#I've at least seen hundreds of hours of dozens of versions

[giantkillerjack]

Cannot freaking believe that the first ever on-screen version of Bruce Wayne actually dealing with and processing the trauma of his parents' death is probably going to be on 'The Harley Quinn Show' of all places.

[ID: a gif from the Harley Quinn show of Harley at some kind of Gala doing the flossing dance and scowling at the Joker as she moves away from him. Joker looks confused.]

Except I can totally believe that because, besides generally good writing, the whole reason the show works is that because it is about villains, and so the corporation that owns the characters lets the showrunners do WILD, UNTHINKABLE THINGS like center loving gay relationships, be openly anti-cop, and - perhaps most outrageous of all possible things - SHOW REAL AND LASTING CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, EVEN FOR THE GODDAMN BATMAN.

That man hasn't been allowed to have meaningful character development on tv or film since 'Batman Beyond'! And even then it was small and mostly in the one movie ('Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker' is a good movie btw).

But Bruce was STILL 25 years away from EVER being allowed to even begin to process his trauma onscreen, despite the fact that his trauma is fuckin' always shown onscreen and is at the core of the character. Which I'm sure bad writers (probably straight cis men like usual) believe he can never process or else there will be no character left. Just set-up, no pay-off; set-up, no pay-off... The pearls hitting the ground again and again and again and again.

Which is just so fucking basic, and SO hilariously and excellently illustrated in the Harley Show episode that came out this week. (The episode was called "Batman Begins Forever," which is PERFECT BECAUSE IT IS TRUE.)

The concept of Batman is like a 100 years old now and he has spent that whole time avoiding his most obvious and necessary character arc. Just 100 years of trauma avoidance. It's as poetic as it is pathetic. A man kept so stagnant through poor writing and careful corporate oversight that he has become boring despite being dressed as a crime-fighting bat!

And the show that is finally FINALLY going to follow through is also the show in which Clayface is spending an entire season canonically disguised as Billy Bob Thornton after accidentally killing him with Catwoman's pet tiger. It is like a silliness Trojan horse and inside is actual good storytelling!!!

[Edit: OMG. I just realized that the only other onscreen trauma-addressing character arc that I've seen Bruce have was in the LEGO BATMAN MOVIE because again, the man is apparently ONLY ALLOWED TO DEVELOP if the studio execs can be convinced it is mostly for a joke. Also now that I have made this post, if the Harley show doesn't follow through on what they have set up, I can legally slash the tires of whoever is responsible.]