robin costume.

Tim's hands clench into fists the instant he sees Damian. Dick knows he has to de-escalate things quick before Tim and Damian have another fight.

“Damian,” Dick says, trying to keep himself carefully neutral-sounding. “Shouldn't you be resting?”

Damian lifts his head up slightly so his nose is in the air, and walks down the stairs almost normally. There's only a little hesitation in the twist of his torso, a little stiffness of his right arm.

Either he's zoned out of his mind on painkillers or depressingly good at masking his pain for a ten-year-old.

“Please,” Damian says. “I was trained in the League of Shadows. Do you really think an over-the-hill ex-Robin could put me down?”

Tim's fist clenches further, and so Dick says, letting a bit more urgency slip into his voice, “Damian, shut up. Now.”

Damian puts his left hand on his hips and looks intentionally at Tim. He adds, “I'm not Drake – ”

He's barely got the word out before Tim leaps forward and punches him in the face. Dick's out of his seat, grabbing Tim to hold him back, who is still distressingly struggling against him, like he wants to keep up the assault despite the fact that Damian fell to the floor.

“My name is Tim Wayne!” Tim shouts as Dick is still holding him back.

Damian gingerly sits up. Dick prepares to release Tim, prepares to stop Damian if he has to, if he decides to get revenge. But he doesn't. He just briefly braces his right side with his left hand before wiping the blood off his face.

“I let you get that shot in, Drake,” Damian says, again dropping intentional emphasis on Tim's original last name.

As he does, Tim struggles forward.

“Tim, back off!” Dick says, because Tim still isn't cooling down –

“I want you to feel good about yourself,” Damian continues.

Tim seems to relax his stance slightly, so Dick, possibly in an error of judgment, lets Tim go. But Tim doesn't try to attack Damian again, he just shakes Dick off and starts stomping away. “You want me to back off? Fine.”

He's going for the exit.

If he leaves –

Dick can't chase him. He's not sure that he can leave Damian alone –

“Tim, wait!” Dick says, taking a step forward. “Bruce is gone. But I still need you.”

“For what?” asks Damian and damn it is there anything this kid isn't going to try to ruin?

“Shut up, Damian,” Dick says again, even though as far as he knows he's just going to wind up pushing Damian away too –

And Tim leaves.

Dick turns to look at Damian. The kid's already back to his feet, like nothing happened, and Dick takes a step forward to inspect the injury – though he's really more worried about the gunshot wound than Tim's punch. Both Tim and Damian had wound up injured pretty badly during the chaos that gripped Gotham in the rumors of Batman’s death. As his new and not-improved version of Batman, Jason had tried to kill them both, which Dick is way less than pleased about. He’d been kind of hoping that they could talk Jason down, but this seems like a line he doesn’t know if Jason can ever un-cross. He shot a ten year old in the chest.

Damian grabs Dick's wrist as he reaches out.

“Are you all right?” Dick asks.

Damian scoffs. “You're worried about Drake? I've been hit harder sparring my mother.”

“I was thinking about the gunshot.” Alfred had said the primary damage was blood loss and a punctured lung (well, traumatic pneumothorax, but Dick knew what he meant) and given the kid a minimum of four weeks downtime to heal.

It's hard to tell due to the domino mask, but Damian adopts the position of a kid who's rolling their eyes, head slightly tilted to the side with a loll. “It's not enough to impersonate Batman, now you want to impersonate my mother?”

Dick doesn't know how to approach the mother thing, so he doesn't even try. He just explains the logic for being Batman – (and there is logic behind it. It's not like he wanted this). “Someone has to step up and convince Gotham things can get back to normal,” Dick says. “And serial killer Batman wasn't going to cut it.”

“Did you at least take care of him?” Damian asks.

Dick knows that Damian isn't actually worried about Jason's wellbeing, so he says, “Do you mean 'did I kill him'?”

“Tt. Obviously.”

“Obviously not.”

Damian presses his lips together in a thin line.

Dick might as well get this out of the way now. He's going to have to sometime. “Alfred wants you out of the field for four weeks.”

“That's preposterous!” Damian shouts, and as he shouts, he coughs. He rubs his chest quickly and then glowers at Dick when he sees him staring.

“Damian, you could have died.”

“I didn’t.”

