#batman begins forever

[mysweetobsessions]

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Harley Quinn - Batman Begins Forever S03E08

[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.]

[wonderfultoweird]

I've seen some people upset about Bruce Wayne's portrayal in Harley Quinn Animated Series, specifically about S3 ep8 where Harley goes inside Bruce's mind and I just wanted to give my thoughts on it.

I actually really liked the idea about Batman just having to relive his parent's death every moment of his life, and that kind of being why the way he is. It does really paint kind of this awful picture though when it comes to him as a dad and the idea that like, none of the moments he had with his children were important enough to stand out or be his happiest moments. It also kind of seems like all of his love for his children didn't really matter because he just cares about his own parents. While I agree to some extent (like the fact that he didn't even think about resurrecting Jason?? tf is up with that) I also think it's a bit more complicated than that.

In the show he has shown obvious care for at least one son (arguably two since he did make effort for dick to get along with the batfam), as he has a bonding moment with damian after harley accidentally puts him in danger.

As we all know, Bruce's love language is mainly Acts of Service, protecting those he loves, providing for them, training and teaching them. But after this scene Damian is still upset and Bruce goes out of his way to comfort him.

[Because the captioning is awkward I've also put in the scipt here:

Bruce: Damian, I made your favorite.

Damian: You didn't make that. Alfred made that.

B: I made him make it. Are you mad because I had to save you from Joker?

D: No. I'm livid because everyone in Teen Titans is getting a nemesis, except me.

B: I'm gonna say something embarrassing here. I didn't have a nemesis until my late 20s.

D: Don't patronize me, Father. It's unbecoming.

B: It's true. I wasn't ready for one. You want your first nemesis to be special. Someone who you could see being your nemesis for the rest of your life.

D: I suppose you're right, Father.]

I think it isn't that he doesn't love his children or care about them, it's that his memories and his emotions are corrupted by that singular memory, and that when he tries to be happy, to run away, to move on there's that older Bruce who believes he doesn't deserve to be happy, he doesn't deserve to not look.

Like it's quite literally written out for us right there, he can't ever escape his parent's death. Also on top of that I also wanted to point out what Harley says here:

When I first saw this panel my immediate conclusion was that it was because Harley was there, but earlier in the episode it shows that she actually really can't change his memories that much, she can only change one small thing, which was that he didn't have to look.

In this I think that Harley being there has nothing to do with the shooter being there and tainting his memories and everything to do with the fact that bruce is inside another memory, where he isn't constantly rewatching his parents murder.

I believe this is why Bruce's happiest memory can't be with his children or any time after his parents died, because in his mind he is just a scared child rewatching his parent's death over and over. When he tries to live in a world without them the guilt pulls him back to that memory.

I just believe that he does love his children a lot but his own personal happiness with them is hard to think about without feeling guilty about his own parents. Hopefully, Harley will be able to knock some sense into him now that she's his official therapist :)

[letssofia3006]

Same vibes

Edit:

Batman 🤝 Belos

Reviving loved ones with a strange plant theme going on

[sarcasticsouthernbookworm]

Batman’s shadow flashing behind little Bruce Wayne was honestly everything

[nkp1981]

[scarecrowismybabygirl]

He’s my babygirl (he’s a menace) and he’s done nothing wrong (except for torture and murder).

[nefarious-616-necromancer]

[logicallyblind]

bruce and jason’s relationship dynamic is so, so important to me while simultaneously makes me want to tear out my hair with my bare hands and scream into a pillow oh my god-

[flexingtyger99]

Batman logos

[comic-art-showcase]

Creepy Cowls by Caspar Wijngaard

[the-truth-is-there]

All tv and movie Bruce Wayne

Lewis Wilson - Batman(1943) Robert Lowery - Batman & Robin(1949) Adam West - Batman(1966-1968)/Batman(1966) Michael Keaton - Batman(1989)/Batman Returns(1992)/The Flash(2023)/Batgirl(cancelado) Val Kilmer - Batman Forever(1995) George Clooney - Batman & Robin(1997)/The Flash(2023) Christian Bale - Batman Begins(2005)/The Dark Knight(2008)/The Dark Knight Rises(2012) David Mazouz - Gotham(2014-2019) Ben Affleck - Batman vs Superman(2016)/Suicide Squad(2016)/Justice League(2017)/Zack Snyder's Justice League(2021)/The Flash(2023) Iain Glen – Titans(2018-2022) Kevin Conroy – Crisis on Infinite Earths - CW(2020)

Warren Christie – Batwoman (2021) Robert Pattinson – The Batman (2022) David Miller – Gotham Knights (2023)

[liebelesbe]

RATING LIVE-ACTION BATMEN COSTUMES FROM 0 TO 10 ON SCARINESS AND SILLYNESS

scariness as in would i cry and/or piss my pants if i came across him in a dark alleyway

sillyness as in heehee silly :-)

Adam West: come on. look at him. his suit is so thin, that's not protecting anything! the eyebrows drawn on in white pen are a nice touch, though. silly king!

Scary: 0

Silly: 10

Michael Keaton: he can't move his head!! at first glance he might be scary, but just stand behind him and he won't be able to see you... first one to mold angry eyebrows into the suit and everyone else after him just copied that.

Scary: 8

Silly: 4

Val Kilmer: why does he kinda look like someone just put a baby in the batsuit, and to not make it too obvious they put extreme fake abs on the suit. and nipples.

Scary: 6

Silly: 8

George Clooney: not much to say about him. he has a very triangular nose + he seems very.. smooth? pretty boring. and once again: nipples.

Scary: 5

Silly: 5

Christian Bale: the cutout around his mouth is very round, which makes it look kind of silly imo. sorry. it looks like someone threw a small pie at him.

Scary: 7

Silly: 6

Ben Affleck: he's pretty broad in stature which adds to the scariness, but I've said it before and I'll say it again: he reminds me of a chipmunk. nice try though.

Scary: 8

Silly: 7

Robert Pattinson: his head is a lot rounder than the others (I think it's because his ears are so thin) which makes him more approachable/pettable. his suit looks more mechanical (for lack of better word) which does help the scariness factor.

Scary: 6

Silly: 4

[sarcasticsouthernbookworm]

Cannot believe dumbass Bruce made zombies

[riffquinzel]

hows your afternoon going ive been ranking all the batmans in terms of both fuckability and whether or not they fuck