Jeez, doesn’t this kid have any sense of his own mortality? Though, Dick supposes, growing up around Lazarus Pits and a centuries old grandfather might make that impossible.

“I’m not a fool, Grayson, I know I’m not capable of healing instantaneously. I’ll take a break for one week,” he offers, like it’s a huge concession on his part.

“Four weeks,” Dick says.

“What about you?” Damian asks. “Didn’t you get injured?”

“Not as badly.”

“Are you taking a break?”

“Someone needs to convince Gotham that Batman’s not dead,” Dick says. Also, he doesn’t want to take a break. He doesn’t want to be alone with his thoughts. Losing Bruce. Failing Tim.

“Tt. Then I don’t need one either. I’m younger. I heal faster.”

Dick actually has no clue whether that’s true, because he’s not a doctor, but he knows that people usually say kids heal faster.

Dick swings his arms a little, trying to feel them out. They’re still stiff, and as they move, a jolt of pain shoots through him. Even when he’s not moving, his shoulder is still sore. He knows that he might get injured going into the field like this and that it’s not a smart decision – last time he went into the field while still healing, he wound up blowing his secret identity to Blockbuster.

He decides that at least if he’s going into the field, he won’t tell Barbara and Alfred about it. Okay, so that’s probably not the smartest of his plans. Most plans that you have to hide from people who care about you aren't smart.

“I’ll take a week long break with you,” Dick concedes. “And we can see how fast you’re healing.” The second part is a lie, of course. He's not going to supersede Alfred's orders on medical matters.

Dick sighs a little. He figures that while they’re both on bed-rest duty, though, he can try to figure out how to set things up so they can operate effectively once they get a clean bill of health.

“How do you feel about not living in the manor?” Dick asks.

“Kicking me out already?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, I wouldn’t be living here either,” Dick says. It’s true. He’d rather not feel like he’s living in all of Bruce’s old places, wearing Bruce’s old costume, … replacing him, essentially. He needs a place he can clear his head.

“Where would you live then?” Damian asks skeptically.

Dick shrugs. “The penthouse, maybe. Bruce already made a bunker nearby, so we could operate out of there pretty easily.”

Damian narrows his eyes. “Why do you keep saying ‘we’?”

Because you are ten and not ready to live on your own. But Dick just says, “Well, you’re Robin now, right? That means you’re pretty much obligated to team up with Batman.”

“Batman isn’t here, Grayson. He never will be again, no matter how much you play dress-up.”

Charming kid. Like Dick didn’t already know that.

“You know I operate effectively alone, right?” Damian continues. “I don’t need to be hand-held and babysat like all of Father’s previous partners.”

Dick figures that it’d be a jerk move to remind Damian he just almost died and therefore really shouldn’t be on his own. Instead, he says, “Well, Alfred’s staying with me, so unless you want to get all your food and clean the house by yourself, you have to put up with me.”

“Tt . I don’t need a servant. I’ll just eat at restaurants.”

“On who’s money?”

“In the event of his death, my father’s assets should have transferred to me. His blood son.”

Oh boy. Dick rubs his face. “Does this have to be a thing, Damian? No one’s doubting your capacity to take care of yourself but I think it’d really be easier if we were operating out of the same building. “

A long silence on Damian’s part. “Fine,” he says eventually. “I’ll allow you to stay at my penthouse.”

My penthouse. Of course. But Dick takes it. “All right,” he says. “Let’s move in.”

[iam93percentstardust]

hey! i hope you’re having an amazing day. this is just me popping in your inbox to say that’s youre one of my favourite writers and you got me really interested in winteriron (honestly one of the cutest ships) are there any fics/authors ii could reccomend?

Hi there! Thank you so much! I love this ship so much, they’ve got such potential for both fluff and angst. They really are one of my favorite ships to write and I’m glad I was able to write so much for them this year. I certainly do have plenty of recs for you, starting with my favorite authors:

@riotwritesthings: started writing last year, I highly recommend just about everything Riot writes but especially Road Hazards, Melt into Me (Your Words are My Own), and When is a bed not a bed? (When you’re not in it)

@hddnone: so many stories and all so good! Has nearly 100 Winteriron works on ao3 and you will not regret reading any of them, though fair warning that some of them are Team Cap Critical. Especially recommend Honey Pot, You’ve Got Mail, and A Bit(e) of Danger

@monobuu: mostly an artist but sometimes writes stories as well. i recommend Ravioli, Invincible Summer, and Meet the Fam

@tisfan and @27dragons: can’t make a Winteriron rec list without including the both of them. They work together a lot but you should definitely take a look at their own stuff as well. I recommend Safe and (the) Sound, Kiss Me Thru the Phone, and Stark, Naked

@ad1thi: currently taking a bit of a hiatus and working on non-Marvel works but I love everything Adi writes, particularly her entire Bollywood but Make it Gay series, which isn’t always Winteriron but wonderful nonetheless. I recommend the Greek Gods AU, 1000 Lives (For You), and we’re connected

@the-winter-writer: lots of smut and all absolutely fantastic! I like Precious Treasure, Winter Wings, and Instinct

@rayshippouuchiha: definitely an iconic writer for this fandom. Really great if you’re looking for genderbends. Writes a lot of absolutely incredible fics and not just for Winteriron but my personal favorites are The (Not So) Great Pretender, Fearful Symmetry, and The Mistletoe Kiss Polka

Finely Honed (jaqen_hgar): once again very iconic. you’ve probably read at least one of their works even if didn’t know. I recommend Shameless, Today’s Forecast, and Practice Makes Perfect

@lovelyirony: mostly writes ficlets here on tumblr and a multishipper (I don’t know why I’m saying that like it’s a bad thing, I’m a multishipper), also a fan of Sharon Carter and that’s the thing that made me follow her so you know

@amethystinawrites: I only recently started working their works but I’m loving everything I’ve come across so far. I recommend Tech Support and I Won’t Hold My Breath

AvocadoLove: also writes a lot of Stony and Stuckony, which I love a lot, but for their Winteriron works, I recommend Amalgam and Dead Man’s Switch

Dracusfyre: another one I’m new to. I literally just started reading their works today so I don’t have any recs for them yet but one of my friends loves them so I’m going to go with you should definitely take a look at their works

Eirlyssa: has some anti-Team Cap works so keep an eye out for that if that’s not your thing but writes very good Winteriron. I recommend Guide Me Home (Guide My Heart) and Always (I’ll Be There)

@imposter-human: one of the first MCU blogs I ever followed! I recommend childhood memories, speak my language, and lost in translation

As for specific works I like:

Four Strings and Second Chances by Vashoth

It was reluctance to let one of his finest inventions ever out of his grasp that made him take a couple days over a week to send the arm to Pepper’s office. But all things considered, Tony figured that sending finest prosthetic that had ever come into existence--literally grasping an olive branch--was one of the classiest gifts he’d ever given. He’d included a note and everything. ‘Barnes,

Can help with installation. Or not. Up to you. --Stark'

Who is the Mechanic? by @akira-of-the-twilight

The Asset watched as his handlers brought in a stranger—a man with a metal object stuck to his chest that was hooked to a car battery.

The handlers shoved the man onto the stool where many who had operated on the Asset’s arm in the past had sat before.

“Asset,” one handler said, “meet the Mechanic. He will be responsible for the upkeep of your arm. Should anything malfunction, kill him.”

The Asset eyed the Mechanic. The Mechanic was glassy-eyed and unresponsive.

He’d probably be dead in a week.

The Fix by SleepsWithCoyotes

Right, because Tony...Tony fixes things. He remembers thinking that, not for the first time.

Paths are Made by Walking by @potrix-the-queerschlaeger

The road to recovery is long, winding and a different one for every person walking it. Bucky chooses to help himself the only way he knows how; by doing what he does best.

Or, alternatively; the one in which Tony is a mess and accidentally kick-starts Bucky’s protective mother hen instincts.

The Evidence by StrivingArtist

Didn’t notice. Right. Sure. Two brilliant minds, two super spies, and a god didn’t notice when the chattiest man they knew stopped making sound. They just seemed happier than before. Brighter and more cheerful than before. They just seemed like they were more comfortable with him around when he was stone silent.

Fuck it.

He knew they noticed.

And he knew they liked him better this way.

Shadowed Hearts and Winter Souls by NotEvenCloseToStraight

The mid-1800s and Antonio Carbonell Stark is caught in a scandal with his lover. Desperate for a chance to escape the trouble and his own broken heart, Tony accepts a proposal from a mysterious Russian heiress and flees the country.

Natalia Romanova is in trouble of her own and has enough secrets to make Tony's head spin but somehow they settle into a fake marriage and calm day-to-day together, and everything works... until her half brother comes home and their life is disrupted again.

James is somber and silent, brutal and nearly broken and scarred, a soldier of the resistance. His heart is cold and gaze like ice, but his hands are hot and lips are warm and Tony finds himself ignoring the blood on James's palms and the shadows in his soldier’s eyes, and falling in love.

When danger lands at their doorstep, Natalia and Tony have to pack up and leave, running away in the middle of the night and leaving their men behind.

The distance between Tony and James gets longer every day, and Natalia has been keeping a secret for that can’t be hidden much longer. With no place to call home and a thousand miles between them and the men they love, what are Tony and Natalia supposed to do?

Puppy Love by Reioka

Bucky is learning to become a person again. When some guy starts crying all over Natasha's dog, he decides he's doing better than he originally thought.

Describe Your Perfect Date by ali_aliska

After getting turned down by Bucky, Tony decides it’s time to move on from his massive crush. He tries online dating—Pepper’s idea, not his—but the only thing worse than getting rejected is getting rejected and finding out your soulmate-level match is Clint Barton, all in the same day.

Clint, of course, does not let opportunities like this go to waste, but he’s driving Tony nuts for a good cause, he swears.

Bucky’s just trying to do the right thing and fails spectacularly, but it all works out in the end.

Rocket Science by marsmaywonder and orbingarrow

Sleep-deprived and under-caffeinated, grad student Tony falls asleep in a conveniently empty classroom and wakes up in the middle of Bruce’s Physics 101 course. After seeing a groggy Tony fumble a simple question, actual-student Bucky offers to tutor him. In a moment of “oh no; he’s cute” panic, Tony takes him up on it. Now, in addition to his already complicated life, Tony has to figure out the answer to the incredibly messy question: “How do you look like you’re failing the class, when you literally wrote the book?”

What’s Good for the Goose by Taste_is_Sweet

For this nonny prompt at the Imagine Tony and Bucky comm on Tumblr:

"A soulmate AU where an immortal goose shows up one day to lead you to your soulmate, the challenge is surviving the goose." (Full prompt in notes.)

We all have soulmates, and every soulmate pair shares an animal guide. The Guide is there to lead you to your One True Love, and they represent the aspects of the psyche that you both share. They appear when you're about to meet your soulmate, and often materialize in moments of great personal crisis, offering hope and support. There are stories upon stories about how someone's Guide appeared to lead them to their One True, or how the barest glimpse of their Guide eased their hearts and gave them hope in the midst of despair. The newly-rescued almost always attribute their Guide with giving them the strength and courage to hang on.

Animal Guides are ephemeral, ethereal, and elusive. They are, most often, no more than a warm presence or flicker out of the corner of one's eye. They are incarnate symbols of perseverance, optimism and hope. Foretellers of happiness, and the grand destiny of love.

Except for geese. Geese are assholes.

and so, we unfold by TheKitteh

Senbazuru. Thousand Cranes.

An ancient Japanese legend that promises anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by the gods. Some stories believe you are granted happiness and eternal good luck, instead of just one wish, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury.

Bucky’s not big on believing in any legends, not after all that has happened. He just wants to create something for a change, not destroy.

He needs to prove himself that he can be trusted to handle something delicate. He doesn’t need a promise of a wish come true. He just,- needs to do this for himself.

He doesn’t need noticing how sad, tired Stark looks. Doesn’t need to want to do something for the man, when he can barely do anything for himself. --- Tony simply goes through days and motions. He deals with the Avengers, with R&;D, with the rewritten Accords. All of it, it’s nothing new really. He just wants to get things done.

What’s new is seeing Barnes hunched over the coffee table, one step away from ripping a glossy magazine apart in the middle of the night.

And why the hell Barnes keeps looking at him during the days after like he’s a puzzle to be solved?

Welcome to the Winteriron fandom! We’ve got a lot of incredible authors and artists both and this is just the tip of the iceberg!